TETHYS
Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia andThe Theogony of Hesiod
The Iliad of Homer Book XIV
The Metamorphoses by Ovid
...but afterwards Gaia lay with Heaven and bare deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.
In Greek mythology, Tethys was a Titaness and sea goddess who was both sister and wife of Oceanus. She was mother of the chief rivers of the universe, such as the Nile, the Alpheus, the Maeander, and about three thousand daughters called the Oceanids.
From The Iliad of Homer Book XIV
Then Juno told her a lying tale and said, "I want you to endow me with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring all things mortal and immortal to your feet. I am going to the world's end to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and mother Tethys: they received me in their house, took care of me, and brought me up, having taken me over from Rhaea when Jove imprisoned great Saturn in the depths that are under earth and sea. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them; they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not slept with one another this long while; if I can bring them round and restore them to one another's embraces, they will be grateful to me and love me for ever afterwards."
Then Juno told him a lying tale and said, "I am going to the world's end, to visit Oceanus, from whom all we gods proceed, and mother Tethys; they received me into their house, took care of me, and brought me up. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them: they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not slept with one another this long time. The horses that will take me over land and sea are stationed on the lowermost spurs of many-fountained Ida, and I have come here from Olympus on purpose to consult you. I was afraid you might be angry with me later on, if I went to the house of Oceanus without letting you know."
Tethys "Goddess of the Sea" mosaic from the second quarter of 4th century
Consorts and Children
With Oceanus
Achelous
Acheron
Alpheus
Amaltheia
Amphitrite
Asia
Asopus
Callirhoe
Catillus
Cebren
Cephissus
Circe
Clitunno
Clymene
Crinisus
Dione
Doris
Electra
Enipeus
Eurynome
Inachus
Lysithea
Melia
Meliboea
Merope
Nilus
Peneus
Perse
Philyra
Pleione
Rhode
Scamander
Styx
Telesto
Tiberinus
Tibertus
Tyche
Volturnus
The Theogony of Hesiod
Lines 334-345
And Tethys bare to Ocean eddying rivers, Nilus, and Alpheus, and
deep-swirling Eridanus, Strymon, and Meander, and the fair stream
of Ister, and Phasis, and Rhesus, and the silver eddies of
Achelous, Nessus, and Rhodius, Haliacmon, and Heptaporus,
Granicus, and Aesepus, and holy Simois, and Peneus, and Hermus,
and Caicus fair stream, and great Sangarius, Ladon, Parthenius,
Euenus, Ardescus, and divine Scamander.
Lines 346-370
Also she brought forth a holy company of daughters who with the
lord Apollo and the Rivers have youths in their keeping -- to
this charge Zeus appointed them:
Peitho, and Admete, and Ianthe, and Electra, and Doris, and
Prymno, and Urania divine in form, Hippo, Clymene, Rhodea, and
Callirrhoe, Zeuxo and Clytie, and Idyia, and Pasithoe, Plexaura,
and Galaxaura, and lovely Dione, Melobosis and Thoe and handsome
Polydora,
Cerceis lovely of form, and soft eyed Pluto, Perseis, Ianeira,
Acaste, Xanthe, Petraea the fair, Menestho, and Europa, Metis,
and Eurynome, and Telesto saffron-clad, Chryseis and Asia and
charming Calypso, Eudora, and Tyche, Amphirho, and Ocyrrhoe, and
Styx who is the chiefest of them all.
These are the eldest daughters that sprang from Ocean and Tethys;
but there are many besides. For there are three thousand
neat-ankled daughters of Ocean who are dispersed far and wide,
and in every place alike serve the earth and the deep waters,
children who are glorious among goddesses. And as many other
rivers are there, babbling as they flow, sons of Ocean, whom
queenly Tethys bare, but their names it is hard for a mortal man
to tell, but people know those by which they severally dwell.
During the war against the Titans, Tethys raised Rhea as her god-child.
Tethys is sometimes confused with Thetis, the wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles.
Hera was not pleased with the
placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky, as the constellations
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess,
cursed the constellations to forever circle the sky and never
drop below the horizon, hence explaining why they are
circumpolar.
From The
Story of Phaeton in
The Metamorphoses
by Ovid
If downward from the Heav'ns my head I bow,
And see the Earth and Ocean hang below,
Ev'n I am seiz'd with horror and affright,
And my own heart misgives me at the sight.
A mighty downfal steeps the ev'ning stage,
And steddy reins must curb the horses' rage.
Tethys herself has fear'd to see me driv'n
Down headlong from the precipice of Heav'n.
Besides, consider what impetuous force
Turns stars and planets in a diff'rent course.
I steer against their motions; nor am I
Born back by all the current of the sky.
From The
House of Sleep in
The Metamorphoses
by Ovid
A snake unseen now pierc'd her heedless foot;
Quick thro' the veins the venom'd juices shoot:
She fell, and 'scap'd by death his fierce pursuit;
Her lifeless body, frighted, he embrac'd,
And cry'd, Not this I dreaded, but thy haste:
O had my love been less, or less thy fear!
The victory, thus bought, is far too dear.
Accursed snake! yet I more curs'd than he!
He gave the wound; the cause was given by me.
Yet none shall say, that unreveng'd you dy'd.
He spoke; then climb'd a cliff's o'er-hanging side,
And, resolute, leap'd on the foaming tide.
Tethys receiv'd him gently on the wave;
The death he sought deny'd, and feathers gave.
Debarr'd the surest remedy of grief,
And forc'd to live, he curst th' unask'd relief.
Then on his airy pinions upward flies,
And at a second fall successless tries;
The downy plume a quick descent denies.
Enrag'd, he often dives beneath the wave,
And there in vain expects to find a grave.
His ceaseless sorrow for th' unhappy maid,
Meager'd his look, and on his spirits prey'd.
Still near the sounding deep he lives; his name
From frequent diving and emerging came.