Nox (mythology)
Nox ( Latin for "night") is the goddess and personification of night in Roman mythology . The Nox corresponds to the Nyx in Greek mythology .
The night appeared to the Romans as a dark, terrifying figure belonging to the underworld. They were presented with dark wings that embraced the world, and the underworld was the land of night, the land of shadows, dreams and brooding slumber. With Ovid it seems a little friendlier: “Now the night appears, crowned with poppies the gentle forehead; it follows its pattern according to blackish dreams. ”Translation by Karl Geib. At Horace's , the night is witness and assistant to the work of the witches together with Diana .
A cultic veneration of the Nox is not proven. In ancient representations, the Nox can hardly be identified due to the lack of fixed attributes.
literature
- Ernst Bernert: Nox. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVII, 1, Stuttgart 1936, Sp. 1229.