Nyx (Nux), Nox or Night personified. Homer (Il. xiv. 259, &c.) calls her the subduer of gods and men, and relates that Zeus himself stood in awe of her. In the ancient cosmogonies Night is one of the very first created beings, for she is described as the daughter of Chaos, and the sister of Erebus, by whom she became the mother of Aether and Hemera. (Hes. Theog. 123, &c.) According to the Orphics (Argon. 14) she was the daughter of Eros. She is further said, without any husband, to have given birth to Moros, the Keres, Thanatos, Hypnos, Dreams, Momus, Oizys, the Hesperides, Moerae, Nemesis, and similar beings. (Hes. Theog. 211, &c.; Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 17).
In later poets, with whom she is merely the personification of the darkness of night, she is sometimes described as a winged goddess (Eurip. Orest. 176), and sometimes as riding in a chariot, covered with a dark garment and accompanied by the stars in her course. (Eurip. Ion, 1150; Theocrit. ii. in fin.; Orph. Hymn. 2. 7; Virg. Aen. v. 721; Tibull. ii. 1. 87; Val. Flacc. iii. 211.) Her residence was in the darkness of Hades. (Hes. Theog. 748; Eurip. Orest. 175; Virg. Aen. vi. 390.) A statue of Night, the work of Rhoecus, existed at Ephesus (Paus. x. 38. § 3). On the chest of Cypselus she was represented carrying in her arms the gods of Sleep and Death, as two boys (v. 18. § 1).
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
"‘O Nyx, our dark Mother (mêter melaina)’".
"‘O mother Nyx, hear me, mother who gave birth to me as a retribution for the blind and the seeing.’"
Aeschylus, Eumenides 745 ff, Greek tragedy C5th B.C (trans. Weir Smyth)
"And now the shining light of the sun (helios) was dipped in the Okeanos (Oceanus) trailing black night (nyx) across the grain-giving land".
Homer, Iliad 8. 485 ff and 321 ff, Greek epic C8th B.C (trans. Lattimore)
The birth of the cosmos
"Radiant daughter [Hemera the Day] of Khronos (Chronos, Time) and Nyx (Night)." Bacchylides, Fragment 7, Greek lyric C5th B.C (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV)
"Verily at first Khaos (Chaos, the Gap) [Air] came to be, but next wide-bosomed Gaia (Gaea, Earth) (...) and dim Tartaros (the Pit) in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them.
From Khaos (Chaos) [Air] came forth Erebos (Erebus, Darkness) and black Nyx (Night); but of Nyx (Night) were born (Aether, Bright Upper Air) and Hemera (Day), whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebos.
And Gaia (Gaea, Earth) first bore starry Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven), equal to herself, to cover her on every side." Hesiod, Theogony 115 ff, Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C (trans. Evelyn-White)
Credits
Stefano Scarani | music, images
Laura Basterra Aparicio, Noelia Sánchez Gómez | coreography, dance
Julia Chiner | fiddle
Stefano Scarani | e.guitar, synth
Σαπφώ (Sapphō of Lesbo)| background lyrics
background voices
Alice Bertolini
Rosalba Orazi
Fabia Ricci
Antonella Simoni Valentina Verga
with Mattia Scarani Chiner
Tangatamanu and [RE]Voltes dance company | production
with the support of Laboratorio de Creación Intermedia LCI of the Universidad Politècnica de València