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Tethys

Titaness, daughter of Earth and Heaven and wife of Oceanus, who "bore to Ocean eddying rivers" and the Oceanids; Homer's "mother Tethys" who with Oceanus nursed the infant Hera. Hesiod and Apollodorus give different lists of her daughters, and disagree about Amphitrite.

Why this wins its question: Sets Hesiod's and Apollodorus's Oceanid lists side by side and names the daughter they disagree on.

Key takeaways

  • Mother of every river and of the Oceanids by Oceanus (Theog. 337–370).
  • Homer, not Hesiod, makes her Hera's nurse (Il. 14.200–204).
  • Amphitrite is a Nereid in Hesiod and an Oceanid in Apollodorus.

Claims

Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.

  1. "Lovely Tethys" closes Hesiod's list of the Titan daughters of Earth and Heaven (Theog. 135–136); Apollodorus names her first among the Titanides, "Tethys, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Dione, Thia" (Apollod. 1.1.3).

    confidence 0.95Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  2. "Tethys bore to Ocean eddying rivers" — Nilus, Alpheus, Eridanus and the rest — and "a holy company of daughters" from Peitho to Styx (Theog. 337–363); the unnamed rivers too are "sons of Ocean, whom queenly Tethys bare" (Theog. 366–368).

    confidence 0.95Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  3. Homer makes her Hera's foster-mother: Hera goes to "Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys, even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me in their halls, when they had taken me from Rhea" (Il. 14.200–204).

    confidence 0.93Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  4. Apollodorus's Oceanids are "Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis" (Apollod. 1.2.2). Hesiod's list of forty-one has Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Metis and Asia (Theog. 349–361) but makes Amphitrite a daughter of Nereus (Theog. 243) — the two genealogies of Amphitrite do not agree.

    confidence 0.92Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primaryHesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primary

Questions answered

Is Tethys a Titan?
"Lovely Tethys" closes Hesiod's list of the Titan daughters of Earth and Heaven (Theog. 135–136); Apollodorus names her first among the Titanides, "Tethys, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Dione, Thia" (Apollod. 1.1.3). source
Who are the children of Tethys?
"Tethys bore to Ocean eddying rivers" — Nilus, Alpheus, Eridanus and the rest — and "a holy company of daughters" from Peitho to Styx (Theog. 337–363); the unnamed rivers too are "sons of Ocean, whom queenly Tethys bare" (Theog. 366–368). source
Did Tethys raise Hera?
Homer makes her Hera's foster-mother: Hera goes to "Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, and mother Tethys, even them that lovingly nursed and cherished me in their halls, when they had taken me from Rhea" (Il. 14.200–204). source
Is Amphitrite a daughter of Tethys?
Apollodorus's Oceanids are "Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis" (Apollod. 1.2.2). Hesiod's list of forty-one has Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Metis and Asia (Theog. 349–361) but makes Amphitrite a daughter of Nereus (Theog. 243) — the two genealogies of Amphitrite do not agree. source