Which primordial deity personified old age in Greek myth? Geras personified old age.
Geras was the ancient Greek personification and deity of old age. In Hesiod’s Theogony, he was one of the many forces and conditions born from Nyx, the goddess of night, who produced several offspring without a partner. Later writers instead named Erebus as Geras’s father alongside Nyx.
Greek artists commonly represented Geras as a tiny, shriveled, bald old man. Vase paintings show him confronting Heracles, although the written story behind those scenes has not survived. His opposite was Hebe, the goddess of youth, making Geras part of a symbolic contrast between aging and renewed vitality.
Geras is not the same as Chronos or Cronus. Chronos is a primordial embodiment of time, while Cronus is the Titan ruler who overthrew Uranus. Thanatos represents death, not aging. The Greek word gēras also referred to old age and could mean an honor or prize gained through status and achievement.