In Greek mythology, Eos was the goddess of the dawn. Though, like other primordial gods, she was not widely worshiped by the ancient Greeks, Eos was nevertheless essential to the Greek understanding of the universe, playing an important role in mythology. Perhaps one of the most famous aspects of Eos’ mythology is her unending lust for mortal men, which is reflected in the myths of Tithonus and Cephalus. She also had a small role to play in the Gigantomachy and the Homeric epics.
Who Was Eos in Greek Mythology?
According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Eos is the daughter of the Titans Theia and Hyperion. Her brother is Helios, the sun god, and her sister Selene, the moon goddess. He also says that Eos “shines upon all the Earth and upon the immortal gods who hold the wide sky (372-373). By the Titan Astraios, Eos bore the children Zephyros (the west wind), Boreas (the north wind), Eurus (the east wind), and Notos (the south wind). She also has the title of Erigeneia, “Early-Born.” As Eirigeneia, she had borne the star Eosphoros, “Dawn-Bringer.”
Outside of Greek mythology, the name “Eos” shares a common etymological root with other gods and goddesses of the dawn, such as Vedic Ushas, Lithuanian Aušrinė, and the Roman goddess Aurora, all of which stem from the much older Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess Hewsos. The Etruscan equivalent is the dawn goddess Thesan. Unlike Eos, it appears Thesan enjoyed significant worship and received offerings regularly, often in tandem with the Etruscan sun god Usil. A notable place of worship for her was at the harbor at Pyrgi, where a temple to her was discovered.
Every morning, Eos awakens to open the gates for her brother Helios to ride his golden chariot across the sky and bring light to the world. In Greek mythology, there are varying accounts of whether or not Eos accompanies Helios throughout the day.
In Homer’s Iliad, one of the two main epics of Greek mythology, Eos is said to wear a “robe of saffron,” and is given the epithet of “rosy-fingered,” or Eos “Rhododactylos” (1.477). She is similarly described as the “Dawn of the rosy fingers” in the Odyssey (1.121).
Eos and the Myth of Cephalus
Eos, at least in the surviving literature of Greek mythology, is cursed by the goddess Aphrodite to have an insatiable lust for mortal men as punishment for having an affair with the god Ares, whom Aphrodite was known to have a relationship with. Thus, despite being married to and having borne children with the titan Astraios, Eos is continually having affairs with men.
To Cephalus, Eos bore Phaethon. In his youth, Eos abducted Cephalus in emulation of Zeus’ abduction and rape of Ganymede. This story interested Athenian audiences, as he was reportedly a boy from Athens. This myth was, therefore, a common depiction in Athenian vase paintings. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid describes Cephalus as having been abducted in Syria when he was hunting. Cephalus was already married to the Athenian princess Procris. Eos and Cephalus are reported to have two children, Phaethon and Hesperus (the evening star).
Cephalus began to yearn for his wife Procris, and so when Eos returned him to her, she did so having sown doubt in his mind that Procris had not remained faithful to him. Cephalus then asked Eos to use her powers to change him into a stranger so he could test Procris’ faithfulness. When the disguised Cephalus propositioned Procris, she initially declined. But when he offered her money, she agreed to his advances. Cephalus felt hurt by Procris’ betrayal, and Procris felt ashamed for her actions, so they agreed to go their separate ways.
Eos and the Myth of Tithonus
By the Trojan Tithonus, Eos bore Emathion and Memnon. The former was killed by Herakles during his 11th labor. The latter was a warrior of exceptional skill and king of the Ethiopians who led his armies to Troy to help defend the city from the Greeks. In the end, he was slain by Achilles’ spear. In an act of mourning, Eos made the light of her brother Helios, god of the sun, fade out and begged Nyx, the goddess of night, to blanket the world in darkness so she could take her son’s body from the battlefield undetected by the armies fighting (Philostratus of Lemnos, Imagines, 1.7.2). With the help of Hypnos, god of sleep, and Thanatos, death, Eos transported Memnon’s body back to Ethiopia. Eos asked Zeus to make her son immortal, to which Zeus obliged (Proclus, summary of the Aithiopis, 2).
Eos also requested that her lover Tithonus be granted immortality, a request which Zeus obliged. However, she forgot to ask that Tithonus also be granted agelessness. He is eventually reduced to an incoherent and shriveled wreck as the effects of eternal aging take their toll. In the end, Eos locks Tithonus in a chamber. Eos and Tithonus is a story as old as Homer, and in the Odyssey, Eos is even described as rising from the bed of Tithonus to bring light to the world (5.1).
The story is also known as the “Old Age Poem” by Sappho, pieced together from many different fragments. A version of the story from Hieronymus of Rhodes shifts the blame to Tithonus himself. In this version, it was Tithonus, and not Eos, who requested he be granted immortality but not agelessness. Propertius wrote that Eos never abandoned Tithonus and instead cared for him while cursing the cruelty of the gods (Propertius, Elegies, 2.18A 5-22).
Eos on the Gigantomachy Relief From Pergamon
Eos also played a role in the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the Olympian gods. Gaia, the Earth goddess, learned of a prophecy that stated that the Giants would be destroyed in the war at the hands of a mortal. In an effort to prevent this, Gaia sought to find a special herb that would protect the giants from all harm.
Zeus, in his effort to overthrow the giants, commanded Eos and her siblings, Selene and Helios, not to shine so that Gaia could not find the herb. Thus Zeus would be able to wage war on and destroy the giants. Eos is depicted on the Pergamon Altar, which depicts scenes from the Gigantomachy, riding a horse ahead of her brother Helios, a slain giant underneath the horse’s hooves.
Symbols of Eos
In her depictions in ancient Greek art, Eos is often shown spreading dew from an urn, holding a torch, or riding her chariot. She is often winged and wearing a mantle and a tunic. Depictions of her romantic escapades typically show her with a young hunter, identified as Cephalus, or with a young man playing the lyre, identified as Tithonus.
A red-figure rhyton, a conical cup often in the shape of an animal head or horn, depicts Eos carrying off a naked boy, who is possibly meant to be Cephalus. Her wings elevate her just slightly above the ground. Tithonus is also sometimes depicted attempting to ward off the pursuing Eos with a lyre or spear.
There are no known temples, shrines, or other cult places of worship to Eos that are known. Aurora, the Roman equivalent to Eos, says this in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: “… through all the world my temples are so few” (13.592-593). This seems to confirm that she was not widely cultivated.
Eos in the Orphic Hymns
In the Orphic Hymns, Eos is addressed in hymn 78 To Dawn. The singer of the hymn describes Eos as being loved by mortals for casting off the darkness of the night: “The race of mortal men delights in you” (8-9). With the end of the night comes: “joy for every mortal” (11-12). Eos is also described as one who “tends” to the lives of mortal men by giving them light, which allows them to work and thus sustain their lives and families (6-7), since: “All blessings that come from work are your gift” (14-15).
Ovid has a different interpretation of Dawn’s light in Amores, in which the speaker launches a tirade against the goddess for rousing men and beasts to work, allowing various functions of the city and the household to resume, and most importantly for ending the nightly romantic rendezvous of lovers.
The position of the hymn To Dawn within the Orphic Hymns is also notable. It is placed towards the end of the cycle, and if the hymns were meant to be sung in order throughout the night, then the hymn to Dawn would probably have been sung just as dawn began to break. The hymn To Night, by contrast, is positioned right at the beginning. Whereas most hymns describe a deity as light, this is the only Orphic hymn that calls upon a deity to provide light to the initiates, indicating Eos’ functional role as the bringer of dawn.
