Hesperus
Greek · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Greek personification of the evening star, the planet Venus at dusk, counted (with the morning star Eosphoros) among the star-children of the Titan Astraeus and Eos. Greek astronomy from at least Pythagoras recognised the evening and morning stars as one body, so Hesperus and Eosphoros (Phosphoros) merge into a single identity; the Latin counterpart is Vesper. Sappho hailed him as the star that brings home all that the bright dawn scattered. Parentage is given variously (son of Astraeus and Eos, or of Cephalus, or brother of Atlas), so no fixed parents are asserted here.
Domains
- evening star
Relations
- sibling: EosphorusHesperus the evening star and Eosphorus the morning star are the same planet Venus; the tradition treats them as brothers or as one identity, both reckoned children of Astraeus and Eos.Cic. Nat. D. 2.53; Plin. HN 2.36-37 (Hesperus and Phosphorus the single planet Venus) (primary)