Editing Leucothea

{{Short description|Greek sea goddess}}
{{hatnote|For the genus of ctenophores, see [[Leucothea (ctenophore)]]. For the ancient Cypriot city sometimes known as Leucothea, see [[Nicosia]].}}
[[File:Leukothea, Goddess of Sailors, from the Goddesses of the Greeks and Romans series (N188) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. MET DPB871036.jpg|alt=Leukothea Goddesses of Greece and Rome|thumb|Leukothea, Goddess of Sailors]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Leucothea''' ({{IPAc-en|lj|uː|ˈ|k|oʊ|θ|i|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Λευκοθέα|Leukothéa|white goddess}}), sometimes also called '''Leucothoe''' ({{langx|grc|Λευκοθόη|Leukothóē}}), was one of the aspects under which an ancient [[list of water deities|sea goddess]] was recognized, in this case as a transformed [[nymph]].

== 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>

==Cultural allusions==
* Leucothea is mentioned by [[John Milton]] in the ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' scene where archangel Michael descends to Adam and Eve to declare that they must no longer abide in Paradise (second edition, 1674, book XI, lines 133–135):{{quote|Meanwhile,<br>To re-salute the world with sacred light,<br>Leucothea waked;…<ref>John Milton, ''The English Poems'' (Wordsworth Poetry Library, 2004).</ref>}}
* Leucothea is mentioned by [[Robert Graves]] in ''[[The White Goddess]]''.
* In [[Ezra Pound]]'s [[Cantos]], she is one of the goddess figures who comes to the poet's aid in ''Section: Rock-Drill'' (Cantos 85–95). She is introduced in Canto 91 as "Cadmus's daughter":{{quote|As the sea-gull Κάδμου θυγάτηρ said to Odysseus<br>KADMOU THUGATER<br>"get rid of parap[h]ernalia"}}
* She returns in Cantos 93 ("Κάδμου θυγάτηρ") and 95 ("Κάδμου θυγάτηρ/ bringing light ''per diafana''/ λευκὁς Λευκόθοε/ white foam, a sea-gull… 'My bikini is worth yr/ raft'. Said Leucothae… Then Leucothea had pity,/'mortal once/ Who now is a sea-god…'"), and reappears at the beginning of Canto 96, the first of the ''Thrones'' section ("Κρήδεμνον…/ κρήδεμνον…/ and the wave concealed her,/ dark mass of great water.").
* Leucothea appears twice in ''Dialoghi con Leucò'' (Dialogues with Leucò) by [[Cesare Pavese]].
* ''[[Leucothoé]]'' was the first work by the Irish playwright [[Isaac Bickerstaffe]] published in 1756.
* Leucothea becomes a metaphor, in [[Marcel Proust]]'s ''In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower'', for the mist that covers a young man's gaze when looking on the beauty of young women: "…a cloud that had re-formed a few days later, once I had met them, muting the glow of their loveliness, often passing between them and my eyes, which saw them now dimmed, as through a gentle haze, reminiscent of Virgil's Leucothea."<ref>Marcel Proust, ''In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower'', trans. James Grieve (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), 526.</ref>
* Leukothea is a poem by Keith Douglas.<ref>Keith Douglas, ''The Complete Poems'' with introduction by Ted Hughes (Oxford University Press, 2011).</ref>

== Namesake ==
*[[35 Leukothea]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== General references ==
{{Commons category|Leucothea}}
*{{cite book|last=Burkert|first=Walter|author-link=Walter Burkert|date=1985|title=Greek Religion|url=|location=|publisher=|page=|isbn=}}
* Cooper, J.C., ed. (1997). ''Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend''. Oxford: Helicon Publishing Ltd.
*{{cite book|last=Kerenyi|first=Karl|author-link=Karl Kerenyi|date=1951|title=The Gods of the Greeks|url=|location=|publisher=|page=|isbn=}}
*{{cite book|last=Russo|first=Sergio|author-link=Sergio Russo|date=2017|title=Quando il mare profuma di ambrosia. Leucotea e Palemone nel Mediterraneo|url=|location=|publisher=|page=|isbn=}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

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[[Category:Metamorphoses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Characters in the Odyssey]]
[[Category:Greek sea goddesses]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Women of Helios]]
[[Category:Rhodian mythology]]
[[Category:Boeotian mythology]]
[[Category:Corinthian mythology]]