23:33 Oct 28 2010
Times Read: 4,258
Greek Myths, Legends and Heroes
Abaris
A priest of Apollo who was given a magic arrow that rendered him invisible and on which he could ride through the air. He cured diseases and spoke oracles.
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Abas
King of Argolis, grandson to Danaus, and a minor character in the story of Perseus. Semitic meaning of Abas is "father", and it also means "lizard" from another myth in which Demeter changes Abas, son of Celeus, into a lizard.
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Abderus
The friend of Hercules who was eaten by Diomedes' horses as he was guarding them.
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Acamas
Means unwearying. Son of Theseus, and a warrior at Troy.
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Achilles
The son of the mortal King Peleus and Thetis, a sea nymph. At birth, his mother supposedly dipped Achilles in the River Styx which made him invulnerable except for the part of the heel by which she held him. This came in handy in his adventures and wars. His most famous adventure is told in the Iliad, which is about the Trojan War. This war lasted 10 years, through the first nine of which Achilles laid waste to the surrounding countryside. In the last year Achilles sulked and refused to fight any longer after a quarrel with Agamemnon, the Greek leader. This caused the war to start going badly for the Greeks and Achilles relented enough to agree to lend his armor and his chariot to his inseparable companion Patroclus so he could impersonate him in the battle. Hector, the Trojan hero and son of the Trojan King Priam, killed Patroclus in the fight. Achilles received new armor from the gods and re-entered the battle where he killed Hector. There is some uncertainty about whether Achilles was slain in this battle, although there is a tale about Paris, another son of King Priam, killing him with an arrow shot into his heel.
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Acis
The son of Faunus, he was crushed to death by a rock flung by his rival, Polyphemus (the Cyclop), for the love of Galatea.
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Actaeon
The huntsman who saw Diana (Artemis) bathing and was changed into a stag by her, and then was torn to pieces by his own hounds.
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Adamanthea
The nymph who nursed Zeus (when Rhea gave Cronos a stone to swallow instead of the new-born Zeus). Cronos was supposedly able to see everything that occurred in the realms over which he had dominion (the earth, heavens, and the sea), but Adamanthea deceived him by hanging the baby Zeus (in his cradle) from a tree, so that suspended between earth, sea, and sky he was invisible to his father. There are MANY versions of this story and the nurse has a different name in each(!)- Ida, Adrastea, Neda, Helice, Aega, Cynosura.
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Admeta
Daughter of Eurystheus, for whom Heracles (Hercules) got the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.
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Adonis
Adonis was born after an incestuous union between King Cinyras and his daughter Myrrah. The goddess Aphrodite saw Adonis at his birth and was so taken by his beauty that she hid him away in a coffer. She told this to Persephone who opened up the coffer. When she beheld Adonis she was also struck by his beauty. She kidnaped him and refused to give him up. Aphrodite appealed to the god Zeus, who decreed that Adonis must spend a third of the year with Aphodite, a third with Persephone and the other third on his own. On his own he usually spent the time boar hunting. Aphrodite tried vainly to dissuade Adonis from hunting this dangerous game. One day he was killed by a wild boar, after which Aphrodite begged for his life with Zeus. This time Zeus decreed that Adonis should spend half a year with Persephone and the other half with Aphrodite.
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Adrastus
King of Argos, who led the expedition in the Seven Against Thebes war.
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Aeacus
King of Aegina. He was the son of the nymph Aegina (after whom his kingdom was named) and the god Zeus. Hera, angry with Zeus for his love of Aegina, sent a plague that destroyed most of his people. Aeacus prayed to his father to change a group of industrious ants into human beings to people his deserted city. Zeus granted his wish, creating a race called the Myrmidons. Aeacus ruled over his people with such justice that after his death he became one of the three judges of the underworld. He was the father of Peleus and the grandfather of Achilles.
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Aédon
Wife of Zethus and mother of a daughter Itylus, whom she slew by mistake, whereupon Zeus transformed her into the nightingale who nightly laments her murdered child -OR- a queen of ancient Thebes who plotted to kill a son of her rival Niobe but killed her own son by mistake. Her grief led her to try suicide but she was transformed into the first nightingale by the gods, a bird that still haunts the night with its mournful cry.
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Aega
She was sister to Circe and Pasiphae, and daughter of the sun. When the Titans attacked the gods of Olympus, Gaia placed Aega in a cave to hide her shining loveliness. Japanese (Amaterasu) and Finnish (Paivatar) myths have the same theme.
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Aegeus
Father of Theseus, whom he sent to Crete to free his kingdom of having to pay a yearly tribute of 7 youths and 7 maidens. If Theseus was successful he was to return with white sails (instead of the usual black) on his ship. Theseus was successful but forgot to change the sails. When Aegeus saw the black sails on the approaching ship he threw himself into the sea.
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Aegina
Daughter of the river-god Asopus. She was kidnapped by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, and bore him a son, Aeacus (grandfather of Achilles).
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Aegisthus
The son of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopia. Desiring to avenge himself upon his brother Atreus and acting on the advice of the oracle at Delphi, Thyestes consummated an incestuous union with his daughter Pelopia. Shortly afterward, Atreus married Pelopia, not knowing she was his niece. When Aegisthus was born, Atreus accepted him as his own son, not knowing that he had been fathered by Thyestes. Aegisthus later learned his true identity and, urged by Thyestes, killed Atreus.
While Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, was away fighting in the Trojan War, Aegisthus became the lover of Queen Clytemnestra. He helped Clytemnestra kill her husband upon his return from Troy. Together with the queen, Aegisthus then ruled Mycenae for seven years. He was later murdered by Agamemnon's son Orestes.
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Aegyptus
A son of Belus and twin brother to Danaus. He was a king of Egypt (named after him).
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Aeneas
According to Virgil's Aeneid, a hero of the Trojan War who on his return, ultimately founded the Roman state.
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Aero
Also called Merope. Loved by Orion and promised in marriage to him until in a drunken fit he raped her.
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Aerope
Wife of Atreus and mother of Agamemnon.
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Aethra
Theseus' mother.
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Agamedes
Twin brother to Trophonius. They helped build a temple to Apollo at Delphi where the oracle told them to indulge themselves in all pleasures for six days and on the seventh their heart's desire would be granted. They did, and on the seventh were found dead in their beds. Thus the saying: 'Those whom the gods love die young'.
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Agamemnon
He was the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War; brother of Menelaus; son of Atreus. His children by Clytemnestra, whom he took by force, were Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes. To obtain favorable winds for the fleet against Troy, he sacrificed Iphigenia to Artemis, incurring Clytemnestra's hatred. Upon his return from the war, he was murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. To avenge his death, Orestes and Electra killed Aegisthus and their mother.
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Agave
Driven mad by Dionysus, she saw her son Pentheus as a lion and killed him with her own hands.
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Agdos
The name of the great rock of Asia Minor (Cybele in disguise) that Zeus raped. The offspring of this union was Agdistis, a hermaphrodite.
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Aglauros
Daughter of Cecrops, the half-dragon half-man creature. Sister of Herse who was beloved by Hermes. When Hermes visited Herse, Aglauros, who was jealous, got in his way and said she would not move. The god took her at her word and turned her into stone so she could not.
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Ajax The Greater
A hero of the Trojan War who killed himself when the armor of Achilles was awarded to Odysseus (Ulysses) as champion of the war.
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Ajax The Lesser(Aias)
A son of Oileus, King of Locris. He was one of the heroes in the Trojan War, but had severe character flaws, such as being arrogant, boastful and quarrelsome. He captured Cassandra, a daughter of King Priam, and raped her. He earned the enmity of his Greek allies because of this and left Troy to return home. His ship sunk in a storm but he survived. He boasted, long and loud about his escape, only to incur the wrath of Poseidon, who cast him back into the sea where he drowned.
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Alcestis
Daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus, and wife of Admetus, king of Pharae and friend of the god Apollo. When it was time for Admetus to die, Apollo persuaded the Fates to let him live if he could persuade another to die in his place. The Fates agreed to let Admetus stay alive if his mother, his father, or his wife would die in his place. Alcestis willingly took poison to spare Admetus's life.In some myths Hercules rescued her from the dead; in others Persephone reunited husband and wife.
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Alcippe
This daughter of Ares and Aglauros was raped by a son of Poseidon. Ares then killed the rapist, and was brought before the other gods to go on trial for murder; the first murder trial. After hearing the brutal facts of the case they quickly acquitted him.
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Alcmaeon
Son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. After Amphiaraus was killed in the war of the "Seven Against Thebes", Alcmaeon led the Epigoni (the sons of the Seven) in a second war, that was successful. To avenge his father's death when he returned home, he killed his mother, since she had forced her husband to go in the first war. He afterwards went mad and wandered from place to place, haunted by the avenging goddesses, the Erinyes, until he took refuge at Psophis in Arcadia. There, he married Arsinoe, the king's daughter. When the land was cursed with barrenness because of his presence, he fled to the mouth of the Achelous River and married Callirrhoe, daughter of the river god. The king (Arsinoe's father) and his sons pursued Alcmaeon and killed him.
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Alcmena
Mother of Hercules by Zeus, who took the form of her husband Amphitryon to seduce her. He enjoyed himself so much he made the night last as long as three ordinary nights.
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Amalthea
A nymph, the nurse of the baby Zeus (or alternately the she-goat which suckled him). In thanks, Zeus broke off a horn from the goat and gave it to Amalthea promising that the possessor should always have in abundance everything desired. (The Horn of Plenty, the cornucopia)
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Amazons
One of a tribe of warlike women from Asia Minor. The Amazons had a matriarchal society, in which women governed and fought while men performed the household tasks.
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Amymone
One of the Danaïdes. The only one who murdered her husband and escaped eternal punishment.
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Anaxarete
A cruel virgin who caused her lover (Iphis) to kill himself, and was turned into stone by the gods.
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Andromache
Hector's wife who was given upon his death to Pyrrhus. When he was also killed (by Orestes), she was given to Helenus (Hector's brother).
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Anius
He was the son of the god, Apollo, and of Rhoeo. When Rhoeo became pregnant, her father had her placed in a chest and cast into the sea. She landed on the island of Delos where she gave birth to Anius. Anius became the father of three daughters, Oeno, Spermo and Elais (wine, grain seed and oil, in that order) who were granted the power to bring these three crops to fruition.
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Antaeus
He was a giant, the son of the sea god Poseidon and Gaea, the Earth goddess. He forced all who traveled through his country to wrestle him. Since everytime he touched the Earth (his mother) he grew in strength he was never defeated. Hercules (Heracles), while wrestling him, discovered this and, holding him above ground, crushed him to death.
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Antianara
Amazon queen who crippled all her male slaves, "as the lame best perform the acts of love".
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Anticlea
Wife of Laertes and mother of Odysseus.
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Antigone-in place of a mother
She was the daughter of Oedipus and his mother, Jocasta. This was a union made unknowingly by both parties. When he found out, Oedipus blinded himself and Antigone and her sister, Ismene, became their father's guide. Antigone accompanied her father when he was sent into exile but returned to Thebes after his death. In a dispute over the throne her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices (one of the "Seven Against Thebes"), killed each other. The new king, Creon, gave Eteocles an honorable burial but ordered that the body of Polynices, whom he regarded as a traitor, remain where it had fallen. Proper burial was considered a godly law. Antigone, believing the laws of the gods must take precedence over the laws of man, buried her brother. Creon condemned her to be buried alive. She hanged herself in the tomb, and her grief-stricken lover, Haemon, Creon's son, killed himself.
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Antiope
She was the mother of the twins Amphion and Zethus. Her beauty attracted the god, Zeus, who assumed the form of a satyr and raped her. The twins were the result of that attack -OR- An Amazon queen captured by Heracles and given to Theseus. She bore him a son Hippolytus (named after her sister Hippolyta). She is the only Amazon known to have married.
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Arachne-spider
Arachne was a weaver of such skill that she foolishly challenged Athena to a contest. Athena's tapestry showed the gods in all their majesty. Arachne's tapestry showed the gods in all their amorous adventures. Athena, in a fit of rage at the indelicate poses of the gods, tore it to shreds. In shame, Arachne hanged herself. The goddess took pity and loosened the rope which turned into a cobweb while Arachne changed into a spider. (Spiders are classified today as Arachnida.)
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Arethusa
A nymph attendant of Artemis who, when pursued by the river-god Alpheus, is changed by Artemis into a fountain. The river-god determined to get her, flowed underground so as to mingle his waters with hers.
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Argonaut
One who sailed with Jason on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece.
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Arne
Daughter of Aeolus, ancestress of the Boeotians.
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Arsinoë
Sometimes said to be the mother of Aesculapius.
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Asteria
In order to escape being raped by Zeus, this nymph changed herself into a quail.
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Atalanta-unswaying
Disappointed that she was not a boy, her father abandoned her on a mountainside at her birth. She was rescued and nursed by a she-bear and later raised by hunters. By the time she had grown up, she was a skilled hunter. She took part in the famous boar hunt of Calydon. Atalanta was a fleet-footed runner who offered to marry anyone who could defeat her in a race. Those who lost were killed. The youth Hippomenes (or Melanion) won with the aid of Aphrodite, who gave him three golden apples of the Hesperides. He dropped them one by one, and by stopping to pick them up, Atalanta lost the race. She and Hippomenes were later turned into lions because of an affront to the gods. Parthenopaeus was their son (Seven Against Thebes).
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Atlas-he who dares
Son of the Titan, Iapetus, and the nymph, Clymene (Asia), and the brother of Prometheus. Atlas was one of the Titans that warred against Zeus, and lost. As punishment, Zeus condemned him to hold aloft the heavens forever. He is often pictured holding the earth on his shoulders.
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Atreus
When the king of Mycenae died without an heir, Atreus was chosen as their new king. Atreus's brother Thyestes, a rival for the throne, seduced Aerope, Atreus' wife (and mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus). When he learned of this treachery, Atreus murdered two of Thyestes' sons and served them boiled in a cauldron to their father at a banquet. When Thyestes had finished eating, Atreus ordered a dish holding the bloody heads of the children brought in. Thyestes laid a curse on his brother. Atreus later married Pelopia, daughter of Thyestes, not knowing her true identity. Her son Aegisthus killed Atreus at the urging of his grandfather, Thyestes.
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Autolycus
He was the father of Anticleia, who was the mother of Odysseus. He was reknown as a swindler and thief. It is said that Sisyphus, while visiting, recognized some property that had been stolen from him. In revenge, he seduced Anticleia and thus was the true father of Odysseus, rather than her husband, Laertes.
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Autonoe
Mother of Actaeon, the hunter turned into a deer by Diana (Artemis) when he saw her bathing naked, and killed by his own hunting dogs.
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Bellerophon
He was the hero who, with the help of Athena, tamed Pegasus, the winged horse. Bellerophon angered Proetus, who sent him to the king of Lycia with a sealed message requesting the bearer be slain. The king who entertained, and became friendly with, Bellerophon before reading the message, could not do it. Instead he sent Bellerophon on a mission he thought would be suicidal, to kill the fire-breathing monster Chimera. This was done, and the king was so impressed he gave his daughter in marriage to the hero. Later, Bellerophon defied the gods and tried to fly Pegasus up to Olympus, but, thrown to the earth by his horse, he wandered in misery until he died.
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Bia
A warrior, noted for being the one to bind Prometheus to the rocky crag as eternal punishment for providing fire to humanity. The daughter of Pallas and Styx.
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Briareus
He was also known as Aegeon. A Titan, who had fifty heads and a hundred hands, and fought in the Titan war against Zeus.
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Briseis
First name Hippodamia. She was given to Achilles as a prize in the Trojan War, and taken from him by Agamemnon, which caused the famous quarrel that led to the death of Patroclus.
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Brontes
A Cyclops. He was the personification of a blacksmith, and his name means Thunder.
Cadmus
Cadmus and his companions found a sacred grove guarded by a dragon. After the beast killed his companions, Cadmus slew the dragon and, on the advice of the goddess Athena, planted its teeth in the ground. Armed men sprang from the teeth and fought each other until all but five were killed. Cadmus enlisted the help of the victors in founding the new city of Thebes.
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Caenis
A Greek (Thessaly) woman who was brutally raped by Poseidon. She prayed to the gods that she be transformed into an invulnerable man so she could exact revenge against the sex that had harmed her. Her wish was granted and she became a fearful warrior killing many men in battle. In some legends she is killed as a man (in the battle against the centaurs at the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia), and transformed back to a female and buried. In other legends she is immortal as well as invulnerable and is buried alive under the weight of the rocks and tree trunks which were hurled upon him by the centaurs in that battle.
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Calchas
The soothsayer in the Trojan War who predicted that Achilles' aid was necessary for the Greeks to win, that Iphigenia must be sacrificed before the Greeks sail to Troy, and that the war would take ten years to win. He died from disappointment when bettered in a trial of skill by the prophet Mopsus.
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Caligo
She was Chaos' mother, and by him she became mother of Nyx (night).
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Callisto-fairest
She was a friend/priestess of the famous huntress Artemis and took a vow to remain single. But Zeus took a liking to her (Zeus took the form of Artemis in order to seduce her.) and she was no longer chaste. She was turned into a bear, either by Zeus who didn't want his wife to know of the love affair, or by his wife, Hera, as revenge for the affair. She was then killed in a hunt by her best friend Artemis who really thought she was a bear. Zeus changed the dead Callisto into a constellation, the Ursa Major (Great Bear). Her son, Arcas, born of the affair with Zeus, was changed into the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Bear).
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Calypso-hidden
A sea nymph and daughter of the Titan Atlas. Calypso lived alone on the mythical island of Ogygia in the Ionian Sea. When the Greek hero Odysseus was shipwrecked on Ogygia, she fell in love with him and kept him a virtual prisoner for seven years. Although she promised him immortality and eternal youth if he would stay with her, she could not make him overcome his desire to return home. She bore him two sons before, at the bidding of the god Zeus, she finally released Odysseus and gave him materials to build a raft to leave the island. She died of grief after he left.
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Campe
This female dragon was the guard of the monster children of Gaia, in their prison beneath the surface of the earth.
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Cassandra she who entangles men
The daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Apollo fell in love with her and promised her the gift of prophecy if she would submit to him. She accepted the proposal, received the gift and then refused the god her favors. Apollo took his revenge by ordaining that her prophecies would never be believed. Which is what happened. For instance, Cassandra warned the Trojans of many dangers, including the wooden horse by which the Greeks entered the city, but she was dismissed as a madwoman. After the fall of Troy, she was dragged from her sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Athena by Ajax the Lesser and brought to the Greek camp. When the spoils were divided, Cassandra was awarded to King Agamemnon as his slave and mistress. Cassandra warned him that he would be killed if he returned to Greece; again she was not believed. Upon their arrival in Mycenae she and Agamemnon were murdered by Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae and wife of Agamemnon.
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Cassiopeia
The wife of Cephus, king of Ethiopia. When Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, these water nymphs complained to Poseidon, the god of the sea, who sent a sea monster to ravage the land. Poseidon demanded that Cassiopeia's daughter, Andromeda, be punished for her mother's vanity by being sacrificed to the monster, but the girl was rescued by the hero Perseus. At her death Cassiopeia was changed into a constellation, the stars of which form the outline of a woman sitting in a chair and holding up both arms in supplication to the gods.
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Castor and Pollux
Twin heroes called the Dioscuri. Castor was the son of Leda and Tyndareus and Pollux the son of Leda and Zeus. Castor was a skilled horseman and Pollux a boxer. They were famous warriors, noted for their devotion to each other. Patrons of mariners, the Dioscuri were especially honored by the Romans.
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Cecrops
The founder of Athens and of Greek civilization. Reputed to have sprung half man, half serpent from the soil, he became the first king of Attica, which he divided into 12 communities. He established marriage and property laws, introduced bloodless sacrifice and burial of the dead, and invented writing. During his 50-year rule he testified in a dispute over possession of Athens between Athena and Poseidon; his evidence on behalf of Athena leading the panel of judges (the Olympian gods) to vote along gender lines (with Zeus as head of the panel abstaining), thereby declaring Athena the winner by a vote of 6 to 5.
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Centaurs
They were principally savage beasts, half-horse and half-man. Chiron was an exception as he was famous for his virtue and his wisdom.
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Cerberus-demon of the pit
A many-headed dog with a mane and a tail of snakes, who guarded the entrance to the underworld (Hades). One of the 12 labors of Hercules was to capture him.
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Chaos-yawning
The vacant, unfathomable space from which everything arose. In the Olympian myth Gaea sprang from Chaos and became the mother of all things.
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Charon-fierce brightness
He was the foul-tempered boatman, son of Erebus and Nox (Night), who ferried the spirits of the dead over the rivers Styx and Acheron to Elysium (the underworld). He would admit to his boat only the souls of those who had received the rites of burial and whose passage had been paid with a coin (an obolus) placed under the tongue of the corpse. Those who had not been buried and whom Charon would not admit to his boat were doomed to wait beside the Styx for 100 years.
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Charybdis and Scylla
Two sea monsters dwelling on the opposite sides of a narrow strait, the personification of the dangers of navigation near the rocks and eddies. Scylla was a horrible creature with 12 feet and 6 long necks, each bearing a head with 3 rows of teeth, with which she devoured any prey that came within reach; she lived in a cave on a cliff. Across the strait, opposite her, was a large fig tree under which Charybdis, the whirlpool, dwelt, sucking in and belching forth the waters of the sea three times daily, engulfing anything that came near. When the Greek hero Odysseus passed between them, he was able to avoid Charybdis, but Scylla seized six men from his ship and devoured them. Scylla, originally a beautiful maiden loved by a sea god, had been transformed into a monster by her jealous rival, the sorceress Circe.
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Chelone
A nymph that ridiculed (one version) or refused to attend (another version) the wedding of Zeus and Hera. They punished her by changing her into a turtle (mute - 1st version) who carries its home everywhere (2nd version).
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Chiron
A centaur, son of Cronus. He was a wise physician and prophet whose pupils included Hercules, Achilles, Jason, and Asclepius. After receiving an incurable wound, he gave his immortality to Prometheus and died. Zeus turned him into the constellation Sagittarius.
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Chloe
A lover of Daphnis in a Greek pastoral romance, and since, a generic name in literature for a rustic maiden, not always of the artless variety.
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Chryses-golden
A Priest of Apollo.
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Chryseis
Daughter of a priest of Apollo (Chryses), she is captured (Trojan War) and given to Agamemnon. Her father tries to ransom her but Agamemnon refuses to let her go, whereupon the priest prays to Apollo for help. The god sends a plague on the Greek army, and Agamemnon caves in and returns her but demands the maid Briseis (who had been given to Achilles) as recompense. Read the Iliad for the whole story.
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Circe-falcon
A sorceress, the daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse. She lived on an island, where with potions and incantations, she was able to turn people into beasts. Her victims retained their reason, however, and knew what had happened to them. In the course of his wanderings, the Greek hero Odysseus visited her island with his companions, whom she turned into swine. On his way to find help for his men, Odysseus met the god Hermes, from whom he received an herb (Moly) that made him immune to Circe's enchantments. He forced her to restore his companions to human form, and in amazement that anyone could resist her spell, Circe fell in love with Odysseus. He and his friends stayed with her for a year. When they finally decided to leave, she told Odysseus how to find the spirit of the Theban seer Tiresias in the underworld, in order to learn from him how to safely return home.
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Clymene
A Titaness, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was the wife of Iapetus and bore him Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas.
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Clytemnestra
The daughter of Tyndareus and Leda. She was a sister to Castor and a half sister to Helen and Pollux. She was the wife of Agamemnon, the mother of Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia, and Chrysothemis. And she was the lover of Aegisthus. On her husband's return from Troy she murdered him- partly (according to various forms of her legend) out of hatred for his sacrifice of Iphigenia and partly out of jealousy of Cassandra, whom he had brought back as a captive concubine. In retaliation for the murder of Agamemnon, she was killed by her son Orestes.
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Clytie
An ocean nymph who fell in love with Apollo (aka Helios, the sun god). When she was deserted by him she changed into a sunflower (heliotrope), and still turns to the sun, following him through his daily journey through the sky.
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Coronis-crow or raven
Mother of Aesculapius by Apollo, who slew her for her infidelity. Also in another version, the daughter of Coronaeus, changed by Athene into a crow to escape from Neptune.
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Cottus
One of the hundred-handed giants, son of Uranus and Gaea. His two brothers were Briareus and Gyes.
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Cratos
Brother of Bia and representation of power.
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Creon
Brother of Jocasta, queen of Thebes. Creon served as regent of Thebes after King Oedipus was exiled until his nephew Eteocles, Oedipus's younger son, claimed the throne. The elder son, Polyneices, angered at this usurpation of his legal right, led an invading army in the battle of the "Seven Against Thebes". Both brothers killed each other in combat, and Creon again took command of Thebes, decreeing that all who had fought against the city would be denied burial rites. Burial of the dead was regarded as a sacred duty, and Antigone, sister of Polyneices, defied Creon and buried her brother, claiming that she owed a higher obedience to the laws of the gods than to the laws of man. Enraged at her defiance of his authority, Creon ordered that his niece be buried alive. His son Haemon, who had loved Antigone, killed himself in despair at her death.
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Creusa
There were three: 1. Daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens. She was raped by Apollo and bore a son. The child was exposed to die but was taken to Delphi by Hermes and there brought up. Xuthus, Creusa's husband, thought the child his own and brought him back to Athens, calling him Ion.
2. First wife of Aeneas and mother of Ascanius. She was killed while trying to escape from burning Troy. Her ghost appeared to Aeneas and warned him of perils to come.
3. Daughter of Creon, king of Corinth. Jason deserted Medea for her. Medea, in revenge, killed Glauce, Glauce's father, and her own children by Jason.
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Crius, Creus, or Kreios
A Titan, married Eurbia. Had 3 children: Astraios, Perses, Pallas. Was grandfather of (Astraios married Eos): Zephyros/Zephyrus (West Wind), Boreas (North Wind), Notos/Notus (South Wind), Eosphoros/Eurus (East Wind), and all the "stars". Was also grandfather of (Pallas married Styx): Zelos, Nike, Kratos, Bia.
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The Cyclopes ring-eyed
Cyclop (plural Cyclopes). There are two versions. In one they were three immense one-eyed beings, who were smiths, sons of Uranus and Gaea, who made, for Zeus, the lightning bolts he used to slay his enemies. In another, they were a barbarous people, one of whom, Polyphemus, was encountered by Odysseus in his wanderings.
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Cyone
Raped by her father, she forced him into a nearby temple and sacrificed him on the altar.
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Cyrene
This myth has Cyrene wrestling a lion which was attacking her father's sheep. Apollo, passing by, saw this and immediately fell in love with her. He carried her off and founded the city of Cyrene making her its queen. She bore him some children and also bore a child with Ares.
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Damia
An alternative form of Demeter in ancient Greece. Her daughter was Auxesia (similar in kind to Persephone).
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Damocles
Damocles was a courtier of Dionysius the Elder. According to a legend, Damocles on one occasion commented to his ruler on the grandeur and happiness of rulers. Dionysius soon thereafter invited his courtier to a luxurious banquet, where Damocles enjoyed the delights of the table until his attention was directed upward and he saw a sharp sword hanging above him by a single horsehair. By this device Dionysius made Damocles realize that insecurity might threaten those who appeared to be the most fortunate. (Sword of Damocles: symbolic potential disaster.)
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Damon and Pythias
Two young men whose loyalty to each other symbolizes true friendship. When Pythias, condemned to death by Dionysius the Elder, was released to arrange his affairs, Damon stayed on as hostage, pledged to die in place of Pythias, if he did not return. On Pythias' return, Dionysius freed them both.
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Danae
Her father (Acrisius) was told by an oracle that her son (his grandson) would kill him so he imprisoned her in an underground cell so that she would not meet any man. Zeus, who had fallen in love with her, broke into her cell by taking the form of a shower of gold (which opens all doors). Her son from that union was Perseus (who did kill his grandfather).
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Danaus
Grandson of Poseidon and twin brother of Aegyptus. The father of 50 daughters known as the Danaids. See Danaids for the story.
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Daphne
A nymph who was metamorphosed into a laurel tree, by Gaea, as a means of escaping from Apollo.
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Daphnis
The Sicilian shepherd who invented pastoral poetry, born of the union of the god Hermes with a nymph. According to one legend, Daphnis was blinded after breaking a vow of fidelity to a nymph who loved him.
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Deianira (Dejaneira)
Wife of Heracles (Hercules). As the centaur Nessus was carrying her across a river he attempted to violate her; Heracles shot him with a poisoned arrow. As he lay dying he told Deianira to save some of his blood, that it would keep Heracles in love with her should he ever want to stray. Years later Heracles became enamored of Iole and brought her home. Deianira soaked a garment in the blood and gave it to Heracles as a gift. When he put it on it burned his flesh and could not be removed, killing Heracles in an agonizing death. Deianira killed herself in remorse.
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Deidamia
Achilles' wife.
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Deucalion new-wine sailor
A son of Prometheus who with his wife, Pyrrha, built an ark and floated in it to survive the deluge sent by Zeus in anger at humankind's irreverence. The couple became the ancestors of the renewed human race when an oracle told them to cast behind them the stones of the earth. These stones became human and repopulated the world.
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Dido
Daughter of Belus, king of Tyre. When Dido's husband was killed by her brother Pygmalion, Dido fled with her followers to North Africa. She purchased the site of Carthage from a native ruler, Larbus, who, when the new city began to prosper, threatened Dido with war unless she married him. Rather than submit Dido stabbed herself, or, in another version, the Trojan prince Aeneas was shipwrecked at Carthage. He remained there with Dido, who had fallen in love with him, until commanded by the god Jupiter to abandon her and continue his journey. In despair at his departure, Dido killed herself on a funeral pyre.
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Diomedes
King of Argos, one of the kings known as the "Seven Against Thebes". Diomedes was one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. He killed numerous Trojan warriors, and with the assistance of the goddess Athena, wounded Aphrodite (goddess of love) and Ares (god of war), both of whom were helping the Trojans. When he returned from the war and discovered that his wife had been unfaithful, Diomedes went to Apulia, where he remarried.
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Dione
A Titaness. In some early legends she is the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus; most legends though have Aphrodite born of the sea-foam (no mother).
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Dirce
The woman who was the second wife of Lycus (after he abandoned Antiope). She was a shrew and a nag and was tied to the horns of a wild bull by Amphion and Zethus (Antiope's sons - her step-sons) and dragged to death. They also killed Lycus.
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Dryope
One legend: A nymph who was "tricked" by Apollo and who thereupon bore a son (Amphissus). She was turned into a poplar tree. Another legend: With her sister Iole and with her young son in her arms she, while at a spring, plucked some beautiful blossoms from a lotus tree to make a garland. The tree was really Lotis, a nymph, hiding from a pursuer, and from where the blossoms had been plucked, blood flowed. Lotis, angry and in pain, changed Dryope into a tree. Another legend: The mother of the lascivious Pan.
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Echenais
A nymph who fell in love with the mortal Daphnis and made him promise to be faithful. When he wasn't, she made him blind so he might never again be tempted by female beauty.
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Echidna she-viper
She was half-woman, half-snake. She was married to the monster, Typhon. She was the mother of Ladon (a dragon), Hydra (the many-headed), Chimera (goat-like), and Orthus (Orthros) and Cerberus (dog creatures). She also mothered, by Orthus, the Sphinx and the Nemean lion. She was killed by Argus as she slept.
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Echo-echo
She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, talking to Hera long enough for Zeus to fool around again. Hera was so angry she deprived Echo of the power of speech except for the ability to repeat the last words of another. Echo fell in love with Narcissus who was pining away staring at his reflection. Echo, in despair, faded away to nothing until only her voice remained.
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Eidothea-divine shape
A sea nymph,daughter of Proteus, who took pity on Menelaus, becalmed on his return trip from the Trojan War to Sparta, and advised him to lie in wait for her father, who could be compelled to give him useful advice and information if Menelaus would only seize him and hold on to him, unafraid. This was not a simple matter, since Proteus had the power to change himself into many, and fearsome, shapes. But Menelaus held on and got the information he wanted.
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Electra-amber
1. Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She aided her brother Orestes in avenging the murder of their father by their mother and Aegisthus.
2. One of the Pleiades, the mythical ancestors of the Trojans. She is known as the "Lost Pleiad" for she is said to have disappeared before the Trojan War so that she would not see her favorite city destroyed. She shows herself occasionly, but only in the guise of a comet.
3. An Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.
4. Mother (by Thaumas) of Iris, goddess of the rainbow, and also of the loathsome Harpies.
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Enceladus
The most powerful of the hundred-armed giants, sons of Uranus and Gaea, who fought against Zeus.
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Endymion-seduced native
A handsome young man who was loved by the moon goddess, Selene, and whose youth was preserved by eternal sleep. Selene supposedly bore him fifty daughters by embracing him in his sleep.
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Ephialtes
A giant, son of Poseidon, and brother to Otus. When they were nine years old, they were "nine fathoms tall and nine cubits broad". Apollo killed them.
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Epigoni-afterborn
The sons of the seven Greek chieftains known as the "Seven Against Thebes". To avenge the deaths of their fathers, who had been slain in that ill-fated expedition against Thebes, the Epigoni conquered the city and completely destroyed it. Although their name, Epigoni, (Afterborn), implied that they had come into the world too late and after all the great deeds had been done, one of their number, the warrior Diomedes, became one of the greatest Greek heroes of the Trojan War.
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Epimenides
A religious teacher and miracle worker in Crete who is said to have fallen asleep in a cave as a boy, and that he did not wake up for 57 years. (Origin of Rip Van Winkle?)
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Epimetheus-afterthought
He was considered the dumbest of the Titans. His name means "afterthought". He was responsible for Pandora (the first woman) and the releasing of all evils upon mankind.
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Erebus
The son of Chaos, and brother of Night. His name was given to the gloomy cavern through which the dead had to walk to reach Hades.
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Erigone
Daughter of Icarius. When her father was killed (he had given a party where he, a follower of Dionysus, gave the revelers their first taste of wine, and they, thinking they were poisoned, slew him) she was led to his body by their faithful dog Maera and, overcome with grief, killed herself.
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Erytheia
One of the Hesperides.
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Europa-broad face
A beautiful woman who caught the eye of Zeus. He transformed himself into a white bull and carried her off. She bore him three sons, King Minos, King Rhadamanthus and Prince Sarpedon. She later married the king of Crete who adopted her three sons.
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Eurycleia
Odysseus'old nurse who recognizes him when he returns from the Trojan War, when washing his feet she sees the scar he received as a young man in a boar hunt.
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Eurydice-wide justice
The wife of Orpheus, whom he failed to rescue from Hades when he looked back at her.
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Eurynome
The daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and the mother, by Zeus, of the Graces.
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Evadne
Wife of Capaneus (one of the Seven Against Thebes). When he was killed in that war she burned herself on his pyre.
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Galatea-milk white
There are three of them in Greek myth:
1.A sea nymph, loved by the monster Polyphemus (a Cyclop), although she loved Acis, who was thereby killed by Polyphemus or the other Cyclops (two differing versions). Galatea, in bereavement, threw herself into the sea, where she joined her sister nymphs (one version), she wept so copiously she was changed into a fountain (another version), and she accepted Polyphemus and had by him a son, Galates (another version).
2.The woman who was originally a statue carved by Pygmalion and who was brought to life by Aphrodite in answer to his prayers.
3.Mother of Leucippus, who was reared as a boy in order to fool Galatea's husband, who had ordered the child to be killed at birth if it was a girl. Leto answered the mother's prayers eventually and changed Leucippus' sex to male.
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Galinthias (Galauthis)
A servant of Alcmene's. When Alcmene was about to give birth to Hercules, the Moerae (see Fates), sitting in front of Alcmene's house, prevented the birth by sitting with their knees held together and their hands clasped around their knees; this was a spell that prevented birth. Galinthias, learning of this, ran out shouting that Alcmene had given birth to a child. This so startled the Moerae they started to their feet and in so doing freed Alcmene's thighs and her child was born. According to the poet Ovid, the Moerae were so angered by this trick that they turned the subtle, darting Galinthias into a lizard.
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Glaucus
All four are:
1. Fought on the side of the Trojans in the Trojan War. He was killed in the war by Ajax.
2. Son of Minos; drowned in a vat of honey; brought back to life by the soothsayer Polyeidus.
3. One of the Argonauts. He loved Scylla (before she was changed into a monster), and was loved in turn by Circe, who made him into a sea god.
4. Son of Sisyphus and father of Bellerophon. He fed his herd of horses on a diet of human flesh. Eventually he became part of their diet; a fitting end to his life.
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Golden Fleece
The fleece of the golden ram, stolen by Jason and the Argonauts from the king of Colchis.
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Harmonia-concordance
She was the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, or the daughter of Zeus and Electra depending on which version of the old legends you believe. She was carried off by Cadmus and married him. At Harmonia's wedding, which was attended by the gods, Aphrodite gave her a beautiful necklace made by Hephaestus, god of metalwork. Although the gift brought her good fortune, it brought only death and misery to her family. Eventually both Cadmus and Harmonia were transformed into snakes.
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Harpocrates
The Greek counterpart of the Egyptian Harpa-Khruti (Horus the child). He was depicted as a naked boy sucking on his finger, and was considered the god of silence and secrecy.
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Hector
A Trojan prince, the eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, he was killed by Achilles in the Trojan War, and his dead body tied to Achilles' chariot, was dragged around the walls of Troy three times.
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Hecuba
The second wife of Priam and mother of Hector, Paris, and Cassandra, among her nineteen children. When Troy fell she was taken by Ulysses.
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Helen moon-basket
The most beautiful of women. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, sister of Clytemnestra and of Castor and Pollux. She married Menelaus. When Paris awarded the apple of discord to Aphrodite, the goddess gave him Helen. He carried her off to Troy, starting the Trojan War. After the war she returned to Sparta with Menelaus, by whom she bore Hermione.
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Heracles
The most popular Greek hero, he was famous for strength and courage. The son of Alcmene and Zeus, he was hated by Hera, who sent serpents to his cradle to strangle him, but he strangled them. Later Hera drove Heracles mad, and he killed his wife and children. He sought redemption from King Eurystheus, who set him 12 mighty labors:
1. Kill the Nemean lion- Heracles strangled the animal and wore the lion's skin.
2. Kill the Hydra-a terrible serpent with nine heads.
3. Drive off the Stymphalian birds.
4. Clean the Augean stables, which had not been cleaned for 30 years. He turned two rivers, the Alpheus and the Peneus, through the stables, finishing the work in a single day.
5. Capture the Cerynean hind, with the golden horns.
6. Capture the Cretan bull.
7. Capture the flesh-eating wild mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace. Hercules killed Diomedes and fed him to the horses.
8. Capture the wild Erymanthian boar.
9. Capture the cattle of the monster Geryon, which dwelt on the fabled island Erytheia.
10. Capture Cerberus, the many-headed dog who guarded the gates of the underworld. He brought Cerberus to Eurystheus, but the king was so terrified that Heracles had to return to Hades to take the monster back.
11. Procure the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. He defeated the Amazons, killed the queen, and took the belt.
12. Procure the golden apples of the Hesperides guarded by the four sister nymphs called the Hesperides. Their father was Atlas, who supported the heavens on his back. To obtain the apples Heracles took Atlas's place while Atlas took the apples.
Later, the centaur Nessus tried to carry off Heracles' wife, Deianeira. Heracles shot Nessus with a poisoned arrow. The dying centaur had Deianeira keep some of his blood as a love charm. When Heracles fell in love with another maiden, Deianeira sent him a robe steeped in the blood. Heracles put it on, and poison spread through his body like fire. He fled to Mount Oeta, built a funeral fire, and threw himself on it to die. At his death he rose to Olympus, where he was reconciled with Hera and married Hebe. He is more familiarly known by his Roman name Hercules.
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Hermaphroditus
This was a creature that was partly male and partly female. One legend has him being a handsome male, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Supposedly a nymph fell in love with him and beseeched the gods to be forever united with him. They answered her prayers by fusing the two together thereby creating a being that was half male and half female.
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Hero and Leander
Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite beloved by Leander, who drowned during one of his nightly swims across the Hellespont to be with her.
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Hesperia-evening
The land of the evening star, where the golden apples of Hera were guarded by the dragon Ladon and by the seven immortal maidens, the Hesperides.
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Hesperides
See Hesperia.
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Hippodamia (Briseis)
Achilles' mistress at Troy.
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Hippolytus
A son of Theseus. When he repulsed the advances of his step-mother, Phaedra, she accused him of attempting to seduce her. Theseus asked Poseidon for advice, and the god sent a huge sea-monster against Hippolytus, which so frightened his horses that they dragged him to his death. He was restored to life by Aesculapius.
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Hippomenes
The Greek who defeated Atalanta in the race in which he used the golden apples given to him by Venus, and thereby won Atalanta's hand in marriage.
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Hyacinthus-hyacinth
A handsome Spartan youth loved both by Apollo, god of the sun, and by Zephyrus, god of the west wind. One day, as Apollo was teaching the young man to throw the discus, the god accidentally killed Hyacinthus. From the blood of the youth, Apollo caused a flower to spring up, each petal inscribed with an exclamation of lamentation (what looks like AI, which means woe in Greek). According to another legend, Zephyrus was jealous of the youth's love for Apollo and blew upon the discus, causing it to strike Hyacinthus.
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TheHyades rain-makers
The name given to five (in some accounts, seven) sisters who nursed the infant wine god, Dionysus. As a reward they were changed into the five (seven) stars at the head of the constellation Taurus, the bull.
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Hydra-water creature.
In Greek mythology, a many-headed water serpent. When one of its heads was cut off, two new ones appeared. It was killed by Hercules, who had his charioteer burn each neck after decapitation.
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The Hyperboreans beyond-the-North-Wind-men
A race of men who lived on the northern shores of the limitless river Ocean that ran around the earth. This fortunate race never knew care, toil, illness or old age.
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Ianthe
A Cretan girl who married Iphis. Iphis was transformed from a girl into a young man for this purpose.
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Iapetus-hurrier
Son of Uranus and Gaea. The Titan that fathered Prometheus, Menoetius, Epimetheus, and Atlas, and considered by the Greeks, the father of the human race.
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Icarius
He was taught the cultivation of the grape vine by Dionysus, and when he introduced wine to some peasants, was killed by them because they thought he had poisoned them when they became drunk. The peasants buried him under a tree, and when Erigone, his daughter, and Moera, his dog, found the body she hanged herself in grief. Icarius became the constellation Boötes; Erigone became the constellation Virgo; and Moera became the star Procyon.
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Icarus
The son of Daedalus. He and his father fastened wings to their bodies and flew over the sea. When Icarus flew higher, the sun melted the wax fastenings and he fell to his death in the waters below.
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Idomeneus
A king of Crete who fought with the Greeks at Troy. After the war he made a vow to the gods to sacrifice whatever he first encountered if they would grant him safe passage home. He met his own son, and true to his vow, sacrificed his son to the gods. The gods, however, sent a plague to his kingdom, and he was banished by his people and branded a murderer.
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Io
She was a princess of Argos, who was turned into a heifer by Zeus to protect her from Hera's jealousy. Hera claimed the heifer and had the many-eyed monster Argus guard it. When Hermes killed Argus, Hera drove Io to Egypt. There Zeus returned her to human form. Io has been identified with the Egyptian goddess Isis.
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Iphigenia
The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Agamemnon, having offended the goddess Artemis, vowed to sacrifice to her the most beautiful thing he saw during the year. His daughter was born that year. He deferred the sacrifice till she grew to womanhood, but then, with the Greek fleet ready to sail to Troy, was told that there would be no favorable winds for the fleet until he made good on his vow to Artemis. While the sacrificial rite was in progress, Artemis snatched the girl from the altar and carried her to heaven.
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Iphis
See Ianthe.
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Irus
The gigantic beggar who ran errands for the suitors of Penelope (Ulysses' wife), and who tried to stop Ulysses' trip home. He was killed by a single blow.
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Ismene
Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. She asked to share her sister's (Antigone) fate.
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Ixion-rainbow
King of the Lapithes. He murdered his bride's father to avoid paying him the bride price. When no one on earth would purify him, Zeus took Ixion to Olympus and purified him. Ixion attempted to seduce Hera, but Zeus created a phantom of her and by it Ixion fathered the centaurs. In punishment he was chained for eternity to a fiery wheel in Tartarus.
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Jason
The husband of Medea and leader of the Argonauts who went in quest of the Golden Fleece.
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Lamia-lecherous
A monster serpent with the head and breasts of a woman. It preyed on human beings and sucked the blood of children.
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Laocoön
A Trojan priest of Apollo who was killed along with his two sons by two sea serpents for having warned his people of the Trojan horse.
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Laodamia
Wife of Protesilaus, the first Greek slain (by Hector) when the Greek fleet reached Troy in the Trojan War. When the news of her husband's death reached Laodamia, she prayed to the gods to let her see him once again. Her pleas were answered, and Hermes brought her husband back from the underworld for a 3-hour visit. When it came time for him to return, however, Laodamia could not bear to give him up. She killed herself and returned with her husband to the underworld.
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Leda-lady
Wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta. In some myths Leda was seduced by Zeus, who appeared as a swan. She bore two eggs: from one issued Castor and Clytemnestra, from the other Pollux and Helen of Troy. Another version has Zeus pursuing Nemesis who changes into a goose; whereupon he changes into a swan and couples with her. She then laid an egg (or two, the stories vary) which she gave to Leda to protect, and from which the above four are born.
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Lycos (Lycaon)-wolf
Father of Callisto. He was changed into a wolf by the gods for having dared serve human flesh to them at a banquet.
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Lynceus
One of Jason's Argonauts, of whom it was said that he could see through the earth, and distinguish objects that were miles away.
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Marsyas
In some tales he is identified as a Phrygian, in others as one of the Greek satyrs. He found the flute that Athena, the goddess of wisdom, had invented and later discarded because playing on it puffed out her cheeks and distorted her features. Marsyas became so accomplished a musician that he challenged Apollo, god of music, to a contest, the winner of which would have the right to punish the loser. The Muses awarded the victory to Apollo, who played the lyre. The god thereupon flayed Marsyas, from whose blood the river Marsyas sprang.
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Medea
A princess and sorceress. She fell in love with Jason and helped him obtain the Golden Fleece. She married Jason and bore him two children. Years later, when Jason wished to marry Creusa, the vengeful Medea sent her an enchanted gown, which burned Creusa to death. Then Medea killed the children that she bore by Jason.
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Meleager
Son of Oeneus and Althea (king and queen of Calydon). Meleager led the hunt for a boar that the goddess Artemis sent to devastate Calydon. The hero finally killed the animal, but gave the head and skin to the huntress Atalanta, who had been the first to wound the beast and with whom Meleager was in love. When his maternal uncles, angered at this award, took the trophies from Atalanta, Meleager killed them.
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Memnon
King of Ethiopia, the son of the Trojan prince Tithonus and of Eos, goddess of the dawn. In the tenth year of the Trojan War, Memnon brought his army to the assistance of Troy. He fought bravely but was eventually killed by the Greek hero Achilles. To comfort Memnon's mother, however, the god Zeus made him immortal.
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Menelaus-might of the people
King of Sparta, husband of Helen, and brother of Agamemnon. When Paris abducted Helen to Troy, Menelaus asked the Greek kings to join him in the Trojan War. At its end he returned to Sparta with Helen.
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Mentor
Odysseus's (Ulysses) trusted counselor
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Merope
One of the Pleiades. She married Sisyphus, a mortal, and bore him a son, Glaucus, who was torn to pieces by his horses because he would not allow them to breed.
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Midas
Midas was king of Phrygia. Because he befriended Silenus, Dionysus granted him the power to turn everything he touched into gold. When even his food became gold, he washed away his power in the Pactolus River.
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Minos
A king of Crete, the son of Zeus and Europa, who was made one of the three judges in the underworld after his death.
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Mount Olympus
Where the gods lived and held court. (In some myths it is located at the center of the earth, in others it is in the heavens, and in some it is believed to be in Greece.)
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Myrmidons
A people of Aegina. When the city was depopulated by a plague, Aeacus, its king, prayed to the gods that the ants infesting an oak tree be turned into people to repopulate his kingdom. The prayer was granted. These men followed Achilles to the siege of Troy, and proved to be fierce and diligent warriors.
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Myrrha
The mother of Adonis.
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Narcissus-narcotic
An exceptionally handsome youth. His mother was told he would live a long life if he did not look upon his own features. He chanced to see his reflection in the waters of a spring, fell in love with that reflection and pined away till he died by the side of the spring. In another version, he thought the reflection was that of the nymph who dwelt there, and jumped in to catch her, and drowned. The narcissus flower supposedly grew at that spot.
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Nausicaa
The Greek heroine who brought the ship-wrecked Odysseus to her father, the king of the Phaeacians.
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Niobe-snowy
Her husband, King Amphion, was a son of the god Zeus and a great musician. Niobe bore him six handsome sons and six beautiful daughters. Although she was happy, Niobe exhibited the same arrogance toward the gods that her father, Atreus, had shown. Niobe commanded the people of Thebes to worship her instead of the goddess Leto, who had only two children. The gods heard her words and resolved to punish her. Leto's children, Apollo and Artemis fired their arrows with deadly aim, killing all of Niobe's children. The grief-stricken Niobe was turned into a stone that was forever wet with her tears.
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Oenone-queen of wine
She was the wife of Paris who jilted her for Helen of Troy. When he was wounded in the Trojan War she was the only one who could cure him, but because she was bitter about being jilted, she refused. When his condition worsened and he was near death, she relented but did not get to Troy in time to save him. Overcome with grief at his death, she committed suicide.
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Omphale-navel
Queen of Lydia. She was very masculine, and when Hercules was her slave for three years, she wore the lion's skin while he wore a female garment and spent his time spinning wool.
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Ophiuchus
(There is a constellation called Ophiuchus which lies on top of the constellation Serpens and many cultures saw a man wrestling with a snake.) He was the son of Apollo and legend has it that he learned the art of healing from a snake. He became so good that he could raise people from the dead. Hades complained to Zeus and Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt. Ophiuchus and Serpens were then placed in the sky with Serpens wrapped around Ophiuchus' stick (the medical profession's symbol). See also Asclepius for another version.
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Orestes-mountaineer
Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, brother of Electra and Iphigenia. Orestes was exiled after the slaying of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Later he returned and, helped by Electra, killed his mother and her lover.
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Orion-dweller on the mountain
A handsome giant and mighty hunter, the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Euryale, the Gorgon. Orion fell in love with Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, king of Chios, and sought her in marriage. Oenopion, however, constantly deferred his consent to the marriage. Orion, while drunk, raped Merope. Incensed at his behavior, her father, with the aid of the god Dionysus, threw him into a deep sleep and blinded him. Orion then consulted an oracle, who told him he could regain his sight by going to the east and letting the rays of the rising sun fall on his eyes. His sight restored, he lived on Crete as the huntsman of the goddess Artemis. The goddess eventually killed him, however, because she was jealous of his affection for Aurora, goddess of the dawn. After Orion's death, Artemis placed him in the heavens as a constellation.
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Orpheus
A legendary poet and musician, son of the Muse Calliope by Apollo or by Oeagrus, a king of Thrace. He was given the lyre by Apollo and became such an excellent musician that he had no rival among mortals. He is said to have played the lyre so beautifully that he charmed everything animate and inanimate. His music enchanted the trees and rocks and tamed wild beasts, and even the rivers turned in their course to follow him. He married the lovely nymph Eurydice. Soon after the wedding the bride was stung by a viper and died. Orpheus determined to go to the underworld and try to bring her back, something no mortal had ever done. Hades, the ruler of the underworld, was so moved by his playing that he gave Eurydice back to Orpheus on the one condition that he not look back until they reached the upperworld, but Orpheus could not control his eagerness and as he gained the light of day he looked back a moment too soon, and Eurydice vanished. Grief-stricken, Orpheus forsook human company and wandered in the wilds, playing for the rocks and trees and rivers. Finally a fierce band of Thracian women, who were followers of the god Dionysus, came upon the gentle musician and killed him. When they threw his severed head in the river Hebrus, it continued to call for Eurydice, and was finally carried to the shore of Lesbos, where the Muses buried it. After Orpheus's death his lyre became the constellation Lyra.
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Palamedes
Son of Nauplius and Clymene, he fought with the Greeks at Troy. He supposedly invented lighthouses, scales, the discus, and dice.
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Pandora all-giving
There are two versions of the story of Pandora's Box. In one, the box is a jar containing all kinds of misery and evil. When Pandora opens it all the miseries and evils escape and fly all over the earth. In the other, the box contains all kinds of blessings which were subsequently lost to humans when she opened the box.
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Pandrosos
One of the Augralids. Pandrosos is credited with the introduction of spinning.
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Panope
One of the Nereides. Mother of Aigle.
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Pareia
A nymph.
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Paris
The son of Priam and Hecuba. Because of a prophecy that he would destroy Troy, he was abandoned on Mt. Ida by his parents, but shepherds rescued him. Later he was chosen as judge in a dispute among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Spurning Hera, who offered him greatness, and Athena, who promised success in war, he awarded the golden apple of discord to Aphrodite, who offered the most beautiful woman in the world. His abduction of that woman, Helen, caused the Trojan War.
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Pasiphae
Wife of Minos, Cretan king. She was the mother by him of Ariadne, and also, by consorting with a white bull, the mother of the Minotaur.
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Patroclus-glory of the father
A good friend of Achilles who, while taking Achilles' place when he refused to fight (at Troy), was slain by Hector.
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Penelope
Means with a web over her face. Wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus and a model of fidelity. Pursued by suitors during Odysseus' absence, at the Trojan War (10 years for the war plus another 10 years in adventures and captivity while returning home), she agreed to marry after she finished weaving her father-in-law's (Laertes) shroud, but unraveled her work each night. Each night, for three years, she undid what she had woven during the day, but one of her maids discovered this secret and told the suitors. She finally promised to marry the man who could bend Odysseus' bow, but none could. Odysseus returned at this time disguised as a beggar, bent the bow, and slew the suitors.
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Perseus-destroyer
Son of Zeus and Danaë, a mortal woman. Told by an oracle that Perseus would kill him, his grandfather Acrisius set him and his mother Danaë afloat in a chest. They were rescued by King Polydectes, who fell in love with Danaë. Seeing Perseus as an obstacle to his love for Danaë, the king sent his step-son out to kill Medusa, one of three sisters called the Gorgons who were so ugly, anyone who looked at them would turn to stone. He appealed to the gods for help and was given a mirrored shield by Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and a pair of winged sandals by Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Perseus flew using the sandals to find Medusa. When he found her, he did not look at her. Instead, he used the reflection in the shield to guide his sword so he could behead her as she slept. As she died, the white, winged horse Pegasus sprang from her neck. On his way back from his victory against Medusa, Perseus came across a woman chained to a rock, waiting to be sacrificed to a sea monster, called either Cetus or Draco, depending on which version of the myth you believe. This woman was Andromeda. Her mother, Cassiopeia boasted that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the Nereids, the daughters of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Angered by the insult to his daughters, Poseidon sent floods to the lands ruled by Cassiopeia and her husband, King Cepheus. Cepheus consulted an oracle who told him that the only way to quell Poseidon's anger was to sacrifice his daughter. Perseus came on the scene just in the nick of time and killed the sea monster and saved Andromeda, and then married her. Later, while competing in a discus contest, Perseus accidentally killed Acrisius, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
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Phaedra-bright one
Daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus. When her stepson, Hippolytus, rejected her love, she accused him of rape, then hanged herself.
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Phaëthon-shining
The son of Helios (god of the sun) and Clymene (a nymph). Helios had granted Phaëthon anything he wished, and could not back out when Phaëthon asked to drive the sun-chariot across the sky. He lost control of the chariot and nearly set the earth afire before Zeus slew him with a thunderbolt.
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Philoctetes
A famous archer in the Trojan War. When Hercules died he bequeath his arrows to Philoctetes. In the last year of the Trojan War an oracle declared that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules. Odysseus sent for Philoctetes, who using the arrows left him by Hercules, killed Paris, thereby ending the war.
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Phoenix blood-red
Phoenix and his father, King Amyntor, had a violent quarrel which led Amyntor to curse him with childlessness. Phoenix ended up being responsible for the upbringing of Achilles, and was with him at the Trojan War.
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Phorcys
Phorcys is a son of Gaia and Pontus. He married the sea-monster Ceto, his sister, and had many children with her including the Graeae and the Gorgons.
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Pleiades-flock of doves
These were seven sisters born from the union of the Titan, Atlas, and Pleione. They were Maia, Electra, Alcyone, Merope, Sterope, Taygete and Celaeno. They were pursued by Orion, a famous hunter, and begged relief from Zeus. He changed them into a constellation and placed them in the sky. Then, as was his wont, he turned Orion into a constellation and placed him in the sky in a position where he still could chase the sisters.
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Polynices
A son of Oedipus. It was for him (so that he could gain the throne his younger brother had usurped) that the "Seven against Thebes" fought that ill-fated war.
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Polyphemus-famous
He was the most famous Cyclop. He was the son of Poseidon and a sea nymph. It was Polyphemus who captured Odysseus and his crew when they were shipwrecked on his island. After about half his men were eaten by the Cyclop, Odysseus managed to get him drunk and blinded him by plunging a burning stake into his eye. Odysseus and the rest of his men escaped when they clung to the bellies of the sheep being let out to pasture.
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Polyxena
Another daughter of King Priam and Hecuba. She was claimed as booty by the ghost of Achilles and put to death at his tomb.
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Priam-redeemed
He was the king of Troy during the Trojan War. Priam was married to Hecuba with whom he had many children, amongst whom was Hector and Paris. In the tenth year, alone, of the Trojan War he lost 13 sons. When Troy finally fell, Neoptolemus, Achilles' son, killed Priam on an altar to the gods.
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Procrustes
A notorious robber and murderer. He placed his victims on an iron bed and, if they were longer than the bed, he cut off the parts that were overhanging. If they were shorter than the bed, he stretched them till they fit it. He was killed by Theseus.
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Prometheus-forethought
The wisest Titan, and the creator of mankind. Originally a good friend and ally to Zeus, he later fell from favor (he supposedly tricked Zeus out of his share of a sacrificed ox), and was chained in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle fed upon his "ever-regrowing" liver each day. He is credited with stealing fire from Hephaestus and giving it to the human race.
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Pygmalion
He was king of Cyprus, and sculptor of a beautiful statue of a woman. When he prayed to Aphrodite for a wife like it, she brought the statue (Galatea) to life, and Pygmalion married her.
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Pyrrha
Pyrrha, and her husband Deucalion, built an ark and floated in it to survive the flood sent by Zeus. The couple became the ancestors of the renewed human race when an oracle told them to cast behind them the stones of the earth. Those thrown by Deucalion became men, and those thrown by Pyrrha became women. These men and women repopulated the earth.
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Rhacius-ragged
King of Caria, and father of Mopsus,the famous soothsayer.
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Rhaecus
A centaur, who with another centaur (Hylaeus), attempted to rape Atalanta but was killed (both of them) by her.
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Rhene-ewe
A nymph, mother of Medon.
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Rhesus-breaker
One of the Greek kings at Troy.
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Rhodus
A son of Aphrodite, by Poseidon.
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Rhoecus
The tale about Rhoecus tells of a time he saw an oak tree about to topple and propped it up so it was once again steady. The dryad who lived within it, and who would have perished had it fallen, told him to ask anything he desired and she would grant it. He said he wanted only her love, and she consented. She told him to be alert, and when she was ready to make love with him she would send a messenger bee to summon him. Rhoecus got involved with some companions, and in the give-and-take that followed, forgot about the bee. When a bee came by and started buzzing near him he swat it and injured it. When he returned to the tree at a later date, the dryad blinded him in her anger of his treatment of her messenger.
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Rhoetus
One of the Titans.
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Sappho
Greek poetess, whose poetry was so renowned that Plato referred to her two centuries after her death as 'the Tenth muse'. She was born on the island of Lesbos. According to tradition, Alcaeus was her lover. Another legend holds that because of unrequited love for the young boatman Phaon she leaped to her death from a steep rock into the sea. She had a daughter named Cleis. She taught the art of poetry to a group of maidens, to whom she was devotedly attached and whose bridal odes she composed when they left her to be married. Later writers, commenting upon the group, accused Sappho of immorality and vice, from which arose the modern terms for female homosexuality, "lesbianism" and "sapphism."
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Satyrs
A forest and mountain creature. Part human, with a horse's tail and ears, and a goat's horns and legs, satyrs were merry, drunken, lustful devotees of Dionysus. See satyriasis in your dictionary.
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Sciron
A robber/highwayman who forced his victims over the rocks into the sea, where they were devoured by a sea monster.
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Scylla
1. Scylla-The daughter of King Nisus, who promised her lover, Minos, that she would deliver her father's kingdom to him, and to effect this, cut off her father's golden hair while he was asleep. Minos despised her for this act of treachery against her father, and rejected her love. She threw herself into the sea in despair.
2. Scylla and Charybdis-Scylla was a beautiful nymph and lover of Glaucus; she applied to Circe for a love potion. But Circe decided she wanted Glaucus for herself, and changed Scylla into a sea monster with six heads, twelve feet, and a lower body made up of hideous monsters. Scylla (and Charybdis) were two immortal monsters who lived on opposite shores of a narrow strait. Scylla ate anything, and anybody that came within reach. When the Greek hero Odysseus passed between them, he was able to avoid Charybdis, but Scylla seized six men from his ship and devoured them. Scylla probably was a tale to explain a partially submerged rock that ships floundered on and Charybdis was probably the explanation for a whirlpool.
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Semele-moon
She was the mother of Dionysus through union with Zeus. Hera, wife of Zeus vowed revenge for Semele's pregnancy. Disguised as an old woman, she sweet-talked Semele into inviting Zeus, in all his splendor, for a visit. Zeus, who had promised Semele to grant her every wish, felt honor bound to agree, although he knew that the sight of him adorned with his firebolts would kill her. Zeus did manage to save her unborn child, Dionysus, though.
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Silenus
The oldest satyr, the son of Hermes or Pan, and the companion, adviser, or tutor of Dionysus.
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Sinis
A noted robber, also known as the Pinebender because he tied his victims to two pine trees bent to the ground, and then watched as they were torn apart when he released the trees. He was captured by Theseus, and put to death by his own method.
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Sinon
The Greek who talked the Trojans into accepting the Wooden Horse.
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Sisyphus-very wise
Legend has it that when Death came to take him he turned the tables and captured Death whom he put in chains. No one died while Death was in chains and it stayed that way until Ares arrived and freed Death. In the meantime Sisyphus had his wife, Merope, promise to leave him unburied when he died, a practice clearly against the orders of the gods. When Death was released he claimed Sisyphus and brought him to the underworld where Sisyphus pointed out the fact that his body was unburied. The gods allowed him to return to life so that he could punish his wife. Once back home he lived to a ripe old age before he died for a second time. His punishment then was to roll a huge boulder up a hill to the top, but each time he neared the top the boulder would roll back down the hill, so his task is never-ending.
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Stentor
A Greek herald in the Trojan War. His voice was supposedly as loud as the combined voices of 50 men. Hence our word stentorian.
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Syrinx
A nymph who, to avoid the attentions of Pan, took refuge in a river and asked the gods to change her into a reed, which they did. Ironically, Pan plucked the reed from the river and from it made the pipes upon which he plays his magical music.
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Tantalus-most wretched
He was an intimate friend of the gods, often invited to their feasts and banquets. He was sentenced to the underworld for a crime against the gods. There are a number of crimes stated in differing stories but the one most prevalent is one where he stole nectar and ambrosia from one of the feasts and gave them to men. His punishment in the underworld was to stand neck deep in swirling water with fruits hanging over his head. When he would attempt to eat the fruit, a wind would arise and blow them out of his reach. When he would attempt to drink, the water would swirl away from him. Tantalize is a word derived from this tale.
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Tartarus
The land beneath the earth, where the Titans were confined, a vast realm of darkness.
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Telamon
The father of Ajax, and a member of the Argonauts as well as a participant in the Calydonian Boar hunt.
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Telegonus
A son of Ulysses and Circe, who unaware that Ulysses was his father, killed him in battle. He later married Penelope, Ulysses widow.
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Telemachus
The only son of Ulysses and Penelope. He helped his father kill Penelope's suitors.
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Tethys-disposer
She was a Titan, and the wife of Oceanus and gave birth to around 3,000 river-gods and the Oceanides. Hera was raised by Tethys until she was ready to marry Zeus.
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Teucer
A son of Telamon, and half-brother to Ajax. He was exiled by his father for not avenging the death of his brother by Odysseus.
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Thamyris
A Greek bard who challenged the Muses to a contest to see who was better. He lost. The Muses deprived him of his sight and the powers of song. He is depicted with a broken lyre.
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Theseus-he who lays down
Son of King Aegeus. His most famous adventure was the slaying of the Minotaur, which he accomplished with the help of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. In the land of the Amazons he abducted Antiope, who bore him Hippolytus. Antiope was later killed, and Theseus then married Phaedra. When he and his friend Pirithoüs attempted to take Persephone from Hades, they were imprisoned there until Hercules rescued Theseus. He was murdered by King Lycomedes.
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Thetis-disposer
She was loved by both Zeus and Poseidon. When a prophecy was made that indicated she would bear a son that would become greater than his father, both gods hastened to marry her off to King Peleus. She resisted his advances by changing into various shapes but he finally got to her. The child, when born, was Achilles.
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Thyestes
Son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. Thyestes was the rival of his brother for the throne of Mycenae. He seduced Atreus's wife, Aerope, and persuaded her to steal the fleece of a golden lamb that Atreus treasured. The people of Mycenae decided that the possessor of the fleece should be their king, and Thyestes was chosen. The god Zeus intervened, however, and, by causing the sun to reverse its course and set in the east, gained Thyestes' abdication. Atreus succeeded as king and banished his brother. Later he discovered the infidelity of his wife and in revenge called Thyestes back from exile. At a welcoming banquet, Atreus served his brother the flesh of Thyestes' two murdered sons. When this was revealed to him, Thyestes laid a curse on Atreus and his descendants. The oracle at Delphi then advised Thyestes to ravish his own daughter, Pelopia. From the incestuous union was born Aegisthus, who later helped fulfill the curse that Thyestes had placed on the house of Atreus.
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Tiresias
A Theban seer. He was said to have been struck blind by the goddess Athena (because he had accidently seen her bathing) by her splashing water in his face, but to have been recompensed by her later with the gift of prophecy and the ability to understand the language of the birds, and the gift of a staff with which he could walk as safely as if he had sight. According to another version, he was for a time transformed into a woman (for seven years). Later, having become a man again, he was asked by Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods, to tell which sex had more pleasure in love. When he replied that woman had nine times as much pleasure as man, Hera, in anger, blinded him, but Zeus granted him long life. Tiresias played a prominent part in Theban legends, delivering prophecies to Oedipus, king of Thebes. He died while fleeing the wrath of the Epigoni (by drinking from the well of Tilphosa), bellicose descendants of the Argive heroes who were killed in the war of the Seven Against Thebes.
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Tithonus
A handsome Trojan who was beloved by Eos (who bore him a son, the hero Memnon, king of Ethiopia), to whom he prayed for immortality, which she granted. He neglected to ask for eternal youth as well, and so grew older and older. At last he prayed to Eos again, asking for death, but this she could not grant him, so she changed him into a grasshopper.
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Tityus
A son of Zeus and Gaea who was so huge his body covered nine acres of land. He tried to defile Latona, but Apollo cast him into Tartarus, where a vulture feeds on his liver which grows as fast as it is eaten.
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Ulysses(Greek)
Latin for Odysseus. In Greek mythology, king of Ithaca and husband of Penelope. A Greek leader in the Trojan War, Homer depicted him as wise and cunning. In later legends he is wily, lying, and evil.
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Xantho
One of the Nereides.
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Xenia
The nymph who loved Daphnis.
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Xuthus
The second son of Hellen, and the grandson of Deucalion. He married Creusa, a daughter of Erechtheus. She had previously borne a son Ion to Apollo, but the child was taken from her at its birth. She and Xuthus were childless and consulted the oracle at Delphi, which told them to adopt as their son the first young man they met. So, who did they meet leaving the temple? Right. They met Ion, who had been raised in the temple.
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Zagreus-restored to life
He was a son of Zeus. Zeus, disguised as a snake, seduced his daughter Persephone. Zagreus, who resulted from this union, was Zeus' favorite child and due to inherit all of Zeus' power. Hera was jealous (as usual) of any woman with whom he had an affair or any child resulting from his amours and talked the Titans into killing it. The Titans tore the child apart and began eating the parts. Athena managed to save the boy's heart and brought it to Zeus, who swallowed it. Zeus then blew the Titans into dust with his thunderbolts. From this dust mankind arose. Zeus (according to one version of this myth) then got Semele pregnant and instilled the heart of Zagreus into the fetus. The baby, when born, was Dionysus.
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Zalmoxis
He sometimes symbolized immortality.
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Zelus
Son of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx. His name means "zeal". He personified enthusiasm and zeal.
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Zetes and Calais
Twin brothers (with wings), noteworthy mainly because they were slain by Heracles.
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Zethus and Amphion
Also twin brothers. Famous for building Thebes.
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Zeuxippe
One of the Oceanides; daughter of Tethys and Oceanus.
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Zeuxo
Another one of the Oceanides; also a daughter of Tethys and Oceanus.
COMMENTS
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ladySnowStrixx
18:36 Oct 29 2010
This was a very good and informative and in lighting article . I know how she feels and have felt the same , but sometimes its hard to not judge others I have always referred to my self as just a witch never knew it was called Dark pagan I,ll have to look that up , and the other thing too . thanks for post ting and giving me something to think about.