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Naiads

in Greek mythology, nymphs of brooks, springs, and fountains. Endowed with youth and beauty, they were gifted in music and dancing and the social graces. They were also thought to have healing and prophetic powers.

Narcissus

in Greek mythology, a handsome youth, the son of the river god Cephissus. Because of his great beauty many women fell in love with Narcissus, but he repulsed their advances. Among the lovelorn maidens was the nymph Echo, who had incurred the displeasure of Hera and had been condemned by the goddess never to speak again except to repeat what was said to her. Echo was therefore unable to tell Narcissus of her love, but one day, as Narcissus was walking in the woods, he became separated from his companions. When he shouted, "Is anyone here?" Echo joyfully answered, "Here, here." Unable to see her hidden among the trees, Narcissus cried "Come!" Back came the answer, "Come, come," as Echo stepped forth from the woods with outstretched arms. Narcissus cruelly refused to accept Echo's love; she was so humiliated that she hid in a cave and wasted away until nothing was left of her but her voice. To punish Narcissus, the avenging goddess Nemesis made Narcissus fall hopelessly in love with his own beautiful face as he saw it reflected in a pool. As he gazed in fascination, unable to remove himself from his image, he gradually pined away. At the place where his body had lain grew a beautiful flower, honoring the name and memory of Narcissus.

Nauplius

son of Amymone and Poseidon. He was the wrecker of Nauplia.

Nemesis

in Greek mythology, personification of divine justice and the vengeance of the gods, sometimes called the daughter of Night. She represented the righteous anger of the gods against the proud and haughty and against breakers of the law; she distributed good or bad fortune to all mortals. No one could escape her power.

Neoptolemus

also called Pyrrhus, in Greek legend and poetry, the son of the warrior Achilles and Deidamia of Scyros. Neoptolemus was reared at Scyros and, after the death of Achilles, was taken to Troy by the hero Odysseus in the final year of the Trojan War, because it was prophesied that the Greeks could not take Troy without the help of Neoptolemus. He was among the warriors who entered Troy in the Trojan horse, and when the city was captured, he killed Priam, king of Troy. Neoptolemus never returned to Scyros, but settled instead in Epirus. He was later considered the ancestor of the Molossian kings of that region. He married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen of Troy, king and queen of Sparta. Slain at Delphia, Neoptolemus was buried within the precincts of the temple there, and festivals were held in his honor every eight years.

Neptune

in Roman mythology, god of the sea, son of the god Saturn, and brother of Jupiter, king of the gods, and Pluto, god of the dead. Originally a god of springs and streams, he became identified with the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. His festival was celebrated on July 23.

Nereids

in Greek mythology, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea. They were the 50 lovely daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea, and his wife, Doris. They lived at the bottom of the sea, but often came to the surface to aid sailors and other travelers. They were believed to ride dolphins and other sea animals. The most famous of the Nereids were Thetis, the mother of the Greek hero Achilles; Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, god of the sea; and Galatea, who was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus.

Nereus

in Greek mythology, sea god, son of the sea god Pontus and Gaea, Mother Earth, called the old man of the sea. He was married to Doris, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, by whom he had 50 beautiful daughters, the nymphs of the sea, called the Nereids. Nereus lived at the bottom of the sea.

Nessus

See Hercules.

Nestor

in Greek mythology, king of Pylos, son of Neleus and Chloris. In his early life, Nestor was a distinguished warrior and participant in many of the great events of the day. He took part in the fight of the Lapiths against the centaurs, was among the Calydonian boar hunters, and sailed with the Argonauts in quest of the Golden Fleece. Although well advanced in years when the Trojan War began, he sailed with the other Greek heroes against Troy. Having ruled over three generations, he was renowned for his wisdom and justice, and he served as wise counselor to the Greeks during the war. After the fall of Troy, Nestor returned to Pylos and welcomed Telemachus when the youth came for information about the fate of his father, Odysseus.

Nike

in Greek mythology, goddess of victory, daughter of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx. Nike fought with the god Zeus in his battle against the Titans, and in Greek art is sometimes represented as winged and carrying a wreath or palm of victory. The Nike of Samothráki, or Winged Victory (Louvre, Paris), is one of the finest pieces of Hellenistic sculpture.

Niobe

in Greek mythology, daughter of Tantalus, and the queen of Thebes. 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 had shown (see Atreus, House of). Thus, she commanded the people of Thebes to worship her instead of the goddess Leto, who had only two children. The gods heard her words on far-off Mount Olympus and resolved to punish her. Leto's children, Apollo, god of prophecy and a master archer, and Artemis, goddess of the hunt, 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.

Notus

the south wind god.

Nymphs

in Greek and Roman mythology, lesser divinities or spirits of nature, dwelling in groves and fountains, forests, meadows, streams, and the sea, represented as young and beautiful maidens, fond of music and dancing. A nymph was a higher being than a human, but not immortal like a god. They were respected in mythology.The nymphs were distinguished according to the part of nature they personified, and included the Oceanids, or daughters of Oceanus, the ocean that flows around the earth; the Nereids, or daughters of the sea god Nereus, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea; the Potameides, river nymphs; the Naiads, nymphs of springs and freshwater streams; the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottoes; and the Dryads, nymphs of the forests.

Nyx

a goddess of night. She was a daughter of Chaos. She married Erebus.

Oceanides

The oceanides were 40 sea nymphs of the ocean. They were the daughters of Oceanus.

Oceanus

in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the son of Uranus and Gaea. With his wife, the Titan Tethys, he ruled over Ocean, a great river encircling the earth, which was believed to be a flat circle. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons. In later legends, when Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods, and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, overthrew the Titans and assumed their power, Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite, succeeded Oceanus and Tethys as rulers of the waters.

Ocypete

one of the harpies.

Odysseus

in Greek legend, a Greek hero, ruler of the island of Ithaca and one of the leaders of the Greek army during the Trojan War. Homer's Odyssey recounts Odysseus's adventures and ultimate return home ten years after the fall of Troy. Initially, Odysseus was mentioned as the son of Laertes, king of Ithaca, although in later tradition Sisyphus, king of Corinth, was considered his real father, his mother having later married Laertes. At first Odysseus refused to accompany the Greeks to Troy, feigning madness by sowing his fields with salt, but the Greeks placed his son Telemachus in front of the plow, and Odysseus was compelled to admit his ruse and join the invading army. Throughout the Iliad of Homer, he is portrayed as a brave, sagacious, cunning warrior, and he is awarded the famous armor of the Greek warrior Achilles on the latter's death. Odysseus was responsible for bringing the Greek heroes Neoptolemus and Philoctetes to Troy for the final stage of the conflict. In the Odyssey it is said that he proposed the strategem of the Trojan Horse, the means by which Troy was conquered. In the works of later classical writers, particularly those of the Greek poet Pindar, the Greek playwright Euripides, and the Roman poet Vergil, Odysseus is characterized as a cowardly and scheming politician. In Latin his name is rendered as Ulysses.

Oedipus

in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes. Laius was warned by an oracle that he would be killed by his own son. Determined to avert his fate, he bound together the feet of his newborn child and left him to die on a lonely mountain. The infant was rescued by a shepherd, however, and given to Polybus, king of Corinth, who named the child Oedipus ("Swollen-foot") and raised him as his own son. The boy did not know that he was adopted, and when an oracle proclaimed that he would kill his father, he left Corinth. In the course of his wanderings he met and killed Laius, believing that the king and his followers were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy. Lonely and homeless, Oedipus arrived at Thebes, which was beset by a dreadful monster called the Sphinx. The frightful creature frequented the roads to the city, killing and devouring all travelers who could not answer the riddle that she put to them. When Oedipus successfully solved her riddle, the Sphinx killed herself. Believing that King Laius had been slain by unknown robbers, and grateful to Oedipus for ridding them of the Sphinx, the Thebans rewarded Oedipus by making him their king and giving him Queen Jocasta as his wife. For many years the couple lived in happiness, not knowing that they were really mother and son. Then a terrible plague descended on the land, and the oracle proclaimed that Laius's murderer must be punished. Oedipus soon discovered that he had unknowingly killed his father. In grief and despair at her incestuous life, Jocasta killed herself, and when Oedipus realized that she was dead and that their children were accursed, he put out his eyes and resigned the throne. He lived in Thebes for several years, but was finally banished. Accompanied by his daughter Antigone, he wandered for many years. He finally arrived at Colonus, a shrine near Athens sacred to the powerful goddesses called the Eumenides. At this shrine for supplicants Oedipus died, after the god Apollo had promised him that the place of his death would remain sacred and would bring great benefit to the city of Athens, which had given shelter to the wanderer.

Oeonus

son of Licymnius. He was attacked by a dog belonging to the sons of Hippocoon, he threw a stone at the dog and in revenge the sons of Hippocoon killed him.

Oileus

one of the Argonauts, he was the father of Ajax.

Omphale

queen of Lydia. She bought Hercules as a slave who stayed with her for 3 years.

Oneiros

ancient Greek god of dreams.

Ops

Roman goddess of plenty and the personification of abundance.

Oreads

in Greek mythology, nymphs of grottoes and mountains. One of the most famous Oreads was Echo, who was deprived by the goddess Hera of the power of speech and could only repeat the last words that were said to her.

Orestes

in Greek mythology, son of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Clytemnestra. He was still a boy when his mother and her lover, Aegisthus, murdered Agamemnon. Orestes' older sister Electra, fearing for the boy's life, sent him to live with their uncle Strophius, king of Phocis. There he grew up with Pylades, son of Strophius, who became his lifelong companion. When he reached maturity, Orestes realized that he had a sacred duty to avenge the death of his father, but the crime of matricide was abhorrent to him. He consulted the oracle at Delphi and was advised to kill the two who had murdered his father. With Pylades he returned to Mycenae and avenged Agamemnon's death. Pursued by the avenging goddesses the Erinyes, Orestes wandered through many lands. Finally, at the command of the god Apollo, he went to Athens to plead his cause before the goddess Athena and a council of nobles, the Areopagus. Orestes declared himself guilty of matricide, but stated that he had been cleansed of guilt through suffering. The court, accepting the plea, acquitted Orestes. According to the dramas of the Greek playwright Euripides, some of the Erinyes refused to accept the verdict and continued to pursue Orestes. In despair he again consulted the Delphic oracle. He was advised to go to the land of the Taurians (modern Crimea) and steal the sacred image of Artemis from the temple of the goddess. With Pylades he went to the temple and discovered that the priestess was his sister Iphigenia, whom he had thought to be dead. With her help they stole the sacred statue and returned with it to Mycenae. Thereafter the Erinyes let Orestes live in peace.

Orion

in Greek mythology, handsome giant and mighty hunter, the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Euryale, the Gorgon. Orion fell in love with Metrope, the daughter of Oenopion, king of Chios, and sought her in marriage. Oenopion, however, constantly deferred his consent to the marriage, and Orion attempted to gain possession of the maiden by violence. 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.

Orpheus

in Greek mythology, poet and musician, the son of the muse Calliope (see Muses) and Apollo, god of music, or Oeagrus, king of Thrace. He was given the lyre by Apollo and became such an excellent musician that he had no rival among mortals. When Orpheus played and sang, he moved everything animate and inanimate. His music enchanted the trees and rocks and tamed wild beats, and even the rivers turned in their course to follow him. Orpheus is best known for his ill-fated marriage to the lovely nymph Eurydice. Soon after the wedding the bride was stung by a viper and died. Overwhelmed with grief, 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. Orpheus could not control his eagerness, however, and as he gained the light of day he looked back a moment too soon, and Eurydice vanished. In his despair, 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. For the importance of Orpheus in Greek religious history, see Orphism.

Orphism

in classical religion, mystic cult of ancient Greece, believed to have been drawn from the writings of the legendary poet and musician Orpheus. Fragmentary poetic passages, including inscriptions on gold tablets found in the graves of Orphic followers from the 6th century BC, indicate that Orphism was based on a cosmogony that centered on the myth of the god Dionysus Zagreus, the son of the deities Zeus and Persephone. Furious because Zeus wished to make his son ruler of the universe, the jealous Titans dismembered and devoured the young god. Athena, goddess of wisdom, was able to rescue his heart, which she brought to Zeus, who swallowed it and gave birth to a new Dionysus. Zeus then punished the Titans by destroying them with his lightning and from their ashes created the human race. As a result, humans had a dual nature: the earthly body was the heritage of the earth-born Titans; the soul came from the divinity of Dionysus, whose remains had been mingled with that of the Titans. According to the tenets of Orphism, people should endeavor to rid themselves of the Titanic or evil element in their nature and should seek to preserve the Dionysiac or divine nature of their being. The triumph of the Dionysiac element would be assured by following the Orphic rites of purification and asceticism. Through a long series of reincarnated lives, people would prepare for the afterlife. If they had lived in evil, they would be punished, but if they had lived in holiness, after death their souls would be completely liberated from Titanic elements and reunited with the divinity.

Palladium

in Greek mythology, statue of the goddess Athena holding a shield and a spear. It was believed to have been hurled from Olympus by the god Zeus at the founding of Troy. The safety of a city was believed to depend on the careful preservation of the image in the sanctuary of the goddess. In the tenth year of the Trojan War the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus stole the Palladium, thus facilitating the fall of Troy. The Romans, tracing their ancestry from the Trojans, believed that the Palladium, which was kept at Rome in the temple of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, was the Trojan original, brought to Italy by the hero Aeneas after the sack of Troy.

Pales

Roman god of cattle-rearing.

Pallas

In Greek mythology Pallas was one of the Titans. He was a son of Crius and Eurybia and brother of Astraeus and Perses. He married Styx and fathered Zelus, Cratos, Bia and Nike.

Pallas Athena

See Athena.

Pan

in Greek mythology, god of woods, fields, and fertility, the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods, and a nymph. Part animal, with the horns, hoofs, and ears of a goat, he was a rollicking deity, the god of the shepherds and the goatherds. A wonderful musician, he accompanied, with his pipe of reeds, the woodland nymphs when they danced. He invented this pipe when the nymph Syrinx, whom he was pursuing, was transformed into a bed of reeds to escape him; Pan then took reeds of unequal length and played on them. The god was always wooing one of the nymphs by playing on his pipes, but was always rejected because of his ugliness. Pan's haunts were the mountains and caves and all wild places, but his favorite spot was Arcadia, where he was born. The word panic is supposed to have been derived from the fears of travelers who heard the sound of his pipes at night in the wilderness.

Pandarus

in Greek mythology, Lycian who fought as an ally of the Trojans in the Trojan War. A famous archer, he broke the truce between the Greeks and the Trojans by wounding Menelaus, king of Sparta. Pandarus was later slain by the Greek hero Diomedes.

Pandion

son of Erichthonius, the King of Athens.

Pandora

in Greek mythology, first woman on earth, created by the god Hephaestus at the request of the god Zeus. Zeus wished to counteract the blessing of fire, which had been stolen from the gods by the Titan Prometheus and given to human beings. Endowed by the gods with every attribute of beauty and goodness, Pandora was sent to Epimetheus, who was happy to have her for his wife, although he had been warned by his brother Prometheus never to accept anything from Zeus. In bestowing their gifts on Pandora, the gods had given her a box, warning her never to open it. Her curiosity finally overcame her, however, and she opened the mysterious box, from which flew innumerable plagues for the body and sorrows for the mind. In terror, she tried to shut the box, but only Hope, the one good thing among many evils the box had contained, remained to comfort humanity in its misfortunes. In another legend, the box contained blessings that would have been preserved if Pandora had not allowed them to escape.

Parcae

See Fates.

Paris

also called Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy. A prophecy had warned that Paris would someday be the ruin of Troy and, therefore, Priam exposed him on Mount Ida, where he was found and brought up by shepherds. He was tending his sheep when an argument arose among the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite as to who was the most beautiful. The three goddesses asked him to be the judge. Each tried to bribe him, Hera promising to make him ruler of Europe and Asia, Athena to help him lead Troy to victory against the Greeks, and Aphrodite to give him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris favored Aphrodite, even though at the time he was in love with the nymph Oenone. His decision made Hera and Athena bitter enemies of his country. This and the abduction of Helen, in Menelaus's absence, brought about the Trojan War. In the tenth year of the siege of Troy that followed, Paris and Menelaus met in hand-to-hand combat. Menelaus would easily have been the victor except for Aphrodite, who enveloped Paris in a cloud, and carried him back to Troy. Before the fall of the city, Paris was mortally wounded by the archer Philoctetes. Paris then went to Oenone, who had a magic drug that could cure him. She refused him, but when he died, Oenone killed herself out of misery.

Pasiphae

the wife of King Minos of Crete and mother of Phaedra and of the Minotaur.

Patroclus

in Greek mythology, dearest friend of the hero Achilles whom he accompanied to the Trojan War. In the tenth year of the conflict Achilles withdrew his troops, the Myrmidons, from combat because of a quarrel with Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces. Without Achilles, the Greeks began to lose to the Trojans. Finally, as the Trojans began to burn the Greek ships, Patroclus persuaded Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to the rescue. Clad in Achilles' armor, Patroclus led the Greeks to victory, forcing the Trojans back to the walls of their city. In his moment of glory, however, Patroclus was slain by the Trojan commander, Hector. To avenge his friend's death, Achilles rejoined the battle and killed Hector.

Pax

alternative name for Eirene.

Pegasus

in Greek mythology, winged horse, son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus sprang from Medusa's neck when she was killed by the hero Perseus. Shortly after its birth, the magic steed struck the ground on Mount Helicon, and on the spot a spring, later sacred to the Muses and believed to be a source for poetic inspiration, began to flow. All longed in vain to catch and tame the creature, and this became the obsession of Bellerophon, prince of Corinth. On the advice of a seer, Bellerophon spent a night in the temple of the goddess Athena. As he slept, the goddess appeared to him with a golden bridle and told him that it would enable him to capture Pegasus. When Bellerophon awoke, he found the golden bridle beside him, and with it he easily captured and tamed the winged horse. Pegasus thereafter proved to be a great help to Bellerophon and aided the hero in his adventures against the Amazons and the Chimaera. Bellerophon was overcome by his own pride, however. When he attempted to fly to the top of Olympus to join the gods, the wise horse threw him, leaving Bellerophon to wander disconsolately about, hated by the gods. Pegasus found shelter in the Olympian stalls and was entrusted by Zeus with bringing him his lightning and thunderbolts.

Peirithous

King of the Lapiths and a son of Ixion and Dia. He waged war against the Centaurs and helped Theseus carry off the Amazon Antiope and later Helen. He tried to abduct Persephone, but was bound to a stone seat by her husband Hades and remained a prisoner in the underworld.

Peleus

in Greek mythology, king of the Myrmidons in Thessalía, the son of Aeacus, king of Aíyina. He took part in the hunt for the Calydonian boar and the journey of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, but he is especially famed for his marriage to Thetis, one of the Nereids, who was destined to bear a son mightier than his father. Although Zeus, father of the gods, loved Thetis, he wished her married to a mortal because of this prophecy. Aided by the gods, Peleus lay in wait for Thetis by the shore, and in spite of her transformations into fire, water, and wild beasts, he held her fast until she returned to her original form. The marriage was attended by all the gods, with the exception of Eris, goddess of discord and strife, who, enraged at being excluded, threw into the gathering a golden apple inscribed "To the Most Beautiful." The award of the apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, by the Trojan prince Paris led to the Trojan War. By Thetis, Peleus was the father of the Greek hero and warrior Achilles. Eventually Peleus and Thetis went to dwell among the Nereids. Peleus outlived both his son and his grandson Neoptolemus.

Pelias

in Greek mythology, son of Poseidon. Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcus from his uncle Aeson and sent Aeson's son Jason, the rightful heir, to carry off the Golden Fleece from Colchis, hoping that he would never return. With the aid of the sorceress Medea, however, Jason succeeded. Returning with Medea and the fleece, Jason found that Pelias had forced Jason's father to kill himself. In revenge Medea tricked Pelias's daughters into cutting him up and boiling him in the hope of magically restoring his youth.

Pelops

in Greek mythology, son of Tantalus. When he was a child, his father killed him and served his boiled flesh to the gods at a banquet. The gods realized the nature of the meal, punished Tantalus, and restored Pelops to life. The goddess Demeter, distracted by the loss of her daughter Persephone, had eaten the flesh of the left shoulder. When the body was put together again, the shoulder was replaced with one of ivory. Pelops later won the hand of Princess Hippodamia by winning a chariot race from her father, King Oenomaus of Pisa. Unknown to Pelops, the princess had bribed the charioteer Myrtilus to remove the linchpins from Oenomaus's chariot. Later Pelops quarreled with Myrtilus and hurled him into the sea. Before he drowned, the charioteer cursed Pelops, but the curse had no effect on Pelops but did on his children (see Atreus, House of). The Pelopónnisos Peninsula of southern Greece is named in his honor.

Penates

in Roman mythology, gods of the storeroom, who were worshiped, along with the Lares, in every home as protectors of the house. They were often represented as dancing, holding a drinking horn as a symbol of prosperity. The Penates were also worshiped publicly as special protectors of the community and the state.

Penelope

in Greek mythology, daughter of Icarus, king of Sparta, wife of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and mother of Telemachus. Although her husband was gone for more than 20 years during and after the Trojan War, Penelope never doubted that he would return, and she remained faithful to him. She was wooed by many suitors who devoured and wasted Odysseus's property. Unwilling to choose a new husband, Penelope kept their advances in check under the pretext of completing a shroud that she was weaving for Laertes, her father-in-law. Each night she unraveled the work she completed during the day, and by this means avoided having to choose a husband. Finally betrayed by a maid, Penelope was compelled to finish the work. The suitors were preparing to force a decision when Odysseus returned in disguise, killed them, and revealed his identity to his faithful wife.

Peneus

river god. He was a son of Oceanus and Tethys.

Persephone

in Greek mythology, daughter of Zeus, father of the gods, and of Demeter, goddess of the earth and of agriculture. Hades, god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone and wished to marry her. Although Zeus gave his consent, Demeter was unwilling. Hades, therefore, seized the maiden as she was gathering flowers and carried her off to his realm. As Demeter wandered in search of her lost daughter, the earth grew desolate. All vegetation died, and famine devastated the land. Finally Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to bring Persephone back to her mother. Before Hades would let her go, he asked her to eat a pomegranate seed, the food of the dead. She was thus compelled to return to the underworld for one-third of the year. As both the goddess of the dead and the goddess of the fertility of the earth, Persephone was a personification of the revival of nature in spring. The Eleusinian Mysteries were held in honor of her and her mother. Proserpine was the Latin counterpart of Persephone.

Perseus

in Greek mythology, slayer of the Gorgon Medusa; he was the son of Zeus, father of the gods, and of Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos. Warned that he would be killed by his grandson, Acrisius locked mother and child in a chest and cast them into the sea. They drifted to the island of Seriphus, where they were rescued and where Perseus grew to manhood. Polydectes, king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danaë, and, fearing that Perseus might interfere with his plans, sent him to procure the head of Medusa, a monster whose glance turned men to stone. Aided by Hermes, messenger of the gods, Perseus made his way to the Gray Women, three old hags who shared one eye between them. Perseus took their eye and refused to return it until they gave him directions for reaching the nymphs of the north. From the nymphs he received winged sandals, a magic wallet that would fit whatever was put into it, and a cap to make him invisible. Equipped with a sword from Hermes that could never be bent or broken and a shield from the goddess Athena, which would protect him from being turned to stone, Perseus found Medusa and killed her. Invisible in his cap, he was able to escape the wrath of her sisters and with her head in the wallet flew on his winged sandals toward home. As he was passing Ethiopia, he rescued the princess Andromeda as she was about to be sacrificed to a sea monster and took her with him as his wife. At Seriphus he freed his mother from Polydectes by using Medusa's head to turn the king and his followers to stone. All then returned to Greece, where Perseus accidentally killed his grandfather Acrisius with a discus, thus fulfilling the prophecy. According to one legend, Perseus went to Asia, where his son Perses ruled over the Persians, from whom they were said to have gotten their name.

Phaea

Crommyonium Sow, a wild pig said to have been the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. It ravaged the town of Crommyon on the Isthmus of Corinth until it was destroyed by Theseus.

Phaedra

Phaedra was a daughter of Minos, King of Crete and Pasiphae. Her unrequited love for Hippolytus led to his death and her suicide.

Phaethon

in Greek mythology, son of Helios, god of the sun, and of the nymph Clymene. Helios had rashly promised to grant his son anything he wished, and Phaëthon chose to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky. Vainly Helios tried to explain to him that no mortal could drive the chariot; Phaëthon, however, insisted that his father keep his promise. Helios, after explaining the dreadful hazards, reluctantly yielded. Soon Phaëthon realized that his father had been right. Terrified, he lost control of the horses, and driving too near the earth set it on fire. To save the world from utter destruction, the god Zeus hurled his thunderbolt at the rash young driver, killing him instantly. Phaëthon fell to earth and according to legend was buried on the banks of the Eridanus River (now Po River).

Pheme

goddess of fame. She was a daughter of Gaea.

Philemon and Baucis

in Roman mythology, peasant couple of Phrygia, remarkable for their mutual love. When Jupiter, father of the gods, and his messenger, Mercury, wandered through Phrygia in human form seeking food and lodging, they were turned away by all except the aged Philemon and his wife, Baucis, who hospitably entertained them. As a reward for their kindness, Jupiter saved them from a flood that he sent to punish the Phrygians for their cruelty and changed Philemon and Baucis's humble cottage into a temple. He also swore to grant them anything they might wish, but they asked only to be priest and priestess of his temple and to die at the same time. Jupiter fulfilled his promise, and in their extreme old age he transformed Philemon and Baucis into an oak and linden tree, which grew from one trunk so they would never be separated. This marvelous tree stood for many years before the temple and was honored by the people.

Philoctetes

in Greek mythology, famous archer, the friend of the hero Hercules, who bequeathed to him his bow and poisoned arrows. On the way to the Trojan War, Philoctetes was bitten in the foot by a snake, and because the wound failed to heal, he was left behind on the island of Lemnos. In the final year of the war, when an oracle declared that the Greeks could not capture Troy without the arrows of Hercules, the hero Odysseus, accompanied by the warrior Diomedes or by Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, went to Lemnos and persuaded Philoctetes to come to Troy. After being treated for his wound by a Greek physician, Philoctetes joined the battle and killed the Trojan prince Paris. Returning to his home in northern Greece after the war, Philoctetes found that a revolt had broken out against him, whereupon he again set sail and settled in Italy.

Phlegethon

in Greek mythology, river of fire, one of the rivers of the lower world, along with Acheron, Styx, Lethe, and Cocytus.

Picus

a Roman god. He was the son of Saturnus and father of Faunus. His wife was Canens. He was a prophet and god of the forest.

Pitho

daughter of Aphrodite. She was the goddess of persuasion.

Pleiades

in Greek mythology, seven daughters of Atlas and of Pleione, the daughter of Oceanus. Their names were Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope. According to some versions of the myth, they committed suicide from grief at the fate of their father, Atlas, or at the death of their sisters, the Hyades. Other versions made them the attendants of Artemis, goddess of wildlife and of hunting, who were pursued by the giant hunter Orion, but were rescued by the gods and changed into doves. After their death, or metamorphosis, they were transformed into stars, but are still pursued across the sky by the constellation Orion.

Pleuron

son of Aetolus and Pronoe and brother to Calydon. He married Xanthippe by whom he fathered Agenor, Sterope, Stratonice and Laophonte. He is said to have founded the town of Pleuron in Aetolia.

Pluto

in Roman mythology, god of the dead, the husband of Proserpine. The Latin counterpart of the Greek god Hades, Pluto assisted his two brothers, Jupiter and Neptune, in overthrowing their father, Saturn. In dividing the world among them, Jupiter chose the earth and the heavens as his realm, Neptune became the ruler of the sea, and Pluto received as his kingdom the lower world, in which he ruled over the shades of the dead. He was originally considered a fierce and unyielding god, deaf to prayers and unappeased by sacrifices. In later cults and popular belief the milder and more beneficent aspects of the god were stressed. Believed to be the bestower of the blessings hidden in the earth, such as mineral wealth and crops, Pluto was also known as Dis or Orcus, the giver of wealth.

Poena

attendant of punishment to Nemesis.

Polites

Polites was a son of Priam and Hecabe. He was killed before them by Neoptolemus.

Pollux

Pollux was the Roman name for Polydeuces.

Polybus

Polybus was king of Corinth. He raised Oedipus as his own son.

Polydeuces

Polydeuces was twin brother of Castor. He was a son of Zeus and Leda. He was born from an egg after Zeus visited Leda disguised as a swan.

Polydorus

Polydorus was a son of Cadmus and Harmonia. he was King of Thebes and husband of Nycteis by whom he fathered Labdacus.

Polyhymnia

Polyhymnia (Polymnia) was the muse of song and hymns. She wore a veil.

Polynices

son of Oedipus. He and his brother Eteocles were supposed to rule Thebes in alternate years, but Eteocles refused to relinquish the throne, and Polynices sought the help of Adrastus. Polynices and Eteocles killed each other in single combat.

Polyphemus

in Greek mythology, a Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of the nymph Thoösa. During his wanderings after the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus and his men were cast ashore on Polyphemus's island home, Sicily. The enormous giant penned the Greeks in his cave on Mount Etna and began to devour them. Odysseus then gave Polyphemus some strong wine and when the giant had fallen into a drunken stupor, bored out his one eye with a burning stake. The Greeks then escaped by clinging to the bellies of his sheep. Poseidon punished Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus by causing him many troubles in his subsequent wanderings by sea. In another legend, Polyphemus was depicted as a huge, one-eyed shepherd, unhappily in love with the sea nymph Galatea.

Pomona

Roman goddess of garden fruits.

Poseidon

in Greek mythology, god of the sea, the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Hades. Poseidon was the husband of Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton. Poseidon had numerous other love affairs, however, especially with nymphs of springs and fountains, and was the father of several children famed for their wildness and cruelty, among them the giant Orion and the Cyclops Polyphemus. Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa were the parents of Pegasus, the famous winged horse. Poseidon plays a prominent part in numerous ancient myths and legends. He contended unsuccessfully with Athena, goddess of wisdom, for the control of Athens. When he and Apollo, god of the sun, were cheated of their promised wages after having helped Laomedon, king of Troy, build the walls of that city, Poseidon's revenge against Troy knew no bounds. He sent a terrible sea monster to ravage the land, and during the Trojan War he helped the Greeks. In art, Poseidon is represented as a bearded and majestic figure, holding a trident and often accompanied by a dolphin. Every two years the Isthmian Games, featuring horse and chariot racers, were held in his honor at Corinth. The Romans identified Poseidon with their god of the sea, Neptune.

Priam

in Greek mythology, king of Troy. He was the father of 50 sons, notably the great warrior Hector, and 50 daughters, including the prophet Cassandra. As a young man Priam fought with the Phrygians against the Amazons, but by the time of the Trojan War he was too old to fight. The conflict had begun when the Greeks set out to recapture Helen of Troy, who had been abducted by Priam's son Paris. During the ten years of fighting, Priam anxiously watched the course of battle from the walls of Troy with his wife, Queen Hecuba. After his son Hector was slain by the Greek hero Achilles, Priam went to the Greek camp to beg for his body. Achilles spared Priam's life and gave him Hector's body for burial, but during the sack of Troy, Priam was killed by Achilles' son Neoptolemus.

Priapus

in Greek mythology, god of fertility, protector of gardens and herds. He was the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and of Dionysus, god of wine, or, according to some accounts, of Hermes, messenger of the gods. He was usually represented as a grotesque individual with a huge phallus. The Romans set up crude images of Priapus in their gardens as scarecrows.

Procne

daughter of King Pandion and Zeuxippe. She married Tereus.

Procris

Procris was a daughter of Erechtheus and wife of Cephalus. Artemis gave her the hound Laelaps which she gave to her husband.

Procrustes

in Greek mythology, a robber who lived near Eleusis in Attica. Originally named Damastes or Polypemon, he acquired the name Procrustes ("The Stretcher") because he tortured his victims by cutting them down to fit his bed if they were too tall, or hammering and stretching them if they were too short. He was captured by the Greek hero Theseus, who inflicted upon Procrustes the same kind of torture that he had imposed upon his victims.

Proetus

son of Abas and the twin brother of Acrisius. In a dispute between the two brothers over the kingdom of Argos, Proetus was defeated and expelled. He fled to Iobates in Lycia and married his daughter Stheneboea. Iobates restored Proetus to his kingdom by force and Acrisius then agreed to share it, surrendering Tiryns to him. When Bellerophon came to Proetus to be purified for a murder, Sthenebeoa fell in love with him. Bellerophon refused her and she charged him with making improper proposals to her. Proetus then sent him to Iobates with a letter asking Iobates to murder Bellerophon.

Prometheus

in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity, the son of the Titan Iapetus by the sea nymph Clymene or the Titaness Themis. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective coverings. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing left to bestow. He was forced to ask his brother's help, and Prometheus (whose name means forethought) took over the task of creation. To make humans superior to the animals, he fashioned them in nobler form and enabled them to walk upright. He then went up to heaven and lit a torch with fire from the sun. The gift of fire that Prometheus bestowed upon humanity was more valuable than any of the gifts the animals had received. Because of his actions Prometheus incurred the wrath of the god Zeus. Not only did he steal the fire he gave to humans, but he also tricked the gods so that they should get the worst parts of any animal sacrificed to them, and human beings the best. In one pile, Prometheus arranged the edible parts of an ox in a hide and disguised them with a covering of entrails. In the other, he placed the bones, which he covered with fat. Zeus, asked to choose between the two, took the fat and was very angry when he discovered that it covered a pile of bones. Thereafter, only fat and bones were sacrificed to the gods; the good meat was kept for mortals. For Prometheus's transgressions, Zeus had him chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where he was constantly preyed upon by an eagle. Finally he was freed by the hero Hercules, who slew the eagle.

Proserpine

See Persephone.

Protesilaus

in Greek mythology, king of Phylace in Thessaly, who was killed in the Trojan War. An oracle had proclaimed that the first Greek to touch the Trojan soil would be the first to die. Aware of it, Protesilaus bravely leaped ashore and was slain. His wife, Laodamia, grieved so that the gods permitted him to visit her for three hours.

Proteus

in Greek mythology, son of Poseidon, god of the sea, or his attendant and the keeper of his seals. Proteus knew all things past, present, and future but was able to change his shape at will to avoid the necessity of prophesying. Each day at noon Proteus would rise from the sea and sleep in the shade of the rocks on the island of Pharos in Egypt with his seals lying around him. Persons wishing to learn the future had to catch hold of him at that time and hold on as he assumed dreadful shapes, including those of wild animals and terrible monsters. If all his ruses proved unavailing, Proteus resumed his usual form and told the truth. Among those who fought with Proteus to learn the truth was Menelaus, king of Sparta.

Psyche

in Roman mythology, beautiful princess loved by Cupid, god of love. Psyche was the personification of the passion of love. Jealous of Psyche's beauty, Venus, goddess of love, ordered her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. Fortunately for Psyche, Cupid instead fell in love with her and carried her off to a secluded palace where he visited her only by night, unseen and unrecognized by her. Although Cupid had forbidden her ever to look upon his face, one night Psyche lit a lamp and looked upon him while he slept. Because she had disobeyed him, Cupid abandoned her, and Psyche was left to wander desolately throughout the world in search of him. Finally, after many trials she was reunited with Cupid and was made immortal by Jupiter, king of the gods.

Pygmalion

in Roman mythology, sculptor of Cyprus. Pygmalion hated women and resolved never to marry. He worked, however, for many months on a statue of a beautiful woman, and eventually fell madly in love with it. Disconsolate because the statue remained lifeless and could not respond to his caresses, Pygmalion prayed to Venus, goddess of love, to send him a maiden like his statue. Venus answered his prayer by endowing the statue with life. The maiden, whom Pygmalion called Galatea, returned his love and bore him a son, Paphos, from whom the city sacred to Venus received its name.

Pylades

Pylades was son of Strophius and Anaxibia. He assisted Orestes in murdering Clytemnestra and eventually married his sister Electra.

Python

in Greek mythology, great serpent, the son of Gaea, Mother Earth, produced from the slime left on the earth after the great flood. The monster lived in a cave near Delphi on Mount Parnassus and guarded the oracle there. The god Apollo slew the Python, claimed the oracle for himself, and was thereafter known as Pythian Apollo. The god was said to have established the Pythian Games to commemorate his victory.

Quirinus

in early Roman mythology, god of war worshiped by the Sabines. In later Roman mythology, Quirinus was identified with the deified Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome.

Remus

in Roman mythology, the twin brother of Romulus, who was believed to have founded the city of Rome in 753 BC.

Rhadamanthus

in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Europa and the brother of Minos, king of Crete. According to Homer, Rhadamanthus dwelt in Elysium. Later legends report that, respected for his judgment and probity, he was made one of the three judges of the underworld.

Rhea

in Greek mythology, mother of the gods, a Titan, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and the sister and wife of the Titan Cronus. For many ages, Cronus and Rhea ruled the universe. Cronus, having been warned that one of their children was destined to seize his throne, tried to avert this fate by swallowing his offspring as soon as they were born. After the birth of her sixth child, the god Zeus, Rhea outwitted her husband by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, thinking it was the baby. In the meantime, she had hidden the child in Crete. Later, when Zeus was grown, he forced his father to disgorge the stone, along with the five other children who had been born to Rhea: Poseidon, god of the sea; Hades, god of the dead; Demeter, goddess of the earth; Hestia, goddess of the hearth; and Hera, goddess of marriage, who became the wife of Zeus. In Roman mythology, Rhea was identified with Cybele, the great mother of the gods.

Romulus

in Roman mythology, founder and first king of Rome. He and his twin brother, Remus, were the sons of Mars, god of war, and of Rhea Silvia, also called Ilia, one of the vestal virgins. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, who had been deposed by his younger brother Amulius. Amulius had made Rhea Silvia a priestess so that she would have no children to make claims against his throne. After the birth of her two boys, to remove any threat against himself, he had them thrown in a basket into the Tiber River. The twins were not drowned, however. They were rescued and nursed by a she-wolf on the slope of the Palatine Hill and were later discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and reared by his wife, Acca Larentia. When they grew to manhood, the brothers deposed Amulius and placed their grandfather Numitor on the throne. The brothers then decided to build a city. After quarreling over the spot, they finally chose the Palatine Hill. Romulus built a wall, over which Remus, to show its inadequacy, scornfully leaped; Remus was thereupon killed by Romulus or one of his companions, and Romulus became sole ruler of the city. He provided an asylum on the Capitoline Hill for runaway slaves and homicides and procured wives for them by seizing the Sabine women at a festival to which he had invited the Sabines. After a series of wars between Romulus and the Sabines, they were finally reconciled, with Romulus as king. According to legend, Romulus was carried up to the heavens by his father, and was later worshiped as the god Quirinus.

Sarapis

See Serapis.

Sarpedon

son of Zeus and Europa. He went to Asia Minor and became the king of the Lycians after helping Cilix of Cilicia to defeat them. He helped Troy in the Trojan wars before being killed by Patroclus.

Saturn

in Roman mythology, ancient god of agriculture. In later legends he was identified with the Greek god Cronus, who, after having been dethroned by his son Zeus (in Roman mythology, Jupiter), fled to Italy, where he ruled during the Golden Age, a time of perfect peace and happiness. Beginning on December 17 of each year, during the festival known as the Saturnalia, the Golden Age was restored for seven days. All business stopped and executions and military operations were postponed. It was a period of goodwill, devoted to banquets and the exchange of visits and gifts. A special feature of the festival was the freedom given to slaves, who during this time had first place at the family table and were served by their masters. Saturn was the husband of Ops, goddess of plenty. Besides Jupiter, who was ruler of the gods, Saturn's children also included Juno, goddess of marriage; Neptune, god of the sea; Pluto, god of the dead; and Ceres, goddess of the grain. In art Saturn is usually shown bearded, carrying a sickle or an ear of corn.

Saturnus

Roman god of learning and agriculture. He appeared to King Janus and gave lessons on agriculture to his subjects.

Saturnalia

See Saturn

Satyrs

in Greek mythology, deities of the woods and mountains, with horns and tails and sometimes with the legs of a goat. The satyrs were the companions of Dionysus, god of wine, and spent their time pursuing nymphs, drinking wine, dancing, and playing the syrinx, flute, or bagpipes.

Sceiron (Sciron)

a robber who haunted the frontier between Attica and Megaris. He robbed travellers and kicked them into the sea where they were eaten by a tortoise that lived there. He was killed by Theseus.

Scylla and Charybdis

in Greek mythology, 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. In later times, the geographical position of this dangerous passage was believed to be the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, with Scylla on the Italian side. Scylla, originally a beautiful maiden loved by a sea god, had been transformed into a monster by her jealous rival, the sorceress Circe.

Sea Serpent

imaginary marine creature supposed to be of snakelike form and monstrous size. During the times of wooden sailing vessels, sea serpents were widely believed to have destroyed many ships. No scientific evidence as yet supports the existence of snakelike sea monsters. Exaggerated descriptions of sea snakes or oarfishes have probably been responsible for most reports of sea serpents; floating seaweeds have probably also contributed to this myth. Such a monster has also been reputed to exist in the waters of Loch Ness, Scotland.

Selene

in Greek mythology, goddess of the moon, the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and the sister of Helios, god of the sun. Selene fell in love with the handsome young shepherd Endymion, whom she lulled into an eternal sleep so that he could never leave her. In art, Selene is represented driving a chariot drawn by two horses, or sometimes, by two oxen. She is often identified with the Olympian goddess of the moon, Artemis.

Semele

in Greek mythology, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, king and queen of Thebes, and the mother of the god Dionysus. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, realizing that her husband was madly in love with the Theban princess, tricked Semele into asking to see Zeus in his majesty. Bound by an oath, Zeus appeared before the unfortunate woman in all his divine glory. As Semele gazed at him, she was consumed by the lightning bolts that radiated from him. Zeus was able to rescue her unborn child, Dionysus, from the ashes, however, and he hid the fetus in his side until it was time for it to be born. Later the young god rescued Semele from the underworld and brought her to Olympus.

Serapis

also Sarapis, in Greek and Egyptian mythology, a deity, variously associated with Osiris, Hermes, and Hades, introduced in the 3rd century BC as a state god for both Greeks and Egyptians. Serapis was believed by Egyptians to be a human manifestation of Apis, a sacred dead bull that symbolized Osiris; in Greek mythology, Serapis was represented as a god of fertility and medicine and the ruler of the dead in Tartarus. The worship of Serapis spread throughout the ancient world and the Roman Empire. The cult waned with the ascendancy of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility, and the destruction of the temple to Serapis in Alexandria in AD 385 marked the virtual end of paganism in the Roman Empire.

Seven Against Thebes

in Greek mythology, ill-fated expedition against the city of Thebes undertaken by seven chieftains and their followers under the leadership of Adrastus, king of Argos, and Polynices, the son of Oedipus, the former king of Thebes. After losing the throne to his younger brother, Eteocles, Polynices fled to Argos and married the daughter of Adrastus. The Argive king then organized a great army to march against the Thebans and restore Polynices to the throne. The other leaders of the expedition were Tydeus of Calydon, Parthenopaeus of Arcadia, Capaneus and Hippomedon of Argos, and Amphiaraus. The seven gates of Thebes were defended by seven Theban champions. During the siege Polynices and Eteocles slew each other, thus fulfilling the curse of their father. The battle ended with the defeat and death of all the Argives except Adrastus, who fled with his broken army to Athens. Ten years after the disaster, the sons of the seven warriors, the Epigoni, successfully marched against the city to avenge the deaths of the heroes.

Sibyl

in Greek and Roman mythology, any woman inspired with prophetic power by the god Apollo. The sibyls lived in caves or near streams and prophesied in a frenzied trance, usually in Greek hexameters, which were handed down in writing. Early Greek writers mention only one sibyl, probably the Erythraean Herophile, who predicted the Trojan War. In later legends, the number of sibyls was increased to ten, including the Samian, the Trojan or Hellespontine, the Phrygian, the Cimmerian, the Delphian, the Cumaean, the Libyan, the Tiburtine, and the Babylonian or Persian sibyls. Of these, the most important in Roman mythology was the Cumaean sibyl, Deiphobe. Apollo had promised to grant her anything she wished, and she asked to live for as many years as there were grains of sand in her hand. She did not ask, however, for eternal youth as well and became so withered that she was hung upside down in a bottle. Her overwhelming desire to die could not happen. In later legend, she guided the Trojan prince Aeneas through the underworld to visit his father Anchises. According to another legend, she appeared in the form of an aged woman before Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome, and offered him nine prophetic books at a high price. When he refused her, she destroyed three books and then offered the remaining six at the original price; again Tarquin refused, and she destroyed three more. The king finally bought the remaining three at the price demanded for the nine. These three books were placed in the temple of the god Jupiter in Rome and were consulted in times of great emergency. Although the original Sibylline Books were destroyed in a fire in 83 BC, a new collection was subsequently compiled. These, however, were destroyed in AD 405.

Silenus

in Greek mythology, oldest of the satyrs, the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods, or of Pan, a woodland god. The tutor of the young god Dionysus, Silenus often accompanied him on his travels. The old satyr was usually drunk, and he could be compelled, if caught in a drunken sleep, to prophesy the future. As a reward for his hospitality to Silenus, Dionysus granted Midas, king of Phrygia, the golden touch. In art Silenus is represented as a little old man in a state of jovial intoxication.

Silvanus

in Roman mythology, god of uncultivated fields and forests, the protector of cattle and flocks. Originally a deity without a name who was referred to by the adjective silvanus (Latin, "living in a wood"), he was later identified with the pastoral gods Pan and Faunus.

Sirens

in Greek mythology, sea nymphs, with the bodies of birds and the heads of women, the daughters of the sea god Phorcys. The Sirens had voices of such sweetness that mariners who heard their songs were lured onto the rocks on which the nymphs sang. The Greek hero Odysseus was able to pass their island with safety because, following the advice of the sorceress Circe, he stopped the ears of his companions with wax and had himself firmly bound to the mast of the ship so that he might hear the songs without danger. In another legend the Argonauts escaped the Sirens because Orpheus, who was on board the Argo, sang so sweetly that he drowned out the song of the nymphs. According to later legends, the Sirens, in vexation at the escape of Odysseus or at the victory of Orpheus, threw themselves into the sea and perished.

Sisyphus

in Greek mythology, king of Corinth, the son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. Sisyphus saw the god Zeus carry off the beautiful maiden Aegina and told her father what he had witnessed. Enraged with Sisyphus, Zeus condemned him to Tartarus, where he was compelled for eternity to roll to the top of a steep hill a stone that always rolled down again.

Sol

Roman name for the Greek god Helios.

Somnus

in Roman mythology, god of sleep, the son of Night and the twin brother of Death. His home was in a dark cave in the far west, where the sun never shone and all things were wrapped in silence. Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, flowed near the cave, and poppies and other sleep-inducing plants grew close by. Somnus had power over both gods and mortals and is often represented as a sleeping youth carrying a poppy stalk. Somnus was an alternative name for the Greek and Roman god Hypnos.

Sphinx

in Greek mythology, monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. Lying crouched on a rock, she accosted all who were about to enter the city of Thebes by asking them a riddle, "What is it that has four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?" If they could not solve the riddle, she killed them. When the hero Oedipus solved the riddle by answering, "Man, who crawls on four limbs as a baby, walks upright on two as an adult, and walks with the aid of a stick in old age," the sphinx killed herself. For ridding them of this terrible monster, the Thebans made Oedipus their king. In ancient Egypt, sphinxes were statues representing deities, with the body of a lion and the head of some other animal or of man, frequently a likeness of the king. The most famous of all Egyptian sphinxes is the Great Sphinx of Giza, near the pyramids. Dating from before 2500 BC, the Great Sphinx is about 20 m (about 66 ft) high and about 73 m (about 240 ft) long.

Stheino

one of the gorgons.

Strophius

King of Phocis.

Styx

in Greek mythology, a river, the entrance to the underworld. It was often described as the boundary river over which the aged ferryman Charon transported the shades of the dead. The river was personified as a daughter of the Titan Oceanus and Tethys, and Styx was the guardian of the sacred oaths that bound the gods. She dwelt at the entrance to Hades in a lofty grotto which was supported by silver columns. Styx took her children to help Zeus in the fight against the Titans. The actual river, the modern name of which is the Mavronéri, is in northeastern Arcadia, Greece. It plunges over a 183-m (600-ft) cliff, then flows through a wild gorge. The ancient Greeks believed that its waters were poisonous, and the river was associated with the underworld from the time of Homer.

Suada

alternative name for Pitho.

Talaus

King of Argos. He was the son of Nias and Pero. Talaus sailed with the Argonauts.

Talos

bronze man given to Europa by Zeus to guard Crete. He would clutch people to his breast and jump into a fire so that they were burnt alive.

Tantalus

in Greek mythology, king of Lydia and son of Zeus, ruler of the gods. Tantalus was honored above all other mortals by the gods. He ate at their table on Olympus, and once they even came to dine at his palace. To test their omniscience, Tantalus killed his only son, Pelops, boiled him in a cauldron, and served him at the banquet. The gods, however, realized the nature of the food. They restored Pelops to life and devised a terrible punishment for Tantalus. He was hung forever from a tree in Tartarus and afflicted with tormenting thirst and hunger. Under him was a pool of water, but when he stooped to drink, the pool would sink from sight. The tree above him was laden with pears, apples, figs, ripe olives, and pomegranates, but when he reached for them the wind blew the laden branches away. The word tantalize is derived from this story.

Tartarus

in Greek mythology, the lowest region of the underworld. According to Hesiod and Vergil, Tartarus is as far below Hades as the earth is below the heavens and is closed in by iron gates. In some accounts Zeus, the father of the gods, after leading the gods to victory over the Titans, banished his father, Cronus, and the other Titans to Tartarus. The name Tartarus was later employed sometimes as a synonym for Hades, or the underworld in general, but more frequently for the place of damnation where the wicked were punished after death. Such legendary sinners as Ixion, king of the Lapiths, Sisyphus, king of Corinth, and Tantalus, a mortal son of Zeus, were placed in Tartarus.

Telamon

in Greek mythology, king of Salamis, the son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, and the father of the hero and warrior Ajax the Greater. After he and his brother Peleus were banished from Aegina for murdering their half brother, Telamon went to Salamis, where he married the princess Glauce and succeeded to the throne. Telamon fathered Ajax by his second wife, Periboea, or Eriboea. He later helped the hero Hercules kill Laomedon, king of Troy, and was given Laomedon's daughter Hesione in return; she bore him Teucer, who also became a great warrior. Other famous events in which Telamon took part include the Calydonian boar hunt and the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.

Telemachus

in Greek mythology, son of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his wife, Penelope. The constant companion of his mother during the long years of Odysseus's wanderings after the fall of Troy, Telemachus watched with increasing unhappiness as the many ill-mannered suitors for the hand of his mother lived riotously on his father's estate. Unable to bear the taunts of these men any longer, the youth set out for Pylos to learn from the old king Nestor the fate of Odysseus. Although the old man could not help him, he sent Telemachus to Menelaus, king of Sparta, from whom the boy learned that his father had been held prisoner by the nymph Calypso. Still uncertain as to whether his father was alive or dead, Telemachus returned to Ithaca only to discover that during his absence Odysseus had returned home. The king had not revealed himself, however, having been disguised as a beggar. After a joyous reunion, Telemachus helped Odysseus kill the suitors and make himself known to Penelope. According to a later legend, Telemachus married the sorceress Circe or her daughter Cassiphone.

Telepylos

capital city of the Laestrygones.

Telesphorus

the god of that which sustains the convalescent. He is depicted with Aesculapius and Hygea.

Tellus or Terra Mater

in Roman religion, an ancient earth goddess. Considered a goddess of fertility, she was prominent with Ceres, the goddess of grain, in the rituals surrounding the sowing of seeds.

Terminus

Greek and Roman god of boundaries.

Terpsichore

the muse of dancing. She carried a lyre.

Tethys

in Greek mythology, a Titan, daughter of Uranus, god of heaven, and Gaea, goddess of earth. Tethys was the wife of her brother Oceanus and by him the mother of the 3000 Oceanids, or ocean nymphs, and of all the river gods.

Teucer

in Greek mythology, the name of two heroes, one Trojan and the other Greek. The Trojan Teucer was the son of the river god Scamander and the nymph Idaea, and was the first king of Troy. He is thought to be a hero invented by the Teucri, the founders of the city of Troy. Teucer the Greek was the son of Telamon, king of Salamis, and of Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He accompanied his half brother Ajax to the Trojan War, in which he distinguished himself by his archery. He would have shot Hector if Zeus had not broken his bowstring. After the war Teucer was banished by his father because he had not prevented the death of Ajax, whereupon he sailed to the island of Cyprus and there founded another Salamis.

Thalia

muse of comedy and burlesque. She wore a comic mask.

Thanatos

ancient Greek god of death and of pain.

Themis

in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and the mother of the three Fates and the Seasons. The goddess of divine justice and law, Themis was the constant companion of the god Zeus and sat beside him on Olympus. In ancient art she is represented holding aloft a pair of scales on which she weighs the claims of opposing parties. She was the Greek goddess of human rights.

Thersites

in Greek mythology, a member of the Greek army in the Trojan War. Homer describes him in the Iliad as the ugliest and most impudent of the Greeks. He was beaten by the Greek hero Ulysses for reviling the Greek general Agamemnon, to the amusement of the assembled Greeks. According to later writers, Thersites mocked the Greek hero Achilles for mourning the death of the Amazon queen Penthesilea and was slain by Achilles.

Theseus

in Greek mythology, the greatest Athenian hero, the son of either Aegeus, king of Athens, or Poseidon, god of the sea, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. At the age of 16, Theseus, having been brought up in Troezen, went to Athens to claim Aegeus as his father. The young man chose to make the hazardous journey by land, clearing the road of bandits and monsters. Among the villains whom Theseus killed, making each suffer the method of death he had inflicted on others, were Sciron, Sinis, and Procrustes. Theseus arrived in Athens wearing a sword and a pair of sandals that Aegeus had left for his son in Troezen. Medea, Aegeus's wife, attempted to poison Theseus, but as soon as Aegeus recognized the heirlooms, he proclaimed Theseus his son and heir and banished Medea. His early adventures included his encounter with the Minotaur, a monster half human, half bull, who was confined in a labyrinth under the palace of Minos, king of Crete. With the help of Ariadne, Minos's daughter, Theseus killed the Minotaur and escaped from the maze. On his return to Athens, however, he forgot to hoist a white sail signaling his success against the Minotaur. Aegeus, seeing a black sail, believed his son dead and threw himself from a rocky height into the sea, which has since been known as the Aegean Sea. As king of Athens, Theseus was wise and generous, but he retained his love of danger and adventure. He abducted the Amazon Hippolyta, who bore him a son, Hippolytus. He took part in the Calydonian boar hunt and in the quest of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece. He was a devoted friend of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, whom he accompanied to the underworld to rescue the goddess Persephone. Both men were imprisoned by the god Hades for their rash deed, but Theseus was subsequently rescued by Hercules. Returning to Athens, Theseus found his kingdom in disarray, torn by rebellion and corruption. Unable to reestablish authority, he sent his children away and sailed to the island of Skyros, where Lycomedes, king of Skyros, murdered him by throwing him from a cliff into the sea. Later the Delphic oracle commanded the Athenians to gather Theseus's bones and bring them back to Athens. The Athenians then paid him great honor by building him a tomb dedicated to the poor and helpless whom he had befriended.

Thetis

in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sea divinities Nereus and Doris, and the most famous of the Nereids. She was wooed both by Zeus, the supreme deity, and by Poseidon, god of the sea, until they learned the prophecy that she would bear a son who would be mightier than his father. She was then given to Peleus, ruler of the Myrmidons, who was considered the most deserving mortal. By Peleus, Thetis became the mother of the hero Achilles.

Thyestes

in Greek mythology, son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. Thyestes was the rival of his brother for the throne of Mycenae. He seduced Atreus's wife, Aërope, 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.

Thyrsus

a wand wreathed with ivy leaves, and topped with a pine-cone carried by the Ancient Greeks as a symbol of Bacchus.

Tiresias

in Greek mythology, a Theban seer. He was said to have been struck blind by the goddess Athena because he had seen her bathing but to have been recompensed by her with the gift of prophecy. According to another version, he was for a time transformed into a woman. 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, bellicose descendants of the Argive heroes who were killed in the war of the Seven Against Thebes.

Titans

in Greek mythology, 12 children of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and some of the children of the 12. Often called the Elder Gods, they were for many ages the supreme rulers of the universe and were of enormous size and incredibly strong. Cronus, the most important of the Titans, ruled the universe until he was dethroned by his son Zeus, who seized power for himself. The other important Titans were Oceanus, the river that flowed around the earth; Tethys, his wife; Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory; Themis, the goddess of divine justice; Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn; Iapetus, the father of Prometheus, who created mortals; and Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. Of all the Titans only Prometheus and Oceanus sided with Zeus against Cronus. As a result, they were honored and the others were bound in Tartarus. Eventually, however, Zeus was reconciled with the Titans, and Cronus was made ruler of the Golden Age.

Titanomachia

the 10 year war waged in Thessaly by Zeus and the Olympian gods against Cronos and the Titans led by Atlas. The war deposed the Titans.

Tithonus

in Greek mythology, the son of Laomedon, king of Troy, and the brother of Priam, Laomedon's successor. He was loved by the dawn goddess, Eos, who bore him a son, the hero Memnon, king of Ethiopia. Eos obtained the gift of immortality from the gods for Tithonus, but, because she forgot to ask that he remain eternally young, Tithonus in his old age withered away to a decrepit and shriveled old man. A later account related his final transformation into a grasshopper.

Triptolemus

in Greek mythology, the original priest of the corn goddess Demeter and founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated in Demeter's honor. The son of King Celeus of Eleusis, Triptolemus herded his father's cattle. One day he observed the daughter of Demeter, Persephone, being carried off in the chariot of her abductor, Hades, god of the underworld. Persephone was restored to her mother, and Demeter gave Triptolemus the wooden plow and seed corn, and then sent him to instruct mortals in the art of agriculture. She also taught him the rites that became the most famous of all Greek religious festivals.

Triton

in Greek mythology, trumpeter of the deep, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of his wife Amphitrite. He lived with his parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea, but sometimes went to the coast of Libya, where he once came to the aid of the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. Human in form to the waist, but with the tail of a fish, Triton blew loudly upon his large seashell to raise great storms and blew gently to calm the waves. In later legends, the attendants of the water deities were known as Tritons, and they had a similar appearance.

Tros

grandson of Dardanus and the father of Ilus. He gave his name to the city of Troy.

Tyche

Greek goddess of luck.

Tydeus

Tydeus was the son of Oeonus and Calydon. After commiting a murder whilst a youth he fled to the court of Adrastus.

Tyndareus

Tyndareus was the king of Sparta. He was deposed by his brother Hippocoon, and reinstated by Hercules.

Typhon

Typhon was the father of destructive and fierce winds. He is dereived from the Egyptian Set or Seth.

Ulysses

Roman name for Odysseus.

Unicorn

fabled beast, pure white in color, having the head and legs of a horse and a long, twisted horn set in the middle of its forehead. Symbolic of holiness and chastity, the unicorn was prominent in tapestries of the Middle Ages. It has been widely used in heraldic signs.

Urania

muse of astronomy. She carried a globe.

Uranus

in Greek mythology, the god of the heavens and husband of Gaea, the goddess of the earth. Uranus was the father of the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the 100-handed giants. The Titans, led by their ruler, Cronus, dethroned and mutilated Uranus, and from the blood that fell upon the earth sprang the three Erinyes, or Furies, who avenge crimes of patricide and perjury. Although Uranus may have been worshipped as a god by earlier inhabitants of Greece, he was never an object of worship by the Greeks of the historical period.

Venus

in Roman mythology, originally a goddess of gardens and fields but later identified with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. In imperial times she was worshiped under several aspects. As Venus Genetrix, she was worshiped as the mother of the hero Aeneas, the founder of the Roman people; as Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; as Venus Victrix, the bringer of victory; and as Venus Verticordia, the protector of feminine chastity. Venus was the wife of Vulcan, god of metalwork, but she was often unfaithful to him. Among her many lovers were Mars, the god of war; the handsome shepherd Adonis; and Anchises, the father of Aeneas. Venus was also the mother of Cupid, god of love.

Vertumnus

Roman god of garden fruits and seasons. He was the husband of Pomona.

Vesta

in Roman mythology, the goddess of the hearth, worshiped by Roman families as a household deity. The most important public shrine to Vesta was her round temple in the Forum at Rome, where her fire was said to have been brought from Troy by Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome. The shrine was symbolic of the safety of the city and was watched continually by six vestal virgins, priestesses who kept the fire burning and who served for terms of 30 years according to severe rules. In early June of each year a festival honoring Vesta, called Vestalia, was held. In form the goddess was associated with the flames of her fire. Her Greek counterpart was Hestia.

Victoria

alternative name for Nike.

Vulcan (Latin Volcanus)

in Roman mythology, the god of fire. Originally an old Italian deity who seems to have been associated with volcanic fire, Vulcan was identified with the Greek god Hephaestus in classical times. At Rome his festival, the Volcanalia, was celebrated on August 23. He was particularly revered at Ostia, where his was the principal cult.

Xuthus

son of Helen by the nymph Orseis. He was King of Peloponnesus and the husband of Creusa. After the death of his father, Xuthus was expelled from Thessaly by his brothers and went to Athens, where he married the daughter of Erechtheus.

Zagreus

son of Zeus. He was torn apart and eaten by Titans apart from his heart which Athene saved. He is sometimes identified with Dionysus.

Zelus

son of the Titan Pallas and Styx. He was a constant companion of Zeus and personified zeal.

Zephyrus

in Greek mythology, the god of the west wind. He was the son of the Titan Astraeus and of Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Zephyrus was said to be the husband of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. His brothers were Boreas and Notus, the gods of the north and south winds, respectively.

Zethus

son of Zeus and Antiope and twin brother of Amphion.

Zeus

in Greek mythology, the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. Zeus corresponds to the Roman god Jupiter. Zeus was considered, according to Homer, the father of the gods and of mortals. He did not create either gods or mortals; he was their father in the sense of being the protector and ruler both of the Olympian family and of the human race. He was lord of the sky, the rain god, and the cloud gatherer, who wielded the terrible thunderbolt. His breastplate was the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak. Zeus presided over the gods on Mount Olympus in Thessaly. His principal shrines were at Dodona, in Epirus, the land of the oak trees and the most ancient shrine, famous for its oracle, and at Olympia, where the Olympian Games were celebrated in his honor every fourth year. The Nemean games, held at Nemea, northwest of Argos, were also dedicated to Zeus. Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of the deities Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. According to one of the ancient myths of the birth of Zeus, Cronus, fearing that he might be dethroned by one of his children, swallowed them as they were born. Upon the birth of Zeus, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes for Cronus to swallow and concealed the infant god in Crete, where he was fed on the milk of the goat Amalthaea and reared by nymphs. When Zeus grew to maturity, he forced Cronus to disgorge the other children, who were eager to take vengeance on their father. In the war that followed, the Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus and the other gods were successful, and the Titans were consigned to the abyss of Tartarus. Zeus henceforth ruled over the sky, and his brothers Poseidon and Hades were given power over the sea and the underworld, respectively. The earth was to be ruled in common by all three. Beginning with the writings of the Greek poet Homer, Zeus is pictured in two very different ways. He is represented as the god of justice and mercy, the protector of the weak, and the punisher of the wicked. As husband to his sister Hera, he is the father of Ares, the god of war; Hebe, the goddess of youth; Hephaestus, the god of fire; and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. At the same time, Zeus is described as falling in love with one woman after another and resorting to all kinds of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. Stories of his escapades were numerous in ancient mythology, and many of his offspring were a result of his love affairs with both goddesses and mortal women. It is believed that, with the development of a sense of ethics in Greek life, the idea of a lecherous, sometimes ridiculous father god became distasteful, so later legends tended to present Zeus in a more exalted light. His many affairs with mortals are sometimes explained as the wish of the early Greeks to trace their lineage to the father of the gods. Zeus's image was represented in sculptural works as a kingly, bearded figure. The most celebrated of all statues of Zeus was Phidias's gold and ivory colossus at Olympia.

Zeuxippe

daughter of Eridanus and the wife of Pandion.