Editing Leucothea (section)

== Mythology ==
In the more familiar variant, [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]], the daughter of [[Cadmus]], sister of [[Semele]], and queen of [[Athamas]], became a goddess  after [[Hera]] drove her insane as a punishment for caring for the newborn [[Dionysus]]. She leapt into the sea with her son [[Melicertes]] in her arms, and out of [[pity]], the Hellenes asserted, the Olympian gods turned them both into sea-gods, transforming Melicertes into [[Melicertes|Palaemon]], the patron of the [[Isthmian Games]], and Ino into Leucothea.

She has a sanctuary in Laconia, where she answers people's questions about dreams, her form of oracle.

In the version sited at [[Rhodes]], a much earlier mythic level is reflected in the genealogy: There, a nymph or goddess named [[Halia of Rhodes|Halia]] ("salty"){{efn| [[Halia]] means "salty" or "of the sea"; perhaps a personification of the saltiness of the sea.}} plunged into the sea and became Leucothea. Her parents were the [[Titans|titan]]s [[Thalassa (mythology)|Thalassa]] and [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] (or [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]). She was a local [[nymph]] and one of the aboriginal [[Telchines]] of the island. Halia became [[Poseidon]]'s wife and bore him [[Rhodos]] and six sons; their sons were maddened by [[Aphrodite]] in retaliation for an inhospitable affront, assaulted their own mother Halia, and were confined in caves beneath [[Rhodes|the island]] by their father Poseidon; Halia cast herself into the sea, and became Leucothea. The people of Rhodes traced their mythic descent from the nymph Rhodos and the [[Sun god]] [[Helios]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |year=1955 |title=[[The Greek Myths]]}}</ref><ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55 5.55.4–7]</ref><ref>According to other traditions, Rhodos was the daughter not of Halia/Leucothea but rather [[Aphrodite]] ([[Pindar]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Pind.%20O.%207&lang=original O.7.14]) or [[Amphitrite]] ([[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D5 1.4.5]).</ref>

In the ''[[Odyssey]]'',<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Homer]] |title=[[Odyssey]] |at=5.333&nbsp;ff}}</ref> Leucothea makes a dramatic appearance and tells the shipwrecked Odysseus to discard his cloak and raft, and offers him a veil{{efn|"veil" is a translation of {{langx|grc|κρήδεμνον|krḗdemnon}} }} to wind round himself, to save his life and reach land. [[Homer]] makes Leucothea the transfiguration of [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]].

It is possible that Leucothea is the "Leucothoe" that [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] makes the mother of [[Thersanon]] by Helios, although he could be referring to [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|another woman]] by the same name.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#125 125]; Smith, s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DL%3Aentry+group%3D12%3Aentry%3Dleucothoe-bio-1 Leucothoe]</ref>