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Real Name |
Metis |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Metis, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, was the pre-Olympian goddess of wisdom, counsel and deep thought, and a member of the Oceanids. She is notable for being the advisor and first wife of Zeus, the king of the gods. She first helped him to free his siblings from their father Cronus' stomach and later helped their daughter Athena to escape from the forehead of Zeus, who swallowed both mother and child after it was foretold that she would bear a son mightier than his father.
The Greek word metis meant a quality that combined wisdom and cunning. This quality was considered to be highly admirable, the hero Odysseus being the embodiment of it, for example using such a strategy against Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. In the Classical era, metis was regarded by Athenians as one of the notable characteristics of the Athenian character.
She was an Oceanid, one of the 3000 daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and a sister of the river-gods, which also numbered 3000. Metis gave her cousin Zeus an emetic potion to cause his father Cronus, the supreme ruler of the cosmos, to vomit out his siblings - Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon - their father had swallowed out of fear of being overthrown. After Zeus and his siblings won the Titanomachy, the 10-year war among the Titans and the Olympians, he pursued Metis and they got married.
Metis was both an indispensable aid and a threat to Zeus. He lay with her, but immediately feared the consequences, for it had been prophesied by Gaia and Uranus that Metis would bear a daughter who would be wiser than her mother, and then a son more powerful than his father, who would eventually overthrow Zeus and become the king of the cosmos in his place. In order to forestall these consequences, Zeus tricked Metis into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her. However, she was already pregnant with their first and only child, Athena, whom Metis raised in Zeus' mind. It is from this position that Metis continues to give Zeus advice as a ruler.
Once Athena fully grew up, Metis crafted robes, an armor, a shield, and a spear for her daughter, who banged her spear and shield together in order to give her father a terrible headache. Soon, Zeus could not take his headache anymore and had the smith god Hephaestus - a son of Hera, now his queen - cut his head open to let out whatever was in there on the river Triton's banks. Athena emerged from Zeus's mind full grown, wearing the armor her mother made for her. She was soon made the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and crafts.
According to Apollodorus, Metis was raped by Zeus and changed many forms in order to escape him after he pursued her.
An alternative version of the same myth makes the Cyclops Brontes rather than Zeus the father of Athena before Metis is swallowed.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Metis from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Theogony
- Symposium
- The Library
- Fabulae