Editing Themis (section)

== Mythology ==
Themis built the [[Oracle at Delphi]] and was herself [[Oracle|oracular]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://topostext.org/work/133#5.67.3 5.67.4]; [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780891301196/page/62/mode/2up Orphic hymn 79]</ref> According to another legend, Themis received the Oracle at Delphi from [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and later gave it to [[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]], who gave it to her grandson [[Apollo (mythology)|Apollo]] as a birthday gift.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0006%3Acard%3D1 1&ndash;8]; West 1985, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/631535?seq=1 p. 174].</ref> According to [[Ephorus]], Themis helped Apollo find the oracle, with the intent of helping mankind.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D11 9.3.11] [= ''[[FGrHist]]'' 70 F31b]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Themis.</ref> Some examples of Themis' visions; In  the story of [[Dryope (daughter of Dryops)|Dryope]] in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Themis warns the gods of an oncoming [[Seven against Thebes|civil war in Thebes.]]<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D9%3Acard%3D324 9.324&ndash;417].</ref> In another tale she warns [[Zeus]] and [[Poseidon]] to not marry [[Thetis]] because her son will be more powerful than his father.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D13%3Asection%3D5 3.13.5].</ref> According to Ovid, it was Themis rather than Zeus who told [[Deucalion]] to throw the bones of "[[Gaia (mythology)|his Mother]]" over his shoulder to create a new race of humankind after the deluge.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#1.313 1.313&ndash;381]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA404 p. 404]; Tripp, s.v. Themis, pp. 558&ndash;559; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC&pg=PA417 p. 417].</ref> Also according to Ovid, Themis prophesied that a son of Zeus will steal golden apples from the orchard of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]].<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#4.639 4.639]</ref>

In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' she is tasked with calling the gods to council on Olympus by Zeus.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D20%3Acard%3D1 20.5].</ref>

Themis was present at [[Delos]] to witness the [[Leto#Witnesses at the birth of Apollo|birth of Apollo]], and nursed him with nectar and [[ambrosia]].<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Apollo'' (3), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D89 96], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D89 123&ndash;125]; Gantz, p. 52; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA144 p. 144]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Themis.</ref> In his ''[[De astronomia]]'', [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] lists Themis, in addition to the nymph [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amalthea]], as the foster-mother and nurse of the young Zeus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.13.6 2.13.6]. Hyginus attributes this statement to "Musaeus", presumably [[Musaeus of Athens]]; see also West, p. 43.</ref> In a fragment of [[Pindar]], Themis was brought from the springs of [[Oceanus]] by the [[Moirai]] (in this version not her daughters) to [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]], where she became the first wife of Zeus (rather than the second), and by him the mother of the [[Horae]].<ref>[[Pindar]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-fragments/1997/pb_LCL485.237.xml fr. 30 Race, p. 236, 237] [= [[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Stromata]]'' 5.14.137.1]; Gantz, p. 52.</ref>

According to the lost ''[[Cypria]]'' by [[Stasinus of Cyprus]], Themis and Zeus together plotted the start of the Trojan War.<ref>''[[Cypria]]'' fragment [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm#linknoteref-3001 1]</ref> According to [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], when the gods defied the orders of Zeus and started fighting each other after the creation of the [[Trojan Horse]], Themis stopped them by warning them of Zeus's wrath.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Posthomerica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/quintus_smyrnaeus-fall_troy/2018/pb_LCL019.591.xml 12.202&ndash;215 (pp. 590&ndash;3)].</ref>

In the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] "Rhapsodic Theogony", or Rhapsodies, (first century BC/AD)<ref>Meisner, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wgJfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ethjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 5]; cf. West 1983, pp. 261&ndash;262.</ref> [[Nyx]] (Night) prophesied that Themis would remain a virgin until [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] gave birth to a child of [[Cronus]].<ref>West, pp. 73, 266; Proclus, ''Commentary on Plato's Timaeus'' 30 a ([https://archive.org/details/proclidiadochiin01proc/page/396/mode/2up?view=theater I 396, 29 Diehl]) [= Orphic [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 144 Kern]]. The children Themis later gave birth to were here too the Horae and the Moirai (Orphic frr. [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/180/mode/2up?view=theater 126] [= Proclus, ''Commentary on Plato's Republic'' II 207, 14 Kr.], [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater 162] [= Proclus, ''Commentary on Plato's Timaeus'' 41 e ([https://archive.org/details/proclidiadochiin03proc/page/274/mode/2up?view=theater III 274, 17 Diehl])], [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/212/mode/2up?view=theater 181] [= Proclus, ''Commentary on Plato's Timaeus'' 40 a ([https://archive.org/details/proclidiadochiin03proc/page/118/mode/2up?view=theater III 118, 30 Diehl])] Kern; West, pp. 73, 266, 267).</ref>

Themis also played a role in [[Eros]], the young god of love, growing up; according to [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], his mother [[Aphrodite]] was worried about her son, Eros, staying a child forever and brought him to Themis. Themis told her to give Eros a brother, as he wasn't growing because of his solitude. Aphrodite then gave birth to another love god, [[Anteros]] (meaning "counter-love"), and Eros grew whenever he was near him. But every time Anteros was away, Eros shrank back to his previous, small form.<ref>Dwight, [https://archive.org/details/cu31924029135651/page/n269/mode/2up p. 266].</ref>

When four Cretan men ([[Aegolius (mythology)|Aegolius]], [[Celeus (Crete)|Celeus]], [[Cerberus (Greek myth)|Cerberus]] and [[Laius (Crete)|Laius]]) broke into the sacred cavern in [[Crete]] where Rhea had given birth to Zeus in order to steal some of the honey produced there by the sacred bees, Themis and her daughters the Fates convinced Zeus against killing them inside the holy cave, as they considered it impious for anyone to die in the cave, so instead he turned all four into different birds.<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Collection of Transformations'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#19 19]</ref>