Over at the Kosmos Society we are discussing if
Thetis ever forgave Apollo for the murder of Achilles (or Prometheus and Themis
for creating this mess in the first place) I found an interesting article. “Apollo
at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus”, Ioanna
L. Hadjicosti, www.jstor.org/stable/41665276
Hadjicosti points out that in a
lost play by Aeschylus (frag. 350) Thetis, daughter of Nereus, does accuse Apollo of lying at her wedding
when he propechized a great life for her son.
And she declares that he murdered Achilles
But if we are talking about someone
who won’t forgive, someone reeking of revenge for the death of Thetis’s son,
someone suffering divine menis on
account of the cowardly deed of the far-shooter, someone who would gladly eat
Apollo’s brains raw, look no further than Thetis’ foster-mother. That’s Hera, Queen of the Gods and Apollo’s
step-mother.
Doris, daughter of Tethys, bore to
the sea-god Nereus fifty daughters. It is easy to imagine Doris needing a
little help. So, just as Tethys served
as Hera’s nurse, so Hera stepped in and was nurse to Doris’ daughter Thetis. Which makes Hera the god-mother of Achilles if
not almost his grandmother following Nagy’s logic.[i] It is she that “straight upbraided (Apollo) with
exceeding bitter words” at; Iliad 24:62-23 and
“What deed of outrage, Phoebus,
hast thou done this day, forgetful of that day whereon to godlike Peleus'
spousals gathered all the Immortals? Yea, amidst the feasters thou sangest how
Thetis silver-footed left the sea's abysses to be Peleus' bride; and as thou
harpedst all earth's children came to hearken, beasts and birds, high craggy
hills, rivers, and all deep-shadowed forests came. All this hast thou
forgotten, and hast wrought a ruthless deed, hast slain a godlike man, albeit
thou with other Gods didst pour the nectar, praying that he might be the son by
Thetis given to Peleus. But that prayer hast thou forgotten…Ever Achilles
showed us reverence -- yea, was of our race... thou for the Trojans dost not
care, but for his valour enviedst Peleus' son, seeing he was the mightest of
all men. Thou fool! How wilt thou meet the Nereid's eyes, when she shall stand
in Zeus' hall midst the Gods, who praised thee once, and loved as her own
son?" So Hera spake, in bitterness of soul upbraiding, but he answered her
not a word, of reverence for his mighty Father's bride; nor could he lift his
eyes to meet her eyes, but sat abashed, aloof from all the Gods eternal, while
in unforgiving wrath scowled on him all the Immortals who maintained the
Danaans' cause; but such as fain would bring triumph to Troy, these with
exultant hearts extolled him, hiding it from Hera's eyes, before whose wrath
all Heaven-abiders shrank. (The Fall fo Troy, Quintus Smyrnaeus 3.115-161,
trans. A. S. Way at www.theoi.com)
For all this nastiness on Hera’s part, we must remember what Artemis says in Hippolytus 1456 (Euripides) “Hath Zeus
ordained in heaven, no god may thwart a god’s fixed will; we grieve but stand
apart.”
But she also promised Hippolytus
[1420] “That mortal of hers
(Aphrodite’s) that she loves the most I shall punish with these ineluctable
arrows shot from my hand.”
Based on that
logic, we should expect Hera to slay one of Apollo’s favorites in revenge, but I
can find no evidence of that nor of any forgiveness or acceptance.
PS
If you don’t have access to JSTOR via some institution, you can get
access privately by registering at https://www.jstor.org/register?redirectUri=%2Flogon
[i] Informal Commentary on Euripides’ Heracles
note 840 B, https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Nagy_commentary-on-Euripides-Herakles.pdf
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