Editing Horae (section)

=== The Hours ===
[[File:Edward Burne-Jones - The Hours, 1882.jpg|thumb|''The Hours'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]] (1882)|293x293px]]
Finally, a quite separate suite of Horae personified the twelve hours (originally only ten), as tutelary goddesses of the times of day. The hours run from just before sunrise to just after sunset, thus winter hours are short, summer hours are long:

==== The nine Hours ====
According to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], the list is only of nine, borrowed from the three classical triads alternated:<ref name=":0" />
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Personified
!Triad
|-
|Auxo
|Growth
|1st triad
|-
|Eunomia
|Order
|2nd triad
|-
|Pherusa
|Substance
|3rd triad
|-
|Carpo
|Fruit
|1st triad
|-
|Dike
|Justice
|2nd triad
|-
|Euporie
|Abundance
|3rd triad
|-
|Thallo
|Flora
|1st triad
|-
|Eirene
|Peace
|2nd triad
|-
|Orthosie
|Prosperity
|3rd triad
|}

==== The twelve Hours ====
[[File:Kersting - Apollo with the Hours.jpg|thumb|200px|''Apollo with the Hours'' by [[Georg Friedrich Kersting]] (1822)]]
A distinct set of ten<ref name=":0" /> or twelve Hours is much less known<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 41.263</ref> and they are described as daughters of [[Chronos]] (Time):<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 12.15</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Description
|-
|[[Auge (Hora)|Auge]]
|First light (initially not part of the set)
|-
|[[Anatole (mythology)|Anatolê]]
|Sunrise
|-
|[[Musica (mythology)|Musica]]
|The morning hour of music
|-
|[[Gymnastica]]
|The morning hour of gymnastics
|-
|[[Nymphe (Hora)|Nymphe]]
|The morning hour of bathing
|-
|[[Mesembria (mythology)|Mesembria]]
|Noon
|-
|[[Sponde (Hora)|Sponde]]
|[[Libation]]s poured after lunch
|-
|[[Elete]]
|Prayer
|-
|[[Acte (mythology)|Acte]]
|Eating and pleasure
|-
|[[Hesperis (Hora)|Hesperis]]
|Evening
|-
|[[Dysis]]
|Sunset
|-
|[[Arctus (Hora)|Arctus]]
|Night sky, constellation (initially not part of the set)
|}

==== The twenty-four Hours ====
The last set of hours of the day and night is allegorically represented in the following:<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index|last=Murray|first=John|year=1833|location=Albemarle Street, London|pages=172–174}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2025}}
{| class="wikitable"
!Hours
!Description
! rowspan="2" |Ruling Planet
|-
|'''''Twelve Hours of Morning'''''
|'''''The ancients supposed each of the hours to be governed by a separate planet.'''''
|-
|First hour
|Represented as a young girl, her head adorned with light flowing hair; she is clad in a short dress of rose-colour, resembling the tints of the clouds before the rising of the sun; her wings are like those of a butterfly, and she holds the Sun and a bunch of full-blown roses.
|Sun
|-
|Second hour
|Appears to have wings like the preceding; her hair is of a darker hue, and her dress of a deep gold colour; she is surrounded by light clouds, indicating the vapours which the sun exhales from the earth; her attributes are the planet Venus and a sunflower.
|Venus
|-
|Third hour
|Her hair is brown, and her drapery is white, shaded with red; she holds the planet Mercury and a sun-dial.
|Mercury
|-
|Fourth hour
|Considered to be time best calculated for gathering herbs, as the heat of the sun had by then dissipated the clouds, and sufficiently dried the earth; its personification was therefore clothed entirely in white, and bore a hyacinth and the figure of the Moon.
|Moon
|-
|Fifth hour
|Her robe was tinged with lemon colour, denoting the golden brightness of the sun as it advances towards the meridian; in her hand was the planet Saturn
|Saturn
|-
|Sixth hour
|Turns her face to the beholder, and as the sun has now attained its greatest power, her dress is red and flaming; her accompaniments are the planet Jupiter and a lotus, which, like the sunflower, follows the course of the sun.
|Jupiter
|-
|Seventh hour
|Her dress is orange, tinged with red; she holds the planet Mars and a lupin, a plant that, according to Pliny, served to indicate the time to the country people on a cloudy day.
|Mars
|-
|Eighth hour
|Wears a variegated robe of orange and white, showing the diminution of light, now beginning to be apparent; the Sun is in her hands.
|Sun
|-
|Ninth hour
|Her attitude and that of the two preceding hours, inclines towards the horizon; her dress is lemon-coloured; she bears the planet Venus and a branch of olive, a tree said by Pliny to shed its leaves during the solstice.
|Venus
|-
|Tenth hour
|She is dressed in yellow, tinged with brown; she holds the planet Mercury and a branch of poplar.
|Mercury
|-
|Eleventh hour
|As the day draws to its close, appeared to be precipitating her flight; her drapery is dark yellow, and her attributes are a moon and a clepsydra, or hour-glass, which marks the time without the sun's assistance.
|Moon
|-
|Twelfth hour
|Seems in the act of plunging beneath the horizon, thus denoting the setting of the sun; she is dressed in a robe of dark violet colour, and holds the planet Saturn and a branch of willow.
|Saturn
|-
|'''''Twelve Hours of Night'''''
|'''''These, like the hours of the day, are depicted with wings, and in the attitude of flying; they differ from each other only in the colour of their drapery, and in their various attributes.'''''
!
|-
|First hour
|Her robe is of the hue of the horizon during twilight; she bears in her hands the planet Jupiter and a bat.
|Jupiter
|-
|Second hour
|Habited in dark gray, and holds the planet Mars and a screech owl.
|Mars
|-
|Third hour
|Clad in black, carries an owl and the Sun.
|Sun
|-
|Fourth hour
|Her dress is not quite so dark as that of the preceding, because the light of the heavenly bodies now diminishes in some measure the obscurity of night; she holds the planet Venus and an hour-glass.
|Venus
|-
|Fifth hour
|Her attributes are the planet Mercury and a bunch of poppies.
|Mercury
|-
|Sixth hour
|She is enveloped in a thick black drapery, and holds the Moon and a cat, which has the faculty of seeing in the dark.
|Moon
|-
|Seventh hour
|Her robe is deep blue; she bears the planet Saturn and a badger, that animal being much disposed to sleep.
|Saturn
|-
|Eighth hour
|Clad in a lighter blue, holds the planet Jupiter and a dormouse.
|Jupiter
|-
|Ninth hour
|Dressed in violet colour, to denote the approach of morning, and is characterised by the planet Mars and an owl.
|Mars
|-
|Tenth hour
|Her robe is of a paler shade of violet; she bears the Sun and a clock surmounted by a bell.
|Sun
|-
|Eleventh hour
|Habited in blue, and accompanied by a cock, holds the planet Venus.
|Venus
|-
|Twelfth hour
|Her attitude of flying precipitately behind the horizon; her drapery is of mixed colours, white, blue, and violet; she bears in her hand the planet Mercury, and leads a swan, which, by its white plumage, indicates the brightness of the coming day.
|Mercury
|}