Eos

This article is about the Greek goddess. For other uses, see Eos (disambiguation).

Eos
Personification of the Dawn
Eos in her four-horse-drawn chariot, terracotta red-figure lekanis vase, late 4th century BC, Canosa, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ancient Greek	Ἠώς
Abode	Sky
Animals	Cicada, horse
Symbol	Saffron, cloak, roses, tiara
Color	Red, white, pink, gold, saffron
Mount	A chariot drawn by two or four horses
Genealogy
Parents	Hyperion and Theia
Siblings	Helios and Selene
Consort	Astraeus, Orion, Cephalus, Cleitus, Ares, Tithonus
Children	The Anemoi (Boreas, Eurus, Notus and Zephyrus), the stars, Memnon, Emathion, Astraea, as well as the morning star Phosphorus and evening star Hesperus
Equivalents
Hindu	Ushas
Indo-European	H₂éwsōs
Roman	Aurora

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Eos (/ˈiːɒs/; Ionic and Homeric Greek Ἠώς Ēṓs, Attic Ἕως Héōs, "dawn"; Aeolic Αὔως Aúōs, Doric Ἀώς Āṓs) is the goddess and personification of the dawn, who rose each morning from her home at the edge of the river Oceanus to deliver light and disperse the night. She opened the gates of heaven for her brother Helios (the Sun), to pass through, and was imagined in poetry and art as a radiant, often winged goddess driving her horse-drawn chariot across the sky, bringing with her the colours and dew of morning.

In Greek literature, Eos is presented as a daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, the sister of Helios and Selene (the Moon). In rarer traditions, she is the daughter of the Titan Pallas. Each day she heralds the breaking of the new day and the arrival of Helios; although primarily associated with dawn and early morning, she is sometimes said to accompany him for the whole duration of his journey, and thus can also be seen near dusk. Her most common epithets in the Homeric epics are Rhododactylos, or "rosy-fingered", a reference to the sky's colours at daybreak, and Erigeneia, "early-born".

Eos also appears in Greek tradition as the mother, by Astraeus, of the Anemoi, the winds, as well as of several astral figures connected with the morning and evening sky. Like her Roman counterpart Aurora and the Rigvedic Ushas, she continues the name and character of an earlier Indo-European dawn goddess, Hausos.

A major group of myths concerns Eos's love for mortal men, whom she pursued and sometimes carried away in a manner more often associated with male gods and mortal women. In surviving tradition, this desire is explained as the work of Aphrodite, who cursed the goddess with passion for mortal men after Eos slept with Ares. Her most notable mortal lover is the Trojan prince Tithonus, for whom she secured immortality but not eternal youth, leading him to age forever. In another story, she carried off the Athenian Cephalus against his will, though she eventually let him return to his wife Procris.

Eos figures in many works of ancient literature and poetry, but despite her antiquity and Proto-Indo-European origins, there is little evidence of her having received extensive independent cult or being the centre of worship during classical times.