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Historical person

Thetis

Thetis is a sea goddess in Greek mythology and the mother of Achilles. Forced to marry the mortal Peleus, she attempts to protect her son from his destined early death and repeatedly intervenes with the gods during the Trojan War.

Thetis repeatedly attempts to protect Achilles while knowing that his heroic fame is tied to an early death. In the Iliad she persuades Zeus to honour him after Agamemnon’s insult and later obtains new armour from Hephaestus after Patroclus is killed. Her grief gives the epic a strong sense of foreknown loss, while later myth connects her marriage to Peleus with the chain of events leading to the Trojan War.

In Homer’s The Iliad, Thetis is both Achilles’ divine mother and an active intermediary with Zeus: after Agamemnon humiliates her son, she asks Zeus to favour the Trojans and later obtains new armour from Hephaestus after Patroclus is killed. The Odyssey recalls her again through the memory of Achilles’ funeral, where Thetis and the sea-nymphs mourn the dead hero. Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles makes her opposition to Patroclus a persistent force in Achilles’ life, presenting Thetis as a mother who knows the cost of her son’s destiny and tries to control the relationships that may draw him towards it.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Thetis (1 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

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Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Thetis (1 book)