List of night deities

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The Norse night goddess Nótt riding her horse, in a 19th-century painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo

A night deity is a god or goddess in mythology associated with night, the night sky, or darkness. They commonly feature in polytheistic religions. The following is a list of night deities in various mythologies.

Arabian

Aztec

  • Lords of the Night, a group of nine gods, each of whom ruled over a particular night
  • Itzpapalotl - fearsome skeletal goddess of the stars
  • Metztli, god or goddess of the moon, night and farmers
  • Tezcatlipoca, god of the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war and strife
  • Yohaulticetl, lunar goddess known as the "Lady of the Night"

Canaanite

Egyptian

  • Apep, the serpent god, deification of evil and darkness
  • Kuk, personification of the primordial darkness
  • Nephthys, goddess of night as well as death and birth

Etruscan

  • Artume, (also called Aritimi, Artames, or Artumes), Etruscan goddess of night

Greek

  • Asteria, goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars.
  • Erebus, primordial god of darkness and consort of Nyx.
  • Hecate, goddess of magic, witchcraft, ghosts and necromancy.
  • Nyx, primordial goddess of night.
  • Achlys, primordial goddess of eternal night, misery and sorrow.
  • Artemis, goddess of hunting, and young women. Associated with the night.
  • Selene, goddess of the moon.
  • Phobetor, god of nightmares.
  • Morpheus, god of night dreams.
  • Hypnos, god of sleep.

Hindu

  • Ratri, goddess of night
  • Chandra, god of the moon
  • Rahu, a celestial deity of darkness and eclipse
  • Varuna, god of the sky, ruler of all other sky gods

Lithuanian

  • Breksta, goddess of twilight and dreams, who protects people from sunset to sunrise

Māori

Norse

  • Nótt, female personification of night

Roman

  • Nox, primordial goddess of night; equivalent to the Greek goddess Nyx
  • Scotus, primordial god of darkness; equivalent to the Greek god Erebus
  • Summanus, god of nocturnal thunder
  • Diana, goddess of the moon, hunting, and the wild, equivalent to Artemis.
  • Somnus, god of dreams, equivalent to Hypnus.
  • Trivia, goddess of sorcery, ghosts, tombs, death, and torches, equivalent to Hecate.
  • Luna, goddess of the moon, equivalent to Selene.
  • Latona, an equivalent to the goddesses Leto and Asteria.

Slavic

  • Zorya, two guardian goddesses, representing the morning and evening stars.

See also