Metis (mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Greek deities series |
|
|---|---|
| Primordial deities | |
| Olympians | |
| Aquatic deities | |
| Chthonic deities | |
| Other deities | |
| Titans | |
| The Twelve Titans: | |
| Oceanus and Tethys, | |
| Hyperion and Theia, | |
| Coeus and Phoebe, | |
| Cronus and Rhea, | |
| Mnemosyne, Themis, | |
| Crius, Iapetus | |
| Sons of Iapetus: | |
| Atlas, Prometheus, | |
| Epimetheus, Menoetius | |
| Personified concepts | |
In Greek mythology, Metis ("wisdom" or "wise counsel") was a Titaness who was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal (Hesiod, Theogony 896) and the mother of Athena. Metis was the goddess of wisdom and deep thought.
Metis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings.
Zeus lay with Metis but immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear extremely powerful children: the first, Athena and the second a son more powerful than Zeus himself, who would eventually overthrow Zeus.[1]
In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus tricked her into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her. He was too late: Metis had already conceived a child. In time she began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain and Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes or Palamaon (depending on the sources examined) either cleaved Zeus's head with an axe or hit it with a hammer at the river Triton, giving rise to Athena's epithet Tritogeneia. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown, armed, and armored, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience. The similarities between Zeus swallowing Metis and Cronus swallowing his children has been noted by several scholars.
Metis, a minor moon of the planet Jupiter, was named for her in 1979.
[edit] References
- ^ Hesiod's Theogony, 886-900 Available at wikisource
[edit] External Links
