Aether in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Aether

7 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Aether, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Aether was one of the primordial deities in Greek mythology, the son of the primordial deities Erebus (darkness) and Nyx (night), or according to Orph... For the story in one place, read our article on Aether.

Hesiod (1)

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, broad-breasted Gaia (Earth), murky Tartarus and Eros, fairest of the gods. Erebus and Night come from Chaos and bear Aether and Day, and Gaia bears Uranus (Heaven) and the hills.

Aristophanes (4)

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. Socrates says that the Clouds, not Zeus, are the only true gods, sending rain and thunder, and Strepsiades, who knows only the pot-bellied thunder of his own stomach, is soon convinced. The Clouds promise him eloquence, and he asks only to win his lawsuits and escape the law.
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. They stop at the door of the tragic poet Agathon, where a servant comes out to pray in verse and to command silence for the Muse. Euripides then explains that the women are meeting that day to plot his death and that he wants Agathon to go among them disguised as a woman.
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 unworthy rival, and says that this one is his sister, who comes to look for her brother's curl like Electra. They boast that he does not use cheap tricks, such as the staff, the torch and the bald-head joke, and that he knocked down the giant Cleon without kicking him when he was down, while others have since plagiarised his Knights. They then pray to Zeus, the lord of the trident, Ether and the Sun, and complain that the city neglects them though they always help it, and that the Moon too is angry that the days of the month are mixed up.
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 Ether, to the tongue and to his own nostrils. The Chorus watch the two take their stands, eager for the tournament.

Epic Cycle (1)

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 Aether, Aegaeon and Zeus dancing, and the Oedipodea fragments say that Oedipus' sons were born of Euryganeia, not Iocasta, and that the Sphinx killed Haemon.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

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 shining ruler of the sky. Protogonus, the first-born, is invoked as a two-fold, egg-born, golden-winged god, and the Stars are called on as sacred lights and spirits of the sky.