Goddess of the morning dawn in Roman mythology

The study of ancient mythology is an exciting activity. The ancient Greeks believed that on Mount Olympus lived a host of gods and goddesses, governing people and the world. Some were responsible for social spheres (marriage, power, crafts, fertility, war), others for philosophical categories (death, time, life, fate, love, wisdom), and others for natural objects and phenomena (day, night, Dawn, sea, fire, earth, wind).

Greek and Roman pantheon

Following the Greeks, the Romans also began to worship the same Olympic gods , adopting many elements of culture from the Greeks. If we talk about the differences between ancient Greek and Roman gods, then they are very insignificant and concern only names. For example: Artemis - Diana, Poseidon - Neptune, Athena - Minerva, Zeus - Jupiter, etc.

As for functions, ancient genealogies and the relationship of gods and goddesses, all this was completely transferred from Greek mythology to Roman. So the ancient Greek pantheon became Roman, changing only the names of gods and goddesses.

Place Eos (Aurora) in the pedigree tree

Originally on Olympus there were 12 divine beings: 6 men and 6 women. They became the progenitors of the next generations of gods and goddesses. In one of the branches of the genealogy, coming from the oldest gods, the goddess of the dawn of the Eos (or, according to the ancient Roman tradition, Aurora) was born. It is believed that all the ancient goddesses bear the various feminine qualities and traditionally performed roles: mothers, wives, daughters.

Eos (Aurora), the goddess of the morning dawn - is a representative of the third generation of the Olympic gods. Her parents were Tiper Hyperion and Teiya Titanide. The name of the Aurora comes from the Latin word aura, which means "a pre-dawn breeze." The goddess's brother is Helios, his sister is Selena.

From her marriage to the titan of the starry sky Astreem, all night stars were born, as well as all the winds: the formidable and cold Boreas (northern), carrying the fog of the Noth (southern), the warm Zephyr (western) and the erratic Evr (eastern).

Images of the goddess

The goddess of the dawn is called to bring daylight first to Olympus, then to the earth, first to the gods, then to the people. The Greeks believed that Eos lives in Ethiopia (on the eastern edge of the Ocean), and enters the sky through the silver gate.

As a rule, the goddess was depicted in a red-yellow (or "saffron") garment and with wings behind her back. Often she flew across the sky in a chariot harnessed by a deuce or quadriga of white horses (sometimes winged, sometimes not). One of the horses was named Lampos, the other was Phaethon.

Homer called the goddess Eos "fine-boned" and "pink-rose". The last epithet is explained by the fact that in the sky before sunrise there are pink stripes, similar to the fingers of the hand, which stretches forward Eos (Aurora). The goddess held in her hands the vessels full of dew. Above her head there was a halo, a sun disc or a crown of rays. On many images the Roman goddess of the morning dawn appears holding a torch in her right hand and flying in front of the chariot of Sol (Helios) - the god of the sun - and leading him along.

Sometimes it is portrayed flying in the sky riding on Pegasus and scattering flowers around them. In the pictures with Eos-Aurora you can often see a bright morning horizon and receding night clouds. Ancient myths explain the crimson or crimson light of the dawn by the fact that the beautiful goddess was very passionate, and the sky was shy of the nights she spent with beloved boys.

Eos-Aurora and her beloved

The love for which the goddess of the dawn was famous was manifested in her desire for earthly and mortal young men. This weakness was the consequence of the spells that were imposed on her by another inhabitant of Olympus - the goddess of love Aphrodite, who was seized with anger and jealousy after Eos shared the bed with Ares, the beloved of Aphrodite. Since then, subject to the charms, the dawn goddess fell in love only with mortals, whose youth and beauty inevitably withered with the years.

Eos and Titon

The feeling of love and passion for the earthly youths was both a blessing and a curse for the immortal Eos. The goddess fell in love, but was not always happy. A sad story is told in the myth about her and her beloved Titone, the son of a Trojan king.

Flushing with feelings for a beautiful young man, she abducted him and carried her on her heavenly chariot to the eastern edge of the Ocean, to Ethiopia. There, Titon became king, and also the husband of the beautiful goddess, who gave birth to his beloved son, the demigod of Memnon.

Being immortal and wishing to prolong her happiness forever, Eos asked the supreme god Zeus to grant immortality to Titon. However, according to the absent-mindedness peculiar to lovers, the pink goddess forgot to specify that the young man should become not only immortal, but also remain forever young. Because of this fatal mistake, the happiness of Eos and Titon did not last long.

The human age is short in comparison with the eternity of the life of the deity - soon the head of the beloved was covered with gray hair, and yesterday's youth turned into a decrepit old man. He could no longer be the husband of the goddess, still young and beautiful. At first, Eos suffered greatly from the fact that she could do nothing: she herself asked for eternal life, but not for eternal youth for Titon. Then she was tired of taking care of the immortal old man, and she closed it in the bedroom, so as not to see.

According to one version of the myth, Tithon was later turned into a cricket by a squeezed Zeus, according to another version - Eos himself, and on the third - he eventually dried up, being locked away from the eyes, and turned with a cricket to live in old houses and hum of raspy Voice his sad song.

Eos and Kefal

Another myth tells of the love of the beautiful goddess to the mortal young man Cefalu. At first this passion was not mutual, and Kefal rejected Eos. Confounded by his refusal, the goddess lost interest in everything and even ceased to fulfill her daily duty - every morning to accompany the sun to the sky. The world was ready to plunge into darkness and chaos, but all saved Cupid, who shot an arrow into the heart of Kefal. So the goddess has found the happiness of mutual love and has taken her lover to her heaven.

Eos (Aurora) - the goddess of ancient mythology, carrying dawn and leading the sun. Without a doubt, the morning in the representation of the ancient Greeks and Romans was considered a very beautiful and poetic time of the day, as the goddess was portrayed as invariably beautiful and young, as well as amorous and passionate.