Nyx was the goddess of the night, one of the primordial gods (protogenoi) who emerged at the dawn of creation. Alone she spawned a brood of dark spirits including the three Fates, Sleep, Death, Strife and Pain.
Homer (Il. xiv. 259, &c.) calls her the subduer of gods and men and relates that Zeus himself stood in awe of her. In the ancient cosmogonies, Night is one of the very first created beings.
Nyx was an ancient deity usually envisaged as the very substance of the night--a veil of dark mists drawn across the sky to obscure the light of Aither, the shining blue of the heavens. In ancient art, Nyx was depicted as either a winged goddess or charioteer, sometimes crowned with an aureole of dark mists.