Thetis

Numen — a Nereid, silver-footed sea-goddess daughter of Nereus. Courted by Zeus and Poseidon until the prophecy that her son would surpass his father; married off to the mortal Peleus (she resisted, shape-shifting through fire, water and beasts in his grip). Mother of Achilles, whom she tried to make immortal and for whom she wins divine armour from Hephaestus. A divine mother of a mortal-born son — the canonical case the old parentage rule excluded.

Parentage

• parent: Nereus

Children

• Achilles

Domains

• sea
• metamorphosis
• maternal protection

Powers

• Protean shape-shifting
• Rite of immortalization

Epithets

• ἀργυρόπεζα Ancient Greek · argyropeza · epithetsilver-footedHomer, Iliad 1.538, 18.369 (primary)
• ἁλοσύδνη Ancient Greek · halosydne · epithetsea-born / daughter of the seaHomer, Iliad 20.207 (primary)

Relations

• spouse: PeleusHom. Il. 18.84-87; Pind. Isth. 8 (primary)
• mother of: AchillesHom. Il. 1.357-358 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Hom. Il. 1.357-430, 18.34-147, 368-617; Hes. Theog. 244, 1006-1007; Pind. Isth. 8; Apollod. 3.13.5-6 (primary)