Aphrodite is sometimes considered to be the mother of Eros (Love) [Hyg.Ast.2.30; Nonn.33.56], but this is a most disputed matter. Eros is often considered one of the first to have come into being. It has been said that there was no race of immortals until Eros caused all things to mingle, and that Nyx (Night) laid an Egg in Erebus (the Darkness of the Underworld) and in time Eros was born [Ari.Birds.683ff.]. According to others, Eros was one of the first to be born out of Chaos [Hes.The.116ff.], the kind of void that was the original state of the universe. Some say that not Aphrodite but Ilithyia [Pau.9.27.2], the goddess of childbirth, daughter of Zeus and Hera, was his mother. But still others say that Zephyrus 1 (the West Wind) was his father and Iris 1 (the rainbow, a heavenly messenger) his mother [Nonn.31.111].