theia

The name Theia alone means simply "goddess" or "divine"; Theia Euryphaessa ({{lang|grc|Θεία Εὐρυφάεσσα}}) brings overtones of extent ({{lang|grc|εὐρύς}}, eurys, "wide", root: {{lang|grc|εὐρυ-/εὐρε-}}) and brightness ({{lang|grc|φάος}}, phaos, "light", root: φαεσ-).

Early accounts gave her a primal origin, said to be the eldest daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky).Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D104 132–138]; Apollodorus, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D3 1.1.3]; Gantz, p. 10; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA37 p. 37]; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 133–137; Tripp, s.v. Theia; Grimal, s.v. Theia; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dtheia-bio-1 s.v. Theia]. She is thus the sister of the Titans (Oceanus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Coeus, Themis, Rhea, Phoebe, Tethys, Mnemosyne, Cronus, and sometimes of Dione), the Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires, the Giants, the Meliae, the Erinyes, and is the half-sister of Aphrodite (in some versions), Typhon, Python, Pontus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto. By her brother-husband Hyperion, she is the mother of Helios, Selene, and Eos.Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 371–374]; Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2 1.2.2]; Scholia on Pindar, Isthmian [https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg5034.tlg001d.perseus-grc1:5.2/ 5.2 (Drachmann, pp. 242–243)]; Gantz, p. 30; Hard [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 p. 43]; Morford, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ecGXcMRAPXcC&pg=PA40 p. 40]; Kerenyi, p. 22; Tripp, s.v. Theia; Grimal, s.v. Theia; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dtheia-bio-1 s.v. Theia].

Robert Graves relates that Theia is referred to as the cow-eyed Euryphaessa who gave birth to Helios in myths dating to classical antiquity.{{Cite book|title=The Greek Myths|last=Graves|first=Robert|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1960|isbn=978-0143106715|location=Harmondsworth, London, England|pages=42a}}Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 371-374]; of "cow-eyed", Károly Kerényi observes, "these names recall such names as Europa and Pasiphae, or Pasiphaessa—names of moon-goddesses who were associated with bulls. In the mother of Helios we can recognize the moon-goddess, just as in his father Hyperion we can recognise the sun-god himself" (Kerényi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951, p. 192).

Once paired in later myths with her Titan brother Hyperion as her husband, "mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one" of the Homeric Hymn to Helios, was said to be the mother of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn).Homeric Hymn to Helios [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D31 1-8]; Gantz, p. 30; Tripp, s.v. Theia. Gaius Valerius Catullus described those three lights of the heavens as "Theia's illustrious progeny" in the sixty-sixth of his carmina.Catullus, Odes [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0006%3Apoem%3D66 66.44]

Pindar praises Theia in his Fifth Isthmian ode:

{{Blockquote|Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, for your sake men honor gold as more powerful than anything else; and through the value you bestow on them, O queen, ships contending on the sea and yoked teams of horses in swift-whirling contests become marvels.Pindar, Isthmian Odes [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DI.%3Apoem%3D5 5.1 ff]}}

She seems here a goddess of glittering in particular and of glory in general, but Pindar's allusion to her as "Theia of many names" is telling, since it suggests assimilation, referring not only to similar mother-of-the-sun goddesses such as Phoebe and Leto, but perhaps also to more universalizing mother-figures such as Rhea and Cybele. Furthermore, a scholium on those lines wrote {{lang|grc|ἐκ Θείας καὶ Ὑπερίονος ὁ Ἥλιος, ἐκ δὲ Ἡλίου ὁ χρυσός}}, "The Sun came from Theia and Hyperion, and from the Sun came gold",Scholia on Pindar I.5.3., denoting a special connection of Theia, the goddess of sight and brilliance, with gold as the mother of Helios the sun.{{cite book| author = Pindar| translator = J. B. Bury |title = Isthmian odes of Pindar, edited with introduction and commentary by J. B. Bury, M.A.| publisher = Macmillan and Co. |date =1892 |page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=JsmGAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92 92]}} Theia was regarded as the goddess from which all light proceeded.Smith, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dtheia-bio-1 Theia]

Plutarch wrote a fable-like story, The Moon and her Mother (which is sometimes categorized as an Aesop's fable), where Theia's daughter Selene asked her mother to weave her a garment to fit her measure; the mother, who goes unnamed, then replied that she was unable to do so, as Selene kept changing shape and size, sometimes full, then crescent-shaped and others yet half her size, never staying the same.Plutarch, Septem Sapientium Convivium [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/moralia/dinner_of_the_seven*.html#p409 14.1]

According to sixth century BC lyric poet Stesichorus, Theia lives with her son in his palace.Athenaeus, Scholars at Dinner [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus11b.html#469 11.38] In the east Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar, the figure of the goddess preserved fighting a youthful giant next to Helios is conjectured to be his mother Theia.

An unorthodox version of the myth presented by Diodorus identified Theia as Basileia ("queen", "royal palace") with the following account:

: To Uranus were also born daughters, the two eldest of whom were by far the most renowned above all the others and were called Basileia and Rhea, whom some also named Pandora. Of these daughters Basileia, who was the eldest and far excelled the others in both prudence and understanding, reared all her brothers, showing them collectively a mother's kindness; consequently she was given the appellation of 'Great Mother'; and after her father had been translated from among men into the circle of the gods, with the approval of the masses and of her brothers she succeeded to the royal dignity, though she was still a maiden and because of her exceedingly great chastity had been unwilling to unite in marriage with any man. But later, because of her desire to leave sons who should succeed to the throne, she united in marriage with Hyperion, one of her brothers, for whom she had the greatest affection. And when there were born to her two children, Helios and Selene, who were greatly admired for both their beauty and their chastity, the brothers of Basileia, they say, being envious of her because of her happy issue of children and fearing that Hyperion would divert the royal power to himself, committed an utterly impious deed; for entering into a conspiracy among themselves they put Hyperion to the sword, and casting Helius, who was still in years a child, into the Eridanus river, drowned him. When this crime came to light, Selene, who loved her brother very greatly, threw herself down from the roof, but as for his mother, while seeking his body along the river, her strength left her and falling into a swoon she beheld a vision in which she thought that Helius stood over her and urged her not to mourn the death of her children; for, he said, the Titans would meet the punishment which they deserve, while he and his sister would be transformed, by some divine providence, into immortal natures, since that which had formerly been called the 'holy fire' in the heavens would be called by men Helius ('the sun') and that addressed as 'mene' would be called Selene ('the moon'). When she was aroused from the swoon she recounted to the common crowd both the dream and the misfortunes which had befallen her, asking that they render to the dead honours like those accorded to the gods and asserting that no man should thereafter touch her body. And after this she became frenzied, and seizing such of her daughter's playthings as could make a noise, she began to wander over the land, with her hair hanging free, inspired by the noise of the kettledrums and cymbals, so that those who saw her were struck with astonishment. And all men were filled with pity at her misfortune and some were clinging to her body, when there came a mighty storm and continuous crashes of thunder and lightning; and in the midst of this Basileia passed from sight, whereupon the crowds of people, amazed at this reversal of fortune, transferred the names and the honours of Helios and Selene to the stars of the sky, and as for their mother, they considered her to be a goddess and erected altars to her, and imitating the incidents of her life by the pounding of the kettledrums and the clash of the cymbals they rendered unto her in this way sacrifices and all other honours.Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57.2 3.57.2-8]

{{main|Giant impact hypothesis}}

Theia's mythological role as the mother of the Moon goddess Selene is alluded to in the application of the name to a hypothetical planet that, according to the giant impact hypothesis, collided with the Earth and created the Moon, paralleling the mythological Theia's role as the mother of Selene.{{cite book|last1=Murdin|first1=Paul|title=Rock Legends: The Asteroids and Their Discoverers|date=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319318363|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-31836-3|page=178|bibcode=2016rlat.book.....M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDusDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA178}}

Theia's alternate name Euryphaessa has been adopted for a species of Australian leafhoppers Dayus euryphaessa (Kirkaldy, 1907).

A Theia figure has been found at the Necropolis of Cyrene.{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0263718900005525|title=Cyrene's Thea figure discovered in the Necropolis|author=Joyce Reynolds and James Copland Thorn|journal=Libyan Studies|year=2005|volume=36|pages=89–100|s2cid=192033455}}

{{chart top|Theia's family tree, according to Hesiod's TheogonyHesiod, 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=no}}

{{chart/start}}

{{chart|}}

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

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

{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=Oceanus|TET=Tethys|HYP=Hyperion|THE=THEIA|CRI=Crius|EUR=Eurybia}}

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

{{chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS | |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=The Rivers|OCE=The Oceanids|HEL=Helios|SEL=SeleneAlthough usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371–374], 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|AST=Astraeus|PAL=Pallas|PER=Perses}}

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

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

{{chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=Coeus|PHO=Phoebe|CRO=Cronus|RHE=Rhea}}

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

{{chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=Hestia|HER=Hera|HAD=Hades|ZEU=Zeus|LET=Leto|AST=Asteria}}

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

{{chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=Demeter|POS=Poseidon}}

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

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

{{chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=Iapetus|CLY=Clymene (or Asia)According to Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507–511], Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while 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], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.|MNE=Mnemosyne|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=Themis}}

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

{{chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | |MUS | | | |HOR |ATL=AtlasAccording 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=PrometheusIn 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|MUS=The Muses|HOR=The Horae}}

{{chart/end}}

{{chart bottom}}

• List of light deities
• Theia in popular culture
• Greek mythology in popular culture

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

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• Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, Volume V: Books 10.420e-11, edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson, Loeb Classical Library No. 274, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99632-8}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL274/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
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• Homeric Hymn 31 to Helios, 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/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg031.perseus-eng1:31 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
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• Pindar, Odes, Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
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{{refend}}

{{Wiktionary|Θεία}}

• [https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTheia.html THEIA from The Theoi Project]
• [https://www.greekmythology.com/Titans/Thea/thea.html THEA from greekmythology.com]
• [https://mythopedia.com/topics/theia THEIA from Mythopedia]

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Greek goddesses

Category:Light goddesses

Category:Lunar goddesses

Category:Sky and weather goddesses

Category:Titans (mythology)

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Category:Gold

Category:Gemstones in culture

Category:Helios in mythology