Parents and children would work closely together, for each evening Nyx and Erebus would depart each evening from Tartarus, and would bring forth the misty darkness of night to the world. In later Greek mythology, Hemera all but disappears, with her role being taken up by Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn. Exaggerated ears and breasts show that the creature is female, even though it does have a short, ragged mane. It has a lion’s body, complete from head to tail. Again, there was a separation of roles between light and day. At its most basic level, the Chimera is a female lion. Hemera was of course the sister of Aether, and was considered to be the first Greek goddess of the Day.

There was also a third air, the dark air found underground and the darkest recesses of the earth, and this was Erebus. Every morning she pulls away the dark curtains of Erebus to let her brother Aether ’s light shine forth. Her pedigree goes right back to Chaos and she was the first Goddess of the Day. At the time, the Ancient Greeks did not necessarily connect the concept of light with the sun.Īether, as the upper air, was the air breathed by the gods below him was the air breathed by man, an air that was connected with the goddess Chaos. In Greek mythology Hemera (Greek:, day) was the personification of day and one of the Protogenoi. Also known as Hemere Goddess of Daytime and Daylight Her ‘Who’s Who’ entry informs us that she is the daughter of Erebus and Nyx and is the mother of Thalassa. Aether was thought of as the early god of light as he was believed to be the god of the blue, upper air that surrounded the planet, the air found just below the dome of the sky god Ouranos.

Greek mythology hemera