In Greek mythology, Themis (; )Beekes, s.v. Θέμις, p. 539.
is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus.
She is the personification of justice, divine order, fairness, law, and custom, and her symbols include the Scales of Justice.
Name
Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the Greek verb títhēmi (τίθημι), meaning "to put."
To the ancient Greeks she was originally the organizer of the "communal affairs of humans, particularly assemblies."(University of Washington School of Law)
Themis, Goddess of Justice  Moses Finley remarked of themis, as the word was used by Homer in the 8th century BCE, to evoke the social order of the 10th- and 9th-century Greek Dark Ages:
Finley adds, "There was themis—custom, tradition, folk-ways, mores, whatever we may call it, the enormous power of 'it is (or is not) done.'
"Finley, The World of Odysseus.
p.
82.
In the Hymn to Apollo, Themis is referred to as "Ichnaea", meaning "Tracker".Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo, 96; Gantz, p.
52. Description
Some classical descriptions of Themis describe a sober-looking woman holding scales.
Themis is an earth goddess much like her mother, Gaia, and in some stories it is hard to tell the two apart.
Some classical depictions of Themis show her holding a sword.
When Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution; thus Themis shared the Nemesion temple at Rhamnous.
Themis is not wrathful; she, "of the lovely cheeks," was the first to offer Hera a cup when she returned to Olympus distraught over threats from Zeus.Homer, Iliad 15.88.
Themis presided over the proper relation between man and woman, the basis of the rightly ordered family (the family was seen as the pillar of the deme.)
Judges were often referred to as themistopóloi (the servants of Themis).
Such was also the basis for order upon Olympus.
Even Hera addressed her as "Lady Themis."
Hesiod
Themis occurred in Hesiod's Theogony as the first recorded appearance of Justice as a divine personage.
Drawing not only on the socio-religious consciousness of his time but also on many of the earlier cult-religions, Hesiod described the forces of the universe as cosmic divinities.
Hesiod portrayed temporal justice, Dike, as the daughter of Zeus and Themis.
Dike executed the law of judgments and sentencing and, together with her mother Themis, she carried out the final decisions of Moirai.Donna Marie Giancola, "Justice and the Face of the Great Mother (East and West)"
Themis presided over divine justice, while Dike presided over human justice.
Aeschylus
In the play Prometheus Bound, traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, it is said by Prometheus that Themis is called many names, including Gaia.Aeschylus, Prometheus bound 211 (Sommerstein, pp.
446, 447; Harrison, p. 480.
Family
In Hesiod's Theogony, Themis is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky).Hesiod, Theogony 133–138; Gantz, p. 52; Caldwell, p. 5, table 3; Grimal, s.v. Themis, p. 443; Tripp, s.v. Themis, pp.
558–559; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Themis; Morford, p. 60; March, s.v. Themis, p. 376.
Themis is similarly called the daughter of Gaia and Uranus by Apollodorus, who includes her in his list of Titans (Apollodorus, 1.3.1).
She is the second wife of her nephew Zeus, by whom she is the mother of the Horae (Seasons), listed as Eunomia (Law), Dike (Justice), Eirene (Peace), and the Moirai (Fates), listed as Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.Hesiod, Theogony 901–906; Gantz, p. 53; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Themis.
Despite the Moirai being called the offspring of Zeus and Themis, they are earlier, at Hesiod, Theogony 217, listed as the daughters of Nyx (Night) (Hard, p. 27).
In Hyginus' Fabulae, Themis is the daughter of Aether and Terra (Earth),Hyginus, Fabulae Theogony 3 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95).
and by Zeus the mother of the Horae.Hyginus, Fabulae 183 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 158), Theogony 25 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 96).
In his Bibliotheca historica, Diodorus Siculus mentions an island called Panchaea, where Themis was said to be the mother of Athena by Zeus.Diodorus Siculus, 6.1.9.
In the play Prometheus Bound, traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, Themis is the mother of Prometheus.Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. 444, 445 n. 2, 446, 447 n. 24, 538, 539 n. 113).
Similarly to Hesiod's account, the Orphic Hymn to Themis calls her the daughter of Gaia and Uranus,Orphic Hymn 79 to Themis, 1–3; (Athanassakis & Wolkow, p. 62).
and the Orphic Hymn to the Seasons calls her the mother, by Zeus, of the Horae.Orphic Hymn 43 to the Seasons, 1 (Athanassakis & Wolkow, p. 37).
Themis is also sometimes called mother of the Hesperides by Zeus.Scholiast on Euripides, Hippolytus 742 (Cavarezan, p. 288) [= Pherecydes fr. 16d Fowler, p. 286 = FGrH 3 F33a]; Fowler 2013, p. 294; Smith, s.v. Themis, s.v. Hesperides.
Mythology
Themis built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular.
According to another legend, Themis received the Oracle at Delphi from Gaia and later gave it to Phoebe, who gave it to her grandson Apollo as a birthday gift.Aeschylus, Eumenides 1–8; West 1985, p. 174.
According to Ephorus, Themis helped Apollo found the oracle, with the intent of helping mankind.Strabo, Geographica 9.3.11 [= FGrH 70 F 31b]; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Themis.
Some examples of Themis' visions; In Ovid's Metamorphoses in The Story of Dryope Themis warns the Gods of an oncoming Civil war in Thebes and the misfortunes to come with it.Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.324–417.
In another tale she also warns Zeus and Poseidon to not marry Thetis because her son will be more powerful than his father.Apollodorus, 3.13.5.
According to Ovid, it was Themis rather than Zeus who told Deucalion to throw the bones of "his Mother" over his shoulder to create a new race of humankind after the deluge.Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.313–381; Hard, p. 404; Tripp, s.v. Themis, pp.
558–559; Fontenrose, p. 417.
In Homer's Iliad she is tasked with calling the gods to council on Olympus by Zeus.Homer, Iliad 20.5.
Themis was present at Delos to witness the birth of Apollo, and nursed him with nectar and ambrosia.Homeric Hymn to Apollo (3), 96, 123–125; Gantz, p. 52; Hard, p. 144; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Themis.
In his De Astronomica, Hyginus lists Themis, in addition to the nymph Amalthea, as the foster-mother and nurse of the young Zeus.Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.13.6.
Hyginus attributes this statement to "Musaeus", presumably Musaeus of Athens; see also West, p.
43. In a fragment of Pindar, Themis was brought from the springs of Oceanus by the Moirai (in this version not her daughters) to Olympus, where she became the first wife of Zeus (rather than the second), and by him the mother of the Horae.Pindar, fr. 30 Race, p. 236, 237 [= Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.14.137.1]; Gantz, p.
52.
In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony", or Rhapsodies, (first century BC/AD)Meisner, pp.
1, 5; cf.
West 1983, pp.
261–262.
Nyx (Night) prophesied that Themis would remain a virgin until Rhea gave birth to a child of Cronus.West, p. 73, 266; Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus 30 a (I 396, 29 Diehl) [= Orphic fr. 144 Kern].
The children Themis later gave birth to were here too the Horae and the Moirai (Orphic frr. 126 [= Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Republic II 207, 14 Kr.], 162 [= Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus 41 e (III 274, 17 Diehl)], 181 [= Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus 40 a (III 118, 30 Diehl)] Kern; West, p. 73, 266, 267).
Themis, alongside the Moirai, once stopped Zeus from killing thieves who attempted to steal honey from the sacred Dictaean cave, as it would be considered impious for anyone to die in the cave.
Thus, Zeus instead turned the thieves into birds.Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 19.
Themis played a role in Eros growing up; Aphrodite was worried about her son, Eros, staying a child forever and brought him to Themis.
Themis told her to give Eros a brother, as he wasn't growing because of him being solitary.
Aphrodite then gave birth to Anteros, and Eros grew whenever he was near him.Dwight, p. 266.
Cult
Themis had several temples in Greece, though they are not described in any great detail by ancient authors.
She had temples at the oracular shrine of Zeus at Dodona, at Tanagra,Pausanias, 9.22.1.
in Athens nearby to the Acropolis,Pausanias, 1.22.1; Harrison, p. 481.
a temple in Rhamnous beside one of Nemesis,Burkert, p. 184.
and a Temple of Themis Ikhnaia in Phthiotis, Thessalia.Strabo, 3.2.11; Harrison, p. 481.
Pausanias describes her sanctuary in Thebes in somewhat more detail than what was normally the case and it may therefore have been of more importance:
Along the road from the Neistan gate [at Thebes, Boiotia] are three sanctuaries.
There is a sanctuary of Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) [her daughters], while the third is of Zeus Agoraios (of the Market.)
Pausanias, 9.25.4.
Themis also had an altar in Olympia: "On what is called the Stomion (Mouth) the altar to Themis has been built."
Pausanias, 5.14.10.
Themis was sometimes depicted in the sanctuaries of other gods and may have shared temples with them occasionally, and she is mentioned to have shared a temple with Aphrodite in Epidauros: "Within the grove [of the sanctuary of Asklepios (Asclepius) at Epidauros] are a temple of Artemis, an image of Epione, a sanctuary of Aphrodite and Themis, a race-course."
Pausanias, 2.27.6.
The temple of Themis in Athens is found west of the theater of Dionysus.Acropolis, Temple of Themis.
Built between 480 and 320 BC.
Artstor, library-artstor-org.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/asset/ASITESPHOTOIG_10313398073 Themis' temple in Dodona is tetrastyle pronaos in antis with a cella, an entrance on the northside and outside was a large altar.
The temple columns in Dodona were Ionic made out of local sandstone.Temple of Themis.
4th-3rd centuries BC, 14-Jun-09.
Artstor, library-artstor-org.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/asset/ASITESPHOTOIG_10313399354 Modern depictions
thumb|A modern statue in Hong Kong showing Themis with her eyes covered.
The philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel developed the Themis-Dike contrast into one of opposition; the two goddesses being used to explain the Antigone narrative.
Themis in modern-day depictions is often called "Lady Justice" and statues can be found outside many courthouses.
Genealogy
See also
Adikia, goddess of injustice
Adrestia, goddess of retribution
Raguel, angel of justice
Notes
References
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External links
