Tethys (mythology)

The goddess Tethys, who may have been a primordial deity of Archaic Greece and who in Classical myths was described as the mother who oversaw the chief rivers of the world known to the Greeks, mid-fourth-century mosaic, Philipopolis (today Shahba, Syria), Shahba Museum

In Greek mythology, Tethys (; Greek: Τηθύς), daughter of Uranus and Gaia,^[1] was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry, but not venerated in cult.

Mythology

Genealogy

Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus. Tethys and Oceanus appear as a pair in Callimachus (Hymn 4.17) and in Apollonius (Argonautica 3.244). In Catullus 88, not even Tethys and Oceanus can wash away Gellius’ stain of incest: “o Gelli, quantum non ultima Tethys / nec genitor Nympharum abluit Oceanus.” S. J. Harrison points out the irony of Catullus’ allusion to the sibling couple in this context.^[2] She was mother of the chief rivers of the world known to the Greeks, such as the Nile, the Alpheus, the Maeander, and about three thousand daughters called the Oceanids.^[3] Considered as an embodiment of the waters of the world she also may be seen as a counterpart of Thalassa, the embodiment of the sea.

An Akkadian sea goddess?

Although these vestiges imply a strong role in earlier times, Tethys plays virtually no part in recorded Greek literary texts, or historical records of cults. Walter Burkert states that “Tethys is in no way an active figure in Greek mythology”^[4] but notes her presence in the episode of Iliad XIV that the Ancients called the “Deception of Zeus”, where Hera, to mislead Zeus, says she wants to go to Oceanus, “origin of the gods” and Tethys “the mother”. Burkert sees in the name a transformation of Akkadian tiamtu or tâmtu, “the sea,” which is recognizable in Tiamat.^[5] Alternatively, her name may simply mean “old woman”, derived from Ancient Greek têthe (ἡ τήθη), meaning “grandmother”,^[6][7]and she is often portrayed as being extremely ancient (cf. Callimachus, Iamb 4.52, fr. 194).

Other myths related to Tethys

During the war against the Titans, Tethys raised and educated Hera as her step-child. Hera was brought to Tethys by Rhea^[8] but there are no records of active cults for Tethys in historic times.

Roman mosaic of Tethys from Antioch, Turkey

Indicative of the power exercised by Tethys, one myth relates that the prominent goddess of the Olympians, 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, caused the constellations forever to circle the sky and never drop below the horizon, hence explaining why they are circumpolar.^[9] Robert Graves interprets the use of the term nurse, derived from the Ancient Greek tîtthe (ἡ τίτθη)^[10] in Classical myths as identifying deities who once were goddesses of central importance in the periods before historical documentation.^[11]

Tethys has sometimes been confused with another sea goddess who became the sea-nymph Thetis, the wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles during Classical times.^[12] Some myths imply a second-generation relationship between the two, a grandmother and granddaughter.

Modern use of the name

Tethys, a moon of the planet Saturn, and the prehistoric Tethys Ocean are named after this goddess.

Pictorial representation

One of the few representations of Tethys to be identified securely by an accompanying inscription is the Late Antique (fourth century CE) mosaic from the flooring of a Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts,^[13] after being moved from Dumbarton Oaks.^[14] In the Dumbarton Oaks mosaic, the bust of Tethys—surrounded by fishes—is rising, bare-shouldered from the waters. Against her shoulder rests a golden ship’s rudder. Gray wings sprout from her forehead, as in the mosaics illustrated above and below.

Children