Nux
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Νύξ (Nux) Nyx, Goddess of night. She is also the only being from which Zeus turned from when her son Hypnos, who had angered Zeus, hid behind her.
Nux ("The Walnut Tree") is also the title of a short poem by Ovid.
This short poem in 91 elegiac couplets is a monologue spoken by a walnut tree asking that boys not pelt her with stones to get her fruit. The tree contrasts the formerly fruitful golden age with the present barren time, in which its fruit is violently ripped off and its branches broken. The tree compares itself to several mythological characters, praises the peace the emperor provides, and prays to be destroyed rather than suffer. The poem is considered spurious because it incorporates allusions to Ovid's works in an uncharacteristic way, although the piece is thought to be contemporary or by a poet of the same period.
