Metis (mythology)

Metis ( ancient Greek Μῆτις Metis , German , wise advice ' ) is in the Greek mythology a Oceanid and was the first wife of Zeus . Philosophically, Metis stands for the acumen, which is differentiated as “practical, complex, tacit knowledge” from the three other forms of knowledge episteme , techne and phronesis .

myth

Like the goddess Nemesis , Metis also knew how to transform herself into many different forms and thus to resist Zeus for a long time when he wanted her to be his lover. Zeus finally fathered Athena with her , but devoured the pregnant Metis: an oracle had prophesied that a daughter of Metis would be his equal, a son would overthrow him. According to several accounts, Zeus gave birth to his daughter by giving him Hephaestushit the head with a hammer or double ax. Athena jumped out of her split head with a riotous battle cry, in full armor and armed with her pointed javelin. A second child - a son with whom Metis was simultaneously pregnant - was not released, remained unborn and unnamed. The fact that Zeus devoured Metis makes him the “God of wise advice”.

With Michael Köhlmeier you can read a variant in which Metis transformed into all sorts of plant and animal forms in order to escape Zeus, who was imitating her. However, when it turned into a fly, Zeus caught it and swallowed it. It crawled through his veins and was only fertilized in him. The pregnant Metis crawled into his head. Zeus was in pain because the fruit of the womb pressed against his skull. That is why Hephaestus was called.

It is said that Metis was the most knowledgeable among gods and men. Karl Kerényi refers to fragments of Chrysippus Stoicus in which she is even referred to as the “maker of all righteous things”. She is the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and thus one of the 3000 Oceanids . After the library of Apollodorus , she helped Zeus to free his siblings, whom Kronos had devoured, by giving him a remedy (salt water or water with mustard powder) (or just advice), after which Kronos vomited his entwined children again .

Astrologically, Metis is associated with the planet Mercury .

literature

Karl Kerényi: The Mythology of the Greeks. The stories of gods and mankind . dtv, ISBN 3-423-30030-2

Web links

Commons : Metis (mythology) - collection of images, videos and audio files

Metis in the Theoi Project

Individual evidence

↑ Birgit Renzl: Central Aspects of the Concept of Knowledge - Core Elements of the Organization of Knowledge , in: Boris Wyssusek (ed.): Knowledge management complex: Perspectives and social practice , Berlin 2003, pp. 27–42, here p. 32.

↑ Michael Köhlmeier: The great book of legends of classical antiquity . Piper Verlag, Munich. 2002, 5th edition 2004. Pages 85–86 ISBN 3-492-23804-1

^ Karl Kerényi: The Mythology of the Greeks , Volume 1. dtv, Munich. 1966, 24th edition 2007, p. 96, ISBN 978-3-423-30030-8

↑ Pantheon (Eng.)

[1] Birgit Renzl: Central Aspects of the Concept of Knowledge - Core Elements of the Organization of Knowledge , in: Boris Wyssusek (ed.): Knowledge management complex: Perspectives and social practice , Berlin 2003, pp. 27–42, here p. 32.

[2] Michael Köhlmeier: The great book of legends of classical antiquity . Piper Verlag, Munich. 2002, 5th edition 2004. Pages 85–86 ISBN 3-492-23804-1

[3] Karl Kerényi: The Mythology of the Greeks , Volume 1. dtv, Munich. 1966, 24th edition 2007, p. 96, ISBN 978-3-423-30030-8

[4] Pantheon (Eng.)