The primordial powers
- Looks after
- Day
- Roman name
- Dies
Hemera
Ἡμέρα
Hemera is Day, a child of Erebus and Nyx and the sister of Aether.
Hemera is the daylight itself, personified as a goddess. Hesiod makes her the daughter of Erebus and Nyx, and says that she and her mother cross paths at the threshold of Tartarus: when one goes out the other comes in, so they are never in the house together.
In the family tree she is the sister of Aether. In some late accounts the two together produce Gaia, Uranus and the sea. She does not figure in many myths, and she should not be confused with Eos, the Titaness of the dawn.
In later art and language
Greek hemera lives on in words such as ephemeral, meaning lasting only a day.
The ancient evidence for Hemera is limited, so this page is short on purpose.
Ancient sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 124-125, 748-757