Themis

Titan Goddess of Law and Order

Themis was one of the twelve Titans, but her power was very different from someone like Atlas. She represented divine law, fairness, custom and the proper order of things. Basically, Themis was connected with the rules that helped gods and humans understand how things should be done. After Zeus became king, Themis remained important and became one of his trusted advisers. Even the god with the biggest thunderbolt sometimes needed somebody sensible nearby!

Themis and Zeus had several important children. These included goddesses connected with good order, justice and peace. Some traditions also connect Themis with the Fates, the mysterious goddesses who controlled the course of life. Themis was also linked with prophecy. One ancient story says the famous oracle at Delphi first belonged to Gaia, then passed to Themis, then Phoebe and finally Apollo. This made Themis a goddess who understood not only rules and fairness but also things that had not happened yet.

One of her strangest stories comes after the great flood. Deucalion and Pyrrha wanted to know how to bring humans back, so they asked Themis for help. She told them to throw ‘the bones of their mother’ behind them. That sounds absolutely horrible until you understand the riddle. Their great mother was Gaia, the Earth, and the bones of the Earth were stones. They threw stones behind them and the stones became new people. Today, Themis is often connected with images of Justice holding scales. Modern statues sometimes add a blindfold, but ancient Greek pictures did not require one. I think Themis is easy to remember as the goddess who brought some much-needed rules, fairness and sensible advice to a family of gods that was very often anything but sensible.

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