THALASSA
From The Hymns of Orpheus
XXI. TO THE SEA, OR TETHYS
The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE and MANNA.
TETHYS I call, with eyes cærulean bright,
Hid in a veil obscure from human sight;
Great Ocean's empress, wand'ring thro' the deep,
And pleas'd with gentle gales, the earth to sweep;
Whose blessed waves in swift succession go,
And lash the rocky shore with endless flow:
Delighting in the Sea serene to play,
In ships exulting and the wat'ry way.
Mother of Venus, and of clouds obscure,
Great nurse of beasts, and source of fountains pure.
O venerable Goddess, hear my pray'r,
And make benevolent my life thy care;
Send, blessed queen, to ships a prosp'rous breeze,
And waft them safely o'er the stormy seas.
The Protogenos of the sea or its surface and a personification of the Mediterranean, is described as a daughter of Aether and Hemera.
Thalassa was closely identified with the sea-goddesses Amphitrite and Tethys and is also known as Thalatta or Thalath.
The Telchines, a family, a class of people, or a tribe, are said to have been descended from Thalassa or Poseidon.
It is probably owing to this story about their origin, that Eustathius describes them as marine beings without feet, the place of the hands being occupied by fins, though in the same page he also states that originally they were the dogs of Actaeon, who were changed into men.
The following are mentioned as the names of individual Telchines: Mylas, Atabyrius, Antaeus, Megalesius, Hormenus, Lycus, Nicon, Simon, Chryson, Argyron, Chalcon.
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom Works, Volume One by Lucian of Samosata
But why dwell on such trifles? I am driven from all Thessaly (Thettaly, forsooth!), thalassa is now mare clausum to me; he will not leave me a poor garden-herb like seutlion, I have never a passalos to hang myself upon. What a long-suffering letter I am myself, your own knowledge is witness enough. When Zeta stole my smaragdos, and robbed me of all Smyrna, I never took proceedings against him; Xi might break all sunthhkai, and appeal to Thucydides (who ought to know) as xympathizing with his xystem; I let them alone. My neighbour Rho I made no difficulty about pardoning as an invalid, when he transplanted my mursinai into his garden, or, in a fit of the spleen, took liberties with my khopsh. So much for my temper.
From Ancient Fragments
The person, who presided over them, was a woman named Omoroca; which in the Chaldæan language is Thalatth; in Greek Thalassa, the sea; but which might equally be interpreted the Moon. All things being in this situation, Belus came, and cut the woman asunder: and of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens; and at the same time destroyed the animals within her. All this (he says) was an allegorical description of nature. For, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being continually generated therein, the deity above-mentioned took off his own head: upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth; and from thence were formed men. On this account it is that they are rational, and partake of divine knowledge.
