Theia

In Greek mythology, Theia (/ˈθiːə/; Ancient Greek: Θεία,

Theia
romanized: Theía, also rendered Thea or Thia), also called
Member of the Titans
Euryphaessa "wide-shining", is a Titaness. 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 may be the same with Aethra, the consort of
Hyperion and mother of his children in some accounts.[2]

Contents
In the frieze of the Great Altar of
Etymology
Pergamon (Berlin), the goddess who
Mythology
fights at Helios' back is conjectured
Earliest account
to be Theia[1]
Later myths
Other Euryphaessa, Aethra
Diodorus account
names (probably)
Theia in the sciences
Personal information
See also
Parents Gaia and Uranus
Notes
Siblings Titans
References
Crius
Cronus

Etymology Coeus
Hyperion
The name Theia alone means simply "goddess" or "divine";
Iapetus
Theia Euryphaessa (Θεία Εὐρυφάεσσα) brings overtones of
extent (εὐρύς, eurys, "wide", root: εὐρυ-/εὐρε-) and brightness Mnemosyne
(φάος, phaos, "light", root: φαεσ-). Oceanus
Phoebe
Mythology Rhea
Tethys
Themis
Earliest account
Hekatonkheires
The usual accounts gave her an equally primal origin, said to be
Briareos
the eldest daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky).[3][4][5]
Robert Graves also relates that later Theia is referred to as the Cottus
cow-eyed Euryphaessa who gave birth to Helios in myths dating Gyges
to Classical Antiquity.[6][7] Cyclopes
Arges

Later myths Brontes

Steropes
Other siblings
Once paired in later myths with her Titan brother Hyperion as her Gigantes
husband, "mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one" of the Erinyes (the Furies)
Homeric Hymn to Helios, was said to be the mother of Helios
Meliae
(the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn).[8]
Half-siblings
Pindar praises Theia in his Fifth Isthmian ode: Aphrodite
Typhon
"Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, for your
sake men honor gold as more powerful than anything Python
else; and through the value you bestow on them, o Uranus
queen, ships contending on the sea and yoked teams
of horses in swift-whirling contests become Consort Hyperion
marvels."[9] Offspring Helios, Selene, Eos

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.

Diodorus account
An unorthodox version of the myth presented by Diodorus identified Theia as basileia ("royal palace")
with the following account:

"To Uranus were also born daughters, the two eldest of whom were by far the most
renowned above all the others and were called Basileia and Rhea, whom some also
named Pandora. Of these daughters Basileia, who was the eldest and far excelled the
others in both prudence and understanding, reared all her brothers, showing them
collectively a mother's kindness; consequently she was given the appellation of 'Great
Mother'; and after her father had been translated from among men into the circle of the
gods, with the approval of the masses and of her brothers she succeeded to the royal
dignity, though she was still a maiden and because of her exceedingly great chastity had
been unwilling to unite in marriage with any man. But later, because of her desire to leave
sons who should succeed to the throne, she united in marriage with Hyperion, one of her
brothers, for whom she had the greatest affection. And when there were born to her two
children, Helius and Selene, who were greatly admired for both their beauty and their
chastity, the brothers of Basileia, they say, being envious of her because of her happy
issue of children and fearing that Hyperion would divert the royal power to himself,
committed an utterly impious deed; for entering into a conspiracy among themselves they
put Hyperion to the sword, and casting Helius, who was still in years a child, into the
Eridanus river, drowned him. When this crime came to light, Selene, who loved her
brother very greatly, threw herself down from the roof, but as for his mother, while seeking
his body along the river, her strength left her and falling into a swoon she beheld a vision
in which she thought that Helius stood over her and urged her not to mourn the death of
her children; for, he said, the Titans would meet the punishment which they deserve, while
he and his sister would be transformed, by some divine providence, into immortal natures,
since that which had formerly been called the 'holy fire' in the heavens would be called by
men Helius ('the sun') and that addressed as 'mene' would be called Selene ('the moon').
When she was aroused from the swoon she recounted to the common crowd both the
dream and the misfortunes which had befallen her, asking that they render to the dead
honours like those accorded to the gods and asserting that no man should thereafter
touch her body. And after this she became frenzied, and seizing such of her daughter's
playthings as could make a noise, she began to wander over the land, with her hair
 hanging free, inspired by the noise of the kettledrums and cymbals, so that those who
saw her were struck with astonishment. And all men were filled with pity at her misfortune
and some were clinging to her body, when there came a mighty storm and continuous
crashes of thunder and lightning; and in the midst of this Basileia passed from sight,
whereupon the crowds of people, amazed at this reversal of fortune, transferred the
names and the honours of Helius and Selene to the stars of the sky, and as for their
mother, they considered her to be a goddess and erected altars to her, and imitating the
incidents of her life by the pounding of the kettledrums and the clash of the cymbals they
rendered unto her in this way sacrifices and all other honours."[10]

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 which, according to the giant impact hypothesis, collided with the Earth,
resulting in the Moon's creation.

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.[11]

See also
Greek mythology in popular culture

Notes
1. M.M. Honan, Guide to the Pergamon Museum, Berlin 1904, etc.
2. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
3. Hesiod, Theogony 132 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3
A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D104)
4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.1.3
5. Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 17 & 31
6. Graves, Robert (1960). The Greek Myths. Harmondsworth, London, England: Penguin
Books. pp. 42a. ISBN 978-0143106715.
7. Hesiod, Theogony 371 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3
A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371); of "cow-eyed", Karl Kerenyi observes that "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" (Kerenyi, The
Gods of the Greeks, 1951, p. 192).
8. Homeric Hymn to Helios, 1
9. Pindar, Isthmian Odes 5.1 ff
10. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 3.57.2-8 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Ro
man/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57.2)
11. Joyce Reynolds and James Copland Thorn (2005). "Cyrene's Thea figure discovered in the
Necropolis" (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/libyan-studies/article/cyrenes-thea-fig
ure-discovered-in-the-necropolis/32A670B22542B0A1656500A4E1268E3D). Libyan
Studies. doi:10.1017/S0263718900005525 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS026371890000552
5).
References
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 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.ht
ml)
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 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540).
Gaius Julius Hyginus, 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. (https://topostext.org/work/206)
Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by
Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William
Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. (http://www.perseus.tuft
s.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1) Greek text
available from the same website (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:te
xt:1999.01.0129).
Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus
Digital Library. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.0
1.0162%3Abook%3DI.)
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 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.016
1%3Abook%3DI.).
Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer,
F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William
Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. (http://www.perseus.tuft
s.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022) Greek text available from the same
website (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021).
Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith,
Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theio.com (http://www.theoi.
com/Text/ClementRecognitions.html)
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).
"Theia" (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.010
4%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dtheia-bio-1)

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