Themis

Themis (/ˈθiːmɪs/; Ancient Greek: Θέμις) is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described
Themis
as "[the Lady] of good counsel", and is the personification of divine order, fairness, law,
natural law, and custom. Her symbols are the Scales of Justice, tools used to remain Titaness of divine law and order
balanced and pragmatic. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, Member of the Titans
literally "that which is put in place", from the Greek verb títhēmi (τίθημι), meaning "to
put".

To the ancient Greeks she was originally the organizer of the "communal affairs of
humans, particularly assemblies".[1] Moses Finley remarked of themis, as the word was
used by Homer in the 8th century BCE, to evoke the social order of the 10th- and 9th-
century Greek Dark Ages:

Themis is untranslatable. A gift of the gods and a mark of civilized existence,

sometimes it means right custom, proper procedure, social order, and
sometimes merely the will of the gods (as revealed by an omen, for example)
with little of the idea of right.[2]

Finley adds, "There was themis—custom, tradition, folk-ways, mores, whatever we may
call it, the enormous power of 'it is (or is not) done'. The world of Odysseus had a highly
developed sense of what was fitting and proper."[3]

Contents
Themis of Rhamnous, Attica, by the
Mythology sculptor Chairestratos, c. 300 BCE
Hesiod's description and contrast to Dike
Abode Mount Olympus
Aeschylean description
Symbol Bronze Sword
Family
Horae: the Hours Personal information
Moirai: the Fates Parents Uranus and Gaia
Cult Siblings Titans
Genealogy Crius

See also Cronus

Notes Coeus

References Hyperion
Iapetus
Oceanus
Mythology Mnemosyne
The personification of abstract concepts is characteristic of the Greeks. The ability of the Phoebe
goddess Themis to foresee the future enabled her to become one of the Oracles of Delphi, Rhea
which in turn led to her establishment as the goddess of divine justice. Tethys

Some classical representations of Themis showed her holding a sword, believed to Theia
represent her ability to cut fact from fiction; to her there was no middle ground (depictions Hekatonkheires
of Lady Justice wearing a blindfold are modern and not classical). Themis built the Oracle Briareos
at Delphi and was herself oracular. According to another legend, Themis received the Cottus
Oracle at Delphi from Gaia and later gave it to Phoebe.[4] Gyges

When Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution; thus Themis Cyclopes
shared the Nemesion temple at Rhamnous. Themis is not wrathful: she, "of the lovely Arges
cheeks", was the first to offer Hera a cup when she returned to Olympus distraught over Brontes
threats from Zeus.[5] Steropes
Other siblings
 Themis presided over the proper relation between Gigantes
man and woman, the basis of the rightly ordered Erinyes (the Furies)
family (the family was seen as the pillar of the
Meliae
deme), and judges were often referred to as
Half-siblings
"themistopóloi " (the servants of Themis). Such
was also the basis for order upon Olympus. Even Aphrodite
Hera addressed her as "Lady Themis". The name Typhon
of Themis might be substituted for Adrasteia in Python
telling of the birth of Zeus on Crete. Uranus

Themis was present at Delos to witness the birth Consort Zeus

of Apollo. According to Ovid, it was Themis Offspring Horae
rather than Zeus who told Deucalion to throw the Auxo
bones of "his Mother" over his shoulder to create Carpo
a new race of humankind after the deluge.
Thallo
Statue of Themis, outside the former
Law Courts, George Street, Brisbane, Dike
Queensland, Australia. Hesiod's description and contrast Eirene
to Dike Eunomia
Themis occurred in Hesiod's Theogony as the Moirai
first recorded appearance of Justice as a divine personage. Drawing not only on the socio- Clotho
religious consciousness of his time but also on many of the earlier cult-religions, Hesiod
Lachesis
described the forces of the universe as cosmic divinities. Hesiod portrayed temporal
Atropos
justice, Dike, as the daughter of Zeus and Themis.

Dike executed the law of judgments and sentencing and, together with her mother Themis, she carried out the final decisions of
Moirai. For Hesiod, Justice is at the center of religious and moral life who, independently of Zeus, is the embodiment of divine
will. This personification of Dike stands in contrast to justice viewed as custom or law and as retribution or sentence.[6]

Aeschylean description
In the play Prometheus Bound, traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, Themis is the mother of Prometheus, and gave him
foreknowledge of what was to come.[7] It is said by Prometheus that she is called many names, including Gaéa.[7]

Family
In Greek mythology, Hesiod mentions[8] Themis among the six sons and six
daughters of Gaia and Uranus (Earth and Sky). Among these Titans of primordial
myth, few were venerated at specific sanctuaries in classical times.

The only consort for Themis mentioned in the sources below is Zeus. One of her few
children was called Natura, the Greek goddess of the forest.

Horae: the Hours

With Zeus she more certainly bore the Horae,[9] those embodiments of the right
moment – the rightness of order unfolding in time – and Astraea.

First generation:

Auxo (the grower)

Carpo (the fruit-bringer) Statue of Themis, Chuo University, Japan.
Thallo (the plant-raiser)
Second generation:

Dike (justice)
Eirene (peace)
Eunomia (order of law)
Moirai: the Fates
Followers of Zeus claimed that it was with him that Themis produced the Moirai, three Fates.[10] A fragment of Pindar,[11]
however, tells that the Moirai were already present at the nuptials of Zeus and Themis; that in fact the Moirai rose with Themis
from the springs of Okeanos the encircling world-ocean and accompanied her up the bright sun-path to meet Zeus at Mount
Olympus. To compliment Pindar, Hesiod also tells us in the Theogony that the Moirai were bore from Nyx who lay with no
one.[12]

Clotho (the weaver)

Lachesis (the lot-caster)
Atropos (the inevitable)

Cult
Themis had several temples in Greece, though they are not described in any great detail by ancient authors. She had temples at the
oracular shrine of Zeus at Dodona, at Tanagra,[13] in Athens,[14] and a Temple of Themis Ikhnaia in Phthiotis, Thessalia.[15]
Pausanias describe her sanctuary in Thebes in somewhat more detail than what was normally the case and it may therefore have
been of more importance:

"Along the road from the Neistan gate [at Thebes, Boiotia] are three sanctuaries. There is a sanctuary of
Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) [her daughters],
while the third is of Zeus Agoraios (of the Market)."[16]

Themis also had an altar in Olympia: "On what is called the Stomion (Mouth) the altar to Themis has been built."[17] Themis was
sometimes depicted in the sanctuaries of other gods and may have shared temples with them occasionally, and she is mentioned to
have shared a temple with Aphrodite in Epidauros: "Within the grove [of the sanctuary of Asklepios (Asclepius) at Epidauros] are
a temple of Artemis, an image of Epione, a sanctuary of Aphrodite and Themis, a race-course."[18]

Genealogy
Themis' family tree [19]

Uranus Gaia Pontus

Oceanus Tethys Hyperion Theia Crius Eurybia

The Rivers The Oceanids Helios Selene [20] Eos Astraeus Pallas Perses

Cronus Rhea Coeus Phoebe

Hestia Hera Poseidon Zeus Leto Asteria

Demeter Hades Apollo Artemis Hecate

Iapetus Clymene (or Asia) [21] THEMIS (Zeus) Mnemosyne

Atlas [22] Menoetius Prometheus [23] Epimetheus The Horae The Muses
See also
(Goddesses of Justice): Astraea, Dike, Themis, Prudentia
(Goddesses of Injustice): Adikia
(Aspects of Justice): (see also: Triple deity/Triple Goddess (neopaganism))
(Justice) Themis/Dike/Justitia (Lady Justice), Raguel (the Angel of Justice)
(Retribution) Nemesis/Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia/Adrasteia/Adrestia/Invidia
(Redemption) Eleos/Soteria/Clementia, Zadkiel/Zachariel (the Angel of Mercy)

Notes
1. (University of Washington School of Law) Themis, Goddess of Justice (http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/themis.ht
ml)
2. Finley, The World of Odysseus, rev. ed.(New York: Viking Prewss) 1978: 78, note.
3. Finley, The World of Odysseus. p. 82.
4. Aeschylus, Eumenides 1 ff.
5. Iliad xv. 88
6. Donna Marie Giancola, "Justice and the Face of the Great Mother (East and West)" (http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Paper
s/Comp/CompGian.htm)
7. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, lines 217–219.
8. Hesiod. Theogony, 132 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Aca
rd%3D104); this origin was part of Orphic tradition as well (Orphic Hymn 79).
9. Hesiod. Theogony, 901 ff. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3A
card%3D901)
10. Hesiod. Theogony, 904 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Aca
rd%3D901)
11. Pindar, fragment 30.
12. Hesiod. Theogony, [1] (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acar
d%3D207)
13. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 9.22.1 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.9.22.1&fromdoc=P
erseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=22&highlight=Themis)
14. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 1.22.1 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.22.1&fromdoc=
Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=22&highlight=Themis)
15. Strabo, Geography 3. 2. 11 (trans. Jones)
16. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 9.25.4 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.25.4&fromdoc=
Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=9:chapter=25&highlight=Themis)
17. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.14.10 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.14.10&fromdo
c=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=5:chapter=14&highlight=Themis)
18. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 2.27.6 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.27.5&fromdoc=
Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=27&highlight=Themis)
19. Hesiod, Theogony 132–138 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132), 337–411 (http://www.
perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337), 453–520 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.
+Th.+453), 901–906, 915–920 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901); Caldwell, pp. 8–11,
tables 11–14.
20. Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374 (http://www.perseus.tufts.
edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371), in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138), Selene is instead made the daughter
of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
21. According to Hesiod, Theogony 507–511 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507),
Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351 (http://www.perse
us.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351), was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and
Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atex
t%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3), another Oceanid,
Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
22. According to Plato, Critias, 113d–114a (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-e
ng1:113d), Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.
23. In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. 444, 445 n. 2 (http://www.loebclassics.com/vie
w/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml), 446, 447 n. 24 (http://www.loebclassics.com/view/ae
schylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml), 538, 539 n. 113 (http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aesch
ylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml)) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.

References
Anonymous, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric
Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the
Perseus Digital Library. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahy
mn%3D2)
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library
Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.or
g/work/126)
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2
Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online
version at the Perseus Digital Library (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg00
1.perseus-eng1).
Clement of Alexandria, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. &
T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theio.com (http://www.theoi.com/Text/ClementRecognitions.html)
Diodorus Siculus, Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History. Translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve
volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William
Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.Online version at the Lacus Curtius: Into the Roman World (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/T
hayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html).
Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge,
MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital
Library. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1)
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard
University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. (http://ww
w.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134)
Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas
Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.org/work/206)
Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas
Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.org/work/207)
Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992).
Online version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.org/work/216)
Nonnus, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863–1950), from the Loeb Classical Library,
Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.org/w
ork/216)
Ovid, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online
version at the Topos Text Project. (https://topostext.org/work/141)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Themis&oldid=918229829"

This page was last edited on 27 September 2019, at 16:52 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.