METIS - ZEUS |
Session I |
This is the story of the first natural products chemist in the Western tradition,
identifying naturally occurring substances and using them as medicines. Her
name, Metis, means "wise counsel" or "practical wisdom."
In Greek mythology, Metis was one of the Titans, a generation of deities ruled
by Cronus (Saturn in Roman mythology). Cronus had swallowed each of his newly
born children to avoid being displaced by one of them. Metis found an emetic
to mix into honey drink for Cronus, who then regurgitated five children. Those
five children, fully grown by then, helped Zeus depose Cronus and became a third
generation of deities, the Olympians, ruled by Zeus (1).