Wednesday, November 28, 2012

M. E. XVI

Hyacinthus In Greek mythology, a youth whom Apollo loved and accidently killed and from whose blood sprang a flower bearing the words of grief, AI, AI.

Theonoë Class. Myth. 1. a daughter of Thestor who was abducted by pirates and sold as a concubine. 2. a prophetess and daughter of King Proteus: according to Euripides, she aided the escape of Menelaus and Helen from Egypt.

Horatius Cocles In Roman legend, a hero who with two comrades held the bridge over the Tiber against the Etruscan army.

Pierus In Greek mythology, a king of Thrace, father of the nine Pierides.

Midas In Greek legend, a king of Phrygia who had the power of turning whatever he touched into gold.

Aetolus Class. Myth. son of Endymion and founder of Aetolia.

Latmus A mountain in Caria, extending in a southeast direction from the Sinus Latmicus. It was the mythological scene of the story of Selené ( Luna ) and Endymion, who is hence called by the Roman poets Latmius heros and Latmius venator.

Metanira Class. Myth. queen of Eleusis, who took Demeter in to nurse her child. Also, Metaneira.

Seriphus Now Serpho; an island in the Aegean Sea, and one of the Cyclades. It is celebrated in mythology as the island where Danaë and Perseus were brought up, and where he afterwords turned the inhabitants into stone with the Gorgon's head. Seriphus was colonized by Ionians from Athens, and it was one of the few islands which refused submission to Xerxes. The island was employed by the Roman emperors as a place of banishment for State criminals ( Tac. Ann. ii. 85, iv. 21; Juv. x. 170 ).

Aegina 1. Class. Myth. a daughter of Asopus and Metope who was abducted by Zeus and bore him a son, Aeacus.

Libertas the ancient Roman personification of liberty.

Itonia, Itonias, or Itonis A surname of Athené, derived from the town of Iton, in the south of Phthiotis in Thessaly. Here the goddess had a celebrated sanctuary, and hence is called by the Roman poets incola Itoni.

Deïphobé The Sibyl at Cumae, daughter of Glaucus. See SIBYLLA.

Gerastus A promontory and harbour at the southern extremity of Euboea, with a celebrated temple of Poseidon ( Thuc. iii. 3 ).

Chalcedon 1. A son of Abas, king of the Chalcidians in Euboea. He was slain by Amphitryon in a battle against the Thebans, and his tomb was seen as late as the time of Pausanias. ( viii. 15 § 3; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 281.) 2. A Coan who wounded Heracles in a fight at night. ( Apollod. ii. 7. § 1.) Theocritus ( vii. 6 ) calls him Chalcon. 3. There are four other mythical personages of this name. ( Apollod. ii. 1. § 5, iii. 5. § 15; Paus. vi. 21. § 7, viii. 15. § 3; Hom. Il. 743 iv. 643.)

Amnisus The of a river in Crete, the father of the Amnisiades.

Onchestus (1) An ancient town of Boeotia, situated a little south of Lake Copaïs, near Haliartus, said to have been founded by Onchestus, son of Poseidon. (2) A river in Thessaly, flowing by Cynoscephalae, and falling into Lake Boeobeïs.

Deïonides Miletus. son of Deïoné by Apollo.

Orthia A name given to Artemis, as worshipped at Lemnaeum, in Laconia, where boys were severely scourged at her altar ( Pausan. iii. 16, 7 ). See DIAMASTIGOSIS.

Nisyrus A small island in the Carpathian Sea, off Caria. Its volcanic nature gave rise to the fable respecting its origin that Poseidon tore it off the neighbouring island of Cos to hurl it upon the giant Polybotes. ( See POLYBOTES ). It is now Nikero.

Crinisus One of the many Greek river gods.

Delphus A son of Apollo and Celaeno, who, according to one account, was the founder of Delphi ( Pausan. x. 6 ).

Ceryon Class. Myth. a son of either Hephaestus or Poseidon who became king of Arcadia and who was the father of Alope.

Scephrus Class. Myth. a son of Tegeates who was murdered by his brother, Limon.

Zoné A town of Thrace, where Orpheus is said to have sung ( Herod. vii. 59 ).

Aglaus Class. Myth. a son of Thyestes and a naiad, slain by Atreus in revenge for Thyestes' adultery with the wife of Atreus.

Troy 1. The site of nine superimposed ruined cities in NW Asia Minor. The seventh stratum, a Phrygian city of perhaps about 1200 B. C. the scene of the Iliad, was also called Ilium, Ilion. 2. A city in eastern New York, on the Hudson River; pop. 67, 492.

Pleiad 1. One of the Pleiades. 2. One of any cluster of brillient persons, usually seven.

Nemertinea Also Nermertina, Nemertini [NL., fr. Gr. Nēmertēs, name of a Nereid, fr. nēmertēs unerring.]

bassarid [Gr. bassaris, -idos.] A Thracian maenad. Cf. ORPHEUS.

Myconus A small island in the Aegean Sea, one of the Cyclades, east of Delos, is celebrated in mytholoygy as one of the places where the giants were defeated by Heracles. The island was populary supposed to contain an unusual number of bald persons ( Pliny, H. N. xi. 130 ).

Ajax 1. Also called Great Ajax, Telamonian Ajax. Class. Myth. a Greek hero in the Trojan War who rescued the body of Achilles and killed himself out of jealousy when Odysseus was rewarded the armor of Achilles. 2. Also called Ajax the Lesser. Class. Myth. a Locrian king, noted for his fighting during the Trojan War, who was said to have been killed in a shipwreck as punishment for violating a shrine of Athena. 3. ( italics) a tragedy ( c440 B. C.) by Sophocles.

Pierides 1. In Greek mythology, the nine Muses. 2. The nine daughters of Pierus, vanquished by the Muses in a musical contest and changed into magpies.

Africus The Roman name for the southeast wind, which the Greeks called λιψ, and given to it because it blew off the coast of Africa.

Elatus Class. Myth. a son of Arcas. 

Pegae Class. Myth. Dryope's spring, Mysia.

water nymph In classical mythology, any nymph or goddess living in or guarding a body of water; a naiad, Nereid, Oceanid, etc.

Orcus In Roman mythology: a The abode of the dead. b Pluto or Dis, the god of the underworld.

Amyclaean adj. [L. Amyclaeus,  fr. Gr. Amyklaios.] Of or pert. to Amyclae, a town of ancient Laconia. the Amyclaean brothers. Castor and Polydeuces ( Pollux ), said to have been born at Amyclae.

Consus [L.] Rom. Relig. An early Italian god of the earth and its harvests.

mercurial adj. 3. Often cap. Of or pertaining to the god Mercury or the planet Mercury.

naiad In classical mythology, one of the water nymphs who were believed to dwell in and preside over fountains, brooks, springs, lakes, and wells.

Autonoë [L., fr. Gr. Autonoē.] Gr. Myth. Daughter of Cadmus and mother of Actaeon.

Hippolyta In Greek mythology, a queen of the Amazons whose girdle Hercules obtained as one of his twelve labors: also called Antiope.

Troilus In Greek legend, a son of Priam killed by Achilles; in medieval legend, Chaucer's Troilus and Crisseyde, and in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, Cressida's lover.

Mecisteus Class. Myth. a brother of Adrastus sometimes mentioned as one of  the Seven against Thebes.

Hespere Class. Myth. one of the Hesperides.

faun In Roman mythology, a woodland deity typically represented as a man having the ears, horns, tail, and hind legs of a goat.  [< L Faunus, a rural god < favere to be kindly disposed ]

Circean adj.1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Circe. 2. Bewitching and degrading.

thyrsus 1. A staff wreathed in ivy and crowned with a pine cone or a bunch of ivy leaves, as carried by Dionysus and the satyrs. 2. Bot. A type of mixed inflorescence in which the middle branches are longer than those above or below them, as in the lilae and grape: also called thyrse.  [< L< Gk. thyrsos ]

Amphictyon Class. Myth. a son of Deucalion and Pyrrha who seized the throne of Attica and who, in devising a plan for avoiding disputes at his council meetings, became the first man to mix water with wine.

vestal Rom. Myth. One of the girls or women who tended the fire in the temple of Vesta in Rome, remaining virgins during their office.

Benthesicyme A daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite. She was the wife of the Ethiopian king Enalus. [ See EUMOLPUS.]

a-1964 Standard College Dictionary

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