Apate

Apate is the daughter of Nyx, primordial goddess of the night, and the former archangel Samael. Apate is the personification of deceit and the twin sister of Dolos the personification of trickery.

Overview[]

Apate along with her sibling is a theos angelos, a product of a union between a deity and an angel, and the child of Nyx and Samael. The circumstances surrounding her conception is unknown as neither Nyx nor Samael himself speak of it. One account details that their birth were echos of Nyx's frustration and feelings of betrayal indicating that Samael had deceived her into laying with him in some way.

Nonetheless, given Samael's role as Satan it is no question as to why he would produce two offspring that embody deceit and trickery. While Apate is loyal to her mother she also somewhat answers to her father as well but unlike Nyx she bears a strong disdain towards Samael given that he was absent from the majority of her life.

Apate appeared during the affair between Zeus, the king of the gods, and Semele, a Theban princess who bore him the god of wine, Dionysus. After knowing this infidelity of her husband, Hera sought the help of Apate in her scheme of punishing the mortal paramour of Zeus. Apate then willingly gave her a magical girdle which Hera then used to trick Semele into asking Zeus to appear before in his true form which resulted in her death (i.e. Semele) because no mortal being can directly gaze the presence of a god.