Chaos
ka'os, in ancient mythology, that vast, infinite space out of which all things spring. "In the beginning," say the Scriptures; "Out of Chaos," say the Greek writers. The Roman Ovid represents chaos as a confused, shapeless mass out of which the universe or cosmos took shape. According to the Greek Hesiod Chaos was the mother of Erebus and Nox, darkness and night. Milton is fond of coupling night with chaos. Both quotations are from Paradise Lost:
The universal host up sent
A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
A shout that tore hell's concave, and beyond
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
Where eldest Night
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy.
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold
Eternal anarchy.
See Mythology
Volume I · Aiton’s Encyclopedia