Erebus in the context of "Primordial Greek gods"

In Greek mythology, Aether, Æther, Aither, or Ether (/ˈiːθər/; Ancient Greek: Αἰθήρ (Brightness) pronounced [ai̯tʰɛ̌ːr]) is the personification of the bright upper sky. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the brother of Hemera (Day). In Orphism, Aether was the offspring of Chronos (Time) and the brother of Chaos and Erebus.

In Greek mythology, the Keres (/ˈkɪriːz/; Ancient Greek: Κῆρες) were female death-spirits. They were the goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battlefields. Although they were present during death and dying, they did not have the power to kill. All they could do was wait and then feast on the dead. The Keres were daughters of Nyx, and as such the sisters of beings such as Moirai, who controlled the fate of souls, and Thanatos, the god of peaceful death. Some later authorities, such as Cicero, called them by a Latin name, Tenebrae ("the Darknesses"), and named them daughters of Erebus and Nyx.

The singular form of the name is Ker (/ˈkɜr/; Κήρ), which, according to Hesiod, refers to an entity distinct from the Keres. Ancient sources seldom distinguish or enumerate the Keres, describing them instead as a vast and host. In the Iliad, they are portrayed as "thousands" (myriai) in number. Mimnermus, however, speaks of only two "one bringing old age, the other death". Quintus Smyrnaeus similarly mentions "twin Keres, one dark, one bright".

In Greek mythology, Nyx (/nɪks/ ; Ancient Greek: Νύξ, lit. 'Night') is the goddess and personification of the night. In Hesiod's Theogony, she is the offspring of Chaos, and the mother of Aether and Hemera (Day) by Erebus (Darkness). By herself, she produces a brood of children which are mainly personifications of primarily negative forces. She features in a number of early cosmogonies, which place her as one of the first deities to exist. In the works of poets and playwrights, she lives at the ends of the Earth, and is often described as a black-robed goddess who drives through the sky in a chariot pulled by horses. In the Iliad, Homer relates that even Zeus fears to displease her.

Night is a prominent figure in several theogonies of Orphic literature, in which she is often described as the mother of Uranus and Gaia. In the earliest Orphic cosmogonies, she is the first deity to exist, while in the later Orphic Rhapsodies, she is the daughter and consort of Phanes, and the second ruler of the gods. She delivers prophecies to Zeus from an adyton, and is described as the nurse of the gods. In the Rhapsodies, there may have been three separate figures named Night.

In Greek mythology, Ponos or Ponus (Ancient Greek: Πόνος, romanized: Pónos, lit. 'Toil, Labor, Hardship') is the personification of toil and stress. According to Hesiod's Theogony, "painful" Ponos was the son of Eris (Strife), with no father mentioned. Like all of the children of Eris given by Hesiod, Ponos is a personified abstraction, allegorizing the meaning of his name, and representing one of the many harmful things which might be thought to result from discord and strife, with no other identity.

Cicero has the equivalent personification of the meaning of the Latin word labor as the offspring of Erebus and Night (Erebo et Nocte). Although Ponos has a negative connotation in Hesiod, in a poem of Lucian (2nd century AD), he is seen as having the positive aspect of leading to a virtuous life.

In Roman mythology, Discordia is the Roman equivalent of the Greek Eris, goddess of strife and discord. She was the daughter of Nox (Night) and Erebus. Like Eris, Discordia has no mythology other than her involvement in the Judgement of Paris.

Unlike her opposite Concordia, Discordia was not a cult goddess, but simply a literary personification, and like Eris was especially associated with the strife and discord in war. She was, in particular, associated with Roman civil war.

Decima was one of the three Parcae (known in English as the Fates) in Roman mythology. The Parcae goddess Nona was responsible for pregnancy; Decima was responsible for measuring a person's lifespan; and Morta was charged with overseeing death. They distributed to mankind all the good and bad things in life, and according to some classical writings even Jupiter had to bend to their will. Decima measured the thread of life with her rod, like her Greek equivalent Lachesis. In some accounts, her mother was Nox the goddess of night and her father was Erebus, the god of darkness; while in other accounts, her parents were Jupiter and Themis.

In Greek mythology, Hemera (/ˈhɛmərə/; Ancient Greek: Ἡμέρα, romanized: Hēmérā, lit. 'Day' [hɛːméraː]) was the personification of day. According to Hesiod, she was the daughter of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and the sister of Aether. Though separate entities in Hesiod's Theogony, Hemera and Eos (Dawn) were often identified with each other.