Tethys (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Tethys (/ˈtiːθɪs, ˈtɛθɪs/; Greek: Τηθύς) was a Titan daughter of
Tethys
Uranus and Gaia, sister and wife of the Titan Oceanus, mother of the river gods and the
Oceanids. Tethys had no active role in Greek mythology and no established cults.[1] Member of the Titans

Contents
Genealogy
Primeval mother?
Mythology
Tethys as Tiamat
Mosaic (detail) of Tethys, from
Iconography
Philipopolis (modern Shahba, Syria),
Modern use of the name fourth-century AD, Shahba Museum.
Notes Symbol Winged brow
References
Personal information
Parents Uranus and Gaia

Genealogy Siblings Titans

Crius
Tethys was one of the Titan offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).[2] Hesiod lists her
Cronus
Titan siblings as Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis,
Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Cronus.[3] Tethys married her brother Oceanus, an enormous Coeus
river encircling the world and was by him the mother of numerous sons, the river gods Hyperion
and numerous daughters, the Oceanids.[4] Iapetus
Mnemosyne
According to Hesiod, there were three thousand river gods.[5] These included: Achelous,
the god of the Achelous River and the largest river in Greece who gave his daughter in Oceanus
marriage to Alcmaeon[6] and was defeated by Heracles in a wrestling contest for the right Phoebe
to marry Deianira;[7] Alpheus, who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and pursued her Rhea
to Syracuse where she was transformed into a spring by Artemis;[8] and Scamander who Theia
fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War and got offended when Achilles
Themis
polluted his waters with a large number of Trojan corpses, overflowed his banks nearly
drowning Achilles.[9] Consort Oceanus
Offspring Achelous, Alpheus,
According to Hesiod, there were also three thousand Oceanids.[10] These included: Metis, Scamander, and the
Zeus' first wife, whom Zeus impregnated with Athena and then swallowed;[11] Eurynome, other river gods; Metis,
Zeus' third wife, and mother of the Charites;[12] Doris, the wife of Nereus and mother of Eurynome, Doris,
the Nereids;[13] Callirhoe, the wife of Chrysaor and mother of Geryon;[14] Clymene, the Callirhoe, Clymene,
wife of Iapetus, and mother of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus;[15] Perse, Idyia, Styx, and
Perseis, wife of Helios and mother of Circe and Aeetes;[16] Idyia, wife of Aeetes and the other Oceanids
mother of Medea;[17] and Styx, goddess of the river Styx, and the wife of Pallas and
mother of Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia.[18]

Tethy's immediate family, according to Hesiod's Theogony [19]

Uranus Gaia Pontus

Oceanus TETHYS Coeus Phoebe Crius Eurybia

The Rivers The Oceanids Leto Asteria Astraeus Pallas Perses

 Hyperion Theia Iapetus Clymene [20]

Helios Selene [21] Eos Atlas [22] Menoetius Prometheus [23] Epimetheus

Cronus Rhea

Hestia Demeter Hera Hades Poseidon Zeus

Themis (Zeus) Mnemosyne

The Moirai
The Horae [24] The Muses

Primeval mother?
Passages in a section of the Iliad called the Deception of Zeus suggest the possibility that Homer knew a tradition in which
Oceanus and Tethys (rather than Uranus and Gaia as in Hesiod) were the parents of the Titans.[25] Twice Homer has Hera
describe the pair as "Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys",[26] while in the same passage Hypnos
describes Oceanus as "from whom they all are sprung".[27] According to M. L. West, these lines suggests a myth in which
Oceanus and Tethys are the "first parents of the whole race of gods."[28] However, as Timothy Gantz points out, "mother" may
simply refer to the fact that Tethys was Hera's foster mother for a time as Hera tells us in the lines immediately following while
the reference to Oceanus as the genesis of the gods "might be simply a formulaic epithet indicating the numberless rivers and
springs descended from Okeanos" (compare with Iliad 21.195–197 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Ate
xt%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D161)).[29] Plato, in his Timaeus, provides a genealogy (probably Orphic)
which perhaps reflected an attempt to reconcile this apparent divergence between Homer and Hesiod with Uranus and Gaia as the
parents of Oceanus and Tethys and Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans, as well as
Phorcys.[30] In his Cratylus, Plato quotes Orpheus as saying that Oceanus and Tethys were "the first to marry", possibly reflecting
an even older Orphic theogony in which Oceanus and Tethys, rather than Uranus and Gaia, were the primeval parents.[31]

Mythology
Tethys played no active part in Greek mythology. The only early story concerning Tethys is what
Homer has Hera briefly relate in the Iliad's Deception of Zeus passage.[32] There, Hera says that
when Zeus was in the process of deposing Cronus, she was given by her mother Rhea to Tethys
and Oceanus for safekeeping and that they "lovingly nursed and cherished me in their halls".[33]
Hera relates this while dissembling that she is on her way to visit Oceanus and Tethys in the
hopes of reconciling her foster parents who are angry with each other and are no longer having
sexual relations.

Originally Oceanus' consort, at a later time Tethys came to be identified with the sea and in
Hellenistic and Roman poetry Tethys' name came to be used as a poetic term for the sea.[34]

Mosaic (detail) of Tethys
from Antioch, Turkey, Hatay
Archaeology Museum 9095.
child Hera, Zeus's jealous wife.[35]
The only other story involving Tethys is an apparently late astral myth concerning the polar
constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear) which was thought to represent the catasterism of
Callisto who was transformed into a bear and placed by Zeus among the stars. The myth explains
why the constellation never sets below the horizon, saying that since Callisto had been Zeus's
lover, she was forbidden by Tethys from "touching Ocean's deep" out of concern for her foster-
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Tethys turns Aesacus into a diving bird.[36]

Tethys was sometimes confused with another sea goddess, the sea-nymph Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles.[37]

Tethys as Tiamat
M. L. West detects in the Iliad's Deception of Zeus passage an allusion to a possible archaic myth "according to which [Tethys]
was the mother of the gods, long estranged from her husband," speculating that the estrangement might refer to a separation of
"the upper and lower waters ... corresponding to that of heaven and earth," which parallels the story of "Apsū and Tiamat in the
Babylonian cosmology, the male and female waters, which were originally united (En. El. I. 1 ff.)," but that, "By Hesiod's time
the myth may have been almost forgotten and Tethys remembered only as the name of Oceanus' wife."[38] This possible
correspondence between Oceanus and Tethys and Apsū and Tiamat has been noticed by several authors with Tethys' name
possibly having been derived from that of Tiamat.[39]

Iconography
Representations of Tethys prior to the Roman period are rare.[40] Tethys appears, identified
by inscription (ΘΕΘΥΣ), as part of an illustration of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis on the
early sixth century BC Attic black-figure "Erskine" dinos by Sophilos (British Museum
1971.111–1.1).[41] Tethys, accompanied by Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, follows
close behind Oceanus at the end of a procession of gods invited to the wedding. Tethys is
also conjectured to be represented in a similar illustration of the wedding of Peleus and
Thetis depicted on the early sixth century BC Attic black-figure François Vase (Florence
4209).[42] Tethys probably also appeared as one of the gods fighting the Giants in the
Gigantomachy frieze of the second century BC Pergamon Altar.[43] Only fragments of the Mosaic (detail) of Tethys and
figure remain: a part of a chiton below Oceanus' left arm and a hand clutching a large tree Oceanus, excavated from the
House of Menander, Daphne
branch visible behind Oceanus' head.
(modern Harbiye, Turkey), third
century AD, Hatay Archaeology
The above are the only artistic representations of Tethys known prior to the Roman period.
Museum 1013.
However, during the second to fourth centuries AD, Tethys, sometimes with Oceanus,
sometimes alone, became a relatively frequent feature of mosaics decorating baths, pools,
and triclinia in the Greek East, particularly in Antioch and its suburbs.[44] Her identifying attributes are wings sprouting from her
forehead, a rudder/oar, and a ketos, a creature from Greek mythology with the head of a dragon and the body of a snake.[45] The
earliest of these mosaics, identified as Tethys, decorated a triclinium overlooking a pool, excavated from the House of the
Calendar in Antioch, dated to shortly after AD 115 (Hatay Archaeology Museum 850).[46] Tethys, reclining on the left, with
Oceanus reclining on the right, has long hair, a winged forehead, and is nude to the waist with draped legs. A ketos twines around
her raised right arm. Other mosaics of Tethys with Oceanus include: Hatay Archaeology Museum 1013 (from the House of
Menander, Daphne),[47] Hatay Archaeology Museum 9095,[48] and Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.126 (from the House of the
Boat of Psyches: triclinium).[49]

In other mosaics, Tethys appears without Oceanus. One of these is a fourth century AD mosaic from a pool (probably a public
bath) found at Antioch, now installed in Boston, Massachusetts at the Harvard Business School's Morgan Hall and formerly at
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. (Dumbarton Oaks 76.43).[50] Besides the Sophilos dinos, this is the only other representation
of Tethys identified by inscription. Here Tethys, with a winged forehead, rises from the sea bare shouldered with long dark hair
parted in the middle. A golden rudder rests against her right shoulder. Others include: Hatay Archaeology Museum 9097,[51]
Shahba Museum (in situ),[52] Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.118 (from the House of the Boat of Psyches: Room six),[53] and
Memorial Art Gallery 42.2.[54]

Toward the end of the period represented by these mosaics, Tethys' iconography appears to merge with that of another sea
goddess Thalassa, the Greek personification of the sea (thalassa being the Greek word for the sea).[55] Such a transformation
would be consistent with the frequent use of Tethys' name as a poetic reference to the sea in Roman poetry (see above).

Modern use of the name

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

Notes
1. Burkert, p. 92 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q&f=false).
 2. Hesiod, Theogony 132–138 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132); Apollodorus, 1.1.3 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.3). Compare with Diodorus
Siculus, 5.66.1–3 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#66), which
says that the Titans (including Tethys) "were born, as certain writers of myths relate, of Uranus and Gê, but
according to others, of one of the Curetes and Titaea, from whom as their mother they derive the name".
3. Apollodorus adds Dione to this list, while Diodorus Siculus leaves out Theia.
4. Hesiod, Theogony 337–370 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337); Homer, Iliad 200–210
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241),
14.300–304 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1
4%3Acard%3D270), 21.195–197 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.01
34%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D161); Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 137–138 (Sommerstein, pp. 458, 459 (htt
p://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.459.xml)), Seven Against Thebes
310–311 (Sommerstein, pp. 184, 185 (http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-seven_thebes/2009/pb_LCL1
45.185.xml?rskey=PAw97K&result=1&mainRsKey=7AntI7)); Hyginus, Fabulae Preface (Smith and Trzaskoma, p.
95 (https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA95)). For Tethys as mother of the river gods, see
also: Diodorus Siculus, 4.69.1 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#6
9), 72.1 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#72). For Tethys as
mother of the Oceanids, see also: Apollodorus, 1.2.2 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg0
01.perseus-eng1:1.2.2); Callimachus, Hymn 3.40–45 (Mair, pp. 62, 63 (https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslyco
p00calluoft#page/62/mode/2up)); Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 242–244 (Seaton, pp. 210, 211 (https://archi
ve.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up)).
5. Hesiod names 25 river gods: Nilus, Alpheus, Eridanos, Strymon, Maiandros, Istros, Phasis, Rhesus, Achelous,
Nessos, Rhodius, Haliacmon, Heptaporus, Granicus, Aesepus, Simoeis, Peneus, Hermus, Caicus, Sangarius,
Ladon, Parthenius, Evenus, Aldeskos, and Scamander.
6. Apollodorus, 3.7.5 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.7.5).
7. Apollodorus, 1.8.1 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.8.1), 2.7.5 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.5).
8. Smith, s.v. "Alpheius" (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentr
y%3Dalpheius-bio-1).
9. Homer, Iliad 20.74 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:20.54-20.85),
21.211 ff. (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.200-21.232).
10. Hesiod names 41 Oceanids: Peitho, Admete, Ianthe, Electra, Doris, Prymno, Urania, Hippo, Clymene, Rhodea,
Callirhoe, Zeuxo, Clytie, Idyia, Pasithoe, Plexaura, Galaxaura, Dione, Melobosis, Thoe, Polydora, Cerceis, Plouto,
Perseis, Ianeira, Acaste, Xanthe, Petraea, Menestho, Europa, Metis, Eurynome, Telesto, Chryseis, Asia, Calypso,
Eudora, Tyche, Amphirho, Ocyrhoe, and Styx.
11. Hesiod, Theogony 886–900 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+886); Apollodorus, 1.3.6 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.6)
12. Hesiod, Theogony 907–909 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+907); Apollodorus, 1.3.1 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1). Other sources give the Charites
other parents, see Smith, s.v. "Charis" (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.
04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D19%3Aentry%3Dcharis-bio-1).
13. Hesiod, Theogony 240–264 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+240); Apollodorus, 1.2.7 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.7).
14. Hesiod, Theogony 286–288 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+286); Apollodorus, 2.5.10 (h
ttp://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.10).
15. Hesiod, Theogony 351 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351), however according to
Apollodorus, 1.2.3 (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.3), another
Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus;
16. Hesiod, Theogony 956–957 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+956); Apollodorus, 1.9.1 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.1).
17. Hesiod, Theogony 958–962 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+958); Apollodorus, 1.9.23 (h
ttp://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.23).
18. Hesiod, Theogony 383–385 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+383); Apollodorus, 1.2.4 (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.4).
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. One of the Oceanid daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ho
pper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351). However, according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex
t?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D
3), a different Oceanid, Asia was the mother, by Iapetus, of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.
21. Although usually, as here, the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100 (htt
p://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.
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.
24. Although, at Hesiod, Theogony 217 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+217), the Moirai are
said to be the daughters of Nyx (Night).
25. Fowler 2013, p. 11 (https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11); Hard, pp. 36–37 (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36), p. 40 (https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&p
g=PA40); Burkert, pp. 91–92 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA91); Gantz, pp. 11–12;
West 1983, pp. 119–120. According to Epimenides (see Fowler 2013, pp. 7–8 (https://books.google.com/books?id
=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7)), the first two beings, Night and Aer, produced Tartarus, who in turn produced two
Titans (possibly Oceanus and Tethys) from whom came the world egg.
26. Homer, Iliad 14.201 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:
14.193-14.241), 302 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Aboo
k%3D14%3Acard%3D270) [= 201].
27. Homer, Iliad 245 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.
242-14.269).
28. West 1997, p. 147.
29. Gantz, p. 11.
30. Gantz, pp. 11–12; West 1983, pp. 117–118; Fowler 2013, p. 11 (https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQ
BAJ&pg=PA11); Plato, Timaeus 40d–e (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4DAC0911EDDE8F4
10A4FED46380ED2C0?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D40d).
31. West 1983, pp. 118–120; Fowler 2013, p. 11 (https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11);
Plato, Cratylus 402b (http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:402b) [=
Orphic fr. 15 Kern (https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/86/mode/2up)].
32. Gantz, p. 28: "For Tethys, there are no myths at all, save for Hera’s comment in the ‘’Iliad’’ that she was given by
Rhea to Tethys to raise when Zeus was deposing Kronos"; Burkert, p. 92 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiU
L7dWqNIC&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q&f=false): “Tethys is in no way an active figure in Greek mythology”; West
1997, p. 147: "In early poetry she is merely an inactive mythological figure who lives with Oceanus and has borne
his children."
33. Homer, Iliad 14.201–204 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-e
ng1:14.193-14.241).
34. West 1966, p. 204 136. Τῃθύν; West 1997, p. 147; Hard, p. 40 (https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnI
C&pg=PA40); Matthews, p. 199 (https://books.google.com/books?id=KthVwwtvGpsC&pg=PA199). According to
Matthews the "metonymy 'Tethys' = 'sea' seems to occur first in Hellenistic poetry", see for example Lycophron,
Alexandria 1069 1069 (Mair, pp. 582–583 (https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/582/mode/
2up))), becoming a frequent occurrence in Latin poetry, for example appearing nine times in Lucan.
35. Hard, p. 40 (https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40); Hyginus, Fabulae 177; Astronomica
2.1 (http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusAstronomica.html); Ovid, Fasti 2.191–192 (Frazer, pp. 70, 71 (https://archiv
e.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/70/mode/2up)); Metamorphoses 2.508–530 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D466).
36. Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.784–795 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0
028%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D749).
37. This happened "even in antiquity", according to Burkert, p. 92 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC
&pg=PA92).
38. West 1966, p. 204; see also West 1983, pp. 120–121.
39. West 1997, pp. 147–148; Burkert, pp. 91–93 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA91). For
a discussion of the possibility of oriental sources for the Illiad's Deception of Zeus passage, see Budelmann and
Haubold, pp. 20–22 (https://books.google.com/books?id=Qwvwoht2HA8C&pg=PA20).
40. For a discussion of Tethy's iconography see Jentel, pp. 1193–1195.
41. LIMC Tethys I (S) 1 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%2
9+1%22) (detail showing figures with inscriptions: image 5 of 32 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/imageview.ph
p?source=139&image_id=7516&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%29+1%22)); Beazley Archive 350099 (http://www.bea
zley.ox.ac.uk/record/6A8CA1F1-9682-4D63-B3FB-8989AC4BF9DD); Burkert, p. 202 (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA202); Gantz, p. 28; Williams, pp. 27 fig. 34 (https://books.google.com/books?id=ex
ArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27), 29 (https://books.google.com/books?id=exArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29), 31–32 (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=exArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31); Perseus: London 1971.11–1.1 (Vase) (http://www.perseus.t
ufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=London+1971.11-1.1&object=vase); British Museum 1971,1101.1 (https://www.briti
shmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=399358&partId=1&searchText=
Tethys&page=1).
42. LIMC Okeanos 3 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Okeanos+3%22);
Beazley archive 300000 (http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/35ACBA5B-7FF1-4572-BA34-6AC260F62A33);
Perseus Florence 4209 (Vase) (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Florence+4209&object=vase).
The identification as Tethys is accepted by Beazley, p. 27 (https://books.google.com/books?id=rrhKNJaNBgAC&p
g=PA27), and Gantz, p. 28, but found "unconvincing" by Carpenter p. 6 (https://books.google.com/books?id=iH_W
AAAAMAAJ&q=François+Vase+Tethys&dq=François+Vase+Tethys&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj92NyHne7NAh
WG0iYKHfbNDZsQ6AEINjAE). This vase is unremarked upon by Jentel, who says that the Sophilos dinos Tethys
(LIMC Tethys I (S) 1) is the "seule representation de [Tethys] à l'époque archaique".
43. LIMC Tethys I (S) 2 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%2
9+2%22) (Image 5 of 56 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/imageview.php?source=139&image_id=607&term=%2
2Tethys+I+%28S%29+2%22)); Jentel, p. 1195; Queyrel, p. 67; Pollit, p. 96 (https://books.google.com/books?id=vt
9JwsNcKzwC&pg=PA96).
44. For a discussion of this group of mosaics, see Jentel, 1194–1195, which lists 15 Roman period Tethys mosaics
(Tethys I (S) 3–17), and Wages, pp. 119–128. Doro Levi identified the sea goddess in the Antioch mosaics as
Thetis, however according to Wages, p. 126, "Neither the inscriptions nor the attributes in this group of mosaics
support Doro Levi's identification". See also Kondoleon, p. 152 with p. 153 n. 2, which, in discussing one of these
mosaics (Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.118, see below), says that "although the Baltimore goddess does not
have any other attributes or label, she is convincingly identified as Tethys" saying further (in the note) that "Levi
identified her as Thetis without much evidence, but Wages makes a good argument for identifying her as Tethys".
Jentel identifies these mosaics as Tethys, while noting, p. 1195, that "Dès l'Antiquité et encore actuellement,
certains auteurs ont confound [Tethys] avec la Néréeid Thetis."
45. Jentel, p. 1195; Wages, p. 125.
46. LIMC Tethys I (S) 5; Wages, pp. 120–124, fig. 2, p. 127; Hatay Archaeology Museum 850 (http://www.hatayarkeol
ojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3758&Lang=en);
Campbell 1988, pp. 60–61 (https://books.google.com/books?id=EFnxuUwINSQC&pg=PA60) (identified as Thetis).
47. LIMC Tethys I (S) 15; Wages, p. 123 n. 24, fig. 8, p. 127; Hatay Archaeology Museum 1013 (http://www.hatayarke
olojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3789&Lang=en).
48. LIMC Tethys I (S) 16; Hatay Archaeology Museum 9095 (http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/f
aces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3797&Lang=en).
49. LIMC Tethys I (S) 17 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%
29+17%22); Wages, p. 127; Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.126 (http://collection.artbma.org/emuseum/view/object
s/asitem/items@:24814).
50. LIMC Tethys I (S) 7 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%2
9+7%22); Wages, 119–128; Jentel, p. 1195; Campbell 1988, p. 49 (https://books.google.com/books?id=EFnxuUwI
NSQC&pg=PA49).
51. LIMC Tethys I (S) 3; Wages, pp. 125, 128; Eraslan, p. 458; Hatay Archaeology Museum 9097 (http://www.hatayar
keolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3798&Lang=en).
52. LIMC Tethys I (S) 10 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%
29+10%22); Wages, p. 122, fig. 7, p. 125; Dunabin, p. 166 (https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C&
pg=PA166).
53. LIMC Tethys I (S) 11; Kondoleon, pp. 38–39; Wages, pp. 120–121, figs. 3, 4, p. 127; Baltimore Museum of Art
1937.118 (http://collection.artbma.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/items@:24806).
54. LIMC Tethys I (S) 12 (https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Tethys+I+%28S%
29+12%22); Wages, p. 127; Memorial Art Gallery 42.2 (http://magart.rochester.edu/Obj8127).
55. Wages, pp. 124–126; Jentel, p. 1195; Cahn, p. 1199; Campbell 1998, p. 20 (https://books.google.com/books?id=D
ptYe9BmfykC&pg=PA20).

References
Aeschylus(?), Prometheus Bound in Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two
volumes. Vol 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. 1926. Online version at the Perseus Digital
Library (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4995E0C297BD54D0B2C116B6EB6720BF?doc=Per
seus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0010%3Acard%3D1).
Aeschylus, Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Prometheus Bound. Edited and translated by Alan H.
Sommerstein. Loeb Classical Library No. 145. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009.
ISBN 978-0-674-99627-4. Online version at Harvard University Press (http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL145/2
009/volume.xml).
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).
Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann,
1912. Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/n5/mode/2up).
Beazley, John Davidson, The Development of Attic Black-figure, Volume 24, University of California Press, 1951.
ISBN 9780520055933.
Budelmann, Felix and Johannes Haubold, "Reception and Tradition" in A Companion to Classical Receptions,
edited by Lorna Hardwick and Christopher Stray, pp. 13–25. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN 9781444393774.
Burkert, Walter The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early archaic Age,
Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. 91–93.
Cahn, Herbert A., "Thalassa", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VIII.1 Artemis Verlag,
Zürich and Munich, 1997. ISBN 9783760887517.
Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). ISBN 978-0-
941051-00-2.
Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English
translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive (https://archive.
org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up)
Campbell, Sheila D. (1988), The Mosaics of Antioch, PIMS. ISBN 9780888443649.
Campbell, Sheila D. (1998), The Mosaics of Anemurium, PIMS. ISBN 9780888443748.
Carpenter, Thomas H., Dionysian Imagery in Archaic Greek Art: Its Development in Black-Figure Vase Painting,
Clarendon Press, 1986. ISBN 9780198132226.
Diodorus Siculus, Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb
Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. ISBN 0674993756. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/T
hayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html)
Eraslan, Şehnaz. "Oceanus, Tethys and Thalssa Figures in the Light of Antioch and Zeugma Mosaics." (http://ww
w.sosyalarastirmalar.com/cilt8/sayi37_pdf/3sanattarihi_arkeoloji/eraslan_sehnaz.pdf), in: Journal of International
Social Research 8.37 (2015), pp. 454–461.
Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013.
ISBN 978-0198147411.
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press,
1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek
Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White,
Cambridge, Massachusetts., 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%3
Acard%3D1).
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts.,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (ht
tp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1).
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence:
University of Kansas Press, 1960.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabuae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology,
Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007.
ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G.
Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg004.perseus-
eng1).
Jentel, Marie-Odile, "Tethys I", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VIII.1 Artemis Verlag,
Zürich and Munich, 1997. ISBN 9783760887517.
Kern, Otto. Orphicorum Fragmenta, Berlin, 1922. Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00
orphuoft#page/n5/mode/2up)
Kondoleon, Christine, Antioch: The Lost Ancient City, Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN 9780691049328.
 Lycophron, Alexandra (or Cassandra) in Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ;
Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet
Archive (https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up)
Matthews, Monica, Caesar and the Storm: A Commentary on Lucan, De Bello Civili, Book 5, Lines 476–721, Peter
Lang, 2008. ISBN 9783039107360.
Ovid, Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, London: W. Heinemann LTD;
Cambridge, Massachusetts: : Harvard University Press, 1959. Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfas
ti00oviduoft#page/n5/mode/2up).
Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital
Library (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acar
d%3D1).
Plato, Cratylus in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (htt
p://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:383a).
Plato, Critias in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard
University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (http://www.
perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DCriti.%3Asection%3D106a).
Plato, Timaeus in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (htt
p://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4DAC0911EDDE8F410A4FED46380ED2C0?doc=Perseus%3A
text%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D17a).
Pollitt, Jerome Jordan, Art in the Hellenistic Age, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521276726.
Queyrel, François, L'Autel de Pergame: Images et pouvoir en Grèce d'Asie, Paris: Éditions A. et J. Picard, 2005.
ISBN 2-7084-0734-1.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).
Wages, Sara M., “A Note on the Dumbarton Oaks ‘Tethys Mosaic’” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291533?seq=1#p
age_scan_tab_contents) in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 40 (1986), pp. 119–128.
West, M. L. (1966), Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press.
West, M. L. (1983), The Orphic Poems, Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814854-8.
West, M. L. (1997), The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth, Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-815042-3.
Williams, Dyfri, "Sophilos in the British Museum" in Greek Vases In The J. Paul Getty Museum (http://d2aohiyo3d3
idm.cloudfront.net/publications/virtuallibrary/0892360585.pdf), Getty Publications, 1983, pp. 9–34. ISBN 0-89236-
058-5.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tethys_(mythology)&oldid=940316363"

This page was last edited on 11 February 2020, at 20:27 (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.