Thaumas
Greek
ConsortElectra
ParentsPontus and Gaia
SiblingsNereus, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia

In Greek mythology, Thaumas or Thaumant (/ˈθɔːməs/; Ancient Greek: Θαύμας; gen.: Θαύμαντος) was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia, and the full brother of Nereus, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia.[1]

Etymology

Plato associates Thaumas's name with θαῦμα ("wonder").[2]

Mythology

According to Hesiod, Thaumas's wife was Electra (one of the Oceanids, the many daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys), by whom he fathered Iris (the messenger of the gods), Arke (formerly the messenger of the Titans), and the Harpies.[3]

The names of Thaumas's Harpy daughters vary. Hesiod and Apollodorus name them: Aello and Ocypete. Virgil, names Celaeno as one of the Harpies.[4] However, while Hyginus, Fabulae Preface has the Harpies, Celaeno, Ocypete, and Podarce, as daughters of Thaumas and Electra, at Fabulae 14.18, the Harpies are said to be named Aellopous, Celaeno, and Ocypete, and are the daughters of Thaumas and Ozomene.[5]

The 5th-century poet Nonnus gives Thaumas and Electra two children, Iris, and the river Hydaspes.[6]

Thaumas was also the name of a centaur, who fought against the Lapiths at the Centauromachy.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 233–239.
  2. ^ Plato, Theaetetus 155d.
  3. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 265–269, 780–381; also Apollodorus, 1.2.6; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface. Callimachus, Hymn IV: To Delos 67, and Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.479–480, also have Iris as the daughter of Thaumas.
  4. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 3 211–212; Servius, On Virgil, Aeneid 3.212.
  5. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14.18.
  6. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.358–362.
  7. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.303.

References