Thaumas

In Greek mythology, Thaumas (/ˈθɔːməs/; Θαύμας; gen.: Θαύμαντος) was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia, and the full brother of Nereus, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia.^[1] According to Hesiod, Thaumas' 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, and the Harpies.^[2]

The names of Thaumas' Harpy daughters vary. Hesiod and Apollodorus name them: Aello and Ocypete. Virgil, names Celaeno as one of the Harpies.^[3] However while Hyginus, Fabulae Preface has the Harpies, Celaeno, Ocypete, and Podarce, as daughters of Thaumas and Electra, at Fabuale 14.18, the Harpies are said to be named Aellopous, Celaeno, and Ocypete, and are the daughters of Thaumas and Ozomene.^[4]

The late 4th-early 5th century poet Nonnus gives Thaumas and Electra two children, Iris, and the river Hydaspes.^[5]

Plato associates Thaumas' name with θαῦμα ("wonder").^[6]

Thaumas was also the name of a centaur.^[7]

Notes

1. Hesiod, Theogony 233–239.
2. 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.
3. Virgil, Aeneid 3 211–212; Servius, On Virgil, Aeneid 3.212.
4. Hyginus, Fabulae 14.18.
5. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.358–362.
6. Plato, Theaetetus 155d.
7. Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.303.

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
• Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabuae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI–XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Plato, Theaetetus in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil, Georgius Thilo, Ed. 1881.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Thaumas"
• Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library