Tethys (mythology)

Tethys was one of the Titan offspring of Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth).Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.13.xml 126 ff.]; Caldwell, p. 35 line 126-128. Compare with Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#66 5.66.1–3], 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". Hesiod lists her Titan siblings as Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Cronus.Apollodorus adds Dione to this list, while Diodorus Siculus leaves out Theia. Tethys married her brother Oceanus, an enormous river encircling the world, and was by him the mother of numerous sons (the river gods) and numerous daughters (the Oceanids).Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337–370]; Homer, Iliad [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 200–210], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D270 14.300–304], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D161 21.195–197]; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 137–138 (Sommerstein, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.459.xml pp. 458, 459]), Seven Against Thebes 310–311 (Sommerstein, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-seven_thebes/2009/pb_LCL145.185.xml?rskey=PAw97K&result=1&mainRsKey=7AntI7 pp. 184, 185]); Hyginus, Fabulae Preface (Smith and Trzaskoma, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vczTNMWLGdoC&pg=PA95 p. 95]). For Tethys as mother of the river gods, see also: Diodorus Siculus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#69 4.69.1], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#72 72.1]. For Tethys as mother of the Oceanids, see also: Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.2 1.2.2]; Callimachus, Hymn 3.40–45 (Mair, [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/62/mode/2up pp. 62, 63]); Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 242–244 (Seaton, [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/210/mode/2up pp. 210, 211]). For a discussion of these offspring of Oceanus and Tethys, see Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 pp. 40–43].

According to Hesiod, there were three thousand (i.e. innumerable) river gods.Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:337-370 364–368], which says there are "as many" rivers as the "three thousand neat-ankled daughters of Ocean", and at [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:337-370 330–345], names 25 of these 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. Compare with Acusilaus [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA4 fr. 1 Fowler] [= FGrHist 2 1 = Vorsokr. 9 B 21 = Macrobius, Saturnalia [https://www-loebclassics-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/view/macrobius-saturnalia/2011/pb_LCL511.425.xml 5.18.9–10]], which says that from Oceanus and Tethys, "spring three thousand rivers". These included Achelous, the god of the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece, who gave his daughter in marriage to AlcmaeonApollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.7.5 3.7.5]. and was defeated by Heracles in a wrestling contest for the right to marry Deianira;Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.8.1 1.8.1], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.5 2.7.5]. Alpheus, who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and pursued her to Syracuse, where she was transformed into a spring by Artemis;Smith, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dalpheius-bio-1 "Alpheius"]. and Scamander who fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War and, offended when Achilles polluted his waters with a large number of Trojan corpses, overflowed his banks nearly drowning Achilles.Homer, Iliad [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:20.54-20.85 20.74], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.200-21.232 21.211 ff.].

According to Hesiod, there were also three thousand Oceanids.Hesiod, Theogony [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:337-370 346–366], which 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. These included Metis, Zeus' first wife, whom Zeus impregnated with Athena and then swallowed;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+886 886–900]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.6 1.3.6] Eurynome, Zeus' third wife, and mother of the Charites;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+907 907–909]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.1 1.3.1]. Other sources give the Charites other parents, see Smith, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D19%3Aentry%3Dcharis-bio-1 "Charis"]. Doris, the wife of Nereus and mother of the Nereids;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+240 240–264]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.7 1.2.7]. Callirhoe, the wife of Chrysaor and mother of Geryon;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+286 286–288]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.10 2.5.10]. Clymene, the wife of Iapetus, and mother of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], however according to Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus; Perseis, wife of Helios and mother of Circe and Aeetes;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+956 956–957]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.1 1.9.1]. Idyia, wife of Aeetes and mother of Medea;Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+958 958–962]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.23 1.9.23]. and Styx, goddess of the river Styx, and the wife of Pallas and mother of Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia.Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+383 383–385]; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.4 1.2.4].

{{chart top|Tethys' immediate family, according to Hesiod's Theogony Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132–138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337–411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453–520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901–906, 915–920]; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.|collapsed=yes}}

{{chart/start}}

{{chart|}}

{{chart| | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|~|PON|URA=Uranus|GAI=Gaia|PON=Pontus}}

{{chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}}

{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | |COE |y|PHO | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=Oceanus|TET=TETHYS|COE=Coeus|PHO=Phoebe|CRI=Crius|EUR=Eurybia}}

{{chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.}}

{{chart|!|RIV | |OCES | | |LET | |ASTE | | |ASTR | |PAL | |PER | RIV=The Rivers|OCES=The Oceanids|LET=Leto|ASTE=Asteria|ASTR=Astraeus|PAL=Pallas|PER=Perses}}

{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}

{{chart|)|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | }}

{{chart|!| | |HYP |y|THE | | | | | | | | | |IAP |y|CLY |HYP=Hyperion|THE=Theia|IAP=Iapetus|CLY=Clymene One of the Oceanid daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351]. However, according to Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], a different Oceanid, Asia was the mother, by Iapetus, of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus.}}

{{chart|!| |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | | | |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.}}

{{chart|!|HEL | |SEL | |EOS | | | |ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | |HEL=Helios|SEL=Selene Although usually, as here, the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99–100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.|EOS=Eos|ATL=Atlas According to Plato, Critias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d–114a], Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.|MEN=Menoetius|PRO=Prometheus In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444–445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446–447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538–539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.|EPI=Epimetheus}}

{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}

{{chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}

{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |CRO=Cronus|RHE=Rhea}}

{{chart|!| | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.|}}

{{chart|!| |HES | |DEM | |HER | |HAD | |POS | |ZEU | |HES=Hestia|DEM=Demeter|HER=Hera|HAD=Hades|POS=Poseidon|ZEU=Zeus}}

{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}

{{chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}}

{{chart| | | | |THE |~|~|y|~|~|ZEU |~|~|y|~|~|MNE |THE=Themis|ZEU=(Zeus)|MNE=Mnemosyne}}

{{chart| | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | | | |!}}

{{chart| | | | | | |HOR | |MOR | | | |MUS |HOR=The Horae|MOR=The Moirai Although, at Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+217 217], the Moirai are said to be the daughters of Nyx (Night).|MUS=The Muses}}

{{chart/end}}

{{chart bottom}}

Passages in book 14 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 primeval parents of the gods.Fowler 2013, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 8], [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 11]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36 pp. 36–37], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; West 1997, p. 147; Gantz, p. 11; Burkert 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA91 pp. 91–92]; West 1983, pp. 119–120. Twice Homer has Hera describe the pair as "Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys".Homer, Iliad [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.201], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D270 302] [= 201]. 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."West 1997, p. 147. However, as Timothy Gantz points out, "mother" could 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 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D161 21.195–197]).Gantz, p. 11. But, in a later Iliad passage, Hypnos also describes Oceanus as "genesis for all", which, according to Gantz, is hard to understand as meaning other than that, for Homer, Oceanus was the father of the Titans.Gantz, p. 11; Homer, Iliad [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.242-14.269 14.245].

Plato, in his Timaeus, provides a genealogy (probably Orphic) which perhaps reflected an attempt to reconcile this apparent divergence between Homer and Hesiod, in which Uranus and Gaia are the parents of Oceanus and Tethys, and Oceanus and Tethys are the parents of Cronus and Rhea and the other Titans, as well as Phorcys.Gantz, pp. 11–12; West 1983, pp. 117–118; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; Plato, Timaeus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4DAC0911EDDE8F410A4FED46380ED2C0?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D40d 40d–e]. In his Cratylus, Plato quotes Orpheus as saying that Oceanus and Tethys were "the first to marry", possibly also reflecting an Orphic theogony in which Oceanus and Tethys—rather than Uranus and Gaia—were the primeval parents.West 1983, pp. 118–120; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p. 11]; Plato, Cratylus [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:402b 402b] [= Orphic [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/86/mode/2up fr. 15 Kern]]. Plato's apparent inclusion of Phorkys as a Titan (being the brother of Cronus and Rhea), and the mythographer Apollodorus's inclusion of Dione, the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus, as a thirteenth Titan,Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.3 1.1.3], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3 1.3.1]. suggests an Orphic tradition in which Hesiod's twelve Titans were the offspring of Oceanus and Tethys, with Phorkys and Dione taking the place of Oceanus and Tethys.Gantz, p. 743.

According to Epimenides, 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.Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 pp. 7–8].

File:Tethys mosaic 83d40m Phillopolis mid4th century -p2fx.2.jpg, Syria), fourth-century AD, Shahba Museum.LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74107f73d1542-a 7683 (Tethys I (S) 10)].]]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.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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA92 p. 92]: “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." 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".Homer, Iliad [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.201–204]. 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.West 1966, p. 204 136. Τῃθύν; West 1997, p. 147; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; Matthews, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KthVwwtvGpsC&pg=PA199 p. 199]. According to Matthews the "metonymy 'Tethys' = 'sea' seems to occur first in Hellenistic poetry", see for example Lycophron, Alexandria 1069 1069 ([https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/582/mode/2up Mair, pp. 582–583])), becoming a frequent occurrence in Latin poetry, for example appearing nine times in Lucan.

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-child Hera, Zeus's jealous wife.Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; Hyginus, Fabulae 177; Astronomica [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusAstronomica.html 2.1]; Ovid, Fasti 2.191–192 (Frazer, [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/70/mode/2up pp. 70, 71]); Metamorphoses [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D466 2.508–530].

Claudian wrote that Tethys nursed two of her nephlings in her breast, Helios and Selene, the children of her siblings Hyperion and Theia, during their infancy, when their light was weak and had not yet grown into their older, more luminous selves.Claudian, Rape of Persephone [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/2*.html#p323 Book II]

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Tethys turns Aesacus into a diving bird.Ovid, Metamorphoses [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D749 11.784–795].

Tethys was sometimes confused with another sea goddess, the sea-nymph Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles.This happened "even in antiquity", according to Burkert, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA92 p. 92].

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."West 1966, p. 204; see also West 1983, pp. 120–121. 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.West 1997, pp. 147–148; Burkert, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA91 pp. 91–93]. For a discussion of the possibility of oriental sources for the Illiad's Deception of Zeus passage, see Budelmann and Haubold, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qwvwoht2HA8C&pg=PA20 pp. 20–22].

File:Okeanos London 1971.11-1.1.jpg black-figure dinos by Sophilos, c. 600–550 BC, British Museum 971.11–1.1.LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ff7fcf74949-a 6487 (Tethys I (S) 1)]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/6A8CA1F1-9682-4D63-B3FB-8989AC4BF9DD 350099]; Avi [https://www.avi.unibas.ch/DB/searchform.html?ID=4924 4748].]]

Representations of Tethys before the Roman period are rare.For a discussion of Tethy's iconography see Jentel, pp. 1193–1195.

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).LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ff7fcf74949-a 6487 (Tethys I (S) 1)]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/6A8CA1F1-9682-4D63-B3FB-8989AC4BF9DD 350099]; Avi [https://www.avi.unibas.ch/DB/searchform.html?ID=4924 4748]; Gantz, pp. 28, 229–230; Burkert, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cIiUL7dWqNIC&pg=PA202 p. 202]; Williams, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=exArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27 fig. 34], [https://books.google.com/books?id=exArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 29], [https://books.google.com/books?id=exArAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 31–32]; Perseus: [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=London+1971.11-1.1&object=vase London 1971.11–1.1 (Vase)]; British Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=399358&partId=1&searchText=Tethys&page=1 1971,1101.1]. Accompanied by Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, Tethys 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).LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ba21e3def85-9 1602 (Okeanos 3)]; Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/35ACBA5B-7FF1-4572-BA34-6AC260F62A33 300000]; Perseus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Florence+4209&object=vase Florence 4209 (Vase)]. The identification as Tethys is accepted by Beazley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rrhKNJaNBgAC&pg=PA27 p. 27], and Gantz, p. 28, but found "unconvincing" by Carpenter [https://books.google.com/books?id=iH_WAAAAMAAJ&q=François+Vase+Tethys p. 6]. 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". Tethys probably also appeared as one of the gods fighting the Giants in the Gigantomachy frieze of the second-century BC Pergamon Altar.LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ac4ebff2462-9 617 (Tethys I (S) 2)]; Jentel, p. 1195; Queyrel, p. 67; Pollitt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vt9JwsNcKzwC&pg=PA96 p. 96]. Only fragments of the figure remain: a part of a chiton below Oceanus' left arm and a hand clutching a large tree branch visible behind Oceanus' head.

File:Antakya Arkeoloji Muzesi 02366 nevit.jpg, Turkey), third century AD, Hatay Archaeology Museum 1013.LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ace4ce710ef-4 659 (Tethys I (S) 15)].]]

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.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." 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.Jentel, p. 1195; Wages, p. 125. 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).LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73adf3a3ebbe1-e 735 (Tethys I (S) 5)]; Wages, pp. 120–124, fig. 2, p. 127; Hatay Archaeology Museum [http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3758&Lang=en 850] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815073740/http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3758&Lang=en |date=2016-08-15 }}; Campbell 1988, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EFnxuUwINSQC&pg=PA60 pp. 60–61] (identified as Thetis). 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),LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73ace4ce710ef-4 659 (Tethys I (S) 15)]; Wages, p. 123 n. 24, fig. 8, p. 127; Hatay Archaeology Museum [http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3789&Lang=en 1013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815062815/http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3789&Lang=en |date=2016-08-15 }}. Hatay Archaeology Museum 9095,LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-740fbd7a0e379-f 7630 (Tethys I (S) 16)]; Hatay Archaeology Museum [http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3797&Lang=en 9095] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815074916/http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3797&Lang=en |date=2016-08-15 }}. and Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.126 (from the House of the Boat of Psyches: triclinium).LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73acec2051c79-d 661 (Tethys I (S) 17)]; Wages, p. 127; Baltimore Museum of Art [http://collection.artbma.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/items@:24814 1937.126] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817124306/http://collection.artbma.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/items@:24814 |date=2016-08-17 }}.

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).LIMC Tethys I (S) 7; Wages, 119–128; Jentel, p. 1195; Campbell 1988, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EFnxuUwINSQC&pg=PA49 p. 49]. 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,[http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-740f98e0aa9c7-5 7916 (Tethys I (S) 3*)]; Wages, pp. 125, 128; Eraslan, p. 458; Hatay Archaeology Museum [http://www.hatayarkeolojimuzesi.gov.tr/HatayMuzeWeb/faces/jsp/layouts/inventoryCollectionDetail.jsp?inventoryid=3798&Lang=en 9097]. Shahba Museum (in situ),LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74107f73d1542-a 7683 (Tethys I (S) 10)]; Wages, p. 122, fig. 7, p. 125; Dunabin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U7Uu_Dq8oY4C&pg=PA166 p. 166]. Baltimore Museum of Art 1937.118 (from the House of the Boat of Psyches: Room six),LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-740fb27f3d22a-5 7627 (Tethys I (S) 11)]; Kondoleon, pp. 38–39; Wages, pp. 120–121, figs. 3, 4, p. 127; Baltimore Museum of Art [http://collection.artbma.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/items@:24806 1937.118]. and Memorial Art Gallery 42.2.LIMC [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-740fb6282d7ef-4 7628 (Tethys I (S) 12*)]; Wages, p. 127; Memorial Art Gallery [http://magart.rochester.edu/Obj8127 42.2].

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).Wages, pp. 124–126; Jentel, p. 1195; Cahn, p. 1199; Campbell 1998, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DptYe9BmfykC&pg=PA20 p. 20]. 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).

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

{{Reflist|30em}}

• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4995E0C297BD54D0B2C116B6EB6720BF?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0010%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• 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}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL145/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
• 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|3-7608-8758-9}}.
• 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. [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
• 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}}. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
• Eraslan, Şehnaz. [http://www.sosyalarastirmalar.com/cilt8/sayi37_pdf/3sanattarihi_arkeoloji/eraslan_sehnaz.pdf "Oceanus, Tethys and Thalssa Figures in the Light of Antioch and Zeugma Mosaics."], in: Journal of International Social Research 8.37 (2015), pp. 454–461.
• Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0198147404}}.
• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• 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' Fabulae: 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. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg004.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Jentel, Marie-Odile, "Tethys I", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VIII.1 Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1997. {{ISBN|3-7608-8758-9}}.
• Kern, Otto. Orphicorum Fragmenta, Berlin, 1922. [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
• 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. [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
• Macrobius, Saturnalia, Volume II: Books 3-5, edited and translated by Robert A. Kaster, Loeb Classical Library No. 511, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2011. [https://www-loebclassics-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/view/LCL510/2011/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99649-6}}.
• Matthews, Monica, Caesar and the Storm: A Commentary on Lucan, De Bello Civili, Book 5, Lines 476–721, Peter Lang, 2008. {{ISBN|9783039107360}}.
• Most, G.W., Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia, Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99720-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
• Ovid, Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer, London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts: : Harvard University Press, 1959. [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Plato, Cratylus in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:383a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DCriti.%3Asection%3D106a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=4DAC0911EDDE8F410A4FED46380ED2C0?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D17a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Claudian, Rape of Persephone in Claudian: Volume II. Translated by Platnauer, Maurice. Loeb Classical Library Volume 136. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1922.
• 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., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291533?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents “A Note on the Dumbarton Oaks ‘Tethys Mosaic’”] 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 [http://d2aohiyo3d3idm.cloudfront.net/publications/virtuallibrary/0892360585.pdf Greek Vases In The J. Paul Getty Museum], Getty Publications, 1983, pp. 9–34. {{ISBN|0-89236-058-5}}.

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTethys.html TETHYS from The Theoi Project]
• [https://www.greekmythology.com/Titans/Tethys/tethys.html TETHYS from greekmythology.com]
• [https://mythopedia.com/topics/tethys TETHYS from Mythopedia]

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Greek religion}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Titans (mythology)

Category:Greek sea goddesses

Category:Sea and river goddesses

Category:Children of Gaia

Category:Deities in the Iliad

Category:Metamorphoses characters

Category:Helios in mythology

Category:Tiamat