Hemera

Hemera, whose name means “Day,” was the personification of daylight in Hesiod’s Theogony, a daughter of Night and the sister of Aether, the bright upper air. She has almost no stories of her own, but in Hesiod she and her mother Night share one house and take turns appearing on earth.

Parentage

Hesiod says that Erebus and black Night came from Chaos, and that Night, joining in love with Erebus, bore Aether and Hemera (Hesiod, Theogony 123–125). Hemera is therefore the daughter of Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night), and her brother is Aether. Hesiod does not give her a husband or children. Her name is simply the Greek word for day, which Plato says was pronounced himera or hemera in early times (Plato, Cratylus 418c), and her Latin counterpart is Dies, the Latin word for day.

Hemera and Night

The one scene in which Hesiod shows Hemera is in the region of Tartarus, where the dread house of Night stands. Before it Atlas, son of Iapetus, holds up the wide heaven, and there Night and Day come near one another and greet one another as they cross the great bronze threshold. The house never holds them both: while one is inside, the other is outside and travels over the earth. Day carries far-seeing light for those who live on the earth, and Night, wrapped in misty cloud, carries Sleep, the brother of Death, in her arms (Hesiod, Theogony 744–757).

Hemera and Cephalus

Hemera also appears in a love story. Pausanias saw on the roof of the Royal Portico in the Athenian Agora figures of baked clay showing Theseus throwing Sciron into the sea and Day carrying away Cephalus. He explains that Cephalus was said to be very beautiful and that Day, who loved him, carried him off; their son was Phaethon (Pausanias 1.3.1). Hesiod tells a similar story of Eos, who bore Phaethon to Cephalus (Theogony 986–987).

Hemera and Eos

Hemera is not the same goddess as Eos (Dawn). Hesiod makes Eos a daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and a sister of Helios and Selene (Hesiod, Theogony 371–374), while Hemera belongs to the older generation of the children of Night. Hesiod also lists Night’s other children, such as Doom, Death, Sleep, the tribe of Dreams, Blame and the Fates, who were born to her alone and do not include Day (Theogony 211–225).

Hemera Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 123–125, 211–225, 371–374, 744–757 and 986–987; Pausanias 1.3.1; Plato, Cratylus 418c.

See Also: Erebus, Nyx, Aether, Eos, Helios, Hyperion, Theia, Cephalus, Atlas