Thetis
Family: Nereids · Role: sea-goddess · First appears: Book IV 7
In Book IV 7, Hera says she tended Thetis from infancy and loved her beyond the other sea-dwellers because Thetis refused Zeus’s desire. Zeus continued pursuing her until Themis revealed that she was fated to bear a son mightier than his sire: “wherefore he gave thee up.” Hera then gave Thetis Peleus as her husband, celebrated their marriage, and instructed her to aid Medea as a mother-in-law should.
Thetis and Peleus had Achilles, and Thetis tried to make the child immortal by surrounding him with flame at night. When Peleus interrupted her, she threw Achilles to the ground and left in anger: “herself like a breath of wind passed swiftly from the hall as a dream and leapt into the sea, exceeding wroth, and thereafter returned not again.” She later summoned the Nereids to carry out Hera’s commands, instructed Peleus to depart at dawn and conceal her presence from the other heroes, and aided the voyage.
In Book IV 8, Thetis guided Jason’s ship through the Wandering rocks, setting her hand to the rudder-blade while the Nereids, daughters of Nereus, helped her.
Relationship record
Life events
- Themis reveals Thetis’s fate to Zeus, causing him to abandon his pursuit of her.(Book IV 7)
- Hera gives Thetis Peleus as husband and celebrates their marriage.(Book IV 7)
- Thetis summons the Nereids to help guide the heroes’ ship through the dangerous rocks.(Book IV 7 · 📍 Ausonian sea)
- “And she called to aid her the rest of the Nereids, her own sisters; and they heard her and gathered together; and Thetis declared to them Hera’s behests, and quickly sped them all on their way to the Ausonian sea.”
- Thetis instructs Peleus to depart and conceal her presence from the other heroes.(Book IV 7 · 📍 Aeaean beach)
- With: Peleus
- “No longer now must ye stay sitting on the Tyrrhenian beach, but at dawn loosen the hawsers of your swift ship, in obedience to Hera, your helper.”
- Peleus interrupts Thetis’s attempt to make Achilles immortal, causing her angry departure.(Book IV 7)
- With: Achilles Peleus
- “But Peleus leapt up from his bed and saw his dear son gasping in the flame; and at the sight he uttered a terrible cry, fool that he was; and she heard it, and catching up the child threw him screaming to the ground, and herself like a breath of wind passed swiftly from the hall as a dream and leapt into the sea, exceeding wroth, and thereafter returned not again.”
- Thetis guides the Argo through the Wandering rocks with help from the Nereids.(Book IV 8 · 📍 Wandering rocks)
- With: Jason
- “behind, lady Thetis set her hand to the rudder-blade, to guide them amid the Wandering rocks”
Book IV 7
- guardian: Hera “But thee indeed from thy infancy did I tend with my own hands and love beyond all others that dwell in the salt sea because thou didst refuse to share the couch of Zeus, for all his desire.”
- admirer: Zeus “For to him such deeds are ever dear, to embrace either goddesses or mortal women. But in reverence for me and with fear in thy heart thou didst shrink from his love; and he then swore a mighty oath that thou shouldst never be called the bride of an immortal god.”
- employer: Hera “do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a mother-in-law should, and aid Peleus himself.”
- married with Peleus “and she drew near and just touched the hand of Aeaeus’ son Peleus, for he was her husband”
- pupil: Peleus “No longer now must ye stay sitting on the Tyrrhenian beach, but at dawn loosen the hawsers of your swift ship, in obedience to Hera, your helper.”
- child: Achilles “since first she left her bridal chamber and bed in anger, on account of noble Achilles, then a babe. For she ever encompassed the child’s mortal flesh in the night with the flame of fire”
- with Hera (interaction) “But thee indeed from thy infancy did I tend with my own hands and love beyond all others that dwell in the salt sea”
- with Zeus (interaction) “Yet he ceased not from spying thee against thy will”
- younger kin: Medea “it is fated that he be the husband of Medea, Aeetes’ daughter; do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a mother-in-law should”
Book IV 8
- protégé: Jason “lady Thetis set her hand to the rudder-blade, to guide them amid the Wandering rocks”
- parent: Nereus “Hereupon on this side and on that the daughters of Nereus met them; and behind, lady Thetis set her hand to the rudder-blade, to guide them amid the Wandering rocks.”
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Extracted from the original text of The Argonautica. Made with Rho MD.