one of the most ancient deities among the heathens, and the personification of Night. She was daughter of Chaos, and from her union with her brother Erebus, she gave birth to the Day and the Light. She was also the mother of the Parcae, Hesperides, Dreams; of Discord, Death, Momus, Fraud, &c. Nox is called by some of the poets the mother of all things, of gods as well as of men; and Homer makes her the subduer of gods and men, Zeus himself being awed by her. (II. xiv.) She was worshipped with great solemnity by the ancients, and had a famous statue, executed by Rhecius, in the temple of Diana at Ephesus. It was usual to offer her a black sheep, as she was the mother of the Furies; and a cock was also presented to her, as that bird proclaims the approach of day during the darkness of the night. She is represented as mounted on a chariot, and covered with a veil bespangled with stars. The constellations generally went before her as her constant messengers. Sometimes she is seen holding under her arms two children, one of which is black, representing Death, and the other white, representing Sleep. Some of the poets have described her as a woman veiled in mourning, crowned with poppies, and on a chariot drawn by owls and bats. (See Hesiod, Theog.; Euripides, Orestes and Ion; also Pausanias.)