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Greek Mythology > Immortals > Thetis

Thetis   THEE tis

• Daughter of Nereus
• Mother of Akhilleus (Achilles)
• Thetis and Hephaistos
• Thetis in The Iliad (reference)
• Thetis in The Odyssey (reference)
• How to Cite this Page

Daughter of Nereus

Nereus and Doris had fifty daughters (Theogony, line 264). Thetis is one of the Daughters of Nereus. As a group, they are called the Nereids. Thetis was given to Peleus (a mortal) for his undying devotion to the gods on Mount Olympos (Olympus). Thetis and Peleus had a magnificent son, Akhilleus. The fate of Akhilleus was known to Thetis. Simply put, Akhilleus could return to his father and die happy yet forgotten, or, he could die at Troy and be remembered forever as a hero.

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Mother of Akhilleus (Achilles)

To protect her son in battle, Thetis provided Akhilleus with armor made by Hephaistos (Hephaestus), the smith of the gods. But during the war at Troy, Akhilleus was angered by Agamemnon, he refused to fight. Instead, he gave his armor to his friend Patroklos (Patroclos). Patroklos was killed as he pressed the attack to the walls of Ilion (Troy). The most brutal fighting of the war was for the armor of Akhilleus and the body of Patroklos. The disgrace to his friend’s body and the theft of his armor brought Akhilleus into the battle, but not before Thetis could persuade Hephaistos to forge new armor for her, soon to be immortalized, son. When Akhilleus strode into battle with his new armor, the Trojans fled in terror. His divine protection was obvious from the blaze of his armor and his divine lineage was also obvious from his beauty and his enormous strength. The Trojans who did not have the good sense or swift feet to run away, were killed. After Akhilleus had had his revenge, Thetis led a procession of her sisters up from the depths to morn openly and to cast a divine mist over the body of Patroklos.

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Thetis and Hephaistos

When Hephaistos was thrown from Mount Olympos, Thetis and Eurynome healed him and gave him love and protection. The noble smith has never forgotten their kindness.

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Thetis in The Iliad (listed by book and line)

• 01.280 ...Agamemnon warns Akhilleus (Achilles) that he is no match for him even though his mother, Thetis, is an Immortal
• 01.351 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) calls upon his mother, Thetis, to help him
• 01.360 ...Thetis comes to her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), on the beach and asks what has made him sad
• 01.394 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) asks his mother, Thetis, to supplicate Zeus on his behalf
• 01.401 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) reminds his mother, Thetis, of the time she summoned Briareos (Briareus) to free Zeus from the shackles which Hera, Athene (Athena) and Poseidon had put on him
• 01.413 ...Thetis laments that her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), will have a brief and bitter life but she will still approach Zeus and ask for help
• 01.495 ...Thetis rose from the sea and ascended Mount Olympos (Olympus) to speak to Zeus on behalf of her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 01.502 ...Thetis supplicates Zeus on behalf of her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 01.511 ...When Zeus would not say that he would help Akhilleus (Achilles), Thetis took his knees and begged him to nod his head if he would agree to help her
• 01.531 ...After speaking with Zeus, Thetis descends Mount Olympos (Olympus)
• 01.538 ...Hera berates Zeus for meeting secretly with Thetis
• 01.556 ...Hera tells Zeus that she is afraid that Thetis has won his favor
• 06.136 ...The warrior, Diomedes, tells Glaukos (Glaucus) the story of when the mortal man, Lykourgos (Lycurgus), attacked Dionysus, the injured god took refuge in the sea and Thetis took him to her breast
• 08.370 ...Athene (Athena) tells Hera that Zeus has taken the side of Thetis and will not help the Trojans
• 09.410 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) says that his mother, Thetis, has told him that his life has two possibilities: 1) he can go home and have a long life or 2) he can die at Troy and have eternal fame
• 13.350 ...Zeus protected Hektor (Hector) but also honored his promise to Thetis to give glory to her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 15.076 ...Zeus tells the other Immortals that he will honor his promise to Thetis and give glory to her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 15.599 ...Zeus allows Hektor (Hector) to set fire to the Argive ships but also remembers the prayer of Thetis to give glory to her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 16.034 ...Patroklos (Patroclus) berates Akhilleus (Achilles) for not joining the fight for the ships; he angrily says that Peleus and Thetis were not the parents of Akhilleus but that he was born of sea and rock
• 16.051 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) tells Patroklos (Patroclus) that he refuses to fight because of his anger towards Agamemnon and not because of a prophecy from Zeus or his mother, Thetis
• 16.203 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) calls his men to fight and recalls their bitter words against him when they said that his mother, Thetis, nursed him on gall
• 16.222 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) retrieves a golden goblet from a chest his mother, Thetis, had given him and prepares a libation for Zeus
• 16.574 ...When Epeigeus was exiled for killing his cousin, Peleus and Thetis took him into their home
• 16.860 ...After hearing the prophecy of the dying Patroklos (Patroclus), Hektor (Hector) insists that he will kill the son of Thetis, Akhilleus (Achilles), and not vise versa
• 17.409 ...Thetis often told her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), the will of Zeus but she did not tell him of the death of Patroklos (Patroclus)
• 18.035 ...After the death of Patroklos (Patroclus), Thetis heard Akhilleus (Achilles) crying and gathered her sisters to come to the camp of the Akhaians (Achaeans)
• 18.038 ...The names of many of the sisters of Thetis are listed in passages 038-049
• 18.049 ...Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, of her sorrow
• 18.065 ...Thetis leads her sisters from the depths of the sea towards the camp of the Akhaians (Achaeans)
• 18.070 ...Thetis emerges from the sea with her sisters and speaks to her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 18.079 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) tells his mother, Thetis, about the death of Patroklos (Patroclus)
• 18.085 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) reminds his mother, Thetis, that she was forced to marry a mortal man, Peleus
• 18.094 ...Thetis tells her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), that he will die soon after Hektor (Hector) is killed
• 18.127 ...Thetis tells her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), that even though Hektor (Hector) has taken the armor from Patroklos (Patroclus), he will soon die
• 18.139 ...Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, to return to the sea because she is going to Mount Olympos (Olympus) to ask Hephaistos (Hephaestus) for new armor for her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 18.146 ...As her sisters, the Nereids, plunge back into the sea, Thetis goes to Mount Olympos (Olympus)
• 18.189 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) tells Iris that he cannot join the fighting until his mother, Thetis, brings his new armor
• 18.369 ...Thetis enters the home of Hephaistos (Hephaestus)
• 18.381 ...Thetis enters the home of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and draws near him as he works
• 18.385 ...Kharis (Charis), wife of Hephaistos (Hephaestus), asks Thetis why she has come to their home
• 18.390 ...Kharis (Charis), wife of Hephaistos (Hephaestus), escorts Thetis into their house and makes her comfortable on an elaborate chair
• 18.392 ...Kharis (Charis) calls to her husband, Hephaistos (Hephaestus), and tells him that Thetis has come
• 18.394 ...When Hephaistos (Hephaestus) is told that Thetis has come to his house, he says that a goddess he honors has arrived
• 18.398 ...Hephaistos (Hephaestus) recounts how Thetis and Eurynome helped him when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos (Olympus)
• 18.405 ...Hephaistos (Hephaestus) says that Eurynome and Thetis were the only Immortals who knew that he had survived the fall from Mount Olympos (Olympus)
• 18.407 ...Hephaistos (Hephaestus) says that he owes lovely haired Thetis a debt
• 18.422 ...The golden robot assistants of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) moved near to where Thetis was seated
• 18.424 ...Hephaistos (Hephaestus) asks Thetis why she has come to his house
• 18.427 ...Crying, Thetis tells Hephaistos (Hephaestus) of the plight of her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), and his need for new armor
• 18.468 ...Hephaistos (Hephaestus) agrees to help Thetis and returns to his bellows to forge new armor for Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 18.615 ...Thetis, like a hawk, descended Mount Olympos (Olympus) with the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made for her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 19.002 ...Carrying the armor Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made, Thetis finds her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), racked with sorrow for the death of his friend, Patroklos (Patroclus)
• 19.006 ...Thetis presents her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), with the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made and tells him to put away his sorrow for Patroklos (Patroclus)
• 19.012 ...Thetis placed the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made before her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 19.021 ...(Akhilleus (Achilles) accepts the armor that his mother, Thetis, has given him and asks her to protect the dead body of Patroklos (Patroclus)
• 19.028 ...Thetis promises to protect the body of Patroklos (Patroclus) from all types of degradation while her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), arms himself for battle
• 20.107 ...Apollon tells Aineias (Aeneas) to fight against Akhilleus (Achilles) because his mother was Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, and Akhilleus was born to a lesser goddess, Thetis
• 20.207 ...Aineias (Aeneas) taunts Akhilleus (Achilles) by saying that after they fight either Thetis or Aphrodite will mourn
• 24.074 ...Zeus tells Hera that they should summon Thetis to Mount Olympos (Olympus) and tell her of their plans to return the body of Hektor (Hector) to his parents
• 24.082 ...After plunging into the sea between the islands of Samos and Imbros, Iris found Thetis with her sisters, the Nereids, in a cave
• 24.085 ...Iris found Thetis under the sea mourning the impending death of her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 24.088 ...Iris tells Thetis to rise up and obey the summons of Zeus
• 24.090 ...Thetis asks Iris why Zeus has summoned her to Mount Olympos (Olympus)
• 24.095 ...Thetis donned a black veil and followed Iris as the waves of the sea opened before the divine messenger
• 24.100 ...On Mount Olympos (Olympus), Thetis sits by Zeus while Athene (Athena) and Hera make her comfortable
• 24.104 ...Zeus tells Thetis that the dead body of Hektor (Hector) must be returned to his parents and that her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), must accept a ransom for the body
• 24.120 ...After Zeus told her that the body of Hektor (Hector) must be returned to his parents, Thetis descended Mount Olympos (Olympus) and went to the camp of her son, Akhilleus (Achilles)
• 24.126 ...Thetis tells her son, Akhilleus (Achilles), that the body of Hektor (Hector) must be returned to his parents and that he must accept a ransom for the body
• 24.466 ...Hermes reveals his true identity to king Priam and advises him to ask Akhilleus (Achilles), in the name of his mother, Thetis, for the return of the body of Hektor (Hector)
• 24.537 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) reminds king Priam that the Immortals gave his father, Peleus, an immortal wife, Thetis
• 24.562 ...Akhilleus (Achilles) tells king Priam that he will return the body of Hektor (Hector) because his mother, Thetis, and Zeus commanded him to do so

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Thetis in The Odyssey (listed by book and line)

• 11.546 ...Akhilleus’ queen like mother
• 24.092 ...silver footed Thetis

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