Eos

EOS was the rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn. She and her siblings Helios (the Sun) and Selene (the Moon) were numbered amongst the second-generation Titan gods. Eos rose into the sky from the river Okeanos (Oceanus) at the start of each day, and with her rays of light dispersed the mists of night.

She was depicted either driving a chariot drawn by winged horses or borne aloft on her own wings.

Eos had an unquenchable desire for handsome young men, some say as the result of a curse laid upon her by the goddess Aphrodite. Her lovers included Orion, Phaethon, Kephalos (Cephalus) and Tithonos (Tithonus), three of which she ravished away to distant lands. The Trojan prince Tithonos became her official consort. When the goddess petitioned Zeus for his immortality, she neglected also to request eternal youth. In time he shrivelled up by old age and transformed into a grasshopper.

Eos was closely identified with Hemera, the primordial goddess of day. In some myths--such as the tales of Orion and Kephalos--Eos stood virtually as a non-virginal substitute for Artemis.