Metis (mythology)

Birth of Athena (Metis appears allegorically under the seat of Zeus). Tripod of black figures, c. 570–560 BC, Louvre Museum (CA 616).

In Greek mythology, Metis (in ancient Greek Μῆτις Mễtis, literally 'advice', 'trick') was a second-generation Titan who personified prudence or, in a bad sense, perfidy. She was also an Oceanid, the daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, and was counted as the first wife of Zeus. Stoic commentators allegorized Metis as a personification, and this version was implanted since the Renaissance. Not surprisingly, some of his sisters are also considered oceanids and at the same time personifications, such as Peito ("persuasion"), Tique ("fortune"), Pluto ("wealth") or Nemesis.

It was Metis who, at the behest of Zeus, gave his father, Cronus, the emetic that made him vomit up the children he had previously devoured. By this act we also assume that she was a sympathizer of the Olympian side during the titanomachy.Hesiod, in the catalog of the wives of Zeus, tells us that she was the first of them. Apollodorus adds the fact that Metis "had adopted various forms to escape" from the embraces of her lover. She metis she prophesied to Zeus that she would give birth to a daughter and later a son who would be destined to rule the world, although Hesiod affirms that it was Urano and Gaia who made this revelation to him. This is why Zeus devoured her when she was pregnant with Athena, and later himself gave birth to her daughter, who sprang from her head with the help of Hephaestus. Zeus “swallowed Metis before her, so that the goddess would always warn him of good and bad.” This is confirmed in the Homeric poems, where Zeus is called Metieta, that is, “good counselor”.

Others believe that Zeus devoured Metis after turning her into a fly. A single alternate version of the same myth makes Brontes the father of Athena before swallowing Metis. Graves associates Metis with Coeo, both titans from the planet of intelligence, Mercury. Although many contemporaries consider her one of the Titanides, the truth is that the sources never explicitly call her that. At least Apollodorus says that Metis is a "descendant of the Titans".

Thesis

Metis also has a more primordial facet, which was built by Orphism and philosophy. In this version Metis appears as an allegory on the power of creation, Thesis. The Orphics also compare her to Phanes and Ericapeus, two primordials. Plato, who uses the form Metis as a masculine name, says that Poro is the son of Metis; this allegory is usually interpreted as ingenuity being the mother of opportunities.