Thalassa (Greek: Θάλασσα lit. Sea) was a primeval water goddess in Greek mythology.
She was the daughter of Hydros and Thesis and consort of Pontus. She was, like other primeval water gods, eventually eclipsed by, first, Oceanus and Tethys and later Poseidon and Amphitrite. She was sometimes portrayed as a woman rising from the waters.
Etymology[]
The word may have been of Pre-Greek origin and connected to the name of the Mesopotamian primordial sea goddess Tiamat.
Mythology[]
According to a scholion on Apollonius of Rhodes, the fifth-century BC poet Ion of Chios had Thalassa as the mother of Aegaeon (Briareus, one of the Hecatoncheires).[1]
Diodorus Siculus, in his Bibliotheca historica, states that "Thalatta" is the mother of the Telkhines and the sea-nymph Halia.[2]
In the Orphic Hymn to the Sea, Tethys, who is here equated with Thalassa, is called the mother of Kypris (Aphrodite) and the Nephele.[3]
Aesop's Fables[]
Thalassa also appears in some of Aesop's Fables.

Thalassa defends herself in Aesop's fable, "The Farmer and the Sea"
“ | The Shipwrecked Man | ” |
–The Shipwrecked Man. A shipwrecked man, having been cast upon a certain shore, slept after his buffetings with the deep. After a while he awoke, and looking upon the Sea (Thalassa), loaded it with reproaches. He argued that it enticed men with the calmness of its looks, but when it had induced them to plow its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them. Thalassa (the Sea), assuming the form of a woman, replied to him : ‘Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves, and lash me into fury. |
“ | The Farmer and the Sea | ” |
–A farmer saw a ship and her crew about to sink into the sea as the ship's prow disappeared beneath the curl of a wave. The farmer said, ‘O sea, it would have been better if no one had ever set sail on you! You are a pitiless element of nature and an enemy to mankind.’ When she heard this, Thalassa (the Sea) took on the shape of a woman and said in reply, ‘Do not spread such evil stories about me! I am not the cause of any of these things that happen to you; the Winds (Anemoi) to which I am exposed are the cause of them all. If you look at me when the Winds are gone, and sail upon me then, you will admit that I am even more gentle than that dry land of yours |
“ | The Rivers and The Sea | ” |
–The Potamoi (Rivers) came together in order to make a complaint against Thalassa (the Sea). They told her, ‘Why is it that we come to you with waters that are sweet and fit to drink, but you change them into something salty and undrinkable?’ In response to the Potamoi's (Rivers') criticism, Thalassa (the Sea) replied, ‘Don't come, and you won't get salty! |
References[]
Protogenoi | |
---|---|
Hesiodic Theogony | Kháos • Gaîa • Tártaros • Eros • Nyx • Erebus • Ouranós • Ourea • Póntos • Aether • Hemera |
Orphic Theogony | Hydros • Thesis • Physis • Phanes • Ananke • Chronos |
Miscellaneous Accounts | Thalassa • Oceanus • Tethys • Thetis • Achlys • Caligo |