Thalassa..

THALASSA

Greek Name Transliteration
THALASSA was the Protogenos or primeval spirit of the sea. Coupling with her male counterpart Pontos, she spawned the tribes of fish. Like the other Protogenoi, Thalassa was scarcely personified, instead her form was elemental, the body of the sea itself. In the fables of Aesop, Thalassa appears as a woman formed of sea water rising up from her native element.

Poseidon and Amphitrite were the anthropomorphic gods equivalent to Pontos and Thalassa. In late classical times, the two were also confounded with Okeanos and Tethys.

Thalassa was depicted in Roman-era mosaics as a woman half submerged in the sea, with crab-claw horns, clothed in bands of seaweed, and holding a ship's oar.

THALASSA (Thalassa), a personification of the Mediterranean, is described as a daughter of Aether and Hemera.
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Aesop, Fables 245 (from Chambry & Babrius, Aesopeae Fabulae 71) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) :
"The Shipwrecked Man. A shipwrecked man, having been cast upon a certain shore, slept after his buffetings with the deep. After a while he awoke, and looking upon the Sea (Thalassa), loaded it with reproaches. He argued that it enticed men with the calmness of its looks, but when it had induced them to plow its waters, it grew rough and destroyed them. Thalassa (the Sea), assuming the form of a woman, replied to him: 'Blame not me, my good sir, but the winds, for I am by my own nature as calm and firm even as this earth; but the winds suddenly falling on me create these waves, and lash me into fury."

Aesop, Fables 258 (from Syntipas 4) :
"The Potamoi (Rivers) came together in order to make a complaint against Thalassa (the Sea). They told her, `Why is it that we come to you with waters that are sweet and fit to drink, but you change them into something salty and undrinkable?' In response to the Potamoi's (Rivers') criticism, Thalassa (the Sea) replied, `Don't come, and you won't get salty!'"

Aesop, Fables 276 (from Babrius 71) :
"A farmer saw a ship and her crew about to sink into the sea as the ship's prow disappeared beneath the curl of a wave. The farmer said, `O sea, it would have been better if no one had ever set sail on you! You are a pitiless element of nature and an enemy to mankind.' When she heard this, Thalassa (the Sea) took on the shape of a woman and said in reply, `Do not spread such evil stories about me! I am not the cause of any of these things that happen to you; the Winds (Anemoi) to which I am exposed are the cause of them all. If you look at me when the Winds are gone, and sail upon me then, you will admit that I am even more gentle than that dry land of yours.'"