Chaos

Chăŏs or Chăus, abl. Chao (other cases not used in the class. per.; gen. Chaï, Serv. ad Verg. A. 1, 664; dat. Chaï, Prisc. p. 720 P.), n., = Chaos.

I.

The boundless, empty space; as the kingdom of darkness, the Lower World:

ingens,

Ov. M. 10, 30; 14, 404; id. Ib. 84:

inane,

id. F. 4, 600:

caecum,

Sen. Med. 741; Stat. Th. 12, 772; Val. Fl. 7, 402;

impersonated,

masc., god of the Lower World, father of Erebos and Nox, Verg. A. 4, 510 (acc. Chaos); 6, 265; Quint. 3, 7, 8; cf.: Janus... edidit hos sonos;

me Chaos antiqui, nam sum res prisca, vocabant,

Ov. F. 1, 103.—

B.

Hence also, immeasurable darkness, deep obscurity:

Cimmerium,

Stat. S. 3, 2, 92:

horridum,

Prud. Cath. 5, 3.—

II.

The confused, formless, primitive mass out of which the universe was made, chaos, Ov. M. 1, 7; 2, 299; Lact. 1, 5, 8; 2, 8, 8:

a Chao,

since the creation of the world, Verg. G. 4, 347.