Theia

Theia (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx, also rendered Thea or Thia), also called Euryphaessa, Aethra or Basileia (Template:Langx, "wide-shining"), is one of the twelve Titans, the children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus in Greek mythology. She is the Greek goddess of sight and vision, and by extension the goddess who endowed gold, silver, and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value.Template:Sfn

Her brother-consort is Hyperion, a Titan and god of the sun, and together they are the parents of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn). She seems to be the same figure as Aethra, who is the consort of Hyperion and mother of his children in some accounts.<ref>Hyginus, Fabulae Preface.</ref> Like her husband, Theia features scarcely in myth, being mostly important for the children she bore, though she appears in some texts and rare traditions.

Etymology

The name Theia alone (feminine form of θεῖος, theîos, "divine") is originally but an epithet; the proper name Euryphaessa (Template:Lang) is composed from the adjective Template:Lang, eurýs, "wide" and the noun Template:Lang, pháos, "light".

Family

Early accounts gave her a primal origin, said to be the eldest daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky).<ref>Hesiod, Theogony 132–138; Apollodorus, 1.1.3; Gantz, p. 10; Hard, p. 37; Caldwell, p. 37 on lines 133–137; Tripp, s.v. Theia; Grimal, s.v. Theia; Smith, s.v. Theia.</ref> She is thus the sister of the Titans (Oceanus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Coeus, Themis, Rhea, Phoebe, Tethys, Mnemosyne, Cronus, and sometimes of Dione), the Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires, the Giants, the Meliae, the Erinyes, and is the half-sister of Aphrodite (in some versions), Typhon, Python, Pontus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto. By her brother-husband Hyperion, she is the mother of Helios, Selene, and Eos.<ref>Hesiod, Theogony 371–374; Apollodorus, 1.2.2; Scholia on Pindar, Isthmian 5.2 (Drachmann, pp. 242–243); Gantz, p. 30; Hard p. 43; Morford, p. 40; Kerenyi, p. 22; Tripp, s.v. Theia; Grimal, s.v. Theia; Smith, s.v. Theia.</ref>

Robert Graves relates that Theia is referred to as the cow-eyed Euryphaessa who gave birth to Helios in myths dating to classical antiquity.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Hesiod, Theogony 371-374; of "cow-eyed", Károly Kerényi observes, "these names recall such names as Europa and Pasiphae, or Pasiphaessa—names of moon-goddesses who were associated with bulls. In the mother of Helios we can recognize the moon-goddess, just as in his father Hyperion we can recognise the sun-god himself" (Kerényi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951, p. 192).</ref>

Mythology

Once paired in later myths with her Titan brother Hyperion as her husband, "mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one" of the Homeric Hymn to Helios, was said to be the mother of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn).<ref>Homeric Hymn to Helios 1-8; Gantz, p. 30; Tripp, s.v. Theia.</ref> Gaius Valerius Catullus described those three lights of the heavens as "Theia's illustrious progeny" in the sixty-sixth of his carmina.<ref>Catullus, Odes 66.44</ref>

Pindar praises Theia in his Fifth Isthmian ode:

She seems here a goddess of glittering in particular and of glory in general, but Pindar's allusion to her as "Theia of many names" is telling, since it suggests assimilation, referring not only to similar mother-of-the-sun goddesses such as Phoebe and Leto, but perhaps also to more universalizing mother-figures such as Rhea and Cybele. Furthermore, a scholium on those lines wrote Template:Lang, "The Sun came from Theia and Hyperion, and from the Sun came gold",<ref>Scholia on Pindar I.5.3.,</ref> denoting a special connection of Theia, the goddess of sight and brilliance, with gold as the mother of Helios the sun.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Theia was regarded as the goddess from which all light proceeded.<ref>Smith, s.v. Theia</ref>

Plutarch recorded a fable-like story, The Moon and her Mother (which is sometimes categorized as an Aesopic fable), where Theia's daughter Selene asked her mother to weave her a garment to fit her measure; the mother, who goes unnamed, then replied that she was unable to do so, as Selene kept changing shape and size, sometimes full, then crescent-shaped and others yet half her size, never staying the same.<ref>Plutarch, Septem Sapientium Convivium 14.1</ref>

According to sixth century BC lyric poet Stesichorus, Theia lives with her son in his palace.<ref>Athenaeus, Scholars at Dinner 11.38</ref> In the east Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar, the figure of the goddess preserved fighting a youthful giant next to Helios is conjectured to be his mother Theia.<ref name=":tgf"/>

Diodorus's account

An unorthodox version of the myth presented by Diodorus identified Theia as Basileia, meaning 'queen'. In this account Basileia was the eldest daughter of king Uranus, who excelled in prudence and rearer her own brothers, earning the epithet 'Great Mother' from them. She succeeded her father to the throne, and took her brother Hyperion to husband in order to produce heirs. With him Basileia had two children, Helios and Selene, both admired for their beauty and chastity. But Basileia and Hyperion's other brothers grew envious of their happiness and feared Hyperion would try to seize all the royal power for himself, so they killed Hyperion and threw Helios into the Eridanus⁠ river, where he drowned. When Selene discovered that, she threw herself off the roof.<ref name="dio"/>

Basileia meanwhile searched all over the river for her son's body, and fatigued she fell asleep. Helios then appeared to her in a vision and urged her to cease her mourning, for the brothers would have the punishment they deserved, while he and his sister "would be transformed, by some divine providence, into immortal natures," so that what known as the "holy fire" in the heavens would now be called Helios ("the Sun"), while "Mene" would be Selene ("the Moon"). When she woke up she recounted the dream and her woes to the common crowd that had gathered, asking them to give her dead loved ones the same honours as they did to gods. Then a frenzy overtook her and she grabbed her daughter's playthings and began to wander over the land. When she passed from sight, the people did as told and erected altars to her, and would pound kettledrums and cymbals to honour her.<ref name="dio">Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 3.57.2-8</ref>

Theia in the sciences

Theia's mythological role as the mother of the Moon goddess Selene is alluded to in the application of the name to a hypothetical planet that, according to the giant impact hypothesis, collided with the Earth and created the Moon, paralleling the mythological Theia's role as the mother of Selene.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Theia's alternate name Euryphaessa has been adopted for a species of Australian leafhoppers Dayus euryphaessa (Kirkaldy, 1907).

A Theia figure has been found at the Necropolis of Cyrene.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

See also

• List of light deities
• Theia in popular culture
• Greek mythology in popular culture

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Template:ISBN. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, Volume V: Books 10.420e-11, edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson, Loeb Classical Library No. 274, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. Template:ISBN. Online version at Harvard University Press.
• Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). Template:ISBN.
• Catullus. The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus. Leonard C. Smithers. London. Smithers. 1894.
• Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at the Theoi Project.
• Template:Cite book
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site.
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Drachmann, Anders Bjørn, Scholia Vetera in Pindari Carmina, Vol. III: Scholia in Nemeonicas et Isthmionicas. Epimetrum. Indices, Leipzig, Teubner, 1927. Template:ISBN. Online version at De Gruyter (1997 reprint). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Evelyn-White, Hugh, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: Template:ISBN (Vol. 1), Template:ISBN (Vol. 2).
• Graves, Robert; The Greek Myths, Moyer Bell Ltd; Unabridged edition (December 1988), Template:ISBN.
• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. Template:ISBN.
• Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, Template:ISBN. Google Books.
• Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Homeric Hymn 31 to Helios, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Honan, Mary McMahon, Guide to the Pergamon Museum, De Gruyter, 1904. Template:ISBN. Online version at De Gruyter.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Kerényi, Karl, The Gods of the Greeks. London, New York, Thames, and Hudson. 1951. Template:ISBN.
• Kunze, Max, "Theia" in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VII.1. Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1994. Template:ISBN.
• Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. Template:ISBN.
• Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pindar, Odes, Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Plutarch, Moralia. 16 vols. (vol. 13: 13.1 & 13.2, vol. 16: index), transl. by Frank Cole Babbitt (vol. 1–5) et al., series: "Loeb Classical Library" (LCL, vols. 197–499). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press et al., 1927–2004.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Theia"
• Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). Template:ISBN.
• West, M. L. (1966), Hesiod: Theogony, Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.

External links

• THEIA from The Theoi Project
• THEA from greekmythology.com
• THEIA from Mythopedia