Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, the name Thero (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: Θηρώ means "feral, beastly") may refer to: *Thero, reputed nurse of Ares. Local inhabitants of

Therapne Therapne ( grc, Θεράπνη) was a town in ancient Laconia, within the territory of Sparta. According to Greek mythology, its name comes from a daughter of Lelex. The place was distinguished for housing the Menelaion, a temple to Menelaus, w ...

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

believed that ''Theriates'', a surname of Ares, had been derived from her name.

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

remarks that outside Therapne, Thero was completely unknown to the Greeks, and supposes that this mythological figure could have been of Colchian origin, considering the fact that the statue of Ares Theriates was believed to have been brought from

Colchis In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...

by the

Dioscuri Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, from ''Dîos'' ( ...

. *Thero, daughter of

Phylas In Greek mythology, the name Phylas (Ancient Greek: Φύλας, genitive case, gen. Φύλαντος) may refer to: *Phylas, king of Cichyrus, Ephyra, a descendant of Dryops of Oeta, Dryopes. Heracles led a war against him and killed him. Phylas ha ...

and

Leipephilene In Greek mythology, Leipephilene (Ancient Greek: Λειπεφιλήνη) was the daughter of Iolaus and Megara. She was renowned for her beauty which was compared to that of an Olympian goddess. Leipephilene married Phylas and bore two children to ...

, and sister of

Hippotes Hippotes (Ancient Greek: Ἱππότης) may refer to a number of people from Greek mythology: *Hippotes, son of Mimas and father of Aeolus, the keeper of the Winds in the ''Odyssey''. He was a mortal king. *Hippotes, a Corinthian prince as the ...

. She was said to have been beautiful as the moonbeams. Falling in love with

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

, Thero became the mother of Chaeron, eponym of

Chaeronea Chaeronea (English: or ; el, Χαιρώνεια , ) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which ...

. *Thero, a follower of

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

. Claudian, ''De consulatu Stilichonis'' 3.250 & 309

Notes

References

, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Stephanus of Byzantium, ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
{{Greek myth index Women of Apollo Women in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology

See also

Notes

References