[ Complete list ]-[ Letter A ]-[ Letters B - F ]-[ Letters G - M ]-[ Letters N - Z ]

Gaea or Ge

in Greek mythology, the personification of Mother Earth, and the daughter of Chaos. She was the mother and wife of Father Heaven, who was personified as Uranus. They were the parents of the earliest living creatures: the Titans; the Cyclopes; and the Giants, or Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handed Ones). Fearing and hating the Giants, despite the fact that they were his sons, Uranus imprisoned them in a secret place on earth, leaving the Cyclopes and Titans at large. Gaea, enraged at this favoritism, persuaded her son, the Titan Cronus, to overthrow his father. He emasculated Uranus, and from his blood Gaea brought forth the Giants and the three avenging goddesses the Erinyes. Her last and most terrifying offspring was Typhon, a 100-headed monster, who, although conquered by the god Zeus, was believed to spew forth the molten lava flows of Mount Etna.

Galatea

in Greek mythology, one of the 50 Nereids, the daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea. The gay, mocking sea nymph was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus, an ugly giant with one huge eye in the middle of his forehead. Galatea did not return his love, however; she teased and ridiculed him, arousing his hopes with kind words and then rejecting him. In later legends, although her attitude toward the lovelorn Cyclops grew kinder, Polyphemus never won her. Galatea finally fell in love with Acis, a handsome young prince, whom Polyphemus killed in a jealous rage. In Roman mythology, Galatea was the name of a statue of a beautiful woman that was brought to life by Venus, goddess of love, in response to the prayers of the sculptor Pygmalion, who had fallen in love with his creation.

Ganymeda

an alternative name for Hebe.

Ganymede

in Greek mythology, a handsome young Trojan prince whom the god Zeus, in the guise of an eagle, snatched from the midst of his companions and bore up to Mount Olympus. He was granted immortality and replaced Hebe, goddess of youth, as cupbearer to the gods. Ganymede was later identified with the constellation Aquarius, "the Water Bearer."

Genii

an alternative name for the daemons.

Genius

in Roman mythology, a protecting, or guardian, spirit. It was believed that every individual, family, and city had its own genius. The genius received special worship as a household god because it was thought to bestow success and intellectual powers on its devotees. For this reason, the word came to designate a person with unusual intellectual powers. The genius of a woman was sometimes referred to as a juno. In art, the genius of a person was frequently depicted as a winged youth; the genius of a place, as a serpent.

Glaucus

See Bellerophon.

Golden Fleece

in Greek mythology, the fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallus. The ram was sent by the god Hermes to rescue Phrixus and Helle, the two children of the Greek king Athamas and his wife, Nephele. Athamas had grown indifferent to his wife and had taken Ino, the daughter of King Cadmus, for his second wife. Ino hated her stepchildren, especially Phrixus, because she wanted her own son to succeed to the throne. Realizing that her children were in grave danger because of the jealousy of their stepmother, Nephele prayed to the gods for help. Hermes sent her Chrysomallus, the winged ram, whose fleece was made of gold. The ram snatched the children up and bore them away on his back. Soaring into the air, he flew eastward, but as he was crossing the strait that divides Europe and Asia, Helle slipped from his back and fell into the water. The strait where she was drowned was named for her: the Sea of Helle, or the Hellespont. The ram safely landed Phrixus in Colchis, a country on the Black Sea that was ruled by King Aeëtes. There he was hospitably received and, in gratitude to the gods for saving his life, sacrificed Chrysomallus at the temple of the god Zeus. Phrixus then gave the precious Golden Fleece to Aeëtes, who placed it in a sacred grove under the watchful eye of a dragon that never slept. Many years later, the Argonauts led by Phrixus's cousin, the Greek hero Jason, recovered the Golden Fleece with the help of the daughter of King Aeëtes, the sorceress Medea who, out of love for Jason, put the dragon to sleep.

Gordian Knot

in Greek mythology, complex knot tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia and father of Minos. Gordius was a Phrygian peasant who became king because he was the first man to drive into town after an oracle had commanded his countrymen to select as ruler the first person who would drive into the public square in a wagon. In gratitude, Gordius dedicated his wagon to the god Zeus and placed it in the grove of the temple, tying the pole of the wagon to the yoke with a rope of bark. The knot was so intricately entwined that no one could undo it. A saying developed that whoever succeeded in untying the difficult knot would become the ruler of all Asia. Many tried, but all failed. According to legend, even Alexander the Great was unable to untie the Gordian knot, so he drew his sword and cut it through with a stroke in 334 B.C. The expression "to cut the Gordian knot" is used to refer to a situation in which a difficult problem is solved by a quick and decisive action.

Gorgon

in Greek mythology, one of three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. The Gorgons were terrifying, dragonlike creatures, covered with golden scales and having snakes for hair. They had huge wings and round, ugly faces; their tongues were always hanging out, and they had large, tusklike teeth. They lived on the farthest side of the western ocean, shunned because their glance turned persons to stone. Two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal; Medusa alone could be killed. The hero Perseus, a gallant but foolish young man, volunteered to kill Medusa and bring back her head. With the help of the deities Hermes and Athena, Perseus cut off Medusa's head. From her blood sprang the winged horse Pegasus, her son by the god Poseidon.

Graces

in Greek mythology, the three goddesses of joy, charm, and beauty. The daughters of the god Zeus and the nymph Eurynome, they were named Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. They were the special attendants of the divinities of love, Aphrodite and Eros, and together with companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo made upon his lyre. In some legends Aglaia was wed to Hephaestus, the craftsman among the gods. Their marriage explains the traditional association of the Graces with the arts; like the Muses, they were believed to endow artists and poets with the ability to create beautiful works of art. The Graces were rarely treated as individuals, but always together as a kind of triple embodiment of grace and beauty. In art they are usually represented as lithe young maidens, dancing in a circle. Also known as the Charites.

Graeae

three daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They had only one eye and one tooth between them which they shared. Perseus forced them to tell him where he could find Medusa by stealing their solitary eye and tooth. Also known as the Grey Women.

Great Mother

See Cybele.

Griffin

legendary creature, usually represented in literature and art as having the head, beak, and wings of an eagle, the body and legs of a lion, and occasionally a serpent's tail. The griffin seems to have originated in the Middle East, as it is found in the paintings and sculptures of the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians. The Romans used the griffin merely for decorative purposes in friezes and on table legs, altars, and candelabra. The griffin motif appeared in early Christian times in the bestiaries, or beast allegories, of St. Basil and St. Ambrose. Stone replicas of griffins frequently served as gargoyles in the Gothic architecture of the late Middle Ages. The griffin is still a familiar device in heraldry and is thought to represent strength and vigilance.

Hades

in Greek mythology, god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the three brothers divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, Cronus, Hades was awarded the underworld. There, with his queen, Persephone, whom he had abducted from the world above, he ruled the kingdom of the dead. Although he was a grim and pitiless god, unappeased by either prayer or sacrifice, he was not evil. In fact, he was known also as Pluto, lord of riches, because both crops and precious metals were believed to come from his kingdom below ground. The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters. Somewhere in the darkness of the underworld Hades' palace was located. It was represented as a many-gated, dark and gloomy place, thronged with guests, and set in the midst of shadowy fields and an apparition-haunted landscape. In later legends the underworld is described as the place where the good are rewarded and the wicked punished.

Haemus

In Greek mythology, Haemus was a son of Boreas and Oreithyia. He married Rhodope and by her had a son, Hebrus. He and his wife presumed to assume the names of Zeus and Hera and were turned into mountains for their insolence.

Hamadryad

See Dryad.

Harmonia

in Greek mythology, daughter of Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love, and wife of Cadmus, founder of Thebes. 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. In their old age Harmonia and Cadmus were transformed into serpents.

Harpies

in Greek mythology, foul creatures with the heads of old women and the bodies, wings, beaks, and claws of birds. They could fly with the speed of the wind, and their feathers, which could not be pierced, served as armor. The Harpies frequently snatched up mortals and carried them off to the underworld, always leaving behind a sickening odor. One of the many perils to be overcome by the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece was an encounter with these dread, half-human creatures, who were slowly starving a pathetic old man by befouling his food before he could eat it. The Argonauts were on the point of killing the creatures when Iris, goddess of the rainbow, intervened. At her request they merely drove the Harpies away. The Trojan prince Aeneas also came upon the Harpies, but he and his crew put out to sea to escape them.

Hebe

in Greek mythology, the goddess of youth, the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe served for a long time as cupbearer to the gods, serving them their nectar and ambrosia. She was replaced in this office by the Trojan prince Ganymede. According to one story, she resigned as cupbearer to the gods upon her marriage to the hero Hercules, who had just been deified. In another, she was dismissed from her position because of a fall she suffered while in attendance on the gods.

Hebrus

In Greek mythology, Hebrus was a river god. He was the son of Haemus and Rhodope.

Hecate

in Greek mythology, goddess of darkness, and the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria. Unlike Artemis, who represented the moonlight and splendor of the night, Hecate represented its darkness and its terrors. On moonless nights she was believed to roam the earth with a pack of ghostly, howling dogs. She was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft and was especially worshiped by magicians and witches, who sacrificed black lambs and black dogs to her. As goddess of the crossroads, Hecate and her pack of dogs were believed to haunt these remote spots, which seemed evil and ghostly places to travelers. In art Hecate is often represented with either three bodies or three heads and with serpents entwined about her neck.

Hector

in Greek mythology, the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and husband of Andromache. In Homer's Iliad, Hector is the greatest of the Trojan warriors. As commander of the Trojan forces he is instrumental in holding off the Greek army for nine years and finally succeeds in forcing the Greeks back to their ships (see Trojan War). During the battle, however, Hector kills Patroclus, the bosom friend of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors. Achilles has withdrawn from the fighting because of a quarrel with King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces, but in order to avenge the death of Patroclus, he returns to the battlefield. Grief-stricken and frenzied, Achilles pursues Hector three times around the walls of Troy, kills him, and then ties his body to his chariot and drags it around the walls and back to Patroclus's funeral pyre. Learning that the Greeks are withholding burial rites from his son, the sorrowing Priam makes his way behind Greek battle lines with the aid of the god Hermes and begs Achilles to relinquish Hector's corpse. Moved by the sorrow of the aged king, Achilles agrees to yield the corpse and declares a truce to permit the Trojans to honor Hector with a suitable burial. A description of the funeral honors paid to Hector concludes the Iliad. In contrast to the fierce and alienated Achilles, Hector is depicted as a devoted family man and chivalrous warrior.

Hecuba

in Greek mythology, wife of Priam, king of Troy, to whom she bore Hector, Paris, Cassandra, and 16 other children. Following the fall of Troy and the death of Priam, the aging Hecuba was taken prisoner by the Greeks. During the siege of Troy, her youngest son, Polydorus, had been entrusted to the care of the king of Thrace. On the way to Greece, where she was being taken by her captors, Hecuba discovered that Polydorus had been murdered on the Thracian shore. In revenge, she put out the eyes of the king and murdered his two sons. According to legend Hecuba met death in one of three ways: in despair at her capture she leapt into the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles); she was killed for abusing her captors; or she was metamorphosed into a dog.

Helen of Troy

in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in Greece, daughter of the god Zeus and of Leda, wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta. She was abducted in childhood by the hero Theseus, who hoped in time to marry her, but she was rescued by her brothers, Castor and Pollux. Because Helen was courted by so many prominent heroes, Tyndareus made all of them swear to abide by Helen's choice of a husband and to defend the husband's rights should anyone attempt to take Helen away by force. Helen's fatal beauty was the direct cause of the Trojan War. The story of the ten-year conflict began when the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite asked the Trojan prince Paris to choose the most beautiful among them. After each of the goddesses had attempted to influence his decision, Paris awarded the golden apple to Aphrodite, who had promised him the world's most beautiful woman. Soon afterward Paris sailed to Greece, where he was hospitably received by Helen and her husband, Menelaus, king of Sparta. Unfortunately, Helen, as the fairest of her sex, was the prize destined for Paris. Although she was living happily with Menelaus, Helen fell under the influence of Aphrodite and allowed Paris to persuade her to elope with him, and he carried her off to Troy. Menelaus then called upon the Grecian chieftains, including Helen's former suitors, to help him rescue his wife, and with few exceptions they responded to his call. During nine years of indecisive conflict, Helen wove a web depicting her sad story. Then Paris and Menelaus agreed to meet in single combat between the opposing armies, and Helen was summoned to view the duel. As she approached the tower, where the aged King Priam and his counselors sat, her beauty was still so matchless and her sorrow so great that no one could feel for her anything but compassion. Although the Greeks claimed the victory in the battle between the two warriors, Aphrodite helped Paris escape from the enraged Menelaus by enveloping him in a cloud and taking him safely to Helen's chamber, where Aphrodite compelled the unwilling Helen to lie with him. After the fall of Troy, Menelaus was reunited with his wife, and they soon left Troy for their native Greece. They had, however, incurred the displeasure of the gods and were therefore driven by storms from shore to shore in the Mediterranean Sea, stopping in Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Arriving at length in Sparta, Menelaus and Helen resumed their reign and lived the rest of their days in royal splendor. They had one daughter, Hermione.

Helicon

Helicon was a mountain in central Greece, on which was situated a spring and a sanctuary sacred to the Muses.

Helios

in Greek mythology, the ancient sun god, son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, and brother of Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. Helios was believed to ride his golden chariot across the heavens daily, giving light to gods and mortals. At evening he sank into the western ocean, from which he was carried in a golden cup back to his palace in the east. Helios alone could control the fierce horses that drew his fiery chariot. When his son Phaëthon persuaded Helios to let him drive the chariot across the sky, Phaëthon was killed. Helios was widely worshiped throughout the Greek world, but his principal cult was at Rhodes. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Colossus of Rhodes was a representation of Helios. He is often identified with Apollo, Greek god of light.

Hellen

ancestor of the Hellenes, or Greeks. He was the son of Pyrrha and Deucalion, who because of their piety were spared in a devastating flood that destroyed all creation. Hellen was believed to be the father of the principal nations of Greece. From his sons Aeolus and Dorus sprang the Aeolians and Dorians, and from the descendants of his son Xuthus came the Achaeans and Ionians.

Hemerus

Hemera was the Greek goddess of day. She was born from Erebus and Nyx. She emerged from Tartarus as Nyx left it and returned to it as she was emerging from it.

Hephaestus

in Greek mythology, god of fire and metalwork, the son of the god Zeus and the goddess Hera, or sometimes the son of Hera alone. In contrast to the other gods, Hephaestus was lame and awkward. Shortly after his birth, he was cast out of Olympus, either by Hera, who was repelled by his deformity, or by Zeus, because Hephaestus had sided with Hera against him. In most legends, however, he was soon honored again on Olympus and was married to Aphrodite, goddess of love, or to Aglaia, one of the three Graces. As the artisan among the gods, Hephaestus made their armor, weapons, and jewelry. His workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily. Hephaestus is often identified with the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.

Hera

in Greek mythology, queen of the gods, the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister and wife of the god Zeus. Hera was the goddess of marriage and the protector of married women. She was the mother of Ares, god of war; Hephaestus, god of fire; Hebe, goddess of youth; and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Hera was a jealous wife, who often persecuted Zeus's mistresses and children. She never forgot an injury and was known for her vindictive nature. Angry with the Trojan prince Paris for preferring Aphrodite, goddess of love, to herself, Hera aided the Greeks in the Trojan War and was not appeased until Troy was finally destroyed. Hera is often identified with the Roman goddess Juno.

Heracles or Herakles

See Hercules.

Hercules

in Greek mythology, hero noted for his strength and courage and for his many legendary exploits. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, was determined to kill her unfaithful husband's offspring, and shortly after Hercules' birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Hercules, although still a baby, strangled the snakes. As a young man Hercules killed a lion with his bare hands. As a trophy of his adventure, he wore the skin of the lion as a cloak and its head as a helmet. The hero next conquered a tribe that had been exacting tribute from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand of the Theban princess Megara, by whom he had three children. Hera, still relentless in her hatred of Hercules, sent a fit of madness upon him during which he killed his wife and children. In horror and remorse at his deed Hercules would have slain himself, but he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged on by Hera, devised as a penance the 12 difficult tasks, the "Labors of Hercules." Briefly, they were: 1) Kill the Nemean lion. 2) Destroy the Lernean hydra. 3) Capture alive the Erymanthian boar. 4) Capture alive the Ceryneian stag. 5) Kill the Stymphalian birds. 6) Clean the Augean stables. 7) Bring alive into Peloponnesus the Cretan bull. 8) Obtain the horses of Diomedes. 9) Obtain the girdle of Hippolyte. 10) Kill the monster and cattle of Geryon. 11) Obtain the apples of Hesperides. 12) Bring from the infernal regions Cerbeus the three headed dog of Hades. The Twelve Labors The first task was to kill the lion of Nemea, a beast that could not be wounded by any weapon. Hercules stunned the lion with his club first and then strangled it. He then killed the Hydra that lived in a swamp in Lerna. This monster had nine heads: One head was immortal; when one of the others was chopped off, two grew back in its place. Hercules seared each mortal neck with a burning torch to prevent reproduction of two heads; he buried the immortal head under a rock. He then dipped his arrows into the Hydra's blood to make them poisonous. Hercules' next labor was to capture alive a stag with golden horns and bronze hoofs that was sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and the fourth labor was to capture a great boar that had its lair on Mount Erymanthus. Hercules then had to clean up in one day the 30 years of accumulated filth left by thousands of cattle in the Augean stables. He diverted the streams of two rivers, causing them to flow through the stables. Hercules next drove off a huge flock of man-eating birds with bronze beaks, claws, and wings that lived near Lake Stymphalus. To fulfill the seventh labor Hercules brought to Eurystheus a mad bull that Poseidon, god of the sea, had sent to terrorize Crete. To bring back the man-eating mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace, Hercules killed Diomedes, then drove the mares to Mycenae. Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was willing to help Hercules with his ninth labor. As Hippolyta was about to give Hercules her girdle, which Eurystheus wanted for his daughter, Hera made Hippolyta's forces believe Hercules was trying to abduct the queen. Hercules killed Hippolyta, thinking she was responsible for the ensuing attack, and escaped from the Amazons with the girdle. On his way to the island of Erythia to capture the oxen of the three-headed monster Geryon, Hercules set up two great rocks (the mountains Gibraltar and Ceuta, which now flank the Strait of Gibraltar) as a memorial of his journey. After Hercules had brought back the oxen, he was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. Because Hercules did not know where these apples were, he sought help from Atlas, father of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to help him if Hercules would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the world back. The 12th and most difficult labor of Hercules was to bring back the three-headed dog Cerberus from the lower world. Hades, god of the dead, gave Hercules permission to take the beast if he used no weapons. Hercules captured Cerberus, brought him to Mycenae, and then carried him back to Hades. Death of the Hero Hercules later married Deianira, whom he won from Antaeus, son of the sea god Poseidon. When the centaur Nessus attacked Deianira, Hercules wounded him with an arrow that he had poisoned in the blood of the Hydra. The dying centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood, which he said was a powerful love charm but was really a poison. Believing that Hercules had fallen in love with the princess Iole, Deianira later sent him a tunic dipped in the blood. When he put it on, the pain caused by the poison was so great that he killed himself on a funeral pyre. After death he was brought by the gods to Olympus and married to Hebe, goddess of youth. Hercules was worshiped by the Greeks as both a god and as a mortal hero. He is usually represented as strong and muscular, clad in a lion skin and carrying a club. The most famous statue of the mythical hero is in the National Museum in Naples.

Hermaphroditus

in Greek mythology, a youth who was transformed by the gods into a being half male and half female, after a nymph, whose love he had rejected, prayed to be forever united with him.

Hermes

in Greek mythology, messenger of the gods, the son of the god Zeus and of Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. Hermes was the Greek god of oratory. As the special servant and courier of Zeus, Hermes had winged sandals and a winged hat and bore a golden Caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and surmounted by wings. He conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld and was believed to possess magical powers over sleep and dreams. Hermes was also the god of commerce, and the protector of traders and herds. As the deity of athletes, he protected gymnasiums and stadiums and was believed to be responsible for both good luck and wealth. Despite his virtuous characteristics, Hermes was also a dangerous foe, a trickster, and a thief. On the day of his birth he stole the cattle of his brother, the sun god Apollo, obscuring their trail by making the herd walk backward. When confronted by Apollo, Hermes denied the theft. The brothers were finally reconciled when Hermes gave Apollo his newly invented lyre. Hermes was represented in early Greek art as a mature, bearded man; in classical art he became an athletic youth, nude and beardless.

Hermione

in Greek mythology, daughter of Helen of Troy and Menelaus, king of Sparta. Although she was betrothed to Orestes, king of Mycenae, after the Trojan War Hermione married Neoptolemus, the son of the Greek hero Achilles. Orestes later killed Neoptolemus and became Hermione's second husband.

Hero

in Greek mythology, priestess of Aphrodite, goddess of love, at Sestos, a town on the Hellespont (now Dardanelles). Hero was loved by Leander, a youth who lived at Abydos, a town on the Asian side of the channel. They could not marry because Hero was bound by a vow of chastity, and so every night Leander swam from Asia to Europe, guided by a lamp in Hero's tower. One stormy night a high wind extinguished the beacon, and Leander was drowned. His body was washed ashore beneath Hero's tower; in her grief, she threw herself into the sea.

Hesperides

in Greek mythology, the daughters of the Titan Atlas Atlas and Hesperis. Aided by a dragon, the Hesperides guarded a tree, with branches and leaves of gold, that bore golden apples. The tree had been given to the goddess Hera on her wedding day by Gaea, Mother Earth. One of the 12 labors imposed upon the hero Hercules was to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides.

Hestia

in Greek mythology, virgin goddess of the hearth, the eldest daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She was believed to preside at all sacrificial altar fires, and prayers were offered to her before and after meals. Although she appears in very few myths, most cities had a common hearth where her sacred fire burned. In Rome, Hestia was worshiped as Vesta, and her fire was attended by six virgin priestesses known as vestal virgins.

Hippocoon

In Greek mythology, Hippocoon was a King of Sparta. He was the son of Oebalus and Gorgophone. He refused to purify Hercules after he murdered Iphitus and further offended Hercules by killing Oeonus.

Hippolyte

in Greek mythology, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, god of war. She was slain by the hero Hercules when he took from her, as one of his labors, the girdle given to her by her father. According to another legend she became the wife of the Greek hero Theseus, by whom she had a son, Hippolytus.

Hippolytu

in Greek mythology, son of the Theban hero Theseus and his wife Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, or sometimes the son of her sister Antiope. Hippolytus was an excellent hunter and charioteer, and he was a devoted servant of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Hippolytus spurned all women, and when his stepmother, Phaedra, fell in love with him, he rejected her advances. In despair at his refusal, Phaedra committed suicide, leaving a letter accusing Hippolytus of having attempted to ravish her. Theseus, believing his son guilty, invoked his father, Poseidon, god of the sea, to destroy Hippolytus. As the young man drove his chariot along the shore, Poseidon sent a sea monster that frightened his horses; they ran away, dashing the chariot to pieces. Mortally wounded, Hippolytus was carried to his father, who had in the meantime learned from Artemis that his son was innocent. As Hippolytus died, the grief-stricken father and son were reconciled.

Horae

the Greek goddesses of the seasons. They were daughters of Zeus and Themis.

Hyacinthus

in Greek mythology, 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 (not the modern hyacinth, but possibly the iris or larkspur) to spring up, each petal inscribed with an exclamation of lamentation. According to another legend, Zephyrus was jealous of the youth's love for Apollo and blew upon the discus, causing it to strike Hyacinthus.

Hydra

in Greek mythology, nine-headed monster that dwelled in a marsh near Lerna, Greece. A menace to all of Argos, it had fatally poisonous breath and when one head was severed, grew two in its place; its central head was immortal. Hercules, sent to kill the serpent as the second of his 12 labors, succeeded in slaying it by burning off the eight mortal heads and burying the ninth, immortal head under a huge rock. The term hydra is commonly applied to any complex situation or problem that continually poses compounded difficulties.

Hygea

daughter of Aesculapius. She was the goddess of health.

Hylas

in Greek mythology, handsome youth, the inseparable companion of the hero Hercules. Hylas accompanied Hercules as his armor bearer during the voyage of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. When they stopped on the coast of Mysia in Asia Minor, Hylas was drawn by a sea nymph into the spring from which he was drawing water. He never appeared again. Hercules abandoned the expedition in order to look for Hylas, and afterward, the Mysians conducted a search for Hylas one day of each year.

Hymen

Greek and Roman god of marriage.

Hymenaeus

Hymenaeus is an alternative name for Hymen.

Hyperion

in Greek mythology, one of the Titans. He was the father of Helios, god of the sun, Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn.

Hypnos

son of night, and twin brother of Thanatos. He provided rest and relieved pain.

Iacchus

Iacchus is an alternative name for Dionysus.

Icarus

See Daedalus.

Idomeneus

legendary Cretan king, the son of Deucalion and the grandson of King Minos of Crete. A suitor of Helen of Troy, he was one of the most valiant of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Beset by a violent storm on his way home from the war, he vowed to the sea god Poseidon that should he arrive home safely, he would make a sacrifice of the first living thing he met. The first to meet him when he landed was his own son, but he nevertheless fulfilled his vow. When a plague broke out on Crete, however, he was banished by his subjects. He fled to Calabria in Italy and then to Colophon in Asia Minor, where he is reputed to be buried.

Io

in Greek mythology, daughter of the river god Inachus. She was loved by the god Zeus, who changed her into a white heifer to protect her from the jealousy of his wife, Hera. Suspecting that the animal was really Zeus's mistress, Hera asked for the heifer as a gift and set the 100-eyed monster Argus to guard it. Because the monster never slept with all his eyes shut, Io was unable to escape until Zeus sent his son, the messenger god Hermes, to rescue her. Hermes managed to kill the monster after he had put Argus's 100 eyes to sleep with a series of boring stories. Hera was still angry, however, and next sent a gadfly to torment Io, who wandered over the earth in misery. Io finally swam across the sea that was later named for her (the Ionian Sea) and at last reached Egypt. There she was restored to her original physical form, and she bore Zeus a son, Epaphus, who was an ancestor of the Greek hero Hercules.

Ino

see Leucothea

Iphigenia

in Greek mythology, eldest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Before the Trojan War, when the Greek forces prepared to sail from Aulis for Troy, a strong north wind held the thousand Greek ships in the harbor. A soothsayer revealed that Artemis, goddess of the hunt, was angry because the Greeks had slain one of the wild animals she protected. The only way to appease the goddess and gain favorable winds for the ship was to sacrifice Iphigenia. Agamemnon, fired by his ambition to conquer Troy, agreed to the sacrifice. He summoned his daughter from Mycenae, telling her she was to marry Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors. When the maiden arrived in Aulis, she was carried to Artemis's altar and slain. At once the north wind stopped blowing and the Greek ships set sail for Troy. In the plays of the ancient Greek poet Euripides, Iphigenia was not sacrificed. Artemis, who would not permit her altar to be defiled with human blood, substituted a deer for the sacrifice and carried Iphigenia to the land of the Taurians (modern Crimea). There she became the chief priestess of Artemis's temple. After many years she was rescued by her brother, Orestes, and returned with him to Mycenae.

Irene

Irene was the Greek goddess of peace. She was sometimes regarded as one of the Horae, who presided over the seasons and the order of nature, and were the daughters of Zeus and Themis.

Iris

in Greek mythology, goddess of the rainbow, the daughter of the Titan Thaumas and Electra, daughter of the Titan Oceanus. As messenger of the god Zeus and his wife, Hera, Iris left Olympus only to convey the divine commands to humankind, by whom she was regarded as an adviser and guide. Traveling with the speed of the wind, she could go from one end of the earth to the other, and to the bottom of the sea or to the depths of the underworld. Although she was a sister of the winged monsters, the Harpies, Iris was represented as a beautiful maiden, with wings and robes of bright colors and a halo of light on her head, trailing across the sky with a rainbow in her wake.

Ixion

in Greek mythology, the first man to murder one of his kinspeople. He killed his father-in-law to avoid giving him promised bridal gifts. After obtaining purification from the god Zeus, Ixion ungratefully sought to seduce Hera, the wife of Zeus. To foil Ixion, Zeus created a cloud in Hera's image; Ixion was deceived and consequently sired the monstrous Centaurs. As punishment, Ixion was bound to a wheel of fire that revolved eternally in the underworld.

Janus

in Roman mythology, the god of doors and gateways, and also of beginnings, which the Romans believed ensured good endings. His principal temple in the Forum had doors facing east and west for the beginning and ending of the day, and between them stood his statue with two faces, gazing in opposite directions. In every home the morning prayer was addressed to him, and in every domestic undertaking his assistance was sought. As the god of beginnings, he was publicly invoked on the first day of January, the month that was named for him because it began the new year. He was invoked too at the beginning of wars, during which the doors of his temple in the Forum always stood open; when Rome was at peace, the doors were closed. Janus has no counterpart in Greek mythology.

Jason

in Greek mythology, son of Aeson, a king in Greece. Aeson's throne had been taken away from him by his half brother Pelias, and Jason, the rightful heir to the throne, had been sent away as a child for his own protection. When Jason grew to manhood, however, he courageously returned to Greece to regain his kingdom. Pelias pretended to be willing to relinquish the crown, but said that the young man must first undertake the quest of the Golden Fleece, which was the rightful property of their family. Pelias did not believe that Jason could succeed in the quest, nor that he would come back alive, but the young man scoffed at the dangers ahead. Jason assembled a crew of heroic young men from all parts of Greece to sail with him on the ship Argo. After a voyage of incredible perils, the Argonauts reached Colchis, the country in which the Golden Fleece was held by King Aeëtes. Aeëtes agreed to give up the Golden Fleece if Jason would yoke two fire-breathing bulls with bronze feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon that Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, had long before slain. From the teeth would spring up a crop of armed men who would turn against Jason. Jason successfully accomplished this task with the aid of Medea, the king's daughter. Unknown to Jason, the goddess Hera had intervened in his behalf by making Medea fall in love with him. Medea gave Jason a charm to sprinkle on his weapons that would make him invincible for the day of his ordeal and helped him steal the fleece that night by charming a sleepless dragon that guarded it. In return for her help, Jason promised to love Medea always and to marry her as soon as they were safely back in Greece. Carrying the fleece and accompanied by Medea, Jason and his crew managed to escape from Aeëtes. On reaching Greece, the crew of heroes disbanded, and Jason with Medea took the Golden Fleece to Pelias. In Jason's absence Pelias had forced Jason's father to kill himself, and his mother had died of grief. To avenge their deaths, Jason called upon Medea to help him punish Pelias. Medea tricked Pelias's daughters into killing their father, and then she and Jason went to Corinth, where two sons were born to them. Instead of feeling grateful to Medea for all she had done, Jason treacherously married the daughter of the king of Corinth. In her grief and despair, Medea employed more sorcery to kill the young bride. Next, fearing that her young sons might be left alone for strangers to mistreat, she killed them. When the furious Jason determined to kill her, she escaped in a chariot drawn by dragons.

Jocasta

in Greek mythology, wife of Laius, king of Thebes, and mother of Oedipus, king of Thebes. When an oracle foretold that Jocasta's son would kill his father, Laius had the child's ankles pierced and abandoned him on a mountain. The infant, rescued by a shepherd and given the name Oedipus, was adopted by Polybus, king of Corinth. Later, when the oracle at Delphi proclaimed that he would kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus, not wanting any harm to come to Polybus, left Corinth. On the road to Boeotia, Oedipus quarreled with and killed a stranger he mistook for a robber. The victim was his true father, Laius. Believing her son dead, Jocasta did not recognize Oedipus when he reappeared in Thebes as a young man. The youth saved the city from the sphinx and, as a reward, was married to Jocasta, who bore him four children. When she learned that Oedipus was her son as well as her husband, Jocasta committed suicide in horror and despair at their incestuous relationship.

Juno

in Roman mythology, queen of the gods, the wife and sister of the god Jupiter. She was the protector of women and was worshiped under several names. As Juno Pronuba she presided over marriage; as Juno Lucina she aided women in childbirth; and as Juno Regina she was the special counselor and protector of the Roman state. Her special festival, the Matronalia, was celebrated on March 1. Juno is the Latin counterpart of the Greek queen of the gods, Hera. The month of June was named after her.

Jupiter or Jove

in Roman mythology, the ruler of the gods, the son of the god Saturn, whom he overthrew. Originally the god of the sky and king of heaven, Jupiter was worshiped as god of rain, thunder, and lightning. As the protector of Rome he was called Jupiter Optimus Maximus ("the best and greatest") and was worshiped in a temple on the Capitoline hill. As Jupiter Fidius he was guardian of law, defender of truth, and protector of justice and virtue. The Romans identified Jupiter with Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, and assigned to the Roman god the attributes and myths of the Greek divinity; the Jupiter of Latin literature, therefore, has many Greek characteristics, but the Jupiter of Roman religious worship remained substantially untouched by the Greek influence. With the goddesses Juno and Minerva, Jupiter formed the triad whose worship was the central cult of the Roman state.

Labyrinth

building made up of intricate, mazelike chambers or passages so designed that a person entering one would find it difficult to find a way out. Among the many labyrinths in the ancient world, perhaps the most celebrated was a funeral temple built by Amenemhet III in Egypt, which contained 3000 chambers. Equally famous was the labyrinth on Crete, which may have existed only in myth. Its conception was possibly derived from the elaborate floor plan of the palace at Knossos. In Greek mythology, the Cretan labyrinth was constructed by the Athenian craftsman Daedalus as a prison for the Minotaur, a part-bull, part-man monster. Other ancient labyrinths were on the island of Lemnos and at Clusium (now Chiusi), Italy. The term labyrinth is also applied to mazelike patterns on the floors of some medieval churches, intended perhaps to symbolize the tortuous journey of Christian pilgrims toward salvation. Garden mazes walled by clipped hedges are also called labyrinths, as, for example, that at Hampton Court, London, planted in the 17th century and still extant.

Lacedaemon

In Greek mythology, Lacedaemon was a son of Zeus and Taygete. He married Sparte. He was King of Lacedaemon and named the capital city Sparta after his wife.

Lachesis

See Fates.

Laestrygones

race of giant cannibals. They were ruled by Lamus. At Telepylos Odysseus lost all but one of his ships to them.

Laius

in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, and father of Oedipus. Having been told by the oracle at Delphi that he would be killed by his own son, Laius exposed the newborn child on a mountainside. A shepherd rescued the child, however, and adopted him. The prophecy was fulfilled when Oedipus as a young man unknowingly killed his father.

Laocoön

in Greek mythology, priest of Apollo, god of the sun, or of Poseidon, god of the sea. In the last year of the Trojan War, the Greeks prepared a giant wooden horse, which they pretended was a votive offering to the goddess Athena, but which was in reality a hiding place for Greek soldiers. Laocoön, fearing a ruse, vainly urged the Trojan leaders to destroy the gift, warning "I fear the Greeks even when they come bearing gifts." While the people were trying to decide if they should risk bringing the horse inside the city walls for the sake of the favorable omens supposedly connected with it, Poseidon, the divinity most bitter toward Troy, sent two fearful sea serpents swimming to the land. Advancing straight to the spot where Laocoön stood with his two sons, the serpents wrapped their coils around the children. Laocoön struggled to tear them away, but they overpowered him and strangled him and his sons. The Trojans, convinced that this was a signal from heaven to ignore Laocoön's advice, brought the horse within the city walls and thus directly contributed to their own destruction. The most famous literary interpretation of the Laocoön legend is in Vergil's Aeneid. The most famous representation in art is a marble sculpture of the priest and his sons being crushed in the coils of the serpents; this group, known simply as Laocoön dates from the 1st century BC, and is now in the Vatican in Rome.

Laodamia

in Greek mythology, wife of the Thessalian commander Protesilaus, the first Greek slain when the Greek fleet reached the coast of Troy in the Trojan War. When the news of her husband's death reached Laodamia, she implored the gods to let her see him once again if only for a short time. Her pleas were answered, and the god Hermes led 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.

Laodice

Laodice was a daughter of Priam and the wife of Helicaon. When Troy fell she was swallowed by the earth.

Laomedon

in Greek mythology, king of Troy and father of Priam, later king of Troy. At the command of the god Zeus, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Apollo, god of the sun, built for Laomedon the walls of Troy. When the walls were finished, however, Laomedon refused to pay them the wages agreed on, and Poseidon sent a sea serpent to ravage the country. To appease the monster, the desperate Laomedon agreed to sacrifice his daughter Hesione. As the maiden sat on the shore waiting to be devoured, she was rescued by the hero Hercules. In return for saving Hesione, Laomedon had promised Hercules the immortal horses that Zeus had given to his grandfather. But when Hercules had slain the monster, Laomedon refused to keep his promise. Hercules then sacked the city and killed the king.

Lares

in Roman mythology, tutelary deities of the crossroads and country districts; also, and more commonly, the gods of the household. The lares compitales were worshiped at the compitum, or "crossroads" where four pieces of property joined. The lares familiares, or "household gods," which were sharply distinguished from the lares compitales, are considered by some modern scholars to have been the deified spirits of dead ancestors, which were worshiped as good spirits in contrast to the malevolent tormenters, the larvae; according to a more widely accepted theory, the household Lares were likewise originally spirits of the tilled fields and only later invested with domestic functions. The lar familiaris, or guardian spirit of the household, was the center of the family worship, and the word lar was frequently employed by Roman writers in the sense of "home." During the period of the Roman Republic each home had only one lar familiaris, but under the Roman Empire two Lares were regularly worshiped, and they came to be identified with the Penates. The regular state religion included the worship of "public Lares," or lares praestites, guardians of the city, who had a temple and an altar on the Via Sacra near the Palatine Hill.

Larissa

Larissa was a city in Thessaly where Achilles was reportedly born.

Leda

in Greek mythology, wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and the mother of Castor and Polydeuces, Clytemnestra, and Helen of Troy. After the god Zeus had wooed her in the guise of a swan, she laid two eggs. From one were hatched Pollux and Helen, who were immortal children of Zeus, and from the other Castor and Clytemnestra, who were mortal children of Tyndareus.

Lemnos

small island at the mouth of the Hellespont. Hephaestus landed on Lemnos when Zeus threw him out of heaven, and set up a forge on the island.

Lethe

in Greek mythology, the river of forgetfulness, situated in the underworld. The spirits of the dead drank from its waters to forget the sorrows of their earthly life before entering Elysium. When the Trojan prince Aeneas visited the world of the dead, he found a great number of souls wandering on the banks of the stream. His father, Anchises, with whom he was joyously reunited, told him that before these spirits could live again in the world above, they must drink of the river of oblivion to forget the happiness they had experienced in Elysium.

Leto

in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Phoebe and Coeus, and the mother of Artemis, goddess of the bow and of hunting. She was loved by the god Zeus, who, fearing the jealousy of his wife, Hera, banished Leto when she was about to bear his child. All countries and islands were also afraid of Hera's wrath and refused the desperate Leto a home where her child could be born. Finally, in her wanderings, she set foot on a small island floating in the Aegean Sea. The island, which was called Delos, was a rocky, barren place, but when Leto reached it and asked for refuge, it welcomed her hospitably. At that moment four great pillars rose from the bottom of the sea to hold the island firmly moored forever after.

Leuce

Leuce was a nymph loved by Hades. He turned her into a white poplar tree.

Leucothea

friendly sea-goddess who assisted Odysseus in his dangerous voyage. She was the daughter of Cadmus and originally the wife of Athamas, in which capacity she bore the name of Ino. She had incurred the wrath of Hera because she had suckled the infant Bacchus, and was pursued by her raving husband and thrown into the sea where she was saved by a dolphin and subsequently took her place as a marine deity under the name of Leucothea.

Liber

See Dionysus.

Libera

Roman name for the Greek goddess Persephone.

Litai

goddess of recompense.

Luna

Roman name of the Greek goddess Selene.

Lutinus

Roman name for the Greek god Priapus.

Maenads

See Bacchus.

Maia

daughter of Atlas and the mother of Hermes.

Manes

in Roman mythology, spirits of the dead, apparently hostile, and therefore euphemistically termed di manes, the "kindly ones." Sometimes the Manes were identified with di parentes, or "dead ancestors" living in the underworld, who came forth only on certain days, at which time propitiatory offerings were made to them.

Mars

in Roman mythology, god of war. One of the most important Roman deities, Mars was regarded as the father of the Roman people because he was the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Although his original nature and functions are obscure, Mars was identified by the Romans with the Greek god of war, Ares. The month of March was named for Mars. To commemorate his victory over the assasins of Julius Caesar in 42 BC, Emperor Augustus honored Mars with the cult title Ultor (Avenger) and a new temple.

Marsyas

in Greek mythology, one of the satyrs. He found the flute that Athena, the goddess of cities, handicrafts, and wisdom, had invented and later discarded because playing on it puffed out her cheeks and distorted her features. Marsyas became such an accomplished musician that he challenged the god Apollo, who played the lyre, to a contest, the winner of which would have the right to punish the loser. The Muses awarded the victory to Apollo. The god thereupon flayed Marsyas, from whose blood the river Marsyas sprang.

Medea

in Greek mythology, sorceress, the daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis. When the hero Jason, in command of the Argonauts, reached Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, Medea fell hopelessly in love with him. In return for Jason's pledge of everlasting fidelity and his promise to take her back to Greece with him, she used her magic gifts to enable him to deceive her father and obtain the fleece. Medea then sailed away from Colchis with Jason, taking Apsyrtus, her young brother, with her. To escape from Aeëtes's pursuit, Medea killed Apsyrtus and scattered his remains on the sea. The king stopped to gather them up, and the delay enabled Jason and his party to escape. In another legend, it was Jason who killed Apsyrtus after Aeëtes had sent him in pursuit of the fugitives. When Jason and Medea reached Greece, they found that Jason's wicked uncle Pelias had been responsible for the death of Jason's parents. To avenge their deaths, Jason once again asked Medea to aid him with her magic. Responsive as always to his wishes, Medea brought about the death of Pelias by a cunning trick. Telling his daughters she knew how they could make their aging parent young again, she dismembered an old sheep and boiled the pieces. After she uttered a charm, a frisky young lamb jumped from the pot of hot water. The daughters were convinced they could similarly restore their father to his youth. So, after Medea had given Pelias a powerful sleeping potion, they were persuaded to cut him into pieces, but Medea then disappeared without saying the magic words that would bring him back to life. After this Jason and Medea fled to Corinth, where two sons were born to them. They lived happily there until Jason fell in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. In revenge, Medea killed her rival by sending her a poisoned robe. Fearing that Creon would attempt to avenge the death of his daughter by harming her sons, Medea killed them. Medea escaped the wrath of Jason by leaving Corinth in a winged car and fleeing to Athens. There she achieved great influence over King Aegeus. Through her sorcery, she realized that Aegeus was unknowingly the father of Theseus, a young hero, who was arriving in Athens. She did not wish to have her influence with Aegeus disturbed by the appearance of a son, so she plotted with Aegeus to invite Theseus to a banquet and give him a poisoned cup. Aegeus willingly conspired with her through fear that the Athenians would prefer the popular young hero to him and would want to place Theseus on the throne. Fortunately, Theseus made himself known to his father, who dashed the poisoned cup to the ground. Medea escaped the wrath of Aegeus by fleeing to Asia.

Meditrina

Roman goddess of health. She was a sister of Hygea. Unlike Hygea who preserved good health, Meditrina restored good health and was celebrated in a festival held in October when old and new wine were drunk together to restore good health.

Medusa

Medusa was the youngest and most beautiful of the gorgons. She loved Poseidon and desecrated the temple of Athene by meeting Poseidon there. For this she was punished by having her hair turned to snakes. The result was her appearance was so hideous to behold that it would turn the viewer to stone.

Megapenthes

son of Proetus and King of Argos. He exchanged his dominion with that of Perseus and afterwards killed Perseus.

Meleager

in Greek mythology, son of Oeneus and Althea, king and queen of Calydon. Meleager led the hunt for a boar that the goddess Artemis sent to devastate the country. 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.

Melpomene

Melpomene was the muse of tragedy. She was a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. She is generally represented as a young woman, with vine leaves surrounding her head and holding in her hand a tragic mask. She carried a sword.

Memnon

in Greek mythology, 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. A colossal statue near Thebes in Egypt was said to represent Memnon.

Menelaus

in Greek mythology, king of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and husband of Helen of Troy. When Helen was abducted by the Trojan prince Paris, Menelaus organized an expedition to bring her back. Under the leadership of Agamemnon, Menelaus and the other Greek kings set sail for Troy. At the close of the ensuing Trojan War, Menelaus was one of the Greeks who hid in the wooden horse and sacked the city. After being reconciled with Helen, Menelaus set out for Greece. After a series of adventures in the eastern Mediterranean,Menelaus and Helen finally reached Sparta. There Menelaus prospered greatly, and he and Helen enjoyed a long and happy life. According to Homer's Odyssey, Menelaus was promised a place in Elysium after his death.

Mentor

in Greek mythology, elderly friend and counselor of the hero Odysseus and tutor of his son Telemachus. In the Odyssey of Homer, the goddess Athena frequently assumes the form of Mentor when she appears to Odysseus or Telemachus. In modern English the tutor's name has become an eponym for a wise, trustworthy counselor or teacher.

Mercury

in Roman mythology, messenger of the gods, the son of the god Jupiter and of Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. Mercury was also the god of merchants and of trading and shared many of the attributes of the Greek god Hermes. The worship of Mercury was introduced into Rome in 495 BC when a temple was dedicated to him near the Circus Maximus. His festival was celebrated on May 15.

Midas

in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia in Asia Minor. For his hospitality to the satyr Silenus, Dionysus, god of wine, offered to grant Midas anything he wished. The king requested that everything he touched be turned to gold, but he soon regretted his choice because even his food and water were changed to gold. To free himself from the enchantment, Midas was instructed by Dionysus to bathe in the Pactolus River. It was said that afterward the sands of the river contained gold. Midas was also one of the judges in a musical contest between the gods Apollo and Pan. When Midas preferred Pan's playing of the pipes to Apollo's playing of the lyre, Apollo changed Midas's ears to those of an ass. Midas was able to conceal his ears from all but his barber, who whispered the secret into a hole in the ground. When the wind blew, the reeds that grew over the hole repeated the story.

Minerva

in Roman mythology, goddess of handicrafts. Identified from an early date with the Greek goddess Athena, Minerva was the patron of the arts, and trades. With Jupiter and Juno, she was worshiped in the great temple that crowned the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome.

Minos

in Greek mythology, legendary ruler of Crete. Some ancient writers identified several kings by his name, especially Minos the Elder and his grandson Minos the Younger, but this distinction never appears in the accounts themselves. Minos was the son of Zeus, father of the gods, and of the princess Europa. From the city of Knossos he colonized many of the Aegean islands, and he was widely considered a just ruler. In the most famous story about Minos, he refused to sacrifice a certain bull. The god Poseidon punished him by making his wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the animal, and she subsequently gave birth to the Minotaur. According to Attic legend, Minos was a tyrant who took harsh measures to avenge the death of his son Androgeos at the hands of the Athenians. At stated intervals he exacted a tribute from Athens of seven youths and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Minos eventually met his death in Sicily, and he then became one of the judges of the dead in the underworld. The legends concerning Minos probably have a historical basis and reflect the age when Crete was supreme in the Aegean region and certain cities of Greece were subject to the kings of Knossos.

Minotaur

in Greek mythology, monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It was the offspring of Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, and a snow-white bull the god Poseidon had sent to Pasiphaë's husband, King Minos. When Minos refused to sacrifice the beast, Poseidon made Pasiphaë fall in love with it. After she gave birth to the Minotaur, Minos ordered the architect and inventor Daedalus to build a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it without assistance would be impossible. Here the Minotaur was confined and fed with young human victims Minos forced Athens to send him as tribute. The Greek hero Theseus was determined to end the useless sacrifice and offered himself as one of the victims. When Theseus reached Crete, Minos's daughter Ariadne fell in love with him. She helped him escape by giving him a ball of thread, which he fastened to the door of the maze and unwound as he made his way through it. When he came upon the sleeping Minotaur, he beat the monster to death and then led the other sacrificial youths and maidens to safety by following the thread back to the entrance.

Mnemosyne

in Greek mythology, the goddess of memory. She and Zeus, father of the gods, were the parents of the nine Muses. Mnemosyne was one of the pre-Olympian Titans, who were the children of the god of the heavens, Uranus, and the goddess of the earth, Gaea. She signified the memory of great events.

Moerae

Greek goddess of right and reason.

Momus

ancient Greek god of jeering.

Morpheus

in Greek mythology, god of dreams, the son of Hypnos, god of sleep. Morpheus formed the dreams that came to those asleep. He also represented human beings in dreams. The name Morpheus is derived from the Greek word for "shape" or "form."

Muses

in Greek mythology, nine goddesses and daughters of the god Zeus and of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Muses presided over the arts and sciences and were believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians. Calliope was the muse of epic poetry, Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of choral songs and the dance, Erato of love poetry, Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, and Thalia of comedy. They were said to be the companions of the Graces and of Apollo, the god of music. They sat near the throne of Zeus, king of the gods, and sang of his greatness and of the origin of the world and its inhabitants and the glorious deeds of the great heroes. The Muses were worshiped throughout ancient Greece, especially at Helicon in Boeotia and at Pieria in Macedonia.

Myrmidons

in Greek mythology, inhabitants of the island of Aegina in the Gulf of Saronikós, the followers of Achilles during the Trojan War. During the reign of Achilles' grandfather Aeacus, Hera, the wife of Zeus, sent a plague that destroyed the island's inhabitants, because Zeus loved Aegina, the maiden for whom the island was named. Aeacus, in despair, prayed to Zeus; seeing a troop of ants as he did so, he asked that they be transformed into people numerous enough to fill his empty city. Zeus answered his prayer in this manner, and because Aegina was repopulated from an anthill, its people became known as Myrmidons, from the Greek word meaning "ants" (myrmêkes).

Myrtilus

son of Hermes.