Mythology 1020 - Intro

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Achaeans

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A division of the Greek people. Homer's words for the Greeks at Troy.

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Acheron

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River of the underworld.

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Achilles

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Greatest Greek warrior at Troy.

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Anchises

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Father of Aeneas. Unable to fight in the Trojan war. Prince of Troy. Lover of Aphrodite.

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Acrisius

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Father of Danae, killed accidentally by Perseus.

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Actaeon

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Son of Autonoe, ripped apart by own dogs.

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Actium/Actian Apollo

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The main conflict in the Roman civil war between the forces supporting Octavian and those supporting Mark Antony.

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Admetus

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King of Pherae, whose wife Alcestis died in his place.

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Adonis

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Son of Cinyras and Myrrha, beloved by Aphrodite, killed by boar.

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Aeetes

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The son of Helios, and king of Colchis. During his reign, Phrixus brought the Golden Fleece to Colchis, where it was later taken by the Argonauts. Aeetes is the father of the sorceress Medea.

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Aegean Sea

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The Aegean Sea (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος, Aigaío Pélagos; Turkish: Ege Denizi) is a sea arm of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea was traditionally known as the Archipelago (Greek: Αρхιπέλαγος), the general sense of which has since changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally, to any island group because the Aegean Sea is remarkable for its large number of islands.

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Aegeus

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Father of Theseus. Aegeus returned to Athens and married the sorceress Medea. She convinced him that she could cure his childlessness, and eventually bore him a son, Medus. During this time, Aethra (a one night stand) had born a son, Theseus, who was raised in Troezen by Pittheus. Aethra and Pittheus concealed his parentage, and Pittheus spread a rumor that the boy's father was actually the god Poseidon. When Theseus was a young man, Aethra led him to the rock and told him the truth about his father. Theseus lifted the rock easily, collected the sword and sandals, and made his way to Athens.
Medea learned that Theseus, the true heir, was coming to Athens. She told Aegeus that Theseus was an enemy and a pretender to the throne. She created a poison and persuaded Aegeus to entertain the stranger, and then give him the poison to drink. Still nervous about his power, Aegeus took her advice and prepared to give Theseus the poison. As Theseus put the cup to his lips, Aegeus recognized the sword and dashed the poison away. He rejoiced at the return of his son and drove Medea and Medus from the city.

Aegeus threw himself into the sea, and it was called the Aegean thereafter.

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Aegis

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A protective device that was originally associated with Zeus, but also, and later solely, with Athena. It is variously considered to be a bright-edged thundercloud (because when Zeus used it lightning flashed and thunder sounded) fashioned by Hephaestus, or the skin of the divine goat Amaltheia. It is represented as a sort of cloak, sometimes covered with scales and fringed with serpents, and with the head of Medusa fastened in the middle. The Aegis could also serve as a shield and in that fashion Athena wears it upon her breastplate.

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Aegisthus

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Son of Thyestes, lover of Clytemnestra.
The son of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopea. Desiring to avenge himself upon his brother Atreus and acting on the advice of the oracle at Delphi, Thyestes consummated an incestuous union with his daughter Pelopia. Shortly afterward, Atreus married Pelopia, not knowing she was his niece. When Aegisthus was born, Atreus accepted him as his own son, not knowing that he had been fathered by Thyestes. Aegisthus later learned his true identity and, urged by Thyestes, killed Atreus. While Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, was away fighting in the Trojan War, Aegisthus became the lover of Queen Clytemnestra. He helped Clytemnestra kill her husband upon his return from Troy. Together with the queen, Aegisthus then ruled Mycenae for seven years. He was later murdered by Agamemnon's son Orestes.

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Aeneas

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Son of Aphrodite and Anchises, ancestor of Roman people.

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Aeolus

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Custodian of the four winds. A minor deity, he is the son of a king called Hippotes, and lived on one of the rocky Lipara islands, close to Sicily. In the caves on this island were imprisoned the winds, and Aeolos, directed by the higher gods, let out these winds as soft breezes, gales, or whatever the higher gods wished. Being visited by the Greek hero Odysseus, Aeolos received him favorably, and on the hero's departure presented Odysseus with a bag containing all the adverse winds, so that his friend might reach Ithaca with a fair wind. Odysseus did as Aeolos bid, but in sight of his homeland, having been untroubled by foul weather, he fell asleep and his men, curious, opened the bag, thus releasing all the fierce winds, which blew their ship far off course

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Aethra

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Mother of Theseus.

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aetiological myth

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A myth which explains where something came from or how something was created.

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Agamemnon

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Son of Atreus, brother of Menelaus, leader of the Greek forces at Troy.

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Agave

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Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, mother of Pentheus.