Editing Geras (section)

== Mythology ==
According to [[Hesiod]], Geras is one of the many sons and daughters that the night goddess [[Nyx]] produced on her own parthenogenetically.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' 225</ref> However, later authors [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] and [[Cicero]] both add [[Erebus]], Nyx's consort, as the father.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' Preface</ref><ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' 3.17</ref>

In the myth of [[Tithonus]], the mortal prince received immortality, but not agelessness, from the gods so when old age came to him he kept aging and shrinking but never dying. In the end his divine lover [[Eos]] turned Tithonus into a cicada.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Aphrodite'' 218 ff; [[Scholia]] on the ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg5026/tlg007/First1K-grc1/1.5.1-1.6.1 5.1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103132927/https://cts.perseids.org/read/greekLit/tlg5026/tlg007/First1K-grc1/1.5.1-1.6.1 |date=2023-01-03 }}</ref> In several ancient Greek vases Geras is depicted fighting [[Heracles]], although no relevant written myth survives. Geras is presented as an old, wrinkled bald man begging for mercy.<ref>{{cite book | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=48s3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 137] | title = The Art and Science of Aging Well: A Physician's Guide to a Healthy Body | first = Mark E., M.D | last = Williams | publisher = [[University of North Carolina Press]] | date = June 22, 2016 | isbn = 9781469627403 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=48s3CwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

[[Philostratus]] claimed that the people of [[Gadeira]] set up altars to Geras and [[Thanatos]].<ref>[[Philostratus]], ''[[Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'' 5.4</ref>