Themis

impressions of Katerina Sakellaropoulou

Themis

Θεμις

In Greek mythology, THEMIS was the Titan goddess of divine law and order, wisdom and good counsel: the personification of justice. In Greek, the word themis referrs to divine law and order.

Themis was also identified with Gaia especially in the role of the oracular voice of earth. A prophetic goddess and the interpreter of the gods’ will, Themis presided over the ancient oracles. She was the divine voice (themistes) who instructed mankind in the primal laws of justice and morality, the precepts of piety, the rules of hospitality, good governance, conduct of assembly, and pious offerings to the gods. Themis was believe to have issued important edicts to mankind through the great oracle of Delphi over which she reigned. She later passed on the Oracle to Apollo.

According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Themis was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). She was Zeus’s second consort and his first counsellor: often represented seated beside his throne advising him on the precepts of divine law and the rules of fate. On Olympus, Themis maintained order and supervised the ceremonial. In the Homeric poems, Themis is the personification of the order of things established by law, custom, and equity. She is described as reigning in the assemblies of men (Od. ii. 68, &c.), and as convening, by the command of Zeus, the assembly of the gods. (Il. xx. 4.)

Themis was closely identified with Demeter Thesmophoros ("Bringer of Law"). Themis' six children, by Zeus, were the spring-time Horai (Horae, Seasons) and death-bringing Moirai (Moirae, Fates), the Hesperides. The Horae and Moirae reflect the dual-functions of Demeter's daughter Persephone.

She is often represented on coins resembling the figure of Athena with a cornucopia and a pair of scales. (Gellius, xiv. 46.)

Katerina Sakellaropoulou was born in Thessaloniki, which also happens to have been the ancestral home of my great great grandfather, Moise Allatini, who was honoured by Jews and Muslims alike as “the angel of Salonica”.

Furthermore, Thessaloniki is named for the Macedonian princess and mermaid, Thessalonike, daughter of King Phillip II of Macedon and Nicesipolis, who, on the death of her mother, was brought up by Olympia, the mother of Alexander the Great. During the course of his life, Alexander amassed an empire stretching from Greece to Asia Minor, India and Egypt.

In his search to find the Fountain of Youth, Alexander brought back a flask of immortal water with which he washed Thessalonike’s hair. When Alexander died, Thessalonike was so grief-stricken that she threw herself into the sea, hoping to end her life.

Instead of drowning, she transformed into a mermaid, a sea creature with the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish.

As a mermaid, when sailing ships passed by, Thessalonike, would ask the sailors the following question:

Is Alexander the king alive? (Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;).

The correct answer would be: He lives and reigns and conquers the world. (Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμο κυριεύει.)

Given this answer, Thessalonike would allow the ship and its crew to pass safely in calm seas.

Receiving any other answer would transform her into a fierce Gorgon-like creature, causing storms to wreck the ship, drowning the sailors on it, and sending them all to a dark and bottomless grave.

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