Saturday, April 4, 2020

Roman Mythology: Eurynome, Ophion, and the Universal Egg

    Once upon a time, when nothing existed, there came the first goddesses: Eurynome (pronounced your-enemy), and her little sister Epimetheus and some say that they might have been part goddess, and part demon.

    Eurynome's very form separated the earth and sky apart for life to grow. Afterward, she danced in the oceanic waters in order to create the wind. She rubbed the wind in her hands to create the first serpent, Ophion, who became her husband. Ophion was a universal sea serpent and a sea god. despite being a snake, he could still speak the human language.

    If he would have had friends at that time, then it probably would have been weird telling them "Hey, I'm friends with Eurynome!" (your-enemy, get it?). In time, Eurynome became pregnant. However before she was going to give birth, she turned into a dove and flew away. Soon, she laid an egg, which Ophion guarded.

    It wasn't long before the egg hatched. Out of the egg came Kronos and Nessecitas, who got married. Kronos is the god of time (also known as Old Father Time or Old Grandfather Time). Nessecitas was the goddess of destiny and was the queen of the Fates, who are sometimes said to be her daughters.

    Kronos and Nessecitas together used their powers and created their son Phanes out of the Egg remains. Phanes became the god of light and creation. He is depicted as a marvelous mixed-gender diety, wrapped in the coils of a snake.

    The universe came from that very egg, which was produced by Eurynome and Ophion. They began to argue about who truly was the creator of the universe. Talk about an unhappy couple! Ophion claimed that it was he who was the creator, and this angered Eurynome to no end, forcing her to banish Ophion into oblivion. Why couldn't they just get a divorce? Oh right! Divorce didn't exist yet!
   
     Once again, there was nothing that existed in the universe except Eurynome and Khaos, the primordial void of nothing.
(pic credit link)