In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of the dawn or morning dawn. Although, like other primordial gods, she was not widely worshipped by the ancient Greeks, Eos was nevertheless fundamental to the Greek understanding of
the universe and played an important role in mythology.
Perhaps one of the most famous aspects of Eos mythology is her endless lust for mortal men, which is reflected in the myths of Tithon and Kephala. She also played a small role in the Gigantomachy and the Homeric epics.
Who was Eos in Greek mythology
According to
Hesiod's Theogony, Eos was the daughter of the titans Theia and Hyperion. Her brother was Helios, the sun god, and her sister was
Selene, the moon goddess. The work also states that Eos is "
Breathing sweet light equally for earth-born men and for the immortal gods who dwell in the wide sky" (372-373).
From the titan Astrea, Eos gave birth to children Zephyrus (west wind),
Borea (north wind), Evra (east wind), and Nota (south wind). She also bears the title Erigeneia, which means "most birthing" or "above all birthing". Like Erigeneia, she bore the star Eosphorus (personification of the "morning star").
Outside of Greek mythology, the name "Eos" shares a common etymological root with other gods and goddesses of the dawn, such as the Vedic Ushas, the Lithuanian Ausrine, and the Roman goddess Aurora, who all derive from the much older Proto-Indo-European goddess of dawn "Ausos". The Etruscan equivalent is the dawn goddess Tesan.
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Unlike Eos, Thesan enjoyed considerable worship and regularly received offerings, often in tandem with the Etruscan sun god Usil. A notable site of her worship was the harbor at Pyrgi, where a temple in her honor was discovered.
Every morning Eos wakes up to open the gates for her brother Helios, who rides across the sky in his golden chariot and brings light to the world.
In Greek mythology, there are different versions of whether Eos accompanies Helios during the day. In Homer's Iliad, one of the two major epics of Greek mythology, Eos is said to wear "a garment of saffron" and is endowed with the epithet "Rose-feathered", or Eos "Rhododactylos" (1.477). In the Odyssey she is also described as "The Dawn with fingers of purple" (1.121).
Eos and the myth of Kefala
Eos, at least in the extant literature of Greek mythology, is cursed by the goddess Aphrodite for her insatiable lust for mortal men as punishment for having an affair with the god
Ares, with whom Aphrodite is known to have had an affair. Thus, despite the fact that Eos is married to the titan Astreus and had children with him, she constantly has affairs with men.
By Kephalus, Eos gave birth to Phaethon. As a young boy, Eos kidnapped Kefal in imitation of the abduction and rape of
Zeus by Ganymede. This story interested Athenian audiences because he was rumored to be an Athenian boy. Therefore, this myth was often depicted on Athenian vases.
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In his Metamorphoses, Ovidius describes the kidnapping of Cephalus in Syria while he was on a hunting trip. Kephalus was already married to the Athenian princess Procris. Eos and Kephalus reportedly had two children, Phaethon and Hesperus (the evening star).
Kephalus began to long for his wife Procris, and when Eos brought him back to her, she planted doubts in his soul that Procris had remained faithful to him. Kefal then asked Eos to use her powers to disguise him as a stranger so that he could test Procris' fidelity.
When the disguised Kefal proposed to Prokris, she refused at first. But when he offered her money, she accepted his advances. Kefal was hurt by Prokris's betrayal, and the woman was ashamed of her act, so they agreed to part ways.
Eos and the myth of Tithon
From the Trojan Typhon, Eos gave birth to Emathion and Memnon. The former was killed by Heracles, the latter was a warrior of exceptional skill and king of the Ethiopians who brought his troops to Troy to help defend the city against the Greeks. He was eventually killed by Achilles' spear.
As a sign of mourning, Eos caused the light of her brother Helios, the sun god, to go out and asked the goddess of night, Nyx, to cover the world with darkness so that she could take her son's body from the battlefield undetected by the fighting armies (Philostratus of Lemnos, Images, 1.7.2).
With the help of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and
Thanatos, the god of death, Eos transported Memnon's body back to Ethiopia. Eos asked Zeus to make her son immortal, and Zeus agreed (
Proclus, summary of Aithiopis, 2).
Eos also asked that immortality be granted to her beloved Tithon, and Zeus granted this request. However, she forgot to ask that Tithon also be granted irreversibility. In the end, he turns into an incoherent and shriveled ruin as the effects of eternal aging take their toll.
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Eventually Eos locks Tithon in a cell. The story of Eos and Tithon is as old as Homer, and in The Odyssey, Eos is even described as rising from Tithon's bed to bring light to the world.
This story is also known as Sappho's Poem of Old Age, assembled from many different fragments. The Hieronymus of Rhodes version of the story shifts the blame to Typhon himself. According to this version, it was Typhon, not Eos, who asked to be granted immortality, but not irreversibility. Propertius wrote that Eos never left Typhon, but instead cared for him, cursing the cruelty of the gods (Propertius, Elegy, 2.18A 5-22).
Eos on relief representations of the Gigantomachy at Pergamum
Eos also played a role in the Gigantomachy, a war between the giants and the Olympian gods. The Earth Goddess
Gaea learned of a prophecy that stated that the Giants would be destroyed in war at the hand of a mortal. To prevent this, Gaia tried to find a special herb that would protect the Giants from any harm.
Zeus, in an effort to defeat the giants, ordered Eos and her brothers, Selene and Helios, to keep the light off so that Gaia could not find the herb. In this way Zeus could wage war and destroy the giants. Eos is depicted on the Pergamon Altar, which depicts scenes from the Gigantomachy, riding a horse ahead of her brother Helios, with a slain giant lying under her hooves.
The symbols of Eos
In depictions of Eos in ancient Greek art, she is often shown scattering dew from an urn, holding a torch, or riding in her chariot. She is often winged and dressed in a robe and tunic. Depictions of romantic escapades usually show her with a young hunter, labeled Kephalus, or with a young man playing the lyre, labeled Tithon.
The red-figure rhyton, a conical goblet often shaped like an animal head or horn, depicts Eos carrying away a naked young man, who is probably Kefal. Her wings lift her slightly above the ground. Tithon is also sometimes depicted trying to thwart the pursuing Eos with a lyre or spear.
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There are no known temples, shrines, or other cultic places of worship to Eos. Of Aurora, the Roman equivalent of Eos, Ovid's Metamorphoses says the following: "...in all the world so few are my temples" (13.592-593). This seems to confirm that she was not widely known.
Eos in the Orphic Hymns
In the Orphic hymns, Eos is addressed in Hymn 78, "Toward the Dawn." The hymn's performer describes Eos as beloved by mortals for chasing away the darkness of night: "The race of mortals admires you" (8-9). With the end of night comes, "joy for every mortal" (11-12).
Eos is also described as the one who "cares" for the lives of mortal men, giving them the light that enables them to work and thus support their lives and families (6-7), since: "All the benefits that come from work are your gift" (14-15).
Ovid interprets the light of dawn differently in "Amores," where the speaker launches a tirade against the goddess for awakening men and beasts to labor, allowing the resumption of various functions of the city and household, and most importantly, stopping the lovers' nightly romantic rendezvous.
The position of the hymn "To the Dawn" in the Orphic Hymns is also noteworthy. It is at the end of the cycle, and if the hymns were to be sung in order during the night, the hymn to the Dawn would probably be sung just as dawn was breaking.
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The Hymn of Night, by contrast, is located at the very beginning. While most hymns describe the deity as light, this is the only Orphic hymn that calls upon the deity to give light to the initiates, pointing to Eos' functional role as the leader of the dawn.