Listed 100 (total found 315) sub titles with search on: Homeric world for wider area of: "STEREA HELLAS Region GREECE" .
ASKRA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Information about the Muses are found at Helicon Mountain where they were worshipped.
The sons of Aloeus or of Poseidon by Iphimedeia. They were giants who kept Ares captured for thirteen months. When they tried to put Mount Ossa on top of Mount Olympus and then Pelion Mountain on top of Ossa in order to ascend to heaven, Apollo slew them (Il. 5.385, Od. 11.305).
Sons of Aloeus, the first to sacrifice to Muses on Helicon, they found Ascra
Aloadae, Aloeidae, Aloiadae (Aloeidai, Aloiaoai or Aloadai), are patronymic forms from Aloeus, but are used to designate the two sons of his wife Iphimedeia by Poseidon: viz. Otus and Ephialtes. The Aloeidae are renowned in the earliest stories of Greece for their extraordinary strength and daring spirit. When they were nine years old, each of their bodies measured nine cubits in breadth and twenty-seven in height. At this early age, they threatened the Olympian gods with war, and attempted to pile mount Ossa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa. They would have accomplished their object, says Homer, had they been allowed to grow up to the age of manhood; but Apollo destroyed them before their beards began to appear (Od. xi. 305). In the Iliad (v. 385; comp. Philostr. de Vit. Soph. ii. 1.1) the poet relates another feat of their early age. They put the god Ares in chains, and kept him imprisoned for thirteen months; so that he would have perished, had not Hermes been informed of it by Eriboea, and secretly liberated the prisoner. The same stories are related by Apollodorus (i. 7.4), who however does not make them perish in the attempt upon Olympus. According to him, they actually piled the mountains upon one another, and threatened to change land into sea and sea into land. They are further said to have grown every year one cubit in breadth and three in height. As another proof of their daring, it is related, that Ephialtes sued for the hand of Hera, and Otus for that of Artemis. But this led to their destruction in the island of Naxos (Comp. Pind. Pyth. iv. 156). Here Artemis appeared to them in the form of a stag, and ran between the two brothers, who, both aiming at the animal at the same time, shot each other dead. Hyginus (Fab. 28) relates their death in a similar manner, but makes Apollo send the fatal stag (Comp. Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 264; Apollon. Rhod. i. 484, with the Schol). As a punishment for their presumption, they were, in Hades, tied to a pillar with serpents, with their faces turned away from each other, and were perpetually tormented by the shrieks of an owl (Munck, ad Hygin. l. c.; Virg. Aen. vi. 582). Diodorus (v. 50), who does not mention the Homeric stories, contrives to give to his account an appearance of history. According to him, the Aloeidae are Thessalian heroes who were sent out by their father Aloeus to fetch back their mother Iphimedeia and her daughter Pancratis, who had been carried off by Thracians. After having overtaken and defeated the Thracians in the island of Strongyle (Naxos), they settled there as rulers over the Thracians. But soon after, they killed each other in a dispute which had arisen between them, and the Naxians worshipped them as heroes. The foundation of the town of Aloeium in Thessaly was ascribed to them (Steph. Byz. s. v.). In all these traditions the Aloeidae are represented as only remarkable for their gigantic physical strength; but there is another story which places them in a different light. Pausanias (ix. 29.1) relates, that they were believed to have been the first of all men who worshipped the Muses on mount Helicon, and to have consecrated this mountain to them; but they worshipped only three Muses--Melete, Mneme and Aoide, and founded the town of Ascra in Boeotia. Sepulchral monuments of the Aloeidae were seen in the time of Pausanias (ix. 22.5) near the Boeotian town of Anthedon. Later times fabled of their bones being seen in Thessaly (Philostr. i. 3). The interpretation of these traditions by etymologies from otheo and aloa, which has been attempted by modern scholars, is little satisfactory.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EFTRISSIS (Ancient city) PLATEES
Antiope: In Homer (Odyss. xi. 260) a daughter of the Boeotian river-god Asopus, mother by Zeus of Amphion and Zethus. In later legend her father is Nycteus of Hyria or Hysiae. As he threatened to punish her for yielding to the approaches of Zeus under the form of a satyr, she fled to Epopeus of Sicyon. This king her uncle Lycus killed by order of his brother Nycteus, now dead, and led her back in chains. Arrived on Mount Cithaeron, she gave birth to twins--Amphion by Zeus, Zethus by Epopeus--whom Lycus left exposed upon the mountain. After being long imprisoned and ill-treated by Dirce, the wife of Lycus , she escaped to Cithaeron, and made acquaintance with her sons, whom a shepherd had brought up. She made them take a frightful vengeance upon Dirce by tying her to a furious bull, for doing which Dionysus drove her mad, and she wandered through Greece until Phocus, king of Phocis, healed her and made her his wife.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Antiope. A daughter of Nycteus and Polyxo (Apollod. iii. 5.5, 10.1), or of the river god Asopus in Bocotia (Odyss. xi. 260; Apollon. Rhod. i. 735). She became by Zeus the mother of Amphion and Zethus. Dionysus threw her into a state of madness on account of the vengeance which her sons had taken on Dirce. In this condition she wandered about through Greece, until Phocus, the grandson of Sisyphus, cured and married her. She was buried with Phocus in one common tomb (Paus. ix. 17.4).
ORCHOMENOS (Archaeological site) VIOTIA
Homer mentions that Orchomenos and the Egyptian Thebes had much wealth (Il. 9.380).
Also, according to Pausanias, Minyas built a treasury to receive his riches (Paus. 9,36,4 & 9,38,2).
EGES (Ancient city) EVIA
An Euboean city, which is mentioned by Homer (Il. 13.21, Od. 5.380).
GERESTOS (Ancient port) KARYSTOS
A city of Euboea and homonymous cape with a sanctuary of Poseidon (Od. 3.177).
ICHALIA (Ancient city) EVIA
Homer's references about Oechalia: Il. 2.596, 730, Od. 8.224, 21.13-33.
SKYROS (Ancient city) SKYROS
An homonymous city of the island of Scyrus, that was taken by Achilles (Il. 9.668).
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
Thebe is not listed in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships, because after the expedition of the Epigoni, which took place before the Trojan War, it was destroyed by the Argives. Some of the Thebans surrendered themselves to the Achaeans while others left the town (Strab. 9,2,32). Homer calls it "eptapylos" (= seven-gated) (Od. 11.263), "eurichoros" (= spacious) (Od. 11.265), "polyeratos" (= lovely) (Od. 11.275), "eustefanos" (= "fair-crowned) (Il. 19.99).
HELLAS (Ancient city) FTHIOTIS
An eponymous Greek hero, father of Dorus, son of Deucalion or Zeus and Pyrrha, the Hellenes (Greeks) named after him, divides the country among his sons.
Hellen. A son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, or, according to others, a son of Zeus and Dorippe (Apollod. i. 7.2; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 118; Eustath. ad Hom.), or of Prometheus and Clymene, and a brother of Deucalion. (Schol. ad Pind. Ol. ix. 68.) By the nymph Orseis, that is, the mountain nymph, he became the father of Aeolus, Dorus, and Xuthus, to whom some add Amphictyon. Hellen, according to tradition, was king of Phthia in Thessaly, i. e. the country between the rivers Peneius and Asopus, and this kingdom he left to Aeolus. Hellen is the mythical ancestor of all the Hellenes or Greeks, in contradistinction from the more ancient Pelasgians. The name of Hellenes was at first confined to a tribe inhabiting a part of Thessaly, but subsequently it was extended to the whole Greek nation. (Hom. Il. ii. 684; Herod. i. 56; Thuc. i. 3; Paus. iii. 20.6; Strab. viii.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hellen. The mythical ancestor of the Hellenes. He was the son of Zeus and
Dorippe, husband of Orseis, and father of Aeolus, Dorus, and Xunthus. From his
two sons, Aeolus and Dorus, the Aeolians and Dorians claimed descent; and from
the two sons of Xanthus (Achaeus and Ion) tradition derives the Achaeans and Ionians.
Hellen is described as reigning over Phthia in Thessaly.
Primogenitor of the Aeolians, son of Hellen and nymph Orseis and grandson of Deucalion. His wife was Enarete, who gave him seven sons, among them Sisyphus and Cretheus, and five daughters (Il. 6.154, Od. 11.237).
Aeolus (Aiolos). In the mythical history of Greece there are three personages
of this name, who are spoken of by ancient writers as connected with one another,
but this connexion is so confused, that it is impossible to gain a clear view
of them. We shall follow Diodorus, who distinguishes between the three, although
in other passages he confounds them.
1. A son of Hellen and the nymph Orseis, and a brother of Dorus and Xuthus. He
is described as the ruler of Thessaly, and regarded as the founder of the Aeolic
branch of the Greek nation. He married Enarete, the daughter of Deimachus, by
whom he had seven sons and five daughters, and according to some writers still
more (Apollod. i. 7. § 3; Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. iv. 190). According to Muller's
supposition, the most ancient and genuine story knew only of four sons of Aeolus,
viz. Sisyphus, Athamas, Cretheus, and Salmoneus, as the representatives of the
four main branches of the Aeolic race. The great extent of country which this
race occupied, and the desire of each part of it to trace its origin to some descendant
of Aeolus, probably gave rise to the varying accounts about the number of his
children. According to Hyginus (Fab. 238, 242) Aeolus had one son of the name
of Macarus, who, after having committed incest with his sister Canace, put an
end to his own life. According to Ovid (Heroid. 11) Aeolus threw the fruit of
this love to the dogs, and sent his daughter a sword by which she was to kill
herself (Comp. Plut. Parallel.).
2. Diodorus (iv. 67) says, that the second Aeolus was the great-grandson of the
first Aeolus, being the son of Hippotes and Melanippe, and the grandson of Mimas
the son of Aeolus. Arne, the daughter of this second Aeolus, afterwards became
mother of a third Aeolus (Comp. Paus. ix. 40.3). In another passage (v. 7) Diodorus
represents the third Aeolus as a son of Hippotes.
3. According to some accounts a son of Hippotes, or, according to others, of Poseidon
and Arne, the daughter of the second Aeolus. His story, which probably refers
to thus emigration of a branch of the Aeolians to the west, is thus related: Arne
declared to her father that she was with child by Poseidon, but her father disbelieving
her statement, gave her to a stranger of Metaponttum in Italy, who took her to
his native town. Here she became mother of two sons, Boeotus and Aeolus, who were
adopted by the man of Metapontum in accordance with an oracle. When they had grown
up to manhood, they took possession of the sovereignty of Metapontum by force.
But when a dispute afterwards arose between their mother Arne and their foster-mother
Autolyte, the two brothers slew the latter and fled with their mother front Metapontum.
Aeolus went to some islands in the Tyrrhenian sea, which received from him the
name of the Aeolian islands,
and according to some accounts built the town of Lipara (Diod. iv. 67. v. 7).
Here he reigned as a just and pious king, behaved kindly to the natives, and taught
them the use of sails in navigation, and foretold them from signs which he observed
in the fire the nature of the winds that were to rise. Hence, says Diodorus, Aeolus
is described in mythology as the ruler over the winds, and it was this Aeolus
to whom Odysseus came during his wanderings. A different account of the matter
is given by Hyginus (Fab. 186).
In these accounts Aeolus, the father of the Aeolian race, is placed
in relationship with Aeolus the ruler and god of the winds. The groundwork on
which this connexion has been formed by later poets and mythographers, is found
in Homer (Od. x. 2, &c.). In Homer, however, Aeolus, the son of Hippotes, is neither
the god nor the father of the winds, but merely the happy ruler of the Aeolian
island, whom Cronion had made the tamies of the winds, which he might soothe or
excite according to his pleasure (Od. x. 21, &c.). This statement of Homer and
the etymology of the name of Aeolus from aello were the cause, that in later times
Aeolus was regarded as the god and king of the winds, which he kept enclosed in
a mountain. It is therefore to him that Juno applies when she wishes to destroy
the fleet of the Trojans (Virg. Aen. i. 78). The Aeolian island of Homer was in
the time of Pausanias believed to be Lipara (Paus. x. 11.3), and this or Strongyle
was accordingly regarded in later times as the place in which the god of the winds
dwelled (Virg. Aen. viii. 416, i. 52; Strab. vi). Other accounts place the residence
of Aeolus in Thrace (Apollon. Rhod. i. 954, iv. 765; Callim. Hymm. in Del. 26),
or in the neighbourhood of Rhegium in Italy (Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 732; comp. Diod.
v. 8). The following passages of later poets also shew how universally Aeolus
had gradually come to be regarded as a god: Ov. Met. i. 264, xi. 748 xiv. 223;
Val. Flacc. i. 575; Quint. Smyrn. xiv. 475. Whether he was represented by the
ancients in works of art is not certain, but we now possess no representation
of him
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Aeolides (Aiolides), a patronymic given to the sons of Acolus, as Athamas (Ov. Met. iv. 511), Magnes (Paus. vi. 21.7), Macareus (Ov. Met. ix. 506). Misenus (Virg. Aen. vi. 164), [p. 35] Sisyphus (Ov. Met. xiii. 26; Hom. Il. vi. 154), Cretheus (Hom. Od. xi. 237), locastus (Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 732); and to his grandsons, as Cephalus (Ov. Met. vi. 621), Odysseus (Virg. Aen. vi. 529), and Phryxus. (Val. Flacc. i. 286.) Acolis is the patronymic of the female descendants of Aeolus, and is given to his daughters Canace and Alcyone. (Ov. Met. xi. 573; Heroid. xi. 5.)
ALALKOMENES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
"Alalcomenean" is a surname of the goddess Athena and derives from the infinitive "alalcein", which means "to have the defensive power", or, according to others, it derives from the Boeotian city of Alalcomenae (Il 4.8, 5.908).
Strabo refers to Alalcomenae and says that it is not listed in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships because there was an ancient and celebrated temple dedicated to Athena (Strab. 9,2,36).
Athena. The goddess of strength and wisdom and daughter of Zeus. In Homer, she is presented as a protector of the cities both during peace time (Il. 9.390, 14.178, Od. 2.116, 6.233, 7.110, 20.72, 23.160) and war time (Il. 1.200, 4.78, 5.333 & 837, 6.88, 21.498 etc.).
According to local mythology the goddess was born in Alalcomenae and was brought up by the hero Alalcomeneus.
Athene or Athena, one of the great divinities of the Greeks. Homer (Il. v. 880)
calls her a daughter of Zeus, without any allusion to her mother or to the manner
in which she was called into existence, while most of the later traditions agree
in stating that she was born from the head of Zeus. According to Hesiod (Theog.
886, &c.), Metis, the first wife of Zeus, was the mother of Athena, but when Metis
was pregnant with her, Zeus, on the advice of Gaea and Uranus, swallowed Metis
up, and afterwards gave birth himself to Athena, who sprang from his head. (Hesiod,
l. c. 924.) Pindar Ol. vii. 35, &c.) adds, that Hephaestus split the head of Zeus
with his axe, and that Athena sprang forth with a mighty war-shout. Others relate,
that Prometheus or Hermes or Palamaon assisted Zeus in giving birth to Athena,
and mentioned the river Triton as the place where the event took place. (Apollod.
i. 4. Β§ 6; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. vii. 66.) Other traditions again relate, that
Athena sprang from the head of Zeus in frill armour, a statement for which Stesichorus
is said to have been the most ancient authority. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 355; Philostr.
Icon. ii. 27; Schol. ad Apollon. iv. 1310.) All these traditions, however, agree
in making Athena a daughter of Zeus; but a second set regard her as the daughter
of Pallas, the winged giant, whom she afterwards killed on account of his attempting
to violate her chastity, whose skin [p. 398] she used as her aegis, and whose
wings she fastened to her own feet. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. l. c.; Cic. de Nat. Deor.
iii. 23.) A third tradition carries us to Libya, and calls Athena a daughter of
Poseidon and Tritonis. Athena, says Herodotus (iv. 180), on one occasion became
angry with her father and went to Zeus, who made her his own daughter. This passage
shews more clearly than any other the manner in which genuine and ancient Hellenic
myths were transplanted to Libya, where they were afterwards regarded as the sources
of Hellenic ones. Respecting this Libyan Athena, it is farther related, that she
was educated by the rivergod Triton, together with his own daughter Pallas. (Apollod.
iii. 12. Β§ 3.) In Libya she was also said to have invented the flute; for when
Perseus had cut off the head of Medusa, and Stheno and Euryale, the sisters of
Medusa, lamented her death, while plaintive sounds issued from the mouths of the
serpents which surrounded their heads, Athena is said to have imitated these sounds
on a reed. (Pind. Pyth. xii. 19, &c.; compare the other accounts in Hygin. Fab.
165; Apollod. i. 4. Β§ 2 ; Paus. i. 24. Β§ 1.) The connexion of Athena with Triton
and Tritonis caused afterwards the various traditions about her birth-place, so
that wherever there was a river or a well of that name, as in Crete, Thessaly,
Boeotia, Arcadia, and Egypt, the inhabitants of those districts asserted that
Athena was born there. It is from such birth-places on a river Triton that she
seems to have been called Tritonis or Tritogeneia (Paus. ix. 33. Β§ 5), though
it should be observed that this surname is also explained in other ways; for some
derive it from an ancient Cretan, Aeolic, or Boeotian word, trito, signifying
" head," so that it would mean " the goddess born from the head," and others think
that it was intended to commemorate the circumstance of her being born on the
third day of the month. (Tztez. ad Lycoph. 519.) The connexion of Athena with
Triton naturally suggests, that we have to look for the most ancient seat of her
worship in Greece to the banks of the river Triton in Boeotia, which emptied itself
into lake Copais, and on which there were two ancient Pelasgian towns, Athenae
and Eleusis, which were according to tradition swallowed up by the lake. From
thence her worship was carried by the Minyans into Attica, Libya, and other countries.
(MΓΌller, Orchom. p. 355.) We must lastly notice one tradition, which made Athena
a daughter of Itonius and sister of Iodama, who was killed by Athena (Paus. ix.
34. Β§ 1; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 355), and another according to which she was the daughter
of Hephaestus.
These various traditions about Athena arose, as in most other cases,
from local legends and from identifications of the Greek Athena with other divinities.
The common notion which the Greeks entertained about her, and which was most widely
spread in the ancient world, is, that she was the daughter of Zeus, and if we
take Metis to have been her mother, we have at once the clue to the character
which she bears in the religion of Greece ; for, as her father was the most powerful
and her mother the wisest among the gods, so Athena was a combination of the two,
that is, a goddess in whom power and wisdom were harmoniously blended. From this
fundamental idea may be derived the various aspects under which she appears in
the ancient writers. She seems to have been a divinity of a purely ethical character,
and not the representative of any particular physical power manifested in nature;
her power and wisdom appear in her being the protectress and preserver of the
state and of social institutions. Everything, therefore, which gives to the state
strength and prosperity, such as agriculture, inventions, and industry, as well
as everything which preserves and protects it from injurious influence from without,
such as the defence of the walls, fortresses, and harbours, is under her immediate
care.
As the protectress of agriculture, Athena is represented as the inventor
of the plough and rake: she created the olive tree, the greatest blessing of Attica,
taught the people to yoke oxen to the plough, took care of the breeding of horses,
and instructed men how to tame them by the bridle, her own invention. Allusions
to this feature of her character are contained in the epithets boudeia, boarmia,
alripha, hippia, or chalinitis. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1076; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 520;
Hesych. s. v. Hippia; Serv. ad Aen. iv. 402; Pind. Ol. xiii. 79.) At the beginning
of spring thanks were offered to her in advance (procharisteria, Suid. s. v.)
for the protection she was to afford to the fields. Besides the inventions relating
to agriculture, others also connected with various kinds of science, industry,
and art, are ascribed to her, and all her inventions are not of the kind which
men make by chance or accident, but such as require thought and meditation. We
may notice the invention of numbers (Liv. vii. 3), of the trumpet (ad Pind. p.
344), the chariot, and navigation. In regard to all kinds of useful arts, she
was believed to have made men acquainted with the means and instruments which
are necessary for practising them, such as the art of producing fire. She was
further believed to have invented nearly every kind of work in which women were
employed, and she herself was skilled in such work : in short Athena and Hephaestus
were the great patrons both of the useful and elegant arts. Hence she is called
ergane (Paus. i. 24. Β§ 3), and later writers make her the goddess of all widom,
knowledge, and art, and represent her as sitting on the right hand side of her
father Zeus, and supporting him with her counsel. (Hom. Od. xxiii 160, xviii.
190; Hymn. in Ven. 4, 7, &c.; Plut. Cim. 10; Ovid, Fast. iii. 833; Orph. Hymn.
xxxi. 8; Spanh. ad Callim. p. 643; Horat. Carm. i. 12. 19; comp. Dict. of Ant.
under Athenaia and Chalkeia.) As the goddess who made so many inventions necessary
and useful in civilized life, she is characterized by various epithets and surnames,
expressing the keenness of her sight or the power of her intellect, such as optiletis,
ophthalmitis, oxuderkes, glaukopis, poluboulos, polumetis, and mechanitis.
As the patron divinity of the state, she was at Athens the protectress
of the phratries and houses which formed the basis of the state. The festival
of the Apaturia had a direct reference to this particular point in the character
of the goddess. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Apaturia.) She also maintained the authority
of the law, and justice, and order, in the courts and the assembly of the people.
This notion was as ancient as the Homeric poems, in which she is described as
assisting Odysseus against the lawless conduct of the suitors. (Od. xiii. 394.)
She was believed to have instituted the ancient court of the Areiopagus, and in
cases where the votes of [p. 399] the judges were equally diviled, she gave the
casting one in favour of the accused. (Aeschyl. Eum. 753; comp. Paus. i. 28. Β§
5.) The epithets which have reference to this part of the goddess's character
are axiopoinos, the avenger (Paus. iii. 15. Β§ 4), Boulaia, and aguraia. (iii.
11. Β§ 8.)
As Athena promoted the internal prosperity of the state, by encouraging
agriculture and industry, and by maintaining law and order in all public transactions,
so also she protected the state from outward enemies, and thus assumes the character
of a warlike divinity, though in a very different sense from Ares, Eris, or Enyo.
According to Homer (Il. v. 736, &c.), she does not even bear arms, but borrows
them from Zeus; she keeps men from slaughter when prudence demands it (Il. i.
199, &c.), and repels Ares's savage love of war, and conquers him. (v. 840, &c.,
xxi. 406.) She does not love war for its own sake, but simply on account of the
advantages which the state gains in engaging in it; and she therefore supports
only such warlike undertakings as are begun with prudence, and are likely to be
followed by favourable results. (x. 244, &c.) The epithets which she derives from
her warlike character are ageleia, laphria, alkimache, laossoos, and others. In
times of war, towns, fortresses, and harbours are under her especial care, whence
she is designated as erusiptolis, alalkomeneis, polias, poliouchos, akraia, akria,
kledouchos, pulaitis, promachorma, and the like. As the prudent goddess of war,
she is also the protectress of all heroes who are distinguished for prudence and
good counsel, as well as for their strength and valour, such as Heracles, Perseus,
Bellerophontes, Achilles, Diomedes, and Odysseus. In the war of Zeus against the
giants, she assisted her father and Heracles with her counsel, and also took an
active part in it, for she buried Enceladus under the island of Sicily, and slew
Pallas. (Apollod. i. 6. Β§ 1, &c.; comp. Spanheim, ad Callim. p. 643; Horat. Carm.
i. 12. 19.) In the Trojan war she sided with the more civilised Greeks, though
on their return home she visited them with storms, on account of the manner in
which the Locrian Ajax had treated Cassandra in her temple. As a goddess of war
and the protectress of heroes, Athena usually appears in armour, with the aegis
and a golden staff, with which she bestows on her favourites youth and majesty.
(Hom. Od. xvi. 172.)
The character of Athena, as we have here traced it, holds a middle
place between the male and female, whence she is called in an Orphic hymn (xxxi.
10) arsen kai thelus, and hence also she is a virgin divinity (Hom. Hymn. ix.
3), whose heart is inaccessible to the passion of love, and who shuns matrimonial
connexion. Teircsias was deprived of his sight for having seen her in the bath
(Callim. Hymn. pp. 546,589), and Hephaestus, who made an attempt upon her chastity,
was obliged to flee. (Apollod. iii. 6. Β§ 7, 14. Β§ 6; Hom. Il. ii. 547, &c.;
comp. Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 111.) For this reason, the ancient traditions always
describe the goddess as dressed; and when Ovid (Heroid. v. 36) makes her appear
naked before Paris, he abandons the genuine old story. lier statue also was always
dressed, and when it was carried about at the Attic festivals, it was entirely
covered. But, notwithstanding the common opinion of her virgin character, there
are some traditions of late origin which describe her as a mother. Thus, Apollo
is called a son of Hephaestus and Athena--a legend which may have arisen at the
time when the Ionians introduced the worship of Apollo into Attica, and when this
new divinity was placed in some family connexion with the ancient goddess of the
country. (MΓΌller, Dor. ii. 2. Β§ 13.) Lychnus also is called a son of Hephaestus
and Athena. (Spanheim, ad Callim. p. 644.)
Athena was worshipped in all parts of Greece, and from the ancient
towns on the lake Copais her worship was nitroduced at a very early period into
Attica, where she became the great national divinity of the city and the country.
Here she was afterwards regarded as the thea soteira, ugieia, and paionia, and
the serpent, the symbol of perpetual renovation, was sacred to her. (Paus. i.
23. Β§ 5, 31. Β§ 3, 2. Β§ 4.) At Lindus in Rhodes her worship was likewise very
ancient. Respecting its introduction into Italy, and the modifications which her
character underwent there, see MINERVA. Among the things sacred to her we may
mention the owl, serpent, cock, and olive-tree, which she was said to have created
in her contest with Poseidon about the possession of Attica. (Plut. de Is. et
Os.; Paus. vi. 26. Β§ 2, i. 24. Β§ 3; Hygin. Fab. 164.) At Corone in Messenia
her statue bore a crow in its hand. (Paus. iv. 34. Β§ 3.) The sacrifices offered
to her consisted of bulls, whence she probably derived the surname of taurobolos
(Suid. s. v.), rams, and cows. (Horn. Il. ii. 550; Ov. Met. iv. 754.) Eustathius
(ad Hom. l. c.) remarks, that only female animals were sacrificed to her, but
no female lambs. In Ilion, Locrian maidens or children are said to have been sacrificed
to her every year as an atonement for the crime committed by the Locrian Ajax
upon Cassandra; and Suidas (s. v. poine) states, that these human sacrifices continued
to be offered to her down to B. C. 346. Respecting the great festivals of Athena
at Athens, see Dict. of Ant. s. vv. Panathenaea and Arrhephoria.
Athena was frequently represented in works of art; but those in which
her figure reached the highest ideal of perfection were the three statues by Pheidias.
The first was the celebrated colossal statue of the goddess, of gold and ivory,
which was erected on the acropolis of Athens; the second was a still greater bronze
statue, made out of the spoils taken by the Athenians in the battle of Marathon;
the third was a small bronze statue called the beautiful or the Lemnian Athena,
because it had been dedicated at Athens by the Lemnians. The first of these statues
represented the goddess in a standing position, bearing in her hand a Nike four
cubits in height. The shield stood by her feet; her robe came down to her feet,
on her breast was the head of Medusa, in her right hand she bore a lance, and
at her feet there lay a serpent. (Paus. i. 24. Β§ 7, 28. Β§ 2.) We still possess
a great number of representations of Athena in statues, colossal busts, reliefs,
coins, and in vase-paintings. Among the attributes which characterise the goddess
in these works of art, we mention--1. The helmet, which she usually wears on her
head, but in a few instances carries in her hand. It is usually ornamented in
the most beautiful manner with griffins, heads of rams, horses, and sphinxes.
(Comp. Horn. Il. v. 743.) 2. The aegis. (Dict. of Ant. s. v. Aegis.) 3. The round
Argolic shield. in the centre of which is represented the head of Medusa. 4. Objects
sacred to her, such as an olive branch, a serpent, an owl, a cock, and a lance.
Her garment is usually the Spartan tunic without sleeves, and over it [p. 400]
she wears a cloak, the peplus, or, though rarely, the chlamys. The general expression
of her figure is thoughtfulness and earnestness; her face is rather oval than
round, the hair is rich and generally combed backwards over the temples, and floats
freely down behind. The whole figure is majestic, and rather strong built than
slender: the hips are small and the shoulders broad, so that the whole somewhat
resembles a male figure. (Hirt. Mythol. Bilderb. i. p. 46, &c.; Welcker, Zeitschrift
fΓΌr Gesch. der alten Kunst, p. 256, &c.)
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(Athene) or Pallas Athene: A Greek goddess, identified with
the Roman Minerva. According to the story most generally current, she was the
daughter of Zeus, who had swallowed his first wife, Metis (Counsel), the daughter
of Oceanus, in the fear that she would bring forth a son stronger than himself.
Hephaestus (or, according to another version, Prometheus) clave open the head
of Zeus with an axe, on which Athene sprang forth in full armour, the goddess
of eternal virginity. But her ancient epithet Tritogeneia (born of Triton, or
the roaring flood) points to water--that is, to Oceanus --as the source of her
being. Oceanus was, according to Homer, the origin of all things and of all deities.
The worship of Athene and the story of her birth were accordingly connected with
many brooks and lakes in various regions--especially in Boeotia, Thessalia, and
Libya--to which the name Triton was attached.
From the first, Athene took a very prominent place in the Greek
popular religion. The Homeric hymns represent her as the favourite of her father,
who refuses her nothing. When solemn oaths were to be taken, they joined her name
with those of Zeus and Apollo, in a way which shows that the three deities represent
the embodiment of all divine authority. With the exception of the two gods just
mentioned, there is no other deity whose original character as a power of nature
underwent so remarkable an ethical development. Both conceptions of Athene, the
natural and the ethical, were intimately connected in the religion of Attica,
whose capital, Athens, was named after Athene and was the most important seat
of her worship. Athene was originally the maiden daughter of the god of heaven;
the clear transparent aether, whose purity is always breaking forth in unveiled
brilliancy through the clouds that surround it. As a deity of the sky, she, with
Zeus, is the mistress of thunder and lightning. Like Zeus, she carries the aegis
with the Gorgon's head, the symbol of the tempest and its terrors. In many statues,
accordingly, she is represented as hurling the thunder-bolt. But she also sends
down from sky to earth light and warmth and fruitful dew, and with them prosperity
to fields and plants. A whole series of fables and usages, belonging especially
to the Athenian religion, represent her as the helper and protector of agriculture.
The two deities Erechtheus and Erichthonius, honoured in Attica as powers of the
fruitful soil, are her fosterchildren. She was worshipped with Erechtheus in the
temple named after him the Erechtheum, the oldest sanctuary on the Athenian Acropolis.
The names of her earliest priestesses, the daughters of Cecrops--Aglaurus, Pandrosus,
and Herse--signify the bright air, the dew, and the rain, and are mere personifications
of their qualities, of such value to the Athenian territory.
The sowing season was opened in Attica by three sacred services
of ploughing. Of these, two were in honour of Athene as inventress of the plough,
while the third took place in honour of Demeter. It was Athene, also, who had
taught men how to attach oxen to the yoke; above all, she had given them the olive-tree,
the treasure of Attica. This tree she had made to grow out of the rock of the
citadel, when disputing the possession of the land with Poseidon. Several festivals,
having reference to these functions of the goddess, were celebrated in Attica--the
Callynteria and Plynteria, the Scirophoria, the Arrhephoria or Hersephoria, and
the Oschophoria, which were common to Athene with Dionysus. Even her chief feast,
the Panathenaea, was originally a harvest festival. It is significant that the
presentation of the peplos or mantle, the chief offering at the celebration, took
place in the sowing season. But afterwards more was made of the intellectual gifts
bestowed by the goddess.
Athene was very generally regarded as the goddess of war--an
idea which in ancient times was the prevailing one. It was connected with the
fact that, like her father, Zeus, she was supposed to be able to send storms and
bad weather. In this capacity she appears in story as the true friend of all bold
warriors, such as Perseus, Bellerophon, Iason, Heracles, Diomedes, and Odysseus.
But her courage is a wise courage, not a blind rashness like that of Ares; and
she is always represented, accordingly, as getting the better of him. In this
connection she was honoured in Athenian worship mainly as a protector and defender;
thus (to take a striking example), she was worshipped on the citadel of Athens
under the name of Promachos, "champion," "protector." But
she was also a goddess of victory. As the personification of victory (Athene Nike)
she had a second and especial temple on the Athenian Acropolis. And the great
statues in the temples represented her, like Zeus, with Nike in her outstretched
hand. The occupations of peace, however, formed the main sphere of her activity.
Like all the other deities who were supposed to dispense the blessings of nature,
she is the protectress of growing children; and, as the goddess of the clear sky
and of pure air, she bestows health and keeps off sickness. Further, she is (with
Zeus) the patroness of the Athenian phratriai or unions of kinsfolk. At Athens
and Sparta she protects the popular and deliberative assemblies; in many places,
and especially at Athens, the whole State is under her care (Athene Polias, Poliuchus).
Elsewhere she presides over the larger unions of kindred peoples. The festival
of Athene Itonia at Coronea was a confederate festival of all Boeotia. Under the
title of Panachais she was worshipped as the goddess of the Achaean League.
Speaking broadly, Athene represents human wit and cleverness,
and presides over the whole moral and intellectual side of human life. From her
are derived all the productions of wisdom and understanding, every art and science,
whether of war or of peace. A number of discoveries, of the most various kinds,
is ascribed to her. It has been already mentioned that she was credited with the
invention of the plough and the yoke. She was often associated with Poseidon as
the inventress of horse-taming and ship-building. In the Athenian story she teaches
Erichthonius to fasten his horses to the chariot. In the Corinthian story she
teaches Bellerophon to subdue Pegasus. At Lindus in Rhodes she was worshipped
as the goddess who helped Danaus to build the first fifty-oared ship. In the fable
of the Argonauts it is she who instructs the builders of the first ship, the Argo.
Even in Homer all the productions of women's art, as of spinning and weaving,
are characterized as "works of Athene." Many a Palladion, or statue
of Pallas, bore a spindle and distaff in its left hand. As the mistress and protectress
of arts and handiwork, she was worshipped at the Chalkeia, or Feast of Smiths,
under the title of Ergane. Under this name, too, she is mentioned in several inscriptions
found on the Acropolis. Her genius covers the field of music and dancing. She
is inventor of the flute and the trumpet, as well as of the Pyrrhic war-dance,
in which she was said to have been the earliest performer, at the celebration
of the victory of the Gods over the Giants.
It was Phidias who finally fixed the typical representation of Athene in works
of art. Among his numerous statues of her, three --the most celebrated --were
set up on the Acropolis of Athens. These were:
(1) The colossal statue of Athene Parthenos, wrought in ivory and gold, thirty
feet in height (with the pedestal), and standing in the Parthenon. The goddess
was represented wearing a long robe falling down to the feet, and on her breast
was the aegis with the Gorgon's head. A helmet was on her head; in one hand she
bore a Victory, six feet in height, in the other a lance, which leaned against
a shield adorned with scenes from the battles of the Amazons with the Giants.
(2) The bronze statue of Athene Promachos, erected from the proceeds of the spoils
taken at Marathon, and standing between the Propylaea and the Erechtheum. The
proportions of this statue were so gigantic that the gleaming point of the lance
and the crest of the helmet were visible to seamen on approaching the Piraeus
from Sunium.
(3) The Lemnian Pallas, so named because it had been dedicated by the Athenian
colonists in Lemnos. The attractions of this statue won for it the name of "the
Beautiful." Like the second, it was of bronze; being a representation of
Athene as the goddess of peace, it was without a helmet.
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Ergane or Ergatis, that is, the worker, a surname of Athena, who was believed to preside over and instruct man in all kinds of arts. (Paus. v. 14.5, i. 24.3; Plut. de Fort.; Hesych.)
Alalkomeneis, a surname of Athena, derived from the hero Alalcomenes, or from the Boeotian village of Alalcomenae, where she was believed to have been born. Others derive the name from the verb alalkein, so that it would signify the " powerful defender." (Hom. Il. iv. 8; Steph. Byz. s. v. Alalkomenion)
Trito or Tritogeneia and Tritogenes, a surname of Athena (Hom. Il. iv. 515, Od. iii. 378; Hes. Theoy. 924), which is explained in different ways. Some derive it from lake Tritonis in Libya, near which she is said to have been born (Eurip. Ion. 872 ; Apollod. i. 3. § 6; comp. Herod. iv. 150, 179); others from the stream Triton near Alalcomenae in Boeotia, where she was worshipped, and where according to some statements she was also born (Paus. ix. 33. § 4; comp. Horn. Il. iv. 8); the grammarians, lastly, derive the name from trito which, in the dialect of the Athamanians, is said to signify " head," so that it would be the goddess born out of the head of her father. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1310; comp. Horn. Hymn. 28. 4 ; Hes. Theog. 924.)
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With this lake (Tritonis) is connected the question of the epithet Tritogeneia, applied to Pallas as early as the days of Homer and Hesiod. But though the Libyan river and lake were much renowned in ancient times (cf. Aeschyl. Eum. 293; Eurip. Ion, 872, seq.; Pind. Pyth. iv.. 36, &c.), and the application of the name of Pallas to the lake connected with the Tritonis seems to point to these African waters as having given origin to the epithet, it is nevertheless most probable that the brook Triton near Alalcomenae in Boeotia has the best pretensions to that distinction. (Cf. Pausan. ix. 33. § 5; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 109,. iv. 1315; Muller, Orchomenos, p. 355; Leake, Northern Greece vol. ii. p. 136, seq.; Kruse, Hellas, vol. ii. pt. 1
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Trito) or Tritogenia (Tritogeneia). A surname of Athene, derived by some from Lake Tritonis in Libya, by others from the stream Triton near Alalcomenae in Boeotia; and by the grammarians from trito, which, in the dialect of the Athamanians, is said to signify "head" (cf. Il.v. 875; Apollod.i.3.6)
Ageleia or Ageleis, a surname of Athena, by which she is designated as the leader or protectress of the people. (Hom. Il. iv. 128, v. 765, vi. 269, xv. 213, Od. iii. 378, &c)
ASSOPOS (River) VIOTIA
A river-god, son of Oceanus and Tethys, father of Antiope (Od. 11.260). According to Pausanias, he was the king of Boetia (Paus. 9,1,2).
Perseus Project
EGES (Ancient city) EVIA
Son of Cronus and Rhea. Homer locates "his glorius palace" at Aegae (Od. 5.380), "Aegae, where was his famous palace builded in the depths of the mere, golden and gleaming, imperishable for ever" (Il. 13.20)
Poseidon, the god of the Mediterranean sea. His name seems to be connected
with potos, pontos and potamos, according to which he is the god of the fluid
element. He was a son of Cronos and Rhea (whence he is called Kronios and by Latin
poets Saturnius, Pind. Ol. vi. 48; Virg. Aen. v. 799). He was accordingly a brother
of Zeus, Hades, Hera, Hestia and Demeter, and it was determined by lot that he
should rule over the sea. (Hom. Il. xiv. 156, xv. 187, Hes. Theog, 456). Like
his brothers and sisters, he was, after his birth, swallowed by his father Cronos,
but thrown up again. (Apollod. i. 1) According to others, he was concealed by
Rhea, after his birth, among a flock of lambs, and his mother pretended to have
given birth to a young horse, which she gave to Cronos to devour. A well in the
neighbourhood of Mantineia, where this is said to have happened, was believed,
from this circumstance, to have derived the name of the "Lamb's Well," or Arne
(Paus. viii. 8). According to Tzetzes (ad Lycoph. 644) the nurse of Poseidon bore
the name of Arne; when Cronos searched after his son, Arne is said to have declared
that she knew not where he was, and from her the town of Arne was believed to
have received its name. According to others, again, he was brought up by the Telchines
at the request of Rhea. (Diod. v. 55). In the earliest poems, Poseidon is described
as indeed equal to Zeus in dignity, but weaker. (Hom. Il. viii. 210, xv. 165,
186, 209; comp. xiii. 355, Od. xiii. 148). Hence we find him angry when Zeus,
by haughty words, attempts to intimidate him; nay, he even threatens his mightier
brother, and once he conspired with Hera and Athena to put him into chains (Hom.
Il. xv. 176, &c., 212, comp. i. 400.); but, on the other hand, we also find him
yielding and submissive to Zeus (viii. 440). The palace of Poseidon was
in the depth of the sea near Aegae in Euboea (xiii. 21; Od. v. 381),
where he kept his horses with brazen hoofs and golden manes. With these horses
he rides in a chariot over the waves of the sea, which become smooth as he appreaches,
and the monsters of the deep recognise him and play around his chariot. (Il. xiii.
27, comp. Virg. Aen. v. 817, &c., i. 147; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1240, &c). Generally
he himself put his horses to his chariot, but sometimes he was assisted by Amphitrite.
(Apollon. Rhod. i. 1158, iv. 1325; Eurip. Androm. 1011; Virg. Aen. v. 817). But
although he generally dwelt in the sea, still he also appears in Olympus in the
assembly of the gods. (Hom. II. viii. 440, xiii. 44, 352, xv. 161, 190, xx. 13).
Poseidon in conjunction with Apollo is said to have built the walls of Troy for
Laomedon (vii. 452; Eurip. Androm. 1014), whence Troy is called Neptunia Pergama
(Neptunus and Poseidon being identified, Ov. Fast. i. 525, Heroid. iii. 151; comp.
Virg. Aen. vi. 810). Accordingly, although he was otherwise well disposed towards
the Greeks, yet he was jealous of the wall which the Greeks built around their
own ships, and he lamented the inglorious manner in which the walls erected by
himself fell by the hands of the Greeks (Hom. Il. xii. 17, 28). When Poseidon
and Apollo had built the walls of Troy, Laomedon refused to give them the reward
which had been stipulated, and even dismissed them with threats (xxi. 443); but
Poseidon sent a marine monster, which was on the point of devouring Laomedon's
daughter, when it was killed by Heracles. ii. 5 Β§ 9.) For this reason Poseidon
like Hera bore an implacable hatred against the Trojans, from which not even Aeneas
was excepted (Hom. Il. xx. 293, &c.; comp. Virg. Aen. v. 810; Il. xxi. 459, xxiv.
26, xx. 312, &c.), and took an active part in the war against Troy, in which he
sided with the Greeks, sometimes witnessing the contest as a spectator from the
heights of Thrace, and sometimes interfering in person, assuming the appearance
of a mortal hero and encouraging the Greeks, while Zeus favoured the Trojans.
(Il. xiii. 12, &c., 44, &c., 209, 351, 357, 677, xiv. 136, 510). When Zeus permitted
the gods to assist whichever party they pleased, Poseidon joining the Greeks,
took part in the war, and caused the earth to tremble; he was opposed by Apollo,
who, however, did not like to fight against his uncle. (Il. xx. 23, 34, 57, 67,
xxi. 436, &c). In the Odyssey, Poseidon appears hostile to Odysseus, whom he prevents
from returning home in consequence of his having blinded Polyphemus, a son of
Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa. (Hom. Od. i. 20, 68, v. 286, &c., 366, &c., 423,
xi. 101, &e., xiii. 125; Ov. Trist. i. 2. 9).
Being the ruler of the sea (the Mediterranean), he is described as gathering clouds
and calling forth storms, but at the same he has it in his power to grant a successful
voyage and save those who are in danger, and all other marine divinities are subject
to him. As the sea surrounds and holds the earth, he himself is described as the
god who holds the earth (gaieochos), and who has it in his power to shake the
earth (enosichthon, kineter gas). He was further regarded as the creator of the
horse, and was accordingly believed to have taught men the art of managing horses
by the bridle, and to have been the originator and protector of horse races. (Hom.
Il. xxiii. 307, 584; Pind. Pyth. vi.50 ; Soph. Oed. Col. 712, &c). Hence he was
also represented on horseback, or riding in a chariot drawn by two or four horses,
and is designated by the epithets hippios, hippeios, or hippios anax (Paus. i.
30. Β§ 4, viii. 25. Β§ 5, vi. 20. Β§ 8, viii. 37. Β§ 7 ; Eurip. Phoen. 1707; comp.
Liv. i. 9, where he is called equester). In consequence of his connection with
the horse, he was regarded as the friend of charioteers (Pind. Ol. i. 63, Tzetz.
ad Lyc. 156), and he even metamorphosed himself into a horse, for the purpose
of deceiving Demeter. The common tradition about Poseidon creating the horse is
as follows : -- when Poseidon and Athena disputed as to which of them should give
the name to the capital of Attica, the gods decided, that it should receive its
name from him who should bestow upon man the most useful gift. Poseidon their
created the horse, and Athena called forth the olive tree, for which the honour
was conferred upon her. (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 12). According to others, however,
Poseidon did not create the horse in Attica, but in Thessaly, where he also gave
the famous horses to Peleus (Lucan, PPhars. vi. 396, &c.; Hom. Il. xxiii. 277;
Apollod. iii. 13. Β§ 5).
The symbol of Poseidon's power was the trident, or a spear with three
points, with which he used to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue storms, to
shake the earth, and the like. Herodotus (ii. 50, iv. 188) states, that the name
and worship of Poseidon was imported to the Greeks from Libya, but he was probably
a divinity of Pelasgian origin, and originally a personification of the fertilising
power of water, from which the transition to regarding him as the god of the sea
was not difficult. It is a remarkable circumstance that in the legends about this
divinity there are many in which he is said to have disputed the possession of
certain countries with other gods. Thus, in order to take possession of Attica,
he thrust his trident into the ground on the acropolis, where a well of sea-water
was thereby called forth; but Athena created the olive tree, and the two divinities
disputed, until the gods assigned Attica to Athena. Poseidon, indignant at this,
caused the country to be inundated (Herod. viii. 55; Apollod. iii. 14. Β§ 1 ;
Paus. i. 24. Β§ 3, Hygin. Fab. 164). With Athena he also disputed the possession
of Troezene, and at the command of Zeus he shared the place with her (Paus. ii.
30. Β§ 6 ). With Helios he disputed the sovereignty of Corinth, which along with
the isthmus was adjudged to him, while Helios received the acropolis. (ii. 1.
Β§ 6). With Hera he disputed the possession of Argolis, which was adjudged to
the former by Inachus, Cephissus, and Asterion, in consequence of which Poseidon
caused the rivers of these river-gods to be dried up (ii. 15. Β§ 5, 22. Β§ 5;
Apollod. ii. 1. Β§ 4). With Zeus, lastly, he disputed the possession of Aegina,
and with Dionysus that of Naxos (Plut. Sympos. ix. 6..) At one time Delphi belonged
to him in common with Gea, but Apollo gave him Calauria as a compensation for
it (Paus. ii. 33. Β§ 2, x. 5. Β§ 3; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1243, with the Schol).
The following legends also deserve to be mentioned. In conjunction with Zeus he
fought against Cronos and the Titans (Apollod. i. 2. Β§ 1), and in the contest
with the Giants he pursued Polybotes across the sea as far as Cos, and there killed
him by throwing the island upon him (Apollod. i. 6. Β§ 2; Paus. i. 2. Β§ 4.) He
further crushed the Centaurs when they were pursued by Heracles, under a mountain
in Leucosia, the island of the Seirens. (Apollod. ii. 5. Β§ 4). He sued together
with Zeus for the hand of Thetis, but he withdrew when Themis prophesied that
the son of Thetis would be greater than his father (Apollod. iii. 13. Β§ 5; Tzetz.
ad Lye. 178). When Ares had been caught in the wonderful net by Hephaestus, the
latter set him free at the request of Poseidon (Hom. Od. viii. 344, &c.), but
Poseidon afterwards brought a charge against Ares before the Areiopagus, for having
killed his son Halirrhothius (Apollod. iii. 14. Β§ 2). At the request of Minos,
king of Crete, Poseidon caused a bull to rise from the sea, which the king promised
to sacri fice; but when Minos treacherously concealed the animal among a herd
of oxen, the god punished Minos by causing his daughter PasiphaΓ« to fall in love
with the bull. (Apollod. iii. Β§ 3 Periclymenus, who was either a son or a grandson
of Poseidon, received from him the power of as-suming various forms (i. 9. Β§
9, iii. 6. Β§ 8).
Poseidon was married to Amphitrite, by whom he had three children,
Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme (Hes. Theog. 930; Apollod. i. 4. Β§ 6, iii. 15.
Β§ 4); but he had besides a vast number of children by other divinities and mortal
women. He is mentioned by a variety of surnames, either in allusion to the many
legends related about him, or to his nature as the god of the sea. His worship
extended over all Greece and southern Italy, but he was more especially revered
in Peloponnesus (which is hence called oiketerion Poseidonos) and in the Ionic
coast towns. The sacrifices offered to him generally consisted of black and white
bulls (Hom. Od. iii. 6, Il. xx. 404; Pind. Ol. xiii. 98; Virg. Aen. v. 237); but
wild boars and rams were also sacrificed to him (Hom. Od. xi. 130, &c., xxiii.
277; Virg. Aen. iii. 119). In Argolis bridled horses were thrown into the well
Deine as a sacrifice to him (Paus. viii. 7. Β§ 2), and horse and chariot races
were held in his honour on the Corinthian isthmus (Pind. Nem. v. 66). The Panionia,
or the festival of all the lonians near Mycale, was celebrated in honour of Poseidon
(Herod. i. 148). In works of art, Poseidon may be easily recognised by his attributes,
the dolphin, the horse, or the trident (Paus. x. 36. Β§ 4), and he was frequently
represented in groups along with Amphitrite, Tritons, Nereids, dolphins, the Dioscuri,
Palaemon, Pegasus, Bellerophontes, Thalassa, Ino, and Galene (Paus. ii. 1. Β§
7). His figure does not present the majestic calm which characterises his brother
Zeus; but as the state of the sea is varying, so also is the god represented sometimes
in violent agitation, and sometimes in a state of repose (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb.
i. p. 26). It must be observed that the Romans identified Poseidon with their
own Neptunus, and that accordingly the attributes belonging to the former are
constantly transferred by the Latin poets to the latter.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Poseidon. The god of the sea and the flowing waters--a name
connected with the root of potos, pontos, and potamos. He was the son of Cronos
and Rhea and dwelt in the sea, over which he ruled. With his brazen-hoofed horses
he was said to ride over the waves, which became smooth as he approached, and
the monsters of the deep recognized him and played around his chariot. Generally
he yoked his horses to his chariot himself, but sometimes he was assisted by Amphitrite.
Although he generally dwelt in the sea, still he also appears at Olympus in the
assembly of the gods. Poseidon, in conjunction with Apollo, is said to have built
the walls of Troy for Laomedon. Laomedon refused to give these gods the reward
which had been stipulated, and even dismissed them with threats. Poseidon, in
consequence, sent a marine monster, which was on the point of devouring Laomedon's
daughter, when it was killed by Heracles; and he continued to bear an implacable
hatred against the Trojans. He sided with the Greeks in the war against Troy,
sometimes witnessing the contest as a spectator from the heights of Thrace, and
sometimes interfering in person, assuming the appearance of a mortal hero and
encouraging the Greeks, while Zeus favoured the Trojans. In the Odyssey, Poseidon
appears hostile to Odysseus, whom he prevents from returning home in consequence
of his having blinded Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa.
Being the ruler of the sea (the Mediterranean), he is described
as gathering clouds and calling forth storms, but at the same time he has it in
his power to grant a successful voyage and save those who are in danger; and all
other marine divinities are subject to him. As the sea surrounds and holds the
earth, he himself is described as the god Poseidon. (Dolce Gem. ) who holds the
earth (gaieochos), and who has it in his power to shake the earth (enosichthon,
kineter gas). He was further regarded as the creator of the horse. It is said
that when Poseidon and Athene disputed as to which of them should give the name
to the capital of Attica, the gods decided that it should receive its name from
the deity who should bestow upon man the most useful gift. Poseidon then created
the horse, and Athene called forth the olive-tree, in consequence of which the
honour was conferred upon the goddess. According to others, however, Poseidon
did not create the horse in Attica, but in Thessaly, where he also gave the famous
horses to Peleus. Poseidon was accordingly believed to have taught men the art
of managing horses by the bridle, and to have been the originator and protector
of horse-races. Hence he was also represented on horseback, or riding in a chariot
drawn by two or four horses, and is designated by the epithets hippios, hippeios,
or hippios anax. He even metamorphosed himself into a horse for the purpose of
deceiving Demeter. The symbol of Poseidon's power was the trident, or a spear
with three points, with which he used to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue
storms, to shake the earth, and the like. Herodotus states that the name and worship
of Poseidon were brought into Greece from Libya; but he was probably a divinity
of Pelasgian origin, and originally a personification of the fertilizing power
of water, from which the transition to regarding him as the god of the sea was
not difficult. The following legends respecting Poseidon deserve to be mentioned.
In conjunction with Zeus he fought against Cronos and the Titans; and in the contest
with the giants he pursued Polybotes across the sea as far as Cos, and there killed
him by throwing the island upon him. He further crushed the Centaurs when they
were pursued by Heracles, under a mountain in Leucosia, the island of the Sirens.
He sued, together with Zeus, for the hand of Thetis; but he withdrew when Themis
prophesied that the son of Thetis would be greater than his father. When Ares
had been caught in the wonderful net by Hephaestus, the latter set him free at
the request of Poseidon; but the latter god afterwards brought a charge against
Ares before the Areopagus for having killed his son Halirrhothius. At the request
of Minos, king of Crete, Poseidon caused a bull to rise from the sea, which the
king promised to sacrifice; but when Minos treacherously concealed the animal
among a herd of oxen, the god punished Minos by causing his wife Pasiphae to fall
in love with the bull.
Poseidon was married to Amphitrite, by whom he had three children,
Triton, Rhode, and Benthesicyme; but he had also a vast number of children by
other divinities and mortal women. His worship extended over all Greece and Southern
Italy, but he was more especially revered in Peloponnesus and in the Ionic towns
on the coast. The sacrifices offered to him generally consisted of black and white
bulls; but wild boars and rams were also sacrificed to him. Horse and chariot
races were held in his honour on the Corinthian Isthmus. The Panionia, or the
festival of all the Ionians near Mycale, was celebrated in honour of Poseidon.
In works of art, Poseidon may be easily recognized by his attributes, the dolphin,
the horse, or the trident, and he was frequently represented in groups along with
Amphitrite, Tritons, Nereids, dolphins. the Dioscuri, Palaemon, Pegasus, Bellerophontes,
Thalassa, Ino, and Galene. His figure does not present the majestic calm which
characterizes his brother Zeus; but as the state of the sea is varying, so also
is the god represented sometimes in violent agitation and sometimes in a state
of repose. For the Roman god corresponding to Poseidon, see Neptunus.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Aegaeus (Aigaios), a surname of Poseidon, derived from the town of Aegae in Euboea, near which he had a magnificent temple upon a hill. (Strab. ix.; Virg. Aen. iii. 74, where Servius erroneously derives the name from the Aegean sea.)
Hippocampe and Hippocampus (Hippokammpe and Hippokampos), the mythical sea-horse, which, according to the description of Pausanias (ii. 1), was a horse, but the part of its body down from the breast was that of a sea monster or fish. The horse appears even in the Homeric poems as the symbol of Poseidon, whose chariot was drawn over the surface of the sea by swift horses. The later poets and artists conceived and represented the horses of Poseidon and other marine divinities as a combination of a horse and a fish. (Hom. Il. xlii. 24, 29; Eurip. Androm. 1012; Virg. Georg. iv. 389; Philostr. Imag . i. 8; Stat. Theb. ii. 45)
Asphalius or Asphaleius (Asphalios or Asphaleios), a surname of Poseidon, under which he was worshipped in several towns of Greece. It describes him as the god who granta safety to ports and to navigation in general. (Strab. i.; Paus. vii. 21.; Plut. Thes. 36; Suid. s. v.)
ELIKON (Mountain) VIOTIA
The Muses, daughters of Zeus (Il. 2.491, Od. 1.10) by Memory (Mnemosyne), dwelt on Olympus, where they sang and entertained the gods (Il. 2.484), or on the Mt. Helicon, where they were worshipped. They were nine in number (Od. 24.60) and were considered godesses of arts: Calliope was the Muse of epic song, Clio of history, Polymnia of mimical art, Euterpe of lyric song, Terpsichore of choric poetry, Thalia of comedy and Urania of astronomy (Hesiod, Theogony 25).
In Greek mythology the Muses were originally the nymphs of springs,
whose waters gave inspiration, such as Hippocrene, Castalia, etc.; then goddesses
of song in general; and afterwards the representatives of the various kinds of
poetry, arts, and sciences. In Homer, who now speaks of one, and now of many Muses,
but without specifying their number or their names, they are considered goddesses
dwelling in Olympus, who at the meals of the gods sing sweetly to the lyre of
Apollo, inspire the poet and prompt his song. Hesiod calls them the nine daughters
of Zeus and Mnemosyne, born in Pieria, and mentions their names, to which we shall
at the same time add the province and the attributes afterwards assigned to each.
(1) Calliope (she of the fair voice), in Hesiod the noblest of all, the Muse of
epic song; among her attributes are a wax tablet and a pencil.
(2) Clio (she that extols), the Muse of history; with a scroll.
(3) Euterpe (she that gladdens), the Muse of lyric song; with the double flute.
(4) Thalia (she that flourishes), the Muse of comedy and bucolic poetry; with
the comic mask, the ivy wreath, and the shepherd's staff.
(5) Melpomene (she that sings), the Muse of tragedy; with tragic mask, ivy wreath,
and occasionally with attributes of individual heroes-- e. g. the club, the sword.
(6) Terpsichore (she that rejoices in the dance), the Muse of dancing; with the
lyre.
(7) Erato (the lovely one), the Muse of erotic poetry; with a smaller lyre.
(8) Polymnia or Polyhymnia (she that is rich in hymns), the Muse of serious sacred
songs; usually represented as veiled and pensive.
(9) Urania (the heavenly), the Muse of astronomy; with the celestial globe. See
the separate articles on the Muses.
Three older Muses were sometimes distinguished from these.
Melete (Meditation), Mneme (Remembrance), Aoide (Song), whose worship was said
to have been introduced by the Aloadae, Otus and Ephialtes, near Mount Helicon.
Thracian settlers in the Pierian district at the foot of Olympus and of Helicon
in Boeotia are usually mentioned as the original founders of this worship. At
both these places were their oldest sanctuaries. According to the general belief,
the favourite haunts of the Muses were certain springs, near which temples and
statues had been erected in their honour: Castalia, at the foot of Mount Parnassus,
and Aganippe and Hippocrene, on Helicon, near the towns of Ascra and Thespiae.
After the decline of Ascra, the inhabitants of Thespiae attended to the worship
of the Muses and to the arrangements for the musical contests in their honour
that took place once in five years. They were also adored in many other places
in Greece. Thus the Athenians offered them sacrifices in the schools, while the
Spartans did so before battle. As the inspiring nymphs of springs they were early
connected with Dionysus; the god of poets, Apollo, is looked on as their leader
(Mousagetes), with whom they share the knowledge of past, present, and future.
As beings that gladden men and gods with their song, Hesiod describes them as
dwelling on Olympus along with the Charites and Himeros. They were represented
in art as virgin goddesses with long garments of many folds, and frequently with
a cloak besides; they were not distinguished by special attributes till comparatively
later times.
The Roman poets identified them with the Italian Camenae, prophetic
nymphs of springs and goddesses of birth, who had a grove at Rome outside the
Porta Capena. (See Egeria.) The Greeks gave the title of Muses to their nine most
distinguished poetesses: Praxilla, Moero , Anyte, Erinna, Telesilla, Corinna,
Nossis, Myrtis, and Sappho.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Dec 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Muse : Perseus Project
PANOPEFS (Ancient city) CHERONIA
He was the son of Gaea and laid outstretched on the ground in Hades, covering nine roods, while two vultures devoured his liver as a punishment because he had tried to violate Leto (Od. 11.576 etc.). In the Odyssey (Od. 7.324) he resided in Euboea but according to the posterity he lived in Panopeus.
According to Apollodorus, he was the son of Zeus by Elare (Apollod. 1,4,1).
Tityus: Perseus Project
Tityus:
Son of Gaea, or of Zeus and Elara, the daughter of Orchomenus. He was a giant in Euboea. Instigated by Here, he attempted to offer violence to Artemis when she passed through Panopaeus to Pytho, but he was killed by the arrows either of Artemis or Apollo; according to others, Zeus destroyed him with a flash of lightning. He was then cast into Tartarus, and there he lay outstretched on the ground, covering nine acres, while two vultures (others say snakes) devoured his liver.
Elara:
The daughter of Orchomenus or Minyus, and mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus. Through fear of Here, Zeus concealed her under the earth
"And I saw Tityos, son of glorious Gaea, lying on the ground. Over nine roods he stretched, and two vultures sat, one on either side, and tore his liver, plunging their beaks into his bowels, nor could he beat them off with his hands. [580] For he had offered violence to Leto, the glorious wife of Zeus, as she went toward Pytho through Panopeus with its lovely lawns." (Homer, Odys. 11,576)
SPERCHIOS (River) FTHIOTIDA
A river-god and father of Menesthius, that Homer calls "heaven-fed river" (Il. 16.174) and "tireless" (Il. 16.176).
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
He was a son of Zeus by Semele and was nurtured by the nymphs in the mount Nysa (Il. 6.132, 14.325, Od. 11.325, 24.74).
Dionysus (Dionusos or Dionusos). The god of luxuriant fertility, especially as
displayed by the vine; and therefore the god of wine. His native place, according
to the usual tradition, was Thebes, where he was born to Zeus by Semele, the daughter
of Cadmus. Semele was destroyed by the lightning of her lover, and the child was
born after six months. Zeus accordingly sewed it up in his thigh till ripe for
birth, and then gave it over to Ino, the sister of Semele. After her death Hermes
took the boy to the nymphs of Mount Nysa, or according to another version, to
the Hyades of Dodona, who brought him up and hid him in a cave away from the anger
of Here. It cannot be ascertained where Mount Nysa was originally supposed to
be. In later times the name was transferred to many places where the vine was
cultivated, not only in Greece, but in Asia, India, and Africa. When grown up,
Dionysus is represented as planting the vine, and wandering through the wide world
to spread his worship among men, with his wine-flushed train (thiasos --his nurses
and other nymphs, Satyrs, Sileni, and similar woodland deities. Whoever welcomed
him kindly, like Icarius in Attica and Oeneus in Aetolia, received the gift of
wine; but those who resisted him were terribly punished. A whole series of fables
is apparently based upon the tradition that in many places, where a serious religious
ritual existed, the dissolute worship of Dionysus met with a vigorous resistance.
See Lycurgus; Minyadae; Pentheus; Proetus.
This worship soon passed from the mainland of Greece to the wine-growing
islands, and flourished pre-eminently at Naxos. Here it was, according to the
story, that the god wedded Ariadne. In the islands a fable was current that he
fell in with some Tyrrhenian pirates, who took him to their ship and put him in
chains. But his fetters fell off, the sails and the mast were wreathed with vine
and ivy, the god was changed into a lion, while the seamen threw themselves madly
into the sea and were turned into dolphins. In forms akin to this the worship
of Dionysus passed into Egypt and far into Asia. Hence arose a fable, founded
on the story of Alexander's campaigns, that the god passed victoriously through
Egypt, Syria, and India as far as the Ganges, with his army of Sileni, Satyrs,
and inspired women, the Maenades or Bacchantes, carrying their wands (thursoi)
crowned with vines and ivy. Having thus constrained all the world to the recognition
of his deity, and having with Heracles, assisted the gods, in the form of a lion,
to victory in their war with the Giants, he was taken to Olympus, where, in Homer,
he does not appear. From Olympus he descends to the lower world, whence he brings
his mother, who is worshipped with him under the name of Thyone (“the wild one”),
as Leto was with Apollo and Artemis. From his mother he is called Thyoneus, a
name which, with others of similar meaning, such as Bacchus, Bromios, Euios, and
Iacchos, points to a worship founded upon a different conception of his nature.
In the myth with which we have been hitherto concerned, the god appears
mainly in the character and surroundings of joy and triumph. But, as the god of
the earth, Dionysus belongs, like Persephone, to the world below as well as to
the world above. The death of vegetation in winter was represented as the flight
of the god into hiding from the sentence of his enemies, or even as his extinction;
but he returned again from obscurity, or rose from the dead, to new life and activity.
In this connection he was called Zagreus ("torn in pieces") and represented
as a son of Zeus and his daughter Persephone, or sometimes of Zeus and Demeter.
In his childhood he was torn to pieces by the Titans, at the command of the jealous
Here. But every third year, after spending the interval in the lower world, he
is born anew. According to the Orphic story, Athene brought her son's heart to
Zeus, who gave it to Semele or swallowed it himself, whereupon the Theban or younger
Dionysus was born. The grave of Dionysus was shown at Delphi in the inmost shrine
of the Temple of Apollo. Secret offerings were brought thither, while the women
who were celebrating the feast awakened Licnites; in other words, invoked the
new-born god cradled in a winnowing-fan on the neighbouring mountain of Parnassus.
Festivals of this kind, in celebration of the extinction and resurrection of the
deity, were held by women and girls only, amid the mountains at night, every third
year, about the time of the shortest day. The rites, intended to express the excess
of grief and joy at the death and reappearance of the god, were wild even to savagery,
and the women who performed them were hence known by the expressive names of Bacchae,
Maenads, and Thyiades. They wandered through woods and mountains, their flying
locks crowned with ivy or snakes, brandishing wands and torches, to the hollow
sounds of the drum and the shrill notes of the flute, with wild dances and insane
cries and jubilation. The victims of the sacrifice -oxen, goats, even fawns and
roes from the forest- were killed, torn in pieces, and eaten raw, in imitation
of the treatment of Zagreus by the Titans. Thrace and Macedonia and Asiatic Greece
were the scene of the wildest orgies; indeed, Thrace seems to be the country of
their birth. In Asiatic Greece, it should be added, the worship of Dionysus-Zagreus
came to be associated with the equally wild rites of Rhea (Cybele) and Atys and
Sabus or Sabazius. In Greece proper the chief seats of these were Parnassus, with
Delphi and its neighbourhood, Boeotia, Argos, and Laconia, and in Boeotia and
Laconia especially the mountains Cithaeron and Taygetus. They were also known
in Naxos, Crete, and other islands. They seem to have been unknown in Attica,
though Dionysus was worshipped at the Eleusinian Mysteries, with Persephone and
Demeter, under the name of Iacchos, as brother or bridegroom of Persephone (See
Mysteria). But the Attic cycle of national festivals in honour of Dionysus represents
the idea of the ancient and simple Hellenic worship, with its merry usages. Here
Dionysus is the god who gives increase and luxuriance to vineyard and tree. For
he is a kindly and gentle power, terrible only to his enemies, and born for joy
and blessing to mankind. His gifts bring strength and healing to the body, gladness
and forgetfulness of care to the mind, whence he was called Lyaeus, or the loosener
of care. They are ennobling in their effects, for they require tending, and thus
keep men employed in diligent labour; they bring them together in merry meetings,
and inspire them to music and poetry. Thus it is to the worship of Dionysus that
the dithyramb and the drama owe their origin and development. In this way Dionysus
is closely related, not only to Demeter, Aphrodite, Eros, the Graces, and the
Muses, but to Apollo, because he inspires men to prophesy.
The most ancient representation of Dionysus consists of wooden images
with the phallos (membrum virile) as the symbol of generative power. In works
of art he is sometimes represented as the ancient Indian Dionysus, the conqueror
of the East. In this character he appears, as in the Vatican statue incorrectly
called Sardanapalus, of high stature, with a luxuriant wealth of hair on head
and chin. Sometimes again, as in numerous statues which have survived, he is a
youth of soft and feminine shape, with a dreamy expression, his long, clustering
hair confined by a fillet or crown of ivy, generally naked, or with a fawn or
panther skin thrown lightly over him. He is either reposing or leaning idly back
with the thursos, grapes, or a cup in his hand. Often, too, he is surrounded by
the Fauns of his retinue, Maenads, Satyrs, Sileni, Centaurs, etc., or by Nymphs,
Muses, Cupids -indeed, in the greatest possible number and variety of situations.
Besides the vine, ivy, and rose, the panther, lion, lynx, ox, goat, and dolphin
were sacred to him. His usual sacrifices were the ox and the goat.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Dionysus (Dionusos or Dionusos), the youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of
wine. He is also called both by Greeks and Romans Bacchus (Bakchos), that is,
the noisy or riotous god, which was originally a mere epithet or surname of Dionysus,
but does not occur till after the time of Herodotus. According to the common tradition,
Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus of Thebes (Hom.
Hymn. vi. 56; Eurip. Bacch. init.; Apollod. iii. 4.3); whereas others describe
him as a son of Zeus by Demeter, Io, Dione, or Arge (Diod. iii. 62, 74; Schol.
ad Pind. Pyth. iii. 177; Plut. de Flum. 16). Diodorus (iii. 67) further mentions
a tradition, according to which he was a son of Ammon and Amaltheia, and that
Ammon, from fear of Rhea, carried the child to a cave in the neighbourhood of
mount Nysa, in a lonely island formed by the river Triton. Ammon there entrusted
the child to Nysa, the daughter of Aristaeus, and Athena likewise undertook to
protect the boy. Others again represent him as a son of Zeus by Persephone or
Iris, or describe him simply as a son of Lethe, or of Indus (Diod. iv. 4; Plut.
Sympos. vii. 5; Philostr. Vit. Apollon. ii. 9). The same diversity of opinions
prevails in regard to the native place of the god, which in the common tradition
is Thebes, while in others we find India, Libya, Crete, Dracanum in Samos, Naxos,
Elis, Eleutherae, or Teos, mentioned as his birthplace (Hom. Hymn. xxv. 8; Diod.
iii. 65, v. 75; Nonnus, Dionys. ix. 6; Theocrit. xxvi. 33). It is owing to this
diversity in the traditions that ancient writers were driven to the supposition
that there were originally several divinities which were afterwards identified
under the one name of Dionysus. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii 23) distinguishes five
Dionysi, and Diodorus (iii. 63, &c.) three.
The common story, which makes Dionysus a son of Semele by Zeus, runs
as follows: Hera, jealous of Semele, visited her in the disguise of a friend,
or an old woman, and persuaded her to request Zeus to appear to her in the same
glory and majesty in which he was accustomed to approach his own wife Hera. When
all entreaties to desist from this request were fruitless, Zeus at length complied,
and appeared to her in thunder and lightning. Semele was terrified and overpowered
by the sight, and being seized by the fire, she gave premature birth to a child.
Zeus, or according to others, Hermes (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1137) saved the child
from the flames: it was sewed up in the thigh of Zeus, and thus came to maturity.
Various epithets which are given to the god refer to that occurrence, such as
purigenes, merorraphes, merotraphes and ianigena (Strab. xiii.; Diod. iv. 5; Eurip.
Bacch. 295; Eustath. ad Hom.; Ov. Met. iv. 11). After the birth of Dionysus, Zeus
entrusted him to Hermes, or, according to others, to Persephone or Rhea (Orph.
Hymn. xlv. 6; Steph. Byz. s. v. Mastaura), who took the child to Ino and Athamas
at Orchomenos, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Hera was now urged
on by her jealousy to throw Ino and Athamas into a state of madness, and Zeus,
in order to save his child, changed him into a ram, and carried him to the nymphs
of mount Nysa, who brought him up in a cave, and were afterwards rewarded for
it by Zeus, by being placed as Hyades among the stars (Hygin. Fab. 182; Theon,
ad Arat. Phaen. 177).
The inhabitants of Brasiae, in Laconia, according to Pausanias (iii.
24.3), told a different story about the birth of Dionysus, When Cadmus heard,
they said, that Semele was mother of a son by Zeus, he put her and her child into
a chest, and threw it into the sea. The chest was carried by the wind and waves
to the coast of Brasiae. Semele was found dead, and was solemnly buried, but Dionysus
was brought up by Ino, who happened at the time to be at Brasiae. The plain of
Brasiae was, for this reason, afterwards called the garden of Dionysus.
The traditions about the education of Dionysus, as well as about the
personages who undertook it, differ as much as those about his parentage and birthplace.
Besides the nymphs of mount Nysa in Thrace, the muses, Lydae, Bassarae, Macetae,
Mimallones (Eustath. ad Hom.), the nymph Nysa (Diod. iii. 69), and the nymphs
Philia, Coronis, and Cleis, in Naxos, whither the child Dionysus was said to have
been carried by Zeus (Diod. iv. 52), are named as the beings to whom the care
of his infancy was entrusted. Mystis, moreover, is said to have instructed him
in the mysteries (Nonn. Dionys. xiii. 140), and Hippa, on mount Tmolus, nursed
him (Orph. Hymn. xlvii. 4); Macris, the daughter of Aristaeus, received him from
the hands of Hermes, and fed him with honey. (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1131.) On mount
Nysa, Bromie and Bacche too are called his nurses (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 15).
Mount Nysa, from which the god was believed to have derived his name, was not
only in Thrace and Libya, but mountains of the same name are found in different
parts of the ancient world where he was worshipped, and where he was believed
to have introduced the cultivation of the vine. Hermes, however, is mixed up with
most of the stories about the infancy of Dionysus, and he was often represented
in works of art, in connexion with the infant god (Comp. Paus. iii. 18.7).
When Dionysus had grown up, Hera threw him also into a state of madness,
in which he wandered about through many countries of the earth. A tradition in
Hyginus (Poet. Astr. ii. 23) makes him go first to the oracle of Dodona, but on
his way thither he came to a lake, which prevented his proceeding any further.
One of two asses he met there carried him across the water, and the grateful god
placed both animals among the stars, and asses henceforth remained sacred to Dionysus.
According to the common tradition, Dionysus first wandered through Egypt, where
he was hospitably received by king Proteus. He thence proceeded through Syria,
where he flayed Damascus alive, for opposing the introduction of the vine, which
Dionysus was believed to have discovered (euretes ampelou). He now traversed all
Asia (Strab. xv.; Eurip. Bacch. 13). When he arrived at the Euphrates, he built
a bridge to cross the river, but a tiger sent to him by Zeus carried him across
the river Tigris (Paus. x. 29; Plut. de Flum. 24). The most famous part of his
wanderings in Asia is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted three,
or, according to some, even 52 years (Diod. iii. 63, iv. 3). He did not in those
distant regions meet with a kindly reception everywhere, for Myrrhanus and Deriades,
with his three chiefs Blemys, Orontes, and Oruandes, fought against him (Steph.
Byz. s. vv. Blemues, Gazos, Gereia, Dardai, Eares, Zabioi, Malloi, Pandai, Sibai).
But Dionysus and the host of Pans, Satyrs, and Bacchic women, by whom he was accompanied,
conquered his enemies, taught the Indians the cultivation of the vine and of various
fruits, and the worship of the gods; he also founded towns among them, gave them
laws, and left behind him pillars and monuments in the happy land which he had
thus conquered and civilized, and the inhabitants worshipped him as a god (Comp.
Strab. xi.; Arrian, Ind. 5; Diod. ii. 38; Philostr. Vit. Apollon. ii. 9; Virg.
Aen. vi. 805).
Dionysus also visited Phrygia and the goddess Cybele or Rhea, who
purified him and taught him the mysteries, which according to Apollodorus (iii.
5.1) took place before he went to India. With the assistance of his companions,
he drove the Amazons from Ephesus to Samos, and there killed a great number of
them on a spot which was, from that occurrence, called Panaema (Plut. Quaest.
Gr. 56). According to another legend, he united with the Amazons to fight against
Cronus and the Titans, who had expelled Ammon from his dominions (Diod. iii. 70,
&c.). He is even said to have gone to Iberia, which, on leaving, he entrusted
to the government of Pan (Plut. de Flum. 16). On his passage through Thrace he
was ill received by Lycurgus, king of the Edones, and leaped into the sea to seek
refuge with Thetis, whom he afterwards rewarded for her kind reception with a
golden urn, a present of Hephaestus (Hom. Il. vi. 135, &c., Od. xxiv. 74; Schol.
ad Hom. Il. xiii. 91. Comp. Diod. iii. 65). All the host of Bacchantic women and
Satyrs, who had accompanied him, were taken prisoners by Lycurgus, but the women
were soon set free again. The country of the Edones thereupon ceased to bear fruit,
and Lycurgus became mad and killed his own son, whom he mistook for a vine, or,
according to others (Serv. ad Aen. iii. 14) he cut off his own legs in the belief
that he was cutting down some vines. When this was done, his madness ceased, but
the country still remained barren, and Dionysus declared that it would remain
so till Lycurgus died. The Edones, in despair, took their king and put him in
chains, and Dionysus had him torn to pieces by horses. After then proceeding through
Thrace without meeting with any further resistance, he returned to Thebes, where
he compelled the women to quit their houses, and to celebrate Bacchic festivals
on mount Cithaeron, or Parnassus. Pentheus, who then ruled at Thebes, endeavoured
to check the riotous proceedings, and went out to the mountains to seek the Bacchic
women; but his own mother, Agave, in her Bacchic fury, mistook him for an animal,
and tore him to pieces (Theocrit. Id. xxvi.; Eurip. Bacch. 1142; Ov. Met. iii.
714, &c.).
After Dionysus had thus proved to the Thebans that he was a god, he
went to Argos. As the people there also refused to acknowledge him, he made the
women mad to such a degree, that they killed their own babes and devoured their
flesh (Apollod. iii. 5.2). According to another statement, Dionysus with a host
of women came from the islands of the Aegean to Argos, but was conquered by Perseus,
who slew many of the women (Paus. ii. 20.3, 22.1). Afterwards, however, Dionysus
and Perseus became reconciled, and the Argives adopted the worship of the god,
and built temples to him. One of these was called the temple of Dionysus Cresius,
because the god was believed to have buried on that spot Ariadne, his beloved,
who was a Cretan (Paus. ii. 23.7). The last feat of Dionysus was performed on
a voyage from Icaria to Naxos. He hired a ship which belonged to Tyrrhenian pirates;
but the men, instead of landing at Naxos, passed by and steered towards Asia to
sell him there. The god, however, on perceiving this, changed the mast and oars
[p. 1048] into serpents, and himself into a lion; he filled the vessel with ivy
and the sound of flutes, so that the sailors, who were seized with madness, leaped
into the sea, where they were metamorphosed into dolphins (Apollod. iii. 5.3;
Hom. Hymn. vi. 44; Ov. Met. iii. 582, &c.). In all his wanderings and travels
the god had rewarded those who had received him kindly and adopted his worship:
he gave them vines and wine.
After he had thus gradually established his divine nature throughout
the world, he led his mother out of Hades, called her Thyone, and rose with her
into Olympus. The place, where he had come forth with Semele from Hades, was shewn
by the Troezenians in the temple of Artemis Soteira (Paus. ii. 31.2); the Argives,
on the other hand, said, that he had emerged with his mother from the Alcyonian
lake (Paus. ii. 37.5; Clem. Alex. Adm. ad Gr.). There is also a mystical story,
that the body of Dionysus was cut up and thrown into a cauldron by the Titans,
and that he was restored and cured by Rhea or Demeter (Paus. viii. 37.3; Diod.
iii. 62; Phurnut. N. D. 28).
Various mythological beings are described as the offspring of Dionysus;
but among the women, both mortal and immortal, who won his love, none is more
famous in ancient history than Ariadne. The extraordinary mixture of traditions
which we have here had occasion to notice, and which might still be considerably
increased, seems evidently to be made up out of the traditions of different times
and countries, referring to analogous divinities, and transferred to the Greek
Dionysus. We may, however, remark at once, that all traditions which have reference
to a mystic worship of Dionysus, are of a comparatively late origin, that is,
they belong to the period subsequent to that in which the Homeric poems were composed;
for in those poems Dionysus does not appear as one of the great divinities, and
the story of his birth by Zeus and the Bacchic orgies are not alluded to in any
way : Dionysus is there simply described as the god who teaches man the preparation
of wine, whence he is called the "drunken god " (mainomenos), and the sober king
Lycurgus will not, for this reason, tolerate him in his kingdom (Hom. Il. vi.
132, &c., Od. xviii. 406, comp. xi. 325). As the cultivation of the vine spread
in Greece, the worship of Dionysus likewise spread further; the mystic worship
was developed by the Orphici, though it probably originated in the transfer of
Phrygian and Lydian modes of worship to that of Dionysus. After the time of Alexander's
expedition to India, the celebration of the Bacchic festivals assumed more and
more their wild and dissolute character.
As far as the nature and origin of the god Dionysus is concerned,
he appears in all traditions as the representative of some power of nature, whereas
Apollo is mainly an ethical deity. Dionysus is the productive, overflowing and
intoxicating power of nature, which carries man away from his usual quiet and
sober mode of living. Wine is the most natural and appropriate symbol of that
power, and it is therefore called "the fruit of Dionysus" (Dionusou karpos;
Pind. Fragm. 89). Dionysus is, therefore, the god of wine, the inventor and teacher
of its cultivation, the giver of joy, and the disperser of grief and sorrow (Bacchyl.
ap. Athen. ii. 40; Pind. Fragm. 5; Eurip. Bacch. 772). As the god of wine, he
is also both an inspired and an inspiring god, that is, a god who has the power
of revealing the future to man by oracles. Thus, it is said, that he had as great
a share in the Delphic oracle as Apollo (Eurip. Bacch. 300), and he himself had
an oracle in Thrace (Paus. ix. 30.5). Now, as prophetic power is always combined
with the healing art, Dionysus is, like Apollo, called iatpos, or Wgiates (Eustath.
ad Hom.), and at his oracle of Amphicleia, in Phocis, he cured diseases by revealing
the remedies to the sufferers in their dreams (Paus. x. 33.5). Hence he is invoked
as a Deos soter against raging diseases (Soph. Oed. Tyr. 210; Lycoph. 206). The
notion of his being the cultivator and protector of the vine was easily extended
to that of his being the protector of trees in general, which is alluded to in
various epithets and surnames given him by the poets of antiquity (Paus. i. 31.2,
vii. 21.2), and he thus comes into close connexion with Demeter (Paus. vii. 20.1;
Pind. Isthm. vii. 3; Theocrit. xx. 33; Diod. iii. 64; Ov. Fast. iii. 736; Plut.
Quaest. Gr. 36). This character is still further developed in the notion of his
being the promoter of civilization, a law-giver, and a lover of peace (Eurip.
Bacch. 420; Strab. x.; Diod. iv. 4). As the Greek drama had grown out of the dithyrambic
choruses at the festivals of Dionysus, he was also regarded as the god of tragic
art, and as the protector of theatres. In later times, he was worshipped also
as a Deos chDonios, which may have arisen from his resemblance to Demeter, or
have been the result of an amalgamation of Phrygian and Lydian forms of worship
with those of the ancient Greeks (Paus. viii. 37.3; Arnob. adv. Gent. v. 19).
The orgiastic worship of Dionysus seems to have been first established in Thrace,
and to have thence spread southward to mounts Helicon and Parnassus, to Thebes,
Naxos, and throughout Greece, Sicily, and Italy, though some writers derived it
from Egypt (Paus. i. 2.4; Diod. i. 97). Respecting his festivals and the mode
of their celebration, and especially the introduction and suppression of his worship
at Rome, see Dict. of Ant. s. vv. Agrionia, Anthesteria, Haloa, Aiora, and Dionysia.
In the earliest times the Graces, or Charites, were the companions
of Dionysus (Pind. Ol. xiii. 20; Plut. Quaest. Gr. 36; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 424),
and at Olympia he and the Charites had an altar in common (Schol. ad Pind. Ol.
v. 10 ; Paus. v. 14 in fin.). This circumstance is of great interest, and points
out the great change which took place in the course of time in the mode of his
worship, for afterwards we find him accompanied in his expeditions and travels
by Bacchantic women. called Lenae, Maenades, Thyiades, Mimallones, Clodones, Bassarae
or Bassarides, all of whom are represented in works of art as raging with madness
or enthusiasm, in vehement motions, their heads thrown backwards, with dishevelled
hair, and carrying in their hands thyrsus-staffs (entwined with ivy, and headed
with pine-cones), cymbals, swords, or serpents. Sileni, Pans, satyrs, centaurs,
and other beings of a like kind, are also the constant companions of the god (Strab.
x.; Diod. iv. 4. &c.; Catull. 64. 258 ; Athen i.; Paus. i. 2.7) .
The temples and statues of Dionysus were very numerous in the ancient
world. Among the sacrifices which were offered to him in the earliest times, human
sacrifices are also mentioned (Paus. vii. 21.1; Porphyr. de Abstin. ii. 55). Subsequently,
however, this barbarous custom was softened down into a symbolic scourging, or
animals were substituted for men, as at Potniae (Paus. viii. 23.1, ix. 8.1). The
animal most commonly sacrificed to Dionysus was a ram (Virg. Georg. ii. 380, 395;
Ov. Fast. i. 357). Among the things sacred to him, we may notice the vine, ivy,
laurel, and asphodel; the dolphin, serpent, tiger, lynx, panther, and ass; but
he hated the sight of an owl (Paus. viii. 39.4; Theocrit. xxvi. 4; Plut. Sympos.
iii. 5; Eustath. ad Hom.; Virg. Eclog. v. 30; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 23; Philostr.
Imay. ii. 17; Vit. Apollon. iii. 40). The earliest images of the god were mere
Hermae with the phallus (Paus. ix. 12.3), or his head only was represented (Eustath.
ad Hom.). In later works of art he appears in four different forms: 1. As an infant
handed over by Hermes to his nurses, or fondled and played with by satyrs and
Bacchae. 2. As a manly god with a beard, commonly called the Indian Bacchus. He
there appears in the character of a wise and dignified oriental monarch; his features
are expressive of sublime tranquillity and mildness; his beard is long and soft,
and his Lydian robes (bassara) are long and richly folded. His hair sometimes
floats down in locks, and is sometimes neatly wound around the head, and a diadem
often adorns his forehead. 3. The youthful or so-called Theban Bacchus, was carried
to ideal beauty by Praxiteles. The form of his body is manly and with strong outlines,
but still approaches to the female form by its softness and roundness. The expression
of the countenance is languid, and shews a kind of dreamy longing; the head, with
a diadem, or a wreath of vine or ivy, leans somewhat on one side; his attitude
is never sublime, but easy, like that of a man who is absorbed in sweet thoughts,
or slightly intoxicated. He is often seen leaning on his companions, or riding
on a panther, ass, tiger, or lion. The finest statue of this kind is in the villa
Ludovisi 4. Bacchus with horns, either those of a ram or of a bull. This representation
occurs chiefly on coins, but never in statues.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Dionysus. Son of Zeus and Semele and god of wine, vegetation, fertility and
often celebrated at theaters. He surrounded himself with maenads (orgiastic women)
and satyrs, and held constant festivities in the forests. Anyone who angered him
was struck with madness.
In art, Dionysus was depicted wearing a wreath of vineleaves, and
holding the so called thyrsos rod in his hand. Dionysus was also connected with
the seasons and the death- and resurrection beliefs of ancient times. His worshippers
tried to reach a point of ecstasis (to stand out of one's body) and wine was an
important factor in his rituals and the achievement of ecstasy. He was often depicted
on the Greeks' sarcophaguses, and he was connected to the belief in immortality.
Dionysus was a foreign god from the East, and came to Greece
through Thrace. In mythology,
his birth is quite remarkable, since Semele died before she gave birth to him.
Zeus took the embryo out of its dying mother's womb, and put it in his thigh.
After Dionysos was born out of Zeus' leg, Hermes took the baby to nymphs on the
mountain Nysa that brought him up. This scene can be seen in the famous statue
of Hermes and the baby Dionysus in Olympia.
Dionysus was often celebrated at the harvests of the grapes, and each
village would have annual Dionysus festivities. He was strongly connected to the
island of Naxos, since he
was said to have come across the by Theseus abandoned Ariadne and to then have
married her.
Dionysos was also the god of drama, especially tragedy, since this
theatre was said to have been invented by the satyrs. They would sing and play
roles, and the very word tragedy means “goat song”. Dionysos' drunken
party that followed him around was called Komos, and from that we have the word
comedy, which means “song by drunken party”. The Great Dionysia were
annual festivals in Athens
where dramatists competed with their plays. The god was also connected to the
orphicism, again a mystery cult having to do with immortality and resurrection.
The Romans called Dionysus Liber, but the Greek name Bacchus was more
often used by them. Dionysos also had many epithets: Acratophorus, Acroreites,
Aesymnetes, Agrionius, Amphietes, Antheus, Aroeus, Bassareus, Brisaeus, Calydonius,
Cissus, Colonatas, Cresius, Eleuthereus, Hygiatis, Iatros, Lampter, Laphystius,
Larymna, Limnaea, Lysius, Meilichius, Melanaegis, Melpomenus, Mesaetus, Methymnaeus,
Mystos, Nyctelius, Nysaeus, Omaclius, Orthos, Psilas, Saotes.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Adoneus A surname of Bacchus, signifies the Ruler. (Auson. Epigr. xxix. 6.)
Dendrites, the god of the tree, a surname of Dionysus, which has the same import as Dasyllius, the giver of foliage. (Plut. Sympos. 5; Paus. i. 43.5)
Eubuleus occurs also as a surname of several divinities, and describes them as gods of good counsel, such as Hades and Dionysus. (Schol. ad Nicand. Alex. 14; Orph. Hymn. 71. 3; Macrob. Sat. i. 18; Plut. Sympos. vii. 9.)
Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, was identified with Leucothea, who was included among the marine divinities. In Homer she is mentioned to emerge from the sea and to help Odysseus to be saved and arrive at the land of the Phaeacians (Od. 5.334).
[also see location ORCHOMENOS (ancient city) Viotia, category Mythology/Kings - Athamas and Ino, and location ISTHMIA (ancient city) Korinthia, category Mythology/Ancient fables - Ino and Melicertes].
Ino. The daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamas. Being followed by the latter after he had been seized with madness, she fled to the cliff Moluris, between Megara and Corinth, and there threw herself into the sea with her infant son Melicertes. At the isthmus, however, mother and child were carried ashore by a dolphin, and, from that time forward, were honoured as marine divinities along the shores of the Mediterranean, especially on the coast of Megara and at the Isthmus of Corinth. Ino was worshipped as Leucothea, and Melicertes as Palaemon. They were regarded as divinities who aided men in peril on the sea. As early as Homer, we have Ino mentioned as rescuing Odysseus from danger by throwing him her veil (Od. v. 333-353). Among the Romans Ino was identified with Matuta
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ino / Leucothea: Perseus Project
Ino / Leucothea: Various WebPages
FOKIS (Ancient area) GREECE
Schedius, son of Perimedes, a leader of the Phocians, was slain by Hector (Il. 15.515).
HELLAS (Ancient city) FTHIOTIS
Phoenix (Phoinix). Son of Amyntor, king of Argos, and the preceptor of Achilles, to whom he was so attached that he accompanied him to the Trojan War. According to the Homeric account ( Il.ix. 447 foll.), Amyntor, having transferred his affections from his lawful wife, Hippodamia, to a concubine, the former besought her son Phoenix to gain the affections of his father's mistress, and alienate her from Amyntor. Phoenix succeeded in his suit, and his enraged father imprecated upon him the bitterest curses. The son, therefore, notwithstanding the entreaties and efforts of his relations to detain him at his parent's court, fled to Phthia, in Thessaly, where he was kindly received by Peleus, monarch of the country, who assigned him a territory on the confines of Phthia and the sway over the Dolopians. He intrusted him also with the education of his son Achilles. Later writers, however, make Amyntor to have put out his son's eyes, and the latter to have fled in this condition to Peleus, who led him to Chiron, and persuaded the Centaur to restore him to sight. There was a play entitled Phoenix by Sophocles, another by Euripides, and a third by Ion. After the death of Achilles, Phoenix, who had gone with him to the Trojan War, was one of those commissioned to return to Greece and bring young Pyrrhus to the war. On the fall of Troy he returned with that prince to Thessaly, in which country he continued to reside until his death.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The Scepsian says that Phoenix was from Ormenium, and that he fled thence from his father Amyntor the son of Ormenus into Phthia to Peleus the king; for this place, he adds, was founded by Ormenus the son of Cercaphus the son of Aeolus; and he says that both Amyntor and Euaemon were sons of Ormenus, and that Phoenix was son of the former and Eurypylus of the latter, but that the succession to the throne, to which both had equal right, was kept for Eurypylus, inasmuch as Phoenix had gone away from his homeland.
This extract is from: The Geography of Strabo (ed. H. L. Jones, 1924), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Jan 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
A Myrmidon, son of Chalcon, who was slain by Glaucus (Il. 16.594).
OPOUNDIA LOKRIS (Ancient area) FTHIOTIDA
Amphidamas. An Opountian (Il. 23.87).
The father of Clysonymus, whom Patroclus killed when yet a child. (Hom. Il. xxiii. 87 ; Apollod. iii. 13. § 8.) Other mythical personages of this name occur in Apollod. ii. 5. § 11; Hygin. Fab. 14; Hom. Il. x. 266, &c.
OPOUS (Ancient city) ATALANTI
Son of Menoetius (Il. 18.326 etc.), loyal friend of Achilles, whom he followed at Troy. When he was young, he took refuge in the house of Peleus in Phthia because of the murder of the son of Amphidamus (Il. 11.765 etc. 23.87 etc.). He was slain by Hector (Il. 16.818 etc.) and funeral games took place in his honour (Il. 23).
(Patroklos) and Patrocles (Patrokles). The penult is almost always long in the Iliad, Patroclus once only in vocative. Son of Menoetius and Sthenele, the bosom friend of Achilles. While still a boy Patroclus involuntarily slew Clysonymus, son of Amphidamas. In consequence of this accident he was taken by his father to Peleus at Phthia, where he was educated together with Achilles. He is said to have taken part in the expedition against Troy on account of his attachment to Achilles. He fought bravely against the Trojans until his friend withdrew from the scene of action, when Patroclus followed his example. But when the Greeks were hard pressed, he begged Achilles to allow him to put on his armour, and with his men to hasten to the assistance of the Greeks. Achilles granted the request, and Patroclus succeeded in driving back the Trojans and extinguishing the fire which was raging among the ships. He slew many enemies, and thrice made an assault upon the walls of Troy; but he was suddenly struck by Apollo, and became senseless. In this state Euphorbus ran him through with his lance from behind, and Hector gave him the last and fatal blow. Hector also took possession of his armour. A long struggle now ensued between the Greeks and Trojans for the body of Patroclus; but the former obtained possession of it, and brought it to Achilles, who was deeply grieved, and vowed to avenge the death of his friend. Thetis protected the body with ambrosia against decomposition until Achilles had leisure solemnly to burn it with funeral sacrifices. His ashes were collected in a golden urn which Dionysus had once given to Thetis, and were deposited under a mound, where the remains of Achilles were subsequently buried. Funeral games were celebrated in his honour. Achilles and Patroclus met again in the lower world; or, according to others, they continued after their death to live together in the island of Leuce.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Patroklos: Perseus Project
PANOPEFS (Ancient city) CHERONIA
He was the son of Panopeus and constructed the Wooden Horse with the help of Athena (Od. 8.493). At the funeral games in the honour of the dead Patroclus, he defeated Euryalus in boxing, but was defeated in discus by Eetion (Il. 23.664 & 840).
Epeius. A son of Panopeus, called the artist, who went with thirty ships from the Cyclades to Troy. (Dict. Cret. i. 17.) About the close of the Trojan war, he built the wooden horse under the protection and with the assistance of Athena. (Od. viii. 492, xi. 523; Il. xxiii. 664, &c., 840; Paus. ii. 29.4.) According to Justin (xx. 2) the inhabitants of Metapontum, which he was believed to have founded, shewed in a temple of Athena the tools which he had used in constructing the horse. In the Homeric poems he appears as a mighty and gallant warrior, whereas later traditions assign to him an inferior place among the heroes at Troy. Stesichorus (ap. Eustath. ad Hom.; Athen. x.) called him the water-bearer of the Atreidae, and as such he was represented in the temple of Apollo at Carthea. His cowardice, further, is said to have been so great, that it became proverbial. (Hesych. s. v.) According to Virgil (Aen. ii. 264), Epeius himself was one of the Greeks concealed in the wooden horse, and another tradition makes him the founder of Pisa in Italy. (Serv. ad Aen. x. 179.) There were at Argos very ancient carved images of Hermes and Aphrodite, which were believed to be the works of Epeius (Paus. ii. 19. § 6), and Plato (Ion) mentions him as a sculptor along with Daedalus and Theodorus of Samos. Epeius himself was painted by Polygnotus in the Lesche of Delphi in the act of throwing down the Trojan wall, above which rose the head of the wooden horse. (Paus. x.26.1)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Epeios: Various WebPages
SKYROS (Island) STEREA HELLAS
A son of Diores and charioteer of Achilles.
Automedon, a son of Diores, was, according to Homer, the charioteer and companion of Achilles, whereas Hyginus (Fab. 97) makes him sail by himself with ten ships against Troy. According to Virgil (Aen. ii. 476), he fought bravely by the side of Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. (Hom. Il. ix. 209, xvi. 148, 219, xvii. 429, &c., xix. 392, xxiv. 474)
THIVES (Ancient city) VIOTIA
He was the son of Creon and one of the leaders of the sentinels of the wall of the camp of the Achaeans (Il. 9.84, 12.366, 17.345).
Lycomedes: A son of Creon, one of the Greek warriors at Troy (Hom. Il. ix. 84); he was represented as a wounded man by Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi. (Paus. x. 25.2)
YLI (Ancient city) VIOTIA
A wealthy Boeotian from Hyle, who was slain by Hector (Il. 5.707).
EVIA (Island) GREECE
He was the son of Chalcodon and leader of the Euboeans in the Trojan War (Il. 2.540, 4.462).
Elephenor, a son of Chalcodon, and prince of the Abantes in Euboea, whom he led against Troy in thirty or forty ships. He there fell by the hand of Agenor. (Hom Il. ii. 540, iv. 463; Hygin Fab. 97; Dict. Cret. i. 17.) Hyginus calls his mother Imenarete, and Tzetzes (ad Lycoph. 1029) Melanippe. He is also mentioned among the suitors of Helen (Apollod. iii. 10.8), and was said to have taken with him to Troy the sons of Theseus, who had been entrusted to his care. (Plut Thes. 35; Paus. i. 17.6.) According to Tzetzes, Elephenor, without being aware of it, killed his grandfather, Abas, in consequence of which he was obliged to quit Euboea. When therefore the expedition against Troy was undertaken, Elephenor did not return to Euboea, but assembled the Abantes on a rock on the Euripus, opposite the island. After the fall of Troy, which, according to some accounts, he survived, he went to the island of Othronos near Sicily, and, driven away thence by a dragon, he went to Amantia in Illyria. (Lycophr. 1029,&c.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Elephenor. The son of Chalcodon and Melanippe, and prince of the Abantes. He was one of the suitors of Helen, and led a force against Troy, before which city he was slain by Agenor.
LEVADIA (Ancient city) VIOTIA
He was the son of Lycus and leader of the Boetians in the Trojan War, who was slain by Hector (Il. 2.495, 12.325)
Arcesilaus (Arkesilaos), a son of Lycus and Theobule, was the leader of the Boeotians in the Trojan war. He led his people to Troy in ten ships, and was slain by Hector (Hom. II. ii. 495, xv. 329; Hygin. Fab. 97). According to Pausanias (ix. 39.2) his remains were brought back to Boeotia, where a monument was erected to his memory in the neighbourhood of Lebadeia. A son of Odysseus and Penelope of the name of Arcesilaus is mentioned by Eustathius. (Ad Hom.)
NARYX (Ancient city) LOKRIDA
Aias was the son of Oileus and leader of the Locrians in the Trojan War. Physically, he was of small stature compared to Aias the Telamonian, but an excellent fighter (Il. 2.527).
He lost all his ships during his return home from Troy, while he was saved in a storm with the help of Poseidon. But his claim that this occurred without the willing of the gods caused the anger of Poseidon, who provoked a crack on the rock, where Aias was saved, resulting his drowning (Od. 4.499).
Aiax (Aias, Ajax). Son of Oileus, king of the Locrians, also called the lesser Aiax, sailed against Troy in forty ships. He is described as small of stature, but skilled in throwing the spear, and, next to Achilles, the most swiftfooted among the Greeks. On his return from Troy his vessel was wrecked; he himself safely reached a rock through the assistance of Poseidon; but, as he boasted that he would escape in defiance of the immortals, Poseidon split the rock with his trident, and Aiax was swallowed up by the sea. This is the account of Homer. Others tell us that the anger of Athene was excited against him because on the night of the capture of Troy he violated Cassandra in the temple of the goddess.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ajax. The son of Oileus, king of the Locrians, who is also called the Lesser Ajax
(Hom. Il. ii. 527). His mother's name was Eriopis. According to Strabo (ix.) his
birthplace was Naryx in Locris, whence Ovid (Met. xiv. 468) calls him Narycius
heros. According to the Iliad (ii. 527, &c.) he led his Locrians in forty ships
(Hygin. Fab. 97, says twenty) against Troy. He is described as one of the great
heroes among the Greeks, and acts frequently in conjunction with the Telamonian
Ajax. He is small of stature and wears a linen cuirass (linothorex), but is brave
and intrepid, especially skilled in throwing the spear, and, next to Achilles,
the most swift-footed among all the Greeks (Il. xiv. 520, &c., xxiii. 789, &c.).
His principal exploits during the siege of Troy are mentioned in the following
passages: xiii. 700, &c., xiv. 520, &c., xvi. 350, xvii. 256, 732, &c. In the
funeral games at the pyre of Patroclus he contended with Odysseus and Antilochus
for the prize in the footrace; but Athena, who was hostile towards him and favoured
Odysseus, made him stumble and fall, so that he gained only the second prize (xxiii.
754, &c.). On his return from Troy his vessel was wrecked on the Whirling Rocks
(Gurai petrai), but he himself escaped upon a rock through the assistance of Poseidon,
and would have been saved in spite of Athena, but he used presumptuous words,
and said that he would escape the dangers of the sea in defiance of the immortals.
Hereupon Poseidon split the rock with his trident, and Ajax was swallowed up by
the sea (Od. iv. 499, &c.).
In later traditions this Ajax is called a son of Oileus and the nymph
Rhene, and is also mentioned among the suitors of Helen (Hygin. Fab. 81, 97; Apollod.
iii. 10.8). According to a tradition in Philostratus (Her. iii. 1), Ajax had a
tame dragon, five cubits in length, which followed him everywhere like a dog.
After the taking of Troy, it is said, he rushed into the temple of Athena, where
Cassandra had taken refuge, and was embracing the statue of the goddess as a suppliant.
Ajax dragged her away with violence and led her to the other captives (Virg. Aen.
ii. 403 ; Eurip. Troad. 70, &c.; Dict. Cret. v. 12; Hygin. Fab. 116). According
to some statements he even violated Cassandra in the temple of the goddess (Tryphiod.
635; Q. Smyrn. xiii. 422 ; Lycophr. 360, with the Schol.); Odysseus at least accused
him of this crime, and Ajax was to be stoned to death, but saved himself by establishing
his innocence by an oath (Paus. x. 26.1, 31.1). The whole charge, is on the other
hand, said to have been an invention of Agamemnon, who wanted to have Cassandra
for himself. But whether true or not, Athena had sufficient reason for being indignant,
as Ajax had dragged a suppliant from her temple. When on his voyage homeward he
came to the Capharean rocks on the coast of Euboea, his ship was wrecked in a
storm, he himself was killed by Athena with a flash of lightning, and his body
was washed upon the rocks, which henceforth were called the rocks of Ajax (Hygin.
Fab. 116; comp. Virg. Aen. i. 40, &c., xi. 260). For a different account of his
death see Philostr. Her. viii. 3, and Schol. ad Lycophr. l. c. After his death
his spirit dwelled in the island of Leuce (Paus. iii. 19.11). The Opuntian Locrians
worshipped Ajax as their national hero, and so great was their faith in him, that
when they drew up their army in battle array, they always left one place open
for him, believing that, although invisible to them, he was fighting for and among
them. The story of Ajax was frequently made use of by ancient poets and artists,
and the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet, shield, and sword,
is probably Ajax the son of Oileus.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ajax: Various WebPages
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