Theia: Meet the Brilliant Goddess of Greek Mythology

     Theia is, in Greek Mythology, Hyperion's wife and is also known as the "Enlightened Goddess", because like her husband and children, Theia shines like the sun itself.

Theia in Greek Mythology:

     Theia, in Greek Mythology, is the Titanide of view and, by extension, the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with her brilliance and intrinsic value. Her brother is Hyperion, a Titan and ancient god of the sun. Together they are the parents of Hélio (the Sun), Selene (the moon) and Eos (the dawn).

     The usual accounts gave her an equally primitive origin, considered the eldest daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven). Robert Graves also reports that later Téia is referred to as the cow-eyed Euryphaessa who gave birth to Hélio in myths that date back to Classical Antiquity.

Theia Myth:

     Once in later myths paired with her brother Titan Hyperion as her husband, "Euryphaessa with kind eyes, the brilliant". She seems here to be a goddess of radiance in particular and glory in general, but Píndaro's allusion to her as "Theia of many names" is significant, as it suggests assimilation, referring not only to similar mother goddesses of the sun, like Phoebe and Leto, but perhaps also for more universalized maternal figures, such as Cibele. Píndaro praises Theia:

"Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, because of you, men honor gold as more powerful than anything else; horses in fast turns. Contests become wonders."

Diodoro:

     From Uranus daughters were also born, the two oldest of whom were by far the best known above all others and were called Basel and Rhea, whom some also called Pandora. Of these daughters, Basel, who was the oldest and surpassed the others in prudence and understanding, raised all her brothers, showing them collectively the kindness of a mother; consequently, she received the nickname "Great Mother"; and after her father was transferred from among men to the circle of the gods, with the approval of the masses and his brothers, she achieved real dignity, although she was still a maiden and because of her excessively great chastity she had not wanted to be. unite in marriage with any man. Later, however, because she wanted to leave children to succeed the throne, she married Hyperion, one of her brothers, for whom she had the greatest affection.

     And when their two children, Helios and Selene, who were admired for both their beauty and their chastity, were born, the brothers of Basel, they say, being jealous of her because of her happy generation of children and fearing that Hyperion would divert power. real to themselves, they committed a totally ungodly act; for entering into a conspiracy with each other, they put Hyperion on the sword and threw Helios, who was still a child, into the Eridanus River, drowned him. 

     When this crime came to the fore, Selene, who loved her brother very much, threw herself off the roof, but as for her mother, while searching for her body along the river, her forces left her and passed out she had a vision in which she thought that Helios was over her and urged her not to mourn the death of her children; for, he said, the Titans would receive the punishment they deserve, while he and his sister would be transformed, by some divine providence, into immortal natures, since what had previously been called 'sacred fire' in the heavens would be called by Helios men and the one treated as 'mene' would be called Selene. When she woke up from fainting, she told the common crowd about the dream and the misfortunes that had befallen her, asking them to pay honors to the dead like those bestowed on the gods and affirming that no man should later touch her body.

Check: Sons of Hyperion

Check Now: