| Thetis | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Nereids | |
 Statue of Thetis with a triton, Roman copy | |
| Abode | the Sea |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Nereus and Doris |
| Siblings | Nereids, Nerites |
| Consort | Peleus, Zeus |
| Children | Achilles |
| Part of a series on |
| Ancient Greek religion |
|---|
 |
| Greek deities series |
|---|
| Water deities |
| Water nymphs |
Thetis (/ˈθiːtɪs/ THEEH-tiss, /ˈθɛtɪs/ THEH-tiss; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Θέτις [tʰétis]) is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, and one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus.[1]
When described as a Nereid in Classical myths, Thetis was the daughter of Nereus and Doris,[2] and a granddaughter of Tethys with whom she sometimes shares characteristics. Often she seems to lead the Nereids as they attend to her tasks. Sometimes she also is identified with Metis.
Some sources argue that she was one of the earliest of deities worshipped in Archaic Greece, the oral traditions and records of which are lost. Only one written record, a fragment, exists attesting to her worship and an early Alcman hymn exists that identifies Thetis as the creator of the universe. Worship of Thetis as the goddess is documented to have persisted in some regions by historical writers, such as Pausanias.
In the Trojan War cycle of myth, the wedding of Thetis and the Greek hero Peleus is one of the precipitating events in the war which also led to the birth of their child Achilles.
One of her epithets was Halosydne (Greek: Ἁλοσύδνη), meaning "sea-nourished" or "sea-born" goddess.[3]
- ^ "Nereus: Sea-God, the Old Man of the Sea | Greek mythology, w/ pictures". Theoi.com. Retrieved 2013-05-04.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 240 ff.; her mother was Thalassa according to Lucian, Dialog of the Sea Gods, 11, 2."XANTHUS:O Thalassa, take me to you; see how horribly I have been treated; cool my wounds for me.Thalassa: What is this, Xanthus? who has burned you?XANTHUS:Hephaestus. Oh, I am burned to cinders! oh, oh, oh, I boil!Thalassa:What made him use his fire upon you?XANTHUS:Why, it was all that son of your Thetis. He was slaughtering the Phrygians; I tried entreaties, but he went raging on, damming my stream with their bodies; I was so sorry for the poor wretches, I poured down to see if I could make a flood and frighten him off them. But Hephaestus happened to be about, and he must have collected every particle of fire he had in Etna or anywhere else; on he came at me, scorched my elms and tamarisks, baked the poor fishes and eels, made me boil over, and very nearly dried me up altogether. You see what a state I am in with the burns.Thalassa:Indeed you are thick and hot, Xanthus, and no wonder; the dead men's blood accounts for one, and the fire for the other, according to your story. Well, and serve you right; assaulting my grandson, indeed! paying no more respect to the son of a Nereid than that!XANTHUS:Was I not to take compassion on the Phrygians? they are my neighbours.Thalassa:And was Hephaestus not to take compassion on Achilles? He is the son of Thetis."
- ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Halosydne