Terms From Intro To Greek Mythology

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Abraham

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Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם, Standard Avraham Tiberian ʾAḇrāhām Ashkenazi Avrohom or Avruhom ; Arabic: ابراهيم‎, Ibrāhīm ; Ge'ez: አብርሃም, ʾAbrəham) features in the Book of Genesis as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews and Arabs and the founder of monotheism. According to Genesis 17:5, his name was changed by God from Abram (probably meaning "the father is exalted) to Abraham, a name which Genesis explains as meaning "father of many".

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Patriarch

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Aulos

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An ancient Greek instrument that is a two ended flute. It was played by Marsyas when he challenged Apollo to a musical contest.

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Chimaera

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A lion with a goat head on its back and a snake for a tale. Is killed by Bellerophon

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Pegasus

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The Mystical flying horse that belongs to Bellerophon. Leads to his death.

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Sarah

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Akkad

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A city in the Sumerian dynasty

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Althaea

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Mother of Meleager and the one who threw the “log” into the fire that kills Meleager. She does this after Meleager kills her sons or brothers.

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Amalthea

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The goat whose milk fed Zeus as an infant.

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Anesidora

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Another name for Pandora. Means “She who sends up gifts”.

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Adamant

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Aphrodite (Roman: Venus)

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The goddess of erotic love. She was spawned from the foam that arose around Uranus’ genitals when they were thrown in the water.

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Aphros

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Another name for Aphrodite.

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Apollo (Phoebus)

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A god of youth, music, prophecy, archery, and healing. Son of Zeus and Leto.

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Archaic Period

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(ca. 620BC-480BC) Opens with the Athenian statesman Solon attempting to deal with internal political and economic tensions and ends with the Persian invasion under Xerxes.

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Ares (Roman: Mars)

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The god of war. He is hared by other gods because of this violent behaviour.

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Arête

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The Greek word used to identify what Greeks strove to achieve. It is the acknowledgement of ones greatness. Timê refers to the public acknowledgement of Arête.

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Artemis (Phoebe; Roman: Diana)

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A virgin goddess of childbirth and of wild animals. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and Sister to Apollo.

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Arthur Evans

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Journeyed to Crête and uncovered evidence of a hitherto unknown bronze age civilization.

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Atalanta

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Wife to Meleager. She was the first to hit the boar in the Calydonian boar hunt and was given the skin by Meleager. Later kills herself after Meleager dies.

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Atê

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(ruin) A state of mind that leads an individual to commit foolish error and leads to disaster. This is viewed as a delusion sent by the gods as punishment.

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Athena (Pallas; Roman: Minerva)

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Daughter of Zeus and goddess of art, crafts, and war and the patroness of Athens. She was born from Zeus’ head after he eats her mother Metis.

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Atlas

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The god that holds the sky and the earth apart. He is though to reside in northern Africa where mountains are named after him. He was also know for guarding his ‘Golden Apples” which were later stolen by Heracles.

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Atropos

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One of the three Moerae. At times she is thought to be the oldest and therefore the lead.

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Babylon

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Babylonia

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Baucis

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From Roman myth. When Zeus and Hermes visited his home town, he and his wife, Philemon, were the only two to greet them. In the end, he and his wife were saved while all others suffered. He and his wife were turned into trees in the end.

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Bellerophon

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When in Tiryns, the kings wife comes onto him. When he rejects her, the king sends him to Lycia with a letter instructing them to kill him. The King of Lycia decides to try and kill him by sending him on impossible missions to fight creatures. He kills the Chimaera, Solymoi, Amazons, and then ambushes him. When he survives, he allows him to marry his daughter. He later dies when he tries to reach the top of Olympus on his flying horse Pegasus. Pegasus bucks him off.

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Black Figure

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Developed in Corinth and prominent in Athenian pottery c. 630BC. It seems to disappear after 470BC.

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Centaurs

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Half-man, Half-horse creatures. Known for being violent. The centaur was Centaurus, who was born from Ixion and a cloud (Nephele) who was shaped like Hera.

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Chaos

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Literally means ‘black void’. Appears with Gaia, Tartarus, and Eos. Give birth to Nyx (night) and Erebus (darkness of the underworld).

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Charites

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Also known as the Graces. They play little role besides helping the female goddesses and offering young women beauty. They youngest of the Charites (Pasithea) was promised to Hypnos in marriage.

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Classical Period

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(480BC- 323BC) was the most productive period in Greek history. Opens with the rise of Athens and ends with the death of Alexander

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Clotho

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One of the three Moerae. She is known as the spinner. At times she is considered to be the lead of the three Moerae.

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Cnossus

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The largest palace of the Minoan society in Crete. Shows signs of this sophisticated society

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Competitive values

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Winning at all costs and doing whatever it takes to win. Takes to form of a zero-sum society in which winning can only come from the defeat of others.

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Cooperative values

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Placing the good of the group above that of an individuals.

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Cosmogony

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Literally meaning “Birth of the Cosmos”

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Cronus (Roman: Saturn)

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Son of Uranus and Gaia. He castrated his father and became the new god of the sky. He tried to avoid his succession by eating his children. He was fooled by his wife, Rhea, and ate a stone he thought was Zeus and is later defeated by him.

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Cycladic

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Refers to the Bronze Age cultures of the island of the Aegean

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Cyclopes

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Extremely strong one eyes beasts. They were said to have manufactured Zeus’ lightning bolds. They were also said to have build the walls around Hellina, which is why it is called cyclopean masonry.

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Daphne

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Was struck by an arrow from cupid that repelled her from Apollo who loved her. When Apollo was about to catch her (i.e. rape) she prayed and was turned into a laurel tree.

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Delphic Maxims

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The two rules to govern one’s self by from Homer’s time. The idea is to not act in excess in anything you do or you will be punished. The rules are (1) Know thyself and (2) Nothing in Excess.

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Demeter (Roman: Ceres)

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Ancient god of Corn and in general the earth. Was rescued from his father by Zeus.

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Demos

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A word used to describe common people. Those that had no special status in society.

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Deucalion

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The last surviving man from the great flood. He is the husband of Pyrrha. His name is the Greek word for Noah.

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Dike

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(Justice) a divine rule set out by Solon.

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Dodona

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Was one of the most ancient centers of worship for Zeus.

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Eileithyia

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Goddess of childbirth. She shares the role with Hera. Sometimes merges in identity with Hera. She is a daughter of Zeus and Hera.

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Elpis

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The Greek word for hope. The only thing that is left in Pandora’s Pithos after Epimetheus opens it.

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Endymion

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Was loved by Selene. He wished to sleep forever with aging. He and Selene had 50 daughters.

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Eos

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The goddess of Dawn. She was called Aurora by the Romans. Her story of Tithonus is known because she asked for his immortality from Zeus, which was granted but forgot to ask for him to remain ageless.

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Ephialtes

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One of a set of twin giants who were conceived by their mother pouring seawater on her lap until she conceived. The giant twins caused trouble and began to stack mountains on each other to reach the heavens. Eventually they were struck down by the gods.

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Epic Cycle

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A series of now lost shorter epics on a variety of themes, but most designed to fill in parts of the Trojan saga omitted by Homer.

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Epimetheus

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(afterthought) is the brother of Prometheus. He married the first woman (Pandora) and was the one who opened her Pithos which contained all of the world’s evils.

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Erebus

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Literally, Darkness of the underworld.

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Erinyes (Furies)

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Born from the drops from Uranus’ genitals. They are thought to be the ones who exert the punishment of the gods. They also tormented those who killed the older sibling or those who killed someone with power over them.

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Eris

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An unliked goddess. When she was not allowed into a wedding, she threw in a golden apple for “the finest” which is said to have started the Trojan War.

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Eros (Roman: Amor / Cupid)

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Was one of the first gods. Is known to be the god of love or childbirth. In later tradition is thought to be the younger of the gods.

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Etiological myth

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A myth that gives the origin of something such as a tradition.

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Gaia (Ge)

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Goddess of the earth. She gave birth to Uranus, who became god of the sky and ruled with her. She later gave her son Cronus a sickle to castrate his father. She is thought to be a wise yet cunning character in Greek myth.

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Ganymede

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The Trojan prince that was brought to Olympus because of his beauty. His role was to serve the gods drinks. He was thought to be a homosexual partner of Zeus

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Gegeneis [Giants]

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Born from the droppings of Uranus’ castrated genitals. They were said to be brutish and fought on the side of the titans in the war against the Olympians. They lived in Phlegra, Thrace.

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Guilt culture

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A culture where individuals seem to hold themselves to certain moral standards. There are Cooperative Values. Peoples decisions “should” be based on the greater good.

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Hebe

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Goddess of youthful Bloom. She was a servant to the gods. She marries Heracles when he wins immortality. She was a cupbearer for the Gods.

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Hecate

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Goddess of the underworld. She was said to be honored by Zeus and was the only titan to be honored by other gods.

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Hecatonchires [100-handed]

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Beasts with 50 heads and 100 arms. Cronus was jealous of his children’s strength, so he hit them in Gaia. Zeus freed them to help battle the Titans. They later guarded the imprisoned Titans in Tartarus.

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Heinrich Schliemann

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A German banker who traveled to Turkey and unearthed a city in the location of ancient Troy. Discovered evidence in Greece and discovered evidence of a rich and powerful civilization in Mycenae and Tiryns.

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Helicon

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A mountain range that was thought to be the location of the muses. This is the place Hesiod said he met a muse who inspired him to write the theogony.

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Helius (Sol in Roman)

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The sun and God of the sun. He was often confused with his father Hyperion. He drove a four horse chariot over the sky and was the watcher of the earth. Aphrodite was angry at him for reporting her affair, so she made him fall in love with Leucothoe, a well guarded princess.

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Helladic

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Items that came from the Hellenistic Period.

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Hellas

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“Greece”

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Hellenic

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“Greek”

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Hellenistic

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“Greek Like”

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Hellenistic Period

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(323BC-30BC) Covers from the death of Alexander to the death of Cleopatra. After the death of Alexander, the Greek empire was split into dynasties and controlled by Alexander’s former generals. In this age, Greek culture spread greatly. The first scholarly center was created for the preservation of ancient works and written work.

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Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan)

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One of the 12 Olympians. He was ordered by Zeus to bind Prometheus in bonds of steel and pin him with a stake through his chest. He created the flower of fire which Prometheus stole. He is the god of fire and smith. His wife is Aphrodite. He catches Ares and Aphrodite sleeping together.

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Hera (Roman: Juno)

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The wife of Zeus. She is associated with the peacock. Argos was a sacred centre for her worship. She is often portrayed with a crown and scepter.

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Hermes (Roman: Mercury)

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The herald and messenger of the gods and guide of travelers.

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Hesperides

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Nymphs that guarded the golden apples. It is not consistent how many of them there were, but legends say three, four, or seven.

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Hestia (Roman: Vesta)

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The Greek word for ‘Hearth’. She is the goddess of hearth and its sacred fire. She is also the goddess of chastity.

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Hieros Gamos

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Refers to sexual intercourse or marriage between gods and goddesses.

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Hippodamia

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Her father is Oenmaus. She was won as the wife to Pelops in a chariot race. She was almost carried off by centaurs during her wedding to Pitithous.

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Hittite Empire

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The empire of Turkey during the Bronze Age. They are known as Indo-Europeans

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Homeridae

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A highly skilled gild of rhapsodists.

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Hybris

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The second of three stages that leads to an individual’s downfall. This is the point when an individual who has Ploutos and success gets ‘cocky’ and arrogant. This leads to the third stage, Ate.

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Hyperion

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A Titan and the sun god. He bore 3 children with his sister Theia. They were Eos (dawn), Helius (sun), and Selene (moon).

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Hypnos

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Sleep and the god of sleep. Son of Nyx (night) and brother to Thanatos (Death)

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Indo-Europeans

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They began to appear in Greece in c. 1900 and 1800. They most likely came from the southern steppes of Russia.

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Iris

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A rainbow and a messenger for either Zeus or Hera.

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Itys

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Son of Tereus and Procne. He is killed when his mother is getting revenge on Tereus. He is then fed to his father.

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Ixion

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Was in love with Hera. When Zeus found out, he crafted a cloud (Nephele) to look like Hera and fool Ixion. His punishment for his behaviour was to be tied to a fire wheel and spun for eternity.

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Joseph

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Was sold into slavery by his brothers and becomes the head servant. When his master’s wife comes onto him and he turns her away, she claims rape and he is sent to prison. He is then taken in by the pharos because of his smarts.

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Koros

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The first of three stages that lead to ones downfall. This is an overwhelming amount of wealth (Ploutos) and success. This quickly leads to the second stage of Hybris.

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Lachesis

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One of the three Moerae. Her name literally means Apportioner of Lots.

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Lapiths

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A tribe in northern Thessaly. Famous for their battle with the Centaurs. Peirithous was the king and they are descendants of Ixion.

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Late Bronze Age

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(ca. 1900BC- 1100BC) provides the historical basis for many Greek myths and legends. Major societies in this age consisted of Crete with ruler Minos, Tiryns with Heracles, Mycenae with Agamemnon, and Pylos with Nestor.

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Leto

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The mother of Apollo and Artemis. She was one of the first lovers of Zeus. She was hated by Hera even though she was with Zeus before the two married. She was often criticized wherever she went.

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Leucothoë

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Daughter of Persian king Orchamus. Helius fell in love with her because of Aphrodite. Helius sneaks into her room to see her and when her father finds out, he buries her alive as a punishment. Helius then transforms her into a shrub that gives frankincense.

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Linear B

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The ancient writing used by those during the Mycenaean age.

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Lot

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Lycaon

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When Zeus was among humans, he tested to see if Zeus was really a god. His evil act forced Zeus to bring upon the flood. After trying to kill Zeus, he ran into the courtyard and was turned into a wolf.

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Marsyas

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earned to play the flute and challenged Apollo to a musical contest. When he lost, Apollo flayed him alive.

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Mecone

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The sacrifice site where Prometheus fooled Zeus in the sacrifice of an ox.

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Meleager

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Involved in the Calydonian boar hunt. Kills the boar and gains glory. He is killed by his mother after he kills either his brothers or uncles.

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Mesopotamia

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Middle eastern culture during the Bronze age. This included Sumur, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires.

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Metis

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The daughter of Ge and Uranus. She gave Cronus an emetic so he would throw up the other Olympians. She later gave birth to Zeus’ children and when she was going to give birth to the one that was to overthrow Zeus, he ate Metis. Athena was then born through Zeus’ head.

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Miasma

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The idea of religious pollution. It is said that people who do bad things cant got near others, in temples, to the marketplace etc. because their evilness is contagious.

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Minoan

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Refers to the culture of Bronze Age Crete. It is considered to be one of the most impressive civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean. First arose in c. 1900bc and was devastated in c. 1700bc by an earthquake. Its largest Palace is at Cnossus. All palaces except Cnossus were destroyed in c. 1450bc. and Cnossus was destroyed 75 years later, but was most likely under the control of mainland Greeks.

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Minos

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King of the Minoan culture of the Bronze Age. He ruled a powerful naval force. He is involved in the legend concerning the Minotaur.

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Mnemosyne

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Mnemosyne - Titaness of memory. She slept with Zeus and gave birth to 9 Muses.

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Moirae (Roman: Parcae)

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Also known as the Fates. There are three of them. They are referred to as Spinners because they were spinners of life. The three Moirae are Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis. In some circumstances they follow the will of Zeus, but at other times seem to be above Zeus.

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Muses

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They were goddesses who inspired those who were proficient in the arts. There were 9 daughters born to Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory). They highly influenced Hesiod.

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Mycenaean Age (with dates)

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Is the flourishing Helladic culture in ca. 1600-1100 BC. Mycenaean Greeks were prosperous in the 15th and 14th centuries and the early 13th century was known as the golden age. In the mid 13th Century, Thebes was sacked. The Hittite empire collapsed around 1200BC.

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Nephele

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Greek word for cloud. Nephele was crafted to look like Hera and trick Ixion. She later gave birth to the first Centaur.

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Nephilim

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The offspring of humans and sons of god in the bible.

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Nereus

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An ancient sea god. Was captured by Heracles until he revealed the whereabouts of a secret garden

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Nomos

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Custom, Convention, Tradition. Doing things that way of ones forefathers because doing something different might upset the gods.

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Ocean [Oceanus]

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God of all rivers. He did not take part in the war with the Olympians. He was thought to have kept Hera safe during the war.

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Oeneus

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King of Calydon and father of Deianira and Meleager. Husband to Althaea.

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Olbos

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A form of wealth that includes health as well as money and success.

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Otus

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One of a set of twin giants who were conceived by their mother pouring seawater on her lap until she conceived. The giant twins caused trouble and began to stack mountains on each other to reach the heavens. Eventually they were struck down by the gods.

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Overdetermination

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Tendency to see two levels of causation (one human and the other divine) at work simultaneously in any human action. Or a decision that has particularly important consequences.

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Ovid, Metamorphoses (published ca. AD 8

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The most influential work on classical myth to be written in antiquity.

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Pandora

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The first woman. She was crafted by Hephaestus and given other traits from other gods. She married Epimetheus and brought with her all of the evils of the world in a pithos.

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Philemon

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From Roman myth. When Zeus and Hermes visited her home town, she and her husband, Baucis, were the only two to greet them. In the end, she and her husband were saved while all others suffered. The two were turned into trees in the end.

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Philomela

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The sister of Procne. She was raped by Procne’s husband Tereus and had her tongue cut out. After being imprisoned in the forest by Tereus, she makes a blanket that tells her story and gets it to Procne. After killing Procne’s son she turns into a Swallow.

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Philommeides

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Another name for Aphrodite???

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Pirithoüs

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A Lapith Chieftain. He married Hippodamia.

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Pithos

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A large stone jar that was used to store oils or liquids. This is what Pandora carried all of the world’s evils in.

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Ploutos

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Wealth in a general sense.

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Poseidon (Roman: Neptune)

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God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses and brother to Zeus.

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Potiphar’s wife

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From a story in the bible, Joseph is the head servant and who is sought by the wife of his master. When he resists her, she claims that he tried to rape her and he is imprisoned. This is similar to the story of Bellerophon.

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Procne

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Wife to Tereus. Her sister is raped by Tereus and when she finds out she frees her sister. The two of them kill her son and feed him to Tereus. When Tereus attacks them, she turns into a nightingale.

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Prometheus

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The god of forethought. He was thought to be a very cunning and trickster god. He always tried to help others. He did this by warning his brother not to accept gifts from gods. He also helped humans get the better deal through sacrifices by tricking Zeus. He then stole fire from Zeus and gave it to humans. His punishment was to be chained up for eternity and have his liver eaten by an eagle.

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PS.-Apollodorus, The Library (ca. AD 120)

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A collection of ancient books???

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Pyrrha

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The only surviving woman of the great flood. She survived with her husband Deucalion. She threw stones over her shoulder to repopulate the earth.

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Quid pro quo

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“one thing in return for another”

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Red Figure

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Comes into play in 530BC and is the opposite of black figure. It provides for the extinction of Black figure pottery. It is around until c.320BC

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Rhea

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The second goddess of the earth. She was a wife to Cronus and gave birth to the Olympians. She fed Cronus a stone instead of Zeus when he was trying to prevent his succession.

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Salmoneus

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Brother of Sisyphus. He went around on a chariot dragging drums and imitating Zeus. He was punished by being struck down by Zeus.

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Selene

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Goddess of the moon. She was seduced by Pan with a gift of a beautiful fleece. Another story concerning her was the story of Endymion, who she was in love with so she offered him any boom he wished. He wished to sleep forever without aging. Selene had 50 daughters by him.

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Shame culture

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The focus is on one’s personal standing. An individual’s focus was not what they thought of themselves and their own actions, but what others thought of them. “Winning is everything” and you should win at whatever cost. There were Competitive Values.

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Sisyphus

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A cunning villain that betrays Zeus. He then captures Thanatus (god of death) who had been sent to punish him. He avoids death a second time by instructing Merope not to perform burial rights on him. His punishment is to push a rock uphill for eternity.

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Styx

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A river and a rover goddess. She lives in Hades. She was one of the first to help Zeus gain power, and Zeus honored her for that. Her river flows 7 times around Hades and the water is drunk by gods when making sacred oaths.

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Sumer

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An ancient Middle Eastern city.

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Tantalus

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He is a son of Zeus. He attempts to steal Nectar and Ambrosia from the gods and share it with mortals. In an alternate version he tries to fool the gods by feeding them his son. Only Demeter falls for this. His punishment in both cases is to be tantalized in the underworld for eternity.

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Tartarus

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Darkness. It is said to below Hades or at least below the earth. It is the equal distance from the earth as the sky.

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Tereus

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Rapes his wife sister (Philomela) and imprisons her. When she is freed by Procne, his son is killed by them and he is then fed his son.

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Tethys

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Ancient goddess of the sea and rivers. She was married to Oceanus.

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The Flood

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Zeus sends a great flood to the earth because he feels that the earth has been corrupted. He plans to wipe out all of those who act against the gods. He does this because he wants to protect the land for those closest to him, the demigods and nymphs etc. This is most common story across ancient myths.

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Themis

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A goddess of the earth. She was the second wife of Zeus and gave birth to children Eunomia (order), Dike (Justice), and Eriene (Peace). She was said to have the ability to see into the future. She is also thought to be the mother of Prometheus.

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Theogony

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Literally meaning “Birth of the Gods”

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Theomachus

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One who challenges or battles against the gods – A familiar figure in early Mesopotamian and Greek Myth.

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Theos

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A Greek word for ‘god’. Was originally a descriptive word of something that was mysterious, beyond mortal men, powerful, and dangerous.

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Theseus

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Insisted on being one of the 7 boys to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Upon princess Ariadne’s advice, he used a ball of yarn to find his way out of the labyrinth after he killed the Minotaur.

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Tithonus

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Snatched up by Eos and went to live with her. Was granted immortality when Eos requested it of Zeus, but did not remain ageless, so he is simply put into a room and the door is closed when he gets old. One legend says that Eos turned him into a grasshopper.

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Tityus

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Assaults Leto. He is then struck down by Apollo, Leto’s son. His punishment was to be sprawled out for eternity in the underworld and have his liver eaten out by vultures or snakes periodically.

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Typhoeus (Typhon)

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A strong beast with 100 snake heads that challenged Zeus after the war with the Titans. Zeus defeated him by striking him with his thunderbolts then throwing a mountain on him.

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Uranus

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The first god of the sky and ruler of the gods. Was born of Gaia and later married her. He tried to avoid succession by imprisoning his children in Gaia. He was castrated by Cronus during sex with Gaia.

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White Ground

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Comes into play in the 6th century BC and is used until the Classical period.

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Zeus (Roman: Jupiter, Jove

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King of the gods.

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Acheron

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In ancient times the word Acheron was interpreted as ὁ ἄχεα ῥέων (ho akhea rheōn), meaning "the stream of woe", and it was believed to be a branch of the underworld river Styx over which in ancientGreek mythology Charon ferried the newly dead souls across into Hades. The lake called Acherousia and the river still called Acheron with the nearby ruins of the Necromanteion are found near Parga on the mainland opposite Corfu.

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Actaeon

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In Greek mythology, Actaeon (pronounced /ækˈtiən/) (Greek: Ακταίων), son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe inBoeotia, was a famous Theban hero,[1] trained by the centaur Cheiron,[2] who suffered the fatal wrath of Artemis; (later his myth was attached to her Roman counterpart Diana). The surviving details of his transgression vary: "the only certainty is in what Aktaion suffered, his πάθος, and what Artemis did: the hunter became the hunted; he was transformed into a stag, and his raging hounds, struck with a 'wolf's frenzy' (λύσσα), tore him apart as they would a stag."[3] This is the iconic motif by which Actaeon is recognized, both in ancient art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance depictions.

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Aegis

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The aegis (Greek Αιγίς), already attested in the Iliad, is the shield or buckler of Pallas Athena or of Zeus, which according toHomer was fashioned by Hephaestus. Virgil imagines the Cyclopes in Hephaestus' forge, who "busily burnished the aegis Athene wears in her angry moods--a fearsome thing with a surface of gold like scaly snake-skin, and he linked serpents and the Gorgon herself upon the goddess’ breast--a severed head rolling its eyes." -- [1] furnished with golden tassels and bearing the Gorgoneion(Medusa's head) in the central boss. Some of the Attic vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been serpents in their representations of the ægis. When the Olympian deities overtook the older deities of Greece and she was born of Metis (inside Zeus who had swallowed the goddess) and "re-born" through the head of Zeus fully clothed, Athene already wore her typical garments.

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Alcmena

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According to Apollodorus, Alcmene went with Amphitryon to Thebes, where he was purified by Creon for accidentally killing Electryon. Alcmene refused to marry Amphitryon until he had avenged the death of her brothers.[4] However, during Amphitryon's expedition against theTaphians and Teleboans,[5] Zeus visited Alcmene disguised as Amphitryon. Extending one night into three, Zeus slept with Alcmene (thereby conceiving Heracles) and recounted Amphitryon's victories against the Teleboans. When Amphitryon finally returned to Thebes, Alcmene told him that he had come the night before and slept with her; he learned from Tiresias what Zeus had done.[6]

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Amphitrite

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Amphitrite was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (and thus a Nereid), according to Hesiod's Theogony, but of Oceanus and Tethys (and thus an Oceanid), according to Apollodorus, who actually lists her among both the Nereids[3] and the Oceanids[4]. Others called her the personification of the sea itself. Amphitrite's offspring included seals [5] and dolphins.[6] By her, Poseidon had a son, Triton, and a daughter, Rhode (if this Rhode was not actually fathered by Poseidon on Halia or was not the daughter of Asopus as others claim). Apollodorus (3.15.4) also mentions a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite namedBenthesikyme. Amphitrite is not fully personified in the Homeric epics: "out on the open sea, in Amphitrite's breakers" (Odyssey iii.101); she shares her Homeric epithet Halosydne ("sea-nourished")[7] withThetis[8]: in some sense the sea-nymphs are doublets.

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Amymone

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In Greek mythology, Amymone (the "blameless" one) was a daughter of Danaus. As the "blameless" Danaid, her name identifies her as, perhaps, identical to Hypermnestra ("great wooing" or "high marriage"), also the one Danaid who did not assassinate her Egyptian husband on their wedding night, as her 49 sisters did. (See the myth at the entry for Danaus.)Apollodorus, in his list of names for the Danaids, does mention both Hypermnestra and Amymone, however (Library 2.1.5)
Poseidon, in archaic times the consort of the two goddesses Demeter and Persephone in Argos, had dried up all the region's springs after the Argolid was awarded to the protection of Hera. It would appear from the myth that Poseidon preceded Hera in the heartland of her cult. But he rescued Amymone from a chthonic satyr that was about to rape her. To possess her himself, the god revealed the springs of Lerna, a cult site of great antiquity near the shores of the Argolid. To Poseidon she bore Nauplius, "the navigator," who gave his name to the port city of Argos.
Amymone, the blameless, was eventually reconciled with her father, and given in marriage to Lynceus, with whom she founded a race of kings that led to Danae, the mother of Perseus, founder of Mycenae. Thus this founding myth of Argos also asserts that Argos was the metropolis ("mother city") of Mycenae.
Amymone/Hypermnestra is represented with a water pitcher, a reminder of the sacred springs and lake of Lerna and of the copious wells that made Argos the "well-watered" and, by contrast, a reminder that her sisters were forever punished in Tartarus for their murderous crimes by fruitlessly drawing water in pitchers with open bases.

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Anakalypsis

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Insert answer

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Arachne

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Arachne was the daughter of Idmon of Colophon, who was a famous wool dyer in Tyrian purple. She was a fine weaver in Hypaepa of Lydia.[3] She was as skillful as the finest artist of the day and much praise was given to her in Hypaepa, where she had her workshop.
This all went to her head and eventually Arachne became so conceited of her skill as a weaver that she began claiming that her skill was greater than that of Athena,[4] the goddess of wisdom and war as well as the weaving arts. Athena was angered, but gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself. Assuming the form of an old woman, she warned Arachne not to offend the gods. Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill. Athena dropped her disguise and the contest began.
Athena wove the scene of her victory over Neptune that had inspired the people of Athens to name their city for her. According to Ovid's Latin narrative, Arachne's tapestry featured twenty-one episodes of the infidelity of the gods, disguised as animals: Jupiter being unfaithful with Leda, with Europa, with Danaë.
Even Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's disrespectful choice of subjects that displayed the failings and transgressions of the gods. This takes for granted a late, moralizing view of Greek myth. Finally losing her temper, she destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom, striking it with her shuttle, and struck Arachne on the head as well. Arachne realized her folly and was crushed with shame. She ran off and hung herself.
In Ovid's telling, Athena took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena loosened the rope, which became a spider web, while Arachne herself was changed into a spider. The story suggests that the origin of weaving lay in imitation of spiders and that it was considered to have been perfected first in Asia Minor.

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Argus

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Argus, builder of the ship Argo in the tale of the Argonauts

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Asclepius

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Asclepius (pronounced /æsˈkliːpiəs/, Greek Ἀσκληπιός, transliterated Asklēpiós; Latin Aesculapius) is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts, while his daughters Hygieia,Meditrina, Iaso, Aceso, Aglæa/Ægle and Panacea (literally, "all-healing") symbolize the forces of cleanliness, medicine, and healing, respectively. He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. His mother was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but the unborn child was rescued from her womb. From this he received the name Asklepios "to cut open."[2]
Apollo carried the babe to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine[3]

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Athena Promachus

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The Promachus Athena, also known as the 'Great Bronze Athena', was an immense statue of the goddess of fifty feet tall created by the sculpturer Phidias. Athena is portrayed as a warrior (promachus) and her statue stood at the left side of the Sacred Road between the Propylaea and the Parthenon.

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Autochthonous

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In mythology, people born straight from the earth, with no human parents.

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Caenis / Caeneus

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Caenis, the daughter of Elatus (a Lapith chieftain) and Hippea, was raped by Poseidon, who then fulfilled her request to be changed into a man so that she could never be raped again; he also made Caenis invulnerable to weaponry. Caenis then changed his name to Caeneus and became a warrior, traveling all over Thessaly, and later taking part in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.
He met his fate in the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs (see Pirithous). In one description of the tale, a particular centaur, Latreus, mocks Caeneus and denies his skill as a fighter when he realizes Caeneus' female origin. Caeneus strikes Latreus a blow in the side, and is unharmed by the centaur's last attempts at wounding him. In revenge for this, the centaurs piled pine-tree trunks (some say fir trees) and stones upon him since he was immune to weapons.

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Callisto

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As a follower of Artemis, Callisto, whom Hesiod said[1] was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia,[2] took a vow to remain a virgin, as did all the nymphs of Artemis. But to have her, Zeus disguised himself, Ovid says, as Artemis/Diana herself, in order to lure her into his embrace and rape her. Callisto was then turned into a bear, as Hesiod had told it:
...but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen bathing and so discovered. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she became a bear and gave birth to a son called Zuthra.
Either Artemis "slew Kallisto with a shot of her silver bow,"[3] perhaps urged by the wrath of Hera,[4] or, later, Arcas, the eponym of Arcadia, nearly killed his bear-mother, when she had wandered into the forbidden precinct of Zeus. In every case, Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major, called Arktos, the "Bear", by Greeks, and Ursa Minor.

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Capital

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Top of a column in Greek architecture.

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Cassandra

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In Greek mythology, Cassandra (Greek: Κασσάνδρα "she who entangles men"[1]) (also known as Alexandra[2]) was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy. However, when she did not return his love, Apollo placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions.

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Catabasis

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Katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld.[3] In Greek mythology, for example, Orpheus enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.
Most katabases take place in a supernatural underworld, such as Hades or Hell — as in Nekyia, the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes the descent of Odysseus to the underworld. However, katabasis can also refer to a journey through other dystopic areas, such as what Odysseus encounters on his 20-year journey back from Troy to Ithaca. Pilar Serrano[3] allows the term katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of Lazarus and Castor and Pollux.

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Cella

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In Ancient Greek and Roman temples the cella is a room at the centre of the building, usually containing a cult image or statue (execrated by Early Christians as an "idol") representing the particular deity venerated in the temple. In addition the cella may contain a table or plinth to receive votiveofferings such as votive statues, precious and semi-precious stones, helmets, spear and arrow heads, and swords. The accumulated offerings made Greek and Roman temples virtual treasuries, and many of them were indeed used as treasuries during antiquity.
The cella is typically a simple, windowless, rectangular room with a door or open entrance at the front behind a colonnaded portico facade. In larger temples, the cella was typically divided by two colonnades into a central nave flanked by two aisles. A cella may also contain an adyton, an inner area restricted to access by the priests—in religions that had a consecrated priesthood—or by the temple guard.

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Cephalus

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The other Cephalus was an Aeolian, the son of Deioneus (also called Deion), ruler of Phocis, and Diomede, and grandson of Aeolus. Cephalus was married to Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus. The goddess Eos, of dawn (Aurora at Rome) kidnapped Cephalus when he was hunting. Cephalus and Eos became lovers, and she bore him a son named Phaëthon (not to be confused with the son of the sun-god Helios). Some sources also give Tithonos and Hesperus as children of Cephalus and Eos. However, after some years, Cephalus began pining for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her - and put a curse on them.
Procris had come into possession of a magical javelin, given by Diana that never missed its target, as well as a hunting hound (named Laelaps) that always caught its prey. The hound met its end chasing a fox (the Teumessian vixen) which could not be caught; both fox and the hound were turned into stone. But the javelin continued to be used by Cephalus, who was an avid hunter.
Although Cephalus and Procris were reconciled, Procris remained suspicious. Cephalus sat by a tree one day, hot after hunting, and sang a little hymn to the wind (Aura). A passerby heard him and thought he was serenading a lover. Procris found out and the next day went out to find him. As he sat singing the same hymn, she thought he was singing to his ex-lover Eos (Aurora) and moved. Cephalus, hearing a stirring in the brush and thinking the noise came from an animal, threw the never-erring javelin in the direction of the sound - and Procris was impaled. As she lay dying in his arms, she told him "On our wedding vows, please never marry Eos". Cephalus was distraught at the death of his beloved Procris, and went into exile. (For different versions of this story, see Procris.) Later, Cephalus helped Amphitryon of Mycenae in a war against the Taphians and Teleboans. He was awarded with the island of Samos, which thereafter came to be known as Cephallenia. The people who lived on Cephallenia and nearby islands came to be known as Cephallenians.
Cephalus eventually married again, choosing a daughter of Minyas to be his wife. This woman (named Clymene, according to some sources) bore him a son named Arcesius. Arceisius succeeded Cephalus as ruler of his Cephallenian realm. This Arceisius was the grandfather of Odysseus, son of Laertes. Nevertheless, Cephalus never forgave himself over the death of Procris, and he committed suicide by leaping from Cape Leucas into the sea.

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Cerberus

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Cerberus (Greek: Κέρβερος, Kérberos) is the name given to the entity which, in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping. Cerberus featured in many prominent works of ancient Greek and Roman literature and in works of both ancient and modern art and architecture. As with most creatures from classical mythology, the depiction and background surrounding Cerberus often differed across various works by different authors of the era, the most notable difference being his number of heads; while most sources describe or depict three heads, others show him with two or even just one, a lesser number show a variable amount, sometimes as high as 50.

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Charon

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In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (Greek Χάρων; IPA: /ˈkɛərən/) was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person.[1] Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years. In the catabasis mytheme, heroes — such as Heracles, Orpheus, Aeneas, Dionysus and Psyche — journey to the underworld and return, still alive, conveyed by the boat of Charon. No ancient source provides a genealogy for the ferryman.[2]

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Charun

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In Etruscan mythology, Charun (also spelled Charu, or Karun) was the psychopomp of the underworld, not to be confused with the lord of the underworld, known to the Etruscans as Aita. He is often portrayed with the goddess Vanth, a winged goddess also associated with the underworld.

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Chryselephantine

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Chryselephantine (from Greek χρυσός, chrysós, gold, and ελεφάντινος, elephántinos, ivory) is the technical term given to a type of cult statue that enjoyed high status in Ancient Greece.
Chryselephantine statues were built around a wooden frame, with thin carved slabs of ivory attached, representing the flesh, and sheets of gold leafrepresenting the garments, armour, hair, and other details. In some cases, glass paste, glass, precious and semi-precious stones were used for detail such as eyes, jewellery, and weaponry.
The origins of the technique are not known. There are known 2nd millennium BC examples of composite sculptures made of ivory and gold from areas that became part of the Greek world, most famously the so-called "Palaikastro Kouros" (not to be confused with the Archaic statues known by that term) fromMinoan Palaikastro, circa 1,500 BC. It is, however, not clear whether the Greek chryselephantine tradition is connected with them. Chryselephantine sculpture became widespread during the Archaic period. Later, Acrolithitic statues, with marble heads and extremities, and a wooden trunk either gilded or covered in drapery, were a comparable technique used for cult images.

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Chthonic

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Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος - chthonios, "in, under, or beneath the earth", from χθών - chthōn "earth"[1]; pertaining to the Earth; earthy; subterranean) designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.
Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does) or the land as territory (as khora (χώρα) does). It evokes at once abundance and the grave.

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Cocytus

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Cocytus or Kokytos, meaning "the river of wailing" (from the Greek κωκυτός, "lamentation"), is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flowed into the river Acheron, across which dwelled the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead. There are five rivers encircling Hades. The RiverStyx is perhaps the most famous; the other rivers are Phlegethon, Lethe, and Acheron.

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Corinthian Order

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The Corinthian order is one of the Classical orders of Greek and Roman architecture, characterized by a slender fluted column and an ornate capitaldecorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. Although of Greek origin, the Corinthian order was seldom used in Greek architecture. The other two orders were the Doric and the Ionic. (When classical architecture was revived, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order.)

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Cornucopia

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The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty,Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone.
In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk. When her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together, this changed Amalthea into a unicorn with 17 whiskers.[citation needed] The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn. The horn then had supernatural powers which would give the person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat's horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, was depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman's fertility.
Alternately, Amalthea may have been a nymph asked to nurse baby Zeus while he was being hidden from Cronus. Since she hid on Mount Aigaion, which means Mountain of the Goat, suppositions follow that she was either a goat nymph or a nymph who tended goats. Therefore, either her horn was broken or her goat's horn was broken while playing with Zeus. In recompense, the God Zeus created the cornucopia. Further evidence for this is that Amalthea is another name for the constellation Capricornus, the goat.

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Cynthia

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Cynthia is a personal name of Greek origin (Κυνθία, Kynthía) meaning "from Mount Cynthus" on Delos island. It can be abbreviated as Cindy.
Cynthia was originally an epithet of the Greek goddess of the moon, Artemis, who was sometimes called "Cynthia" because, according to legend, the goddess was born on Mount Cynthus.

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Cyparissus

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In Greek mythology, the myth set in Chios tells of Cyparissus (Greek: κυπάρισσος, "Kyparissos" Latin: cupressus, "cypress"), a young boy and son of Telephus. Though the mythic context and the setting is Hellenic, the subject is essentially known from Hellenizing Latin literature and Pompeiian frescoes.[1]
Apollo gave the boy a tame deer as a companion, but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay asleep in the undergrowth. The gift of a hunter's prey is an initiatory gift in the sphere of the hunt, a supervised preparation for the manly arts of war and a testing ground for behavior (Koch-Harnack 1983). The tameness of the deer may be purely Ovidian. In a late reversal of the boy's traditional role, perhaps an interpretation applied by Ovid,[2] Cyparissus asks Apollo to let his tears fall forever. Apollo turns the sad boy into a cypress tree, whose sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk. Cypress was one of the trees Orpheus charmed.

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Cypress tree

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Danaë

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In Greek mythology, Danaë (Ancient Greek: Δανάη, English translation: "parched") was a daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Eurydice (no relation to Orpheus' Eurydice). She was the mother of Perseus by Zeus. She was sometimes credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium.
Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, Acrisius asked an oracle if this would change. The oracle told him to go to the Earth's end where he would be killed by his daughter's child. She was childless and, meaning to keep her so, he shut her up in a bronze tower or cave. But Zeus came to her in the form of golden rain, and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.
None too happy, but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods by killing his offspring, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest. The sea was calmed by Poseidon at the request of Zeus and the pair survived. They washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in byDictys, the brother of King Polydectes, who raised the boy to manhood.

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Daphne

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According to Greek myth, Apollo chased the nymph Daphne (Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel"), daughter either of Peneus and Creusa in Thessaly,[1] or of the river Ladon in Arcadia.[2] The pursuit of a local nymph by an Olympian god, part of the archaic adjustment of religious cult in Greece, was given an arch anecdotal turn in Ovid's Metamorphoses,[3] where the god's infatuation was caused by an arrow from Eros, who wanted to make Apollo pay for making fun of his archery skills and to demonstrate the power of love's arrow. Ovid treats the encounter, Apollo's lapse of majesty, in the mode of elegaic lovers,[4] and expands the pursuit into a series of speeches. Daphne prays for help either to the river god Peneus or to Gaia, and is transformed into a laurel (Laurus nobilis): "a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breast, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left."[5] The laurel became sacred to Apollo, and crowned the victors at the Pythian Games.[6] Most artistic impressions of the myth focus on the moment of transformation.

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Delos

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The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece.

Delos had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its Sacred Harbour, the horizon shows the two conical mounds that have identified landscapes sacred to a goddess in other sites: one, retaining its archaic name Mount Kynthos,[2] is crowned with a sanctuary of Dionysus.

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Island

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Delphi

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Delphi (Greek Δελφοί, [ðe̞lˈfi]) (pronounce[1] and dialectal forms [2]) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python, a deity who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. His sacred precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four panhellenic (or stephanitic) games, precursors to the Modern Olympics.
Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe. In the inner hestia("hearth") of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. After the battle of Plataea, the Greek cities extinguished their fires and brought new fire from the hearth of Greece, at Delphi; in the foundation stories of several Greek colonies, the founding colonists were first dedicated at Delphi.[3]

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Demeter

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Demeter (pronounced /de-me-tur/; Greek: Δημήτηρ, lit. "Earth-Mother" from the Doric Dā form of Greek Ge "Earth" and Meter "Mother"[1]. Or possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *dheghom[2] *mater, also called simplyΔηώ), in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure. Nourisher of the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, dated to about the seventh century BC.[3] she is invoked as the "bringer of seasons", a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of theOlympians. She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon.
Her Roman equivalent is Ceres.

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Demophoön

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In Greek mythology, Demophon (Greek: Δημοφῶν, lit. "demotic voice") was a son of King Celeus and Queen Metanira. While Demeter was searching for her daughter, Persephone, having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica. He asked her to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira. As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make Demophon as a god, by anointing and coating him with Ambrosia, breathing gently upon him while holding him in her arms and bosom, and making him immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth every night. She put him in the fire at night like a firebrand or ember without the knowledge of his parents.
Demeter was unable to complete the ritual because his mother Metanira walked in and saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright, which angered Demeter, who lamented that foolish mortals do not understand the concept and ritual.

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Dis

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An alternative Roman name for Pluto, god of the Underworld. In addition to borrowing the Greek name Pluto (from ploutos, “wealth”), the Romans translated it literally as Dives, which they contracted to Dis. Like Pluto, this name was a euphemism used by those who felt it risky to mention the god by name (Hades).

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Doric Order

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The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of Ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.
In their original Greek version, Doric columns stood directly on the flat pavement (the stylobate) of a temple without a base; their vertical shafts were fluted with 20 parallel concave grooves; and they were topped by a smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square abacus at the intersection with the horizontal beam (entablature) that they carried.

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Doso

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An alias of Demeter in Greek mythology

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Eleusis

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Elefsina (Greek: Ελευσίνα, Ancient/Katharevousa: Ἐλευσίς Eleusis) is a town and municipality about 20 km NW of Athens. It is located near the northernmost end of the Saronic Gulf and is the seat of administration of West Attica Prefecture. It is best known for having been the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous religious center of ancient Greece.[3] It was also the birth place of Aeschylus, one of the three great tragedians of antiquity.

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Elysium / Elysian Fields

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In Greek mythology, Elysium (Greek: Ἠλύσια πεδία) was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). The Elysian Fields, or the Elysian Plains, were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.

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Endymion

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In Greek mythology, Endymion (Ἐνδυμίων [1]) could have been a handsome Aeolian shepherd or hunter, or, even a king who ruled and was said to reside at Olympia in Elis, but he was also said to reside and was venerated on Mount Latmus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor.
There is confusion over the number of Endymions, as some sources suppose that one was or was related to the prince of Elis and the other was a shepherd or astronomer from Caria. As such, there have been two attributed sites of Endymion's burial: The citizens ofHeracleia ad Latmo claimed that Endymion's tomb was on Mount Latmus, while the Eleans declared that it was at Olympia.[2]
However, the lover of Selene, the moon, is attributed primarily to an Endymion who was a either a shepherd or an astronomer, which profession provides justification for him to spend time beneath the moon.

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Eos

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Eos (Greek Ἠώς, or Ἕως "dawn") is, in Greek mythology, the Titanic goddess[1] of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the Ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the sun.

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Erastes

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In ancient Greece, the erastes (ἐραστής, "lover") (pl.: erastae) was an adult male involved in a pederastic relationship with an adolescent boy called the eromenos. Erastes was in particular an Athenian term for this role. Other terms were, in Sparta,eispnelas, "inspirer," and in Crete, philetor, "befriender."
The word was also used as a general term for any male admirer courting a particular boy, even if he had not been accepted by the boy as a bona fide lover.

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Erebus

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In Greek mythology, Erebus (ˈer.e.bus) or Erebos or Erebes (Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος, English translation: "deep blackness/darkness or shadow") was the son of a primordial god, Kaos, and represented the personification of darkness and shadow, which filled in all the corners and crannies of the world.
Erebus was said to be the offspring of Khaos alone. He was the lover of Nyx and fathered her children, Aether, and Hemera, according to Hesiod (c. 700 BC). He was also the father of Geras according to Hyginus (c. AD 1).
In later legends, Erebus was said to be a part of Hades, the underworld. It was where the dead had to pass immediately after dying. After Karon ferried them across the river Acheron, they entered Tartarus, the underworld proper. Erebus was often used as a synonym for Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.

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Erinyes

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In Greek mythology the Erinyes (Ἐρινύες, pl. of Ἐρίνυς Erinys; lit. "the angry ones") or Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες, pl. of Εὐμενής; lit. "the gracious ones") or Furies in Roman mythology were female, chthonic deities of vengeance or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead. They represent regeneration and the potency of creation, which both consumes and empowers. A formulaic oath in the Iliad (iii.278ff; xix.260ff) invokes them as "those who beneath the earth punish whoever has sworn a false oath." Burkert suggests they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath".[1]
When the Titan Cronos castrated his father Ouranos and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes emerged from the drops ofblood, while Aphrodite was born from the seafoam. According to a variant account, they issued from an even more primordial level—from Nyx, "Night". Their number is usually left indeterminate. Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three:Alecto ("unceasing," who appeared in Virgil's Aeneid), Megaera ("grudging"), and Tisiphone ("avenging murder"). Dante followed Virgil in depicting the same three-charactered triptych of Erinyes. The heads of the Erinyes were wreathed with serpents (compare Gorgon) and their eyes dripped with blood, rendering their appearance rather horrific. Sometimes they had the wings of a bat or bird and the body of a dog.

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Eromenos

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In the pederastic tradition of Classical Athens, the eromenos (Greek ἐρώμενος, pl. ἐρώμενοι, "eromenoi") was anadolescent boy who was in a love relationship with an adult man, known as the erastes (ἐραστής).
The term for the role often varied from one polis to another. In Athens, the eromenos was also known as thepaidika; in Sparta they used aites (hearer), a term also used in Thessaly;[1] in Crete the boys were known askleinos (glorious) and if they had fought in battle with their lover, as parastathenes (one who stands beside).
The ideal eromenos - as well as his erastes - was expected to be ruled by the principles of enkrateia, or "self-mastery," which presumed an attitude of moderation and self-restraint in all matters.

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Europa

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The daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre or Sidon, and Telephassa or Argiope. Zeus fell in love with Europa. Taking the form of a beautiful white bull, he wandered among the herds that Hermes had driven down to the seashore where Europa was playing. Before she knew what was happening, the bull was swimming toward Crete. In order to protect her, Zeus gave her Laelaps, the watchdog that Minos later gave to Procris.

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Frieze

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In architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain or—in the Ionic or Corinthian order—decorated with bas-reliefs. In an astylar wall it lies upon the architrave ('main beam') and is capped by the moldings of the cornice.
In interiors, the frieze of a room is the section of wall above the picture rail and under the crown moldings or cornice. By extension, a frieze is a long stretch of painted, sculpted or even calligraphic decoration in such a position, normally above eye-level. Frieze decorations may depict scenes in a sequence of discrete panels. The material of which the frieze is made of may be plasterwork, carved wood or other decorative medium.

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Galatea

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The story of Pygmalion appeared earliest in a Hellenistic work, Philostephanus' history of Cyprus, "De Cypro".[3] It is retold in Ovid's Metamorphoses,[4] where the king Pygmalion is made into a sculptor who fell in love with an ivory statue he had crafted with his own hands. In answer to his prayers, the goddessAphrodite brought it to life and united the couple in marriage. This novella remained the classical telling until the end of the seventeenth century. The trope of the animated statue gained a vogue during the eighteenth century.[5]
The daemon of Pygmalion's goddess, animating her cult image, bore him a son Paphus—the eponym of the city of Paphos—and Metharme. Of "this ecstatic relationship," Meyer Reinhold has remarked, "there may be lurking a survival of the ancient cult of the Great Goddess and her consort."[6]
Cinyras, perhaps the son of Paphus, ([7]), or perhaps the successful suitor of Metharme, founded the city of Paphos on Cyprus, under the patronage of Aphrodite, and built the great temple to the goddess there.
Bibliotheke, the Hellenistic compendium of myth long attributed to Apollodorus, mentions a daughter of Pygmalion named Metharme.[8] She was the wife of Cinyras, and the mother of Adonis, beloved of Aphrodite. Although Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras, is more commonly named as the mother of Adonis.
It was commonly rumored in Roman times that Praxiteles' Aphrodite of Knidos, the cult image in her temple was so beautiful that at least one admirer arranged to be shut in with it overnight.[9]
Galatea was a sea nymph.She was the daughter of the sea god, Nereus.Cyclops,the hideous monster loved her very much.But, Galatea was already in love with another man, Acis,the son of Pan.Once Cyclops got angry that Galatea didn't love him, and he found the young couple on the shore kissing,that he threw Galatea in the ocean,and he chased Acis all over his island and threw rocks at Acis, and Acis died. Cyclops felt ashamed, and ran into his cave.When Galatea reached the shore and saw that her loved one died, she weapt over Acis's dead body. When Galatea's tears mixed with the ocean foam,the sand, and Acis's blood, Acis's body turned into a blue statue,that stands in the middle of the Grece's biggest river,and the gods made Acis,the river god.

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Ganymede

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Ganymede was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida in Phrygia, the setting for more than one myth element bearing on the early mythic history of Troy. Ganymede was there, passing the time of exile many heroes undergo in their youth, by tending a flock of sheep or, alternatively, during the chthonic or rustic aspect of his education, while gathering among his friends and tutors. Zeus saw him and fell in love with him instantly, either sending an eagle or turning himself to an eagle to transport Ganymede to Mount Olympus. In the Iliad, the Achaean Diomedesis keen to capture the horses of Aeneas: "They are of the stock that great Jove gave to Tros in payment for his son Ganymede, and are the finest that live and move under the sun." (5.265ff) As a Trojan, Ganymede is identified as part of the earliest, pre-Hellenic level of Aegean myth. Plato's Laws states the opinion that the Ganymede myth had been invented by the Cretans – Minoan Crete being a power center of pre-Greek culture – to account for "pleasure [...] beyond nature"[1] imported thence into Greece, as Plato's character indignantly declares. Homer doesn't dwell on the erotic aspect of Ganymede's abduction, but it is certainly in an erotic context that the goddess refers to Ganymede's blond Trojan beauty in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, mentioning Zeus' love for Trojan Ganymede as part of her enticement of Trojan Anchises.
The Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes presents a vignette (in Book III) of an immature Ganymede losing to Eros at knucklebones, a child's game. The Roman poet Ovid adds vivid detail - and veiled irony directed against critics of homosexual love: aged tutors reaching out to grab him back with impotent fingers, and Ganymede's hounds barking uselessly at the sky.[2] Statius' Thebaid describes a cup worked with Ganymede's iconic mythos (1.549):
"Here the Phrygian hunter is borne aloft on tawny wings, Gargara’s range sinks downwards as he rises, and Troy grows dim beneath him; sadly stand his comrades; vainly the hounds weary their throats with barking, pursue his shadow or bay at the clouds."
In Olympus, Zeus made Ganymede his beloved, granting him also immortality and the office of cupbearer to the gods, supplanting Hebe. E. Veckenstedt (Ganymedes, Libau, 1881) endeavoured to prove that Ganymede is the genesis of the intoxicating drink mead, whose original home was Phrygia.

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Glaukopis

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The name Glaukopis most likely originally meant "owl-faced" or "owl-eyed"; over time, through association with Athena, it came to mean "blue-eyed" or "grey-eyed", and it is a very familiar epithet of Athena in the Odyssey. How it got from "owl" to "blue-grey" is an interesting question; my guess is that from meaning "owl-eyed" it went to "bright-eyed" or "gleaming-eyed". Now in the owl's case "bright" or "gleaming" would refer to a clear yellow; but since humans (and one would assume, human-formed Goddesses) do not usually have bright yellow eyes, the brightest, most startling natural color possible would be a light blue or grey. Related to this alternate meaning are such Greek words as glaukinos, "bluish-grey", and even Glaukos, the name of a sea-God (referring to the ocean's blue-grey color); in English the word glaucous derives from the Greek, and means "bluish-green" or "sea-green". As the color of the Sea it may also make reference to Athena as Poseidon's daughter (a different parentage than the usual in which Zeus is Her father), which is said to explain Her blue eyes.

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Greater Mysteries

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There were two Eleusinian Mysteries, the Greater and the Lesser. According to Thomas Taylor, "the dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified the miseries of the soul while in subjection to the body, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual [spiritual] vision." And that according to Plato, "the ultimate design of the Mysteries … was to lead us back to the principles from which we descended, … a perfect enjoyment of intellectual [spiritual] good."[15]
The Lesser Mysteries were held in Anthesterion (March) but the exact time was not always fixed and changed occasionally, unlike the Greater Mysteries. The priests purified the candidates for initiation (myesis). They first sacrificed a pig to Demeter then purified themselves.
The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion (the first month of the Attic calendar, falling in late Summer) and lasted ten days.

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Hades

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Hades (from Greek ᾍδης, Hadēs, originally Ἅιδης, Haidēs or Άΐδης, Aidēs, probably from Proto-Indo-European *n̥-wid- 'unseen'[1]) refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive ᾍδου, Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative, too, came to designate the abode of the dead.
In Greek mythology, Hades and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated the Titans and claimed rulership over the universe ruling the underworld, sky, and sea, respectively; the land was given to all three concurrently. Because of his association with the underworld, Hades is often interpreted as a grim figure.
Hades was also called Pluto (from Greek Πλούτων Ploutōn, from πλοῦτος, wealth), meaning "Rich One". In Roman mythology, Hades/Pluto was called Dis Pater and Orcus. The corresponding Etruscan god was Aita. The symbols associated with him are The Helm of Darkness and the three-headed dog, Cerberus.
In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy[2] abode of the dead (Also called Erebus), where all mortals go. Later Greek philosophy showed the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed.
There were several sections of the Realm of Hades, including the Elysian Fields (contrast the Christian Paradise or Heaven), and Tartarus, (compare the Christian Hell). Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife. A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns theGarden of the Hesperides, often identified with the Isles of the Blessed, where the blessed heroes may dwell.
In Roman mythology, the entrance to the underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld. By synecdoche, "Avernus" could be substituted for the underworld as a whole. The Inferi Dii were the Roman gods of the underworld.
The deceased entered the underworld by crossing the Acheron, ferried across by Charon (kair'-on), who charged an obolus, a small coin for passage, placed under the tongue of the deceased by pious relatives. Paupers and the friendless gathered for a hundred years on the near shore. Greeks offered propitiatory libations to prevent the deceased from returning to the upper world to "haunt" those who had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by Heracles (Roman Hercules). Passing beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be judged.
The five rivers of the Realm of Hades, and their symbolic meanings, are Acheron (the river of sorrow), Cocytus (lamentation), Phlegethon (fire), Lethe(forgetfulness), and Styx (hate). See also Eridanos. Styx forms the boundary between the upper and lower worlds.
The first region of Hades comprises the Fields of Asphodel, described in Odyssey xi, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Only libations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond lay an area which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of Mnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate, where three roads meets, souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent to Elysium (Islands of the Blessed) with the "blameless" heroes.
In the Sibylline oracles, a curious hodgepodge of Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian elements, Hades again appears as the abode of the dead, and by way of folk etymology, it even derives Hades from the name Adam (the first man), saying it is because he was the first to enter there.[3]

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Harpies

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"Robbers". In earlier versions of Greek myth, Harpies were described as beautiful, winged maidens. Later they became winged monsters with the face of an ugly old woman and equipped with crooked, sharp talons. They were represented carrying off persons to the underworld and inflicting punishment or tormenting them. Those persons were never seen again. They robbed the food from Phineus, but were driven away by Cailas and Zetes, the Boreads, and since then they lived on the Strophades. The Harpies were probably the personification of storm winds. They are: Aello, Celaeno, and Ocypete.

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Hecate

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Hecate (Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting" ) Hekate (Hekátê, Hekátē), or Hekat was originally a goddess of the wilderness and childbirth, naturalized early in Mycenaean Greece[1] or in Thrace, but originating among the Carians of Anatolia,[2] the region where mosttheophoric names invoking Hecate, such as Hecataeus or Hecatomnus, progenitor of Mausollus, are attested,[3] and where Hekate remained a Great Goddess into historical times, at her unrivalled[4] cult site in Lagina. William Berg observes, "Since children are not called after spooks, it is safe to assume that Carian theophoric names involving hekat- refer to a major deity free from the dark and unsavoury ties to the underworld and to witchcraft held by the Hecate of classical Athens."[5] The monuments to Hekate in Phrygiaand Caria are numerous but of late date.[6] Popular cults venerating her as a mother goddess integrated her persona into Greek culture as Ἑκάτη. In Ptolemaic Alexandria she ultimately achieved her connotations as a goddess of sorcery and her role as the "Queen of Ghosts", in which triplicate guise she was transmitted to post-Renaissance culture. Today she is a goddess of witches andHellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism. Some neo-pagans erroneously refer to her as a 'crone goddess' which is incorrect with her original virginal image in ancient Greece.
One aspect of Hecate is represented in the Roman Trivia. The earliest inscription is found in late archaic Miletus, close to Caria, where Hecate is a protector of entrances.[7]

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Hiera

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Hiera is listed as the wife of Telephos in the frieze that decorated the interior of the Altar of Pergamum. Telephos is the mythic founder of the city of Pergamum, and there are many conflicting stories about him. During the Trojan War the Greeks attacked Pergamum, either because they mistook it for Troy, or because an alliance existed between Troy and Pergamum. Hiera was apparently an amazon, and the amazons united with the defenders of Pergamum to repel the attack. However, in the battle Hiera was killed by the Greek warrior Nireus. Telephos was so grief-stricken that he called a cease-fire to hold the funeral for Hiera, before restarting the battle and finally driving the invaders away. It is possible that the ancient city of Hierapolisin Turkey was named in her honor, though the name can also be read as just 'holy city'.

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Hierophant

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The role of the hierophant in religion is to bring the congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy. The word comes from Ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of ta hiera, "the holy," and phainein, "to show." In Attica it was the title of the chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries. A hierophant is an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane principles.

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Hippolytus

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In Greek mythology, Hippolytus (Greek for "horse liberator") was a son of Theseus and either Antiope or Hippolyte. He was identified with the Romanforest god Virbius.
The most common legend regarding Hippolytus states that he was killed after rejecting the advances of Phaedra, the second wife of Theseus and Hippolytus's stepmother. Spurned, Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had raped her. Infuriated, Theseus believed her and, using one of the three wishes he had received from Poseidon, cursed Hippolytus. Hippolytus' horses were frightened by a sea monster and dragged their rider to his death. Alternatively, Dionysus sent a wild bull that terrified Hippolytus' horses, causing them to drag Hippolytus to his death.
The story of Phaedra and Hippolytus is told, in somewhat different versions, by Euripides' play Hippolytus and Seneca the Younger's play Phaedra.

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Hyacinthus

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In Greek mythology, Hyacinth or Hyacinthus (in Greek, Ὑάκινθος — Hyakinthos) was the son of Clio and Pierus, King of Macedonia, or of kingOebalus of Sparta, or of king Amyclas, also a Spartan.


Zephyrus and Hyacinth; Atticred-figure cup from Tarquinia, ca480 BC, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
He is the tutelary deity of one of the principal Spartan festivals, the Hyacinthia, held every summer. The festival lasted three days, one day of mourning for the death of the divine hero and the last two celebrating his rebirth.
In the myth, Hyacinth was a beautiful youth loved by the god Apollo. The two took turns throwing the discus. Hyacinth ran to catch it, to impress Apollo, was struck by the discus as it fell to the ground, and died.
Another myth adds that the wind god Zephyrus was actually responsible for the death of Hyacinth. The boy's beauty caused a feud between Zephyrus and Apollo. Jealous that Hyacinth preferred the radiant archery god Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo's discus off course, so as to injure and kill Hyacinth. When he died, Apollo didn't allow Hades to claim the boy; rather, he made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood. According to Ovid's account, the tears of Apollo stained the newly formed flower's petals with the sign of his grief. However, the flower of the mythological Hyacinth has been identified with a number of plants other than the true hyacinth, such as the iris.

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Iacchus

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In Greek mythology, Iacchus (Greek: Ίακχος) is an epithet of Dionysus[1], particularly associated with the Mysteries at Eleusis, where he was considered to be the son of Zeus and Demeter. Iacchus was the torch bearer of the procession from Eleusis, sometimes regarded as the herald of the 'divine child' of the Goddess, born in the underworld, and sometimes as the child itself. Iacchus was called ‘the light bearing star of the nocturnal mysteries’, giving him possible associations withSirius and Sothis.[citation needed].
The most famous mention of Iacchus is in the Frogs of Aristophanes, where the Mystae invoke him as a riotous dancer in the meadow, attended by the Charities, who 'tosses torches' and is likened to a star bringing light to the darkness of the rites (Harrison, p. 540).
Iacchus' identification with Dionysus is demonstrated in a variety of sources. In a Paean to Dionysus discovered at Delphi, the god is described as being namedIacchos at Eleusis, where he "brings salvation" (Harrison, p. 541). Sophocles, in the Paean in the play Antigone, names the god of the Mysteries at Eleusis as bothBacchos and Iacchos (Harrison, pp. 541-2). The 4th or 5th century poet Nonnus describes the Athenian celebrations given to the first Dionysus Zagreus son ofPersephone, the second Dionysus Bromios son of Semele, and the third Dionysus Iacchus:
They [the Athenians] honoured him as a god next after the son of Persephoneia, and after Semele's son; they established sacrifices for Dionysos lateborn and Dionysos first born, and third they chanted a new hymn for Iakkhos. In these three celebrations Athens held high revel; in the dance lately made, the Athenians beat the step in honour of Zagreus and Bromios and Iakkhos all together."[2]
The word Iacchos also signified the ritual cry ("Iacchus, O Iacchus!") that accompanied the festival. In Euripedes' The Bacchae, according to the translation by Philip Vellacott, theBacchants call to dance, crying out in unison on the son of Zeus, "Iacchus! Bromius!". Bromius is another epithet of Dionysus.
The name Iacchos was also given to one of the days of the Mysteries: the 20th of Boedromion, upon which day Iacchus was taken from his sanctuary in Athens and escorted in solemn procession to Eleusis (Harrison, p. 542).

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Iambe

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In Greek mythology, Iambe was a goddess of verse, especially scurrilous, ribald humour. She was a daughter of Echo and Pan.
It is believed that she made Demeter smile or laugh when Demeter was mourning the loss of her daughter, Persephone. She accomplished this by creating an elaborate ritualized exhibition of herself. Iambe exposed herself completely and Demeter could not help but be amused by her brazen display. This act of humour and courage lifted Demeter from her grief and the Earthbecame fertile once more. She then became the first priestess of Demeter.

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Incubation

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Incubation is the religious practice of sleeping in a sacred area with the intention of experiencing a divinely inspired dream or cure. Incubation was practised by members of the cult ofAsclepius. Votive offerings found at his ritual centres at Epidaurus, Pergamum, and Rome detail the perceived effectiveness of the method. Incubation was adopted by certain Christian sects and is still used in a few Greek monasteries.

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Io

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In Greek mythology, Io (pronounced /ˈaɪoʊ/ or /ˈiːoʊ/, World Book «EYE oh», in Ancient Greek Ἰώ [iː.ɔɔ̗]) was a priestess of Hera inArgos[1] who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. Her mistress Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him. Heifer Io was loosed to roam the world, stung by a maddening gadfly sent by Hera, and wandered to Egypt, thus placing her descendant Belus in Egypt; his sons Cadmus and Danauswould thus "return" to mainland Greece.


Zeus makes love with Io, painting by Antonio da Correggio c. 1531
Io's father is generally given as Inachus, a river god credited with inaugurating the worship of Hera in the region of Argos, thus establishing her as an autochthonous spirit of the Argolid[2] and as by her nature a nymph of a spring, a naiad.[3]
The myth is told most anecdotally by Ovid, in Metamorphoses. According to Ovid, one day, Zeus noticed the maiden and lusted after her. As Io tells her own story in Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, she rejected his whispered nighttime advances until the oracles caused her own father to drive her out into the fields ofLerna. There, Zeus covered her with clouds to hide her from the eyes of his jealous wife, Hera, who nonetheless came to investigate. In a vain attempt to hide his crimes, Zeus turned himself into a white cloud and transformed Io into a beautiful white heifer. Hera was not fooled. She demanded the heifer as a present.
Hera tethered Io to the olive-tree in the temenos of her cult-site, the Heraion, and placed her in the charge of many-eyed Argus Panoptes to keep her separated from Zeus. Zeus commanded Hermes to kill Argus; Ovid added the detail that he lulled all hundred eyes to sleep. Hera then forced Io to wander the earth without rest, plagued by a gadfly (Οίστρος or oestrus: see etymology of "estrus" ) to sting her into madness. Io eventually crossed the path between thePropontis and the Black Sea, which thus acquired the name Bosporus (meaning ox passage), where she met Prometheus.
Prometheus had been chained on Mt. Caucasus by Zeus for teaching Man how to make fire and tricking him into accepting the worse part of a sacrifice while the mortals kept the better part (meat); every day, a giant eagle fed on Prometheus' liver. Despite his agony, he comforted Io with the information that she would be restored to human form and become the ancestress of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles. Io escaped across the Ionian Sea to Egypt, where she was restored to human form by Zeus. There, she gave birth to Zeus's son Epaphus, and a daughter as well, Keroessa. She later married Egyptian kingTelegonus. Their grandson, Danaos, eventually returned to Greece with his fifty daughters (the Danaids), as recalled in Aeschylus' play The Suppliants.

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Ionic Order

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The Ionic order column ( Greek ιωνικός ρυθμός ) forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian. (There are two lesser orders, the stocky Tuscan order and the rich variant of Corinthian, theComposite order, added by 16th century Italian architectural theory and practice.)
The Ionic order column originated in the mid-6th century BC in Ionia, the southwestern coastland and islands of Asia Minor settled by Ionian Greeks, where an Ionian dialect was spoken. The Ionic order column was being practiced in mainland Greece in the 5th century BC. The first of the great Ionic temples was the Temple of Hera on Samos, built about 570 BC–560 BC by the architect Rhoikos. It stood for only a decade before it was leveled by an earthquake. It was in the great sanctuary of the goddess: it could scarcely have been in a more prominent location for its brief lifetime. A longer-lasting 6th century Ionic temple was the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Unlike the Greek Doric order column, Ionic columns normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform. The capital of the Ionic column has characteristic paired scrolling volutes that are laid on the molded cap ("echinus") of the column, or spring from within it. The cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart. Originally the volutes lay in a single plane (illustration at right); then it was seen that they could be angled out on the corners. This feature of the Ionic order made it more pliant and satisfactory than the Doric to critical eyes in the 4th century BC: angling the volutes on the corner columns, ensured that they "read" equally when seen from either front or side facade. The 16th-century Renaissance architect and theorist Vincenzo Scamozzi designed a version of such a perfectly four-sided Ionic capital; Scamozzi's version became so much the standard, that when a Greek Ionic order was eventually reintroduced, in the later 18th century Greek Revival, it conveyed an air of archaic freshness and primitive, perhaps even republican, vitality.[1]

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Iris

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the rainbow and the messenger of the gods. Iris was a daughter of the Titan Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra. In Homer’s epics, Iris carries messages for Zeus, but in later writings that work is generally performed by Hermes, while Iris acts for Hera.

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Kore

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In Greek mythology, Persephone (IPA: /pərˈsɛfəni/; Kore or Cora) was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld, the korē (or young maiden), and the parthenogenic daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus. In the Olympian version she also becomes the consort of Hades when he becomes the deity that governs the underworld.
The figure of Persephone is well-known today. Her story has great sexual power: an innocent maiden, a mother's grief over her abduction, and great joy after her daughter is returned. It is also cited frequently as a paradigm of myths that explain natural processes, with the descent and return of the goddess bringing about the change of seasons.
In Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed. She may be carrying a sheaf of grain and smiling demurely with the "Archaic smile" of the Kore of Antenor.

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Kykeon

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Kykeon (Gr. κυκεών, from κυκάω, "to stir, to mix") was an Ancient Greek drink made mainly of water, barley and herbs. It was used at the climax of the Eleusinian Mysteries to break a sacred fast, but it was also a favourite drink of Greek peasants.
Kykeon is mentioned in Homeric texts: the Iliad describes it as consisting of barley, water, herbs, and ground goat cheese (XI, 638–641). In the Odyssey, Circe adds some honey and pours her magic potion in it (X, 234). In The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the goddess refuses red wine but accepts kykeon made from water, barley and pennyroyal.
It was supposed to have digestive properties. Hermes recommends it in Aristophanes' Peace (v. 712) to the hero who ate too much dry fruit and nuts. Aristocrats shunned it as a peasant drink. Theophrastus depicts in his Characters (IV, 2–3) a peasant whose thyme breath inconveniences his neighbours at the Ecclesia.

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Lebes Gamikos

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The lebes gamikos, or "nuptial lebes," (plural - lebetes gamikoi) is a form of ancient Greek Pottery used in marriage ceremonies (literally, it means marriage vase). It was probably used in the ritual sprinkling of the bride with water before the wedding. In form, it has a large bowl-like body and a stand that can be long or short. Painted scenes are placed on either the body of the vessel or the stand.
One of the earliest lebes gamikos was painted by, apparently, a follower of Sophilos (c. 580 - 570)[1] . The lebes gamikos had the typical wedding procession, accompanied by the unique addition of chariots bearing Helen and Menelaos and the bride's brothers.[2]
A typical lebes gamikos shows wedding scenes (including mythic weddings such as the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, but the iconography be also be related to scenes such as mimes.

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Leda

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In Greek mythology, Leda (Λήδα) was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of the king Tyndareus, of Sparta. Her myth gave rise to the popular motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda and the Swan. She was the mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux.
Leda was admired by Zeus, who raped her in the guise of a swan. As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle. Their consummation, on the same night as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus, resulted in two eggs from which hatched Helen—later known as the beautiful Helen Of Troy — Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux (also known as the Dioscuri—also spelled Kastor and Polydeuces). Which children are the progeny of Tyndareus, the mortal king, and which are of Zeus, and are thus half-immortal, is not consistent among accounts, nor is which child hatched from which egg. The split is almost always half mortal, half divine, although the pairings do not always reflect the children's heritage pairings. Castor and Polydeuces are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Polydeuces.

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Lesser Mysteries

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The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. These myths and mysteries, begun in the Mycenean period (c. 1600 BC) [1][2] and lasting two thousand years, were a major festival during the Hellenic era, later spreading to Rome.[3] The name of the town, Eleusís, is a variant of the noun έλευσις, éleusis, arrival.
The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret, as initiation was believed to unite the worshipper with the gods and included promises of divine power and rewards in the afterlife.[4]There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents.

There were two Eleusinian Mysteries, the Greater and the Lesser. According to Thomas Taylor, "the dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries occultly signified the miseries of the soul while in subjection to the body, so those of the Greater obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a material nature and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual [spiritual] vision." And that according to Plato, "the ultimate design of the Mysteries … was to lead us back to the principles from which we descended, … a perfect enjoyment of intellectual [spiritual] good."[15]
The Lesser Mysteries were held in Anthesterion (March) but the exact time was not always fixed and changed occasionally, unlike the Greater Mysteries. The priests purified the candidates for initiation (myesis). They first sacrificed a pig to Demeter then purified themselves.
The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion (the first month of the Attic calendar, falling in late Summer) and lasted ten days.

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Lethe

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In Classical Greek, Lethe (λήθη; Classical Greek [ˈlεːt̪ʰεː], modern Greek: [ˈliθi]) literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment". It is related to the Greek word for "truth": a-lethe-ia (αλήθεια), meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment". In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades: those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. Lethe was also a naiad, although the naiad Lethe is probably a separate personification of forgetfulness rather than a reference to the river which bears her name. She was the daughter of Eris ('Strife' in Hesiod's Theogony), and sister to Algos,Limos, Horcus, and Ponos.

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Leto

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In Greek mythology, Lētṓ (Greek: Λητώ, Λατώ, Lato in Dorian Greek, etymology and meaning disputed) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe:[1] Kosclaimed her birthplace.[2] In the Olympian scheme of things, Zeus is the father of her twins,[3] Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides. For the classical Greeks, Leto is scarcely to be conceived apart from being pregnant and finding a place to be delivered of Apollo and Artemis, for Hera being jealous, made it so all lands shunned her. Finally, she finds an island that isn't attached to the ocean floor so it isn't considered land and she can give birth.[4] This is her one active mythic role: once Apollo and Artemis are grown, Leto withdraws, to remain a dim[5] and benevolent matronly figure upon Olympus, her part already played.

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Leucothoë

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A beautiful mortal woman named Leucothoë: a princess, daughter of Orchamus and sister of Clytia, Leucothoë was loved by Apollo, who disguised himself as Leucothoë's mother to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, jealous of her sister because she wanted Apollo for herself, told Orchamus the truth, betraying her sister's trust and confidence in her. Enraged, Orchamus ordered Leucothoë, who claimed Apollo had forced her to succumb to his desires, buried alive. Apollo refused to forgive Clytia for betraying his beloved, and a grievous Clytia wilted and slowly died. Apollo changed her into an incense plant, a heliotrope, which follows the sun every day.[1]

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Loxias

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A name for Apollo as the god of incomprehensible oracular sayings. He had an oracle at Loxias which was sacked by Cadmus and Harmonia, whom he then transformed into serpents (Euripides. Bacchae, 1346).

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Marpessa

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In Greek mythology, Marpessa (Ancient Greek: Μάρπησσα, Márpessa) was an Aetolian princess, and a granddaughter of Ares. She was kidnapped by Idas but loved by Apollo as well. Zeus made her choose between them. According to another myth, she was the daughter of Evenus and Alcippe. She married Idas after he kidnapped her with a winged chariot. Idas did this as a challenge to her father, who after chasing the couple for a long time, killed his horses and then drowned himself in a nearby river, which took his name. Marpessa then, to make Idas happy, rejected Apollo’s love.
Marpessa is also the name of an Amazon Queen, who was originally said to be Krystal granddaughter.

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Marsyas

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In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (gr. Μαρσύας) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double flute (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it;[1] in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. In Antiquity, literary sources often emphasise the hubris of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment.

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Metis

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In Greek mythology, Metis (Μῆτις) was of the Titan generation and, like several primordial figures, an Oceanid, in the sense that Mètis was born of Oceanus andTethys, of an earlier age than Zeus and his siblings. Mètis was the first great spouse of Zeus, indeed his equal (Hesiod, Theogony 896) and the mother ofAthena, Zeus' first daughter, the goddess of the arts and wisdom. By the era of Greek philosophy Mètis had become the goddess of wisdom and deep thought, but her name originally connoted "magical cunning" and was as easily equated with the trickster powers of Prometheus as with the "royal metis" of Zeus.[1] TheStoic commentators allegorized Metis as the embodiment of "wisdom" or "wise counsel", in which form she was inherited by the Renaissance.
Mètis was both a threat to Zeus and an indispensable aid (Brown 1952:133):
Zeus lay with Metis but immediately feared the consequences. It had been prophesied that Metis would bear extremely powerful children: the first, Athena and the second, a son more powerful than Zeus himself, who would eventually overthrow Zeus.[2]
In order to forestall these dire consequences, Zeus tricked her into turning herself into a fly and promptly swallowed her.[3] He was too late: Mètis had already conceived a child. In time she began making a helmet and robe for her fetal daughter. The hammering as she made the helmet caused Zeus great pain andPrometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined) either cleaved Zeus's head with an axe,[4] or hit it with a hammer at the river Triton, giving rise to Athena's epithet Tritogeneia. Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown, armed, and armored, and Zeus was none the worse for the experience. The similarities between Zeus swallowing Mètis and Cronos swallowing his children have been noted by several scholars.

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Metope

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In classical architecture, a metope (μετώπη) is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in aDoric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order. Metopes often had painted or sculptural decoration; the most famous example is the 92 metopes of the frieze of the Parthenon marbles depicting the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapiths. The painting on most metopes has been lost, but sufficient traces remain to allow a close idea of their original appearance.
In terms of structure, metopes may be carved from a single block with a Triglyph (or triglyphs), or they may be cut separately and slide into slots in the triglyph blocks as at the Temple of Aphaea. Although they tend to be close to square in shape, some metopes are noticeably larger in height or in width. They may also vary in width within a single structure to allow for corner contraction, an adjustment of the column spacing and arrangement of the Doric frieze in a temple to make the design appear more harmonious.

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Midas

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In Greek mythology, Midas or King Midas (in Greek Μίδας) is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold: the Midas touch. In alchemy, the transmutation of an object into gold is known as chrysopoeia.
Midas was king[1] of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and who (by some accounts) was the goddess-mother of Midas himself.[2] Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion.[3] In Thracian Mygdonia,[4] Midas was known for his garden of roses: Herodotus[5]remarks on the settlement of the ancient kings of Macedon on the slopes of Mount Bermion "the place called the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance". In this garden, according to the Macedonian story, Silenos was taken captive.[6] According to Iliad (v.860), he had one son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men, but in some variations of the myth he had a daughter, Zoë or "life" instead.

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Minos

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In Greek mythology, Minos (ancient Greek: Μίνως) was a mythical king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization has been named after him. By his wife, Pasiphaë, he fatheredAriadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis, and many others.
Minos, along with his brothers, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, was raised by King Asterion (or Asterius) of Crete. When Asterion died, his throne was claimed by Minos[1] who banished Sarpedon and (according to some sources) Rhadamanthys too. It is not clear if Minos is a name or if it was a title, the Cretan word for "king".[2]

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Nike

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In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη , pronounced [níːkɛː], meaning Victory), was a goddess who personified triumphthroughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. The Roman equivalent was Victoria. Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water), and the sister of Cratos (Strength), Bia(Force), and of Zelus (Rivalry). Nike and her siblings all became described as attendants of Zeus when his cult gained the position of the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon and the roles of older deities were changed in new myths. According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance ofAthena, goddess of wisdom.[1] Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.[2] Names which have sourced from the goddess Nike include Nicholas, Nick and Nicola.[citation needed]

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Niobe

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According to the Greek myth, Niobe boasted of her superiority to Leto because the goddess only had two children, the twins Apollo and Artemis, while Niobe had fourteen children (the Niobids), seven male and seven female.[4] Her famously quoted speech which caused the indignation of the goddess is as follows:
It was on occasion of the annual celebration in honor of Latona and her offspring, Apollo and Diana, when the people of Thebes were assembled, their brows crowned with laurel, bearing frankincense to the altars and paying their vows, that Niobe appeared among the crowd. Her attire was splendid with gold and gems, and her face as beautiful as the face of an angry woman can be. She stood and surveyed the people with haughty looks. "What folly," said she, "is this! to prefer beings whom you never saw to those who stand before your eyes! Why should Latona be honored with worship rather than I? My father was Tantalus, who was received as a guest at the table of the gods; my mother was a goddess. My husband built and rules this city, Thebes; and Phrygia is my paternal inheritance. Wherever I turn my eyes I survey the elements of my power; nor is my form and presence unworthy of a goddess. To all this let me add, I have seven sons and seven daughters, and look for sons-in-law and daughters-in-law of pretensions worthy of my alliance. Have I not cause for pride? Will you prefer to me this Latona, the Titan's daughter, with her two children? I have seven times as many. Fortunate indeed am I, and fortunate I shall remain! Will any one deny this?[5]
By using poisoned arrows, Artemis killed Niobe's daughters and Apollo killed Niobe's sons, while they practiced athletics, with the last begging their lives. According to some versions, at least one Niobid was spared, (usually Meliboea). Their father Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, either killed himself or was killed by Apollo for having sworn revenge. A devastated Niobe fled to Mount Sipylus and was turned into stone and, as she wept unceasingly, waters started to pour from her petrified complexion. Mount Sipylus indeed has a natural rock formation which resembles a female face, and it has been associated with Niobe since ancient times [6]. The rock formation is also known as the "Weeping Rock" (Turkish: Ağlayan Kaya), since rainwater seeps through its porous limestone pores.
This rock formation associated with Niobe is not to be confused with a full-faced sculpture carved into the rock-face of a a nearby crag, and which is located north of the mountain. This sculpture was attributed by Pausanias to Broteas, the ugly brother of Niobe, and it is in fact of Hittite workmanship and represents Cybele.

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Omphalos

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An omphalos is an ancient religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Greek, the word omphalos means "navel" (compare the name of Queen Omphale). According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles to fly across the world to meet at its center, the "navel" of the world. Omphalos stones used to denote this point were erected in several areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at the oracle in Delphi. The plant genus Omphalodes in the family Boraginaceae is commonly called navelwort. It is also the name of the stone given to Cronus in Zeus' place in Greek mythology.

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Orcus

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The origins of Orcus may have lain in Etruscan religion. Orcus was a name used by Roman writers to identify a Gaulish god of the underworld. The so-called Tomb of Orcus, an Etruscan site at Tarquinia, is a misnomer, resulting from its first discoverers mistaking as Orcus a hairy, bearded giant that was actually a figure of a Cyclops.
'Orcus', in Roman mythology, was an alternative name for Pluto, Hades, or Dis Pater, god of the land of the dead. The name "Orcus" seems to have been given to his evil and punishing side, as the god who tormented evildoers in the afterlife. Like the name Hades (or the Norse Hel, for that matter), "Orcus" could also mean the land of the dead.
From Orcus' association with death and the underworld, his name came to be used for demons and other underworld monsters, particularly in Italian where orco refers to a kind of monster found in fairy-tales that feeds on human flesh. The French word ogre (appearing first in Charles Perrault's fairy-tales) may have come from variant forms of this word, orgo or ogro; in any case, the French ogre and the Italian orco are exactly the same sort of creature. An early example of an orco appears in Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, as a bestial, blind, tusk-faced monster inspired by the Cyclops of the Odyssey; this orco should not be confused with the orca, a sea-monster also appearing in Ariosto.

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Palladium

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In Greek and Roman mythology, a palladium or palladion was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend. "Palladium" especially signified the wooden statue of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadelof Troy and which was later taken to the future site of Rome by Aeneas. The Roman story is related in Virgil's Aeneid and other works.

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Pallas

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Pallas was the Titan god (perhaps) of warcraft and the Greek campaign season of late spring and early summer. He was the father of Victory, Rivalry, Strength and Power by Styx (Hate), children who turned to the side of Zeus during the Titan-War. Pallas' name was derived from the Greek word pallô meaning "to brandish (a spear)."

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Pan

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Pan (Greek Πάν, genitive Πανός), in Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs,[1] god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein, meaning "to pasture".[2] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rusticArcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring.
In Roman mythology, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature spirit who was the father of Bona Dea (Fauna). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the romanticist movement of western Europe, and also in the 20th century Neopagan movement.[3]

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Panathenaea

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The Panathenaea (Παναθήναια "all-Athenian festival") was the most important festival for Athens and one of the grandest in the entire ancient Greek world. Except for slaves, all inhabitants of the polis could take part in the festival.
This holiday of great antiquity is believed to have been the observance of Athena's birthday and honored the goddess as the city's patron divinity, Athena Polias ('Athena of the city').
The procession assembled before dawn at the Dipylon gate in the northern sector of the city. The procession, led by the Kanephoros, made its way on the Panathenaic Way through the Agora toward theAcropolis. Some sacrifices were offered on the Areopagus and in front of the Temple of Athena Nike next to the Propylaea.

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Panathenaic Amphora

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Panathenaic amphorae were the large ceramic vessels that contained the oil (some 10 gallons, and 60-70 cms high) given as prizes in thePanathenaic Games. This olive oil came from the sacred grove of Athena at Akademia, the amphorae which held it had the distinctive form of tight handles, narrow neck and feet and decorated in a standard form using the black figure technique, and continued to be so long after the black figure style has fallen out of fashion. They depicted Athena Promachos; goddess of war advancing between columns brandishing a spear and wearing the aegis. Next to her is the inscription τον αθενεθεν αθλον "(one) of the prizes from Athens" and on the back of the vase was a representation of the event for which it was an award. Sometimes roosters are depicted perched on top of the columns, the significance of these is an open question. Later amphorae also had that year's archon's name written on it making finds of the vases archaeologically important.

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Parnassus

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Mount Parnassus is named after Parnassos, the son of the nymph Kleodora and the man Kleopompus. There was a city of which Parnassos was leader, which was flooded by torrential rain. The citizens ran from the flood, following wolves' howling, up the mountain slope. There the survivors built another city, and called it Lykoreia, which in Greek means "the howling of the wolves." While Orpheus was living with his mother and his eight beautiful aunts on Parnassus, he met Apollo who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo became fond ofOrpheus and gave him a little golden lyre, and taught him to play it. Orpheus's mother taught him to make verses for singing. As the Oracle of Delphi was sacred to the god Apollo, so did the mountain itself become associated with Apollo. According to some traditions, Parnassus was the site of the fountain Castalia and the home of the Muses; according to other traditions, that honor fell to Mount Helicon, another mountain in the same range. As the home of the Muses, Parnassus became known as the home of poetry, music, and learning.
Parnassus was also the site of several unrelated minor events in Greek mythology.

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Parochos

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Parthenon

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The Parthenon (Ancient Greek: Παρθενών) is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of restoration and reconstruction.[1]
The Parthenon replaced an older temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon, that was destroyed in thePersian invasion of 480 BC. Like most Greek temples, the Parthenon was used as a treasury, and for a time served as the treasury of theDelian League, which later became the Athenian Empire. In the 6th century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian churchdedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque in the early 1460s, and it had a minaret built in it. On 26 September 1687 an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion severely damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the surviving sculptures, with Ottoman permission. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin or Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum inLondon, where they are now displayed. The Greek government is committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece, so far with no success.[citation needed]

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Parthenos

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"Virgin", an epithet of the goddess Athena. The Parthenon is her temple on the Acropolis in Greece.

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Pediment

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A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure (entablature), typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding. The tympanum, or triangular area within the pediment, was often decorated with sculptures and reliefs demonstrating scenes of Greek and Roman mythology or allegorical figures. It also consisted of many bright colours suitable to the nature of the building being adorned.

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Peleus

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Peleus and Telamon, his brother, killed their half-brother, Phocus, perhaps in a hunting accident, and fled Aegina to escape punishment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by Eurytion and married Antigone, Eurytion's daughter. Peleus accidentally killed Eurytion during the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and fled from Phthia.
Peleus was purifed of the murder of Eurytion in Iolcus by Acastus. Astydameia, Acastus' wife, fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her. Bitter, she sent a messenger to Antigone to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus' daughter; Antigone hanged herself.
Astydameia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her. Acastus took Peleus on a hunting trip and hid his sword, then abandoned him right before a group of centaurs attacked.Chiron, the wise centaur, returned Peleus' sword and Peleus managed to escape. He pillaged Iolcus and dismembered Astydameia, then marched his army between the rendered limbs.


Peleus makes off with his prize bride Thetis, who has vainly assumed animal forms to escape him: Boeotianblack-figure dish, ca. 500 BC–475 BCE
After Antigone's death, Peleus married the sea-nymph Thetis and fathered Achilles by her. As a wedding present, Poseidon gave Peleus two immortal horses: Balius and Xanthus. Their wedding feast, however, was also the beginning of the quarrel that led to theJudgement of Paris and eventually to the Trojan War.

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Pelops

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In Greek mythology, Pelops (Greek Πέλοψ, from pelios: dark; and ops: face, eye), king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes. At the sanctuary at Olympia, chthonic night-time libations were offered each time to "dark-faced" Pelops in his sacrificial pit (bothros) before they were offered in the following daylight to the sky-god Zeus (Burkert 1983:96).

Pelops' father was Tantalus, king at Mount Sipylus in Anatolia. Wanting to make an offering to the Olympians, Tantalus cut Pelops into pieces and made his flesh into a stew, then served it to the gods. Demeter, deep in grief after the abduction of her daughter Persephone by Hades, absentmindedly accepted the offering and ate the left shoulder. The other gods sensed the plot, however, and held off from eating of the boy's body. Pelops was ritually reassembled and brought back to life, his shoulder replaced with one made of ivory made for him byHephaestus. Pindar mentioned this tradition in his First Olympian Ode, only to reject it as a malicious invention: his patron claimed descent from Tantalus.
After Pelops' resurrection, Poseidon took him to Olympus, and made the youth his apprentice, teaching him to drive the divine chariot. Later, Zeus threw Pelops out of Olympus, angry that his father, Tantalus, had stolen the food of the gods, given it to his subjects, and revealed the secrets of the gods.

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Peplos

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A peplos (Greek: πέπλος) is a body-length Greek garment worn by women in the years before 500 BC. The peplos is a tubular cloth, essentially, folded inside-out from the top about halfway down, so that what was the top of the tube is now at the waist and the bottom of the tube is about ankle-length. The garment is then gathered about the waist and the open top (at the fold) pinned over the shoulders. The top of the tube (now inside-out) drapes over the waist providing the appearance of a second piece of clothing, except in the statues of the Caryatid.
This Classical period garment is represented often in the vase painting since the fifth century B.C. and in the metopes of the Temples in Doric order.
On the last day of the Pyanopsion, the priestess of Athena Polias and the Arrephoroi, a troop of girls chosen to help in the making of the sacred peplos, set up the loom on which the enormous peplos was to be woven by the Ergastinai, another troop of girls chosen to spend approximately nine months making the sacred peplos. They had to weave a theme of Athena's defeat of Enkelados and the Olympian's defeat of the Giants. The peplos of the statue was changed each year during the Plynteria.

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Peristyle

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In Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. "Tetrastoon" (Greek: "four arcades") is another name for this feature. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from Roman precedents, a basilica, such as Old St Peter's in Rome, would stand behind a peristyle forecourt that sheltered it from the street. In time the cloister developed from the peristyle.
In rural settings a wealthy Roman could surround a villa with terraced gardens; within the city Romans created their gardens inside thedomus. The peristylium was an open courtyard within the house; the columns or square pillars surrounding the garden supported a shady roofed portico whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings of landscapes and trompe-l'oeil architecture. Sometimes the lararium, a shrine for the Lares, the gods of the household, was located in this portico, or it might be found in the atrium. The courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and even fish ponds.
Though the Egyptians did not use the Greek term peristyle, historians have adopted it to describe similar structures in Egyptian palace architecture and in Levantine houses known as liwan houses.

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Persephone

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In Greek mythology, Persephone (IPA: /pərˈsɛfəni/; Kore or Cora) was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld, the korē (or young maiden), and the parthenogenic daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus. In the Olympian version she also becomes the consort of Hades when he becomes the deity that governs the underworld.
The figure of Persephone is well-known today. Her story has great sexual power: an innocent maiden, a mother's grief over her abduction, and great joy after her daughter is returned. It is also cited frequently as a paradigm of myths that explain natural processes, with the descent and return of the goddess bringing about the change of seasons.
In Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed. She may be carrying a sheaf of grain and smiling demurely with the "Archaic smile" of the Kore of Antenor.
"Persephone" (Greek: Περσεφόνη, Persephonē) is her name in the Ionic Greek of epic literature. The Homeric form of her name isPersephoneia (Περσεφονεία[1], Persephonēia). In other dialects she was known under various other names: Persephassa(Περσεφάσσα), Persephatta (Περσεφάττα), or simply [Kore] (Κόρη, Korē, "girl, maiden" [2]) (when worshipped in the context of "Demeter and Kore"). Plato calls her Pherepapha (Φερέπαφα) in his Cratylus, "because she is wise and touches that which is in motion".

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Phaedra

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In Greek mythology, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos, wife of Theseus and the mother of Demophon and Acamas.
Though married to Theseus, Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus, Theseus' son born by Antiope, queen of the Amazons. According to some sources, Hippolytus had spurned Aphrodite to become a devotee of Artemis and Aphrodite made Phaedra fall in love with him as a punishment. He rejected her. Alternatively, Phaedra's nurse told Hippolytus of her love, and he swore he would not reveal her as a source of information. In revenge, Phaedra wrote Theseus a letter that claimed Hippolytus raped her. Theseus believed her and cursed Hippolytus with one of the three curses he had received fromPoseidon. As a result, Hippolytus' horses were frightened by a sea monster and dragged their rider to his death. Alternatively, after Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had raped her, Theseus killed his son and Phaedra committed suicide out of guilt for she had not intended for Hippolytus to die.Artemis later told Theseus the truth. In a third version, Phaedra simply told Theseus this and did not kill herself; Dionysus sent a wild bull which terrified Hippolytus' horses.

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Phaëthon

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In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon (pronounced /ˈfeɪətn/ or /ˈfeɪəθən/) (Greek: Φαέθων "shining") was the son of Helios (Phoebus). Perhaps the most famous version of the myth is given us through Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book II). Phaeton seeks assurance that his mother, Clymene, is telling the truth that his father is the sun god Helios. When Phaeton obtains his father's promise to drive the sun chariot as proof, he fails to control it and is killed to prevent further disaster.
The name Phaëton means the "shining", is also an epithet of Clymenus by Merope or Clymene and Lucifer the Morning Star Venus.[1]

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Pheidias

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Phidias or Pheidias; (in Ancient Greek, Φειδίας); circa 480 BC – 430 BC), was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in theClassical Greece, in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all Classical sculptors.[1] The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, made by Phidias. Phidias also designed the statues of the goddessAthena on the Athenian Acropolis, namely Athena Parthenos inside the Parthenon and the Athena Promachos, a colossal bronze statue ofAthena sculpted which stood between the Propylaea,:[2] a monumental gateway that served as the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. Phidias was the son of Charmides[3]

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Phlegethon (Pyriphlegethon)

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PYRIPHLEGETHON was the underworld river of fire and its god. He was one of five infernal rivers, the others being the Akheron, Styx, Lethe and Kokytos.

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Pilos

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The pilos (Greek πῖλος, felt) was a common conical travelling hat in Ancient Greece and Macedonia. The pilos is the brimless version of thepetasos. It could be made of felt or leather. Their pilos cap identifies the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, in sculptures, bas-reliefs and vase-paintings; their caps were already explained in Antiquity as the remnants of the egg from which they hatched.[1] The pilos appears on votive figurines of boys at the sanctuary of the kabeiri at Thebes, the Kabeirion.[2]
In warfare, the pilos was often worn by the peltast light infantry, in conjunction with the exomis. The pilos cap was sometimes worn under the helmet by hoplites, but usually they preferred to not use a helmet along with the cap before the 5th century for reasons of mobility.
The pilos helmet was made in the same shape as the original cap. It probably originated from Lakonia and was made from bronze. The pilos helmet was extensively adopted by the Spartan army in the fifth century BC and worn by them until the end of the Classical era.

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Pluto

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Pluto was originally the Roman god of certain metals and, because these materials are mined, he also took on the role of god of the underworld. The Greek word for wealth is Πλοῦτος (Plοutos) and it is believed that the Romans derived Pluto from the Greek because these metals, jewels and other riches lie under the Earth.


The Abduction of Persephone, byAlbrecht Dürer, portrays Pluto on the back of a unicorn
It is debatable whether in the Roman pantheon he was considered a son of Saturn, as Hades was ofCronus.[citation needed] If so, he would have been one of the children not devoured by Saturn, along withNeptune and Jupiter. Together, they represented earth, water, and air[citation needed] (not as elements, but as environments), and the Romans believed that none of these things could be consumed by time, represented by Saturn.[citation needed] After Saturn's defeat, the three brothers took control of the world, and divided it into three separate parts for each brother to rule. Jupiter took control of the skies, Neptune of the seas, and Pluto ruled the underworld (Tartarus or Hades).
The widely accepted myth about Hades and Persephone was also told of Pluto and Proserpina in Roman myth. Pluto and Proserpina are almost exact replicas of their Greek equivalents, as the Romans' ideas about the spirits of the underworld were very vague before adopting Greek mythology. Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor, also known as Cupid, to hit Pluto with one of his arrows. Proserpina was in Sicily, at the fountain of Arethusa near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna with four black horses. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in Hades, the Greco-Roman Underworld. She is therefore Queen of the Underworld. Notably, Pluto was also her uncle, being the brother of her parents, Jupiter and Ceres.
Ceres vainly went looking for her in any corner of the Earth, but wasn't able to find anything but her daughter’s small belt that was floating upon a little lake (made with the tears of the nymphs). Ceres angrily stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. The plants died, and it became cold and dark above ground. Ceres refused to go back to Mount Olympus and started walking on the Earth, making a desert at every step. While Proserpina remained in captivity, Ceres wept, and nothing could grow or be harvested. The people of the world were dying, and prayed to Jupiter for help.
Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto to free Proserpina. Pluto would have obeyed, but by then, she had eaten six pomegranate seeds, whether of her own accord or through Pluto's trickery. Having tasted the food of the underworld, she could not leave, but when Jupiter ordered her return, Pluto struck a deal with him. He said that since she had stolen his six pomegranate seeds, she must stay with him six months of the year, but could remain aboveground the rest of the time. For this reason, in spring when Ceres received her daughter back, the crops blossomed and flowers colored in a beautiful welcome to her daughter, and in summer they flourished. In the autumn, Ceres changed the leaves to shades of brown and orange (her favorite colors) as a gift to Proserpina before she had to return to the underworld.[citation needed] During the time that Proserpina resided with Pluto, the world went through winter, a time when the earth was barren. Thus, the seasons were created.
Although Hades was seen as somewhat merciless, Pluto was worshipped by the Romans for some of his kinder attributes. Although Hades took a central role in many Greek myths, Pluto was not as much of a general focus.

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Plutus

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In the philosophized mythology of the later Classical period, Plutus is envisaged by Aristophanes[2] as blinded by Zeus, so that he would be able to dispense his gifts without prejudice; he is also lame, as he takes his time arriving, and winged, so he leaves faster than he came. When the god's sight is restored, in Aristophanes' comedy, he is then able to determine who is deserving of wealth, creating havoc.
Among the Eleusinian figures painted on Greek ceramics, Plutus, whether a boy child or a youthful ephebe, is recognized by the cornucopia, or horn of plenty, that he bears. In later,allegorical bas-reliefs, Plutus is a boy in the arms of Eirene, as Prosperity is the gift of "Peace", or in the arms of Tyche, the Fortune of Cities.
In Lucian of Samosata's satirical dialogue Timon, Ploutus, the very embodiment of worldly goods written up in a parchment will, says to Hermes:
"it is not Zeus who sends me, but Pluto, who has his own ways of conferring wealth and making presents; Pluto and Plutus are not unconnected, you see. When I am to flit from one house to another, they lay me on parchment, seal me up carefully, make a parcel of me and take me round. The dead man lies in some dark corner, shrouded from the knees upward in an old sheet, with the cats fighting for possession of him, while those who have expectations wait for me in the public place, gaping as wide as young swallows that scream for their mother's return."
In Canto VII of Dante's Divine Comedy, Plutus (Pluto in the original Italian) is a wolf-like demon of wealth which guards the fourth circle of the Inferno, the Hoarders and the Wasters. Dante almost certainly conflated Plutus with Pluto, the Roman god of the Underworld.

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Polyphemus

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In Homer's Odyssey (Book 9), Odysseus lands on the Island of the Cyclopes during his journey home from the Trojan War. He then takes twelve men and sets out to find supplies. The Greeks find and enter a large cave, which happens to be the home of the great Cyclops Polyphemus. When Polyphemus returns home with his flocks and finds Odysseus and his men, he blocks the cave entrance with a great stone, trapping the remaining Greeks inside. The Cyclops then crushes and immediately devours two of his men. In the morning, he kills and eats two more. It is said that "rapping them on the ground, he knocked them dead like pups".[2]
The desperate Odysseus devises a clever escape plan. That night, Polyphemus returns from herding his flock of sheep. He sits down and kills two more of Odysseus' men. But, Odysseus takes the wine given to him by Alcinous; to make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gives the Cyclops the very strong unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus' name, Odysseus tells him "ουτις," (translated as "no man"). Being drunk, Polyphemus thinks of it as a real name. Once the Cyclops passes out from the wine, Odysseus and his men take the giant's huge olive club that they sharpened to a point during that day, while he was away, and harden its tip in the embers of a fire. The men lift the stake and drive it into Polyphemus' eye, blinding him. Polyphemus yells for help from his fellow cyclopes that "no man" has hurt him. The other cyclopes take this to mean that Polyphemus has lost his mind, because he was saying "nobody" attacked him. They conclude his condition is a curse from a god, so they do not intervene.
In the morning, Odysseus and his men tie themselves to the undersides of Polyphemus' sheep. When the blind Cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, he feels their backs to ensure the men aren't riding out, but doesn't feel the men underneath. Odysseus leaves last, riding beneath the belly of the biggest ram. Polyphemus doesn't realize that the men are no longer in his cave until the sheep (and men) are safely out.

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Potnia Theron

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Potnia Theron ("Mistress of the Animals") is an ancient title of the Minoan Goddess, an aspect of her power that was assumed byArtemis among others in the Olympian hierarchy that was later introduced in mainland Greece. "In particular, it seems as if an ancientGreat Goddess, especially qua Mistress of the Animals, has been individualized in Greece in various ways, as Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite,Demeter, and Athena," Walter Burkert allows, but adds "The idea of a Master or Mistress of the Animals who must be won over to the side of the hunters is widespread and very possibly Paleolithic in origin; in the official religion of the Greeks this survives at little more than the level of folklore." (Burkert 1985, p. 154, 172)
Potnia, meaning mistress, lady, or wife is a feminine form related to potis, a masculine form meaning master, lord, or husband. Potniawas a Mycenaean word inherited by Classical Greek, with the same meaning, which has an exact parallel in Sanskrit patnī.
When Homer mentions a potnia theron (Iliad xxi.470), it is Artemis he means, and the formula appears already tried-and-true. But in theHomeric Hymn to Aphrodite, she is followed across the sacred slopes of Phrygian Mount Ida—ordinarily the haunt of Cybele, the Mountain Mother—by fawning wolves, lions, bears, and panthers. Under her spell they couple in their lairs.

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Proteus

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In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς) is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea"[1], whose name suggests the "first", as protogonos (πρωτόγονος) is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony (Odyssey iv. 432), or ofNereus and Doris, or of Oceanus and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon's seals, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms": "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.

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Psychopompos

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Many religions include a particular spirit, angel, or deity whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. These creatures are called psychopomps, from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός (psychopompos), literally meaning the "guide of souls". Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply provide safe passage. Frequently depicted on funerary art, psychopomps have been associated at different times and in different cultures with horses, whippoorwills, ravens, dogs, crows, owls, sparrows, cuckoos, harts, and dolphins.

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Pythia

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The Pythia (Greek: Πυθία, Pūthia) was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The Pythia was widely credited with giving prophecies inspired by Apollo, giving her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece. The Delphic oracle was established in the 8th century BC.[1] Its last recorded response was given in 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan temples to cease operation. During this period the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle in the Greek world.
The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greek world. Writers who mention the oracle includeHerodotus, Thucydides, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Pindar, Aeschylus, Xenophon, Diodorus, Strabo, Pausanias, Plutarch, Livy,Justin, Ovid, Lucan and Julian.
The name 'Pythia' derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. The Greeks derived this place-name from the verbpythein (πύθειν, "to rot"), used of the decomposition of the body of the monstrous serpent Python after she was slain by Apollo.[2]
It is often said that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.[3] This picture has been challenged by scholars such as Joseph Fontenrose and Lisa Maurizio, who show that the ancient sources uniformly represent the Pythia speaking intelligibly, and giving prophecies in her own voice.[4] Recent geological investigations have shown that real gas emission from a geologic chasm in the earth could have started the myth of the Delphic Oracle. Some authors suggested the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythia's state of inspiration. Other authors, infer instead that methane might have been the gas emitted from the chasm, or CO2 and H2Sarguing that the chasm itself might have been a seismic ground rupture.[5][6]

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Pytho

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In Greek mythology Python, serpent, was the earth-dragon of Delphi, always represented in Greek sculpture and vase-paintings as a serpent. She presided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for her mother, Gaia, Earth,Pytho being the place name. The site was considered the center of the earth, represented by a stone, the omphalos or navel, which Python guarded.
Pytho became the chthonic enemy of the later Olympian deity Apollo, who slew her and remade her former home and the oracle, the most famous in Classical Greece, as his own. (But also see Dodona, for the earlier traditions.) Changes such as these in ancient myths may reflect a profound change in the religious concepts of Hellenic culture. Some were gradual over time and others occurred abruptly following invasion.

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Scylla

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Scylla (pronounced /ˈsɪlə/; Greek: Σκύλλα, Skulla), also known as Scylle (pronounced /ˈsɪli/; Greek: Σκύλλη, Skullē), was one of the two monsters in Greek mythology (the other being Charybdis) that lived on either side of a narrow channel of water. The two sides of the strait were within an arrow's range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla and vice versa.
The phrase "between Scylla and Charybdis" has come to mean being in a state where one is between two dangers and moving away from one will cause you to be in danger from the other. Traditionally the aforementioned strait has been associated with theStrait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, but more recently this theory has been challenged, and the alternative location of Cape Skilla in northwest Greece has been suggested by Tim Severin. [1]
Scylla was a grotesque sea monster, with six long necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. Her body consisted of twelve canine legs and a cat's tail. She was one of the children of Phorcys and either Hecate,Crataeis, Lamia or Ceto (where Scylla would also be known as one of the Phorcydes). Some sources, including Stesichorus cite her parents as Triton and Lamia.
In classical art, she was depicted as a fish-tailed mermaid with four to six dog-heads ringing her waist.

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Selene

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Selene is the Titan goddess of the moon. In Greek mythology, Selene (Σελήνη, "moon"; English IPA: /sɛˈliːniː/) was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia.[1] In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is calledLuna, Latin for "moon".
Like most moon deities, Selene plays a fairly large role in her pantheon, which preceded the Olympic pantheon. However, Selene was eventually largely supplanted by Artemis, and Luna by Diana. In the collection known as the Homeric hymns, there is a Hymn to Selene (xxxii), paired with the hymn to Helios; in it, Selene is addressed as "far-winged", an epithet ordinarily applied to birds. Selene is mentioned in Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.581; Pausanias 5.1.4; and Strabo 14.1.6,
The etymology of Selene is uncertain, but if the word is of Greek origin, it is likely connected to the word selas, meaning "light".[2] Boreion Selas is the Greek name for Aurora Borealis. In modern times, Selene is the root of selenology, the study of the geology of the Moon, and the chemical element selenium.

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Styx

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In Greek mythology, the "River Styx" (Greek: Στύξ also meaning hate, detest) was a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld (Hades). It circles Hades nine times. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus all converge at the center of Hades on a great marsh. The other important rivers of Hades are Lethe and Eridanos[citation needed]. Styx was guarded by Phlegyas, who passes the souls from one side to another of the river. In other versions, Phlegyas guarded Phlegethon, one of the other main rivers of Hades. Sometimes the ferryman was called Charon.(Also spelt Kharon in older texts)
The gods respected the Styx and swore binding oaths by it. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through, resulting in her death. Helios (who is sometimes confused with Apollo) similarly promised Phaëton whatever he desired, also resulting in his death. Gods that did not follow through on such an oath had to drink from the river, causing them to lose their voices for one year, then being exiled from the council of gods for nine years after that. According to some versions, Styx had miraculous powers and could make someone immortal/invulnerable. Achilles may have been dipped in it in his childhood, acquiring invulnerability, with exception of his heel, which was held by his mother in order to submerge him. His exposed heel thus became known as Achilles' heel, a metaphor for a weak spot.

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Tartarus

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In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros (Greek Τάρταρος, deep place). It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. In the Gorgias, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls were judged after death and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus. As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic Hades, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol.
Like other primal entities (such as the earth and time), Tartarus is also a primordial force or deity.

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Telesterion

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Great hall in Eleusis, Telesterion was one of the primary centers of the Eleusinian Mysteries. At some point in the 5th century BC, Iktinos, the great architect of the Parthenon, built the Telesterion big enough to hold thousands of people.
As the climax of the ceremonies at Eleusis, the initiates entered the Telesterion where they were shown the sacred relics of Demeter and the priestesses revealed their visions of the holy night (probably a fire that represented the possibility of life after death). This was the most secretive part of the Mysteries and those who had been initiated were forbidden to ever speak of the events that took place in the Telesterion.
It was destroyed by the Persians and was subsequently rebuilt some time later by Pericles.

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Thetis

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Silver-footed Thetis (ancient Greek Θέτις), disposer or "placer" (the one who places), is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a seanymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths as Proteus (whose name suggests the "first", the "primordial" or the "firstborn").
When described as a Nereid in Classical myths, Thetis was the daughter of Nereus and Doris (Hesiod, Theogony), and a granddaughter ofTethys with whom she sometimes shares characteristics. Often she seems to lead the Nereids as they attend to her tasks. Sometimes she also is identified with Metis.
It is likely, however, that she was one of the earliest of deities worshiped in Archaic Greece, the oral traditions and records of which are lost. Only one written record, a fragment, exists attesting to her worship and an early Alcman hymn exists that identifies Thetis as the creator of the universe. Worship of Thetis as the goddess is documented to have persisted in some regions by historical writers such as Pausanias.

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Tisiphone

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Tisiphone was one of the Erinyes or Furies, and sister of Alecto and Megaera. She was the one who punished crimes of murder: parricide, fratricide and homicide. A myth recounts how Tisiphone fell in love with Cithaeron, and caused his death by snakebite, specifically, by one of the snakes from her head. In Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid, Tisiphone is recognized as the furious and cruel guardian of the gates of Tartarus.

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Tithonus

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In Greek mythology, Tithonus or Tithonos was the lover of Eos, Titan[1] of the dawn. He was a Trojan by birth, the son of King Laomedon of Troy by awater nymph named Strymo ("harsh"). In the mythology known to the fifth-century vase-painters of Athens, Tithonus was envisaged as a rhapsode, as the lyre in his hand, on an oinochoe of the Achilles Painter, ca. 470 BC–460 BCE (illustration) attests. Competitive singing, as in the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, is also depicted vividly in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and mentioned in the two Hymns to Aphrodite.[2]

Eos kidnapped Ganymede and Tithonus, both from the royal house of Troy, to be her lovers.[3] The mytheme of the goddess's immortal lover is an archaic one; when a role for Zeus was inserted, a bitter new twist appeared:[4] According to the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, when Eos asked Zeus for Tithonus to be immortal,[5] she forgot to ask for eternal youth (218-38). Tithonus indeed lived forever

In later tellings he eventually turned into a cicada, eternally living, but begging for death to overcome him.[6] In the Olympian system, the "queenly" and "golden-throned" Eos can no longer grant immortality to her lover as Selene had done, but must ask it of Zeus, as a boon.

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Lover of Eos

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Triglyph

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Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are called metopes.

In terms of structure, a triglyph may be carved from a single block with a metope, or the triglyph block may have slots cut into it to allow a separately cut metope (in stone or wood) to be slid into place, as at the Temple of Aphaea. There may be some variation in design within a single structure to allow for corner contraction, an adjustment of the column spacing and arrangement of the Doric frieze in a temple to make the design appear more harmonious.

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Greek Architecture

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Triptolemus

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Triptolemus (Greek: Τριπτόλεμος, lit. "threefold warrior"; also known as Buzyges), in Greek mythology always connected with Demeter of the Eleusinian Mysteries, might be accounted the son of King Celeus of Eleusis in Attica, or, according to the Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca I.V.2), the son of Gaia andOkeanos—another way of saying he was "primordial man".
While Demeter was searching for her daughter, having taken the form of an old woman called Doso, she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus. He asked her to nurse Demophon—"killer of men", a counterpart to Triptolemus— and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira. As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make Demophon immortal by burning away his mortal spirit in the family hearth every night. She was unable to complete the ritual because Metanira walked in on her one night. Instead, Demeter chose to teach Triptolemus the art of agriculture and, from him, the rest of Greece learned to plant and reap crops. He flew across the land on a winged chariot while Demeter and Persephone cared for him, and helped him complete his mission of educating the whole of Greece in the art of agriculture.

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XEK gesture

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Agave

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In Greek mythology, Agave (or Agaue, English translation: "illustrious") was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, Greece, and of the goddess Harmonia. Her sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Semele.[1] She married Echion, one of the five spartoi, and was the mother of Pentheus, a king of Thebes. She also had a daughter Epirus. She was aMaenad, a follower of Dionysus (also known as Bacchus in Roman mythology).
In Euripides's play, "The Bacchae", Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he banned the worship of Dionysos because he denied Dionysus' divinity. Dionysus, Pentheus' cousin, himself lured Pentheus to the woods, where the Maenads tore him apart and his corpse was mutilated by his own mother, Agave.
This murder also served as Dionysus' vengeance on Agave (and her sisters Ino and Autonoë). Semele, during her pregnancy with Dionysus, was destroyed by the sight of the splendor ofZeus. Her sisters spread the report that she had only endeavored to con ceal unmarried sex with a mortal man, by pretending that Zeus was the father of her child, and said that her destruction was a just punishment for her falsehood. This calumny was afterwards most severely avenged upon Agave. For, after Dionysus, the son of Semele, had tra versed the world, he came to Thebes and sent the Theban women mad, compelling them to celebrate his Dionysiac festivals on Mount Cithaeron. Pentheus, wishing to prevent or stop these riotous proceedings, was persuaded by a disguised Dionysus to go himself to Cithaeron, but was torn to pieces there by his own mother Agave, who in her frenzy believed him to be a wild beast.[2][3]
For this transgression, according to Hyginus,[4] Agave was exiled from Thebes and fled to Illyria to marry King Lycotherses, and then killed him in order to gain the city for her father Cadmus. This account, however, is manifestly transplaced by Hyginus, and must have belonged to an earlier part of the story of Agave.[5]

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Bacchus

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Dionysus was also known as Bacchus[1] and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. He is the patron deity of agriculture and the theatre. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine.[2] The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry.[3] Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.[4]

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Cantharus

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Heroic tankard-sized drinking vessel.

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Dionysus

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In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (Greek Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; IPA: /ˌdaɪəˈnaɪsəs/), is the god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythologytreated Dionysus as a late arrival. The geographical origins of his cult were unknown to the classical Greeks, but almost all myths depicted him as having "foreign" origins: typical of the god of the epiphany, "the god that comes".
He was also known as Bacchus[1] and the frenzy he induces, bakkheia. He is the patron deity of agriculture and the theatre. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine.[2] The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry.[3] Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead.[4]
In Greek mythology, Dionysus is made to be a son of Zeus and Semele; other versions of the myth contend that he is a son of Zeus and Persephone. He is described as being womanly or "man-womanish".[5]
The name Dionysos is of uncertain significance; its -nysos element may well be non-Greek in origin, but its dio- element has been associated since antiquity with Zeus (genitive Dios). Nysa, for Greek writers, is either the nymph who nursed him, or the mountain where he was attended by several nymphs (the Nysiads), who fed him and made him immortal as directed by Hermes.[6]
The retinue of Dionysus was called the Thiasus and comprised chiefly Maenads.

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Echo

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In Greek mythology, Echo (Greek: Ἠχώ, Ēchō/Hēchō) was an Oread (a mountain nymph) who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt. Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs.
Zeus, the King of the Olympians, was known for his many love affairs. Sometimes the young and beautiful Nymph Echo would distract and amuse his wife Hera with long and entertaining stories, while Zeus took advantage of the moment to ravish the other mountain nymphs. When Hera discovered the trickery she punished the talkative Echo by taking away her voice, except in foolish repetition of another's shouted words. Thus, all Echo could do was repeat the voice of another.
Echo fell in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue Nymph Leirope of Thespia. The river god Cephisus had once encircled Leirope with the windings of his streams, and thus trapping her, had seduced the nymph. Concerned about the baby's welfare, Leirope went to consult the prophet Teiresias regarding her son's future. Teiresias told the nymph that Narcissus "would live to a ripe old age, as long as he never knew himself."
One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken, and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens pining away for the love she never knew until only her voice remained. However, in other versions Echo cries until she is stone and an invisible Echo (probably her ghost/spirit) haunts the Earth.
Ovid's version of the tale states that a girl who had also fallen in love with Narcissus made a prayer to the gods, asking that Narcissus suffer from an unrequited lust just as he had done to others. The prayer was answered by the goddess Nemesis - (she who ruins the proud), makes him fall in love with his own reflection so he stares at him self in the river (as he thinks it is a beautiful person underwater) until he turn pale and eventually dies.
Alternatively, Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over the Earth. The Titan goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan had two children: Iambe and Iynx

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Erigone

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Erigone, the daughter of Icarius in Greek mythology. Icarius was from Athens. He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself. Dionysus was angry and punished Athens with a plague; and caused insanity in all the unmarried women, of whom all committed suicide. Icarius was placed in the stars as the constellation Boötes.

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Icarius

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The other Icarius was from Athens. He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself over her father's grave, thereby condemning other Athenian virgins to do the same[1] Dionysus was angry and punished Athens with a plague, inflicting insanity on all the unmarried women, who all committed suicide. Icarius was placed in the stars as the constellation Boötes. There is a mosaic in Paphos, Cyprus, from a Roman villa from the mid 2nd century a.d. which is called "Dionysus House". The mosaic First wine drinkers describes Dionysus giving the gift of vine and wine to Icarius as a reward for Icarius' generous hospitality.

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Lycurgus

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Lycurgus (Greek: Λυκοῦργος, Lukoûrgos; 700 BC?–630 BC) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. All his reforms were directed towards the three Spartan virtues: equality (among citizens), military fitness and austerity.[1]
He is referred to by ancient historians Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato, and Plutarch. It is not clear if this Lycurgus was an actual historical figure; however, many ancient historians[2] believed Lycurgus was responsible for the communalistic and militaristic reforms which transformed Spartan society, the most major of which was known as The Great Rhetra. Ancient historians place him in the first half of the 7th century BC.

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Maenad

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In Greek mythology, Maenads were the female followers of Dionysus, the most significant members of the Thiasus, the retinue of Dionysus. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication.[1] In this state, they would lose all self control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear animals (and sometimes men and children) to pieces, devouring the raw flesh. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped by a pine cone, weave ivy-wreaths around their heads, and often handle or wear snakes[2]
German philologist Walter Friedrich Otto writes that, "The Bacchae of Euripides gives us the most vital picture of the wonderful circumstance in which, as Plato says in the Ion, the god-intoxicated celebrants draw milk and honey from the streams. They strike rocks with the thyrsus, and water gushes forth. They lower the thyrsus to the earth, and a spring of wine bubbles up. If they want milk, they scratch up the ground with their fingers and draw up the milky fluid. Honey trickles down from the thyrsus made of the wood of the ivy, they gird themselves with snakes and give suck to fawns and wolf cubs as if they were infants at the breast. Fire does not burn them. No weapon of iron can wound them, and the snakes harmlessly lick up the sweat from their heated cheeks. Fierce bulls fall to the ground, victims to numberless, tearing female hands, and sturdy trees are torn up by the roots with their combined efforts.”[3]

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Narcissus

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In the tale told by Ovid, Echo, a nymph, falls in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue Nymph Liriope of Thespia. The river god Cephisus had once encircled Leirope with the windings of his streams, and thus trapping her, had seduced the nymph, who gave birth to an exceptionally beautiful boy. Concerned about the welfare of such a beautiful child, Lirope consulted the prophet Teiresias regarding her son's future. Teiresias told the nymph that Narcissus would live to a ripe old age, as long as "he never knew himself."
When he had reached "his sixteenth year," (fifteen years of age, by modern reckoning) every youth and girl in the town was in love with him, but he haughtily spurned them all.
One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she never knew, until only her voice remained.
Nemesis heard this prayer and sent Narcissus his punishment. He came across a deep pool in a forest, from which he took a drink. As he did, he saw his reflection for the first time in his life and fell in love with the beautiful boy he was looking at, not realizing it was himself. Eventually, after pining away for a while, he realized that the image he saw in the pool was a reflection of himself. Realizing that he could not act upon this love, he tore at his dress and beat at his body, his life force draining out of him. As he died, the bodyless Echo came upon him and felt sorrow and pity. His soul was sent to "the darkest hell" and the narcissus flower grew where he died.
It is said that Narcissus still keeps gazing on his image in the waters of the river Styx.[2]

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Omophagy (Omophagia)

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Omophagia is a large element of Dionysiac myth; in fact, one of Dionysus' epithets is Raw-Eater.[1] Omophagia may have been a symbol of the triumph of wild nature over civilization, and a symbol of the breaking down of boundaries between nature and civilization.[2][3]. It might also have been symbolic that the worshippers were internalizing Dionysus’ wilder traits and his association with brute nature, in a sort of “communion” with the god.[4][5]
Mythology sometimes depicts Maenads, Dionysus' female worshippers, eating raw meat as part of their worship; however, there is little solid evidence that historical Maenads consumed raw meat.[6][7][8] This depiction may have its origins in a "preserved . . . memory of ancient tribal savagery."[9]
The Dionysiac diet of raw meat may be more properly attributed to Dionysus himself, rather than his followers -- he received sacrifices of raw meat and was believed to consume them, but his followers did not share in the consumption.[10]

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Pentheus

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The king of Thebes, Cadmus, abdicated in favor of his grandson, Pentheus, due to his old age. Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, and didn't allow the women of Cadmeia to join in his rites.
Dionysus, angered, caused Pentheus' mother and his aunts, Ino and Agave, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in a bacchic frenzy. Because of this, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him.
Dionysus then lured Pentheus out to spy on the bacchic rites. The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal. Pentheus was pulled down and torn limb from limb by them (sparagmos), causing them to be exiled from Thebes.
The name 'Pentheus', as Dionysus and Teiresias both point out, means "'Man of Sorrows" and derives from πένθος, pénthos, sorrow or grief, especially the grief caused by the death of a loved one; even his name destines him for tragedy. Pentheus was succeeded by his uncle Polydorus.

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Rhyton

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The word is believed to be derived from Greek rhein, "to flow", from Indo-European *sreu-, "flow", and would thereby mean "pourer". Many vessels considered rhyta featured a wide mouth at the top and a hole through a conical constriction at the bottom from which the fluid ran. The idea is that one scooped wine or water from a storage vessel or similar source, held it up, unstoppered the hole with one's thumb, and let the fluid run into the mouth (or onto the ground in libation) in the same way wine is drunk from a wineskin today.
Smith points out that this use is testified in classical paintings and accepts Athenaeus's etymology that it was named apo tes rhyseos, "from the flowing". Smith also categorized the name as having been a recent form (in classical times) of a vessel formerly called the keras, "horn", in the sense of a drinking horn. The word rhyton is not present in what is known of the oldest form of Greek, Mycenaean Greek, written in Linear B, but the bull's head rhyton, of which many instances survive, is mentioned in the inventory of vessels at Knossos, such as tablet 231 (K872), as ke-ra-a[2], shown with the bull ideogram. The word is restored as an adjective, *kera(h)a, with Mycenaean intervocalic h.
Semele - In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother[1] of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. (In another version of his mythic origin, he had two mothers, Persephone and Semele.) The name "Semele", like other elements of Dionysiac cult (e.g.,thyrsus and dithyramb), is manifestly not Greek[2] but apparently Thraco-Phrygian;[3] the myth of Semele's father Cadmus gives him a Phoenicianorigin. Herodotus, who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived sixteen hundred years before his time, or around 2000 B.C.[4]
In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and afterwards repeatedly visited her secretly.[5]
Zeus' wife, Hera, a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair with Semele when she later became pregnant. Appearing as an old crone,[6]Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, cannot look upon Zeus without dying, and she perished, consumed in lightning-ignited flame.[7]
Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing him into his thigh (whence the epithet Eiraphiotes, "insewn", of the Homeric Hymn). A few months later, Dionysus was born. This leads to his being called "the twice-born". [8]
When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from Hades,[9] and she became a goddess on Mount Olympus, with the new name Thyone, presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son Dionysus.[10]

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Silenus

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The Silenoi (Σειληνοί) were followers of Dionysus. They were drunks, and were usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses, and had the legs of a human. Later, the plural "silenoi" went out of use and the only references were to one individual named Silenus, the teacher and faithful companion of the wine-god Dionysus. A notorious consumer of wine, he was usually drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by a donkey. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said in Orphic hymns to be the young god's tutor. This puts him in a company of phallic or half-animal tutors of the gods, a group that includes Priapus, Cedalion and Chiron, but also includes Pallas, the tutor ofAthena.[1]
When intoxicated, Silenus was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy. The Phrygian King Midas was eager to learn from Silenus and caught the old man by lacing a fountain from which Silenus often drank. As Silenus fell asleep, the king's servants seized and took him to their master.

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Sparagmos

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Sparagmos (Greek: σπαραγμός) refers to an ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs from the body. Sparagmos was frequently followed by omophagia (the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered). It is associated with the Maenads or Bacchantes, followers of Dionysus, and the Dionysian Mysteries.
Examples of sparagmos appear in Euripides's play The Bacchae, which concerns Dionysus and the Maenads. At one point guards sent to control the Maenads witness them pulling a live bull to pieces with their hands. Later, Dionysus lures his cousin, king Pentheus, into a forest after he bans worship of the god where he was attacked by Maenads, including his own motherAgave. The reference of his mother tearing apart his limbs is sparagmos. Similarly, Medea is said to have killed and dismembered her brother whilst fleeing with Jason and the stolen fleecein order to delay their pursuers (who would be forced to collect the remains of the prince). The Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini staged a sparagmos ritual as part of a long sequence near the beginning of his film Medea (1969), before dramatising the episode in which Medea kills her brother in a similar way.
According to some myths, Orpheus notably met this fate at the hands of the Thracian women. Catherine Maxwell identifies sparagmos as a form of castration, particularly in the case of Orpheus.[1]

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Syrinx

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In classical mythology, Syrinx (Greek Συριγξ) was a nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Pursued by the amorous Greek god Pan, she ran to the river's edge and asked for assistance from the river nymphs. In answer, she was transformed into hollow water reeds that made a haunting sound when the god's frustrated breath blew across them. Pan cut the reeds to fashion the first set ofpan pipes, which were thenceforth known as syrinx. (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.689ff) The word syringe was derived from this word.

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Thyrsus

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In Greek mythology, a thyrsus (thyrsos) was a staff of giant fennel (Ferula communis) covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone. Where these emblems were, there was the spirit of Dionysus also. Euripideswrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the Bacchic maenads carried.[1] It was a sacred instrument at religious rituals and fetes.

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Zagreus

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In Greek mythology, Zagreus was identified with the god Dionysus and was worshipped by followers of Orphism who believed him to be an ancient god of the Minoans.
According to the followers of Orphism, Zeus had lain with Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter in Orphism,[1] in the form of a snake. The result of their union was Zagreus. Zeus had intended Zagreus to be his heir, but a jealous Hera persuaded the Titans to kill the child.
Like the infant Zeus in Cretan myth, the child Zagreus was entrusted to the Titans who distracted him with toys. While he gazed into a mirror they tried to seize him and he fled, changing into various animal forms in his attempt to escape. Finally he took the form of a bull, and in that form they caught him tore him to pieces, and devoured him. Zeus, discovering the crime, hurled a thunderbolt at the Titans, turning them to ashes, but Persephone (or in some accounts Athena or Hermes) managed to recover Zagreus' heart. From the ashes of the Titans, mixed with the divine flesh they had eaten, came humankind; this explains the mix of good and evil in humans, the story goes, for humans possess both a trace of divinity as well as the Titans' maliciousness.[2]
Zeus implanted the still-beating heart into the mortal woman Semele, from whom the child was eventually born again, despite Hera's intervention. Some accounts say that he was reassembled and resurrected by Demeter; others, that Zeus fed his heart to Semele in a drink, making her pregnant with Dionysus.
The Orphics believed in the transmigration of souls and that a person was able to remove their intrinsic evilness by living three virtuous lives. Afterwards, they would dwell in Elysium forever.
In Orphic tradition, Persephone was the mother of Zagreus (Dionysus) by Zeus; in the Iliad, Persephone's consort Hades, king of the underworld, is called Zeus Katachthonios, "Underground Zeus". In Hesiod's account, it was by Zeus' decree that Hades abducted Persephone, suggesting that their roles are sometimes interchangeable. Both Zeus and Poseidonwere consorts of Demeter. "Underworld Zeus" is linked with Demeter by Hesiod. It is this that has generated some suggestions that Zagreus may be a son of Persephone with her husbandHades. The name Zagreus is also an old epithet of Hades.[2]

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Caduceus

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A herald’s wand. Used by Hermes and sometimes has two snakes intertwined.

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Chelys

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Another word for the Lyre. It was invented by Hermes and was made from a tortoise shell.

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Chlamys

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A robe worn by warriors or messengers in Ancient Greek times.

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Chronus

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Time. The man/beast that was around at the beginning of time when the universe was split into the sky, land and the underworld. A monstrous serpent with the heads of a bull and a lion with a gods face in between.

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Cyllene

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Eurydice

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The wife of Orpheus. On her wedding day she stepped on a snake and died. Orpheus went to the underworld to get her back but when he looked back to see if she was following she had to return to the underworld.

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Herm

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The singular word used to describe a statue of Hermes (Herms for plural statues). These were symbols of fertility.

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Hermaphroditus

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Son of Hermes and Aphrodite. He was said to be very beautiful and did not know what love was. When he was in the forest he came across Salmacis. She fell in love with him and jumped on him when he bathed. They then became on. Half male and half female.

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Maia

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The mother of Hermes. She slept with Zeus.

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Musaeus

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The son or pupil of Orpheus and was said to be the founder of priestly poetry in Attica.

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Orpheus

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Son of either Apollo or a King and his mother was a muse. He was well learned on the lyre and famous for it. His wife was Eurydice. On their wedding day she was chased and stepped on a snake. She got bit and died. He tried to bring her back from Hades but when he looked back to see of she was following she had to return to Hades. He later died when he was torn apart by women.

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Petasus

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A travelers hat. Worn by Hermes.

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Phanes

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The first born god from which everything came. Also known as Eros. A bisexual god with golden wings and 4 eyes. He bore night which he then mated with to create Uranus, Gaia and the Titans.

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Salmacis

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A nymph who fell in love with Hermaphroditus. She attacked him after he rejected her and she prayed that they become one. Her prayers were answered and they merged.

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Thrace

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The country in ancient Greek times that covered Southern Bulgaria, Turkey, and Northeast Greece.

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Zagreus

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The name given to Dionysus in the Orphic Bible.

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Orphic Lamellae

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Shaman

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Someone who communicates with the spirit world.

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Transmigration of Souls

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The picking of lots for souls and their transfer to a new life. Their transmigration was based on their learned experience from a past life.

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Liber

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The roman equivalent of Dionysus.

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Symposium

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A drinking party among ancient Greeks. The purpose was to consume wine.

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Amazon

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Greek women who were thought to be a tribe that only allowed women. They were considered to be barbaric warriors and had an anti-marriage view.

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Cinyras

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The king of Cyprus. His daughter Myrrha fell in love with him and with the help of a nurse they tricked Cinyras into sleeping with her. When he found out who he was sleeping with, he ran her out of town.

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Hoplite

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heavily-armored Greek infantryman. Amazon women were represented like this.

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Myrrha

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A girl who fell in love with her father Cinyras but could not do anything due to the sin of incest. After her attempt to kill herself was foiled by her nurse the two made a plan for her to sleep wither her father. When he found out who he was sleeping with she ran away. She prayed to the gods to neither live or die so she was turned into a tree.

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Satyr

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The male version of a Bacchas women. They were similar to centaurs in that they were barbaric and had horse tails. The enjoyed wine and often chased mortal women.

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Semonides

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A Greek poet from the 77th C BC. He wrote about Women and wives in general and views women as a plague that was sent to torment men.

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Chiron

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A civilized Centaur. He was known for his ability to heal and practice medicine. When the centaurs go crazy after Pholus opens wine, Chiron is hot with an arrow. He is struck with continuing pain and give up his immortality so he can finally die.

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Penthesilea

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The Amazon queen. She led the Amazon women in the war against Achilles during the Trojan War. Just as Achilles was about to kill her there eyes met and they fell in love. He was then stuck with such grief he had to withdraw from that war for a short time.

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Pholus

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A civilized Centaur. Similar to Chiron, but not born from the gods and did not have immortality like Chiron. He dies in the same story as Chiron when he drops a poison arrow on his foot.

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12 Labors

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*The first 6 are Peloponnesian Labors.
1. The Nemean Lion: Strangled and skinned with his own claws b/c he was invulnerable.
2. The Lernaean Hydra: Was aided by a giant crab (later cancer constellation). The hydra had 9 heads and one was immortal. Each time one was cut off two would replace it. Heracles was aided by Iolaus.
3. The Cerynean Hind: A golden horned hind sacred to Artemis. Chased for a year and taken back to Eurystheus.
4. The Erymanthian Boar: Giant boar chased into snow and trapped in a net. Placed in a jar after. The Centaur side quest took place during this time.
5. The Augean Stables: He is asked to clean stables that have never been cleaned. So he diverts rivers right through the stables.
6. The Stymphalian Birds: Got them out of the forest with the help of Athena and shot them down.
7. The Cretan Bull: This was the bull not sacrificed by Minos. Captured and brought back to Eurystheus. Later Theseus captures it and sacrifices it in Marathon.
8. The Mares of Diomedes: Diomedes fed them human flesh. Heracles tamed them by feeding them Diomedes. He then brought them to Eurstheus who set them free honoring Hera.
9. The Girdle of Hippolyta: Killed the Amazon queen and stole her magical girdle.
10. The Cattle of Geryon: Heracles had to kill Geryon, Orthus, and Eurytion to get their cattle. He was aided by Helius with a golden cup that led him along the river.
11. The Apples of Hesperides: These apples were thought to represent life. There are several different versions of the story. Some involve Heracles getting the apples while others have him getting help from Atlas.
12. Cerberus: He had to capture Cerberus and bring him to Eurystheus. He enlisted the help of Hermes and Athena. He later returned Cerberus to Hades.

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Alcmena

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Daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae. She was in love with Amphitryon but would not sleep with him until he avenged the death of his brothers. The night Amphitryon avenges his brothers Zeus disguises himself and sleeps with Alcmena. Amphitryon then comes home and sleeps with Alcmena and she gives birth to twins, Heracles and Iphicles.

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Amphitryon

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Lover of Alcmena and killer of Electryon. He has to wait to sleep with Alcmena and Zeus takes his place, impregnating her with Heracles.

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Antaeus

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The son of Ge and Poseidon. He wrestled people to death and had renewed strength every time hit hit the ground (form Ge). Heracles killed him by lifting him off of the ground and crushing him.

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Athloi

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A term used to describe labors. It is mainly used to describe the 12 labors of Heracles.

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Busiris

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The King of Egypt who would sacrifice all strangers to Zeus. When Heracles came along, he killed him.

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Cercopes

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Two dwarves whose home was in Greece or Asia Minor. They liked to play tricks and tried to steal Heracles weapons. He caught them and strung them upside-down from a tree. They made fun of his ass because it wasn’t covered by his lion skin and was burnt. He was so amused he let them go.

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Deianira

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The second wife of Heracles. When she found out that Heracles loved someone else she dipped a robe in the blood of Nessus and gave it to Heracles. When it warmed up it began to burn him alive. She killed herself when she realized what she had done.

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Delilah

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The girl who Samson fell in love with. She was paid to find out the secret of his strength and she cut all of his hair off.

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Enkidu

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Was created y the gods as a rival for Gilgamesh. He was a beast man that lived in the woods until he slept with a mortal woman and lost his animal powers. He then challenges Gilgamesh to a wrestling match. He loses but the two become friends. After the two defeat the Bull of Heaven, the gods kill Enkidu because the two are to powerful together.

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Eurystheus

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The cousin of Heracles. He is the one who Heracles must serve for 12 years to gain immortality from the gods. He sends Heracles on his 12 labours. He is later killed by either Heraces Nephew Iolaus or captured by Iolaus and killed by Alcmena.

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Gilgamesh

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Ruler of the Sumerian city of Uruk. When he oppresses his people the gods make a rival, Enkidu. When Enkidu loses his animal powers he challenges Gilgamesh and Gilgamesh wins. They become friends and begin defeating beasts and making legends. After the defeat the bull of the heavens the gods get angry and kill Enkidu. Gilgamesh then searches for immortality but fails and dies.

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Hebe

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After Heracles mortal body died he assended to Olympus and married Hebe.

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Heracles

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Born of Zeus and Alcmena. He performed the 12 labors. Then married Deianira. He later fell in love with Iole. He won a contest for her but was denied. He was later sent to be a slave to Omphale for one year. After this he killed Iole’s father and took her. Deianira then gave him a tainted cloak which killed him. Heracles then ascended to Olympus and married Hebe.

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Hylas

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A boy who Heracles liked. He was pulled in the water by nymphs who liked his beauty. Heracles spent so much time looking for him his crew left without him. A cult for Hylas was established by Heracles in Cios.

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Hyllus

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The Son of Heracles and Deianira. After Heracles death, he marries Iole.

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Iolaus

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The Nephew of Heracles. After Heracles death he is the one to capture and kill Eurystheus. In other stories it was Alcmena who killed Eurystheus after Iolaus brings him back.

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Iole

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The “third wife” of Heracles. He did not actually marry her but he won her in an archery contest. Her father denied Heracles. He later came back and killed her father and took her. Before they married his first wife killed him. Heracles’ son Hyllus married her then.

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Iphicles

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The brother of Heracles. He was Heracles twin mortal brother.

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Iphitus

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Son of the king of Oechalia and sister to Iole. After Heracles is denied Iole by her father, he throws Iphitus off the citadel in anger.

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Linus

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Son of Apollo who was killed by Heracles after being struck with a lyre. He taught music to Heracles before this.

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Megara

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The first wife of Heracles. She was given to Heracles for defeating the Minyans. He later kills her children and her in a rage and is sentenced to the 12 labors.

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Mt. Oeta

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The location of Heracles’ Pyre. This is where his body was burned.

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Nessus

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The centaur that was to bring Deianira to Heracles. When crossing the river he tried to violate her but Heracles shot him with an arrow. He then convinced Deianira to take some of his blood to use on Heracles.

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Omphale

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Queen of the Lydians. She bought Heracles for one year after he tried to steal the tripod of the oracle.

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Pillars of Heracles

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After the cattle of Geryon labour, Heracles sets up these pillars to mark his accomplishment in the west. The are located at the Atlantic entrance to the Mediterranean.

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Pirithoüs

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Chained in Hades with Theseus for trying to kidnap Persephone. Heracles did not save him.

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Samson

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A biblical character that was said to deliver Israel from the Philistines. His power came from his hair. When he fell in love with Delilah she found out the secret to his power and was paid to cut off his hair. He finished his life by praying to get that he could destroy the house of his captors with them in it.

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Theseus

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Heracles found him in Hades chained for trying to kidnap Persephone. Heracles freed him and Theseus later returns the favor by sheltering Heracles after the murder of Megara.

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Utnapishtim

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The survivor of the flood. He was said to have found immortality by going to places most humans would not make it. He was the narrator of the Gilgamesh stories.

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Acrisius

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The King of Argos. He feuded with his brother Proetus whose daughter gave birth to Perseus and was to kill him. He locked Diane up for this reason but Zeus came in and slept with her. He dies when Perseus is throwing a discus and accidentally hits him. He is buried outside of Larissa and honored as a hero.

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Andromeda

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The daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. When her mother angered Poseidon she had to be sacrificed. Perseus saved her and killed the beast. The two then married and took over the land. Their son took the throne of Cepheus.

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Apotropaic

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Objects that ward off evil. This was what the Medusa head was used as.

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Argos

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A major city comparable to Thebes and Corinth. This kingdom had many connections with the eastern Mediterranean.

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Cassiopeia

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Wife of King Cepheus. She claimed to be more beautiful than the Nereids (sea nymphs). This angered Poseidon and he flooded the land and sent a sea creature that could only be appeased by sacrificing her daughter Andromeda.

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Cepheus

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King and his land was modern Ethiopia. When his wife angered Poseidon he flooded their land and sent a sea creature to terrorize it. He discovered the only way to appease it was to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda.

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Chrysaor

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Rose from the body of Medusa and his father is Poseidon. He became the father of the monster Geryon.

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Danaids

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The name used to group the 50 daughters of Danaus together. The 49 that killed their husbands were punished in Hades by having to fill water jugs with holes in them for eternity.

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Danaus

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Quarreled with his brother Aegyptus and was forced to leave Egypt. He took his 50 daughters with him (the Danaids). He claimed himself the king of Argos. His 50 daughters then married the 50 sons of Aegyptup. Danaus ordered his daughters to kill their husbands that night, but the only on who disobeyed was his daughter Hypermnestra. She saved her husband and hid him.

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Dictys

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Found Danae and Perseus in the water and saved them. HE then protected them as well. His brother Polydectes was kind of Seriphos. He became the King of Seriphos after his brother was turned to stone by Medusa’s head.

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Gorgoneion

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A carving of a Gorgon that was used to ward of evil. It was often placed on a door, coin, shield etc.

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Gorgons

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The three sisters who were snake haired monsters. Medusa was the only mortal among them.

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Graeae

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The three sisters of the Gorgons. They had one tooth and one to share among them. They sent Perseus to the nymphs that would help him defeat the Gorgons.

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Harpê

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Greek term for the sickle-like instrument employed by Perseus in severing Medusa’s head.

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Hyperboreans

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Hypermnestra

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The daughter of Danaus who did not follow her fathers orders of killing her husband on their wedding night.

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Kibisis

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A Wallet. It is what Perseus used to transport Medusa’s head.

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Medusa

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The only one of the three Gorgons which was mortal. When she was beheaded Pegasus and Chrysaor rose from her body. Their father was Poseidon.

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Pegasus

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Rose from the body of Medusa. Father was Poseidon and is associated with Bellerophon. He also kicked Mt. Helicon and caused the fountain Hippocrene to open up.

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Perseus

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Phineus

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Brother of King Ceoheus and the one who previously betrothed Andromeda before Perseus saved her.

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Polydectes

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King of Seriphos when Perseus grew into manhood. He fell in love with Danae. He was turned to stone when Perseus returned with the Gorgons head of Medusa.