THETIS

Daughter of Nerens and Doris, wife of Peleus, and mother of Achilles. On many occasions she proved herself of assistance to the gods. When Zeus was threatened by Hera, Athene, and Poseidon, she called Briareus (or Aegaeon) to his aid. When Hephaestus was cast out of heaven by Zeus, she took him and hid him for nine years. Again, when Dionysus was fleeing before Lycurgus, she afforded him protection in the sea. Brought up by Hera, she was wooed by Zeus and Poseidon. But when Themis foretold that Thetis would bear a son who would be greater than his father, she was married against her will to a mortal, Peleus (q.v.). This marriage was the source of the greatest sorrow to her. Her attempt to make her only son Achilles immortal was frustrated by her husband, and caused an estrangement between them, and she was fated to see her glorious and godlike son cut off in the prime of life.