Who Is Who In Mythology

Front 1

Achilles ......................

Back 1

Central character of the Iliad, the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War, who was initially hidden by his mother because she knew he was fated to die in the war

Front 2

Actaeon ......................

Back 2

Mortal hunter who accidentally saw Artemis, the chaste Greek goddess of the hunt, naked in her bath and was then by her hand turned into a stag and chased and killed by his own dogs

Front 3

Adonis ........................

Back 3

Handsome young man with whom both Aphrodite and Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, fell in love; he was killed by Ares in the form of a wild boar

Front 4

Aegisthus...................

Back 4

.Clytemnestra’s lover who helped her get revenge on her husband Agamemnon for the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia

Front 5

Aeneas........................

Back 5

Trojan prince, Aphrodite and Anchises’ son, who escaped the burning city of Troy and fled to Italy, where he became the founder of the Roman race

Front 6

Aeolus ........................

Back 6

Keeper of the winds on the island of Aeolia, where they are kept chained up in a huge cavern

Front 7

Agamemnon...............

Back 7

King of Mycenae and Argos who led the Greek forces in the Trojan War—he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to gain a favorable wind after his forces were halted by the absence of winds in retaliation for his boast that he was as skilled a hunter as Artemis

Front 8

Ajax the Greater*.......

Back 8

Giant Greek warrior who killed himself after unsuccessfully fighting Odysseus for the armor of Achilles awarded to Odysseus after Achilles’ death

Front 9

Ajax the Lesser** ......

Back 9

Warrior who was drowned by Poseidon for offending Athena by boasting about his escape from the ship Athena had sunk with a thunderbolt

Front 10

Alcestis (Alceste).......

Back 10

Woman who volunteered to die in place of her husband Admetus

Front 11

Amazons.....................

Back 11

Race of warlike women who lived in the Black Sea region of Asia Minor

Front 12

Amphitrite ..................

Back 12

Ocean’s daughter or granddaughter, a Nereid, who was the goddess of the sea and the wife of Poseidon

Front 13

Amphitryon................

Back 13

.Alcmene’s husband who returned home the day after Zeus, disguised as her husband, had already impregnated his wife

Front 14

Anchises ....................

Back 14

Aeneas’ father whom he carried on his back or shoulders as they escaped from a burning Troy but who died before they reached Italy

Front 15

Andromache ...............

Back 15

Hector’s wife who following the fall of Troy becomes Neoptolemeus’ concubine, later bearing him 3 children

Front 16

Andromeda.................

Back 16

Ethiopian princess, daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, who was chained to a rocky cliff and rescued from the sea monster Cetus by Perseus, later her husband, who turned the monster into a rock by showing it the head of Medusa

Front 17

Antaeus ......................

Back 17

Poseidon’s gigantic son who being invincible as long as he was in contact with his mother Gaea, the earth, challenged all passers-by to wrestle with him, killing all but one

Front 18

Antigone .....................

Back 18

Oedipus’ faithful daughter who served as his guide during his exile; she was buried alive by Creon after she symbolically buried the body of her brother, Polyneices, by sprinkling dirt over it

Front 19

Antiope .......................

Back 19

Amazons’ queen whom Theseus allegedly abducted and took to Athens, where she bore him a son, Hippolytus

Front 20

Arachne ......................

Back 20

Mortal Lydian woman, proud of her weaving ability, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and after winning was changed by Athena into a spider so that she could spend the rest of her life weaving

Front 21

Argonauts ...................

Back 21

49 famous Greek heroes who accompanied Jason in the quest for the Golden Fleece

Front 22

Ariadne.......................

Back 22

King Minos of Crete’s daughter who married Dionysus after being abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos even though she had helped him escape from the Labyrinth

Front 23

Astyanax.....................

Back 23

Hector and Andromache’s child whom Neoptolemus killed during the sack of Troy by throwing him from the city’s walls onto the rocks below, thus executing Hector’s last male heir to the throne of Troy

Front 24

Atalanta ......................

Back 24

Huntress who promised to marry the suitor who could outrun her and was finally defeated by Hippomenes with the help of Aphrodite

Front 25

Atlas ...........................

Back 25

Titan condemned to hold the sky or heavens on his shoulders for all eternity for leading the Titans against the gods

Front 26

Augeas........................

Back 26

King of Elis whom Heracles killed for reneging on an agreement to grant him one tenth of the cattle he had cleaned as the fifth of his labors

Front 27

Autolycus....................

Back 27

Famous thief who had learned from his father Hermes the skill of making objects invisible or changing their appearance so that they were unrecognizable

Front 28

Bellerophon................

Back 28

Killer of the Chimera who was thrown from Pegasus and blinded while attempting to ride to Mount Olympus

Front 29

Boreas ........................

Back 29

The North Wind, the most violent of the 4 winds of the world

Front 30

Cadmus ......................

Back 30

Mortal who founded and became king of Thebes by following Athena’s instructions to sow, or plant, the teeth of the dragon he had just killed

Front 31

Calchas.......................

Back 31

Famous soothsayer who advised Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis in order to get a favorable wind for the Greek fleet

Front 32

Callisto .......................

Back 32

Nymph that Hera changed into a bear to punish for the offense of becoming Zeus’ lover or Zeus changed into a bear to protect her from Hera

Front 33

Cassandra ..................

Back 33

Priam’s daughter, also called Alexandra, to whom Apollo gave the gift of prophecy but whose prophecies were never believed because of a curse he placed on her after she refused his amorous advances

Front 34

Cassiopeia..................

Back 34

Andromeda’s mother who boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon’s attendants, leading him to send Cetus, a sea monster, to ravage Ethiopia only to have it killed by Perseus

Front 35

Charon........................

Back 35

Old boatman who ferried the souls of the dead across the River Styx and other rivers into the underworld

Front 36

Chiron (Cheiron) ........

Back 36

Only immortal Centaur, who taught Asclepius the arts of healing and whom Zeus permitted to go to the Underworld rather than live in pain after Heracles accidently wounded him with a poisoned arrow

Front 37

Circe ...........................

Back 37

Beautiful island enchantress who turned Odysseus’ men into swine

Front 38

Clytemnestra..............

Back 38

Agamemnon’s wife who plotted with her lover, Aegisthus, to get revenge on her husband for the sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia

Front 39

Creon..........................

Back 39

King of Thebes who awarded the throne to Oedipus for getting rid of the Sphinx but later exiled him and condemned Antigone to death for disobeying his orders

Front 40

Cybele ........................

Back 40

Originally the principal Phrygian goddess, identified with Demeter and Rhea; Cronus’ wife, mother of the Olympian gods, served by priests called Corybantes

Front 41

Daedalus ....................

Back 41

Architect who invented carpentry and useful instruments, built a hollow bronze or wooden image of a cow for Pasiphaë in which she hid and mated with the bull, and then built the Labyrinth, the maze to house the Minotaur, the offspring of this union

Front 42

Daphne .......................

Back 42

Female spirit, or mountain nymph, who asked the gods to turn her into a laurel tree to escape the amorous advances of the god Apollo

Front 43

Deianeira....................

Back 43

Heracles’ second wife, who unwittingly killed him by sending him a shirt poisoned by the blood of the Hydra, a shirt given to her by the Centaur Nessus

Front 44

Deucalion ...................

Back 44

Prometheus’ son, called the “Noah” of Greek mythology, who floated in his wooden chest with his wife, Pyrrha, for 9 days until the waters of the great flood sent by Zeus receded, landing him on Mount Parnassus where he then repopulated the earth by throwing stones that turned into people

Front 45

Dido............................

Back 45

Legendary founder and queen of Carthage who had a year-long love affair with Aeneas before he resumed his journey, prompting her to curse him and his descendants and fall on her sword on a funeral pyre

Front 46

Dioscuri ......................

Back 46

Word meaning “the sons of Zeus,” designating Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces), Tyndareus and Leda’s son and Leda and Zeus’ son, respectively—also called Gemini, or The Twins

Front 47

Echo............................

Back 47

Mountain nymph who helped Zeus in his carousing by distracting Hera with endless chattering, prompting a vengeful Hera to take away her ability to start a conversation, leaving her able only to repeat the words of others—when Narcissus rejected her love, she pined away until only her voice remained

Front 48

Electra ........................

Back 48

Clytemnestra’s daughter who helped her brother Orestes kill their mother and her lover, Aegistus, for having killed their father Agamemnon

Front 49

Endymion....................

Back 49

Very handsome young man loved by Selene and who, according to one myth, kissed him nightly as he slept so he would sleep forever and not die—they had 50 children together

Front 50

Eteocles......................

Back 50

Oedipus’ son who refused to rule Thebes jointly with his brother Polyneices after their father blinded himself—the brothers ended up killing each other during the War of the Seven against Thebes

Front 51

Europa ........................

Back 51

Beautiful Princess of Tyre, Agenor’s daughter, who was abducted by Zeus disguised as a white bull and then carried across the sea to the island of Crete

Front 52

Eurydice .....................

Back 52

Dryad who married Orpheus but died from a snake bite while fleeing the advances of Aristaeus—Orpheus charmed the deities in the underworld into releasing his wife but lost her forever by looking back when he no longer heard her footsteps

Front 53

Galatea.......................

Back 53

Beautiful statue carved by Pygmalion and transformed into a real woman by Aphrodite— Pygmalion married her after she was transformed

Front 54

Ganymede ..................

Back 54

Handsome Trojan youth carried off to Olympus by Zeus to be Hebe’s successor as cupbearer to the gods

Front 55

Glauce ........................

Back 55

Creon’s daughter whom Jason planned to marry when he divorced Medea after 10 years of marriage and 2 children—also known as Creüsa

Front 56

Hebe ...........................

Back 56

Zeus and Hera’s beautiful daughter who was cupbearer of the gods until she was replaced by Ganymede

Front 57

Hecate ........................

Back 57

Greek goddess of the moon, the earth, and the underworld who was later considered to be the goddess of black magic, ghosts, and witchcraft—she was accompanied by hellhounds at night when she ruled over the crossroads

Front 58

Hector.........................

Back 58

Leader of the Trojan army who was slain by Achilles during the Trojan War and whose body was then dragged 3 times around the walls of the city—son of Priam and Hecuba; husband of Andromache; father of Astyanax

Front 59

Hecuba (Hecabe) .......

Back 59

Priam’s second wife, who allegedly bore him 49 children, including Paris, her oldest, and Hector—she was enslaved by Odysseus at the end of the Trojan War

Front 60

Helen of Troy..............

Back 60

Beautiful Greek woman born from an egg and considered immortal because Zeus, in the form of a swan, had impregnated her mother—she ran off from Sparta to Troy with Paris, starting the 10-year Trojan War and she has become known as “the face that launched a thousand ships”

Front 61

Helle...........................

Back 61

Young girl who escaped the wrath of Ino, her stepmother, by flying away on the golden ram but fell into the sea and drowned in the straight between Europe and Asia, today known as the Dardanelles

Front 62

Heracles (Hercules)...

Back 62

Greek strongman who performed a series of 12 supposedly impossible tasks to atone for his crime of killing his wife Megara and their children under the influence of a madness inflicted on him by Hera

Front 63

Hippolyta ....................

Back 63

Queen of the Amazons abducted by Theseus, whom she later married—she was killed by Heracles for her girdle

Front 64

Hippolytus ..................

Back 64

Theseus’ son who was banished for rejecting the amorous advances of his stepmother, Phaedra, and later died when his horses, frightened by a sea bull sent by Poseidon, dragged him into the sea

Front 65

Hymen ........................

Back 65

Greek god of marriage and protector of virgins

Front 66

Icarus..........................

Back 66

Daedalus’ son who was imprisoned with his father in the Labyrinth but who escaped along with his father by tying feathers joined with wax to their arms and using them as wings, though he flew too close to the sun and plunged into the sea when the wax melted

Front 67

Io ................................

Back 67

Zeus’ mortal mistress whom he changed into a beautiful white cow to disguise her from his jealous wife, Hera

Front 68

Iphigenia ....................

Back 68

Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s daughter who was sacrificed by the father for the sake of the Greek fleet

Front 69

Iris ..............................

Back 69

Goddess of the rainbow and, in the Iliad, the messenger of the gods

Front 70

Janus..........................

Back 70

Roman god of doors and gateways, entrances and exits, and beginnings and endings— the month of January is named for him

Front 71

Jason..........................

Back 71

Leader of the Argonauts who sailed in the Argo in their successful quest to capture the Golden Fleece, which he accomplished with the help of Medea, daughter of the king of Colchis, whom he married—when he later abandoned her for Glauce, Medea killed their children and his bride-to-be, and he died when a beam from the Argo fell on his head

Front 72

Jocasta .......................

Back 72

Creon’s sister and Laius’ wife whom Oedipus married after being crowned king of Thebes, not knowing she was his mother—she hanged herself after learning she had married her own son

Front 73

Laius...........................

Back 73

King of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, and father of Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father during an altercation at a crossroads on the road to Thebes

Front 74

Laocoön (Laocoon) ....

Back 74

Trojan priest of Apollo who proclaimed the Wooden Horse a deception and gave the warning, “I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts”—while he was making a sacrifice at an altar to Neptune, he and his 2 sons were attacked and killed by snakes

Front 75

Leda............................

Back 75

Wife of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, who was seduced by Zeus who came in the form of a swan; she bore quadruplets: Pollux and Helen by Zeus, and Castor and Clytemnestra by Tyndareus

Front 76

Lotus-Eaters ...............

Back 76

Very friendly people Odysseus and his men encountered in North Africa partaking of a local plant that made them forget their cares

Front 77

Medea ........................

Back 77

King Aeëtes’ daughter, a powerful sorceress and priestess of Hecate, who helped Jason capture the Golden Fleece, fell in love and married him, and then, after he abandoned her, killed their two children and his bride-to-be

Front 78

Menelaus....................

Back 78

King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen who sought the return of his wife after she left with Paris

Front 79

Mentor........................

Back 79

Friend and advisor to Odysseus and wise elder on Ithaca whose form Athena took when she went with Telemachus to Sparta in the search for his father

Front 80

Midas..........................

Back 80

Greedy Phrygian king who, when granted a wish by the gods, chose the power to turn everything he touched into gold—because even his food turned into gold, he asked the gods to remove this power and he was returned to live a normal life

Front 81

Minos..........................

Back 81

King of Crete who angered Poseidon by keeping for himself a bull Poseidon had sent him to sacrifice, prompting Poseidon to cause his wife Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull, resulting in the union that produced the Minotaur—he captured Athens and promised to raze it unless the leaders sent him a yearly tribute of 7 maidens and 7 boys to sacrifice to the Minotaur

Front 82

Mnemosyne................

Back 82

Goddess of memory and the daughter of heaven and earth, or Uranus and Gaea, the Titaness with whom Zeus fathered the 9 Muses

Front 83

Morpheus ...................

Back 83

God of dreams and sleep

Front 84

Narcissus....................

Back 84

Handsome youth whom Nemesis punished for spurning the nymph Echo by making him fall in love with his own reflection in a pool, causing him to waste away and be changed into a flower

Front 85

Nemesis .....................

Back 85

Greek goddess of retribution or vengeance, who punished those who defied the gods or violated the natural order, especially through hubris, or excessive pride

Front 86

Nereus........................

Back 86

Sea god and father of the Nereids, who had the gift of prophecy and the ability to change shapes—known as the “Old Man of the Sea” and sometimes confused with Proteus

Front 87

Nessus........................

Back 87

Centaur who tried to make love to Deianeira, Heracles’ wife, leading Hera to kill him with an arrow poisoned with the blood of the Learnean Hydra—his bloodstained tunic later led to Heracles’ death

Front 88

Nestor.........................

Back 88

Wise old Greek counselor during the Trojan War

Front 89

Nike ............................

Back 89

Greek goddess of victory

Front 90

Niobe..........................

Back 90

Tantalus’ daughter who, after bragging that she was more worthy than Leto because she had more children, mourned their deaths at the hands of Apollo and Artemis; worn out from weeping, she was transformed into a stone

Front 91

Odysseus (Ulysses)....

Back 91

Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War for 10 years, then made a voyage of 10 years before returning to his throne on Ithaca, where he then killed all of his wife’s suitors

Front 92

Oedipus ......................

Back 92

Tragic Greek king who saved the city of Thebes by solving the riddle of the Sphinx but unwittingly fulfilled the Delphic prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother—he unknowingly killed his father, King Laius, on the road to Thebes; married his widow, the Queen of Thebes, who was indeed his mother Jocasta, and then blinded himself and went into exile in Colonus

Front 93

Orestes .......................

Back 93

Clytemnestra and Agamemnon’s son who, after being acquitted in the killing of his mother and her lover, was hounded by the Furies until Athena cast the deciding vote in his favor during a session of the Areopagus and told them to stop

Front 94

Orion...........................

Back 94

Famous giant and handsome hunter whom Artemis killed and placed among the stars when he offended her by his boasting about his hunting skills

Front 95

Orpheus......................

Back 95

Great mortal musician who played the lyre so well that he charmed the deities in the underworld into releasing his wife Eurydice on the condition that he not look back upon leaving Hades—when he no longer heard footsteps, he looked back and his wife vanished forever

Front 96

Pan .............................

Back 96

Greek god of the fields and forest who was famous for the music he played on the musical instrument he invented that was known as the “pipes of Pan” or the panpipe

Front 97

Pandora .....................

Back 97

Woman whom Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, to create as the first female of the species, to whom was entrusted a box (or jar) containing all the ills that could plague mankind—when she opened it out of curiosity, all the world’s ills escaped, but hope remained

Front 98

Paris ...........................

Back 98

Handsome prince of Troy who fled Greece with Helen, resulting in the Trojan War, during which he killed Achilles and, in turn, was killed by Philoctetes; he was the judge in a famous beauty contest involving Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite

Front 99

Pasiphaë ....................

Back 99

Queen of Crete and Minos’ wife who had a lustful union with the great white bull of Poseidon and gave birth to the Minotaur

Front 100

Patroclus ....................

Back 100

Achilles’ close friend who when Achilles sulked in his tent borrowed his armor and was killed in battle by Hector

Front 101

Penelope ....................

Back 101

Odysseus’ long-faithful wife who kept many suitors at bay telling them to wait until she finished weaving a burial robe or shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’ father, which she wove by day and unraveled every night

Front 102

Perseus ......................

Back 102

Hero who killed Medusa by cutting off her head with a sword, striking the creature backwards while looking only at her reflection in Athena’s shield; he rescued Andromeda from a sea monster in Ethiopia, so impressing her and her parents that he won her hand in marriage

Front 103

Phaedra......................

Back 103

Minos and Pasiphaë’s daughter who, after she married Theseus attempted to seduce her stepson Hippolytus and upon his rejection hanged herself, leaving a note claiming he had raped her

Front 104

Phaëthon ....................

Back 104

Helios’ son who when granted his wish of driving the chariot of the sun for one day, lost control of it, nearly destroyed the earth, and was killed by a Zeus thunderbolt to stop him

Front 105

Polyphemus................

Back 105

Cyclops who killed and ate several of Odysseus’ men and was blinded by Odysseus, enabling his men to escape by strapping themselves to sheep

Front 106

Priam..........................

Back 106

King of Troy killed when the Greeks sacked the city during the Trojan War

Front 107

Procrustes ..................

Back 107

Attican giant, also called Damastes, whom Theseus killed by cutting off his limbs so that he would fit the iron bed that the giant had used for torturing his own victims by stretching them to fit it or hacking off their limbs if they were too long

Front 108

Proteus .......................

Back 108

Minor sea god, sometimes considered to be the son of Poseidon and Tethys, who had the power to speak the truth, to foretell the future, and to change his shape at will—he was also known as the “Old Man of the Sea” and was sometimes confused with Nereus

Front 109

Prometheus................

Back 109

Titan who stole fire from the gods, gave it to humans, and was punished by Zeus for his actions by being chained to a rock where an eagle or vulture came each day for 30 years to eat his liver

Front 110

Psyche........................

Back 110

Beautiful mortal princess whom Cupid forbade to look at his face when he visited her at night; when she discovered his identity and accidentally dropped oil from her lamp on him, he fled, but they were later married after she performed many difficult tasks for Venus and was made immortal by Jupiter

Front 111

Pygmalion ..................

Back 111

Sculptor and king of Cyprus whose prayers for a wife with the beauty of the statue of a woman he had sculpted were answered when Aphrodite brought the statue to life, creating the maiden Galatea

Front 112

Pythia .........................

Back 112

Famous priestess of Apollo at Delphi who delivered Apollo’s answers to whose who came to consult the oracle

Front 113

Sibyl (Cumean) ..........

Back 113

Prophetess through whom Apollo reveals the future and who, because she refused Apollo’s advances, was refused perpetual youth; she continued to age and ended her life shriveled inside a bottle hanging from the ceiling of her cave

Front 114

Sisyphus.....................

Back 114

Aeolus’ son who, for revealing that Zeus had abducted Aegina, was given the eternal punishment of rolling a stone to the top of a hill in the Underworld only to have it roll back down just before it reached the top

Front 115

Tantalus......................

Back 115

Zeus’ son who, for cutting up his son Pelops to serve to the gods at a banquet, was punished by them to stand for eternity in water that receded when he tried to drink and under branches of fruit he could never reach

Front 116

Teirisias......................

Back 116

Theban seer who, according to different myths, was blinded by either Hera or Athena as punishment for warning Oedipus of his fate

Front 117

Telemachus ................

Back 117

Odysseus and Penelope’s son who after a 20-year absence was reunited with his father and helped him kill his mother’s suitors

Front 118

Theseus......................

Back 118

Athenian hero, sometimes called “The Attic Heracles,” who accomplished 6 labors, overcoming and killing the Minotaur and robbers and murderers such as Procrustes by using their own methods; he married the Amazon queen Hippolyta

Front 119

Triton ..........................

Back 119

Half-man, half-fish creature called a merman who lived with his parents, Poseidon and Amphitrite, in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea

Front 120

Trivia ..........................

Back 120

Name given to Diana because she presided over places where 3 roads meet