List of Night Deities
Encyclopedia
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
associated with night
Night
Night or nighttime is the period of time when the sun is below the horizon. This occurs after dusk. The opposite of night is day...
, the night sky, or darkness. They commonly feature in polytheistic
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
religions. The following is a list of night deities.
Arabian mythology
- Al-QaumAl-QaumAl-Qaum was the Nabataean god of war and the night, and guardian of caravans.Large numbers of inscriptions bearing his name have been found, and archaeologists believe that he was a major god of the Nabataean pantheon....
, NabateanNabataeansThamudi3.jpgThe Nabataeans, also Nabateans , were ancient peoples of southern Canaan and the northern part of Arabia, whose oasis settlements in the time of Josephus , gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea...
god of war and the night, and guardian of caravans
Aztec mythology
- Lords of the NightLords of the NightIn Mesoamerican calendars, the Lords of the Night are a set of nine gods that ruled over a particular night. They were cyclical, so that same god recurred every nine nights.In the Aztec calendar, the Lords of the night are...
, a group of nine gods, each of whom ruled over a particular night - MetztliMetztliIn Aztec mythology, Metztli was a god or goddess of the moon, the night, and farmers. He/she was probably the same deity as Yohaulticetl and Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl; like the latter, he/she feared the sun because he/she feared its fire...
, god or goddess of the moon, night and farmers - TezcatlipocaTezcatlipocaTezcatlipoca was a central deity in Aztec religion. One of the four sons of Ometeotl, he is associated with a wide range of concepts, including the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty,...
, god of the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war and strife - YohaulticetlYohaulticetlIn Aztec mythology, Yohualticetl, the "Lady of the Night", was a moon goddess and guardian of infants. She may have been the same as Metztli and Coyolxauhqui and the male moon god Tecciztecatl.-See also:*Black Sun *Five Suns...
, lunar goddess known as the "Lady of the Night"
Egyptian mythology
- KukKukKuk is the deification of the primordial concept of darkness in Egyptian mythology. In the Ogdoad cosmogony, his name meant darkness. As a concept, Kuk was viewed as androgynous, his female form being known as Kauket , which is simply the female form of the word Kuk...
, personification of the primordial darkness - NephthysNephthysIn Egyptian mythology, Nephthys is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Seth.Nephthys is regarded as...
, goddess of night as well as death and birth
Greek mythology
- AsteriaAsteriaIn Greek mythology, Asteria was a name attributed to the following eight individuals:-Daughter of Coeus:Asteria was the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto...
, goddess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars - The Astra Planeti, gods of the five wandering stars or planets
- Stilbon, god of Hermaon, the planet MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
- Eosphorus, god of VenusVenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
the morning star - HesperusHesperusIn Greek mythology, Hesperus is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and is the brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star. Hesperus' Roman equivalent is Vesper...
, god of Venus the evening star - Pyroeis, god of Areios, the planet MarsMarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
- Phaethon, god of Dios, the planet JupiterJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
- Phaenon, god of Kronion, the planet SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
- Stilbon, god of Hermaon, the planet Mercury
- ErebusErebusIn Greek mythology, Erebus , also Erebos , was often conceived as a primordial deity, representing the personification of darkness; for instance, Hesiod's Theogony places him as the first five beings to come into existence from Chaos...
, primordial god of darkness and consort of Nyx - HecateHecateHecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
, goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy - Nyx, primordial goddess of night
Lithuanian mythology
- Breksta, goddess of twilight and dreams, who protects people from sunset to sunrise
Roman mythology
- Nox, primordial goddess of night; equivalent to the Greek goddess Nyx
- SummanusSummanusIn ancient Roman religion, Summanus was the god of nocturnal thunder, as counterposed to Jupiter, the god of diurnal thunder. His precise nature was unclear even to Ovid....
, god of nocturnal thunder
Slavic mythology
- Polunochnitsa, "Lady Midnight", a demoness said to frighten children at night
- The ZoryaThe ZoryaIn Slavic mythology the Zorya are the two guardian goddesses, known as the Auroras. They guard and watch over the doomsday hound, Simargl, who is chained to the star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor, the "little bear"...
, three guardian goddesses, representing the morning, evening and midnight stars