Greek Mythology >> Nymphs >> Naiads >> Thero

THERO

Greek Name

Θηρω

Transliteration

Therô

Latin Spelling

Thero

Translation

Of Therapne (town), Wild-Beast (thêr)

THERO was the Naiad-nymph of the spring, well or fountain of the town of Therapne in Lakedaimonia (Lacedaemonia) (southern Greece). She was the nurse of the infant god Ares.

Thero's name was derived from the Greek word thêr "wild beast." The second part of her town's name comes from the word apnoos meaning "lifeless" or "breathless."

PARENTS

Perhaps a daughter of the River EUROTAS

ENCYCLOPEDIA

THERO (Thêrô). The nurse of Ares, from whom he was believed to have received the surname of Thereitas, though Pausanias thinks that this name arose from the fierceness of the god. A sanctuary of Ares Thereitas stood on the road from Sparta to Therapne, with a statue which the Dioscuri were said to have brought from Colchis. (Paus. iii. 19. § 8.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"A road from the city [of Sparta in Lakedaimonia] leads [across the river Eurotas] to Therapne . . . Of all the objects along this road the oldest is a sanctuary of Ares. This is on the left of the road, and the image is said to have been brought from Kolkhis (Colchis) by the Dioskouroi (Dioscuri). They [the Spartans] surname him Theritas (Beastly One) after Thero, who is said to have been the nurse of Ares. Perhaps it was from the Kolkhians that they heard the name Theritas, since the Greeks know of no Thero, nurse of Ares."