Nike

Nike is the Greek personification of victory. She can run and fly at great speed. She is a constant companion of
Athena. Nike is the daughter of Pallas and Styx and the sister of Cratos, Bia, and
Zelus. She was represented as a woman with wings, dressed in a billowing robe with a wreath or staff.

Nilus

Graeco-Roman personified god of the river Nile. In Egyptian he was called Hapi.

Niobe

Niobe is one of the more tragic figures in Greek myth. She was the
daughter of Tantalus and either Euryanassa, Eurythemista, Clytia, or
Dione (no one seems to know for sure) and had two brothers, Broteas and
Pelops. Niobe was the queen of Thebes (the principle city in Boetia),
married to Amphion, King of Thebes.

Niobe and Amphion had fourteen children (the Niobids), and in a moment of arrogance, Niobe bragged about her seven sons and seven daughters at a ceremony in honor of Leto, the daughter of the titans Coeus and Phoebe. She mocked Leto, who only had two children, Apollo, god of prophecy and music, and Artemis,
virgin goddess of the wild. Leto did not take the insult lightly, and
in retaliation, sent Apollo and Artemis to earth to slaughter all of
Niobe's children. Apollo killed the seven sons while they practiced
their athletics. The last son begged to be spared, but the arrow had
already left Apollo's bow, and the boy was struck dead. Artemis killed
the seven daughters with her lethal arrows. (Some versions have a few
of the children being spared.)


At the sight of his dead sons, Amphion either committed suicide or was
also killed by Apollo for wanting to avenge his children's deaths. In
any event, Niobe's entire family was dead in a matter of minutes. In
shock, she cradled the youngest daughter in her arms, then fled to Mt.
Siplyon in Asia Minor. There she turned to stone and from the rock
formed a stream (the Achelous) from her ceaseless tears. She became the
symbol of eternal mourning. Niobe's children were left unburied for
nine days because Zeus had turned all of the people of Thebes into stone. Only on the tenth day did the gods have pity and entomb her children.



Niobe is weeping even to this day. Carved on a rock cliff on Mt Sipylus
is the fading image of a female that the Greeks claim is Niobe (it was
probably Cybele,
the great mother-goddess of Asia Minor originally). Composed of porous
limestone, the stone appears to weep as the water after a rain seeps
through it

This myth vividly illustrates the vicious nature of the gods. Often,
the gods would strike deadly revenge on mortals merely for acting on
human weaknesses. Leto had Niobe's entire family killed because of an
arrogant comment. This theme of deadly revenge is common in myths of
Artemis and Apollo. For example, Artemis turns Actaeon
into a stag which his hunting dogs devour because he accidentally saw
her naked after a bath. Apollo is as equally unforgiving. He took
lethal action against the mortal Marsyas
after Marsyas challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost. Apollo
skinned him alive. Clearly, the myth of Niobe demonstrates the wrath of
both Apollo and Artemis and is a warning to mortals not to compare
themselves to the gods.

Niobids

The fourteen children ¹ of Niobe and king Amphion. These children, seven strong sons and seven beautiful daughters, had pay with their lives for their mother's recklessness.

Notus

The god of the South Wind, which is a very warm and moist wind. He is the son of Eos and Astraeus. The Romans called him
Auster.

Nymphs

In Greek mythology, nymphs are spirits of nature. They are minor female
deities and the protectors of springs, mountains, and rivers. Nymphs
are represented as young, pretty girls. Each subtype presides over a
certain aspect of nature. Depending of their habitat, there are: Dryads (forests), Naiads (springs and rivers), Nereid (the Mediterranean), Oceanids (the sea) and Oreads
(mountains), Limoniads (meadows), Limniads (lakes, marshes and swamps)
and Napaea (valleys). They were worshipped in a nymphaeum, a monumental
fountain which was raised in the vicinity of a well. The male
counterpart of a nymph is the satyr.

Nyx

Nyx is the goddess and embodiment of the night. According to Hesiod in his Theogony (11.116-138), "From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night Nyx; of Night were born Aether being the bright upper atmosphere and Day Hemera, whom she conceived and bore from union with Erebus her brother". Also from the Theogony (11. 211-225); "And Night borehateful Doom Moros and black Fate and Death Thanatos, and she bore Sleep Hypnos and the tribe of Dreams. And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bare Blame and painful Woe, and the Hesperides
who guard the rich golden apples and the trees bearing fruit beyond
glorious Ocean. Also she bore the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates who were regarded as old women occupied in spinning, Clotho the Spinner of the thread of life and Lachesis the Disposer of Lots, she who allots every man his destiny and Atropos
She Who Cannot Be Turned, who finally cuts the thread of life who give
men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the
transgressions of men and of gods, and these goddesses never cease from
their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty.
Also deadly Night bore Nemesis Indignation to afflict mortal men, and after her, Deceit Apate and Friendship and hateful Age and hard-hearted Strife.



From that great work we find that Nyx produced a host of offspring. Other sources give Charon who ferried the dead over the rivers of the infernal region as being the son of Erebus and Nyx, although according to the Theogony he was born from Chaos. Also according to Aristophanes, Birds
693 ff, "in the infinite bosom of Erebus, Night with black wings first
produced an egg without a seed. From it, in the course of the seasons, Eros was born--the desired, whose back sparkled with golden wings, Eros like swift whirlwinds".