7/21/2023 0 Comments Erebus hoursIt has always been seen as unlucky to change the name of a ship, although the pride of new ownership causes it to happen frequently. For those being called to duty, it meant four hours of chipping and repainting, mending sails, caulking and scrubbing or working aloft taking in or setting sail.īig sailing ships had two bells, one aft near the wheel that was struck by a ship’s boy as part of his watch duties, and one forward that was struck by the lookout. The bell was used to mark the passage of time being struck each half-hour in the four-hour watch.įor those on watch, eight bells heralded a warm mug-up and sleep. If the figurehead possessed the ship’s soul, it was the ship’s bell that possessed the ship’s heart. Also, warships, even on the bottom of the sea, remain the property of their national governments (in this case the United Kingdom), not the insurance underwriters, or salvors as is the case with commercial vessels.īut the relationship between the bell and her ship goes much deeper. The removal of such an important element as the bell is seen as a desecration. 6, Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq unveiled the ship’s bell from the recently discovered wreck of Sir John Franklin’s HMS Erebus.Ĭall me an old fuddy-duddy, but I believe the bell should never have been removed from the ship.įirst and foremost, bells are not recovered from warships sunk in battle, as such vessels are considered gravesites. Art Credit: Charidimos Bitsakakis.On Nov. Erebus and Tartarus also gave us the first concept of the Greek underworld that poets and storytellers were heavily expanded upon. The ancient Greeks used Erebus to explain the darkness and, in turn, its relationship with light and why so many places may have been darker than others. Erebus himself is probably the least discussed of the initial five, but that’s not to say that he wasn’t important. I know this article has been rather short but when compared to the Olympians, we just really don’t know much about the primordial generation. Because of this, Erebus can almost be considered as the first God of the underworld, and it’s this association of Tartarus that led to Erebus becoming a place that referred to a place in between the earth and the underworld that the souls would have to travel through. Erebus Connection with the UnderworldĮrebus and Tartarus were also a deity that was closely linked as some stories believe that when the day came, Erebus retreated to the darkest recesses of Tartarus. Together Erebus and Nyx fathered and mothered many deities and some of these included Hypnos, Styx, Nemesis, Thanatos, and the Fates (Moirai), along with Hemera and Aether-who we mentioned earlier.īefore the likes of Hyperion, Helios, Apollo, and any other deity associated with the Sun, the ancient Greeks saw Erebus and Aether as the sources of day and light, and that is how they explain the cycle as opposed to the Sun. Hesiod doesn’t mention Erebus in any story or any detail, but that is the description he gives in his Theogony. “From chaos came forth Erebus and black Night (Nyx) but of Night were born Aether and Day (Hemera), whom she conceived and bore from union in love of Erebus.” Hesiod, Theogony Their children Hemera and Aether would then sweep the starkness away bringing with them a new day. We can almost look at Erebus as this dark mist that Nyx would unleash and must paint the sky with when it was nighttime. With that being said, the task of spreading this darkness across the sky did fall to Nyx. Quite often people confuse Erebus and Nyx because night and darkness are things that go together, but Erebus symbolized the darkness and all things inside of it, whereas Nyx symbolized the night. The exact order of these beings does change depending on your source, but if we go with Hesiod, then we know that he was part of the first five primordial beings that Chaos gave birth to. Today’s article will be on Erebus, the primordial god of Darkness, who many consider along with his wife NYX, to have been the first primordial beings to have come from Chaos. It’s been a while since we’ve discussed some Greek mythology, and even longer since we discussed one of the primordial deities. The term Erebus was also used to describe a place of the Underworld where the deceased went immediately after death. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Erebus was one of the first five creatures to emerge from Chaos the other four are his siblings, Erebus had 4 siblings: Gaea, Tartarus, Eros, and Nyx. In Conclusion Who is Erebus in Greek Mythology?Įrebus (Romanized: Érebos, meaning “deep darkness, shadow”), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primal deities in Greek mythology.
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