Hesperus

"Evening star." The evening-star, is called by Hesiod a son of Astraeus and Eos, and was regarded, even by the ancients, as the same as the morning star, whence both Homer and Hesiod call him the bringer of light, Heosphoros (Ἑωσφόρος).1

Diodorus2 calls him a son of Atlas, who was fond of astronomy, and once, after having ascended Mount Atlas to observe the stars, he disappeared. He was worshiped with divine honors, and regarded as the fairest star in the heavens.3 Hyginus4 says that some called him a son of Eos and Cephalus.

The Romans designated him by the names Lucifer and Hesperus, to characterize him as the morning or evening star.

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References

Notes

  1. Homer. Iliad xxii, 317; xxiii, 226; comp. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia ii, 8; Mart. Capell. viii, 882 ff. (ed. Kopp).
  2. Historical Library iii, 60.
  3. Eratosthenes. Catasterismi, 24.
  4. De Signorum Coelestium Historiis, 2.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.