Friday, November 16, 2012

Mythology Encyclopaedia

Adonis In Greek mythology, a youth loved by Aphrodite for his beauty and killed by a wild boar.  n. Any man of rare beauty.

Pomona In Roman mythology, the goddess of fruits and fruit trees.

Averno A crater lake near Naples, Italy; anciently regarded as the entrance to Hades. Ancient Avernus.  [< L Avernus < Gk. aornos without birds; because its volcanic vapors were said to kill birds ]  Avernian, Avernal adj.

Galatea In Greek mythology, an ivory statue of a maiden brought to life by Aphrodite after its sculptor, Pygmalion, had fallen in love with it.

Phaethon In Greek mythology, the son of Helios, who borrowed his father's chariot of the sun, and would have set heaven and earth on fire if Zeus had not slain him with a thunderbolt.

lotophagi Class. Myth. lotus-eaters.  [< L Lōtophagī  < Gk. Lōtophágoi. See LOTUS-EATER]

Mimir In Norse mythology, the giant who guarded the well of wisdom flowing from the root of Ygdrasil.

Callisto 1. In Greek mythology, a nymph loved by Zeus, transformed into a bear, and set as Ursa Major among the stars by Zeus. 2. Astron. The fifth satellite of Jupiter and the largest satellite in the solar system.

Mamurius Rom. Legend. a smith who made 11 copies of the Ancile to prevent thieves from recognizing the original.

Phoronis [Nl., fr. L. Phoronis, a surname of Io, fr. Gr. Phorōnis.]

Abeona [L.] Rom. Relig. A goddess whose protection was invoked for children upon their first departure from from the house. Cf. ADEONA.

Amor Cupid.  [< L: love; see AMOROUS]

Olympus 1. The highest mountain of Greece, between Thessaly and Macedonia on the Aegean, regarded as the home of the Olympian gods; 9, 570 ft. Also Mount Olympus. 2. The sky; heaven.  [< Gk. Olympos ]

Pimplea A town in the Macedonian province of Pieria, sacred to the Muses, who were hence called Pimpleïdes. Horace ( Carm. i. 26, 9 ) uses the form Pimplea in the singular, and not Pimpleïs.

Hesperides 1. In Greek mythology, the daughters of Atlas who, together with a dragon, guarded the golden apples given to Hera by Gaea. 2. The garden where these apples grew.  [ < Gk. hesperis Hesperidian or Hesperidean adj.

Cymopoleia A daughter of Poseidon who married the hundred-handed giant Briareus.

Pleione Class. Myth. the mother by Atlas, of the Pleiades. 

Acé A Phœnician seaport town, the modern Acre. The Greeks, having changed the original name into 'Ακή, connected with it the fabulous legend of Heracles having been bitten here by a serpent, and of his having cured ( ακεομαι ) the wound by a certain leaf.

Eumaeus ( in the Odyssey) the faithful swineherd of Odysseus.

Thyone Class. Myth. Semele, as named by her son Dionysus when he took her from the underworld to Olympus.

Megaera In Greek mythology, one of the three Furies.  [ < L < Gk. Megaira < megairein to bear a grudge ]

Dyras A river of Thessaly, twenty stadia beyond the Sperchius, said to have sprung from the ground in order to assist Heracles when burning on Oeta ( Herod. vii. 199 ).

Europa In Greek mythology, a Phoenician princess abducted by Zeus, in the guise of a bull, to Crete, where she bore Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. ─ n. A female figure representing Europe.

Circe In the Odyssey, an enchantress, who changed Odysseus's companions into swine by a magic drink.

ichor 1. In classical mythology, the ethereal fluid supposed to flow in the veins of the gods. 2. Pathol. A watery, acrid fluid discharged from sores.  [ < Gk. ichōr ] ─ ichorous adj.

Odysseus In Greek legend, king of Ithaca, one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War and hero of the Odyssey. Latin Ulysses.

Pelops In Greek mythology, the son of Tantalus, killed by his father and served as food to the gods, but later restored to life by Demeter.

Tantalus In Greek mythology, a rich king, son of Zeus and father of Pelops and Niobe, who, for revealing the secrets of Zeus, was punished in Hades by being made to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink, and under fruit-laden branches he could not reach.

Hippomenes In Greek legend, the youth who won the hand of Atalanta by defeating her in a foot race.

Penelope In the Odyssey, the faithful wife of Odysseus, who, during her husband's absence kept her many suiters in check under pretext of having to complete a shroud she was weaving.

Moira 1. Class. Myth. a. the personification of fate. b. Moirai, the Fates. 2. ( often l. c.) ( among the ancient Greeks) a person's fate or destiny.

Antheia  [Gr., fr. anthos flower.] Gr. Relig. An epithet of Aphrodite as a goddess of flowers.

Penthesilea In Greek legend, a queen of the Amazons who aided the Trojans against the Greeks, and was killed by Achilles.

Talos In Greek mythology: a A giant man of brass presented by Zeus to Minos, king of Crete who used him as a watchman. b A Greek inventor killed by his uncle, Daedalus, because of jealousy. Also Talus.

Peleus In Greek legend, a king of the Myrmidons and father of Achilles.

Aria Class. Myth. a nymph, the mother of Miletus, by Apollo.

Chiron In Greek mythology, a wise centaur, tutor of Achilles and other heroes: also Cheiron.

Hours In Greek mythology, the Horae.

Agrauleum [NL., fr. Gr. Agrauleion.] Gr. Relig. A shrine in a cave on the Acropolis of Athens, sacred to Agrauleum  (Aglauros). See AGLAUROS.

Hesperus [L. See HESPERIAN.] a The evening star; Venus; Hesper. b Gr. Myth. A personification of the evening star. Hesiod describes him as a son of Astraeus and Eos.

Oreithyia, Orithyia [Gr. Oreithyia.] Gr. Myth. A daughter of Erechtheus. She was carried off from the banks of the Ilissus by Boreas.

Oetaeus  [L. of Oeta ( a mountain range ) , fr. Gr. Oitaios.] The constellation Hercules.

Eurymachus ( in the Odyssey ) a deceitful suitor of Penelope.

Byzas  a son of Poseidon and the eponymous founder of Byzantium.

Anax Class. Myth. one of the Gigantes and father of Asterius.

Laerces A mythical artist in gold, mentioned by Homer, in a passage from which we learn that it was the custom, in offering a sacrifice of the greatest solemnity, to gild the horns of the victim. (Hom. Od. iii. 425; see the Scholia.)

Xenoclea Class. Myth. a priestess at Delphi who refused to prophesy for Hercules because he had not been purified after killing Iphitus. 

Phyleus 1.Class. Myth. a son of Augeas who was banished when he reminded his father of an unpaid debt. 2. a king of Ephyra and the father of Astyocheia. 

Anemotis Class. Myth. an epithet of Athena, meaning "of the winds" referring to her ending violent windstorms in Messenia.

Panopeus Class. Myth. a son of Phocus and Asteria who was a lifelong enemy of his twin brother Crisus.

Dolon 
( in the Iliad ) a son of Eumedes who was killed by Diomedes and Odysseus even though he had given them valuable information about the Trojans.

Alcandre ( in the Odyssey ) the wife of Polybus who received Helen and Menelaus on their way home from Troy.

Evadne Class. Myth.1. the wife of Capaneus who threw herself on his funeral pyre. 2. a daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus. Cf. Amphinome.

Alcmaeon Class. Myth. a son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle who commanded the second expedition against Thebes. He killed his mother for sending his father to certain death and was driven mad by the Furies.

Agastrophus ( in the Iliad) a son of Paeon who was slain by Diomedes.

Capaneus Class. Myth. one of the Seven against Thebes, who was destroyed by Zeus for blasphemy.

Angerona the ancient Roman goddess of anguish. Also, Angeronia.

Alope Class. Myth. a daughter of Cercyon who was raped by Poseidon and bore a son, Hippothous.

Laestrygones Class. Myth. giant cannibals encountered by Odysseus on his return to Ithaca. Also, Laestrygonians.

Ancaeus Class. Myth.1. a son of Poseidon who joined the Argonauts and became helmsman of the Argo. 2. A descendant of Lycurgus who, among the Argonauts, was second in strength only to Hercules.

Alcimede Class. Myth. the mother of Jason.

Titaness Gk. Myth. One of the daughters of Gaea and Uranus.

Dymas Father of Hecuba ( Iliad, xvi. 718 ), who is hence called Dymantis.

Stheno One of the Gorgons.

Labyrinth In Greek mythology, the maze used to confine the Minotaur, constructed by Daedalus for Minos of Crete.  [< L labyrinthus < Gk. labyrinthos; ult. origin unknown, prob. non-Hellenic ]

talaria Winged boots or sandals, or wings springing directly from the ankles, often represented as attributes of Mercury, Perseus, etc.  [< L, < talus ankle ]

Triptolemus In Greek mythology, a her said to have given mankind the secret of the cultivation of grain. Also Triptolemos.

Salmacis In Greek mythology, a nymph of a fountain in Caria, the waters of which were supposed to render effeminate all who drank of them. See HERMAPHRODITUS.

Aeacus In Greek mythology, a son of Zeus and king of Aegina who ruled so justly, that after his death, he was made a judge of the dead.

Androcles In Roman legend, a slave spared in the arena by a lion because he had once drawn a thorn from its paw. Also Androclus.

Echo In Greek mythology, a nymph who, because of love for Narcissus, pined away until only her voice was left.

Orthrus Class. Myth. a two-headed monster guarding the cattle of Geryon, killed by Hercules.

Quirinus An ancient Italic god of war: ultimately identified with the deified Romulus.

  a-1964 Standard College Dictionary

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