Erebos

Erebos, sometimes transliterated Erebus, is the personification of primordial darkness in ancient Greek mythology. In Hesiod's Theogony and related sources, Erebos arises from Chaos and is paired with Nyx, the night. From their union are generated the day, light, and other primal beings in some accounts, while other traditions present different genealogies. Erebos embodies the dark, all-encompassing gloom that lies between the surface world, the underworld, and the birth of light. The figure is typically treated as a cosmic force rather than a moral deity.

Mount Erebus is the active volcano on Ross Island, Antarctica. It contains a persistent lava lake and is among the southernmost active volcanoes on Earth. The mountain was named by the British explorer James Clark Ross during the 1840s after the mythic personification of darkness, in keeping with the habit of mapping and naming Antarctic features after classical deities.

The name Erebus has also appeared in exploration history. HMS Erebus, a Royal Navy ship launched in the 1820s, participated in polar exploration and later became one of the two vessels used in the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845, alongside HMS Terror. The wreck of the Erebus was located in 2014, while the Terror wreck was found later, contributing to maritime archaeology and the study of Arctic exploration.

In modern usage, Erebos/Erebus appears in literature, film, and games as a symbol of shadow, secrecy, or the underworld, reflecting the enduring influence of the myth.