Aurora
Aurora
Nationality/Culture
Roman
Pronunciation
aw-RAWR-uh
Alternate Names
Eos (Greek)
Appears In
Hesiod's Theogony (as Eos), Ovid's
Metamorphoses, Homer's Odyssey (as Eos)
Lineage
Daughter of Hyperion and Theia
Character Overview
Aurora (pronounced aw-RAWR-uh), according to Roman mythology,
was the goddess of the dawn. The Greeks called her Eos, though she has come to be more commonly known by her Roman name. She was the daughter of the Titans Hyperion (pronounced hy-PEER-ee-on) and Theia (pronounced THEE-uh), and the sister of Helios (pronounced HEE-lee-ohs; the sun god) and Selene (pronounced suh-LEE-nee; the moon goddess). Every morning, Aurora arose from the sea and rode in her horse-drawn chariot across the sky ahead of the sun, carrying a pitcher from which she sprinkled dew upon the earth.
Major Myths
Aurora's first husband was the Titan Astraeus (pronounced ah-STRAY-uhs). They had several sons: the winds Boreas, Eurus, Notus, and Zephyrus, as well as the morning star Eosphorus and the evening star Hesperus. Aurora's beauty caused Mars, the Roman god of war, to take an interest in her. This angered Venus, who caused Aurora to fall in love with a number of mortals. She even married one of them, Tithonus (pronounced tih-THOHN-uhs), and begged Zeus (pronounced ZOOS) to make him immortal. Zeus granted Aurora's wish, but she forgot to ask for Tithonus's eternal youth too. As a result, he continued to age until he became a shriveled old man. Aurora shut him away in his room until the gods finally took pity on him and turned him into a grasshopper.
Aurora in Context
The terms “aurora borealis” and “aurora australis” are used to refer to bands of colored light sometimes visible in the night sky, especially near the North or South Poles. This phenomenon is also known as the “northern lights” and the “southern lights.” Although Greece and Italy are not very close to the North Pole, several ancient Greek and Roman writers documented sightings of the northern lights over the years. Although some attempted to explain these appearances using scientific principles, it is likely that many ancient Greeks and Romans considered these strange and beautiful bands of light to be the work of the goddess of dawn.
Key Themes and Symbols
As the goddess of dawn, Aurora came to be associated with the glow in the sky seen before sunrise, as well as the early morning dew. She represents the boundary between day and night, which are her siblings. In the story of Tithonus, Aurora represents someone who is ruled more by her heart than her head.
Aurora in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life
Although Aurora was not as popular as some other goddesses, she was the subject of paintings by artists such as Guido Reni, Nicolas Poussin, Guercino, and Simon Julien. She is mentioned by name in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet (1597). The name “Aurora” has also been used by a number of fictional characters not directly related to the myth, including a Marvel Comics super-heroine and the princess who serves as the main character in the Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959).
Read, Write, Think, Discuss
In ancient cultures, natural events such as the northern lights were often believed to have supernatural or divine causes. Using your library, the Internet, or other resources, research a natural event such as thunder or earthquakes. Write a scientific description of the process that causes this event to happen. Can you find an example of an ancient culture that believed this event to be caused by the gods?