Thetis was one of the 50 daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. They were sea nymphs, the so-called nereids, and they personified the waves. The Greek poet Homer tells in his Iliad, presumably ca. 700 BC, that Thetis had feet of silver. She was also very beautiful, and Jupiter fell in love with her. However, Jupiter was told by the Oracle that the son he would have with Thetis would drive him off the throne. He solved this problem by marrying Thetis off to the mortal Peleus so that Thetis’s son, Achilles, should also be mortal. However, it was not long before Thetis returned to her father Nereus and her rightful element, the sea. This happened after she dipped the infant Achilles in the River Styx in an attempt to make him as immortal as she herself was. On discovering this Achilles’ father complained aloud. And as a result, Thetis immediately left her husband.
