Roman & Greek Mythology

Absyrtus: The younger brother of Medea. She or variously Jason killed Absyrtus , cut his body into pieces and threw the pieces into the sea to distract her father Aetes from his pursuit of Jason & the Argonauts in their flight from Colchis.

Acestes: The son of a rivergod and a Trojan woman who was sent to Sicily to protect her from the monsters that infested the territory of Troy. Acestes was later the host of Aeneas who built the city of Aegesta in his honor.

Achates: The faithful companion and friend of Aeneas. He is mentioned in Vergil’s Aeneid.

Achelous: God of the river that bears his name, the largest in Greece. He could assume a variety of forms. He lost a horn while fighting Hercules in the shape of a bull which the naiads turned into the Horn of Plenty.

Achilles: The son of Peleus and the Nereid Thetis, and the king of a Thessalonian tribe known as the Myrmidons. He is the hero of Homer’s Iliad and the prototype of the Greek conception of manly valor & beauty. He participated in the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks as their most illustrious warrior, and he slew the Trojan hero Hector. Achilles had been dipped in the river Styx by his mother, which rendered him invulnerable except in the heel by which she had been holding him when she immersed him and where he was fatally shot by Paris, Hector’s younger brother or variously Apollo, who had assumed Paris’ shape.

Acis: The handsome Sicilian son of Faunus and the naiad Symaethis, who was killed by his rival, the Cyclops Polyphemus. The blood flowing forth from Acis’ body turned into water and formed the river Acis.

Aconteus: A friend of Perseus. He was turned into stone by the sight of the Gorgon’s head.

Acrisius: King of Argos and father of Danae. He put his daughter Danae and his grandson Perseus into a chest and set adift in the sea because an oracle had stated that he would be killed by his grandson.

Actaeon: The son of Aristaeus and Autonoe and a celebrated huntsman. He was turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own dogs because he had seen Diana bathing.

Admeta: The daughter of Eurystheus. Hercules had to procure the Amazon Hippolyta’s girdle for Admeta as one of his “twelve labors.”

Admetus: A king of Thessaly. Apollo was his slave for one year as a punishment from Zeus. Apollo helped him procure the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias. She later saved him from death by her willingness to die in his place.

Adonis: A beautiful youth who was beloved of Venus. She changed his blood into the flower which still bears his name after he was killed by a wild boar.

Adrastus: A king of Argos, the father-in-law of Polynices. He became a leader in an expedition known as the “Seven Against Thebes” in support of Polynices claim to the throne of Thebes.

Aeacus: The son of Zeus and king of an island bearing his mother’s name. He was the ruler of the Myrmidons who were created by Zeus out of ants to populate his island after it had been stricken by the plague. His son Peleus became the father of Achilles.

Aenaea; The island of Circe the enchantress who changed Ulysses’ companions into swine.

Aeetes: King of Colchis and father of Medea and Absyrtus. He had the Golden Fleece which the Argonauts set out to take from him.

Aegeus: A king of Athens and the father of Thesseus. The Aegean Sea was named after him because he threw himself in it after he thought his son dead when his son set out on an expedition to free the country from the human tribute exacted by the Minotaur.

Aegis: The breastplate or shield of Jupiter made by Vulcan. Minerva fixed the Gorgon’s head in the center of it so it became the characteristic attribute of Minerva.

Aegisthus: Lover of Clytemnestra and the murderer of her husband Agamemnon. He was killed by Agamemnon’s son Orestes.

Aeneas: A Trojan hero. He was the son of Anchises and Venus. He is the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid which describes his exploits after the fall of Troy until he arrived in Italy. He is revered as the ancestral hero of the Romans.

Aeolus: King of the Aeolian islands. He was the father of halcyone. He was appointed keeper of the winds by Jupiter and later came to be considered the God of the winds. He was hospitable when Ulysses arrived and gave him , tied up and made harmless in a leather bag, all the ill winds, which his companions later let out.

Aesculapius: The God of medicine. He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. He was the father of Machaon. He was fostered by the Centaur Chiron. He became a great healer and could restore life to the dead. Pluto, the Lord of the realm of the dead found this alarming and induced Zeus to kill him. At Apollo’s request he was placed among the stars. He had numerous oracles on earth.

Aeson: The father of Jason and the step-brother of Pelias. He relinquished his share of the kingdom of Thessaly during Jason’s minority. He was rejuvenated by medea.

Aethra: The mother of Theseus by Aegeus.

Aetna: A volcano in Sicily. The Titans are said to have been buried alive under it. The Cyclops have their workshop there.

Agamedes: The brother of Trophonius. They built the temple of Apollo at Delphi and a treasury for king Hyrieus together. Agamedes was caught stealing part of the king’s treasury and was killed by his brother who feared being discovered as an accomplice.

Agamemnon: King of Mycenae. He was the brother of Menelaus and the leader of the Greek expedition against Troy. Achilles withdrew from the fight because he refused to release Chryseis. The fight went badly for the Greeks after that until they reconciled with Achilles. Agamemnon was killed after the return of the victorious Greek army by his wife’s lover, Aegisthus.

Agave: The daughter of Cadmus and the wife of Echion. She was the mother of Pentheus, the king of Thebes, whom she destroyed in a frenzy.

Agenor: A king of Phoenicia. Jupiter disguised as a bull carried off his daughter Europa. Agenor is also the name of a Trojan warrior who was the son of Priam, who encounterd Achilles.

Aglaia: She is one of the three Graces. Her name signifies brilliance.

Ajax: The son of Telamon. He was second only to Achilles as a hero in the Trojan War. He had an undecided encounter with the Trojan hero Hector and he later defended and rescued the bodies of Achilles and Patroclus. He committed suicide after watching the coveted armor of Achilles go to Ulysses. The hyacinth sprang from his blood and bears the letters “ai” on its leaves, the first letters of his name and also the Greek word for “woe.”

Alberich: The King of the dwarfs and chief of the Nibelungs. He was the guardian of the Rhinegold treasure.

Alcestis: The daughter of Pelias. She was the wife of Admetus who won her by driving a chariot drawn by boars and lions. She saved his life by agreeing to die in his place. Variously, she was either rescued by Hercules who forced Death to abandon his prey or Persephone released her from the underworld.

Alcides: a patronymic of Hercules, derived from the name of an ancestor Alcaeus.

Alcippe: The daughter of Mars who was carried off by Halirrhothius.

Alcmena: The wife of Amphitryon and the mother of Hercules by Jupiter. Jupiter  assumed the shape of Amphitryon and visited her during her husband’s absence.

Alecto: Her name means, she who rests not. She is one of the Furies. Juno sent her among the Trojans to cause discord.

Alphenor: One of the sons of Niobe.

Alpheus: The son of Tethys and Oceanus. He pursued the nymph Arethusa, whom Diana had changed into a fountain. He became the river Alpheus to do so which is the modern Rufia. Hercules led the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the Augean stables when he tried to clean them.

Althaea: The mother of Meleager, whom she killed because he had killed her brothers during a quarrel and thus disgraced her family “the house of Thestius.”

Amalthaea: The goat whose milk was fed to the infant Jupiter by the daughters of the Cretan king Melisseus. One tale about the “horn of plenty” states that Jupiter broke off one of the horns of the goat, endowed it with magic powers and gave it to his nurses.

Amata: The wife of Latinus, driven mad at the request of Juno by Alecto and roused to oppose the alliance between her husband and Aeneas.

Amazons: A legendary race of warlike women who formed a state without men who dwelt on the Black Sea. Hercules fetched a girdle from one of them as one of his labors. Theseus had to fight the female warriors of their queen Antiope in the heart of Athens when he carried off Queen Antiope. Their Queen Penthesilea was killed by Achilles when she came to the assistance of the Trojans.

Ambrosia: the celestial food of the Gods.

Amen, Amun or Ammon: The Egyptian equivalent of the Gr. God  Zeus and the Roman God Jupiter.

Amphiaraus: He was swallowed up by the earth because of the intervention of Jupiter because he foretold calamity for the “Seven against Thebes.”

Amphion: Son of Queen Antiope of Thebes by Jupiter. He was the twin brother of Zethus. He married Niobe. After the death of their children, he committed suicide.

Amphitrite: One of the Nereids. She was the wife of Neptune and the successor of Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, who had been the Titan ruler over the watery element. She was the daughter of Doris and Nereus and the mother of Triton.

Amphrysos: A small river in Thessaly, along which Apollo pastured the herds of Admetus.

Ampyx: He was turned to stone by the Gorgon’s head after assailing Perseus.

Amymone: One of fifty daughters of Danaus and the mother of Neptune of Nauplius who was the father of Palamedes. With Neptune’s help she made a spring flow in time of drought.

Anaxarete: A lady of nobility from Naples who treated her lover Iphis with such haughtiness that he commited suicide by hanging himself at her door. She was punished by the Gods by being turned to stone. She was kept as a statue at Salamis in the temple of Venus.

Anchises: The father of Aeneas by Venus, who had fallen in love with him because of his beauty. Aeneas carried him out of Troy on his shoulders when Troy fell.

Andraemon: The husband of Dryope. As he watched his wife was turned into a tree for having plucked a lotus which was really a nymph.

Andromache: The wife of Hector and the mother of Astyanax. After the fall of Troy and the death of Hector she was given to Neoptolemus of Epirus to be his wife but later became the wife of Hector’s brother Helenus.

Andromeda: The daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus. She was chained to a rock to placate Neptune but was freed by Perseus who married her after killing his rival Phineus. She was placed among the stars after she died.

Anemone: A short-lived wind flower, created from the blood of the slain Adonis by Venus.

Antaeus: He was the son of Earth and Sea, Ge and Poseidon and a gigantic wrestler. He was invincible provided he was touching the earth. Hercules succeeded in killing him by lifting him above the earth and squeezing him to death.

Antea: The wife of Proteus. She looked upon Bellerophon with too much admiration so her jealous husband sent him to be killed with the help of his father-in-law Iobates.

Antenor: The wisest Trojan elder, whose descendants were found in Italy by the mythical Brute.

Anteros: Brother and opposite of Eros. He was the son of Venus and Mars. He was the God of unhappy love and the avenger of unrequited affection. He was born after Venus complained that Eros was always a child, to which Themis replied that Eros never grew because he was so solitary. Eros grew after the birth of Anteros.

Anthor: A Greek killed instead of Aeneas by Mezentius’ spear.

Antigone: The daughter of Oedipus, she was the Gr. Ideal of filial and sisterly fidelity.

Antilochus: he was the son of Nestor and a friend of Achilles. He was chosen to tell Achilles about the death of Patroclus. Antilochus was killed by memnon, the son of Aurora and Tithonus. Antilochus, Achilles and Patroclus were buried in the same mound. They were seen walking together in the underworld by Ulysses.

Antiope: The Queen of the Amazons and the wife of Theseus. She was often confused with her mother or sister Hippolyta. A different Antiope was the daughter of the Boeotian river God Asopus, queen of Thebes, and, the mother of Amphion and Zethus by Jupiter.

Apollo: One of the great Gods of Mt. Olympus. He was the son of Jupiter & Latona. He was the God of archery, music, prophecy and healing. He was given a lyre by Mercury. His son was the musician Orpheus. As the God of healing, his name was Paeon. He became the father of Aesculapius. He was the successor of Hyperion, the sun God. Apollo’s exploits in myth and poetry are numerous. He killed the serpent Python among other things. He was the Gr. Ideal of youthful manhood incarnate. There is a statue of Apollo in the belvedere apartment of the Vatican. Gr.

Aquilo: The same as Boreas. The north wind.

Arachne: A maiden skilled in weaving, she was changed into a spider by Minerva for having the presumption to challenge the Goddess to a weaving contest.

Arcas: The son of Jupiter and Callisto, who lived in Arcadia with his mother.

Areopagus: The hill of Ares/Mars. According to tradition, Ares/Mars was tried here for the murder of Halirrhotius, a son of Neptune, who had violated his daughter Alcippe. Orestes received absolution here for the killing of his mother Clytemnestra.

Argo: The galley of Jason that was named after its builder. It went in search of the Golden Fleece.

Argonauts: The crew of the Argo in the search of the Golden Fleece.

Argus: He was killed by Mercury and was the two hundred eyed guardian of Io.

Ariadne: She was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with Theseus and was abandoned by him after giving him a sword and a clew of thread with which to kill the Minotaur and find his way out of the labyrinth. Bacchus was so moved by her laments that he married her and gave her a crown, which after her death became the celestial constellation of the crown of Ariadne.

Aristaeus: Protector of the vines and olives, herdsmen and huntsmen. He was in love with Eurydice. He learned the art of beekeeping from his mother Cyrene and taught the art to man.

Astraea: Goddess of innocence & purity. The Constellation named Virgo represents her.

Astyages: One of Perseus’ assailants.

Astyanax: The son of Hector and Andromache. He was thrown from the walls of Troy by the Greeks after they captured the city. Medieval legend claims that he became the founder of the kingdom of Messina.

Atalanta: She participated in the Calydonian Boar hunt and was a beautiful maiden. Meleager and two of his uncles lost their lives when Meleager bestowed upon her as trophies the head and hide of the boar, which he had killed. Another legend states that Atalanta had been warned not to get married and in order to make things more difficult for her suitors promised to be the prize in a race. Hippomenes won the race but forgot to thank Venus and was changed into a lion as was his bride.

Ate: the Goddess of vengeance and mischief. She took refuge among the sons of men after she was driven out of heaven.

Athamas: The son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. After growing indifferent to his wife Nephele, he united himself to Ino, the daughter of Cadmus.

Atlas: One of the Titans warring against the Gods, he was condemned to uphold the heavens on his shoulders. He was a brother of Prometheus and the son of Iapetus. He fathered the Pleiades. A king had the garden of the hesperides in his realm and was named Atlas and was either their uncle or father. Gr.

Atropos: She was the daughter of Themis and one of the three Fates. She severs the thread of life. Her name means “inflexible.”

Augeas: A king of the Epeians, the son of Helios and hermione and the owner of the “Augean stable” in which he kept an enormous herd of cattle, which included twelve white bulls sacred to the sun. Nobody cleaned this stable for thirty years and the cleaning of it was one of the “twelve labors” of Hercules.

Aurora: the same as Eos, the Goddess of the dawn.

Auster: Notus or the south wind.

Autonoe: The daughter of Cadmus and the aunt of Pentheus whom she helped destroy in the frenzy of a Bacchic festival.

Autumn: The attendant of Phoebus Apollo.

Bacchanalia: A feast to Bacchus that was permitted only once every three years and was attended by shameless orgies.

Bacchanals: The devotees and festival dancers of Bacchus.

Bacchus: The God of wine. The equivalent of the Gr. God Dionysus. He was the son of Jupiter & Semele. He is also known as Libus. According to some accounts, he married Ariadne after Theseus deserted her.

Bellerophon: A grandson of Sisyphus, he rode on Pegasus and slew the fire breathing Chimaera. He was worshipped as a demigod at Corinth.

Bellona: The Goddess of war, represented as the sister or wife of Mars.

Belus: The son of Neptune and Libya or Eurynome, and the twin brother of Agenor.

Beroe: The nurse of Semele.

Bona Dea: A Goddess of fertility. She is considered either the wife or sister of Faunus, she was often called Fauna.  The common word “fauna” is identical to her name.

Bootes: The name means “ploughman.” He also called Arcas. He was the son of Jupiter and Callisto. He invented the plough then yoked it to two oxen, and at death he was taken to heaven with his plough and was made into a constellation. Homer called it “the wagoner.” It is also known as “the Great bear.”

Boreas: A personification of the north wind, he tried to be gentle with the nymph Orithyia, whom he dearly loved, but he could not breathe soothingly or sigh softly so true to his real character he carried her off and by her became the father of Zetes and Calais. Boreas is sometimes called the son of Aeolus, the ruler of the winds and lives in a cave in Mt. Haemus in Thrace.

Bosporus: The Cowford, named for Io because as a heifer she crossed that strait.

Briareus: He was the son of Heaven and Earth and a hundred-armed giant warring against the Gods and finally banished to the infernal regions.

Briseis: The daughter of Briseus and captive of Achilles.

Brunello: A dwarf, thief and king.

Cacus: A giant, son of Vulcan, living near the spot where Rome was built. He stole some of geryon’s oxen, which were guarded by Hercules by driving them backwards (to confuse pursuers of their footsteps) into his Aventine cave, but was discovered and killed by Hercules.

Cadmus: The king of Phoenicia and Telephassa and by his wife Harmonia, the father of Actaeon. He reputedly introduced the Greek alphabet. While seeking his sister Europa who was carried off by Jupiter, he had strange adventures. He founded the city of Thebes with five of the surviving men who had sprung from the teeth of a dragon that he had killed.

Caduceus: The staff of Mercury, which he received in exchange for the lyre from Apollo. It was originally of olive wood. Serpents later replaced its garlands and at the top were two wings.

Calais: The son of Boreas the north wind and the nymph Orithyia. He was the brother of Zetes and one of the winged warriors who accompanied the Argonauts.

Calliope: See Muses, below.

Callisto: She was an Arcadian nymph changed into a she-bear by Jupiter. Her son Arcos, meeting her in the chase would have killed her, but Jupiter converted him into a he-bear, and placed them both in the heavens as the constellations “Great and Little Bear.”

Calpe: Gibralter, one of the pillars of Hercules, the other was known anciently as Abyla. According to legend, Hercules either tore one mountain asunder to make them or he piled up each separately and poured the sea between them.

Calydon: The site of the Calydonian Boar Hunt and the home of Meleager.

Calypso: The queen of the island known as Ogygia on which Ulysses was wrecked. He was kept there seven years and she promised him perpetual youth and immortality if he stayed there with her forever.

Calypso’s island: The island where Ulysses was received by Calypso. Its name was Ogygia, and according to Plutarch it lies due west beneath the setting sun.

Camber: One of three sons of Brut, the descendants of Aeneas. Camber’s share of his father’s realm was known as Cambria, which is the Latin name for Wales.

Cambria: The Latin name for Wales. It is derived from the name of Camber, one of three sons of Brut who founded London.

Camenae: The practical Goddesses/nymphs of fountains, springs, healing, and prophecy. They were prophetic divinities who eventually were identified with the impractical Greek Muses.

Camilla: A favorite of Diana and a Volscian maiden, huntress, and Amazonian warrior.

Cancer: A zodiacal constellation.

Capaneus: One of seven heroes who marched against Thebes. He was struck dead by a thunderbolt for declaring that not even Jupiter himself could prevent him from scaling the city walls. Evadne, his wife threw herself on his funeral pyre.

Carthage: The African home of Dido.

Cassandra: The daughter of hecuba and Priam, gifted with the power of prophecy. She refused the advances of Apollo so he brought it about that nobody believed her prophecies, even though they were invariably correct, as in the arrival of the Greeks.

Castalia: A fountain of Parnassus which inspired the oracular priestess Pythia.

Castalian Cave: The oracle of Apollo.

Castor: Twin brother of Pollux. Son of Jupiter & Leda. He was famous as a horseman. They accompanied the Argonauts and became the patron deities of voyagers & seamen. They were the brothers of Helen & Clytemnestra. They are also known as Dioscuri (Sons of Zeus) and Tyndareus, after their mother’s husband. Castor was slain in their war with Idas & Lynceus. Pollux was inconsolable so Jupiter placed both brothers among the stars.

Cayster: A river now known as Little Meander in Asia Minor, which dried up when Phaeton drove the sun chariot.

Cebriones: The charioteer of Hector.

Cecrops: The first king of Athens.

Celeus: The husband of Metanira. The shepherd who sheltered Ceres who was seeking Proserpine, and whose infant son Triptolemus was made a teacher of men in the use of the plough by the Goddess out of gratitude.

Centaurs: Originally, an ancient race that inhabited Mt. Pelion in Thessaly; in later accounts they are represented as half man and half horse, and said to be the offspring of a cloud and Ixion.

Cephalus: The husband of the jealous but beautiful Procris, whom he accidentally killed while hunting. Cephalus is also the name of a king of Athens who wasrred with King Minos of Crete with the assistance of Aeacus of Aegins and his Myrmidons.

Cepheus: The husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda and a king of Ethiopia.

Cerberus: The watch dog at the entrance to Hades. He was the offspring of Echidna and Typhaon. He is usually represented with three heads, a mane of serpent’s heads and a serpent’s tail.

Ceres: The name of Mother Earth, the protectress of all the fruits of the earth and agriculture. She was later identified with the Greek Goddess Demeter.

Cestus: The girdle of Venus, which gave the power of exciting love to whomever wore it. Juno borrowed it to fascinate Jupiter whose attention she wanted to draw away from the contending Greek and Trojan armies.

Ceyx: The husband of Halcyone, and a king of Thessaly.

Charon: The son of Erebos, he conveyed in his boat the shades of the dead across the rivers of the lower regions.

Charybdis: A sea monster which sucked in and discharged the sea three times daily in a terrible whirlpool. Charybdis was a maiden above but ended in a fish begirt with dogs. She and Scylla were placed in the Straits of Messina.

Chimaera: A fire breathing monster of divine origin, it was part goat, part dragon and part lion. It dwelt in Lycia and was finally killed bt Bellerophon when he bridled Pegasus with a golden bridle that Minerva had given him. It was found in the lower regions by Aeneas.

Chios: An island in the Aegean Sea, west of Asia Minor. It was the realm of King Oenopion, the father of Merope whom Orion loved.

Chryseis: The daughter of Chryses, she was seized by Agamemnon as a slave and freed due to pressure from Apollo in exchange for Briseis who had been Achilles’ share of the spoils.

Chryses: A priest of Apollo at Chrysa. Apollo heard his prayer when his daughter was seized and sent a plague to the Greeks, which was continued until after the maiden had been restored by Ulysses.

Ciconians: The inhabitants of Ismarus, where Ulysses first made land and lost six men from each ship in a small conflict.

Cimmeria: A mythical country of gloom, mist, and darkness.

Cimon: A celebrated Athenian commander who discovered the remains of Theseua and had them relocated to the Theseum at Athens.

Circe: A sorceress and sister of Aeetes, who lived in the island of Aeaea. Circe turned the men of Ulysses into swine when they landed there, but with the aid of a herb called moly, which Mercury had given him Ulysses was able to resist the metamorphisis.

Cithaeron: An ancient mountain range between Attica and Boeotia. King Pentheus of Thebes was torn apart there by his frenzied mother and aunts during a Bacchic festival. It was also where the usurping King Lycus of Thebes exposed Amphion and Zethus, the sons of Queen Antiope.

Clio: See Muses.

Clotho: One of three Fates, and the daughter of Themis (Law). Her name means “spinner.” She spins the thread of life.

Clymene: An ocean nymph.

Clytemnestra: The wife of Agamemnon. She and her paramour, Aegisthus murder her husband upon his return from Troy. She was slain by her son, Orestes.

Clytie: A water nymph who was in love with Apollo and metamorphosed into a heliotrope.

Cnidos: An ancient city of Asia Minor and the seat of the worship of Venus.

Cocka-trice: A fabulous monster with the tail of a dragon, the wings of a fowl, and the head of a cock. It got its name because it was produced from a cock’s egg that was hatched by a serpent. It’s look caused instant death. Because of the crest on its head, it is called a basilisk, the king of serpents.

Cocytus: One of the rivers of Hades.

Corineus: A Trojan warrior in Albion, whose daughter married one of the sons of Brut by the name of Locrine. Corineus slew Gogmagog.

Cornucopia: Also known as the Horn of Plenty or the Horn of Amalthaea. One legend state that the infant Jupiter gave it to his nurses after breaking it off of the goat Amalthaea and magically endowed to become filled with whatever its owner wished.

Corybantes: The Phyrgian priests of Cybele, whose worship was celebrated with loud, wild music and orgiastic dances.

Cranes: Enemies of the Pygmies.

Creon: A king of Thebes.

Creusa: The wife of Jason and a Corinthian princess who was killed by Medea.

Crocale: A nymph of Diana.

Cupid: The God of love. The Roman equivalent of the Gr. Eros. He is the son of Venus & Mercury. He is typically represented as a winged boy, carrying a bow and arrows. According to one legend he wets the grindstone that he sharpens his arrows on with blood. (now if he’d just shoot you in the ass.)

Cyane: A river which opposed Pluto’s passage to Hades.

Cyclopes or Cyclops: One eyed creatures who have one eye in the middle of their foreheads. Homer speaks of them as a gigantic and lawless race of Shepherds in Sicily, who devoured human beings. They helped Vulcan forge the thunderbolts of Zeus under Mt. Aetna.

Cynosure: The last star of the tail of the Lesser bear and now the pole star. It is also the constellation itself. Cynosura, was a nymph of Ida and a nurse of Jupiter before being placed among the stars.

Cynthian mountain top: The birthplace of Apollo and Diana.

Cyprus: An island sacred to Venus, which is off of the coast of Syria.

Cyrene: The mother of Aristaeus. A nymph.

Daedalus: It literally means, the cunning worker. A personification of mechanical arts skill; the patron of craftsmen’s and artist’s guilds. An inventive Athenian, and the son of Metion and the grandson of Erechtheus, who originated awla, axes, bevels and such. As an architect he built the labyrinth of King Minos of Crete. When he became trapped in it himself, Daedalus fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus and escaped to Sicily. Daedalus arrived safely in Sicily but Icarus fell into the sea. Daedalus had a nephew named Perdix, of whose skill he was jealous. He tried to kill him by pushing him off of a tower, but Minerva saved the boy’s life by changing him into a partridge.

Danae: The daughter of king Acrisius of Argos who kept her imprisoned because he did not want her to marry because he had been told that her son would kill him. Jupiter came to her disguised as a shower of gold and she became the mother of Perseus. She and her child were rescued by a fisherman off of the coast of Seriphos when they were set adrift in a chest.

Danaides: The fifty daughters of Danaus, King of Argos. They married the fifty sons of Aegyptus, and all but one, Hypermnestra murdered their husbands at the command of their father. As punishment in Hades they to everlastingly draw water from a deep well.

Danaus: The grandson of Neptune, the father of the Danaides who slew their husbands and the founder of Argos.

Daphne: A nymph, daughter of a river God, and dear to Apollo, who killed his rival Leucippus. Daphne escaped and later was turned into either a bay or laurel tree, which henceforth remained the favorite tree of the sun God.

Day: With Hour, Month, and Year, one of the attendants of the sun God Phoebus Apollo.

Death: The personification of death.

Deianira or Dejanira: A daughter of Althaea and Oeneus, and sister of Meleager who was wooed by Achilous but finally married Hercules. She inadvertently killed her husband by causing him to wear the blood-steeped shirt of Nessus after Nessus assured her that this would assure her of Hercules’ undying love. Out of grief, Deianira committed suicide.

Deiphobus: The son of Hecuba and Priam and the bravest brother of Paris.

Delos: One of the smallest of the Cyclades, it was a floating island until Neptune anchored it to the bottom of the sea. It was the birthplace of Apollo and Diana. It became the favorite retreat of Apollo after he acquired it by exchange.

Delphi: A town at the foot of Mt. Parnassus, famous for a temple of Apollo and an oracle, which was silenced in the 4th century.

Demodocus: A minstrel who sang the amours of Venus and Mars while Ulysses was a guest in the court of Alcinous.

Diana: the equivalent of Artemis. The twin sister of Apollo, she was the Goddess of the moon and of hunting, the protectress of women and in earlier times the great mother Goddess of nature. She was also a war Goddess.

Dido: The name given to Elissa, founder and queen of Carthage by Virgil. She fell in love with Aeneas who left the hospitable queen when he was compelled to do so by Mercury. In her grief, she committed suicide by throwing herself on a funeral pyre.

Diomedes: A king of Aetolia, a hero of the siege of Troy, obedient to authority and brave. He found his wife living in adultery when he returned home.

Dione: The daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, a female Titan, and the mother of Venus by Jupiter.

Dioscuri: The sons of Zeus (Jupiter), literally. The twin brothers, Castor & Polux, offspring of Leda and the Swan whom Jupiter once disguised himself as.

Dirce: The wife of Lycus, king of Thebes, who ordered Zethus and Amphion to tie Antiope to a wild bull. They tied Dirce to a wild bull when they discovered that Antiope was their mother.

Dis: Pluto

Discordia: Eris

Dorceus: One of the dogs who pursued Actaeon after Diana had changed him into a stag.

Doris: The daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. She married her brother Nereus, and was the mother of the fifty (or one hundred) Nereids.

Dragon’s teeth: Two legions of men sprang out of some dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus.

Dryad: wood nymph

Dryope: The wife of Andraemon and the sister of Iole. Dryope was changed into a lotus when she plucked the lotus into which the nymph Lotis had been changed.

Echo: The nymph of Diana, who faded to nothing but a voice when shunned by Narcissus. She was condemned to never speak first and never be silent when anyone else spoke when her prattling prevented an irate Juno from surprising Jupiter while he was in the company of the nymphs.

Egeria: The member of the Camenae who instructed the wise king Numa Pompilius and pined away after his death.

Eileithyia: The Goddess of childbirth. Sometimes regarded as Lucina. The name is usually an epithet of both Juno and Diana.

Electra: One of the Pleiades. She was the wife of Dardanus, and was known as “the Lost Pleiade” because she disappeared a little before the Trojan War because she did not wish to witness the coming ruin of her beloved city. A better known different Electra is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sister of Orestes and Iphigenia. She helped Orestes avenge the death of their father by helping to slay their mother, Clytemnestra.

Eleusinian Mysteries: Mysteries instituted by Ceres, which were calculated to awaken feelings of cheerful hope of a better future life and piety.

Eleusis: The seat of a cult of Ceres and the Eleusinian Mysteries founded by her.

Ellissa: See Dido.

Elves: Spiritual beings of many dispositions and powers, some being good, and some evil.

Elysium Fields: See Elysium.

Elysium: A happy land, where there is neither cold, nor snow, nor rain. Favored heroes like Menelaus pass their time here withour dying, and live happily under the rule of Rhadamanthus. In Latin poetry, Elysium is part of the lower world, and the residence of the shades of the blessed.

Definition:

Shade: 1. Ghost 2. Spirit

Enceladus: The son of Tartarus and Gaea. A hundred armed giant. He warred against the Gods with Typhon, Briareus, and others. He was so strong that he would have had to have been weighted down with the whole of Mt. Aetna to keep him to the ground.

Endymion: A beautiful youth and beloved of Diana.

Enna: The home of Proserpine, it was also known as the Vale of Enna.

Epimetheus: The son of Iapetus, the husband of Pandora, and the brother of Prometheus. He took part in the creation of man.

Epirus: A country to the west of Thessaly and lying next to the Adriatic sea.

Erato: See Muses.

Erebus: Son of Chaos and brother of Nyx. He dwelt in Hades and was the father of Aether & Day. This also the name of a place of darkness (the nether regions), which souls must pass through on their way to Hades.

Eridanus: A large river in northern Europe, variously identified as the Po or Rhone.

Erinys: See Fury.

Eris: The sister of Ares or Mars. The Goddess of discord. Being uninvited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she threw an apple bearing the inscription “For the Fairest,” which was claimed by Minerva, Juno, and Venus. As judge, Paris awarded it to Venus.

Erisichthon: He was impious enough to cut down an oak sacred to Ceres and thereby profaned her grove. His punishment wasincessant hunger.

Eryx: A site of a temple of Venus and a city and mountain in Sicily.

Eteocles and Polynices: The two sons of Oedipus. They agreed to

reign alternate years in Thebes after the expulsion of their father. Eteocles refused to resign the scepter to his brother after the first year and this caused the “Seven against Thebes.” Eteocles and Polynices died by each other’s hand when they met in combat.

Euboic Sea: Hercules threw Lichas into the Euboic Sea after he brought the shirt of Nessus.

Eumaeus: The swineherd of Aeneas.

Euphorbus: He was a Trojan warrior who was slain by menelaus who dedicated his shield to Juno in her temple near Mycenae.

Euphrates: One of the rivers, which dried up when Phaeton drove the sun chariot.

Euphrosyne: See Graces.

Europa: A daughter of either Phoenix or Agenor, famous for her beauty. While in the form of a bull Jupiter carried her off and swam to the island of Crete. She was the mother of Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Evandros and according to some legends, of the Minotaur.

Eurus: The east wind.

Euryalus: A gallant Trojan soldier, who entered the Grecian camp with Nisus where they were both slain.

Eurydice: The wife of Orpheus. She was killed by a snake while fleeing from an admirer and borne to Tartarus, where Orpheus sought her and was permitted to bring her back on pains of not looking back at her. He could not resist the temptation to look at her and she was forced to return to the shades.

Eurylochus: The only companion of Ulysses whom Circe could not change into a hog.

Eurynome: A female Titan, and the wife of Ophion.

Eurystheus: The cousin of Hercules who imposed upon the hero Hercules his twelve labors at the urging of Juno.

Eurytion: The Centaur who became intoxicated at the marriage feast of Pirithous and Hippodamia and offered violence to the bride, thus causing the battle of the Lapithhae and Centaurs. Eurytion was also the name of the giant who guarded the cattle of Geryon and was slain by Hercules.

Euxine Sea: The Black Sea.

Evadne: The wife of Capaneus. She threw herself on his funeral pyre, and was consumed with him.

Evander: A son of an Arcadian nymph and Mercury. He was banished from Arcadia approximately sixty years before the Trojan War and with some others colonized a portion of Italy. He welcome Aeneas to Italy after his escape from Troy in the Aeneid.

Fates: The three Goddesses who determined the course of human life. They are described variously as the daughters of Night, as an indication of the darkness and obscurity of human destiny or the daughters of Zeus and Themis, that is, “the daughters of the just heavens.” They were:

Clotho: She spun the thread of life.

Lachesis: She held the thread of life and fixed its length.

Atropes: She cut off the thread of life.

Fauns: Cheerful sylvan deities, represented as human with small horns, pointed ears, and sometimes goat’s tails. Collectively, they were the God Faunus.

Faunus: A rural deity. The son of Picus, the grandson of Saturn, and the father of Acis. He was a suitor of both Latinus, and of Galatea, and the father of Lavinia. He, Sylvanus, and Cernunnos came to be identified more and more with the Greek God Pan, with whom they shared many traits. His festival was the Lupercalia and his priests were the Luperci. He sometimes appeared as multiple forms simultaneously, possibly due to the influence of the Greek panes, satyrs, etc. in their relation to Pan.

Favonius: a personification of the west wind. The same as Zephyrus.

Flora: The Goddess of flowers and spring. Zephyrus was her lover.

Fortunate Fields: See Fortunate Islands.

Fortunate Islands: Also known as Islands, Isles of the Blessed, Happy Islands, Fortunate Fields. Imaginary islands in the western ocean where mortals who were favored by the Gods were sent to enjoy the bliss of immortality.

Fury or Furies: The equivalent of the Gr. Erinyes or euphemistically Eumenides. They were avenging spirits of retributive justice. In the course of time their number came to be fixed as three, and their names were Alecto, Magaera, and Tisiphone. Their task was to mete out justice for crimes not within the reach of human justice. After their judgment of Orestes their functions no longer included cases of “guiltiness” free from moral guilt. In spite of their sternness they wept when Orpheus implored the deities to restore Eurydice to life.

Gaea or Ge: The personification of the Earth. She was called Tellus by the Romans. She is described as the first being to spring from Chaos. She was the mother of Uranus & Pontus. Plants potent for enchantment are produced because of her powers. According to another story, Gaea, Erebus & Love were the first beings.

Galatea: A sea nymph who was loved by Polypheme, but was herself in love with Acis. Galatea committed suicide when the jealous giant crushed Acis under a giant rock.

Ganges: A river in India, which dried up when Phaeton drove his sun chariot.

Ganymede: The most beautiful of all mortals. He was carried to Olympus that he might fill the cup of Zeus and live among the immortal Gods.

Gates of Janus: See Janus.

Gemini: The Twins constellation, or the brothers Castor & Pollux who were rewarded for their brotherly devotion by Jupiter by being placed among the stars when Pollux was inconsolable after Castor was slain.

Genius: The tutelary spirit that attended one from the cradle to the grave.

Geryon: A three bodied or three headed monster, dwelling on the island of Erytheia, where his shepherd Eurytion guarded his large cattle herd. In one of his twelve labors Hercules was to bring Geryon’s cattle to Eurystheus. Hercules killed Geryon, Eurytion, and his towheaded dog in the process.

Giants: Beings of a monstrous size and fearful countenance. They are in constant opposition to the Gods.

Glaucus: A fisherman of Boeotia, he became a sea-God endowed with the gift of prophecy. He instructed Apollo in the art of soothsaying. Glaucus is also the name of a commander of the Lycians in the War of Troy.

Golden Age: The first age of man before the deluge. It was an age of happiness and innocence when right and truth prevailed. It was followed by the Silver Age and then eventually the Brass Age. This use of the term has been in use longer than the current metaphoric application as in “the golden age of art.”

Golden Apples: See Hesperides.

Golden Fleece: The story is that Ino persuaded her husband Athamus, that the cause of the famine was his son Phyrxus. He ordered Phyrxus sacrificed but he escaped over the sea on the winged ram, Chrysomallus, which had a golden fleece. He sacrificed the ram to Zeus at Colchis and gave the fleece to King Aeetes. It later became the cause of jason’s Argonautic expedition, and was stolen by Jason.

Gordian Knot: The know which fastened the wagon of Gordius to the temple. The prophecy was that only the lord of Asia could untie the knot. Alexander the Great finally cut the knot with his sword.

Gordius: A countryman who was made king by the people after his arrival in Phyrgia in a wagon, thus interpreting an oracle.

Gorgons: Three monstrous females with brazen claws, huge teeth, and snakes for hair. The very sight of them turned beholders into stone. The most famous was Medusa and she was killed by Perseus.

Graces: Three Goddesses who enhanced the enjoyments of life by gentleness and refinement. They were Aglaia (brilliance), Thalia (bloom), and Euphrosyne (joy).

Graeae: The three gray-haired female watchers of the Gorgons with one tooth and one movable eye between the three of them.

Great Bear: The constellation Big Dipper, Ursa Major, or Charles’ Wain.

Gryphon or Griffin: A fabulous animal, with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, dwelling in the Ripaean mountains, between the oneyed Arimaspians and the Hyperboreans, and guarding the gold of the north.

Guebers: See Ghebers.

Guendolen: The daughter of Corineus and the first wife of Locrine, a son of Brut. Locrine was killed when she gave battle to Locrine’s forces because he repudiated her for a fair german captive named Estrildis. Estrildis and her daughter were thrown into the Severn.

Hades: Originally, He was the God of the nether world. Later the name was used to designate the gloomy subterranean land of the dead. It is also known as the Stygian realm after the river Styx.

Haemon: The lover of Antigone, and the son of Creon of Thebes.

Haemus, Mt.: The northern boundary of Thrace.

Halcyon birds: Halcyone and Ceyx.

Halcyone: The wife of Ceyx and the daughter of Aeneas. She flew to the floating body of Ceyx when he drowned, and the pitying Gods changed them both into kingfishers, who nest during a certain calm winter week known as the “halcyon days.”

Hamadryad: wood nymph

Harmonia: The daughter of Mars and Venus. She was given in marriage to Cadmus of Thebes by Jupiter. The wedding gift of Vulcan was a necklace, which proved fatal to all of it’s successive wearers.

Harpies or Harpy: Winged monsters, half bird, and half women, armed with sharp claws, and defiling everything they touched. They were driven away from their victim Phineas by the Argonauts and withdrew to an island where they were found by Aeneas, one of them predicting dire sufferings for the Trojans. They also figure into the legends of Charlemagne.

Heaven: See Uranus.

Hebe: The Goddess of youth, and the cup-bearer of the Gods before Ganymede superceded her. She had the power of making the aged young again and was the wife of Hercules.

Hebrus: The ancient name of the Maritza river.

Hecate: The only Titan to retain her power under the rule of Zeus. She was the daughter of Asteria and Perses, and after taking part in the search for Persephone became a deity of the underworld. She was a Goddess of the dead, and became identified with Persephone, Selene, and Artemis, and she taught sorcery and Witchcraft.

Hector: The eldest son of Priam, the noblest of the Trojan chieftains according to Homer’s Iliad. He held out for ten years before being slain by Achilles and drug around troy three times.

Hecuba: The second wife of Priam, and the mother of nineteen children, including Hector. She fell to Ulysses’ lot when Troy was taken. She later metamorphosed herself into a dog, and committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea.

Helen: Also known as Helen of Troy. She was the daughter of Jupiter & Leda. She eloped with Paris and brought about the destruction of Troy.

Helenus: The only son of Priam to survive the fall of Troy. He was allowed to marry his brother Hector’s widow, Andromache.

Heliades: The sisters of Phaeton.

Helle: The daughter of Athamas, a king of Thessaly. She escaped from her cruel father on a ram with golden fleece with her brother Phryxxus, and fell into Hellespont the sea-strait named for her.

Hellespont: Narrow strait between Asia Minor and Europe named after Helle. Leander was drowned while trying to swim the Hellespont.

Hera: The equivalent of the Gr. Goddess Juno. The daughter of Rhea and Cronus, and the wife and sister of Zeus. Her name means “chosen one.” Gr.

Hercules: Son of Jupiter & Alcmena. He was a mighty Gr. Hero who took part in the Argonauts expedition. He gained immortality by accomplishing twelve feats known as the Labors of Hercules. He was killed by his wife, Deianira. After his death, he was placed among the stars. He was worshipped as the God of physical strength.

Hermiones: The only daughter of Helen and Menelaus. She became the wife of Neoptolemus or Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus was assassinated by Orestes and Orestes the married Hermiones , whom he had already been betrothed to.

Hero and Leander: Hero, a priestess of Venus, fell in love with leander who visited her every night after swimming across the Hellespont. He drowned one night, and griefstricken she committed suicide by drowning herself in the same sea.

Hesperia: An ancient country to the west, often identified as the Iberian Peninsula or Italy.

Hesperides: The three sisters who guarded the golden apples of Hera, which she had received as a wedding gift. The dragon Ladon assisted them. The dragon was slain by Hercules and he carried some of the apples to Eurystheus.

Hesperus: The son of Astraeus and Eos, and the father of King Ceyx of Thessaly. Also known as the evening star.

Hippocrene: One of the fountains on the mountain of the Muses, Mt. Helicon. Pegasus opened it with a kick from his hoof.

Hippodamia: The wife of Pirithous. A great battle was caused when the Centaurs offered violence to her at her wedding.

Hippogriff: The winged horse with an eagle’s claws and head, whose mother was a filly and father a griffin.

Hippolyta: The Amazonian queen who was slain by Hercules when she consented to give him her girdle and he thought erroneously that she had betrayed him. Hypolyta is mentioned instead of Antiope as the queen of the Amazons by Theseus.

Hippolytus: The son of Theseus. He refused the advances of his step-mother Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, who then managed to falsely arouse the jealousy of her husband. Theseus requested that Neptune frighten Hippolytus’ horses to cause a fatal accident. When it became obvious that Hippolytus was innocent, Aesculapius with the assistance of Diana restored him to life, and Phaedra committed suicide.

Hippomenes: As a youth he won Atalanta in a foot race by beguiling her with golden apples thrown for her to pick up. After failing to thank Venus he and his bride were changed into lions.

Horn of Amalthaea or horn of plenty: See cornucopia.

Hours or Horai or Horae: The Goddesses of the changing seasons. They are some of the attendants of the sun God Phoebus Apollo, harnessing his chariot for his daily trip. They went with Aurora when she went to weep over her slain son Memnon after he was slain by Achilles.

Hyacinthus: A beautiful youth who was killed accidentally while playing at quoits with Apollo, who caused him to be reborn annually as the flower which bears his name. The same is said to be true of Ajax.

Hyades: Nysaean nymphs. They were nurses of the infant Bacchus, and were rewarded by being placed in the heavens as a cluster of stars.

Hyale: A nymph of Diana.

Hydra: A monster of the Lermean marshes, in Argolis. It had nine heads, and one of the twelve labors of Hercules was to kill it. Two heads shot up to replace every head he cut off of it.

Hygeia: The Goddess of health and the daughter of Aesculapius. Her symbol was a serpent drinking from a cup in her hand.

Hylas: He was detained by some nymphs at a spring where he sought water.

Hymettus: A mountain in Attica famous for its marble and honey.

Hyperboreans: Those beyond the north wind. They were said to be a happy people, living in blissful inaccessibility, in a land of abundance and sunshine, free from the ravages of war and disease. They each lived to be a thousand years old and their lives were spent in the worship of Apollo.

Hyperion: The son of Uranus and Ge, and the father of Helios, Selene, and Eos. He was a Titan and the precursor of the sun God Apollo. He owned the island of Thrinakia where Lampetia and Phathusa tended his cattle. Gr.

Iapetus: A son of Ge and Uranus, the father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius and a Titan. He was thrown into tartarus by Jupiter. Milton modified his name to Japhet. Gr.

Iasius: The father of Atalanta.

Ibycus: There is a story about Ibycus and the cranes.

Icaria: One of the Sporades, an island in the Aegean Sea.

Icarus: The son of Daedalus. He fell into what has since been known as the Icarian Sea when he flew with his father from Crete  and the sun melted the wax from his wings and he fell into the sea.

Icelos: An attendant of Morpheus.

Ida, Mt.: A Trojan Hill where Paris was pasturing his flocks when he was sought out by Juno, Venus, and Minerva to judge their contention over the Apple of Discord.

Idaeus: The Trojan herald who accompanied King Priam to the Greek camp to ask them to restore the body of Hector to his family.

Idas: The son of Aphareus, and inseperable companion of his brother Lynceas. Lynceas and Idas were cousins of castor and Pollux. Idas killed Castor and then Pollux killed Lynceus. Jupiter killed Idas.

Imogen: The daughter of Pandrasus, and the wife of Brutus the Trojan.

Inachus: The son of Tethys and Oceanus, and the father of Io and Phoroneus and Io. He gave his name to the river Inachus and was the first king of Argos.

Incubus: An evil spirit said to lie upon persons in their sleep.

Ino: The daughter of Cadmus. An aunt of Pentheus whom she helped when he was blinded by Bacchus. She tore asunder while he tried to stop a festival of Bacchus. She was the second wife of Athamas. She was changed to Leucothea when she sprang into the sea while fleeing from him with her infant son.

Io: The beautiful daughter of a king of Argos named Inachus.

Jupiter changed her into a heifer to hide her from Juno after he had been flirting with her. Juno charged Argus, who had a hundred eyes to watch the heifer. At the request of Jupiter, Mercury slew Argus, and Juno sent a gadfly to pursue the heifer all over the world. She was finally returned to her family after she had regained her own shape along the Nile and Jupiter promised to pay her no more attentions. She was the mother of Epaphus by Jupiter. Io is the moon.

Iobates: A king of Lycia, and the father-in-law of Proetus who requested that he send Bellerophon to his death by having him attack the Chimaera.

Iolaus: The faithful servant and companion of Hercules.

Iole: The sister of Dryope.

Ionia: The coast of Asia Minor.

Iphigenia: The daughter of Agamemnon who was offered as a sacrifice at the start of the Trojan Expedition, but was carried off by Diana to Tauris. Acting as a priestess of Diana she freed two prisoners whom she recognized as her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades, and escaped with them while taking a statue of Diana.

Iphis: The lover of Anaxarete who committed suicide at her door when she rejected him.

Iphitus: A friend of Hercules.

Iris: The Goddess of the rainbow. The messenger of the Gods when they intended discord. The rainbow is the bridge or road let down from heaven to accommodate her.

Iron Age: The fourth and last age before the deluge, when everyone except Deucalion and Pyrrha behaved in such a way that they all deserved to be drowned.

Isles of the Blessed: See Fortunate islands.

Ismarus: A city of the Ciconians, where Ulysses first made land, and lost six men from each ship in a small battle with the inhabitants.

Ismenos: One of the sons of Niobe who was slain by Apollo.

Ithaca: The home of Penelope and Ulysses.

Iulus: Known more generally as Ascanius. The son of Aeneas, the ancestor of the Roman Julii, and the founder of Alba Longa.

Ixion: A king of Thessaly. He was sentenced in Tartarus to be lashed to a wheel with serpents, which the strong wind drove around continually.

Janiculum: A fortress built by Janus on Mons Janiculus, a ridge near Rome on the right bank of the Tiber.

Janus: A solar deity. The doorkeeper of heaven and the patron of beginnings and endings. He had two faces, one for the rising sun and one for the setting sun. The first name of the year was named for him. In time of war the gates of his temple were kept open. Aeneas saw the Janiculum built by Janus when he set foot on Italian soil.

Japhet: A name Milton gave to Iapetus in Paradise Lost.

Jason: The son of a Thessalonian king  named Aeson and nephew of the usurper Pelias. He participated in the Calydonian Hunt and was the leader of the Argonautic Expedition to secure the Golden Fleece from Aeetes. He accomplished this with the assistance of Aeetes’ daughter Medea, whom he married and later deserted for the Corinthian princess Creusa.

Jocasta: The mother of Oedipus and later the wife of her own son who married her without being aware of his parentage.

Jove: Another name for Jupiter. The Roman equivalent of the Gr. God Zeus, the Egyptian God Amen & the Celtic God Taranis. The supreme deity of classical antiquity and the father of Gods & men. He was the son of Saturn & Rhea. He was reared by the daughters of King Melisseus of Crete on the milk of a goat named Amalthea. His wife was Juno.  He is subject to Cupid.  He is the God of thunder. He is the father of Vulcan, the Muses, Apollo, Mercury, Rhadamantus, Minos, Perseus, Hercules, Castor, Pollux, Helen, Clytemnestra, Bacchus, Amphion, Minerva & others by various females except for Minerva who sprang from his head. Marital fidelity was not one of his virtues.

Note: It is thought that some hermaphrodites from ancient times were able to impregnate themselves and some are said to have done so and given birth to children who survived. When God was an hermaphrodite his/her name was Jove. When God was a woman her name was Jove.

Definition:

Hermaphrodite: one who has the genitals of both genders.

Juno: Roman equivalent of the Gr. Goddess Hera. She was the special protectress of marriage and women. She was a war goddess.

Jupiter: It means Father Jove. He is also called Jove and, in Greek Zeus. The supreme deity and the father of the Gods and men. He was the son of Rhea and Saturn and raised by the daughters of King Melisseus of Crete on the milk of the goat Amalthea. He escaped being eaten by his father unlike his siblings and later defeated the Titans and banished them to Tartarus. He installed himself and his Juno on Olympus, where Themis sits near his throne. He is subject to Cupid. He fathered Vulcan by Juno, The Muses by Mnemosyne, Apollo by Latona, Mercury by Maia, Rhadamantus and Minos by Europa, Perseus by Danae, Hercules by Alcmena, Castor, Pollux, Clytemnestra and Helen by Leda, Bacchus by Semele, Amphion by Antiope, etc… and Minerva who sprang from his head without a mother. He is troubled in his flirtations by Juno’s jealousy and often appears in the shape of an animal as with Io, and Callisto, etc. As Jupiter tonans he weilds the thunder and has used it to kill Phaeton, Capaneus, Aesculapius, and others. He has the power to place mortals among the stars as he did with the Pleiades, Chiron, and Orpheus. He has various and numerous activities. He created woman and sent her as punishment to Prometheus. He caused the Deucalion Flood. He instituted the Olympian Games. His oracle was at Dodona. He was identified with Amen as Jupiter Ammon. The Sibylline books were kept at his temple at Rome.

Justice: See Themis.

Kedalion: The guide of Orion.

Labors of Hercules: The twelve tasks by which Hercules won immortality. They were:

1.     to slay the nemean lion

2.     to kill the Lernean hydra

3.     to catch the Arcadian stag

4.     to destroy the Erymanthian Boar

5.     to clean the stables of King Augeas

6.     to destroy the cannibal birds of the Lake Stymphalis

7.     to capture the Cretan Bull

8.     to catch the horses of the Thracian Diomedes

9.     to get possession of the girdle of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons

10.                         to capture the oxen of the monster Geryon

11.                         to get possession of the apples of the Hesperides

12.                         to bring up from Hades the monstrous dog Cerberus

Labyrinth: The enclosed maze of passageways where the Minotaur of Crete roamed. With the aid of Ariadne he was killed by Theseus.

Lachesis: The daughter of Themis (law), and one of the three Fates. Her name means the “disposer of lots.” She determines the length of the thread of life.

Laertes: The father of Ulysses.

Laestrygonians: A race of giant cannibals visited by Ulysses in their northern country of hazy identity, which was described as having days so short that a shepherd driving his flock to pasture of the morning would meet the shepherd returning home at night. He met himself coming and going.

Lampetia: The daughter of Hyperion. She and her sister Phaethusa tended her father’s cattle on the island of Trinakia.

Laocoon: A son of Priam, and a priest of Apollo at Troy. Having offended the God, he and one of his sons were strangled by two serpents while offering up a sacrifice to Neptune.

Laodamia: The wife of Protesilaus, who was slain before Troy. She was permitted to converse with her dead husband for three hours and then accompanied the dead hero to the shades.

Laomedon: The son of Eurydice and Ilus. He was also the king of Troy and the father of Tithonus and priam.

Lapithae: Thessalonians, whose king invited the Centaurs to his daughter’s wedding but who attacked them for offering violence to the bride.

Lares and Penates: A collective expression for home. The lares were the household Gods, usually deified ancestors or heroes. The penates were also guardian deities, but more in the nature of natural powers having the duty of bringing wealth and plenty.

Larkspur: the flower that grew from the blood of Ajax.

Latinus: A legendary king of Latium, the son of Faunus, and the father of Lavinia. His father told him in a dream that the union of his daughter with a foreigner would produce a race destined to subdue the world. That foreigner was Aeneas.

Latmos, Mt.: Endymion was pasturing his sheep on this mountain when Diana fell in love with him.

Latona: Mother of Artemis and Apollo by Jupiter. As she was fleeing from a jealous Juno, she was insulted by some countrymen and changed them into croaking frogs. She took refuge on the floating island of Delos, which Jupiter secured to the bottom of the sea for her.

Laus: A king of Thebes.

Lausus: The son of Mezentius. He was a valiant warrior slain by Aeneas although Aeneas would have preferred sparing his life.

Lavinia: The daughter of Latinus. She was wooed by Turnus but because of a dream in which he was promised that her union with a foreiner would produce a race that subdued the world, her father reserved her for a foreign born husband. Aeneas eventually obtained her as his bride by slaying Turnus.

Lavinium: Traditionally, an ancient city founded by Aeneas and named for his bride.

Law: See Themis.

Leander: See Hero and Leander.

Lebynthos: An Aegean island.

Leda: The wife of Tyndareus and the mother of Helen, Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In later legends, Jupiter disguised as the Swan was the father of her children.

Lelaps: A dog of Cephalus. Lelaps and a fox were both turned to stone while Lelaps was chasing a fox. Lelaps is also the name of one of the dogs chasing Actaeon after he had been changed into a stag by Diana.

Lemnos: The island in the Aegean, where Vulcan landed when Jupiter cast him out of heaven. The Argonauts discovered the place was an “Adamless Eden.” Their stay there helped repopulate the island. The blinded Orion reached the forge of Vulcan here and Philoctetes was abandoned by his companions here because of the smell of his festering wound.

Lemures: The spirits of the dead, especially nocturnal specters, which wandered around to terrify the living ones.

Leo: A constellation and Greek prince.

Lethe: A river of Hades, which the souls of all the dead taste, so that they may forget everything done and said when alive.

Leto: See Latona.

Leucadia: Sappho, disappointed in her love to Phaon threw herself into the sea from this promontory.

Leucothea: The sea Goddess that Ino was changed into by the Gods while she was fleeing from her husband when she hurled herself into the sea.

Liber: A God of wine. He eventually became identified with Bacchus.

Libyan desert: It dried out when Paethon drove his father’s chariot.

Libyan Oasis: A dove flew there proclaiming that an oracle to Jupiter be erected there.

Lichas: The name of the messenger of brought the robe of Nessus to Hercules.

Linus: A musical instructor of Hercules who struck him and killed him with his lyre.

Lion: The constellation Leo.

Little Bear: The constellation also known as Ursa Minor or the Little Dipper.

Lotis: A nymph, plucked by Dryope after she had been changed into a lotusplant.

Lotuseaters or Lotophagi: The name of the people who ate the fruit of the lotus plant. The companions of Ulysses who landed among them and partook of their food lost all memory of home and had to be forced to continue their voyage.

Love: The personification of love. Love issued from the egg of Night, who produced joy and life with arrows and torch.

Lucina: The Goddess of childbirth. She was often confused with Diana and Juno.

Lycahas: A turbulent sailor.

Lycaon: A son of Priam.

Lycia: A portion of Asia Minor, bordering on Pamphylia, Phyrgia, and the Mediterranean. Latona passed through it while fleeing from Juno. The fire-breathing Chimaera wreaked great havoc in Lycia. In the Iliad, Lycia is the native land and the final resting place of the Trojan hero Sarpedon.

Lycomedes: King of Scyros who dishonestly slew Theseus. Achilles also lived in disguise among the daughters of Lycomedes until he was discovered by Ulysses and forced to join his countrymen in the Trojan War.

Lycus: The usurping king of Thebes. The husband of Dirce. Queen Antiope and her sons Zethus, and Amphion had their revenge upon Lycus and his wife.

Lynceus: Inseperable companion of his brother Idas. The son of Arene and Aphareus. He was killed by Pollux after Idas killed Castor. Idas was killed by Jupiter.

Machaon: The son of Aesculapius.

Madan: The son of Guendolen by Locrine. His mother defeated his father after he had repudiated her with the help of an army that Madan helped her gather.

Maeonia: Ancient Lydia.

Maia: One of the daughters of Pleipe and Atlas, and the most beautiful and the eldest of the Pleiades.

Manes: The spirits of the good dead in Hades. Sometimes they were considered divine and worshipped.

Mantua: The birthplace of Virgil. A city in Italy.

Marathon: Pirithous met Theseus on the plain of Marathon and became undying friends.

Mars: The God of war.

Marysyas: The inventor of the flute who was flayed alive after challenging Apollo to a musical competition and losing.

Meander: The modern Menderes river in Asia Minor. It dried up when Phaeton drove his sun chariot. The labyrinth of Minos is comparable to its proverbial windings.

Medea: The daughter of Aeetes, and a sorceress. She helped Jason secure the Golden Fleece with her sorcery. She rejuvenated her father-in-law Aeson while married to Jason and killed jason’s uncle Pelias. She sent Corinthian princess Creusa a poisoned robe when Jason deserted her to marry the princess Creusa, killed her own and Jason’s children, set fire to the palace, and then escaped to Athens where she married Aegeus, the father of Theseus. She then tried to make Aegeus poison Theseus. Her scheming was detected and she had to flee to Asia where the country of Media still bears her name.

Medusa: A Gorgon. A once beautiful maiden, she was punished by a Goddess by having her hair turned into serpents and her countenance into that of a frightful monster, which turned all living things to stone. Her head was fixed in Minerva’s Aegis after perseus cut it off. The winged horse Pegasus arose from her blood sinking into the earth.

Melampus: A Spartan dog who pursued Actaeon after Diana had changed him into a stag. Melampus was also the name of the first mortal endowed with the powers of prophecy, which came to him when young serpents licked his ears while he slept.

Melanthus: The steersman for Bacchus.

Meleager: The son of Althaea and Oeneus of Calydon. He is distinguished for killing the Calydonian Boar, and as one of the Argonauts. The Fates declared that he would die as soon as a particular piece of wood then on fire burnt up. His mother snatched the log from the fire and extinguished the fire; but she threw the brand back into the fire after he slew his maternal uncle.