AETHER
Ether or Acmon, a personified idea of the mythical cosmogonies. According to that of Hyginus, he was, together with Night, Day, and Erebus, begotten by Chaos and Caligo (Darkness). According to that of Hesiod (Theogony 124), Aether was the son of Erebus and his sister Night, and a brother of Day.
The children of Aether and Day were Land, Heaven, and Sea, and from his connexion with the Earth there sprang all the vices which destroy the human race, and also the Giants and Titans. (Hygin. Fab. Pref. p. 25)
These accounts show that, in the Greek cosmogonies, Aether was considered as one of the elementary substances out of which the Universe was formed.
In the Orphic hymns Aether appears as the soul of the world, from which all life emanates, an idea which was also adopted by some of the early philosophers of Greece. In later times Aether was regarded as the wide space of Heaven, the residence of the gods, and Zeus as the Lord of the Aether, or Aether itself personified.
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom Ars Amatoria By Ovid
For if we go near the sun through the airy aether, the wax will not endure the heat: if our humble wings glide close to ocean, the breaking salt waves will drench our feathers.
From Hesiodus The Works and Days
(ll. 11-24) So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise her when he came to understand her; but the other is blameworthy: and they are wholly different in nature. For one fosters evil war and battle, being cruel: her no man loves; but perforce, through the will of the deathless gods, men pay harsh Strife her honour due. But the other is the elder daughter of dark Night, and the son of Cronos who sits above and dwells in the aether, set her in the roots of the earth: and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up even the shiftless to toil; for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbour vies with is neighbour as he hurries after wealth. This Strife is wholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter, and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel.
From The Georgics By Virgil
Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down With quickening
showers to his glad wife's embrace, And, might with might
commingling, rears to life All germs that teem within her; then
resound With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses, And in
due time the herds their loves renew; Then the boon earth yields
increase, and the fields Unlock their bosoms to the warm west
winds; Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades
Face the new suns, and safely trust them now; The vine-shoot,
fearless of the rising south, Or mighty north winds driving rain
from heaven, Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds.
