Eos in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Eos

11 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Eos, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Eos was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. She was the goddess of the dawn and had two siblings; Helios, g... For the story in one place, read our article on Eos.

Hesiod (2)

Hesiod, Theogony 370–404Children of Hyperion and Crius; Styx and her sons (370-404)Theia bears Helios, Selene and Eos to Hyperion, and Eos bears the winds and the morning star; Crius and Eurybia's sons include Astraeus, Pallas and Perses. Styx, daughter of Oceanus, bears to Pallas Zelus, Nike, Cratos and Bia, and Zeus honours her as the great oath of the gods because she was first to support him against the Titans. The section ends as Phoebe comes to the embrace of Coeus.
Hesiod, Theogony 960–1022Goddesses and mortal men; the end of the poem (960-1022)The Muses are asked to sing of the goddesses who lay with mortal men. Demeter bears Plutus to Iasion, Harmonia bears Ino, Semele, Agave, Autonoe and Polydorus to Cadmus, and Callirrhoe bears Geryon. The list continues with Eos and Tithonus, Aphrodite and Anchises, Thetis and Peleus, and ends with Circe and Calypso bearing sons to Odysseus before the poet turns to the company of women.

Homer (1)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 5.215–293Hymn 5 to Aphrodite (3): Tithonus and the birth of AeneasTros rejoices at Zeus's gifts, and Aphrodite goes on to the story of Tithonus, whom Eos carried off and who has grown old and helpless in his chamber, as a warning of what she does not wish for Anchises. She tells him that the nymphs will rear the son she bears, that she will bring him to Anchises, and that he must never reveal who the child's mother is, before she soars up to heaven.

Ovid (5)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.658–791Cephalus and ProcrisCephalus tells how he married Procris, and how Eos (Aurora), the goddess of dawn, saw him on Mount Hymettus and fell in love with him. She tried to part him from Procris by suggesting that his wife might not be true, and Cephalus, disguised, tests her and tempts her with gifts. Procris yields, and then flees in shame when he reveals himself, and the two are reconciled after she brings him gifts, a hound and a spear that never miss. The hound, chasing a monstrous fox, is turned to stone with it.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.576–622Memnon's birdsThe gods are not moved by the fall of Troy, but Eos (Aurora), whose son Memnon was killed by Achilles, begs Zeus (Jupiter) for some honour for him. As Memnon's funeral pyre burns, his ashes become birds, which fight one another over the pyre and fall as sacrifices to the dead, and which return every year to repeat the battle. Eos still sheds tears for him, which fall as dew.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.101–297Phaethon drives the chariot of the SunThe Sun ends his warnings in vain, and at dawn the Hours harness the horses and Phaethon mounts the chariot. The horses, feeling the light load, leave their course, and Phaethon, terrified at the sight of the sky and the Scorpion, drops the reins. The earth burns, rivers dry up, and the peoples of Africa turn black, and Earth herself calls on Zeus (Jupiter) to save the world.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138–250ActaeonCadmus' grandson Actaeon is out hunting with his hounds when he comes by chance on Artemis (Diana) bathing with her nymphs in a valley. The goddess, angry, splashes him with water, and he grows antlers and is turned into a stag. His own hounds do not know him and tear him to pieces, and people disagree whether the goddess was just.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.563–662Cadmus and Harmonia; Perseus and AtlasCadmus and Harmonia, grieving at their misfortunes, go away from Thebes, and Cadmus, remembering the serpent he killed, is turned into a serpent, and Harmonia follows him. Perseus, flying over Libya with the head of Medusa, comes at nightfall to the kingdom of Atlas, who has been told that a son of Zeus (Jupiter) would steal his golden apples, and who refuses him shelter. Perseus holds up the head of Medusa, and Atlas is turned into the mountain that holds up the sky.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (1)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 2.549–666Dawn mourns MemnonDawn groans and veils the earth in cloud, and her children the winds bear Memnon's body away. His Aethiopian companions are turned into birds that wheel round his tomb. All night Dawn lies weeping for her son, and the Hours at last lead her back to heaven against her will.

Epic Cycle (1)

Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 6.1–5AethiopisProclus' summary tells how Memnon, the son of Eos, comes to help the Trojans in armour made by Hephaestus, and how Thetis tells her son about him. Achilles is killed by Paris and Apollo and Aias carries the body away. A fragment adds the Amazon, the daughter of Ares, who came after the burial of Hector.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 77–82Hymns 77-82: Mnemosyne, Aurora, Themis, the North, West and South WindsMnemosyne, the consort of Zeus and source of the Muses, is invoked to wake the memory of the initiate, and Aurora as the goddess whose rising ray leads on the day. Themis is hailed as the illustrious child of heaven. The last three hymns address the winds: Boreas, whose wintry blasts tear the air, Zephyrus of the west, who gives rest to weary labour, and Notus of the south, who drives the rain clouds.