Saturday, November 17, 2012

M. E. III

Paris In Greek mythology, a son of Priam and Hecuba who carried off Helen, wife of Menelaus, thus causing the Trojan War. See APPLE OF DISCORD.

Teucer Class. Myth. 1. the son of Scamander and Idaea, the first king of  Troy. 2. a natural son of Telamon and half brother of Great Ajax: he was a noted archer in the Trojan War.

Magnus Annus Latin. the Great Year: a cycle of years, usually a thousand that begins with a Golden Age, steadily deteriorates, and ends with a universal catastrophe, either a fire or a flood.

Cocytus In Greek mythology, one of the rivers of Hades, a tributary of the Acheron.

Acheron 1. In Greek and Roman mythology, the river of woe, one of the five rivers surrounding Hades. 2. Hades.  [< L < Gk. Acherōn ]

Silenus In Greek mythology, the foster father and teacher of Bacchus and leader of the satyrs, traditionally represented as a fat, drunken old satyr riding an ass.  [< L < Gk. Seilēnos Silenus ]

Venusberg In Medieval German legend, a mountain in the dark recesses of which Venus lured men to sensuous pleasures. See TANNHÄUSER.

Dardanus In Greek mythology, a son of Zeus and ancestor of the Trojans.

Calypso In the Odyssey, a nymph who kept Odysseus for seven years on the island of Ogygia, where he had been shipwrecked.

Lacedaemon 1. Sparta. 2. Class. Myth. the son of Zeus and Taÿgete and the founder of the city of Sparta.

Cabirion [L., fr. Gr. Kabeirion. ] Gr. Relig. A sanctuary of the Cabiri, esp. One at Thebes.

Myrrha Class. Myth. a daughter of King Cinyras of Cyprus who had incestuous relations with her father and was changed into a myrrh tree by the gods. Their child, Adonis, was born from the split trunk of the tree. Also called Smyrna.

Daunus (1) Son of Lycaon and brother of Iapyx and Peucetius, with whom he settled in Apulia and divided it into three parts. (2) Son of Pilumnus and Danaë, husband of Venilia, and ancestor of Turnus ( q. v.).

Alecto One of the three Furies.

Agave Class. Myth. a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and the wife of Echion who, in a bacchanalian frenzy, tore her son Pentheus to pieces.

Mavors Rom. Rel. Mars.

Clotho Gk. Myth. One of the three Fates, the spinner of the thread of destiny.

Metion Class. Myth. a son of King Erechtheus and Praxithea who died before he could carry out his threat to murder his brother Cecrops.

Aonian fount The fountain of Aganippe, at the foot of Mount Helicon ( the Aonian mount ), near Thebes, sacred to the Muses, ( the Aonian maids ).

Vertumnus In Roman mythology, the god of the changing seasons and growing plants; husband of Pomona: also Vortumnus.

Graeae In Greek mythology, the three daughters of the sea god Phorcus, who, sharing the use of a single eye and a single tooth, guarded the habitation of the Gorgons: also spelled Graiae.

Minyan Class. Myth. ─ adj. descended from Minyas. 2. being or pertaining to a gray, wheel-thrown pottery produced in ancient Greece during the early part of the Helladic period, c2000 B.C. ─ n. 3. Minyans. Also, Minyae. the descendants of Minyas who inhabited Orchomenus in Boeotia and Iolcus in Thessaly.

Althaea's brand An object upon whose existence the life of a person depends, as Meleager's life depended on the preservation of a brand taken from the fire. See MELEAGER.

Canopus [L., fr. Gr. Kanōpos.] 2. Gr. Myth. The steersman of Menelaus, who died in Egypt and was transformed into a star of the constellation Argo.

Ilus In Greek mythology, the father of Laomedon and grandfather of Priam; founder of Troy.  [< Gk. Ilos ]

Brisingamen Scand. Myth. the magic necklace worn by Freya. [< ON: necklace of the Brisings, akin to OE Brōsinga mene; see MANE]

Paphian 4. the Paphian, Aphrodite: so called from her cult center at Paphos.

Muse 1. Class. Myth. a. any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede ( song ), Melete ( meditation ), and Mneme ( memory ), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope ( epic poetry ), Clio ( history ), Erato ( lyric poetry ), Euterpe ( music ), Melpomene ( tragedy ), Polyhymnia ( religious music ), Terpsichore ( dance ), Thalia ( comedy ), and Urania ( astronomy ); identified by the Romans with the Camenae. b. any goddess presiding over a particular art. 2. ( sometimes l. c. ) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like. 3. ( l. c. ) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.  [ 1350 - 1400; ME Muse < MF < L Mūsa < Gk Moûsa ]

  a-1964 Standard College Dictionary

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