The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Aurora (goddess)

1802234The American Cyclopædia — Aurora (goddess)

AURORA (in Greek, Eos), the goddess of the morning, was the daughter of Hyperion and Thia, the wife of Astræus, and the mother of the winds. She carried off Orion to the island of Ortygia, and detained him there till he was slain by Diana. She bore away Cephalus, and had by him a son named Phaëthon. To Tithonus, son of Laomedon, king of Troy, she bore Memnon and Æmathion. Aurora is sometimes represented in a saffron-colored robe, with a wand or torch in her right hand, emerging from a golden palace, and ascending her chariot; sometimes in a flowing veil, which she is in the act of throwing back, opening the gates of morning; and sometimes as a nymph, wearing a garland and standing in a chariot drawn by winged horses, with a torch in one hand and flowers in the other, which she scatters as she goes.