Thyia

In Greek mythology, Thyia (; Thuia derived from the verb θύω "to sacrifice") the Naiad-nymph of a spring on Mount Parnassos in Phokis (central Greece) and was a female figure associated with cults of several major gods. Mythology In the Delphic tradition, Thyia was also the Naiad-nymph of a spring on Mount Parnassos in Phocis (central Greece), daughter of the river god Cephissus or the hero Castalius, one of the earliest inhabitants of Delphi or by other traditions Thyia was a daughter of Deucalion and had two sons by Zeus, Magnes and Macedon. Her shrine was the site for the gathering of the Thyiades (women who celebrated in the orgies= ancient religious ceremony of the god Dionysos). She was said to have been the first to sacrifice to Dionysus and to celebrate orgies in his honour. Hence, the Attic women, who every year went to Mount Parnassus to celebrate the Dionysiac orgies with the Delphian Thyiades, received themselves the name of Thyades or Thyiades (synonymous with Maenads). She was said to have loved Apollo and bore him a son, Delphos, the eponymous founder of town Delphi, beside the oracular shrine. She was also closely associated with the prophetic Castalian Spring, from which she was sometimes said to have been born (Pausanias follows a tradition that made her daughter of the autochthon Castalius). Thyia was also related to Castalia, the nymph of the spring; Melaena, an alternative mother for Delphos; and the Corycian nymphs, Naiades of the springs of the holy Corycian Cave.