Lady of the Sea

Thetis Takes Achilles from the Centaur Chiron by Pompeo Batoni (1770)

Thetis was one of the fifty Nereids (sea nymphs) who were the daughters of Nereus and Doris. She's known as the goddess of water, and was totally babein' (the technical term for it, naturally). Here's a little bit of the story of Thetis.

She was so much of a babe that both Zeus and Poseidon loved her. However, the goddess of justice, Themis (not to be confused with Thetis!) prophesised that Thetis was fated to bore a son that would end up mightier than his father. Of course, neither god wanted this burden and so withdrew their suits (Zeus was especially worried:  he overthrew this father Cronus, who had overthrown his father, Uranus, and well yeah, you get the picture) so they handed Thetis over to Peleus, king of the Myrmidons. The reason they "handed her over" was to ensure that she produced mortal offspring, and posed no risk of overthrowing an immortal.

Thetis Raped by Peleus by Douris (c. 490 BC)

Thetis didn't particularly warm to Peleus, and refused to marry him. Peleus was then advised to find her whilst she slept, and tie her up tightly enough to avoid her escaping through shape shifting. She put up a hard fight, changing into a flame, water, a lioness and a serpent, but to no avail, and eventually consented to marry him.

They were the parents of the swift-footed Achilles, who became the hero of Homer's Iliad.

Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx by Peter Paul Rubens (1630-35)

I'm sure you've heard of the myth where Thetis dips her son into the River Styx (the river of Hades), which would have made him immortal. However, the heel in which she held him by was not dipped into the river, and so it was not protected. It proved to be poor Achilles' downfall.

I don't want to go into too much detail on Achilles, especially in The Iliad, as I'd really like to do that in a post of its own. But in the epic poem we see a goddess care more for a mortal than any other god in the story, and goes to great lengths to help him maintain his honour.

More on Thetis and Achilles next time!

I scrawled my name with a hurricane,
When out of the blue
Roared a fighter plane.
Then my tongue was flame
And my kisses burned,
But the groom wore asbestos.
So I changed, I learned,
Turned inside out – or that’s 
How it felt when the child burst out.
- Carol Ann Duffy

But why this fear of love? -Sappho

I decided to switch to Blogspot for classical blogging and leave Tumblr for teenage squabbles. Bear with me whilst I work out how to use this thing!

Sappho by Alma-Tadema

For my first post, I thought I'd write a little bit on the lovely lady in the painting: Sappho! (The woman resting her head on her arm against the lecturn). She was a Greek lyric poet, and she dominates what we think of female desire today.
In ancient Greek times, it was not uncommon for men, including the likes of Socrates, to find themselves attracted to young, beautiful boys. Provided that this attraction did not go further than a cheeky peck, this was absolutely accepted as a part of Greek society. Women desiring women, however, was atrocious. Simon Goldhill wrote: "Male writers who idealise love of boys describe female desire for females as horrific, immoral, contrary to nature and just disgusting."
Sappho lived round about the beginning of the sixth century BC on the island of Lesbos, where she wrote love poetry, of which some was directed towards females. In case you haven't already figured it, the word "lesbian" is directly derived from "Lesbos", where she was born. Her poems imply lovers of both sexes, but naturally, it was her infatuation with the women she wrote about that intrigued us all. Despite the disgust felt by men towards women wanting women, Sappho was considered as one of the greatest lyrical poets in antiquity -  Plato even referred to her as the tenth Muse! She was held in high regard, with men singing songs of her stories for years to come. Third century BC philosopher, Maximus of Tyre, described her relationships with women similar to Socrates' relationship with men:
"What else could one call the love of the Lesbian woman than the Socratic art of love? For they seem to me to have practised love after their own fashion, she love the love of women, he of boys. For they said they have loved many, and were captivated by all things beautiful."
Unfortunately, there is very little we know about her, as the only proof we have of her existence is her poems, which cannot be used autobiographically. It provides us with a canvas with a dim outline, leaving the rest for us to imagine for ourselves. The European Renaissance and the ages that followed gave us incredible imagery of what may have gone on on the isle of Lesbos, for example....

Sappho & Friends by Edouard-Henri Avril

Not quite the outing you'd have with your friends nowadays!
I'll conclude my little "Welcome to Sappho's existence" post by saying that she was a total babe, and if you have the chance, read her poetry. It is ever so beautiful.

"You may forget but
Let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us"
-Sappho
You sure got that one right, girl!


Thanks for reading!