Themis goddess of order and justice

Themis was also a Titaness and the daughter of Gaea. Themis was originally an earth goddess, before she became the goddess of order and justice.

Themis was the second wife of Zeus, and bore daughters to him. She was the mother of three goddesses known as Horae or the Seasons. She was possibly the mother of Moerae or Fates.

According to Aeschylus and a few other authors, Themis was the mother of the Titan, Prometheus, by her brother Iapetus.

As an earth goddess, she was sometimes indistinguishable from her mother (Gaea). Like her mother, Themis also possessed the ability in divination, and held the oracle of Delphi, which her mother gave to her.

It was Themis who told Deucalion, son of Prometheus, how he made repopulate the Earth, after the Deluge. She instructed Deucalion and Pyrrha to pick up the rocks from ground and throwing the stones backward, over their shoulders. Where the rocks landed, people would spring out of the ground.

It was Themis who foretold that any son that the sea goddess Thetis bore would become greater and stronger than the father. Thetis had only told this prophecy to Prometheus. Prometheus refused to disclose this Zeus, which was a great bargaining chip. Prometheus was punished for revealing how to make fire to mankind. Prometheus had only told this prophecy to Zeus, after Heracles released him from being chained to the highest peak of the Caucasian Mountains. Zeus fearing that he would be deposed by his own son, hastily married Thetis to a mortal hero, Peleus. Thetis became the mother of Achilles.

Clearly, Themis' prophecy was involved with Prometheus, which benefited Prometheus either directly or indirectly, thereby helping mankind.

Themis would later relinquish the oracle to Apollo, when the young god became of age. Most myths indicated that Apollo won the oracle when he had slain the dragon or serpent Python.

As the goddess of order, she was also represented the divine justice. She had not only represented justice on heaven and earth. Justice was met out in the Underworld. In Hades' domain, three men served Themis, as her attendants and judges in the Underworld: Aeacus son of Zeus and Aegina, Minos and Rhadamanthys sons of Zeus and Europa. They were responsible for judging each mortal who had died, whether they are to be rewarded or punished in their afterlife.

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I should perhaps also mention Dione. According to Homer, Dione was the mother of Aphrodite, who comforted the love goddess, when Diomedes wounded her daughter in Troy.

Homer doesn't mention Dione's own parents, but Hesiod had called her the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. However, other authors, including Apollodorus and Hyginus, say that Dione was a Titaness, thus she was a daughter of Uranus and Gaea.

Dione's attribute is rather obscure, but she was probably a mother goddess. Some believed that Dione was a moon or water goddess.

Usually, Hera was seen as Zeus' wife and consort, but according to the Linear B tablets, Dione's name is a feminine counterpart of Zeus. This suggests that Dione was originally Zeus' consort, before Hera replaced Dione, when the Hellenic Greeks began suppressing the mother goddess.
   Related Information 
Name 
Gaea, Gaia, Ge (Greek).
Tellus, Terra, Terra Mater (Roman).

Rhea (Greek).
Ops, Magna Mater (Roman).

Themis �?"Order".

 
Sources 
Theogony and Works and Days were written by Hesiod.

Library was written by Apollodorus.

 
Related Articles 
See also Gaea, Rhea, Themis, Dione.

Uranus, Cronus, Zeus, Hades, Demeter, Persephone.