Chaos (Ancient Greek: χάος khaos meaning "gaping") refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths. In Greek cosmology, Khaos was a primordial state of matter from which the cosmos and the other gods emerged. For Hesiod and the early Greek Olympian myth (8th century BCE), Chaos was the "vast and dark" void from which Nyx emerged. Chaos was also personified as a primal deity in Greek mythology, as the first of the Protogenoi and the god of the air.