Aether
Aether (Aither) was a primordial deity in Greek mythology, the personification of the bright upper air in which the gods live. In Hesiod he is the son of Erebus and Nyx (Night) and the brother of Hemera (Day). The same word names the pure upper sky itself, which ancient poets distinguish from the thicker air breathed by mortals.
Family of Aether
Hesiod makes Aether a child of the first generation of the world. From Chaos came Erebus and black Night, and Night, mingling in love with Erebus, bore Aether and Hemera (Hesiod, Theogony 123–125). Aether is therefore a brother of Hemera (Day), and a descendant of Chaos. Hesiod tells no story about him and gives him no consort or children.
Family of Aether
The Upper Air
In the poets, aither is the bright upper air above the clouds. In the Iliad, Poseidon describes the division of the world among the three sons of Cronus: Poseidon received the sea, Hades the misty darkness, and Zeus the wide heaven in the aether and the clouds (Iliad 15.189–193). Hesiod says that the son of Cronus dwells in the aether (Works and Days 18) and that when Zeus struck the Titans, the flame went up to the divine aether (Theogony 697). Virgil, in a famous passage, speaks of Father Aether descending with fertilising rain into the lap of his joyous wife, the Earth, and mingling with her great body to nourish all her offspring (Georgics 2.325–327). Here Aether is a name of the sky god. Homer uses a different word, aer, for the thick, misty air near the earth: Aphrodite hides Paris in a thick aer to save him from Menelaus (Iliad 3.380–382), and Ajax prays to Zeus to lift the aer that covers the Achaeans and make the sky clear (Iliad 17.643–647). Aether is the clear, bright air above.
Aether Sources
Hesiod, Theogony 123–125, 697; Hesiod, Works and Days 17–19; Homer, Iliad 3.380–382, 15.189–193, 17.643–647; Virgil, Georgics 2.325–327.
What the ancient sources say
Passages that name Aether, in the original with English translation. The line gives the work and reference as scholars cite it.
- Aristophanes, The Clouds 263–436Parodos: Socrates invokes the Clouds; the new godsSocrates makes Strepsiades sit on a sacred couch, crowned with a chaplet, and calls on the Clouds to appear, and the Chorus answer with a song and enter.…
- Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 1–100Prologue: Euripides and his kinsman at Agathon's doorMnesilochus, an old man, complains to Euripides as the poet leads him along a road he does not know, and Euripides tells him he will soon see for himself.…
- Hyginus, Fabulae 0The genealogical prefaceHyginus opens with lists of the first gods and their offspring: Chaos, Night, the Titans, the Giants, the Nereids and the children of Zeus and the other…
- Hesiod, Theogony 100–129Invocation of the Muses; Chaos, Gaia and the first gods (100-129)The proem closes with an invocation: the Muses are asked to tell how the gods and the world first came to be. The cosmogony begins with Chaos,…
- Aristophanes, The Clouds 510–626Parabasis: the poet defends the play and the Clouds complainThe Chorus speak for the poet, who swears by Dionysus that he thinks his audience wise, complains that his earlier version of this play was defeated by an…
- Aristophanes, Frogs 870–898Agon: prayers before the contestDionysus calls for fire and incense and asks the Chorus to invoke the Muses with a song. Aeschylus prays to Demeter, and Euripides says that he prays to…
- Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 1.1–2.3Titanomachy and OedipodeaThe Epic Cycle begins with the union of Heaven and Earth, who make three hundred-handed sons and three Cyclopes. The fragments of the War of the Titans name…
- Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 4–7Hymns 4-7: Heaven, Fire (Aether), Protogonus, the StarsThese hymns turn to the heavens. Heaven is hailed as the father of all, whose ever-moving frame surrounds the world, and untamed Fire (Aether) as the…
Cite This Article