The study of ancient mythology is a fascinating activity. The ancient Greeks believed that on Mount Olympus lives a host of gods and goddesses who rule 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), others for natural objects and phenomena (day, night, stars, dawn, sea, fire, earth, wind).
Greek and Roman Pantheon
Following the Greeks, the same Olympic gods began to be worshiped by the Romans, who adopted many elements of culture from the Greeks. If we talk about the differences between the ancient Greek and Roman gods, then they are very insignificant and relate only to names. For example: Artemis - Diana, Poseidon - Neptune, Athena - Minerva, Zeus - Jupiter, etc.
As for the functions, family trees of the tree and the relationship of gods and goddesses, all this was completely transferred from Greek mythology to Roman. So the ancient Greek pantheon became ancient Roman, changing only the names of gods and goddesses.
Place of Eos (Aurora) in the family tree
Initially, 12 divine creatures inhabited Olympus: 6 men and 6 women. They became the progenitors of the next generations of gods and goddesses. In one of the branches of the pedigree, coming from the oldest gods, the goddess of the morning dawn Eos (or, according to the ancient Roman tradition, Aurora) was born. It is believed that all the ancient goddesses are carriers of various feminine qualities and traditionally performed roles: mother, wife, daughter.
Eos (Aurora), the goddess of the morning dawn, is a representative of the third generation of the Olympic gods. Her parents were titanium Hyperion and titanium Teyya. The name Aurora comes from the Latin word aura, which means "the predawn breeze." The goddess’s brother is Helios, and his sister is Selena.
From her marriage to the starry sky titanium Astraeus, all night stars were born, as well as all the winds: the formidable and cold Borey (north), the fog bearing Noth (south), the marshmallow warm and coming with rains Zephyr (west) and the fickle Evr (east).
Goddess images
The goddess of the morning dawn is called to bring daylight first to Olympus, then to the earth, first to the gods, then to people. The Greeks believed that Eos lives in Ethiopia (on the eastern edge of the Ocean), and enters the sky through a silver gate.
As a rule, the goddess was portrayed in red-yellow (or “saffron”) robes and with wings behind her back. Often she flew across the sky in a chariot drawn by a deuce or quadriga of white horses (sometimes winged, sometimes not). One of the horses was named Lampos, the other - Phaeton.
Homer called the goddess Eos "beautifully curly" and "pink-mottled." The last epithet is explained by the fact that in the sky before sunrise, pink stripes appear, similar to the fingers of a hand, which is stretched forward by Eos (Aurora). The goddess held in her hands vessels full of dew. A halo, a sun disk, or a crown of rays shone above her head. In 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 behind him.
Sometimes she is portrayed flying in the sky on horseback in Pegasus and scattering flowers around her. In the paintings of Eos Aurora, you can often see a brightening morning horizon and receding night clouds. Ancient myths explain the scarlet or crimson light of dawn by the fact that the beautiful goddess was very passionate, and the sky was embarrassed by the nights that she spent with her beloved young men.
Eos Aurora and her lovers
The love of love, which the goddess of the morning dawn was famous for, manifested itself in her craving for earthly and mortal young men. This weakness was the result of the charms that another Olympian inhabitant placed on her - the goddess of love Aphrodite, who was seized with anger and jealousy after Eos shared a bed with Ares, the beloved of Aphrodite. Since then, obeying the charms, the goddess of dawn fell in love only with mortals, whose youth and beauty inevitably faded over the years.
Eos and Titon
The feeling of love and passion for 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 a myth about her and her beloved Titon, the son of a Trojan king.
Inflamed with feelings for a beautiful young man, she abducted him and transferred him on her heavenly chariot over the eastern edge of the Ocean, to Ethiopia. There, Titon became the king, as well as the husband of the beautiful goddess who gave birth to his beloved son, the demigod Memnon.
Being immortal and wanting to extend her happiness forever, Eos asked the supreme god Zeus to grant immortality and Tithon. However, due to the absent-mindedness characteristic of lovers, the pink-breasted goddess forgot to clarify that the young man should not only become immortal, but also remain forever young. Because of this fatal error, the happiness of Eos and Titon did not last long.
The human age is short compared with the eternity of the life of a deity - soon the lover's head was covered with gray hair, and yesterday the young man turned into a decrepit old man. He could no longer be the husband of the goddess, still young and beautiful. At first, Eos suffered very much from the fact that she could not do anything: after all, she herself asked for eternal life, but not for eternal youth for Tithon. Then she was tired of caring for the immortal old man, and she closed it in the bedroom so as not to see it.
According to one version of the myth, Titon was subsequently turned into a cricket by pity Zeus, according to another version - Eos itself, and according to the third - he dried up over time, being locked away from his eyes, and turned into a cricket to live in old houses and humming creaky voice your sad song.
Eos and Mullet
Another myth tells of the love of the beautifully-wise goddess to the mortal youth Kefal. At first, this passion was not mutual, and Mullet rejected Eos. Struck by his refusal, the goddess lost interest in everything and even ceased to fulfill her daily duty - to see the sun to the sky every morning. The world was ready to plunge into darkness and chaos, but Cupid saved everyone, firing an arrow in the heart of Mullet. So the goddess gained the happiness of mutual love and lifted her lover to heaven.
Eos (Aurora) - the goddess from ancient mythology, bringing dawn and leading the sun. Without a doubt, the morning in the view of the ancient Greeks and Romans was considered a very beautiful and poetic time of day, since the goddess was depicted as invariably beautiful and young, as well as amorous and passionate.