Thrien

Presumed depiction of the Thrien as bee deities, Rhodes, 7th century BC Chr.

The Thrien ( ancient Greek Θριαί Thriai , Latin Thriae ) were three virgin, winged mountain nymphs in Greek mythology who lived on Parnassus and who invented the art of prophecy with small pebbles (Greek θριαί thriai ) that were thrown into an urn. If they were fed with sweet honey, they spoke the truth, otherwise they prophesied wrongly. They are said to have passed this art on to Apollo when they raised him. After the first Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Apollo passed this art of divination and the patronage over the Thrien on to Hermes . The art of the oracle with stones was practiced in the Apollon sanctuary in Delphi . The Thriambos , a song or dance from the Dionysus cult, is etymologically attributed to the Thrien.

literature

• Homeric Hymn No. 4 to Hermes ( Greek , English )
• Robert von Ranke-Graves : Greek Mythology: Sources and Interpretation , Reinbek near Hamburg (Rowohlt) 1984, ISBN 3-499-55404-6
• William Smith (ed.): A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology , Boston (Little, Brown & Co.) 1867 Entry on the Thrien online