Editing Thetis (section)

== Mythology ==

===Thetis and the other deities===

[[File:Dish Thetis Peleus Louvre CA2569.jpg|thumb|Immortal Thetis with the mortal [[Peleus]] in the foreground, [[Boeotia]]n black-figure dish, c. 500–475 BC - [[Louvre]]]]

Pseudo-Apollodorus' ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' asserts that Thetis was courted by both [[Zeus]] and [[Poseidon]], but she was married off to the mortal [[Peleus]] because of their fears about the prophecy by [[Themis]]<ref>[[Pindar]], Eighth Isthmian Ode.</ref> (or [[Prometheus]], or [[Calchas]], according to others) that her son would become greater than his father. Thus, she is revealed as a figure of cosmic capacity, quite capable of unsettling the divine order. (Slatkin 1986:12)

When [[Hephaestus]] was thrown from Olympus, whether cast out by Hera for his lameness or evicted by [[Zeus]] for taking Hera's side, the [[Oceanids|Oceanid]] Eurynome and the [[Nereids|Nereid]] Thetis caught him and allowed him to stay on the volcanic isle of [[Lemnos]], while he labored for them as a smith, "working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of [[Oceanus|Okeanos]] around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur" (''Iliad'' 18.369).

Thetis is not successful in her role protecting and nurturing a hero (the theme of ''[[kourotrophos]]''), but her role in succoring deities is emphatically repeated by Homer. Diomedes recalls that when Dionysus was expelled by [[Lycurgus of Thrace|Lycurgus]] with the Olympians' aid, he took refuge in the [[Red Sea|Erythraean Sea]] with Thetis in a bed of [[seaweed]] (6.123ff). These accounts associate Thetis with "a divine past—uninvolved with human events—with a level of divine invulnerability extraordinary by Olympian standards. Where within the framework of the ''Iliad'' the ultimate recourse is to Zeus for protection, here the poem seems to point to an alternative structure of cosmic relations."<ref>Slatkin 1986:10.</ref>

Once, Thetis and [[Medea]] argued in [[Thessaly]] over which was the most beautiful; they appointed the Cretan [[Idomeneus of Crete|Idomeneus]] as the judge, who gave the victory to Thetis. In her anger, Medea called all [[Crete|Cretans]] liars, and cursed them to never say the truth.<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], ''New History'' Book 5, as epitomized by [[Photius I of Constantinople|Patriarch Photius]] in ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Myriobiblon]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.36 190.36]</ref>

===Marriage to Peleus===
[[File:Thetis Peleus Cdm Paris 539.jpg|thumb|''Thetis changing into a lioness as she is attacked by Peleus'', Attic red-figured kylix by [[Douris (vase painter)|Douris]], c. 490 BC from Vulci, Etruria - ''[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]'' in Paris|left]]
{{main|Judgement of Paris}}

[[Zeus]] had received a prophecy that Thetis's son would become greater than his father, as Zeus had dethroned his father to lead the succeeding pantheon. In order to ensure a mortal father for her eventual offspring, [[Zeus]] and his brother [[Poseidon]] made arrangements for her to marry a human, [[Peleus]], son of [[Aeacus]], but she refused him.

[[Proteus]], an early sea-god, advised Peleus to find the sea nymph when she was asleep and bind her tightly to keep her from escaping by changing forms. She did shapeshift, becoming flame, water, a raging [[lion]]ess, and a [[Serpent symbolism|serpent]].<ref>Ovid:Metamorphoses xi, 221ff.; Sophocles: Troilus, quoted by scholiast on Pindar's Nemean Odes iii. 35; Apollodorus: iii, 13.5; Pindar: Nemean Odes iv .62; Pausanias: v.18.1</ref> Peleus held fast. Subdued, she then consented to marry him. Thetis is the mother of [[Achilles]] by [[Peleus]], who became king of the [[Myrmidons]].

According to classical mythology, the wedding of Thetis and Peleus was celebrated on Mount [[Pelion]], outside the cave of [[Chiron]], and attended by the deities: there they celebrated the marriage with feasting. Apollo played the lyre and the [[Muses]] sang, [[Pindar]] claimed. At the wedding Chiron gave Peleus an ashen spear that had been polished by [[Athena]] and had a blade forged by Hephaestus. While the Olympian goddesses brought him gifts: from [[Aphrodite]], a bowl with an embossed [[Eros]], from Hera a [[chlamys]] while from Athena a flute. His father-in-law Nereus endowed him a basket of the salt called 'divine', which has an irresistible virtue for overeating, appetite and digestion, explaining the expression ''<nowiki/>'she poured the divine salt'''. Zeus then bestowed the wings of [[Arke|Arce]] to the newly-wed couple which was later given by Thetis to her son, Achilles. Furthermore, the god of the sea, Poseidon gave Peleus the immortal horses, [[Balius and Xanthus]].<ref>Photius, ''Bibliotheca 190.46.'' Translated by John Henry Freese, from the SPCK edition of 1920, now in the public domain, and other brief excerpts from subsequent sections translated by Roger Pearse (from the French translation by Rene Henry, ed. Les Belles Lettres)</ref> [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]], the goddess of discord, had not been invited, however, and in spite, she threw a golden apple into the midst of the goddesses that was to be awarded only "to the fairest." In most interpretations, the award was made during the [[Judgement of Paris]] and eventually occasioned the [[Trojan War]].

[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 181.jpg|thumb|left|''Thetis dips Achilles in the Styx'' by Peter Paul Rubens (between 1630 and 1635)]]
As is recounted in the ''[[Argonautica]]'', written by the Hellenistic poet [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], Thetis, in an attempt to make her son Achilles immortal, would burn away his mortality in a fire at night and during the day, she would anoint the child with [[ambrosia]]. When Peleus caught her searing the baby, he let out a cry.

<blockquote>Thetis heard him, and catching up the child threw him screaming to the ground, and she like a breath of wind passed swiftly from the hall as a dream and leapt into the sea, exceeding angry, and thereafter returned never again.</blockquote>

Some myths relate that because she had been interrupted by [[Peleus]], Thetis had not made her son physically invulnerable. His heel, which she was about to burn away when her husband stopped her, had not been protected. (A similar myth of immortalizing a child in fire is seen in the case of [[Demeter]] and the infant [[Demophon (son of Celeus)|Demophoon]]). In a variant of the myth first recounted in the ''[[Achilleid]]'', an unfinished epic written between 94 and 95 AD by the Roman poet [[Statius]], Thetis tried to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the [[Styx|River Styx]] (one of the five rivers that run through [[Hades]], the realm of the dead). However, the heel by which she held him was not touched by the Styx's waters and failed to be protected.

Peleus gave the boy to [[Chiron]] to raise. Prophecy said that the son of Thetis would have either a long but dull life, or a glorious but brief one. When the Trojan War broke out, Thetis was anxious and concealed Achilles, disguised as a girl, at the court of [[Lycomedes of Scyros|Lycomedes]], king of Scyros. Achilles was already famed for his speed and skill in battle. [[Calchas]], a priest of Agamemnon, prophesied the need for the great soldier within their ranks. Odysseus was subsequently sent by Agamemnon to try and find Achilles. Scyros was relatively close to Achilles's home and Lycomedes was also a known friend of Thetis, so it was one of the first places that Odysseus looked. When Odysseus found that one of the girls at court was not a girl, he came up with a plan. Raising an alarm that they were under attack, Odysseus knew that the young Achilles would instinctively run for his weapons and armour, thereby revealing himself. Seeing that she could no longer prevent her son from realizing his destiny, Thetis then had [[Hephaestus]] make a shield and armor.
[[File:Wall painting - Hephaistos producing the new arms for Achilles - Pompeii (IX 1 7) - Napoli MAN 9529.jpg|thumb|Thetis at Hephaestus's forge waiting to receive Achilles's new weapons. Fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]

===Iliad and the Trojan War===
[[File:Hydria Achilles weapons Louvre E869.jpg|thumb|Thetis and attendants bring armor she had prepared for him to [[Achilles]], an Attic black-figure hydria, c. 575–550 BC, [[Louvre]]|left]]
Thetis played a key part in the events of the Trojan War. Beyond the fact that the [[Judgement of Paris]], which kicked off the war, occurred at her wedding to [[Peleus]], Thetis consistently influenced the actions of the [[Twelve Olympians]] and her son, [[Achilles]].[[File:Júpiter y Tetis, por Dominique Ingres.jpg|thumb|''[[Jupiter and Thetis]]'', [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres|Ingres]]: "She sank to the ground beside him, put her left arm round his knees, raised her right hand to touch his chin, and so made her petition to the [[Zeus|Royal Son of Cronos]]" (''[[Iliad]]'', I)]]

Nine years after the beginning of the Trojan War, Homer's ''[[Iliad]]'' starts with [[Agamemnon]] (king of Mycenae and the commander of the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]) and Achilles (son of Thetis) arguing over [[Briseis]], a woman married to [[Mynes (mythology)|Mynes]] (son of the king of [[Lyrnessus]]). She was kidnapped and enslaved by Achilles. After initially refusing, Achilles relents and gives Briseis to Agamemnon. However, Achilles feels disrespect for having to hand over Briseis and prays to Thetis, his mother, for restitution of his lost honor.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Iliad of Homer|last = Lattimore|first = Richmond|publisher = University Of Chicago Press|year = 2011|isbn = 978-0226470498|location = Chicago, IL|pages = 59–70}}</ref> She urges Achilles to wait until she speaks with [[Zeus]] to rejoin the fighting, and Achilles listens.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|page=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/91 91]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/91}}</ref> When she finally speaks to Zeus, Thetis convinces him to do as she bids, and he seals his agreement with her by bowing his head, the strongest oath that he can make.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|page=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/95 95]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/95}}</ref>

Following the death of Patroclus, who wore Achilles's armor in the fighting, Thetis comes to Achilles to console him in his grief. She vows to return to him with armor forged by [[Hephaestus]], the blacksmith of the gods, and tells him not to arm himself for battle until he sees her coming back. While Thetis is gone, Achilles is visited by [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]], the messenger of the gods, sent by [[Hera]], who tells him to rejoin the fighting. He refuses, however, citing his mother's words and his promise to her to wait for her return.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/472 472–474]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/472}}</ref> Thetis, meanwhile, speaks with Hephaestus and begs him to make Achilles armor, which he does. First, he makes for Achilles a splendid [[Shield of Achilles|shield]], and having finished it, makes a breastplate, a helmet, and greaves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/480 480–487]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/480}}</ref> When Thetis goes back to Achilles to deliver his new armor, she finds him still upset over Patroclus. Achilles fears that while he is off fighting the Trojans, Patroclus' body will decay and rot. Thetis, however, reassures him and places ambrosia and nectar in Patroclus' nose in order to protect his body against decay.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|page=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/489 489]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/489}}</ref>

After Achilles uses his new armor to defeat [[Hector]] in battle, he keeps Hector's body to mutilate and humiliate. However, after nine days, the gods call Thetis to Olympus and tell her that she must go to Achilles and pass him a message, that the gods are angry that Hector's body has not been returned. She does as she is bid, and convinces Achilles to return the body for ransom, thus avoiding the wrath of the gods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=introduction|first1=Homer; translated by Robert Fagles|last2=Knox|first2=notes by Bernard|title=The Iliad|date=2001|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=0140275363|pages=[https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/592 592–593]|edition=[Repr. with revisions].|url=https://archive.org/details/iliad00home_3/page/592}}</ref>