Nyx was the primordial Greek goddess who personified the night.
In Hesiod’s Theogony, Nyx emerged from Chaos, placing her among the earliest beings in the Greek cosmos. With Erebus, the personification of darkness, she produced Aether, the bright upper air, and Hemera, the day. Nyx also independently gave birth to forces such as Sleep, Death, Dreams, Strife, and the Fates in different traditions.
Nyx was more than a symbol of nighttime: ancient poets treated her as a powerful divine force. In Homer’s Iliad, even Zeus is reluctant to anger her. Greek art sometimes showed her as a winged, dark-robed figure traveling in a horse-drawn chariot, often paired with celestial deities such as Helios or Selene.
A common mix-up is Hemera, who represents day rather than night, and Erebus, who represents primordial darkness. The Roman equivalent of Nyx was Nox.