Thea

Thea (Theia) was a Titaness, one of the daughters of Uranus and Gaea. She married her brother Hyperion and was the mother of the three bright lights of the sky: Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn). The ancient sources give her few stories of her own; she matters as the mother of these three, and the poet Pindar praises her as the one through whom gold is valued.

Thea's Name and Role

She is called Theia in Hesiod and Pindar, and Thia in Apollodorus. In the Homeric Hymn to Helios she appears under another name, Euryphaessa, as the wife of Hyperion (Homeric Hymn 31.1–7). The name Theia is the feminine form of the Greek word theios, “divine”, and Euryphaessa combines the words for “wide” and “shining”.

Pindar’s fifth Isthmian ode gives her a function of her own. It opens with an address to her: “mother of Helios, Theia of many names”. Pindar says that because of her men honour gold as mighty above all other things, and that ships contending on the sea and horses under chariots become wonderful in swift contests through her honour (Pindar, Isthmian 5.1–6).

Thea's Family and Offspring

Hesiod lists Theia among the twelve children of Uranus and Gaea, together with Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and the youngest, Cronus (Hesiod, Theogony 132–138). Apollodorus gives the same parents and also lists her among the Titanides (Library 1.1.3). Her siblings therefore include Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus and Tethys, and her husband Hyperion is one of them.

Theia, overcome in love by Hyperion, bore great Helios, bright Selene and Eos, who shines on all who live on earth and on the immortal gods who hold the wide heaven (Theogony 371–374). Apollodorus likewise says that Dawn, Sun and Moon were born to Hyperion and Thia (Library 1.2.2). The Homeric Hymn to Helios tells the same family in more detail: Hyperion wedded the glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bore him rosy-armed Eos, fair-tressed Selene and tireless Helios, who is like the immortals (Homeric Hymn 31.4–7).

Thea in Greek Myth and Culture

Theia has no story of her own in Hesiod, Apollodorus or the Homeric Hymns. She is named in the list of the Titans and, with Hyperion, as the parent of the Sun, the Moon and the Dawn. Her children have their own pages and many more myths, and the sources do not describe her taking part in any of them.

As a Titaness she belongs to the generation that Zeus and the Olympians defeated. Hesiod and Apollodorus tell of that war (Theogony 617–735; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.1), but neither names Theia among those who fought.

Thea Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 371–374, 617–735; Homeric Hymn 31 to Helios, 1–7; Pindar, Isthmian 5.1–6; Apollodorus, Library 1.1.3, 1.2.1–2.

See Also: Titans, Uranus, Gaea, Hyperion, Helios, Selene, Eos