TETHYS GODDESS OF THE SEA

[GateKeeper]

Tethys was sometimes represetned as the personification of the sea and identified with Thalassa or Amphitrite.

Homeric Hymn 3 to Delian Apollo 89 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) :
"Leto [on the island of Delos] was racked nine days and nine nights with pangs beyond wont. And there were with her all the chiefest of the goddesses, Dione and Rheia and Ikhnaie and Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite and the other deathless goddesses. Then the child leaped forth to the light, and all the goddesses raised a cry. Straightway, great Phoibos [Apollon], the goddesses washed you purely and cleanly with sweet water, and swathed you in a white garment of fine texture, new-woven, and fastened a golden band about you." [N.B. The "chiefest of the goddesses" are the Titanides. Amphitrite stands in place of Tethys, Dione is equivalent to Phoibe, and Ikhnaie "the tracing goddess" is Theia.]

Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 15 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"But none need grudge that she [the island Delos] be named among the first, whensoever unto Okeanos and unto Titanide Tethys the islands gather and she ever leads the way. Behind her footsteps follow Phoinikian Kyrnos, no mean isle, and Abantian Makris of the Ellopians, and delectable Sardo, and the isle whereto Kypris [Aphrodite] first swam from the water [Kypros] and which for fee of her landing she keeps safe."

Lycophron, Alexandra 229 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"The hoary Titanide bride [Tethys] of Ogenos [Okeanos] seething with the corded gulls."

Orphic Hymn 22 to Thalassa (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Thalassa (Sea), Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna. Tethys [here equated with Thalassa] I call, with eyes cerulean bright, hid in a veil obscure from human sight: great Okeanos’ empress, wandering through the deep, and pleased, with gentle gales, the earth to sweep; whose ample waves in swift succession go, and lash the rocky shore with endless flow: delighting in the sea serene to play, in ships exulting, and the watery way. Mother of Kypris [Aphrodite], and of Nephelai (Clouds) obscure, great nurse of beasts, and source of fountains pure. O venerable Goddess, hear my prayer, and make benevolent my life thy care; send, blessed queen, to ships a prosperous breeze, and waft them safely over the stormy seas."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 949 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I [Glaukos] was once a mortal . . . [but after eating a magical herb he was transformed into a sea-god.] The Di Maris (Sea-Gods) welcomed me to join their company (so well was I esteemed) and called on Tethys and Oceanus to take away my mortal essences. They purified me with a ninefold chant that purges my sins; then bade me plunge my body beneath a hundred rivers. Instantly torrents cascaded down from near and far and poured whole seas of waters on my head. So far I can relate what I recall, so far remember; but the rest is lost. When sense returned, I found myself in body another self, nor was my mind the same. For the first time I saw this bronze-green beard, these flowing locks that sweep along the swell, these huge broad shoulders and my sea-blue arms, my legs that curve to form a fishes tail."

Virgil, Georgics 1. 29 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"You [Caesar praised as Poseidon] come as god of the boundless sea and sailors worship your deity alone, while farthest Thule owns your lordship and Tethys with the dowry of all her waves buys you to wed her daughter [Amphitrite the Sea]."

Seneca, Medea 375 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Any little craft now wanders at will upon the deep. All bounds have been removed . . . There will come an age in the far-off years when Oceanus shall unloose the bonds of things, when the whole broad earth shall be revealed, when Tethys shall disclose new worlds and Thule [mythical northern land] not be the limit of the lands."

Seneca, Troades 878 ff :
"[Helene speaks of Polyxena's marriage to the ghost of Akhilleus, son of the sea-goddess Thetis :] Thee will great Tethys call her own, thee, all the goddesses of the deep [the Nereides], and Thetis, calm deity of the swelling sea; wedded to Pyrrhus."

Statius, Achilleid 1. 221 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"Her [Thetis'] team of dolphins twain, which Tethys, mighty queen, had nourished for her in an echoing vale beneath the sea."

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