Nyx: Darkness before Dawn

The darkness that is Nyx.

To Nyx (Night)

Fumigation with Torches.

Nyx, parent goddess,

Source of sweet repose from whom at first both Gods and men arose.

Hear, blessed Kypris [Aphrodite], decked with starry light,

In sleep’s deep silence dwelling ebon night!

Dreams (oneiroi) and soft ease attend thy dusky train,

Pleased with the lengthened gloom and feastful strain,

Dissolving anxious care, the friend of mirth,

With darkling coursers riding round the earth.

Goddess of phantoms and of shadowy play,

Whose drowsy power divides the natural day;

By Fate’s decree you constant send

the light to deepest hell, remote from mortal sight;

For dire necessity (ananke), which nought withstands,

invests the world with adamantine bands.

Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant’s prayer,

desired by all, whom all alike revere,

blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid

dispel the fears of twilight’s dreadful shade.

–Orphic Hymn 3 to Nyx (Source)

Unlike the other Hellenic goddesses who are all bright and cheery and clad in radiant gowns, Nyx was a dark figure so awesome even the greatest of the gods made a run for his money. As Wiki puts it:

Her appearances in mythology are sparse, but reveal her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty. 

Tsk, tsk. So much badassness.

Nocturnal Relations

In the ancient cosmogonies, Nyx (Roman Nox) was one of the very first created beings emerging from the void; a daughter of Chaos, and a sister of Erebus, Gaea and Tartarus. Sometimes, she was even represented as the mother, sister or daughter of the creator god Phanes (T’was hard to tell – no one else was present during the time!). Three generations before Zeus ‘n the gang, two before the Titans came on the scene; Nyx is ancient stuff, guys.

Following the custom of those times (or she didn’t really had much choice), Nyx married her brother, the equally dark Erebus. Together, they parented quite a handful of children:

• Aether (Brightness);
• Hemera (Day);
• Charon (Ferryman of the Dead);
• Eleos (Mercy);
• Epiphron (Sagacity); and
• Sophrosyne (Temperance)

However, Nyx did not seem satisfied with just making love with her husband. And so, without the help of any man, she spawned a brood of other kids. Most of her later children, though, seemed to have represented the ‘darker’ aspects of humanity (Really, the adjectives used to describe them were not particularly morale boosters). They were:

• Achlys (Death Mist);
• Apate (Deceit);
• Dolos (Deceit);
• “Hard-hearted” Eris (Strife);
• “Hateful” Geras (Old Age);
• Hybris (Insolence);
•  Hypnos (Sleep);
• “Black” Keres (Violent Deaths);
• Lyssa (Madness);
• Momus (Mockery);
• “Hateful” Morus (Doom);
• “Painful” Oizys (Misery);
• Philotes (Friendship);
• Ponus (Toil); and
• Thanatos (Death);

(The lists I had in hand were so varying I had to settle with my own list. There are a few who I believe have more reputable parents, so I didn’t put them here. Please let me know what you think!)

Mama knows best. That’s already a lot of children to keep track of; but Nyx still proved to be a protective mother to her children, though.

Love this photo? See more here.

One incident in the Iliad talks of Hypnos having offended Zeus for making him fall asleep in the middle of a war (Not a very wise move, man). Zeus was furious and would have smitten Hypnos into the sea had he not fled to Nyx, his mother, in fear. Zeus, fearing to anger Nyx, held his fury at bay, and in this way Hypnos escaped his wrath.

This badass mother may be one of the few, if not the only god Zeus would defer to, especially after a little show of her power.

Dark Matriarch

Then again, we cannot blame Zeus for being afraid of this goddess. Most of the oldest accounts say more about her than being just a goddess under the weather. And so, I thought this part could use this song:

The ancients considered Nyx as one of the most powerful divine beings. She was a first principle entity, and she was believed to be omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, and drives all things to their ends (Ooh, creepy).

What’s more? She was the second in the evolutionary progression of the dynasties of the Vasilei (“Kings”) to whom the first ruler of the cosmos, Phanes, gave his royal scepter. As a queen,  Nyx was said to be very unpredictable and tended to display an aura of tranquility and threat at the same time. Homer even called her

the subduer of gods and men

and related that Zeus himself stood in awe of her.

Lastly, like any other queen, Her Imperial Majesty was a bit narcissistic and enjoyed wearing jewelry (especially those made of moonstone and agate, she said), and was rarely found without any form of precious stone adornment.

The 'Night Shift'

Nyx herself was the primeval substance of darkness; the power that stood in the beginning of creation, a dark veil of mist drawn forth from the underworld which blotted out the light of Aether (shining upper atmosphere).

Simply said, she was the goddess of the night and the mistress of darkness.

I made this myself and named it Tag Ein Nacht (Day and Night)...
even though I don't speak German, Lieblings.

According to God Checker:

Every evening she coaxes him [Erebus, her husband] out to spread his gloomy darkness, which obscures the shining AETHER and lets the stars come out to play. It's up to daughter HEMERA to waft away the darkness every morning to let the sun shine.

As days could not be counted if dark-robed Nyx would not come between them, night and day become, in a certain way, equals. Records showed that the two goddesses live in one mansion (which I’ll be touring you later), although they did nothing together but greet each other every day (and night). According to the Greek-Gods:

Nyx used to reside in her home all day long, taking care of her dark spirited children. But when the evening set in, Nyx was leaving her home to set off for her nightly journey. Just as Hemera entered it, Nyx left.

When one, either night or day, crosses the earth, the other will wait at home. They will greet each other only at the threshold where Atlas holds up heaven. Wiki says that this mirrors the portrayal of Ratri (night) in the Rigveda, where she works in close cooperation but also tension with her sister Ushas (dawn). Hmm. Tension. Nice choice of words.

House of Night. First off, I would like to apologize for ripping off the title of P.C. Cast’s vampire series. I have never actually read the books, but I heard they’re quite good.

(For the information of us all, Nyx had a part in the series as the goddess of vampyres and night honored through the Full Moon Ritual and had the ability to bless vampires with the gift of ‘affinity,’ whatever that is. Thanks House of Night Wiki!)

Back to Nyx’s home:

“There also stands the gloomy house of Night;

ghastly clouds shroud it in darkness.

Before it Atlas stands erect and on his head

and unwearying arms firmly supports the broad sky,

where Night and Day cross a bronze threshold

and then come close and greet each other.”

(Hesiod, Theogony, 744 ff.) 

So, yeah, the goddess owned a gloomy but very HUGE manor house in the far west of Tartarus. Her whole estate spread around the pit in triple line like a necklace. Maicar’s Greek Mythology Link also said that at her gates and above it are the sources and ends of heaven, earth and sea, and it is told that if a man should find himself inside the gates, he would not reach the bottom for one year, being carried by blasts in all directions.

(Her home could have been a nice feature for magazines featuring celebrity homes. Too bad, she doesn’t seem to be a very hospitable host!)

Anyway, her Palace was made of the most exquisite black marble, with white marble streaks through. Central columns run the lobby towards the main reception hall, with black cat statues lining the outer walls.

Inside the main reception hall, a solid black ivory throne padded with blackened silk sits on a raised dais. A table with ambrosia and wine sits next to it within arm's reach. Set into the wall behind and coming out to form a roof over the throne is a blackened knurled branch upon which owls perch during audiences, while black cats can rest on a thick wool rug laid out at the base of the throne. (Very detailed, eh? Special thanks to this!)

Night’s unlit abilities. Being a sinister goddess could not have been all that bad for Nyx. With this office also came her divine authority and absolute control over darkness, so-called Umbrakinesis. With this power, she gained the ability to create both extreme darkness and light. But it doesn’t just refer to a typical power shortage we sometimes experience – her darkness can enshroud souls of her choice, leading them to catatonia in an instant. She can easily hypnotize both mortals and immortals by just the sight of her eyes and her voice.

Bringing her twin sons Thanatos and Hypnos along during her night time strolls (she rides her own celestial chariot, BTW), Nyx gave either sleep or death to the un/luckiest recipients. Her kiss was said to be fatal to men. Also, she can manipulate dreams to a limited extent, but she tried not to abuse that power.

Now this is one accurate pie chart!
Thanks Cheezburger!

The goddess was also said to brew a powerful sleep mixture that causes mortals to fall unconscious for 8 hours at a time within moments of use (Source). Now that’s one fool-proof cure from insomnia (Or teens on the internet)!

On a more cosmic note, Nyx has got the ability to control the movement and rotation of planets (enabling her to change the flow of night and day), known as Circadian Manipulation. Owing from her husband’s domain, she traveled the world through shadows and mists, and morphed herself into living darkness.

Alas for Nyx, she had also become a convenient suspect any inexplicable or frightening thing that befell man. She was attributed with the powers over illness, suffering, misfortunes, quarrels, war and murder. How unfair is that?

A Series of Unfortunate Events just seemed right, eh?

The dame is a drama queen. Nyx was one dark, dangerous and voluptuous woman. Would it surprise you if I say that that she was also a diva? This could have been the reason why the evening slots on TV were called primetime.

Kidding aside, Nyx, as the indisputable embodiment of the night, also presided over all that happens after dark. Hence, spies, fugitives, thieves, murderers and secret lovers (and some say, vampires) were put under her special protection. She was known to 'deliberately enshroud them in a cloak of mystery.' Seriously, this lot could use a little help. And so Nyx becomes their fitting patron.

Foretelling the Forthcoming

Aside from her regular ‘night shift’, Nyx also did some prophesying on the side. It is in this manner that she possessed an oracle at Megara, the chief city of Megaris in Southern Greece (Source) and was affiliated with owls and bats (another Source).

(I am speculating that she got this power from the strange hermaphroditic demiurge called Phanes by the Orphics. It was he who, some say, made Nyx the supreme ruler of prophetic power.)

Nyx occupied a cave or adyton wherein she gave hints of the future. The industry was great and business was booming. At one time, she got her niece the Titaness Rhea to be her primary endorser. Outside the cave, the princess clashed cymbals and beat upon her tympanon, moving the entire universe in an ecstatic dance to the rhythm of Nyx's chanting.

(A post-Titanomachy alternate myth said that the Titan Cronus was chained within it, asleep and drunk on honey –where he dreams and prophesies.)

Not a Bad Night!

As a very dark and brooding figure, Nyx became an enigmatic and widely feared hell of a woman. The titles Deadly, Terror-bringing, Dark, and Murky did not quite help in promoting her character. But Nyx was not all bad news.

In actuality, many people consider the coming of the night as a welcome relief after a day’s work (This one really struck me). In this guise, Nyx was worshipped with the epithets Hosia or Holy and Phylia or Kindly.

The sign of Islam.
Got this here.

I’ve also read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that Nyx was worshipped as a goddess of light in some places in Africa. This could be true since aside from darkness, she also represented the starlight of night (read Nyx Poikileimôn, “spangle-robed Night”). It is in this guise that Nyx adopted the crescent moon and star as her emblem (quite similar to the symbol of modern Islam, eh?).

Nyx was not the philanthropic and humanitarian kind of goddess, yet she still does often provide lost mariners with help in the form of the constellation Ara or the Altar should they heed her favoring signs.

Lastly, night is also the time for inspiration and it is told that the muses sing during night-time their praises to the gods and Nyx on Mount Helicon.

Now everybody wants to be night goddess!

Other 'Nyx Knacks'

Just so you know, this is
free advertising. Hoho

Like many other Greek deities, Nyx has also donated her name to a celestial object (Oh, wow!). Previously known as S/2005 P1, Nix is this gloomy moon that circles the remote planetoid Pluto in a suitably shadowy and mysterious manner (Source). The name was spelled with an "i" instead of a "y", to avoid conflict with previously named asteroid 3908 Nyx.

Earlier in 1997, the International Astronomical Union approved the name Nyx for a mons (mountain/peak) feature on the planet Venus. Nyx Mons is located at latitude 30° North and longitude 48.5° East on the Venusian surface. Its diameter is 875 km, according to Wikipedia.

And, finally, back on earth, girls may find the goddess in their favorite make up under the name Nyx Cosmetics.

That’s about it… and good night!

Phanes: Shedding Light to ‘New Life’

I hope I got it right Phanes Protogonus.

To Protogonos [i.e. Phanes]

Fumigation from Myrrh.

O mighty Protogonos (First-Begotten), hear my prayer,

twofold, egg-born, and wandering through the air;

bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings,

from whom the race of Gods and mortal springs.

Ericapaeus, celebrated power,

ineffable, occult, all-shining flower.

‘Tis thine from darksome mists to pure the sight,

all-spreading splendour, pure and holy light;

hence, Phanes, called the glory of the sky,

on waving pinions through the world you fly.

Priepos, dark-eyed splendour, thee I sing,

genial, all-prudent, ever blessed king.

With joyful aspect on these rites divine

and holy consecration (telete) propitious shine."

- Orphic Hymn to Phanes (Source)

This one is among my most favorite gods in underground Greek mythology. Like most of the other Protogenoi, Phanes did not quite reach the mainstream celebrity status of the much younger gods at these present times. Nevertheless, it did not stop him from being one of the most important deities. Just so you know, Phanes’ awesomeness was enough to create order in the early chaotic universe… from a broken egg shell, literally.

Before anything else: the Orphic ‘mystery’. The myths of Phanes came from a set of beliefs known to us as Orphic Mysteries. However, whether this was just a sect of the Hellenismos (the belief in the Olympian Gods) or a different religion entirely, I am not so sure. The mysteries were said to have been named after the mythical bard, Orpheus, who was said to have established them himself.

According to Timeless Myths:

Behind the myth, is the religion of salvation for the human soul.

(Beautiful! I am a Catholic, and I’ve always believed in salvation, too!)

Birth of the 'First-Born'

Phanes was a divinity representing the first principle of life. He was generally received by the people and the gods alike as Protogonus, meaning “the first-born.” However, since there are so many conflicting stories about creation, there also so many different stories of how Phanes was… well… born first (Seriously, being the obsessive compulsive person that I am, the thought of so many conflicts makes my head ache).

And so, I had to settle to that one version that I had read from a blog called The Mirror Palace (which is also an attempt to reconcile varying myths. Thank you for making my work so much easier!). It goes like this:

… In the beginning, and for unknowable eons, all that existed was Chaos; the deep mists of the void. Chaos existed, and nothing else: she did not breathe, she did not think, she did not live. And yet stirring in her misty womb—perhaps over hundreds of thousands of years; perhaps for even longer—were the Protogenos gods Ananke and Khronos-Aeon. Nature, of course, abhors a vacuum; and so it was the eternal pull of inevitability that pulsed together in the barely-there body of Chaos until, finally, the moment arose and Ananke and Khronos-Aeon were born, tangled together.

From Khronos-Aeon and Ananke’s violent, and yet utterly sexless, embrace, Phanes’ egg was produced; it grew in Ananke’s womb until the time came for it to emerge. And yet there was, truly, no way for the egg to emerge: there was yet no Phanes, no Protogenos pull to reproduce – and so they could not, did not, reproduce. It was only when Phanes hatched from his egg, deep in Ananke’s body, that they became truly, sexually formed: and at that moment, Ananke was torn apart by the immense pressure of generation, life, sex – the immense pressure that was Phanes. Thus, now, Ananke’s divinity rested with Khronos’ still, but she was utterly formless—more so, even, than Chaos.

I imagined Gundam Seed's Seed Mode just by reading this. Yay! 

Phanes’ arrival—his necessary arrival—into the cosmos kicked everything into action. The other Protogenos offspring that had been stirring within Chaos were instantly born – Erebus, Nyx, Tartarus and Gaea; darkness, night, the stormy pit beneath the earth and the earth itself, respectively. Phanes pulsed, everywhere: the Protogenos gods crashed together and life exploded in the far-reaching darkness of the cosmos.

Smooth and easy, eh?

A Fan's Guide to Phanes

It was not only the Orphics who venerated Phanes so much. The Romans also honored him as the FABRICATOR MUNDI (World’s Creator). Considering his importance in the mythological history, it was just natural for this guy to have quite a huge fan base.

I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!

I’m the king of the world! (The line stayed with me since the first time I watched Titanic. Teehee. Sorry.)

As the creator god, Phanes crowned himself as the first king of the universe (Well, without anyone else in the cosmos, who was there to disagree?). I have also read somewhere that he started the evolutionary progression of the dynasties of the Vasilei (“Kings”), which must have included Nyx, then Uranus, then Cronus and finally, Zeus.

He possessed cosmic powers that brought light into the darkness and order out of chaos. It is believed that by his centuries-old battle with Chaos, the creation of birds took place as the result.

The power of love. Phanes was virtually the same as Hesiod’s Elder Eros, and different from the Younger Eros that people are more aware of. Believe me, there are so many discussions whether they’re one and the same or altogether different. For the purpose of this article, let’s just consider them as different entities, okay (read: please)?

Whereas the Younger Eros presided over desire, Phanes (as Eros, oh I’m getting tired) was the primeval god of procreation and generation of new life. It was basically what his main role in mythology was – to be the driving force behind reproduction in the early cosmos. We might as well consider him the god of love, sex, and magic:

(It was a Justin Timberlake original but this version seemed more wholesome for me and my blog. Still a catchy song isn’t it?)

With his power, he ignited passion between the gods Erebus and Nyx; which led to the universe’s first sexual intercourse, and hence, to the universe’s first child. Although Phanes had no child directly from his own seed, he still considered Nyx his own daughter. Even more so, he deemed himself to be the father of all the gods, and the creator of men and animals.

Brighter than the sun. (I swear I would have put Colbie Caillat’s song here had I not been afraid I’m exploiting YouTube already.)

Aside from being the god of the lovey-dovey thingies, Phanes also appeared as the uroboric (whatever that means) male-female deity of light and goodness. Well, it makes real sense especially when your name literally means “bringer of light.”

He was the great force which both conceals and reveals all the forms that exist in the natural world. He sometimes manifests himself as a blaze of limitless light. Figuratively speaking, he:

makes visible, gives light to, the rest of creation.  He is sometimes called light itself.

(Thanks Hellenic Gods for that one!)

His light was so powerful and encompassing that it makes Aether’s light just a camera flash and Helios’ flicker of a firefly.

The dude Phanes must have been a very private god, too. As the most reliable ancient sources claim, he uses his light to make himself invisible even through the eyes of the other gods. And so the gods started to call him Antauge or “reflecting light.”

Debating the Deity?

Discussing Phanes’ disputable nature could be a pain in a**. Seriously, the dude could have also been the god of identity crisis.

A tale of two sexes. Phanes was always being described as a beautiful bi-gendered god; not as a gay man or a gay woman or a transgender (Don’t worry, I have nothing against you); but a being literally having two sexes: a male and a female. A more proper term would be hermaphroditic (See, Phanes was a hermaphrodite even before the term was coined. He was even older than Hermes and Aphrodite themselves. Remember, Phanes is ancient stuff, guys).

Stephanie Goodart, SRC mentioned in her article Shedding Light on Some Orphic Gods:

Phanes as a hermaphroditic being represents his role as the definitive creator god. He has within him “the seed of all the gods.”

As a male, he was also called Ericapaeus, meaning power, which makes so much sense in him. Also as a male, the Orphics equated Phanes with the Elder Eros (not to be confused with Younger Eros, Aphrodite’s minion) of Hesiod's Theogony, who emerged at the beginning of time alongside Chaos and Gaea.

On the other hand, Phanes also had quite a handful of aliases as a woman. First among these was Metis (“thought”). The Titans Oceanus and Tethys must have gotten the inspiration for the name of one of their daughters from her (or him?). Under the name Thesis, Phanes became known as the primordial GODDESS of creation (I’m quite thinking of the days when Phanes had to choose whether he/she wanted to be the Phanes, the god, or Thesis the goddess, when it comes to creation). As if that’s not enough, he as her mated with another Protogenos Hydros, the 100% pure god of fresh water.

Lastly, Phanes also manifested himself as Physis, the goddess who presided over the origin and the ordering of nature. She, among all the other deities, deserved to be called MOTHER NATURE. What’s more, Physis reached the much-coveted fame in Rome as Natura, the goddess of nature.

A Trip to Persia and Rome to the world. Recent studies show a relative connection between our god Phanes and the much more popular Persian idol, Mithras.

For the benefit of every one, Mithras was a god of a mystery religion (see?) known as the Mithraic Mysteries which a quite a fascination to everyone in ancient Rome (I’m dreading that Candy Crush will reach this status in the near future. Creepy).  He was another cosmic deity who rules over light and goodness. However, owing to the cult's secrecy, modern researches possess almost no literary evidence about the beliefs of Mithraism.

According to Tertullian, there is evidence that the cult of Mithras in Rome was influenced by the Orphics’ belief in the creator god. Modern people might understand this if I say that Mithras’s story could have been a remake of Phanes’ (oh, don’t get me started in movie remakes).

In the Mithraic cult, Mithras was believed to have been born inside a rock from which all the cosmos had sprung. Mysterium (a mystery website – not a specialty store; also not a theme park attraction) says:

… the rock from which Mithras is born does indeed represent the cosmos is proven by the snake that entwines it: for this image evokes unmistakably the famous Orphic myth of the snake-entwined "cosmic egg" out of which the universe was formed when the creator-god Phanes emerged from it at the beginning of time. Indeed, the Mithraists themselves explicitly identified Mithras with Phanes, as we know from an inscription found in Rome and from the iconography of a Mithraic monument located in England.

Now, look at the sculptures:

What do you think?

Just to end this part, let’s just say that Phanes, like most of the other gods’ (whose own aspect conflictions are a theme in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series), can alter certain aspects of his persona depending on the culture of the people which worshipped him. Phanes was a supreme god after all; it shouldn’t be that hard for him. Right, eh?

And I guess that settles it.

Phanes in the Later Years: First 'Love' Never Dies

I know, I know, the title for this part’s already a cliché. But then it became very applicable for Phanes who remained an active, unseen power even after the Titanomachy.

One of the first things that Zeus did when he became boss was to secure his ultimate rule of the cosmos. He sought out Phanes to the edges of creation. This was, of course, no small feat since the creator god was invisible even through the eyes of the gods. Regardless, Zeus still found him, and devoured his Essence (really, how different is he from his father?) in order to assume his primal cosmic power and redistribute it amongst a new generation of gods--the Olympians which he sired.

I did a little extension to this story (Beware: no reliable sources, just me):

Sitting on Zeus’ belly, Phanes’ Essence as the Creator remained a sentient force. In retaliation, it put a curse on Zeus causing him the insatiable desire to create, create, and create. And hence, his multitude of children from multitude of women.

After that, it was said that Phanes’ Essence was reincarnated with Dionysus’ birth by Zeus (another looong story). In order to save the godling from getting killed by the furious Hera, Hermes snatched Dionysus from his nurse Ino. As if fate was playing a game with them, Hermes with Dionysus ran into Hera during their escape (Oh my god, this reminds me of an intense scene in a soap opera).

In a fleeting moment, Hermes disguised himself as Phanes. Not knowing about the fraudulence, Hera regarded him courteously and let him go on his way. It was also in this form that Hermes gave Dionysus in the care of Rhea in her palace on Mount Dindymene, until the boy was ready to become a full-on god.

No wonder, even the gods are Phanes aficionados.

Thalassa: Diving Deep with the Dragon Queen

Thalassa, badass mermaid.

People from across the globe have always been fascinated by stories of beautiful humanlike female beings living in an enchanting world under the sea. Likewise, the ancient Greeks worshiped a vast host of these deities. But before there were the sea celebrities Tethys, Doris, Amphitrite, and even the redhead Ariel, there was this all-powerful chick who dominated the rule of the deep.

Yes, she is Thalassa. And yes, she is not your typical little mermaid.

Birth waters. According to various ancient sources, Thalassa was the unica hija (meaning only daughter… just testing my little existent Spanish XD) of the Protogenoi Aether and Hemera. 

And although I believe that the Greek creation myth was a reasonable story which can be explained by logic and science, I still don’t understand how Light and Day together begot the Sea. I’ll really appreciate it if somebody enlightens me about this.

Anyhow, she was also called Thalatta or Thalath by her closest friends. (Source)

'Sea' the sign

The goddess Thalassa was of particular importance, in contrast with the other merfolk of myths and legends. She was the primordial female Essence of the Sea. She was waaayyyy more primitive and inhuman power than other sea goddesses we know. As such, she was often represented as having a body made of water itself.

(Science has already proven that the common mundane body is composed of 75% water. But Thalassa’s case was different. Hers was actually 100% saltwater!)

The Romans had good reason to call the Mediterranean their
sea as shown in this map of the Roman Empire, obtained here.

Her male counterpart was Pontus, the King of the Sea, son of Gaea by herself (Yes). As his wife, Thalassa was honored as the first Queen of the Sea. She must have been a very regal and stern ruler that people later nicknamed her, “the Dragon Queen.” (Or she could really transform herself into a dragon)

This title had further established her connection with the primeval Mesopotamian figure Tiamat, which I’ll be discussing later.

Anyway, she was referred to by the Romans as MARE, the female personification of the Sea. They even named the Mediterranean Sea as Mare Nostrum, meaning Our Sea (Not a very possessive lot, eh?). BTW, I read that bit in the glossary of The Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.

Motherf***er. Before you report me for using obscene language in this blog, let me clarify that the title of this section meant MOTHER FISHER, a title I personally gave to Thalassa as the creator of all sea life. So no worries. No swearing.

Moving on, Thalassa got all ‘wet’ and ‘wild’ with her mate, the equally ‘wet’ and ‘wild’ sea spirit Pontus. From their union came the tribes of fish and all the sea mammals.

We now know who to thank for THE PLENTY OF FISH IN THE SEA. (I just don't know about that online dating site). Thalassa’s the name, babies.

Aside from the fishy children that they've had, they also spawned the nine sea daemons called the Telchines. What they really are is not totally definite. Some say that they were priestly wizards; others they were demonic spirits. Either way, they were said to know a lot about forbidden magic, and even use Stygian water for their crops. The fact that they had dog heads and flipper hands would probably making you think twice about messing with them. (They’re really interesting, and I’m planning to put an article about them. In the distant future, maybe.)

Rumors had it that she was also the mother of Aphrodite. (Although, I personally believe it was Dione who was the goddess’ real mother. Read about her here.)

Thalasa is Tiamat is Thalassa

For us to understand this part, we’ll have to first identify who this Tiamat was. The name might ring a bell to Dungeons and Dragons players out there, but for everybody’s benefit, I got this brief description from the most accessible website we call Wikipedia:

Tiamat was a chaos monster, a primordial goddess of the ocean, mating with Abzû (the god of fresh water) to produce younger gods. It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is 'creatrix', through a "Sacred marriage" between salt and fresh water, peacefully creating the cosmos through successive generations. In the second "Chaoskampf" Tiamat is considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.

In trying to compare and reconcile various mythologies (an effort I really admire), researchers were able to find out a connection between the awesome Thalassa and the awful Tiamat. The Order ofTiamat says:

Tiamat was also known as Thalattē (as a variant of thalassa, the Greek word for “sea”) in the Hellenistic Babylonian Berossus’ first volume of universal history. It is thought that the name of Tiamat was dropped in secondary translations of the original religious texts (written in the East Semitic Akkadian language) because some Akkadian copyists of Enûma Elish substituted the ordinary word for “sea” for Tiamat, since the two names had become essentially the same, due to association.

However, whereas the Greeks saw Thalassa as a beautiful sea formed woman, Tiamat was represented as:

• 300 miles long, circumference of 100 ft, and a mouth that opens 10 ft.
• Undulates 6 miles high. Huge scaled body, legs, forked tongue, head and forelegs of a lion, feathered wings and eagle's hind quarters. Her skin was immune to all weapons.
• Tiamat was the female water spirit of chaos
• Primordial mother of all that is living and not and was
• Occasionally referred to as a monster of Air. (As Thalassa, this could have been plausible, being a daughter of Aether)
• In some sources she is given the ability to shapeshift.
• Symbolic of salt water, in which she lived
• Marduk himself is occasionally represented with a horned dragon at his feet. Particularly on a Babylonian cylinder seal.
• Alexander Heidel in Babylonian Genesis questions the popular view of Tiamat as a dragon.

(Source: http://www.theserenedragon.net/Tales/babylon-tiamat.html)

Thalassa may not have been very fond of the Babylonians that she appeared in that form. Or Tiamat may have been Thalassa’s early form before coming to the Greeks and starting life anew. Or mood swings cause her to change in either form. Or they may not have been connected at all.

Possibilities are endless, my dears.

The 'ebbing' sea

After a long time serving as the female sovereign of the Sea (and being identified with a female chaos monster), Thalassa retired almost in obscurity.

I made up a story (read it here) where Cronus seized Pontus’ Essence to use as his weapon during the Titanomachy. Thalassa must have been very grief-stricken back then. Thus, she was not anymore seen with the other marine deities. According to the Gods and Goddesses Blog:

While many of the sea deities were very social in their chaos, Thalassa became far more isolated.

And thus, she represented the vast, lonely sea on unpopulated coasts. As time passed by, she was mostly remembered only as the goddess of lonely shores. She slowly dissipated, and her body and her womb became one with the sea itself.

Would you forgive me if I insert this song at this point?

Teehee.

Thalassocracy, the sea goddess legacy

thal·as·soc·ra·cy

n.pl. thal·as·soc·ra·cies

Naval or commercial supremacy on the seas.

Now this is a very fitting legacy from the Dragon Queen of the Sea.

Examples of thalassocracies are the ancient powerful mercantile kingdoms of Phoenicia and Carthage, as well as the early modern empires of Portugal and Spain having the greatest navies of their time. Thanks The Free Dictionary and Wikipedia!

Thalassa also made it to our science (astronomy, geology, medicine, etc.) books and journals as:

• Thalassa, or Neptune IV, the second innermost satellite of planet Neptune (the salty connection between the names);
• Panthalassa was the vast global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea, during the late Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic years (It’s interesting to note the Gaea’s name was also used in the name Pangaea. Go primeval goddesses in science!); and
• Thalassemia, a form of inherited blood disorder that originated in the Mediterranean region (Yes! From Mare Nostrum itself!).

So much for being a low-profile sea queen, eh?