Dies (deity)

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Dies
Primordial goddess of the day
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Day (1881).jpg
Hemera/Dies (1881) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Consort Aether
Parents Scotus and Nox
Siblings Aether
Children Caelus
Thalassa
Terra
Greek equivalent Hemera

In Roman mythology Dies ("day") was the personification of day, and the Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Hemera, the daughter of Nox (Night) and Scotus (Darkness).

She is the goddess of the daytime and, according to Hesiod, the daughter of Erebus and Nyx (the goddess of night).[1] Hemera is remarked upon in Cicero's De Natura Deorum, where it is logically determined that Dies (Hemera) must be a god, if Uranus is a god.[2] The poet Bacchylides states that Nyx and Chronos are the parents, but Hyginus in his preface to the Fabulae mentions Chaos as the mother/father and Nyx as her sister.

She was the female counterpart of her brother and consort, Aether (Light), but neither of them figured actively in myth or cult. Hyginus lists their children as Uranus, Gaia, and Thalassa (the primordial sea goddess), while Hesiod only lists Thalassa as their child.

References

  1. Hesiod. Theogony, 124-125.
  2. Cicero. De Natura Deorum, 3.17.

External links