Eos is the second generation Titan Goddess and personification of the dawn according to Greek Mythology.
Genealogy and Family[]
Eos is the daughter of Hyperion, the Titan god of light and Theia, the Titan goddess of sight. She has an older brother named Helios and an older sister named Selene, who are the sun and moon Titan gods. Eos married Astraeus, the Titan God of the dawn and with him she had the Anemoi (Wind Gods), Astraea and The Stars. Eos had an affair with Ares and had several mortal lovers, including Prince Tithonus of Troy and King Cephalus of Athens and had demi god children with them, Memnon and Emaithon with Tithonus and Phaethon, Tithonus and Hesperus with Cephalus.
Role and Significance[]
Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who was responsible for bringing each new day, dispersing the darkness of the night.
She was rarely worshipped in Ancient Greece. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, she describes herself as inferior to all the other gods, bemoaning the fact that, “through all the world / my temples are so few.” Though Eos may have had a handful of temples or altars in ancient Greece or Rome, no knowledge of them remains.
Story[]
Eos once had an affair with Ares, the god of war and this made Aphrodite- the most devoted love of Ares curse Eos to fall in love with handsome mortal men. One of the men she fell in love with was named Prince Tithonus of Troy, whom she brought up to her realm, she asked Zeus to give him immortality which Zeus granted, however forgot to ask Zeus to give him eternal youth, she had two sons with Prince Tithonus, Memnon, the future king of Troy and Emaithon, the future King of Ethiopia. Due to Tithonus having no eternal youth he grew old though turned into the first cricket instead of dying.
Appearance and Personality[]
Eos is described as a woman with delicate and fragile beauty which is in total contrast to the carnal and rapacious nature that was often attributed to her in myth and literature, with her abducting the men she fell in love in a similar way to male gods such as Zeus and Poseidon with their love interests.
Eos was almost always described with rosy fingers or rosy forearms as she opened the gates of heaven for the Sun to rise. In Homer, her saffron-colored robe is embroidered or woven with flowers; while the singer in the Homeric Hymn to Helios calls her ῥοδόπηχυν (ACC), "rosy-armed" as does Sappho, who also describes her as having golden arms and golden sandals; rosy-fingered and with golden arms, she is pictured on Attic vases as a beautiful woman, crowned with a tiara or diadem and with the large white-feathered wings of a bird. Mesomedes of Crete used χιονοβλέφαρος for her, "she who has snow-white eyelids", while Ovid described her as "golden".
Eos' mount is a chariot driven by two horses.
Skills and Abilities[]
Eos has eternal youth and immortality like all the major deities, she also has perfect health- immunity to any diseases and illnesses and does not require sleep, Eos can also fly, bring the dawn as well as ride and control a chariot.
Symbols[]
The Goddess' symbols are the saffron, a cloak, tiara and roses. Her sacred animals are the Memnonides bird, the cicada and horse. Her colours are gold, white, pink, red and saffron.
Names and Epithets[]
Relationships[]
Hyperion and Theia-
Selene
Helios
Nyx
Hemera
Aphrodite- Eos is partially responsible for the birth of Aphrodite.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
Her Greek name is Ηως it means 'dawn'.
Her Roman Equivalent is Aurora.