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| Hero of the trojan war, as a baby he was dangled in the river Styx and made invulnerable except for his heel. He killed Hector in the trojan war and was killed himself by Paris by getting shot in the heel with a p arrow. |
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| A youth slain by a wild boar but permitted by Zeus to pass four months every year in the lower world with Persephone, four with Aphrodite, and four wherever he chose. |
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| The Trojan hero of Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, and son of Anchises and Aphrodite. He escaped the sack of Troy and wandered for seven years before settling in Italy. |
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| mighty warrior who fought in the Trojan War. He was the son of Telamon, king of Salamís, and led the Salaminian forces to Troy. An enormous man, slow in speech but unshakable in battle, Ajax was called “bulwark of the Achaeans” by Homer. Angered because he was not awarded the armor of the dead Achilles, Ajax resolved to kill the Greek leaders Agamemnon and Menelaus. To prevent this, the goddess Athena struck him with madness. In his delirium, Ajax committed suicide by falling on his sword. |
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| In Greek mythology, a race of warlike women who excluded men from their society. According to legend, they were almost constantly at war with Greece and fought other nations as well. |
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| god of war and son of Zeus, king of the gods, and his wife, Hera. The Romans identified him with Mars, also a god of war. Aggressive and sanguinary, Ares personified the brutal nature of war. He was unpopular with both gods and humans. Among the deities associated with Ares were his consort, Aphrodite, goddess of love, and such minor deities as Deimos (Panic) and Phobos (Fear), who accompanied him in battle. Although fierce and warlike, Ares was not invincible, even against mortals. |
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| a 100-eyed giant, also called Panoptes (Greek for “the all-seeing”). Argus was assigned to guard Io, the mistress of Zeus, by Zeus's jealous wife Hera, after Zeus had changed Io into a heifer to conceal her from Hera. The god Hermes, dispatched by Zeus to rescue Io, slew Argus by lulling him to sleep with music and then severing his head. In one version of the story, Argus subsequently became a peacock; in another, Hera transplanted his eyes onto the peacock's tail. |
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| one of the most important goddesses in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology she became identified with the goddess Minerva. Also known as Pallas Athena. Athena sprang full-grown and armored from the forehead of the god Zeus and was his favorite child. He entrusted her with his shield, adorned with the hideous head of Medusa the Gorgon, his buckler, and his principal weapon, the thunderbolt. A virgin goddess, she was called Parthenos (“the maiden”). Her major temple, the Parthenon, was in Athens, which, according to legend, became hers as a result of her gift of the olive tree to the Athenian people. |
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| son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of Prometheus. Atlas fought with the Titans in the war against the deities of Mount Olympus. As punishment, he was condemned to bear forever on his back the earth and the heavens and on his shoulders the great pillar that separates them. |
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| son of the god Zeus and Leto, daughter of a Titan. He also bore the epithets “Delian” from Delos, the island of his birth, and “Pythian,” from his killing of the Python, the fabled serpent that guarded a shrine on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The functions of the Greek sun god Helios were transferred to Apollo, in his identity as Phoebus. In Homeric legend Apollo was primarily a god of prophecy. His most important oracle was at Delphi, the site of his victory over the Python. He sometimes gave the gift of prophecy to mortals whom he loved, such as the Trojan princess Cassandra. |
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| one of the principal goddesses, counterpart of the Roman goddess Diana. She was the daughter of the god Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of the god Apollo. She was chief hunter to the gods and goddess of hunting and of wild animals, especially bears. Artemis was also the goddess of childbirth, of nature, and of the harvest. As the moon goddess, she was sometimes identified with the goddesses Selene and Hecate. |
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| the stables owned by Augeas, who in some versions of the myth is a son of the god Helios and king of Elis in northwest Pelopónnisos (Peloponnesus). Augeas possessed an immense herd of cattle, including 12 white bulls sacred to Helios, kept in stalls that had not been cleaned for years. One of the 12 labors imposed on the Greek hero Hercules was cleaning the stables, unaided, in a single day. He did this by diverting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to run through them. Augeas had promised Hercules a tenth of his herd as payment but did not keep his word. Hercules then sent an army against him, slaying Augeas and his sons. |
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| god of wine and vegetation, who showed mortals how to cultivate grapevines and make wine. A son of Zeus, Dionysus is usually characterized in one of two ways. As the god of vegetation—specifically of the fruit of the trees—he is often represented on Attic vases with a drinking horn and vine branches. He eventually became the popular Greek god of wine and cheer, and wine miracles were reputedly performed at certain of his festivals. Dionysus is also characterized as a deity whose mysteries inspired ecstatic, orgiastic worship. The maenads, or bacchantes, were a group of female devotees who left their homes to roam the wilderness in ecstatic devotion to Dionysus. They wore fawn skins and were believed to possess occult powers. |
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| the son of Glaucus, king of Corinth; he was the hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus with the aid of a bridle given him by the goddess Athena. Falling in love with the wife of King Proetus of Árgos, Bellerophon aroused the jealousy of Proetus, who sent him to his father-in-law Iobates, king of Lycia, with a message requesting that the bearer be slain. The king, having entertained Bellerophon before he read the message, was afraid to anger the god Zeus by carrying out a request that would break the traditional bond between host and guest. Instead of killing Bellerophon, he asked him to kill the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster, which the hero did with the help of Pegasus. |
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| Phoenician prince who founded the city of Thebes in Greece. When his sister Europa was kidnapped by the god Zeus, Cadmus was ordered by his father, the king of Phoenicia, to find her or not to return home. Unable to locate his sister, he consulted the oracle at Delphi and was instructed to abandon his search and instead to found a city. Upon leaving Delphi, the oracle advised, Cadmus would come upon a heifer, follow her, and build the city where she lay down to rest. |
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| daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. The god Apollo, who loved Cassandra, granted her the gift of prophecy, but when she refused to return his love, Apollo made the gift useless by decreeing that no one would believe her predictions. Cassandra warned the Trojans of many dangers, including the wooden horse by which the Greeks entered the city, but she was dismissed as a madwoman. After the fall of Troy, she was dragged from her sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Athena by Ajax the Lesser and brought to the Greek camp. When the spoils were divided, Cassandra was awarded to King Agamemnon as his slave and mistress. Cassandra warned him that he would be killed if he returned to Greece; again she was not believed. Murdered by Clytemnestra |
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| a three-headed, dragon-tailed dog that guarded the entrance to the lower world, or Hades. The monster permitted all spirits to enter Hades, but would allow none to leave. Only a few heroes ever escaped Cerberus's guard; the great musician Orpheus charmed it with his lyre, and the Greek hero Hercules captured it bare-handed and brought it for a short time from the underworld to the regions above. In Roman mythology both the beautiful maiden Psyche and the Trojan prince Aeneas were able to pacify Cerberus with a honey cake and thus continue their journey through the underworld. Cerberus is sometimes pictured with a mane of snakes and 50 heads. |
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| goddess of grain and the harvest, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, Demeter's grief was so great that she neglected the land; no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. Dismayed at this situation, Zeus, the ruler of the universe, demanded that his brother Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades agreed, but before he released the girl, he made her eat some pomegranate seeds that would force her to return to him for four months each year. In her joy at being reunited with her daughter, Demeter caused the earth to bring forth bright spring flowers and abundant fruit and grain for the harvest. However, her sorrow returned each fall when Persephone had to go back to the underworld. |
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| a fire-breathing monster that had the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon. It terrorized Lycia, a region in Asia Minor, but was finally killed by the Greek hero Bellerophon. |
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| a sorceress, the daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse. She lived on the island of Aeaea, near the west coast of Italy. With potions and incantations Circe was able to turn people into beasts. Her victims retained their reason, however, and knew what had happened to them. In the course of his wanderings, the Greek hero Odysseus visited her island with his companions, whom she turned into swine. On his way to find help for his men, Odysseus met the god Hermes, from whom he received an herb that made him immune to Circe's enchantments. He forced her to restore his companions to human form, and in amazement that anyone could resist her spell, Circe fell in love with Odysseus. He and his friends stayed with her for a year. |
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| son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology was Eros, god of love. He is best known as the handsome young god who falls in love with the beautiful maiden Psyche. This story is told in The Golden Ass, a romance by the Roman writer Lucius Apuleius. In other tales he appears as a mischievous boy who indiscriminately wounds both gods and humans with his arrows, thereby causing them to fall deeply in love. Cupid is commonly represented in art as a naked, winged infant, often blindfolded, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. |
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| Athenian architect and inventor who designed the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. It was built as a prison for the Minotaur, a man-eating monster that was half man and half bull. The labyrinth was so skillfully designed that no one who entered it could escape from the Minotaur. Daedalus revealed the secret of the labyrinth only to Ariadne, daughter of Minos, and she aided her lover, the Athenian hero Theseus, to slay the Minotaur and escape. In anger at the escape, Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth. Although the prisoners could not find the exit, Daedalus made wax wings so that they could both fly out. Icarus, however, flew too near the sun; his wings melted, and he fell into the sea. Daedalus flew to Sicily, where he was welcomed by King Cocalus. |
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| courtier of Dionysius the Elder, who was tyrant of the city of Syracuse in Sicily. According to a legend recounted by the Roman writers Horace and Cicero, Damocles on one occasion commented to his sovereign on the grandeur and happiness of rulers. Dionysius soon thereafter invited his courtier to a luxurious banquet, where Damocles enjoyed the delights of the table until his attention was directed upward and he saw a sharp sword hanging above him by a single horsehair. By this device Dionysius made Damocles realize that insecurity might threaten those who appeared to be the most fortunate. |
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| in ancient Greece, an oracle of great authority and notorious ambiguity at Delphi, where it was believed the god Apollo spoke through a priestess |
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| daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Queen Clytemnestra. After the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, Electra sent her brother, Orestes, to safety at the court of an uncle. She stayed behind in Mycenae, living in poverty under constant surveillance while Clytemnestra and Aegisthus ruled the kingdom. Electra sent frequent reminders to Orestes that he must return to avenge the death of their father. At the end of seven years, Orestes and his friend Pylades went secretly to Agamemnon's tomb. There they met Electra, who had come to pour libations and offer prayers for vengeance. Orestes revealed his identity to his sister, then proceeded at once to the palace, where he killed Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. Electra later married Pylades, Orestes' constant companion. |
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| a pre-Hellenic paradise, a land of perfect peace and happiness. In the works of Homer, Elysium was a land at the farthest and westernmost edge of the world to which the great heroes were carried, body and soul, and made immortal. There they were free to pursue their favorite activities, and worries and illness were unknown. Soon, however, Elysium came to be regarded as the abode of the blessed dead, where the souls of dead heroes, poets, priests, and others lived in perfect happiness, surrounded by grass, trees, and gentle winds and enveloped in rose-tinted, perpetual light. |
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| the three goddesses who determined human life and destiny. Known as Moirai in Greek and Parcae in Latin, the Fates apportioned to each person at birth a share of good and evil, although one might increase the evil by one's own folly. Portrayed in art and poetry as stern old women or as somber maidens, the goddesses were often thought of as weavers. Clotho, the Spinner, spun the thread of life; Lachesis, the Dispenser of Lots, decided its span and assigned a destiny to each person; and Atropos, the Inexorable, carried the dread shears that cut the thread of life at the appointed time. The decisions of the Fates could not be altered, even by the gods. |
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| deities of the woods and mountains, with horns and tails and sometimes with the legs of a goat. The satyrs were the companions of Dionysus, god of wine, and spent their time pursuing nymphs, drinking wine, dancing, and playing the syrinx, flute, or bagpipes. |
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| god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the three brothers divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, Cronus, Hades was awarded the underworld. There, with his queen, Persephone, whom he had abducted from the world above, he ruled the kingdom of the dead. Although he was a grim and pitiless god, unappeased by either prayer or sacrifice, he was not evil. In fact, he was known also as Pluto, lord of riches, because both crops and precious metals were believed to come from his kingdom below ground. |
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| foul creatures with the heads of old women and the bodies, wings, beaks, and claws of birds. They could fly with the speed of the wind, and their feathers, which could not be pierced, served as armor. The Harpies frequently snatched up mortals and carried them off to the underworld, always leaving behind a sickening odor. |
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| the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and husband of Andromache. In Homer's Iliad, Hector is the greatest of the Trojan warriors. As commander of the Trojan forces he is instrumental in holding off the Greek army for nine years and finally succeeds in forcing the Greeks back to their ships (see Trojan War). During the battle, however, Hector kills Patroclus, the bosom friend of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors. Achilles has withdrawn from the fighting because of a quarrel with King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces, but in order to avenge the death of Patroclus, he returns to the battlefield. Grief-stricken and frenzied, Achilles pursues Hector three times around the walls of Troy, kills him, and then ties his body to his chariot and drags it around the walls and back to Patroclus's funeral pyre. |
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| god of fire and metalwork, the son of the god Zeus and the goddess Hera, or sometimes the son of Hera alone. In contrast to the other gods, Hephaestus was lame and awkward. Shortly after his birth, he was cast out of Olympus, either by Hera, who was repelled by his deformity, or by Zeus, because Hephaestus had sided with Hera against him. In most legends, however, he was soon honored again on Olympus and was married to Aphrodite, goddess of love, or to Aglaia, one of the three Graces. As the artisan among the gods, Hephaestus made their armor, weapons, and jewelry. His workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily. Hephaestus is often identified with the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. |
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| hero noted for his strength and courage and for his many legendary exploits. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, was determined to kill her unfaithful husband’s offspring, and shortly after Hercules’ birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Hercules, although still a baby, strangled the snakes. As a young man Hercules killed a lion with his bare hands. As a trophy of his adventure, he wore the skin of the lion as a cloak and its head as a helmet. |
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| queen of the gods, the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister and wife of the god Zeus. Hera was the goddess of marriage and the protector of married women. She was the mother of Ares, god of war; Hephaestus, god of fire; Hebe, goddess of youth; and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Hera was a jealous wife, who often persecuted Zeus's mistresses and children. She never forgot an injury and was known for her vindictive nature. Angry with the Trojan prince Paris for preferring Aphrodite, goddess of love, to herself, Hera aided the Greeks in the Trojan War and was not appeased until Troy was finally destroyed. Hera is often identified with the Roman goddess Juno. |
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| messenger of the gods, the son of the god Zeus and of Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. As the special servant and courier of Zeus, Hermes had winged sandals and a winged hat and bore a golden Caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and surmounted by wings. He conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld and was believed to possess magical powers over sleep and dreams. Hermes was also the god of commerce, and the protector of traders and herds. As the deity of athletes, he protected gymnasiums and stadiums and was believed to be responsible for both good luck and wealth. Despite his virtuous characteristics, Hermes was also a dangerous foe, a trickster, and a thief. |
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| nine-headed monster that dwelled in a marsh near Lerna, Greece. A menace to all of Árgos, it had fatally poisonous breath and when one head was severed, grew two in its place; its central head was immortal. Hercules, sent to kill the serpent as the second of his 12 labors, succeeded in slaying it by burning off the eight mortal heads and burying the ninth, immortal head under a huge rock. The term hydra is commonly applied to any complex situation or problem that continually poses compounded difficulties. |
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| the three goddesses of joy, charm, and beauty. The daughters of the god Zeus and the nymph Eurynome, they were named Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. They were the special attendants of the divinities of love, Aphrodite and Eros, and together with companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo made upon his lyre. In some legends Aglaia was wed to Hephaestus, the craftsman among the gods. |
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| the band of heroes who sailed on the ship Argo to obtain the Golden Fleece. The leader of the expedition was Jason, son of Aeson, king of Iolcus in Thessaly. Aeson was deposed by his half brother Pelias, who then tried to prevent Jason from claiming the throne. To this end, he persuaded Jason to undertake the dangerous quest for the Golden Fleece, which was held by Aeëtes, king of Colchis, a region located at the eastern end of the Euxine (Black) Sea. Jason assembled 50 of the noblest young men of Greece to accompany him on the voyage. The group that was chosen included Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, and Peleus. |
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the story of the Trojan prince Paris, who was called on to judge which was the most attractive of the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
Offered the bribes of power by Hera, success in battle by Athena, or the most beautiful woman in the world by Aphrodite, he chose the last. Aphrodite then helped him abduct Helen, so causing the Trojan War, and earning the hatred of both Hera and Athena for the Trojans. |
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| Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of the deities Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. According to one of the ancient myths of the birth of Zeus, Cronus, fearing that he might be dethroned by one of his children, swallowed them as they were born. Upon the birth of Zeus, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes for Cronus to swallow and concealed the infant god in Crete (Kríti), where he was fed on the milk of the goat Amalthaea and reared by nymphs. When Zeus grew to maturity, he forced Cronus to disgorge the other children, who were eager to take vengeance on their father. In the war that followed, the Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus and the other gods were successful, and the Titans were consigned to the abyss of Tartarus. |
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| monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It was the offspring of Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, and a snow-white bull the god Poseidon had sent to Pasiphaë's husband, King Minos. When Minos refused to sacrifice the beast, Poseidon made Pasiphaë fall in love with it. After she gave birth to the Minotaur, Minos ordered the architect and inventor Daedalus to build a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it without assistance would be impossible. Here the Minotaur was confined and fed with young human victims Minos forced Athens to send him as tribute. The Greek hero Theseus was determined to end the useless sacrifice and offered himself as one of the victims. |
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| priest of Apollo, god of the sun, or of Poseidon, god of the sea. In the last year of the Trojan War, the Greeks prepared a giant wooden horse, which they pretended was a votive offering to the goddess Athena, but which was in reality a hiding place for Greek soldiers. Laocoön, fearing a ruse, vainly urged the Trojan leaders to destroy the gift, warning “I fear the Greeks even when they come bearing gifts.” While the people were trying to decide if they should risk bringing the horse inside the city walls for the sake of the favorable omens supposedly connected with it, Poseidon, the divinity most bitter toward Troy, sent two fearful sea serpents swimming to the land. Advancing straight to the spot where Laocoön stood with his two sons, the serpents wrapped their coils around the children. They were strangled to death. |
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| wife of Tyndareus, who was king of Sparta, and the mother of Castor and Polydeuces, Clytemnestra, and Helen of Troy. After the god Zeus had wooed Leda in the guise of a swan, she laid two eggs. From one were hatched Polydeuces (also known as Pollux) and Helen, who were immortal children of Zeus, and from the other Castor and Clytemnestra, who were mortal children of Tyndareus. |
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| a mortal woman who was transformed into a Gorgon, a dragon-like creature with snakes for hair. According to myth, Medusa was once a lovely maiden, but when she dared compete with Athena—either by taking too much pride in her hair or by having a love affair with the god Poseidon—the vengeful goddess turned Medusa into a monster. Medusa’s head was then so hideous that anyone who looked at it was turned to stone. |
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| For his hospitality to the satyr Silenus, Dionysus, god of wine, offered to grant Midas anything he wished. The king requested that everything he touched be turned to gold, but he soon regretted his choice because even his food and water were changed to gold. To free himself from the enchantment, Midas was instructed by Dionysus to bathe in the Pactolus River. It was said that afterward the sands of the river contained gold. |
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| nine goddesses, daughters of the god Zeus, king of the gods, and of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Muses were believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians. By late Roman times (3rd century to 5th century), each Muse was believed to preside over a particular art: Calliope was the muse of epic poetry; Clio of history; Euterpe of lyric poetry sung to the accompaniment of the flute; Melpomene of tragedy; Terpsichore of choral songs and the dance; Erato of love poetry sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; Polyhymnia of sacred poetry; Urania of astronomy; and Thalia of comedy. |
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| personification of divine justice and the vengeance of the gods, sometimes called the daughter of Night. She represented the righteous anger of the gods against the proud and haughty and against breakers of the law; she distributed good or bad fortune to all mortals. No one could escape her power. |
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| god of shepherds and flocks. He was believed to be responsible for their fertility. Born in Arcadia, Pan was depicted with human arms and a human torso but with the ears, horns, and legs of a goat. His father was the god Hermes and his mother was either Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, or the nymph Callisto. Pan was especially fond of remote mountains and caves and was believed to be responsible for the sudden, inexplicable fear, or panic, that can overtake travelers in such surroundings. |
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| first woman on earth, created by the god Hephaestus at the request of the god Zeus. Zeus wished to counteract the blessing of fire, which had been stolen from the gods by the Titan Prometheus and given to human beings. Endowed by the gods with every attribute of beauty and goodness, Pandora was sent to Epimetheus, who was happy to have her for his wife, although he had been warned by his brother Prometheus never to accept anything from Zeus. In bestowing their gifts on Pandora, the gods had given her a box, warning her never to open it. Her curiosity finally overcame her, however, and she opened the mysterious box, from which flew innumerable plagues for the body and sorrows for the mind. In terror, she tried to shut the box, but only Hope, the one good thing among many evils the box had contained, remained to comfort humanity in its misfortunes. In another legend, the box contained blessings that would have been preserved if Pandora had not allowed them to escape. |
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| In Greek mythology, Parnassus was sacred to the god Apollo, whose oracle, Delphi, was situated at its base. It was also believed to be a favorite habitation of the Muses and a center of musical and poetic inspiration. Parnassus was also the site of worship of the gods Pan and Dionysus. |
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| slayer of the Gorgon Medusa; he was the son of Zeus, father of the gods, and of Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Árgos. Warned that he would be killed by his grandson, Acrisius locked mother and child in a chest and cast them into the sea. They drifted to the island of Seriphus, where they were rescued and where Perseus grew to manhood. Polydectes, king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danaë, and, fearing that Perseus might interfere with his plans, sent him to procure the head of Medusa, a monster whose glance turned men to stone. |
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| god of the sea, the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Hades. Poseidon was the husband of Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton. Poseidon had numerous other love affairs, however, especially with nymphs of springs and fountains, and was the father of several children famed for their wildness and cruelty, among them the giant Orion and the Cyclops Polyphemus. Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa were the parents of Pegasus, the famous winged horse. |
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| one of the Titans, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity, the son of the Titan Iapetus by the sea nymph Clymene or the Titaness Themis. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective coverings. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing left to bestow. |
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| son of Poseidon, god of the sea, or his attendant and the keeper of his seals. Proteus knew all things past, present, and future but was able to change his shape at will to avoid the necessity of prophesying. Each day at noon Proteus would rise from the sea and sleep in the shade of the rocks on the island of Pharos in Egypt with his seals lying around him. Persons wishing to learn the future had to catch hold of him at that time and hold on as he assumed dreadful shapes, including those of wild animals and terrible monsters. If all his ruses proved unavailing, Proteus resumed his usual form and told the truth. Among those who fought with Proteus to learn the truth was Menelaus, king of Sparta. |
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| son of Poseidon, god of the sea, or his attendant and the keeper of his seals. Proteus knew all things past, present, and future but was able to change his shape at will to avoid the necessity of prophesying. Each day at noon Proteus would rise from the sea and sleep in the shade of the rocks on the island of Pharos in Egypt with his seals lying around him. Persons wishing to learn the future had to catch hold of him at that time and hold on as he assumed dreadful shapes, including those of wild animals and terrible monsters. If all his ruses proved unavailing, Proteus resumed his usual form and told the truth. Among those who fought with Proteus to learn the truth was Menelaus, king of Sparta. |
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| sculptor of Cyprus. Pygmalion hated women and resolved never to marry. He worked, however, for many months on a statue of a beautiful woman, and eventually fell madly in love with it. Disconsolate because the statue remained lifeless and could not respond to his caresses, Pygmalion prayed to Venus, goddess of love, to send him a maiden like his statue. Venus answered his prayer by endowing the statue with life. The maiden, whom Pygmalion called Galatea, returned his love and bore him a son, Paphos, from whom the city sacred to Venus received its name. |
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| founder and first king of Rome. He and his twin brother, Remus, were the sons of Mars, god of war, and of Rhea Silvia, also called Ilia, one of the vestal virgins. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, who had been deposed by his younger brother Amulius. Amulius had made Rhea Silvia a priestess so that she would have no children to make claims against his throne. After the birth of her two boys, to remove any threat against himself, he had them thrown in a basket into the Tiber River. The twins were not drowned, however. They were rescued and nursed by a she-wolf on the slope of the Palatine Hill and were later discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and reared by his wife, Acca Larentia. When they grew to manhood, the brothers deposed Amulius and placed their grandfather Numitor on the throne. |
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| two sea monsters dwelling on the opposite sides of a narrow strait, the personification of the dangers of navigation near the rocks and eddies. Scylla was a horrible creature with 12 feet and 6 long necks, each bearing a head with 3 rows of teeth, with which she devoured any prey that came within reach; she lived in a cave on a cliff. Across the strait, opposite her, was a large fig tree under which Charybdis, the whirlpool, dwelt, sucking in and belching forth the waters of the sea three times daily, engulfing anything that came near. When the Greek hero Odysseus passed between them, he was able to avoid Charybdis, but Scylla seized six men from his ship and devoured them. |
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| sometimes described as having the body of a bird and the head of a woman and at other times represented as a woman. The Sirens are the daughters of the sea god Phorcys, although in one version of the myth their father is the river god Achelous. The Sirens had such sweet voices that sailors who heard their songs were lured into grounding their boats on the rocks on which the nymphs sang. The Greek hero Odysseus was able to pass their island in safety because, following the advice of the sorceress Circe, he plugged the ears of his companions with wax and had himself firmly bound to the mast of the ship so that he could hear the songs without danger. |
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| king of Corinth, the son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. Sisyphus saw the god Zeus carry off the beautiful maiden Aegina and told her father what he had witnessed. Enraged with Sisyphus, Zeus condemned him to Tartarus, where he was compelled for eternity to roll to the top of a steep hill a stone that always rolled down again. |
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| the greatest Athenian hero, the son of either Aegeus, king of Athens, or Poseidon, god of the sea, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. At the age of 16, Theseus, having been brought up in Troezen, went to Athens to claim Aegeus as his father. The young man chose to make the hazardous journey by land, clearing the road of bandits and monsters. Among the villains whom Theseus killed, making each suffer the method of death he had inflicted on others, were Sciron, Sinis, and Procrustes. |
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| a seer, or prophet, from Thebes, said to have been struck blind by the goddess Athena because he had seen her bathing. Athena compensated Tiresias with the gift of prophecy. According to another version, after separating a pair of snakes that he found copulating in the road, Tiresias was for a time transformed into a woman. Later, having become a man again, he was asked by Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods, to tell which sex had more pleasure in love. When he replied that woman had nine times as much pleasure as man, Hera, in anger, blinded him, but Zeus granted him long life. Tiresias played a prominent part in Theban legends, delivering prophecies to Oedipus, king of Thebes. He died while fleeing the wrath of the Epigoni, warlike sons of the Argive heroes who were killed in the war of the Seven Against Thebes. |
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| 12 children of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and some of the children of the 12. Often called the Elder Gods, they were for many ages the supreme rulers of the universe and were of enormous size and incredibly strong. Cronus, the most important of the Titans, ruled the universe until he was dethroned by his son Zeus, who seized power for himself. The other important Titans were Oceanus, the river that flowed around the earth; Tethys, his wife; Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory; Themis, the goddess of divine justice; Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn; Iapetus, the father of Prometheus, who created mortals; and Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. Of all the Titans only Prometheus and Oceanus sided with Zeus against Cronus. As a result, they were honored and the others were bound in Tartarus. |
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| originally a goddess of gardens and fields but later identified with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. In imperial times she was worshiped under several aspects. As Venus Genetrix, she was worshiped as the mother of the hero Aeneas, the founder of the Roman people; as Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; as Venus Victrix, the bringer of victory; and as Venus Verticordia, the protector of feminine chastity. Venus was the wife of Vulcan, god of metalwork, but she was often unfaithful to him. Among her many lovers were Mars, the god of war; the handsome shepherd Adonis; and Anchises, the father of Aeneas. Venus was also the mother of Cupid, god of love. |
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| the goddess of the hearth, worshiped by Roman families as a household deity. The most important public shrine to Vesta was her round temple in the Forum at Rome, where her fire was said to have been brought from Troy by Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome. The shrine was symbolic of the safety of the city and was watched continually by six vestal virgins, priestesses who kept the fire burning and who served for terms of 30 years according to severe rules. In early June of each year a festival honoring Vesta, called Vestalia, was held. In form the goddess was associated with the flames of her fire. Her Greek counterpart was Hestia. |
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| the god of the west wind. He was the son of the Titan Astraeus and of Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Zephyrus was said to be the husband of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. His brothers were Boreas and Notus, the gods of the north and south winds, respectively. |
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