Greek Mythology: Eos and Her Lovers Quiz

Answer: Theia

Theia (sometimes called Euryphaessa) is one of the daughters of Uranus, god of the Sky and Gaia, goddess of the Earth. Hyperion is her brother and husband. Theia is the Greek goddess of sight, said to have given all jewels and precious gems their sparkle.

The son of Uranus and Gaia, Hyperion was the god of light, watchfulness and intelligence.

Eos was born into the second generations of Titans, the gods that the Ancient Greeks worshiped as the gods of nature.

Answer: Sun

Helios (like his mother, Theia) is also considered to be a god of sight. He is often depicted in art with a solar crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot across the sky.

Helios is known for the tragedy involving his mortal son, Phaethon. Phaethon, in an attempt to prove his legitimacy as Helios' son, asked his father for the opportunity to drive his chariots across the skies for one day. Helios was firmly against it, warning his son that this was no journey for a mortal, and only he was capable of this journey, hence his role as the Sun god.

Phaethon however, would not be deterred. Ignoring Helios' objections he attempted the journey on Helios' chariot. It was a disaster. Phaethon could not keep a good grip of the horses, driving the chariot too far from the Earth, freezing it, then too close to the Earth, burning it. To avoid the destruction of the Earth, Zeus shot him with a lightning bolt, killing Phaethon immediately.

Answer: Moon

Her brother Helios may be more commonly depicted in his chariot, but Selene also has one to drive across the skies. Like her sister Eos (although not quite as prominently) there are several stories of the lovers she had, including Zeus, Pan (god of shepherds, nature, flocks and the wild) and a mortal, Endymion, a handsome Greek shepherd.

According to Greek poet Nonnus, the Moon has its blemishes and scars from a fight Selene had with serpentine, fearsome giant, Typhon.

580 Selene is a minor planet orbiting the Sun, named after the goddess Selene.

Answer: Astraeus

Although Eos had many mortal lovers, she did have one god-consort, Astraeus, a deity of the stars, also associated with wind because of the wind deities he and Eos produced. Astraeus was the god of dusk and wind, son of the Titans Crius and Eurybia. He and Eos had many children.

Answer: True

There is no mention (or surviving mention) that indicates that Hyperion fought during the Titanomachy. The war lasted 10 years and Zeus was victorious against the Titans. What adds weight to the claim that Hyperion and his family remained neutral during the conflict, is the fact that there is no mention of them being punished. All of the Titans who took part in the war against Zeus were imprisoned in Tartarus (a void of suffering and torment), apart from the Titans Prometheus and Themis. Hyperion and his family all kept their positions, and were of great importance of Greek mythology after the fall of the Titans. That is, until the popularity and importance of Apollo and Artemis.

Answer: Ares

One of Zeus and Hera's sons, Ares is the Greek god of war and battle. He was not the most popular of Greek gods, representing brutality and bloodlust rather than strategy and military leadership like Athena, who was much more popular. He was not worshiped very much in Ancient Greece. Ares and Aphrodite had two sons, Phobos and Deimos.

Eos and Ares did not produce any children. Eos did not think she hard wronged Aphrodite (goddess of beauty) by having relations with Ares, as Aphrodite was already married to Hephaestus. Nevertheless, Aphrodite was a lover of Ares and was jealous of their relationship. She was not as malicious as Hera was to the lovers of Zeus (luckily for Eos) and opted to curse the dawn goddess with an attraction exclusively to mortals.

Answer: Boreas

Boreas was god of the north wind, which brought the winter. Boreas is usually depicted as very strong with a vicious temper. Boreas was also associated with horses. In some accounts he transformed into a stallion and bred with the mares of Erichthonius, king of Dardanus. The offspring of these horses were able to run across fields without trampling any of the plants.

Answer: To stop a plant from growing

The giants numbered in their hundreds, born of the earth goddess, Gaia. Encouraged by Gaia, the giants declared war on the gods and were destroyed in the resulting battle. During this war, Gaia was made aware of a plant that would make the giants stronger, and sought hard to find it on Earth.

But before Gaia or anyone supporting her could find this plant, Zeus forbade Eos, Helios and Selene from shining. He then harvested all the plant himself for Heracles.

Answer: Tithonus

Tithonus was the son of Trojan king, Laomedon. After Eos fell for Tithonus, she asked Zeus if he could be made immortal. Zeus granted her request, with a cruel twist: Eos had forgotten to ask that Tithonus also have eternal youth. Eos stayed young while he withered and became older and older looking.

He was soon incapable of moving, and Eos could not bear to visit him in bed. Out of pity she turned him into an insect.

Answer: Heracles

Not to be confused with Zeus and Electra's son Emathion, who was king of the Greek island Samothrace, Eos' son Emathion was king of Arabia. After Memnon was killed in the Trojan war, Emathion acquired his kingdom in Ethiopia.

Emathion attempted to steal the golden apples of the Hesperis, and was spotted by Heracles. Heracles killed Emathion.

Answer: Artemis

Some sources state that Eos fell in love with the giant Orion when she spotted him hunting. She spirited him away, as she had done with other lovers. Artemis, however, was not impressed with Eos bringing the giant into her world, and shot him with one of her arrows.

Other sources state that Orion was shot by Artemis because he sexually violated one of her nymphs, Opis. Some sources even suggest that Artemis herself was attracted to Orion, and was tricked into shooting him by her brother, Apollo.

In Homer's "Odyssey", Calypso (a nymph who abducted Odysseus) voiced her objection to Hermes (god of travellers, merchants and thieves) that male gods were allowed to abduct as many women as they like, whereas goddesses were penalised for it. She used the example of Orion being shot by Artemis, as a lover of Eos.

Answer: Aurora

"Aurora" is Latin for dawn. Like Eos she had the Moon and Sun gods for siblings, Sol (Sun) and Luna (Moon). Roman mythology had Aurora also have Tithonus as a mortal lover, asking Jupiter (Roman equivalent of Zeus) to make him immortal, also forgetting to specify eternal youth.

The same fate of being turned into a cicada insect also befalls Tithonus in Roman mythology, for getting involved with Aurora.

Answer: Cephalus

Eos abducted Cephalus while he was out hunting. He was married to Procris, the daughter of the king of Athens. Cephalus was reluctant to have relations with Eos for a long time, and never stopped pining for Procris. He did eventually give in and had a son with Eos, Phaethon, who was born in Syria (not to be confused with Helios' son of the same name). Some sources also say Hesperus was the son of Eos and Cephalus.

After eight years of Cephalus being with Eos, she finally relented and sent him back to his wife, because of his incessant longing for her. However, before leaving she made sure to demonstrate to Cephalus that Procris could be just as easily led astray as he was.

Answer: Phainon

Eos and Astraeus had five children that were planet gods: Phainon (Saturn), Phaethon (Jupiter), Pyroeis (Mars), Hesperos (Venus) and Stilbon (Mercury).

Phainon was god of Cronion (now called the planet Saturn), although the planet Cronius was dedicated to the Greek god Cronus.

Answer: True

Eos' tears were held responsible for morning dew in Ancient Greece. Every night, after she goes back to the palace after declaring the arrival of the Sun, Eos cries for her sons, Memnon and Emathion, hence the morning dew.