Metis Article via princeton.edu Metis (Μ τις, wisdom, skill, or craft) was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Mètis was born of Oceanus and Tethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings. Mètis was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal and the mother of Athena, Zeus first daughter, the goddess of the war and wisdom. By the era of Greek philosophy in the fifth century BCE, Mètis had become the goddess of wisdom and deep thought, but her name originally connoted magical cunning and was as easily equated with the trickster powers of Prometheus as with the royal metis of Zeus. The Stoic commentators allegorized Metis as the embodiment of prudence, wisdom or wise counsel, in which form she was inherited by the Renaissance. The word mètis was also the ordinary Greek word for a quality that combined wisdom and cunning, this quality was considered to be highly admirable and was regarded by Athenians as one of the notable characteristics of the Athenian character. Metis was the one who gave Zeus a potion for Cronus to vomit out all his siblings. Mètis was both a threat to Zeus and an indispensable aid In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus tricked her into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her. He was too late: Mètis had already conceived a child. In time she began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain, and Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) either clove Zeuss head with an axe, or hit it with a hammer at the river Triton, giving rise to Athenas epithet Tritogeneia. Athena leaped from Zeuss head, fully grown, armed, and armored, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience. The similarities between Zeus swallowing Metis and Cronus swallowing his children have been noted by several scholars.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 18:49:53 +0000
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