1910–1911
Britannica 11th
Encyclopaedia Britannica · 11th edition
THEMIS, in Greek mythology, the personification of justice. In Homer Oefiis is used both as a common and as a proper noun. As a common noun (plural 0e/iiores, 0e/xn-«s, 0ejiu5es), it is the body of rules and precedents established at the beginning of the world, as a guarantee of its order and harmony (see GREEK LAW); personified, Themis is the servant or companion of Zeus, her chief function being to summon the assemblies of both gods and men (Odyssey, ii. 68). In the Hesiodic theogony, she is the daughter of Uranu…
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- OCR text aligned to scanned pages
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- Vol. 26, pp. 758-758