Metamorphoses, by Ovid

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Book 15

• Bk 15:1-59 Myscelus: the founding of Crotona.
• Bk 15:60-142 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Vegetarianism..
• Bk 15:143-175 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Metempsychosis.
• Bk 15:176-198 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Eternal Flux.
• Bk 15:199-236 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Four Ages of Man.
• Bk 15:237-258 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Elements.
• Bk 15:259-306 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Geological changes.
• Bk 15:307-360 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Physical changes.
• Bk 15:361-390 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Autogenesis.
• Bk 15:391-417 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Phoenix.
• Bk 15:418-452 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Transfers of Power
• Bk 15:453-478 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Sanctity of Life.
• Bk 15:479-546 The transformation of Hippolytus.
• Bk 15:552-621 Cipus acquires horns.
• Bk 15:622-745 Aesculapius, the god, saves Rome from plague.
• Bk 15:745-842 The deification of Julius Caesar
• Bk 15:843-870 Ovid’s celebration of Augustus.
• Bk 15:871-879 Ovid’s Envoi

Bk 15:1-59 Myscelus: the founding of Crotona

Meanwhile the Romans looked for a leader, to bear the weight of such responsibility, and follow so great a king: Fame, the true harbinger, determined on the illustrious Numa for the throne. Not content with knowing the rituals of the Sabine people, with his capable mind he conceived a wider project, and delved into the nature of things. His love of these enquiries led him to leave his native Cures, and visit the city of Crotona, to which Hercules was friendly. When Numa asked who was the founder of this Greek city on Italian soil, one of the older inhabitants, not ignorant of the past, replied: ‘They say that Hercules, Jupiter’s son, back from the sea with the rich herds of Spain, happily came to the shore of Lacinium, and while his cattle strayed through the tender grass, he entered the house of the great Croton, a not inhospitable roof, and refreshed himself with rest, after his long labours, and, in leaving, said: ‘At a future time, there will be a city here, of your descendants.’

And the promise proved true, since there was one Myscelus, the son of Alemon of Argos, dearest to the gods of all his generation. Hercules, the club-bearer, leaning over him, spoke to him as he lay in a deep sleep: ‘Rise now, leave your native country: go, find the pebble-filled waves of Aesar!’ and he threatened him with many and fearful things if he did not obey. Then the god and sleep vanished together. Alemon’s son rose, and, in silence, thought over the vision, fresh in his mind. He struggled in himself for a long time over the decision: the god ordered him to go: the law prohibited his going. Death was the penalty for the man who wished to change his nationality.

Bright Sol had hidden his shining face in Ocean’s stream, and Night had lifted her starriest face: the same god seemed to appear to him, to admonish him in the same way, and warn of worse and greater punishment if he did not obey. He was afraid, and prepared, at once, to transfer the sanctuary of his ancestors to a new place. There was talk in the city, and he was brought to trial, for showing contempt for the law. When the case against him had been presented, and it was evident the charge was proven, without needing witnesses, the wretched defendant, lifting his face and hands to heaven, cried: ‘O you, whose twelve labours gave you the right to heaven, help me, I beg you! Since you are the reason for my crime.’

The ancient custom was to vote using black and white pebbles: the black to condemn: the white to absolve from punishment. Now, also, the harsh verdict was determined in this way, and every pebble dropped into the pitiless urn was black: but when the urn was tipped over and the pebbles poured out for the count, their colour had changed from black to white, and, acquitted through the divine power of Hercules, Alemon’s son was freed.

He first gave thanks to that son of Amphitryon, his patron, and with favouring winds set sail on the Ionian Sea. He sailed by Neretum, of the Sallentines, Sybaris, and the Spartan colony of Tarentum, the bay of Siris, Crimisa, and the Iapygian fields. He had barely passed the lands that overlook those seas, when he came, by destiny, to the mouth of the river Aesar, and near it the tumulus beneath which the earth covered the sacred bones of Croton. He founded the city of Crotona there, in the land commanded by the god, and derived the name of the city from him, whom the tumulus held. Such were the established beginnings, according to reliable tradition, of that place, and the cause of the city’s being sited on Italian soil.

Bk 15:60-142 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Vegetarianism

There was a man here, Pythagoras, a Samian by birth, who had fled Samos and its rulers, and, hating their tyranny, was living in voluntary exile. Though the gods were far away, he visited their region of the sky, in his mind, and what nature denied to human vision he enjoyed with his inner eye. When he had considered every subject, through concentrated thought, he communicated it widely in public, teaching the silent crowds, who listened in wonder to his words, concerning the origin of the vast universe, and of the causes of things; and what the physical world is; what the gods are; where the snows arise; what the origin of lightning is; whether Jupiter, or the storm-winds, thunder from colliding clouds; what shakes the earth; by what laws the stars move; and whatever else is hidden; and he was the first to denounce the serving of animal flesh at table; the first voice, wise but not believed in, to say, for example, in words like these:

‘Human beings, stop desecrating your bodies with impious foodstuffs. There are crops; there are apples weighing down the branches; and ripening grapes on the vines; there are flavoursome herbs; and those that can be rendered mild and gentle over the flames; and you do not lack flowing milk; or honey fragrant from the flowering thyme. The earth, prodigal of its wealth, supplies you with gentle sustenance, and offers you food without killing or shedding blood.

‘Flesh satisfies the wild beast’s hunger, though not all of them, since horses, sheep and cattle live on grasses, but those that are wild and savage: Armenian tigers, raging lions, and wolves and bears, enjoy food wet with blood. Oh, how wrong it is for flesh to be made from flesh; for a greedy body to fatten, by swallowing another body; for one creature to live by the death of another creature! So amongst such riches, that earth, the greatest of mothers, yields, you are not happy unless you tear, with cruel teeth, at pitiful wounds, recalling Cyclops’s practice, and you cannot satisfy your voracious appetite, and your restless hunger, unless you destroy other life!

‘But that former age, that we call golden, was happy with the fruit from the trees, and the herbs the earth produced, and did not defile its lips with blood. Then birds winged their way through the air in safety, and hares wandered, unafraid, among the fields, and its own gullibility did not hook the fish: all was free from trickery, and fearless of any guile, and filled with peace. But once someone, whoever he was, the author of something unfitting, envied the lion’s prey, and stuffed his greedy belly with fleshy food, he paved the way for crime. It may be that, from the first, weapons were warm and bloodstained from the killing of wild beasts, but that would have been enough: I admit that creatures that seek our destruction may be killed without it being a sin, but while they may be killed, they still should not be eaten.

‘From that, the wickedness spread further, and it is thought that the pig was first considered to merit slaughter because it rooted up the seeds with its broad snout, and destroyed all hope of harvest. The goat was led to death, at the avenging altar, for browsing the vines of Bacchus. These two suffered for their crimes! What did you sheep do, tranquil flocks, born to serve man, who bring us sweet milk in full udders, who give us your wool to make soft clothing, who give us more by your life than you grant us by dying? What have the oxen done, without guile or deceit, harmless, simple, born to endure labour?

‘He is truly thankless, and not worthy of the gift of corn, who could, in a moment, remove the weight of the curved plough, and kill his labourer, striking that work-worn neck with his axe, that has helped turn the hard earth as many times as the earth yielded harvest. It is not enough to have committed such wickedness: they involve the gods in crime, and believe that the gods above delight in the slaughter of suffering oxen! A victim of outstanding beauty, and without blemish (since to be pleasing is harmful), distinguished by sacrificial ribbons and gold, is positioned in front of the altar, and listens, unknowingly, to the prayers, and sees the corn it has laboured to produce, scattered between its horns, and, struck down, stains with blood those knives that it has already caught sight of, perhaps, reflected in the clear water.

‘Immediately they inspect the lungs, ripped from the still-living chest, and from them find out the will of the gods. On this (so great is man’s hunger for forbidden food) you feed, O human race! Do not, I beg you, and concentrate your minds on my admonitions! When you place the flesh of slaughtered cattle in your mouths, know and feel, that you are devouring your fellow-creature.

Bk 15:143-175 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Metempsychosis

‘Now, since a god moves my lips, I will follow, with due rite, the god who moves those lips, and reveal my beloved Delphi and the heavens themselves, and unlock the oracles of that sublime mind. I will speak of mighty matters, not fathomed by earlier greatness, things long hidden. I delight in journeying among the distant stars: I delight in leaving earth and its dull spaces, to ride the clouds; to stand on the shoulders of mighty Atlas, looking down from far off on men, wandering here and there, devoid of knowledge, anxious, fearing death; to read the book of fate, and to give them this encouragement!

‘O species, stunned by your terror of chill death, why fear the Styx, why fear the ghosts and empty names, the stuff of poets, the spectres of a phantom world? Do not imagine you can suffer any evil, whether your bodies are consumed by the flames of the funeral pyre, or by wasting age! Souls are free from death, and always, when they have left their previous being, they live in new dwelling-places, and inhabit what received them. I myself (for I remember) was Euphorbus, son of Panthoüs, at the time of the Trojan War, in whose chest was pinned the heavy spear of the lesser Atrides, Menelaüs. I recognised the shield I used to carry on my left arm, recently, in the temple of Juno at Argos, city of Abas!

‘Everything changes, nothing dies: the spirit wanders, arriving here or there, and occupying whatever body it pleases, passing from a wild beast into a human being, from our body into a beast, but is never destroyed. As pliable wax, stamped with new designs, is no longer what it was; does not keep the same form; but is still one and the same; I teach that the soul is always the same, but migrates into different forms. So, I say as a seer, cease to make kindred spirits homeless, by wicked slaughter: do not let blood be nourished by blood!

Bk 15:176-198 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Eternal Flux

‘Since I have embarked on the wide ocean, and given full sails to the wind, I say there is nothing in the whole universe that persists. Everything flows, and is formed as a fleeting image. Time itself, also, glides, in its continual motion, no differently than a river. For neither the river, nor the swift hour can stop: but as wave impels wave, and as the prior wave is chased by the coming wave, and chases the one before, so time flees equally, and, equally, follows, and is always new. For what was before is left behind: and what was not comes to be: and each moment is renewed.

‘You see the nights’ traverses tend towards day, and brilliant light follow the dark of night. The sky has a different colour when all weary things are at rest, at midnight, than when bright Lucifer appears on his white charger, and alters again when Aurora, herald of the dawn, stains the world she bequeaths to Phoebus. The shield of the god himself is red, when it rises from beneath the earth, and still red, when it is hidden below the earth, again: but is white at the zenith, because there the atmosphere is purer, and it escapes far from the contagion of earth. And Diana, the moon, can never have the same or similar form, and is always less today than tomorrow if her orb is waxing, greater if it is waning.

Bk 15:199-236 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Four Ages of Man

‘Do you not see that the year displays four aspects, passing through them, in a semblance of our life? For spring, in its new life, is tender and sap-filled, and like a child: then the shoots are fresh and growing, delicate, without substance, quickening the farmer’s hopes. Then everything blossoms, the kindly land is a riot of brightly coloured flowers, but the leaves are still not strong. From spring, the year, grown stronger, moves to summer, and becomes a powerful man: no season is sturdier, or more expansive, than this, or shines more richly. Autumn comes, when the ardour of youth has gone, ripe and mellow, between youth and age, a scattering of grey on its forehead. Then trembling winter, with faltering steps, its hair despoiled, or, what it has, turned white.

‘And our bodies themselves are always, restlessly, changing: we shall not be, tomorrow, what we were, or what we are. There was a time when we were hidden in our first mother’s womb, only the seed and promise of a human being: nature applied her skilful hands, and, unwilling for our bodies to be buried, cramped in our mother’s swollen belly, expelled us from our home, into the empty air. Born into the light, the infant lay there, powerless: but soon it scrambled on all fours like a wild creature, then, gradually, helped by a supporting harness, it stood, uncertainly, on shaky legs. From that point, it grew strong and swift, and passed through its span of youth.

‘When the middle years are also done, life takes the downward path of declining age. Milon, the athlete, grown old, cries when he looks at those weak and flabby arms, that were once, like those of Hercules, a solid mass of muscle. Helen, the daughter of Tyndareus, also weeps, when she sees an old woman’s wrinkles in the glass, and asks why she has been twice ravaged. Devouring Time, and you, jealous Age, consume everything, and slowly gnawing at them, with your teeth, little by little, consign all things to eternal death!

Bk 15:237-258 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Elements

‘Even the things we call elements do not persist. Apply your concentration, and I will teach the changes, they pass through. The everlasting universe contains four generative states of matter. Of these, two, earth and water, are heavy, and sink lower, under their own weight. The other two lack heaviness, and, if not held down, they seek height: that is air, and fire, purer than air. Though they are distinct in space, nevertheless they are all derived from one another, and resolve into one another. Earth, melting, is dilated to clear water: the moisture, rarified, changes to wind and air: then air, losing further weight, in the highest regions shines out as fire, the most rarified of all. Then they return, in reverse, revealing the same series of changes. Since fire, condenses, turns into denser air, and this to water, and water, contracted, solidifies as earth.

‘Nothing keeps its own form, and Nature, the renewer of things, refreshes one shape from another. Believe me, nothing dies in the universe as a whole, but it varies and changes its aspect, and what we call ‘being born’ is a beginning to be, of something other, than what was before, and ‘dying’ is, likewise, ending a former state. Though, ‘that’ perhaps is transferred here, and ‘this’, there, the total sum is constant.

Bk 15:259-306 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Geological changes

‘For my part, I would have thought that nothing lasts for long with the same appearance. So the ages changed from gold to iron, and so the fortunes of places have altered. I have seen myself what was once firm land, become the sea: I have seen earth made from the waters: and seashells lie far away from the ocean, and an ancient anchor has been found on a mountaintop. The down rush of waters has made what was once a plain into a valley, and hills, by the deluge have been washed to the sea. Marshy land has drained to parched sand, and what was once thirsty ground filled with a marshy pool.

‘Here, Nature generates fresh springs, and there seals them up, and rivers, released by deep earthquakes, burst out or dry up, and sink. So when the Lycus is swallowed by a chasm in the earth, it emerges far off, reborn, from a different source. So, engulfed, flowing as a hidden stream, the mighty Erasinus emerges again, in the fields of Argos. And they say that Mysus, ashamed of its origin and its former banks, now flows elsewhere, as Caicus. Amenanus flows sometimes churning Sicilian sands, at other times dried up, its fountains blocked. Anigrus, once drinkable, now flows with water you would not wish to touch, since, unless we deny all credence to the poets, the bi-formed centaurs washed their wounds there, dealt by the bow of club-bearing Hercules. Is the Hypanis, born in the Scythian mountains, not ruined by bitter saltwater, that once was sweet?

‘Antissa, and Pharos, and Phoenician Tyre, were surrounded by sea: of which not one, now, is an island. The former settlers of Leucas lived on a peninsula: now the waves encircle it. Zancle also is said to have been joined to Italy, till the waves washed away the boundary, and the deep sea pushed back the land. If you look for Helice and Buris, cities of Achaia, you will find them under the waters, and sailors are accustomed, even now, to point out the submerged towns with their sunken walls.

‘There is a mound near Troezen, where Pittheus ruled, steep and treeless, that once was the flattest open space on the plain, and now is a mound. For (strange to relate) the wild strength of the winds, imprisoned in dark caves, longing for somewhere to breathe, and struggling in vain to enjoy the freer expanses of sky, since there was no gap at all in their prison, as an exit for their breath, extended and swelled the ground, just as a man inflates a bladder, or a goatskin taken from a twin-horned goat. The swelling remained there, and has the look of a high hill, solidified by long centuries.

Bk 15:307-360 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Physical changes

‘Though many instances, I have heard and known of, come to mind, I shall relate only a few more. Does not water, also, offer and receive new forms? Your stream, horned Ammon, is chill at mid-day, and warm in the morning and evening, and they tell of the Athamanians setting fire to wood, by pouring your waters over it, when the moon wanes to her smallest crescent.

‘The Cicones have a river, whose waters when drunk turn the vital organs to stone, and that change things to marble when touched. The Crathis, and the Sybaris, here, near our own country, make hair like amber or gold: and what is more amazing, there are streams that have power to change not merely the body but the mind as well. Who has not heard of the disgusting waves of Salmacis, and the Aethiopian lakes? Whoever wets his throat with these, is either maddened, or falls into a strange, deep sleep.

‘Whoever slakes his thirst at Clitor’s fountain, shuns wine, and only enjoys pure water, whether it is due to a power in the water that counteracts hot wine, or whether, as the natives claim, Melampus, Amythaon’s son, when he had saved the demented daughters of Proetus from madness, by herbs and incantations, threw the remnants, of what had purged their minds, into its springs, and the antipathy to wine was left behind in its waters. The flow of the River Lyncestius has the opposite effect, so that whoever drinks even moderately of it, stumbles about, as if they had drunk pure wine. There is a place in Arcadia, the ancients called Pheneus, mistrusted for its dual-natured waters: beware of them at night, drunk at night they are harmful: in the day they can be drunk without harm. So, rivers and lakes can harbour some power or other.

‘There was a time when Ortygia floated on the waves, now it is fixed, and the Argo’s crew feared the Symphlegades’ collisions, and the spray of their crashing waves, islands that now stand there motionless, and resist the winds.

‘And Aetna that glows, with its sulphurous furnaces, was not always on fire, and will not always be on fire. For if the earth is a creature, that lives, and, in many places, has vents that breathe out flame, she can alter her air passages, and as frequently as she shifts, she can close these caverns and open others. Or, if swift winds are confined in the deep caves, and strike rock against rock, or against material containing the seeds of fire, and Aetna catches alight from the friction, the caves will be left cold when the wind dies. Or, if it is bituminous substances that take fire, and yellow sulphur, burning with little smoke, then, when the ground no longer provides rich fuel, or nourishment for the flames, and their strength fails after long centuries, earth herself will lack the support of devouring nature, and will not withstand that famine, and forsaken, will forsake her fires.

‘There is a tale of men in Hyperborean Pallene, who are used to clothing their bodies in soft plumage, by plunging nine times in Minerva’s pool: for my part, I can scarcely believe it: also the women of Scythia are said to practise the same arts, sprinkling their bodies with magic liquids.

Bk 15:361-390 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Autogenesis

‘However if trust is only placed in proven things, do you not see that whenever corpses putrefy, due to time or melting heat, they generate tiny creatures? Bury the carcases of sacrificed bulls (it is a known experiment) in the ditch where you have thrown them, and flower-sipping bees, will be born, here and there, from the putrid entrails. After the custom of their parent bodies, they frequent the fields, are devoted to work, and labour in hope of harvest.

‘A war-horse dug into the earth is the source of hornets: If you remove the hollow claws of land-crabs, and put the rest under the soil, a scorpion, with its curved and threatening tail, will emerge from the parts interred: and the caterpillars that are accustomed to weave their white cocoons, on uncultivated leaves (a thing observed by farmers) change to a butterfly’s form, symbol of the soul.

‘Mud contains the generative seeds of green frogs, and generates them without legs, soon giving them legs for swimming, and, at the same time, with hind legs longer than their forelegs, so that they are fit to take long leaps. The cub that a she-bear has just produced is not a cub but a scarcely living lump of flesh: the mother gives it a body, by licking it, and shapes it into a form like that she has herself. Do you not see how the larvae of the honey-carrying bees, protected by the hexagonal waxen cells, are born as limbless bodies, and later acquire legs, and later still wings?

‘Who would believe, if he did not know, that Juno’s bird, the peacock, that bears eyes, like stars, on its tail; and Jupiter’s eagle, carrying his lightning-bolt; and Cytherea’s doves; all the bird species; are born from the inside of an egg? There are those who believe that when the spine decomposes, interred in the tomb, human marrow forms a snake.

Bk 15:391-417 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Phoenix

‘Yet these creatures receive their start in life from others: there is one, a bird, which renews itself, and reproduces from itself. The Assyrians call it the phoenix. It does not live on seeds and herbs, but on drops of incense, and the sap of the cardamom plant. When it has lived for five centuries, it then builds a nest for itself in the topmost branches of a swaying palm tree, using only its beak and talons. As soon as it has lined it with cassia bark, and smooth spikes of nard, cinnamon fragments and yellow myrrh, it settles on top, and ends its life among the perfumes.

‘They say that, from the father’s body, a young phoenix is reborn, destined to live the same number of years. When age has given it strength, and it can carry burdens, it lightens the branches of the tall palm of the heavy nest, and piously carries its own cradle, that was its father’s tomb, and, reaching the city of Hyperion, the sun-god, through the clear air, lays it down in front of the sacred doors of Hyperion’s temple.

‘If there is anything to marvel at, however, in these novelties, we might marvel at how the hyena changes function, and a moment ago a female, taken from behind by a male, is now a male. Also that animal, the chameleon, fed by wind and air, instantly adopts the colour of whatever it touches.

‘Vanquished India gave lynxes to Bacchus of the clustered vines, and, they say that, whatever their bladder emits, changes to stone, and solidifies on contact with air. So coral, also, hardens the first time air touches it: it was a soft plant under the waves.

Bk 15:418-452 Pythagoras’s Teachings: Transfers of Power

‘The day will end, and Phoebus will bathe his weary horses in the deep, before my words can do justice to all that has been translated into new forms. So we see times change, and these nations acquiring power and those declining. So Troy, that was so great in men and riches, and for ten years of war could give so freely of her blood, is humbled, and only reveals ancient ruins now, and, for wealth, ancestral tombs. Sparta was famous, great Mycenae flourished, and Cecrops’s citadel of Athens, and Amphion’s Thebes. Sparta is worthless land, proud Mycenae is fallen, and what is the Thebes of Oedipus but a name, what is left of the Athens of Pandion, but a name?

‘Even now, there is a rumour that Rome, of the Dardanians, is rising, by Tiber’s waters, born in the Apennines, and laying, beneath its mass, the foundation of great things. So, growing, it changes form, and one day will be the capital of a whole world! So, it is said, the seers predict, and the oracles that tell our fate. As I remember also, when the Trojan State was falling, Helenus, son of Priam, said to a weeping Aeneas, who was unsure of his future: “Son of the goddess, if you take careful heed, of what my mind prophesies, Troy will not wholly perish while you live! Fire and sword will give way before you: you will go, as one man, catching up, and bearing away Pergama, till you find a foreign land, kinder to you and Troy, than your fatherland. I see, even now, a city, destined for Phrygian descendants, than which none is greater, or shall be, or has been, in past ages.

‘Other leaders will make her powerful, through the long centuries, but one, born of the blood of Iülus, will make her mistress of the world. When earth has benefited from him, the celestial regions will enjoy him, and heaven will be his goal.”

‘These things, I remember well, Helenus prophesied for Aeneas, as Aeneas carried the ancestral gods, and I am glad that the walls, of his descendants, are rising, and that the Greeks conquered to a Trojan’s gain.

Bk 15:453-478 Pythagoras’s Teachings: The Sanctity of Life

‘Now (lest I stray too far off course, my horses forgetting to aim towards their goal), the heavens, and whatever is under them, change their form, and the earth, and whatever is within it. We, as well, who are a part of the universe, because we are not merely flesh, but in truth, winged spirits, and can enter into the family of wild creatures, and be imprisoned in the minds of animals.

‘We should allow those beings to live in safety, and honour, that the spirits of our parents, or brothers, or those joined to us by some other bond, certainly human, might have inhabited: and not fill our bellies as if at a Thyestean feast! What evil they contrive, how impiously they prepare to shed human blood itself, who rip at a calf’s throat with the knife, and listen unmoved to its bleating, or can kill a kid to eat, that cries like a child, or feed on a bird, that they themselves have fed! How far does that fall short of actual murder? Where does the way lead on from there?

‘Let the ox plough, or owe his death to old age: let the sheep yield wool, to protect against the chill north wind: let the she-goats give you full udders for milking! Have done with nets and traps, snares and the arts of deception! Do not trick the birds with limed twigs, or imprison the deer, scaring them with feathered ropes, or hide barbed hooks in treacherous bait. Kill them, if they harm you, but even then let killing be enough. Let your mouth be free of their blood, enjoy milder food!’

Bk 15:479-546 The transformation of Hippolytus

His mind versed in these and other teachings, it is said that Numa returned to his native country, and took control of Latium, at the people’s request. Blessed with a nymph, Egeria, for wife, and guided by the Muses, he taught the sacred rituals, and educated a savage, warlike, race in the arts of peace.

When, in old age, he relinquished his sceptre, with his life, the women of Latium, the populace, and the senators wept for the dead Numa: but Egeria, his wife, left the city, and lived in retirement, concealed by dense woods, in the valley of Aricia, and her sighs and lamentations prevented the worship of Oresteian Diana. O! How often the nymphs of the lakes and groves admonished her to stop, and spoke words of consolation to her!

How often Hippolytus, Theseus’s heroic son, said, to the weeping nymph: ‘Make an end to this, since yours is not the only fate to be lamented: think of others’ like misfortunes: you will endure your own more calmly. I wish my own case had no power to lighten your sorrow! But even mine can. If your ears have heard anything of Hippolytus, of how, through his father’s credulity, and the deceits of his accursed stepmother, he met his death, though you will be amazed, and I will prove it with difficulty, nevertheless, I am he.

‘Phaedra, Pasiphaë’s daughter, having tried, vainly, to tempt me to dishonour my father’s bed, deflected guilt, and, (more through fear than anger at being rejected?), made out I had wanted, what she wished, and so accused me. Not in the least deserving it, my father banished me from the city, and called down hostile curses on my head.

‘Exiled, I headed my chariot towards Troezen, Pittheus’s city, and was travelling the Isthmus, near Corinth, when the sea rose, and a huge mass of water shaped itself into a mountain, and seemed to grow, and give out bellowings, splitting at the summit: from it, a horned bull, emerged, out of the bursting waters, standing up to his chest in the gentle breeze, expelling quantities of seawater from his nostrils and gaping mouth. My companions’ hearts were troubled, but my mind stayed unshaken, preoccupied with thoughts of exile, when my fiery horses turned their necks towards the sea, and trembled, with ears pricked, disturbed by fear of the monster, and dragged the chariot, headlong, down the steep cliff.

‘I struggled, in vain, to control them with the foam-flecked reins, and leaning backwards, strained at the resistant thongs. Even then, the horses’ madness would not have exhausted my strength, if a wheel had not broken, and been wrenched off, as the axle hub, round which it revolves, struck a tree. I was thrown from the chariot, and, my body entangled in the reins, my sinews caught by the tree, you might have seen my living entrails dragged along, my limbs partly torn away, partly held fast, my bones snapped with a loud crack, and my weary spirit expiring: no part of my body recognisable: but all one wound. Now can you compare your tragedy, or dare you, nymph, with mine?

‘I saw, also, the kingdom without light, and bathed my lacerated body in Phlegethon’s waves: there still, if Apollo’s son, Aesculapius, had not restored me to life with his powerful cures. When, despite Dis’s anger, I regained it, by the power of herbs and Paean’s help, Cynthia, created a dense mist round me, so that I might not be seen and increase envy at the gift. And she added a look of age, and left me unrecognisable, so that I would be safe, and might be seen with impunity. She considered, for a while, whether to give me Crete or Delos to live in: abandoning Delos and Crete, she set me down here, and ordered me to discard my name that might remind me of horses, and said: “You, who were Hippolytus, be also, now, Virbius!” Since then I have lived in this grove, one of the minor deities, and sheltering in the divinity of Diana, my mistress, I am coupled with her.’

Egeria’s grief could not be lessened, even by the sufferings of others: prostrate, at the foot of a mountain, she melted away in tears, till Phoebus’s sister, out of pity for her true sorrow, made a cool fountain from her body, and reduced her limbs to unfailing waters.

Bk 15:552-621 Cipus acquires horns

This strange event amazed the nymphs, and the Amazon’s son was no less astounded, than the Tyrrhenian ploughman when he saw a fateful clod of earth in the middle of his fields, first move by itself with no one touching it, then assume the form of a man, losing its earthy nature, and open its newly acquired mouth, to utter things to come. The native people called him Tages, he who first taught the Etruscan race to reveal future events. No less astounded than Romulus, when he saw his spear, that had once grown on the Palatine Hill, suddenly put out leaves, and stand there, not with its point driven in, but with fresh roots: now not a weapon but a tough willow-tree, giving unexpected shade to those who wondered at it.

No less astounded than Cipus, the praetor, when he saw his horns in the river’s water (truly he saw them) and, thinking it a false likeness of his true form, lifting his hands repeatedly to his forehead, touched what he saw. Unable now to resist the evidence of his eyes, he raised his eyes and arms to the sky, like a victor returning from a beaten enemy, and cried: ‘You gods, whatever this unnatural thing portends, if it is happiness, let it be the happiness of my country, and the race of Quirinus: if it is a threat, let it be towards me.’

Making a grassy altar of green turf, he appeased the gods with burning incense, and made a libation of wine, and inspected the quivering entrails of sacrificed sheep, as to what they portended for him. As soon as the Tyrrhenian seer, there, saw them, he recognised the signs of great happenings, not yet manifest, and when indeed he raised his keen eyes from the sheep’s entrails to Cipus’s forehead, he cried: ‘Hail! O King! You, even you, Cipus, and your horns, this place, and Latium’s citadels, shall obey. Only no delay: hurry and enter the open gates! So fate commands: and received in the city, you will be king, and safely possess the eternal sceptre.’

Cipus drew back, and grimly turning his face away from the city’s walls, he said: ‘Oh, let the gods keep all such things, far, far away, from me! Far better for me to spend my life in exile, than for the Capitol to see me crowned! He spoke, and immediately called together the people and the grave senators. First however he hid his horns with the laurels of peace, then standing on a mound raised by resolute soldiers, and praying to the ancient gods as customary, he said: ‘There is a man here who shall be king, unless you drive him from the city. I will show you who he is, not by name, but by a sign: he wears horns on his forehead! The augur declares that if he enters Rome, he will grant you only the rights of slaves. He could have forced his way in, through the open gates, but I opposed it, though no one is more closely connected to him than me. Quirites, keep the man out of your city, and, if he deserves it, load him with heavy chains, or end all fear, with the death of this fated tyrant!’

There was a sound from the crowd, like the murmur from the pine-trees when the wild East wind whistles through them, or like the waves of the sea, heard from far off: but among the confused cries of the noisy throng, one rang out: ‘Who is he?’ They looked at each other’s forehead looking for the horns foretold. Cipus spoke to them again: ‘You have here, whom you seek,’ and, taking the wreath from his head, the people trying to prevent him, he showed them his temples, conspicuous by their twin horns. They all sighed, and lowered their eyes (who could believe it?) and were reluctant to look at that distinguished head. Not allowing him any longer to be dishonoured, they replaced the festal wreath.

But since you were forbidden to enter the city, Cipus, they gave you, as an honour, as much land as you could enclose, with a team of oxen, harnessed to the plough, between dawn and sunset. And they engraved horns on the bronze gateposts, recalling their marvellous nature, to remain there through the centuries.

Bk 15:622-745 Aesculapius, the god, saves Rome from plague

You Muses, goddesses present to poets, reveal, now (since you know, and spacious time cannot betray you) where Aesculapius, son of Coronis, came from, to be joined to the gods of Romulus’s city, that the deep Tiber flows around.

Once, plague tainted the air of Latium, and people’s bodies were ravaged by disease, pallid and bloodless. When they saw that their efforts were useless, and medical skill was useless, wearied with funeral rites, they sought help from the heavens, and travelled to Delphi, set at the centre of the earth, to the oracle of Phoebus, and prayed that he would aid them, in their misery, by a health-giving prophecy, and end their great city’s evil. The ground, the laurel-tree, and the quiver he holds himself, trembled together, and the tripod responded with these words, from the innermost sanctuary, troubling their fearful minds: ‘You should have looked in a nearer place, Romans, for what you seek here: even now, look for it from that nearer place: your help is not from Apollo, to lessen your pain, but Apollo’s son. Go, with good omens, and fetch my child.’

When the senate, in its wisdom, heard the god’s command, it made enquiries as to the city where Phoebus’s son lived, and sent an embassy to sail to the coast of Epidaurus. As soon as the curved ship touched shore, the embassy went to the council of Greek elders, and begged them to give up the god, who, by his presence, might prevent the death of the Ausonian race: so the oracle truly commanded. They disagreed, and were of various minds: some thought that help could not be refused: the majority recommended the god should be kept, and their own wealth not released, or surrendered.

While they wavered, as dusk dispelled the lingering light, and darkness covered the countries of the earth with shadow, then, in your dreams, Aesculapius, god of healing, seemed to stand before your bed, Roman, just as he is seen in his temple, holding a rustic staff in his left hand, and stroking his long beard with his right, and with a calm voice, speaking these words: ‘Have no fear! I will come, and I will leave a statue of myself behind. Take a good look at this snake, that winds, in knots, round my staff, and keep it in your sight continually, until you know it! I will change into this, but greater in size, seeming as great as a celestial body should be when it changes.’ The god vanished with the voice, at once: and sleep, with the voice, and the god: and as sleep fled, kind day dawned.

When morning had put the bright stars to flight, the leaders, still unsure what to do, gathered at the temple complex of that god whom the Romans sought, and begged him to show them by some divine token where he himself wanted to live. They had hardly ceased speaking, when the golden god, in the likeness of a serpent with a tall crest, gave out a hiss as a harbinger of his presence, and by his coming, rocked the statue, the doors, the marble pavement, and the gilded roof. Then he stopped, in the middle of the temple, raising himself breast-high, and gazed round, with eyes flashing fire.

The terrified crowd trembled, but the priest, his sacred locks tied with a white band, knew the divine one, and cried: ‘The god, behold, it is the god! Restrain your minds and tongues, whoever is here! Let the sight of you, O most beautiful one, work for us, and help the people worshipping at your shrine!’ Whoever was there, worshipped the god, as they were told, and all re-echoed the priest’s words, and the Romans gave dutiful support, with mind and voice.

The god nodded, and shook his crest, confirming his favour, by hissing three times in succession, with his flickering tongue. Then he glided down the gleaming steps, and turning his head backwards, gazed at the ancient altars he was abandoning, and saluted his accustomed house, and the temple where he had lived. From there the vast serpent slid over the flower-strewn ground, flexing his body, and made his way through the city centre to the harbour, protected by its curved embankment. He halted there, and, appearing to dismiss the dutiful throng, with a calm expression, settled his body down in the Ausonian ship. It felt the divine burden, and the keel sank under the god’s weight. The Romans were joyful, and, sacrificing a bull on the shore, they loosed the twisted cables of their wreath-crowned ship. A gentle breeze drove the vessel: the god arching skyward, rested his neck heavily on the curving sternpost, and gazed at the dark blue waters.

With gentle breezes he reached Italy, over the Ionian Sea, on the sixth morning. He passed the shores of Lacinium, famous for Juno’s temple, and Scylaceum; he left Iapygia, and avoided the rocks of Amphrisia to larboard, the cliffs of Cocinthia to starboard; he coasted by Romethium, by Caulon and Narycia: he passed the narrow strait of Sicilian Pelorus, and the home of King Aeolus, and the mines of Temese, and headed for Leucosia and the rose-gardens of gentle Paestum.

From there he skirted Capri, and Minerva’s promontory, and Surrentum’s hills well-stocked with vines, Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Parthenope, born for idleness, and headed for the temple of the Cumean Sibyl. By Baiae’s hot pools; and Liternum’s lentisk trees; and the River Volturnus, dragging quantities of sand along in its floodwaters; and Sinuessa, frequented by white doves; and unhealthy Minturnae; and Caïeta, named after her whom Aeneas her foster-son buried; and the home of Antiphates; and marsh-surrounded Trachas; and Circe’s land; and Antium’s firm shore.

When the sailors steered their ship, under sail, to the place (since the sea was now rough) the god unwound his coils, and gliding along, fold after fold, in giant curves, entered his father Apollo’s temple, bordering the yellow strand. When the sea was calm, the Epidaurian left the paternal altars, and having enjoyed the hospitality of his divine father, furrowed the sandy shore as he dragged his rasping scales along, and climbing the rudder, rested his head on the ship’s high sternpost, until he came to Castrum, the sacred city of Lavinium, and the Tiber’s mouths.

All the people, men and women alike, had come thronging from every side, in a crowd, to meet him, along with those who serve your flames, Trojan Vesta, and they hailed the god with joyful cries. As the swift ship sailed up-stream, incense burned with a crackling sound on a series of altars on either bank, and the fumes perfumed the air, and the slaughtered victims bled heat on the sacrificial knives.

Now it entered Rome, the capital of the world. The snake stood erect, and resting his neck on the mast’s summit, turned, and looked for places fit for him to live. The river splits here into two branches, flowing round what is named the Island, stretching its two arms out equally on both sides, with the land between. There the serpent-child of Phoebus landed, and, resuming his divine form, made an end to grief, and came as a health-giver to the city.

Bk 15:745-842 The deification of Julius Caesar

Though Aesculapius came as a stranger to our temples, Caesar is a god in his own city. Outstanding in war or peace, it was not so much his wars that ended in great victories, or his actions at home, or his swiftly won fame, that set him among the stars, a fiery comet, as his descendant. There is no greater achievement among Caesar’s actions than that he stood father to our emperor. Is it a greater thing to have conquered the sea-going Britons; to have lead his victorious ships up the seven-mouthed flood of the papyrus-bearing Nile; to have brought the rebellious Numidians, under Juba of Cinyps, and Pontus, swollen with the name of Mithridates, under the people of Quirinus; to have earned many triumphs and celebrated few; than to have sponsored such a man, with whom, as ruler of all, you gods have richly favoured the human race? Therefore, in order for the emperor not to have been born of mortal seed, Caesar needed to be made a god.

When Venus, the golden mother of Aeneas, saw this, and also saw that a grim death was being readied for Caesar, her high-priest, and an armed conspiracy was under way, she grew pale and said to every god in turn: ‘See the nest of tricks being prepared against me, and with what treachery that life is being attacked, all that is left to me of Trojan Iülus. Will I be the only one always to be troubled by well-founded anxiety: now Diomede’s Calydonian spear wounds me: now the ill-defended walls of Troy confound me, seeing my son Aeneas driven to endless wandering, storm-tossed, entering the silent house of shadows, waging war against Turnus, or, if we speak the truth, with Juno, rather? Why do I recall, now, the ancient sufferings of my race? This present fear inhibits memory of the past: look at those evil knives being sharpened. Prevent them, I beg you, thwart this attempt, and do not allow Vesta’s flames to be quenched by the blood of her priest!’

Venus in her anxiety voiced her fears throughout the heavens, but in vain, troubling the gods, who though they could not break the iron rules of the ancient sisters, nevertheless gave no uncertain omens of imminent disaster. They say weapons, clashing among black clouds, and terrifying trumpets and horns, foretelling crime, were heard from the sky: and that the face of the sun, darkened, gave out a lurid light, over the troubled earth. Often, firebrands were seen, burning in the midst of the stars: often drops of blood rained from the clouds: Lucifer, the morning star, was dulled, with rust-black spots on his disc, and the moon’s chariot was spattered with blood.

The Stygian owl sounded its sad omens in a thousand places: in a thousand places ivory statues wept: and incantations, and warning words, were said to have been heard in the sacred groves. No sacrifice was favourable, and the livers were found with cleft lobes, among the entrails, warning of great and impending civil conflict. In the forum, and around men’s houses, and the temples of the gods, dogs howled at night, and they say the silent dead walked, and earthquakes shook the city. Still the gods’ warnings could not prevent the conspiracy, or fate’s fulfillment.

Drawn swords were carried into the curia, the sacred senate house: no place in the city would satisfy them, as scene for the act of evil murder, but this. Then in truth Cytherean Venus struck her breast with both hands, and tried to hide Caesar in a cloud, as Paris was once snatched from the attack of Atrides, and Aeneas escaped Diomede’s sword.

Then Jupiter, the father, spoke: ‘Alone, do you think you will move the immoveable fates, daughter? You are allowed yourself to enter the house of the three: there you will see all things written, a vast labour, in bronze and solid iron, that, eternal and secure, does not fear the clashing of the skies, the lightning’s anger, or any forces of destruction. There you will find the fate of your descendants cut in everlasting adamant. I have read them myself, and taken note of them in my mind, and I will tell you, so that you are no longer blind to the future.

This descendant of yours you suffer over, Cytherean, has fulfilled his time, and the years he owes to earth are done. You, and Augustus, his ‘son’, will ensure that he ascends to heaven as a god, and is worshipped in the temples. Augustus, as heir to his name, will carry the burden placed upon him alone, and will have us with him, in battle, as the most courageous avenger of his father’s murder. Under his command, the conquered walls of besieged Mutina will sue for peace; Pharsalia will know him; Macedonian Philippi twice flow with blood; and the one who holds Pompey’s great name, will be defeated in Sicilian waters; and a Roman general’s Egyptian consort, trusting, to her cost, in their marriage, will fall, her threat that our Capitol would bow to her city of Canopus, proved vain.

Why enumerate foreign countries, for you, or the nations living on either ocean shore? Wherever earth contains habitable land, it will be his: and even the sea will serve him!

When the world is at peace, he will turn his mind to the civil code, and, as the most just of legislators, make law. He will direct morality by his own example, and, looking to the future ages and coming generations, he will order a son, Tiberius, born of his virtuous wife, to take his name, and his responsibilities. He will not attain his heavenly home, and the stars, his kindred, until he is old, and his years equal his merits. Meanwhile take up Caesar’s spirit from his murdered corpse, and change it into a star, so that the deified Julius may always look down from his high temple on our Capitol and forum.’

Bk 15:843-870 Ovid’s celebration of Augustus

He had barely finished, when gentle Venus stood in the midst of the senate, seen by no one, and took up the newly freed spirit of her Caesar from his body, and preventing it from vanishing into the air, carried it towards the glorious stars. As she carried it, she felt it glow and take fire, and loosed it from her breast: it climbed higher than the moon, and drawing behind it a fiery tail, shone as a star.

Seeing his son’s good works, Caesar acknowledges they are greater than his own, and delights in being surpassed by him. Though the son forbids his own actions being honoured above his father’s, nevertheless fame, free and obedient to no one’s orders, exalts him, despite himself, and denies him in this one thing. So great Atreus cedes the title to Agamemnon: so Theseus outdoes Aegeus, and Achilles his father Peleus: and lastly, to quote an example worthy of these two, so Saturn is less than Jove.

Jupiter commands the heavenly citadels, and the kingdoms of the threefold universe. Earth is ruled by Augustus. Each is a father and a master. You gods, the friends of Aeneas, to whom fire and sword gave way; you deities of Italy; and Romulus, founder of our city; and Mars, father of Romulus; Vesta, Diana, sacred among Caesar’s ancestral gods, and you, Phoebus, sharing the temple with Caesar’s Vesta; you, Jupiter who hold the high Tarpeian citadel; and all you other gods, whom it is fitting and holy for a poet to invoke, I beg that the day be slow to arrive, and beyond our own lifetime, when Augustus shall rise to heaven, leaving the world he rules, and there, far off, shall listen, with favour, to our prayers!

Bk 15:871-879 Ovid’s Envoi

And now the work is done, that Jupiter’s anger, fire or sword cannot erase, nor the gnawing tooth of time. Let that day, that only has power over my body, end, when it will, my uncertain span of years: yet the best part of me will be borne, immortal, beyond the distant stars. Wherever Rome’s influence extends, over the lands it has civilised, I will be spoken, on people’s lips: and, famous through all the ages, if there is truth in poet’s prophecies, –vivam - I shall live.

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Part 1 of 9

Index

Abanteus
Of Abas, King of Argos. Argive.

Abantiades
Bk 5:107-148. Bk 5:200-249. An epithet of Perseus, as the great-grandson of Abas.

Abaris
Bk 5:74-106. A Caucasian. A companion of Phineus killed by Perseus.

Abas(1)
Bk 4:604-662. BkXV:143-175. King of Argos, father of Acrisius, great grandfather of Perseus.

Abas(2)
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. Venus transforms him into a bird.

Abas(3)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Abas(4)
Bk 5:107-148. A warrior friend of Perseus.

Absyrtus
Bk 7:1-74. Medea's young brother.

Acarnania
Bk 8:547-610. A coastal region of western central Greece, bordering the Ionian Sea, bounded to the south-east by the River Achelous, and scene of the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Acastus
King of Iolchos in Thessaly, son of Pelias.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 11:346-409. He absolves Peleus of blood-guilt.

Acestes
Bk 14:75-100. A Trojan, a friend of Aeneas, living at Eryx on Sicily. Aeneas visits him, and sacrifices, and pays honour at his father, Anchises's tomb, who had previously died there. (See Virgil, The Aeneid III 700, and V)

Achaemenides
Bk 14:154-222. A companion of Ulysses, wrongly believed lost near Aetna.

Achaia
Bk 3:511-527. Bk 5:294-331. Bk 7:501-613. A name for the Greek mainland, derived from a region in the northern Peloponnese. Hence the Acheans, for the name of the people who fought against Troy in Homer's Iliad.
Bk 4:604-662. Its peoples accept the worship of Bacchus.
Bk 5:572-641. Arethusa's country.
Bk 7:100-158. The Argonauts are Achaeans.
Bk 8:260-328. It is threatened by Diana's avenging wild boar.
Bk 12:64-145. The country of the Greeks, who attack Troy.
Bk 15:259-306. It contained the destroyed cities of Helice and Buris.

Acheloia
Bk 9:394-417. Callirhoe, daughter of Achelous.

Acheloides
Bk 5:533-571. The Sirens, the daughters of Achelous.

Achelous
Bk 8:547-610. A river and river god, whose waters separated Acarnania and Aetolia. He offers hospitality to Theseus and his companions and tells the story of Perimele.
Bk 8:611-678. Pirithous accuses him of too much credulity concerning the power of the gods to alter human forms.
Bk 8:725-776. He tells of Proteus, and of Erysichthon.
Bk 8:843-884. He tells of Mestra.
Bk 9:1-88. He tells the story of how he wrestled with Hercules and lost one of his horns.
Bk 9:89-158. He is fortunate compared to Nessus.
Bk 14:75-100. The Sirens are his daughters.

Acheron
A river of the underworld, the underworld itself.
Bk 5:533-571. The god of the river, father of Ascalaphus by the nymph Orphne.
Bk 11:474-572. It is in the deepest pit of the infernal regions.

Achilles
The Greek hero of the Trojan War. The son of Peleus, king of Thessaly, and the sea-goddess Thetis, (See Homer's Iliad).
Bk 8:260-328. His father is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 11:221-265. He is conceived when Peleus holds the shape-changing Thetis, and forces her to adopt her true form.
Bk 12:64-145. He is a Greek hero at Troy, and defeats the seemingly invulnerable Cycnus(3).
Bk 12:146-209. He sacrifices to Pallas, and asks Nestor to tell the story of Caeneus.
Bk 12:290-326. Nestor tells him of his father's armour bearer.
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:481-575. He is killed by Paris's arrow, at Apollo's instigation. The Greeks dispute over the ownership of his armour.
Bk 13:123-381. Victim of an unequal fate. (He famously wished for a short and glorious life, rather than a long, inglorious one.) Dolon was promised his horses for spying on the Greeks.
Bk 13:429-480. He appears as a ghost demanding the sacrifice of Polyxena.
Bk 13:576-622. He had killed Memnon in battle.
Bk 15:843-870. His achievements surpass those of his father Peleus.

Acis
The lover of Galatea. The son of Faunus and Symaethis.
(See Claude Lorrain's painting - Landscape with Acis and Galatea - Gemäldegalerie, Dresden)
Bk 13:738-788. Galatea loves him.
Bk 13:789-869. Polyphemus threatens him.
Bk 13:870-897. Polyphemus kills him with a rock and he is changed by Galatea into his ancestral form of a river.

Acmon
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. He insults Venus and is transformed into a bird.

Acoetes
Bk 3:572-596. A Tyrrhenian from Maeonia, a ship's captain and priest of Bacchus, captured by Pentheus. There is the suggestion later that Acoetes is a manifestation of Bacchus himself ( 'nec enim praesentior illo est deus'). (See Euripides: The Bacchae)
Bk 3:597-637. He tells of them finding Bacchus on Chios, and how he knew that the boy was a god, and tried to avoid sacrilege.
Bk 3:638-691. He escapes the transformation of the ship and crew by Bacchus.
Bk 3:692-733. He vanishes from Pentheus's prison mysteriously.

Aconteus
Bk 5:200-249. A companion of Perseus, inadvertently turned to stone.

Acrisioniades
Bk 5:30-73. Perseus, as the grandson of Acrisius.

Acrisius
Bk 3:528-571. King of Argos, the son of Abas, father of Danae, and grandfather of Perseus. He opposed the worship of Bacchus-Dionysus.
Bk 4:604-662. He rejects the divine origin of Bacchus and Perseus, but will live to regret it. He is kin to Cadmus and to Bacchus son of Semele, Cadmus's daughter, because Danaus is his ancestor whose line runs back to Belus, brother of Agenor, who is father of Cadmus. Both Belus and Agenor are sons of Neptune.
Bk 5:200-249. He is ousted by his brother Proetus, but has his kingdom restored to him, though little deserving it, by Perseus.

Acropolis
Confused with Areopagus.

Acrota
Bk 14:609-622. A mythical Alban king.

Actaeon
Bk 3:138-164. Grandson of Cadmus, son of Autonoe, called Hyantius from an ancient name for Boeotia.
Bk 3:165-205. He sees Diana bathing naked and is turned into a stag.
Bk 3:206-231. He is pursued by his hounds. The dogs are named.
Bk 3:232-252. He is torn to pieces by his own pack. (See the Metope of Temple E at Selinus - the Death of Actaeon - Palermo, National Museum: and Titian's painting - the Death of Actaeon - National Gallery, London.)

Actaeus
Bk 2:531-565. Atticus, belonging to Attica in Greece.
Bk 2:708-736. The Actaean hill, referring to the Athenian Acropolis.
Book VI:675-721. Used of Orithyia of Athens.
Bk 8:152-182. Minos demands a tribute of young men and girls selected by lot every nine years from Athens to feed the Minotaur.
Actium
The promontory in Epirus site of the famous naval battle in the bay between Octavian (later Augustus Caesar) and Antony in 31BC. (It lies opposite the modern port of Préveza on the Gulf of Amvrakia.)
Antony was defeated by Octavians' admiral, Agrippa and the outcome led to Cleopatra's downfall.
Bk 13:705-737. Passed by Aeneas. Associated with Apollo.

Actorides
A descendant of Actor.
Bk 5:74-106. Of Eurytus.
Bk 8:260-328. Eurytus and Cleatus present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Admetus, see Pheretiades
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Adonis
The son of Myrrha by her father Cinyras, born after her transformation into a myrrh-tree. (As such he is a vegetation god born from the heart of the wood.)
Bk 10:503-559. Venus falls in love with him.
Bk 10:560-637. She tells him the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes.
Bk 10:681-707. She warns him to avoid savage creatures.
Bk 10:708-739. He ignores her warning and is killed by a wild boar that gashes his thigh. His blood becomes the windflower, the anemone.

Aeacides
Bk 7:453-500. The descendants of Aeacus.
Bk 7:796-865. Phocus as a son of Aeacus.
Bk 8:1-80. The troops mustered on Aegina to fight Minos.
Bk 11:221-265. Bk 11:266-345. Bk 11:346-409. Bk 12:290-326. Peleus son of Aeacus.
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:481-575. Achilles as the son of Peleus.
Bk 13:1-122. Ajax and Achilles whose fathers were the brothers Peleus and Telamon.

Aeacus
Bk 7:453-500. The son of Jupiter and Aegina, grandson of Asopus, the river-god of the north-eastern Peloponnese. He names his island, in the Saronic gulf, Aegina after his mother. Its ancient name was Oenopia. He refuses to ally himself with Minos against Athens.
Bk 7:501-613. He recounts the history of the plague at Aegina.
Bk 7:796-865. He provides Cephalus with men and weapons.
Bk 9:418-438. Bk 9:439-516. Jupiter recognising his piety wishes that he could remove the burden of old age from him.
Bk 11:194-220. The father of Telamon and Peleus.
Bk 11:221-265. The father of Peleus.
Bk 13:1-122. The father of Telamon, and grandfather of Ajax. The acknowledged son of Jupiter by Aegina.

Aeas
Bk 1:568-587. A river in Epirus.

Aeetes
King of Colchis, son of Sol and the Oceanid Perse, brother of Circe, and father of Medea.
Bk 7:1-73. The Argonauts reach his court, and request the return of the Golden Fleece. This fleece was that of the divine ram on which Phrixus had fled from Orchemonos, to avoid being sacrificed. Iolcus could never prosper until it was brought back to Thessaly. King Aeetes is reluctant and sets Jason demanding tasks as a pre-condition for its return.
Bk 7:159-178. Medea regrets her betrayal of her father and country.

Aeetias
Medea, as the daughter of Aeetes.

Aegaeon
Bk 2:1-30. Briareus, one of the hundred-handed giants. A name also for the earliest Heracles. He is depicted on the palace of the Sun.

Aegaeus, Aegean
The Aegean Sea between Greece and Asia Minor.
Bk 9:439-516. Miletus crosses it to found the city of that name in Asia Minor.
Bk 11:650-709. Ceyx is drowned there in a southerly gale.

Aegeus
Bk 7:350-403. The father of Theseus, a king of Athens, and son of Pandion. He gives refuge to Medea and marries her.
Bk 7:404-424. His son Theseus by Aethra, daughter of Pittheus of Troezen, is unknown to him, but comes to Athens. Aegeus recognises a sword he has left under a stone, as a trial, successfully attained by Theseus, in time to dash Medea's poisoned cup from Theseus's lips.
Bk 7:425-452. He gives thanks for Theseus's escape.
Bk 7:453-500. He prepares for war with Minos of Crete.
Bk 15:843-870. He is surpassed by his son Theseus.

Aegides
Bk 8:152-182. Bk 8:376-424. Bk 12:290-326. Theseus, son of Aegeus.

Aegina(1)
The daughter of the river god Asopus (of the north-eastern Peloponnese) , hence called Asopis.
Bk 6:103-128 . Arachne depicts her rape by Jupiter in the form of a flame.
Bk 7:453-500. Aeacus her son names the island of Aegina(2) after her.
Bk 7:614-660. Aeacus invokes her in his plea to Jupiter.
Bk 11:194-220. Her grandsons are Telamon and Peleus allowing them to claim Jupiter as their grandfather.

Aegina(2)
Bk 7:453-500. An island in the Saronic Sea between Attica and Argolis. Named by Aeacus after his mother. Once called Oenopia.
It refuses to aid Minos in his war on Attica. (The later conflict with Athens compelled the surrender of the island in 459BC and its destruction as an economic power.)

Aegyptius
Of Egypt, the north African country.
Bk 5:294-331. Pretended by the Emathides to have given refuge to the gods in their war with the giants.
Bk 15:745-842. Ruled by Cleopatra.

Aello
Bk 13:705-737. A harpy on the islands of the Strophades encountered by Aeneas.

Aeneades
Bk 15:622-745. A descendant of Aeneas. The Romans.

Aeneas
Bk 15:745-842. A Trojan prince, the son of Venus and Anchises, and the hero of Virgil's Aeneid.
(See Turner's etching and painting, The Golden Bough- British Museum and Tate Gallery)
Bk 13:623-639. He leaves ruined Troy carrying his father, and the sacred icons of Venus, and, with his son Ascanius also, sails to Delos where he sacrifices to the Delian gods.
Bk 13:640-674. Bk 13:675-704. He consults the oracle of Apollo and is told to seek out his ancient mother and ancestral shores. He receives the gift of a cup of Alcon's design from King Anius of Delos.
Bk 13:705-737. He reaches Crete, and then sails to Sicily. (See Virgil, The Aneid III)
Bk 14:75-100. He reaches Carthage, deserts Dido, and reaches Cumae. (See Virgil, The Aeneid I, IV, and V)
Bk 14:101-153. He visits the Sibyl, who conducts him to the Underworld, having plucked the golden bough. He sees his father's shade in the fields of Elysium. ( See Virgil, The Aeneid VI)
Bk 14:154-222. Bk 15:622-745. He returns from the Underworld, and sails from Cumae north, along the western Italian coast, to Caieta (modern Gaeta) where he marks the funeral of Caieta his old nurse, who gives her name to the place. (See Virgil's Aeneid, the opening lines of book VII.)
Bk 14:435-444. He sets up Caieta's tomb and inscribes an epitaph.
Bk 14:445-482. He wins the throne of Latinus, and marries his daughter, Lavinia. He wages war with the Rutulians under Turnus, and is supported by Evander.
Bk 14:566-580. He is deified as Indiges.
Bk 15:418-452. Helenus prophesied that Aeneas carried the destiny of Troy and its descendant city, Rome.
Bk 15:745-842. Venus once saved him from Diomede, by veiling him in a cloud.
Bk 15:843-870. Ovid calls on the gods friendly to Aeneas.

Aeolia virgo
Bk 6:103-128. Canace, the daughter of Aeolus. Her rape by Neptune in the form of a bull is depicted by Arachne.

Aeolides
A descendant of Aeolus.
Book IV:512-542. Applied to his son Athamas.
Book VI:675-721. Applied to his grandson Cephalus.
Bk 9:439-516. The six sons of Aeolus by his wife Enarete, who married their six sisters. Robert Graves suggests they were all Titans, and not bound by the rules of incest, and that the parents and six pairs of children represented the seven planetary deities.
Bk 13:1-122. Applied to Sisyphus.
Bk 14:101-153. Applied to Misenus.

Aeolis
Bk 11:573-649. Alcyone, the daughter of Aeolus.

Aeolius
Bk 7:350-403. Of Aeolis in Asia Minor.

Aeolus
Bk 1:244-273. Bk 14:75-100. The king of the winds. His cave is on the islands of Lipari (the Aeolian Islands) that include Stromboli, off Sicily.
Bk 4:464-511. Juno is angry at his son Athamas, and contemplates his other son, Sisyphus in Hades.
Bk 4:663-705. He imprisons the winds in the cave below Etna.
Bk 6:103-128. He is the father of Canace.
Bk 7:350-403. Bk 11:410-473. The father of Alcyone.
Bk 11:474-572. Ceyx calls to him, as his father-in-law, in extremis.
Bk 11:710-748. Aeolus calms the sea for seven days in winter, 'the halcyon days', while the transformed Alcyone rears his grandsons.
Bk 14:223-319. He rules the Tuscan deep. He gives Ulysses the winds imprisoned in a bull's hide bag.
Aesacus
Bk 11:749-795. The son of Priam and Alexirrhoe, a prince of Troy, and half-brother to Hector.
Bk 11:749-795. He chases Hesperie who is killed by a snake. In penance he tries to kill himself, but is turned by Tethys into a diving bird, probably the merganser, mergus serrator, from mergus, a diver.
Bk 12:1-38. His father Priam mourns for him thinking him dead.

Aesar
Bk 15:1-59. A river in Lower Italy. The site of Crotona.

Aesculapius
Bk 2:612-632. The son of Coronis and Apollo. He is saved by Apollo from his mother's body and given to Chiron the Centaur to rear. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Ophiucus near Scorpius, depicting a man entwined in the coils of a serpent, consisting of the split constellation, Serpens Cauda and Serpens Caput, which contains Barnard's star, having the greatest proper motion of any star and being the second nearest to the sun.
Bk 2:633-675. His fate is foretold by Ocyrhoe.
Bk 15:479-546. He restores Hippolytus to life.
Bk 15:622-745. He saves Rome from the plague, and becomes a resident god. (His cult centre was Epidaurus where there was a statue of the god with a golden beard. Cicero mentions that Dionysius the Elder, Tyrant of Syracuse wrenched off the gold. ('On the Nature of the Gods, Bk III 82)

Aeson
A Thessalian prince of Iolchos, father of Iason. His half-brother Pelias usurped his throne.
Bk 7:74-99. Bk 7:100-158 . Jason is his son.
Bk 7:159-178. He is near death, so Jason asks Medea to renew his life.
Bk 7:234-293. Medea restores his youth.

Aesonides, Aesonius heros
Bk 7:1-73. Bk 7:74-99. Bk 7:159-178. Bk 7:234-293.
Bk 8:376-424. Jason, the son of Aeson.

Aethalion
Bk 3:638-691. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Aethion
Bk 5:107-148. An Ethiopian prophet, killed in the fight between Perseus and Phineus.

Aethiopia, Aethiops
Bk 2:227-271. The country Ethiopia in north-east Africa bordering the Red Sea, containing the Mountains of the Moon. During Phaethon's fatal chariot ride the sun burnt the skins of its peoples black. Aethiops, means Ethiopian.
Bk 5:107-148. Culmination of the fight at Cepheus's court. He is an Ethiopian king.
Bk 15:307-360. The country has lakes with waters that cause delerium.

Aethon
Bk 2:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.

Aetna
Bk 2:201-226. A volcanic mountain in Sicily.
Bk 4:663-705. Aeolus imprisons the winds there.
Bk 5:332-384. Bk 14:1-74. It covers the head of the giant, Typhoeus.
Bk 5:425-486. Ceres lights her torches at Etna's fires in her search for Persephone in the night.
Bk 8:260-328. It is a distinguishing feature of Sicily.
Bk 13:738-788. Telemus the seer arrives there.
Bk 13:789-869. Polyphemus compares the fire of love to having Aetna's fires inside his breast.
Bk 13:870-897. His voice shakes Aetna.
Bk 14:1-74. Glaucus leaves it behind.
Bk 14:154-222. Achaemenides was wrongly believed lost there.
Bk 15:307-360. Volcanic action.

Aetola arma
Bk 14:527-565. The assistance of Diomede.

Aetolia
Bk 14:445-482. The region of eastern mid-Greece containing Calydon and Chalcis. Diomede is its hero.
Bk 14:527-565. He refuses help to the Rutuli.

Aetolius heros
Bk 14:445-482. Diomede.

Agamemnon
The king of Mycenae, son of Atreus, brother of Menelaus, husband of Clytaemnestra, father of Orestes, Iphigenia, and Electra. The leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War. See Homer's Iliad, and Aeschylus's Oresteian tragedies.
Bk 12:579-628. He dares not compete for the arms of Achilles and passes the responsibility for choosing between Aiax and Ulysses to the assembled captains.
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 13:123-381. He sacrificed Iphigenia at Aulis.
Bk 13:123-381.Prompted by a dream he was prepared to abandon the war.
Bk 13:429-480. He moors the fleet on a Thracian beach returning from Troy, and there Achilles's ghost appears demanding the sacrifice of Polyxena.
Bk 13:640-674. He snatches the daughters of Anius.
Bk 15:843-870. He surpasses his father Atreus.

Aganippe
Bk 5:294-331. A famous fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon. Pausanias says (Bk 9:xxix, Boeotia) that Aganippe was a daughter of Termessos, another stream on the mountain

Agave
A daughter of Cadmus, who married Echion and was the mother of Pentheus.
Bk 3:692-733. A Maenad, she destroys her son Pentheus, not recognising him in the madness of the sacred mysteries.

Agenor
Bk 2:833-875. Europa's father. King of Phoenicia, son of Neptune, father of Cadmus and brother of Belus. His capital cities are Sidon and Tyre in the Lebanon.
Bk 3:1-49. His son is Cadmus whom he sends to find Europa.
Bk 3:50-94. His son Cadmus kills the Serpent.
Bk 3:95-114. Cadmus sows the Dragon's teeth.

Agenorides
A descendant of Agenor.
Bk 4:563-603. Cadmus.
Bk 4:753-803. Perseus.

Aglauros, Cecropides
Bk 2:531-565. One of the three daughters of King Cecrops.
Bk 2:737-751. Mercury elicits her help.
Bk 2:787-811. Envy poisons her heart.
BkII:812-832. She is turned to stone by Mercury.

Agyrtes
Bk 5:107-148. An Ethiopian killed in the fight between Perseus and Phineus.

Aiax(1)
A hero of the Trojan War, the son of Telamon and grandson of Aeacus.
Bk 10:143-219. Bk 13:382-398. He shares with Hyacinthus the flower (hyacinthos grapta - the blue larkspur) that bears the marks of woe, AI AI, and that spells his name, ΑΙΑΣ.
Bk 12:579-628. He competes for the arms of Achilles.
Bk 13:1-122. He speaks in his own cause, attacking Ulysses. He fought in single combat with Hector and was undefeated, rescued Ulysses, and saved the ships.
Bk 13:123-381. Ulysses responds with a speech extolling intelligence above mere brawn and courage, and arguing that a man should be judged on his abilities not his ancestry. He was deceived by Achilles's female disguise. He was ready to turn tail when Agamemnon gave the order to abandon the war.
Bk 13:382-398. Defeated in the contest for the arms, he kills himself in his rage. From his blood a flower grows, see above.
Bk 14:445-482. His rape of Cassandra brought the wrath of Minerva on the Greeks.

Aiax(2)
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:1-122. Aiax moderatior 'the lesser'. The son of Oileus. He dare not compete for the arms of Achilles.

Alastor
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Alba
Bk 14:609-622. Bk 14:623-697. Of the early Latin kingdom. Also the king who succeeded Latinus.

Albula
Bk 14:320-396. The Tiber. An ancient name for the river of Rome.

Alcander
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Alcathous
Bk 7:425-452. The son of Pelops, founder of the city of Megara, hence Megara is called urbs Alcathoi. Near Megara is the place where Theseus killed Sciron.
Bk 8:1-80. A term for the city of Megara on the Isthmus.

Alcidamas
Bk 7:350-403. The father of Ctesylla. An inhabitant of Carthaea. His daughter gave birth to a dove.

Alcimedon
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Alcides
A descendant of Alceus, father of Amphitryon, usually applied to Hercules his reputed son.
Bk 9:1-88. Bk 9:89-158. Bk 9:211-272. Bk 11:194-220.
Bk 12:536-579. Of Hercules.

Alcinous
Bk 14:527-565. The king of the Phaeacians (Phaeacia is probably Corcyra, =Corfu), on whose coast Ulysses was washed ashore. One of his ships was turned to stone. See Homer, The Odyssey XIII.

Alcithoe, Minyeias
Bk 4:1-30. The daughter of Minyas, who opposed the worship of Bacchus.
Bk 4:274-316. She tells the story of Salmacis.

Alcmaeon
Bk 9:394-417. The son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. He avenges his father's death, and is in turn murdered in the chain of revenge following the war of the Seven against Thebes. Themis prophesies the events.

Alcmena, Alcmene
The daughter of Electryon king of Tiryns, wife of Amphitryon, and mother of Hercules by the god Jupiter.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts her rape by Jupiter disguised as Amphitryon.
Bk 8:515-546. Deianira, wife of Hercules, sister of Meleager, is her daughter-in-law.
Bk 9:1-88. The mother of Hercules.
Bk 9:211-272. His funeral pyre attacks only the mortal part of him inherited from Alcmene.
Bk 9:273-323. She tells of Hercules's birth and the transformation of her servant Galanthis.
Bk 9:394-417. She comforts Iole. Iolaus, her grandson, appears to them, his youth renewed. (He is the grandson of Alcmene, since his father Iphicles is her son by Amphitryon, and Hercules mortal half-brother, the twin or tanist of the sun-god. Iolaus's renewal and appearance at the threshold may indicate his cult as a representative of the risen sun of the new year. His cult was celebrated in Sardinia where he was linked to Daedalus.)

Alcon
Bk 13:675-704. A Boeotian, and a famous engraver.

Alcyone
Bk 7:350-403. The daughter of Aeolus, granddaughter of Polypemon, and wife of Ceyx, changed into a kingfisher or halcyon. They foolishly compared themselves to Juno and Jupiter, for which the gods drowned Ceyx in a storm. Alcyone leapt into the sea to join him, and both were transformed into kingfishers. In antiquity it was believed that the hen-kingfisher layed her eggs in a floating nest in the Halcyon Days around the winter solstice, when the sea is made calm by Aeolus, Alcyone's father. (The kingfisher actually lays its eggs in a hole, normally in a riverbank, by freshwater and not by seawater.)
Bk 11:346-409. She begs Ceyx not to fight the wolf from the marsh.
Bk 11:410-473. She reproaches him for leaving her in order to visit the oracle.
Bk 11:474-572. Ceyx calls to her as he is drowning.
Bk 11:573-649. She prays for his return at Juno's shrine.
Bk 11:650-709. In a dream Morpheus reveals himself in the form of Ceyx and tells her of his death.
Bk 11:710-748. His body returns to her on the tide, and they are transformed into halcyons.

Alemon
Bk 15:1-59.The father of Myscelos, and founder of Crotona in Italy.

Alemonides
Bk 15:1-59. Myscelos, son of Alemon.

Alexiroe, Alexirrhoe
Bk 11:749-795. A nymph, the daughter of the river god Granicus, and the mother of Aesacus by Priam.

Almo
Bk 14:320-396. A tributary of the Tiber.

Aloidae
The sons of Aloeus, namely Otus and Ephialtes, who are actually the children of Neptune by Iphimeida wife of Aloeus.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts the rape by Neptune.

Alpes
Bk 2:201-226. Bk 14:772-804. The Alps mountain chain in northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France etc.

Alpheias
Bk 5:487-532. Arethusa, loved by Alpheus the river god.

Alphenor
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe's seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Alpheus
Bk 2:227-271. A river and river-god of Elis in western Greece. Olympia is near the lower reaches of the river. (The idea for Coleridge's 'Alph, the sacred river' in Kubla Khan?)
Bk 5:487-532. He loves Arethusa.
Bk 5:572-641. He merges with Arethusa after she has turned to water.

Althaea
Bk 8:425-450. The mother of Meleager, and wife of Oeneus, king of Calydon. The sister of the Thestiadae, Plexippus and Toxeus. She seeks revenge for their deaths at the hands of her own son, Meleager.
Bk 8:451-514. She throws into the fire the piece of wood that is linked to Meleager's life, and which she once rescued from the flames, at the time of the Fates prophecy to her.

Amathus
Bk 10:220-242. Bk 10:503-559.A city of Cyprus, sacred to Venus. A place with rich mineral deposits, famous for its mines.

Amazon
Bk 15:552-621. One of the Amazons, a race of warlike women living by the River Thermodon, probably based on the Scythian warrior princesses of the Black Sea area (See Herodotus). In particular Hippolyte the mother of Hippolytus by Theseus.

Ambracia
Bk 13:705-737. A city of Epirus in north western Greece. The land there one fought over by the gods. The judge in the contest was turned to stone. Aeneas passes it.

Amenanus
Bk 15:259-306. A river of Sicily, subject to variable flow.

Ammon(1)
Bk 4:663-705. Bk 5:1-29. An Egyptian and Lybian god, worshipped in the form of a Ram-headed deity, identified by the Romans and Greeks with Jupiter and Zeus.

Ammon(2)
Bk 5:107-148. A famous boxer, friend of Perseus, brother of Broteas, killed by Phineus.

Amor, Cupid
Bk 1:473-503. God of love.
Bk 1:601-621. Opposes Shame (Pudor) in Jupiter's mind over the sacrifice of Io as a gift to Juno.
Bk 4:753-803. He waves the marriage torch with Hymen at Perseus's marriage to Andromeda.
Bk 5:332-384. His power is linked to that of Venus Aphrodite.
Bk 10:1-85. He has power even in Hades.
Bk 10:503-559. He is often portrayed naked with his quiver, and is compared to Adonis.

Amphiaraus
A Greek seer, one of the heroes, the Oeclides, at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The son of Oecleus, father of Alcmaeon, and husband of Eriphyle.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 9:394-417. Fighting in the war of the Seven against Thebes he is swallowed up alive by the earth.

Amphimedon
Bk 5:74-106. A Libyan follower of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Amphion
Bk 15:418-452. The husband of Niobe, and son of Jupiter and Antiope. The King of Thebes.
Bk 6:146-203. His art is mentioned, that is his magical use of the lyre. His music enabled him to build the walls of Thebes.
Bk 6:204-266. The death of his seven sons.
Bk 6:267-312. He kills himself in grief.
Bk 6:401-438. He and his children are mourned, and Niobe blamed.

Amphissos
Bk 9:324-393. The son of Apollo and Dryope. He founded the city of Oeta and built a temple of Apollo there

Amphitrite
Bk 1:1-30. A sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus and wife of Neptune. The Nereid whom Poseidon married, here representing the sea. He had courted Thetis another of the Nereids but desisted when it was prophesied that any son born to her would be greater than his father. Thetis bore Achilles.

Amphitryon
The son of Alceus, and king of Thebes, husband of Alcmena and supposed father of Hercules.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts how Jupiter disguised as Amphitryon raped Alcmene.
Bk 9:89-158. Bk 15:1-59. Hercules is his reputed son.

Amphitryoniades
Bk 15:1-59. Hercules, as the supposed son of Amphitryon.

Amphrisia saxa
Bk 15:622-745. Unknown rocks in lower Italy, near to the cliffs of Cocinthus.

Amphrysus
Bk 1:568-587. A river in Thessaly.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Ampycides
Mopsus, son of Ampyx.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. He strikes the boar, but Diana has stolen his spear point in flight.
Bk 12:429-535. He is present at the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.

Ampycus
Bk 5:107-148. A priest of Ceres, killed by Phineus.

Ampyx(1)
Bk 5:149-199. A follower of Phineus, turned to stone by the Gorgon's head.
Bk 8:260-328. His son Mopsus is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Ampyx(2)
Bk 12:429-535. One of the Lapithae.

Amulius
Bk 14:772-804.The younger son of the Alban king Proca. He usurped his elder brother Numitor, but was dethroned by Romulus and Remus the grandsons of Numitor.

Amyclae
A town in Laconia.
Bk 8:260-328. Home of Hippocoön, and of his sons who are present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 10:143-219. The home of Hyacinthus.

Amyclides
An epithet of Hyacinthus as the descendant of Amyclas, builder of Amyclae.

Amycus
Bk 12:245-289. A centaur. He kills Celadon and is killed by Pelates at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Amymone
Bk 2:227-271. A famous spring at Argos.

Amyntor
Bk 8:260-328. King of the Dolopians of Thessaly, father of Phoenix.
Bk 12:290-326. Gives Crantor to Peleus to be his armour-bearer, as a peace-pledge after defeat in battle.

Amythaon
Bk 15:307-360. The son of Cretheus, and father of Melampus, noted for wisdom.

Anaphe
An island in the Cyclades.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.

Anapis
Bk 5:385-424. A river and river god of Sicily, who loves Cyane.

Anaxarete
Bk 14:698-771. A maiden of Cyprus. She rejects Iphis, and is turned to stone.

Ancaeus
An Arcadian.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:376-424. He is killed by the boar.
Bk 8:515-546. Meleager envies him his honourable death.

Anchises
The son of Capys and father of Aeneas by the goddess Venus.
Bk 9:418-438. Venus wishes to ward off old age from him.
Bk 13:640-674. He asks after Anius's children.
Bk 13:675-704. Anius gives him the parting gift of a sceptre.
Bk 14:75-100. Aeneas pays honour at his tomb, he having died at Drepanum (Trapani) in Sicily. (Note: Trapani was the site of the naval battle of 241BC when the Roman fleet defeated the Carthaginians ending the first Punic War)
Bk 14:101-153. Aeneas meets his ghost in Avernus.

Andraemon(1)
Bk 9:324-393. The father of Amphissus, and husband of Dryope.

Andraemon(2)
Bk 13:1-122. An Aetolian king, father of Thoas.

Androgeos
Bk 7:453-500. A son of Minos, King of Crete. Killed while visiting Attica, Minos sets out to avenge him.

Andromeda
The daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope who was chained to a rock and exposed to a sea-monster Cetus because of her mother's sin. She is represented by the constellation Andromeda which contains the Andromeda galaxy M31 a spiral like our own, the most distant object visible to the naked eye. Cetus is represented by the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, between Pisces and Eridanus which contains the variable star, Mira.
Bk 4:663-705. She is chained to a rock for her mother's fault and Perseus offers to rescue her. (See Burne-Jones's oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series, particularly The Rock of Doom)
Bk 4:753-803. He kills the sea serpent and claims her as his bride.

Andros
Son of Anius, ruler of one of the Cycladic islands named after him.
Bk 7:453-500. The island is not allied to Crete.
Bk 13:640-674. He holds the kingship of the island in his father's place, has the power of prophecy, and surrenders two of his sisters to Agamemnon.

Anemone
Bk 10:708-739. The flower that sprang from the blood of Adonis. The windflower.

Anguis, The Serpent
Bk 2:111-149. The constellation of the Serpent, near the constellation Scorpius, and above the ecliptic (right of it, as the sun travels annually along it) in the northern hemisphere. It is separated into two parts, Serpens Cauda, and Serpens Caput, the tail and the head.

Anigrus
Bk 15:259-306. A river of Elis in south-western Greece. Its waters were said to be poisoned by the centaur Pylenor, shot by Hercules with a poisoned arrow. Pausanias gives the background and confrims the chemical foulness of the water. (See Pausanias V 5)

Anio
Bk 14:320-396. A river in Latium.

Anius
Bk 13:623-639. The king, and high priest of Apollo, on Delos. He welcomes Aeneas.
Bk 13:640-674. He tells of his son and daughters.

Antaeus
Bk 9:159-210. A Libyan giant killed by Hercules.

Antandrus
Bk 13:623-639. A seaport in the Troad from which Aeneas leaves.

Antenor
Bk 13:123-381. One of the older Trojan leaders. He sided with Priam when Ulysses addressed the senate.

Anthedon
A town in Boeotia on the Euboean Gulf.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk 13:898-968. Glaucus is transformed there.

Antigone
Bk 6:70-102. The daughter of Laomedon of Troy (Ilium), who was turned into a stork by Juno for challenging her.

Antimachus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Antiope
The daughter of king Nycteus, so known as Nycteis, the mother by Jupiter of Amphion and Zethus.
Bk 6:103-128. Her rape by Jupiter disguised as a Satyr, is depicted by Arachne. (See Hans von Aachen's - Jupiter embracing Antiope - Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Antiphates
Bk 14:223-319. Bk 15:622-745. The king of the Laestrygonians. He incites his people, who are cannibals, to attack Ulysses and his crew.

Antissa
Bk 15:259-306. A town on the northern coast of Lesbos. Once an island harbour, subsequently a peninsula. (Near modern Skalakhorió).

Antium
Bk 15:622-745. A town in Latium.

Antonius
Bk 15:745-842. Antony, the Roman general, who seized the inheritance at Caesar's death, despite his will, and who was defeated by Octavius at Mutina in Cialpine Gaul, and Octavian's naval commander, Vispanius Agrippa, at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC. Lover of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.

Anubis
Bk 9:666-713. The jackal-headed god Anpu of Egypt, identified with Mercury, and 'opener of the roads of the dead'. He accompanies Isis.

Aonia
Bk 1:313-347. Part of Boetia containing Mount Helicon.
Bk 3:339-358. The region of Tiresias's fame as a prophet.
Bk 7:759-795. It contains Thebes.
Bk 9:89-158. The country of Hercules.
Bk 10:560-637. The country of Hippomenes.
Bk 13:675-704. The country of Therses.

Aonides
BkVI:1-25. An epithet of the Muses from Mount Helicon in Aonia, an earlier name for Boeotia.

Aphareia proles
Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus, a king of the Messenians.
Bk 8:260-328. They are present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Aphareus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Aphidas
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Apidanus
Bk 1:568-587. A river in Thessaly.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Apis
Hapi, 'the Bull Apis', the Egyptian sacred animal, a reincarnation of the god Ptah. The Apis bull was tended and worshipped at Memphis where a visit to see the animal in his courtyard was a tourist attraction of the Graeco-Roman world. The mummified sacred bulls were entombed at the vast subterranean complex of Saqqarah. The temple above was the Serapeum. Worshipped as Osiris, Apis was later confused with Serapis and worshipped in the Serapeum at Alexandria.
Bk 9:666-713. He accompanies Isis.

Apollineus
Bk 11:1-145. Orpheus, as the son of Apollo.
Bk 15:622-745. Aesculapius as the son of Apollo.

Apollo, Phoebus, Delius
Bk 1:438-473. Son of Jupiter and Latona (Leto), brother of Diana (Artemis), born on Delos. See also the extensive entry under Phoebus. (See the Apollo Belvedere, sculpted by Leochares?, Vatican: the Piombino Apollo, Paris Louvre: the Tiber Apollo, Rome, National Museum of the Terme: the fountain sculpture by Tuby at Versailles - The Chariot of Apollo: and the sculpture by Girardon and Regnaudin at Versailles - Apollo Tended by the Nymphs - derived from the Apollo Belvedere, and once part of the now demolished Grotto of Thetis )
Bk 7:350-403. Responsible for changing Cephisus's grandson into a seal.
Bk 9:324-393. Raped Dryope. Rules at Delphi and Delos.
Bk 11:1-66. Orpheus is his poet.
Bk 11:146-171. He competes with Pan's reed-pipe on the lyre.
Bk 11:194-220. He helps Laomedon build the walls of Troy, with Neptune.
Bk 11:410-473. He has an oracular temple at Claros.
Bk 12:579-628. Neptune prompts him to help Troy. He encourages Paris to fire an arrow at Achilles and guides the bow. He is worshipped as Smintheus at Troy.
Bk 13:123-381. Chryse and Cilla, captured by Achilles, are cities of his in Asia Minor.
Bk 13:399-428. Cassandra is his head priestess at Troy.
Bk 13:623-639. Aeneas sacrifices to him on Delos.
Bk 13:640-674. He gave Andros the power of prophecy.
Bk 13:705-737. He is associated with Actium.
Bk 15:479-546. Bk 15:622-745. Aesculapius is his son.

Appeninus
Bk 2:201-226. The mountain chain in northern Italy.
Bk 15:418-452. The source of the river Tiber.

Aquilo
Bk 1:244-273. The north wind. As a god he is Boreas.
Bk 7:1-73. His two winged sons are Calais and Zetes.

Ara
Bk 2:111-149. The constellation, the Altar, in the Milky Way south of the constellation Scorpius, and below the ecliptic (left of it, as the sun travels annually along it) in the northern hemisphere. Ara represents the altar on which the gods swore an oath of allegiance before defeating the Titans.

Arabes
Bk 10:431-502. The Arabians. Arabia.

Arachne
BkVI:1-25. The daughter of Idmon, skilled in weaving. She rejects the claim that she has been taught by Minerva.
Bk 6:26-69. She foolishly challenges Pallas Minerva to a contest in weaving.
Bk 6:103-128. She depicts the rapes perpetrated by the disguised gods. (See Velázquez's painting - The Fable of Arachne, or Las Hilanderas, the Weavers - Prado, Madrid. The tapestry, that Velázquez shows Arachne weaving in the painting, is a copy of Titian's painting of the Rape of Europa in the Gardner Museum, Boston, done for Philip II of Spain, the painting therefore revealing as Ovid does, a myth within a myth.)
Bk 6:129-145. Her work is so good, and so revealing, that Pallas destroys it and strikes the girl, who tries to hang herself. In pity Pallas Minerva turns her into a spider, and rules that her descendants shall hang and spin forever.
Bk 6:146-203. Niobe had known her.

Arcadia
Bk 1:689-721. A region in the centre of the Peloponnese, the archetypal rural paradise. ['Et in Arcadia ego', 'and I too (Death) am here in paradise'. See the paintings by Nicholas Poussin, Paris, Louvre; and Chatsworth, England]
Bk 8:376-424. Ancaeus comes from there.
Bk 9:159-210. Land of the Erymanthian boar.
Bk 15:307-360. Pheneus is a plain and city there, where the river Olbios ran.

Arcas
Bk 2:466-495. The son of Jupiter and Callisto.
Bk 2:496-507. Set in the heavens by Jupiter as the Little Bear.

Arcesius
Bk 13:123-381. The grandfather of Ulysses. The son of Jupiter and the father of Laertes.

Arctos
Bk 2:111-149, Bk 3:1-49, Bk 3:572-596. Bk 4:604-662.
Bk 13:705-737. The twin constellations of the Great and Little Bear, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, individually or together.
Bk 13:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles's shield.

Ardea
A city of the Rutulians, of Latium. (Its site was near modern Anzio, south of Rome.) It was the centre of a cult of Venus and Cicero mentions the procession around the sacred enclosure ('On the Nature of the Gods' BkIII 46)
Bk 14:566-580. It is destroyed in the war, and the grey heron, ardea cinerea, is born from its ashes.

Areopagus
Bk 6:70-103. The hill of Mars at Athens, confused with the Acropolis.

Areos
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Arestor, Arestorides
Bk 1:622-641. Father of Argus, the hundred-eyed.

Arethusa
Bk 5:385-424. A nymph of Elis, and attendant of Diana.
Bk 5:487-532. She tells Ceres of having seen Persephone and promises to tell her own story later.
Bk 5:572-641. She tells the story of her pursuit by Alpheus and her transformation into the waters of Syracusan Ortygia.

Argo
Bk 15:307-360. The ship of the Argonauts. They had to avoid the clashing islands of the Symphlegades.

Argolis
Bk 1:722-746. A region in the Peloponnese.
Bk 8:260-328. It is threatened by Diana's avenging wild boar.
Bk 9:273-323. The country of Alcmena.
Bk 12:146-209. The land of the Greeks who attack Troy.

Argonauts
The band of heroes, lead by Iason, who sailed from Greece to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. (See Gustave Moreau's painting - The Return of the Argonauts - in the Gustave Moreau Museum Paris)
Book VI:675-721. Called Minyans since they sailed from Iolchos in Thessaly ruled at one time by Minyas of Orchomenus. Calais and Zetes are two of their number.
Bk 13:1-122. Hercules was one of their number.

Argos
Bk 1:601-621. The capital of Argolis in the Peloponnese.
Bk 2:508-530. Argive, of Argos, as an epithet of Io.
Bk 4:604-662. Acrisius closes its gates against Bacchus.
Bk 5:200-249. The ancestral city of Abas, and Perseus.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 15:1-59. The city of Alemon.
BkXV:143-175. It has a temple of Juno containing the shield of Euphorbus, a previous incarnation of Pythagoras.
Bk 15:259-306. The river Erasinus reappears there.

Argus
Bk 1:622-641. A creature with a thousand eyes, the son of Arestor, set to guard Io by Juno.
Bk 1:689-721. Killed by Mercury. (For an echo of the last lines here see Rilke's poem and epitaph 'Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust, Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel Lidern.')
Bk 1:722-746. After his death, Juno sets his eyes in the peacock's tail.

Ariadne
A daughter of Minos. Half-sister of the Minotaur, and sister of Phaedra who helps Theseus on Crete.
Bk 8:152-183. She flees to Dia with Theseus and is abandoned there, but rescued by Bacchus, and her crown is set among the stars as the Corona Borealis. (See Titian's painting - Bacchus and Ariadne - National Gallery, London: and Annibale Carracci's fresco - The triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne - Farnese Palace, Rome)). The Northern Crown, the Corona Borealis, is a constellation between Hercules and Serpens Caput, consisting of an arc of seven stars, its central jewel being the blue-white star Gemma.

Aricia
Bk 15:479-546. A town in Latium, (the modern La Riccia), at the foot of the Alban Mountain, three miles from Nemi. The lake and the sacred grove at Nemi were sometimes known as the lake and grove of Aricia, and were the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, Diana of the Wood. (See Turner's etching and painting, The Golden Bough- British Museum and Tate Gallery). Worship there was instituted by Orestes, who fled to Italy, after killing Thoas, king of the Tauric Chersonese, taking with him the image of Tauric Diana. The rites practised there are the starting point for J.G.Frazer's monumental study in magic and religion, 'The Golden Bough'. (See Chapter I, et seq.)

Aries
Bk 10:143-219. The constellation of the Ram, between Taurus and Andromeda. It represents the ram whose Golden Fleece was sought by Jason and the Argonauts. In ancient times it contained the point of the spring equinox (The First Point of Aries) that has now moved into Pisces due to precession.

Arne
Bk 7:453-500. She betrayed her country, the island of Siphnos to Minos for gold, and was changed by the gods into a jackdaw.

Arsippe
Bk 4:31-54. One of the three daughters of Minyas who rejected the worship of Bacchus and was changed into a bat.
Bk 4:55-92. She tells the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Asbolus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur with the power of prophecy. He tells Nessus that he will die at the hand of Hercules.

Ascalaphus
Bk 5:533-571. The son of Orphne and the River Acheron. He sees Persephone eat the pomegranate seeds, informs on her, and is turned into a screech-owl.

Ascanius
Bk 13:623-639. The son of Aeneas. He leaves Troy with his father and grandfather.
Bk 13:675-704. King Anius gives him a cloak and quiver.
Bk 14:566-580. He survives his father.
Bk 14:609-622. He rules the Latin and Alban kingdom.

Asia
The Asian continent.
Bk 9:439-516. Asia Minor.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba embodies bright Asia.

Asopiades
Bk 7:453-500. Aeacus, as the grandson of the river god Asopus.

Asopis
Bk 6:103-128. Bk 7:614-660. Aegina, as the daughter of Asopus.

Assaracus
Bk 11:749-795. King of Phrygia, son of Tros, brother of Ilus the younger and Ganymede, father of Capys, and grandfather of Anchises.

Assyrius
Bk 15:391-417. An Assyrian. From the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia and the Upper Tigris River.

Asterie
Bk 6:103-128. The sister of Latona, and daughter of Coeus, raped by Jupiter disguised as an eagle.

Astraea
Bk 1:125-150. Goddess of Justice, last of the immortals to abandon earth because of human wickedness. She is represented in the sky as the constellation and zodiacal sign of Virgo, which alternatively depicts Ceres-Demeter. Nearby are her scales of justice, the constellation and zodiacal sign of Libra.

Astraeus
Bk 14:527-565. The Titan, husband of Aurora, and father of the winds, the Astraean brothers.

Astreus
Bk 5:107-148. A companion of Phineus, killed in the fight with Perseus.

Astyages
Bk 5:200-249. A companion of Phineus, turned to stone.

Astyanax
Bk 13:399-428. The son of Hector and Andromache, killed by the Greeks at the sack of Troy.

Astypaleius
Of the island of Astypalea, on of the Sporades.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.

Atalanta(1)
The daughter of Iasos of Arcadia and Clymene, loved by Meleager. She joined in the Calydonian Boar Hunt, wounded the boar first and was awarded the spoils by Meleager. She is called Tegeaea, and Nonacria.
Bk 8:260-328. She is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. Meleager falls in love with her.
Bk 8:376-424. She wounds the boar.
Bk 8:425-450. Meleager gives her the spoils, which causes conflict.

Atalanta(2)
The daughter of King Schoeneus of Boeotia, famous for her swift running.
Bk 10:560-637. Warned against marriage by the oracle, her suitors are forced to race against her on penalty of death for losing. She falls in love with Hippomenes.
Bk 10:638-680. He races with her, and by use of the golden apples, wins the race and her.
Bk 10:681-707. She, and Hippomenes, descrate Cybele's sacred cave and are turned into lions.
(See Guido Reni's painting - Atalanta and Hippomenes - Naples, Galleria Nazionale di Capodimonte)

Athamantiades
Bk 13:898-968. Palaemon, as the son of Athamas.

Athamas
The son of Aeolus, and husband of Ino. The uncle of Pentheus.
Bk 3:528-571. He reproves Pentheus for attempting to capture the god Bacchus.
Bk 4:512-542. Maddened by Tisiphone he kills his child Learchus.

Athens, Athenae
Bk 2:787-811. The chief city of Attica, sacred to Minerva( Pallas Athene).
Bk 2:708-736. The Actaean hill, referring to the Athenian Acropolis.
Bk 5:642-678. Minerva's city and the home of Triptolemus.
Bk 6:401-438. Attacked by a Barbarian army fails to send a delegate to Thebes. Described as the city of Mopsopius.
Bk 6:70-102. Pallas lays claim to the city.
Bk 7:350-403. Medea flees there. Aegeus the king marries her.
Bk 7:404-424. Theseus is Aegeus's son and comes to Athens to find his father.
Bk 7:453-500. The city is allied to Aegina by treaty.
Bk 7:501-613. Cephalus goes to Aegina as its ambassador.
Bk 7:661-758. Cephalus tempts Procris there, in disguise.
Bk 8:260-328. It ceases to pay tribute to Crete thanks to Theseus.
Bk 15:418-452. A symbol of vanished power.

Athis
Bk 5:30-73. An Indian youth, a companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus along with his friend and lover Lycabas.

Athos
Bk 2:201-226. Bk 11:474-572. A high mountain in Macedonia on a peninsula in the northern Aegean.

Atlantiades
Bk 1:689-721. Bk 2:676-701. Bk 8:611-678. An epithet of Mercury as descendant of Atlas through his mother Maia.
Bk 4:346-388. And to Hermaphroditus as Mercury's son.

Atlantis
Bk 2:676-701. Maia, the Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury.

Atlas
Bk 2:272-300. The Titan who rules the Moon with Phoebe the Titaness. Leader of the Titans in their war with the gods. The son of Iapetus by the nymph Clymene. His brothers were Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius. Represented as Mount Atlas in North-western Africa, holding up the heavens. Father of the Pleiades, Hyades and Hesperides. He struggles to support the sky when Phaethon loses control of the sun chariot.
Bk 4:604-662. He is turned to stone by Perseus wielding the Gorgon's head.
Bk 4:753-803. The cave of the Graeae lies beneath his frozen slopes.
Bk 6:146-203. He is the grandfather of Niobe, since her mother Dione is one of the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas.
Bk 9:159-210. Hercules bribed him into bringing the apples of the Hesperides by offering to hold up the sky. On his return Hercules deceived him into taking back its weight.
BkXV:143-175. Pythagoras compares philosophy to standing on Atlas's shoulders.

Atracides
Bk 12:146-209. Caeneus, from his home town of Atrax in Thessaly.

Atreus
Bk 15:843-870. King of Mycenae, the son of Pelops. The father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His son Agamemnon surpasses him.

Atrides
Son of Atreus.
Bk 12:579-628. Menelaus and Agamemnon.
Bk 13:123-381. Bk 13:429-480. Bk 13:640-674. Agamemnon.
BkXV:143-175. Bk 15:745-842. Menelaus, the younger brother.

Attica, Atticus
Bk 7:453-500. The region of southern Greece containing Athens.

Attis
A Phrygian shepherd, loved by Cybele. An incarnation of the vegetation god, the consort of the Great Goddess.
Bk 10:86-105. He is embodied by the sacred pine, one of the trees that gather to hear Orpheus sing.

Augustus Caesar
Bk 15:745-842. Julius Caesar's grand-nephew, whom he adopted and declared as his heir, Octavius Caesar (Octavian). (The honorary title Augustus was bestowed by the Senate 16th Jan 27 BC). His wife was Livia. Jupiter prophesies his future glory: his defeat of Antony, who had seized the inheritance, at Mutina: his defeat of the conspirators Cassius and Brutus at the twin battles of Philippi: his (Agrippa's) defeat of Antony at Actium: and his (Agrippa's) defeat of Pompey's son at Mylae and Naulochus off Sicily. (See the sculpture of Augustus, from Primaporta, in the Vatican)
He exiled Ovid to the Black Sea region for 'a poem and a mistake'. The poem probably the Ars Amatoria, the mistake probably something to do with the notorious Julia's set, that Ovid knew of and repeated. He seems to refer to it in a number of the stories, for example that of Coronis, where the talebearer is punished. As Naso, 'the beaky one', he may have personified himself as the garrulous bird.
Bk 15:843-870. Ovid prays that Augustus will outlive him, and being deified, grant entreaties from afar (! A subtle cry from exile -Augustus in fact died in 14 AD, and Ovid in 17 AD, and Ovid was nerver pardoned.)

Aulis
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 13:123-381. The Boeotian harbour where the Greek fleet massed prior to setting out for Troy and where Iphigenia was sacrificed. The area was a rich fishing-ground.

Aura
Bk 7:796-865. A breeze, invoked by Cephalus.

Aurora, Pallantias
Bk 1:52-68. Bk 5:425-486. Bk 7:796-865. Goddess of the Morning, and wife of Tithonus, daughter of the Titan Pallas, hence called Pallantias or Pallantis, who fathered Zelus (zeal), Cratus (strength), Bia (force) and Nice (victory) on the River Styx.
Bk 2:111-149. Brings the dawn as Phaethon begins his ride.
Bk 3:138-164. Actaeon talks of her 'saffron car' bringing back the light. (See Guido Reni's fresco -Aurora and the Chariot of the Sun - Casino Rospigliosi, Rome)
Bk 3:165-205. Bk 6:26-69. The radiant red of her dawn light referred to.
Bk 4:604-662. Bk 11:266-345. Lucifer wakes her fires to begin the day, and she summons the chariot of the dawn.
Bk 7:179-233. Pales at the sight of Medea's poisons.
Bk 7:661-758. She seduces Cephalus and is angered by him. She foresees disaster for him. She changes his appearance to assist his testing of Procris's loyalty.
Bk 9:418-438. Longs to renew the youth of her mortal husband Tithonus. She had gained eternal life for him but not eternal youth.
Bk 11:573-649. Bk 15:176-198. The dawn.
Bk 13:576-622. She sees her son Memnon killed by Achilles, and begs Jupiter to grant him honours. He creates the Memnonides, a flight of warring birds from the ashes.
Bk 14:527-565. She is the mother by Astraeus, the Titan, of the four winds, the Astraean brothers.

Ausonia
Bk 14:772-804. Bk 15:622-745. Bk 15:622-745. A country in lower Italy, or used for Italy itself. (Broadly modern Campania, occupying the Tyrrhenian coast and the western slopes of the Apennines, colonised by Greeks and Etruscans, and Calabria the 'toe' of the Italian 'boot' between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, colonised by the Greeks, and part of Magna Graecia)
Bk 5:332-384. Referring to Pelorus on the north-east coast of Sicily nearest to Italy.
Bk 13:705-737. Bk 14:75-100. The destination of Aeneas.
Bk 14:1-74. Separated from Sicily by the Straits of Messina (Zancle).
Bk 14:320-396. Picus is king there.
Bk 14:772-804. Amulius rules by force of arms but is deposed by Romulus, reinstating Numitor.

Auster
Bk 1:52-68. Bk 8:1-80.The South Wind. Eurus is the East Wind, Zephyrus the West Wind, and Boreas is the North Wind.
Bk 11:650-709. A storm-wind.

Autolycus
The grandfather of Ulysses. He is the master trickster and thief, son of Mercury and Chione, father of Anticlea, Ulysses's mother.
Bk 8:725-776. His wife, the daughter of Erysichthon, had the power to change her shape at will.
Bk 11:266-345. Chione bore him to Mercury.

Autonoe
Bk 3:165-205. The daughter of Cadmus and mother of Actaeon.
Bk 3:692-733. Pentheus calls on her to help him, invoking the shade of her dead Actaeon, but she helps the other Maenads to tear him apart.

Autoneius heros
Bk 3:165-205. Actaeon, son of Autonoe.

Aventinus
Bk 14:609-622. A mythical Alban king who gave his name to the Aventine hill from which he ruled.

Avernus, Averna
Bk 5:533-571. A name for the Underworld. Averna is its entrance.
Bk 14:101-153. Aeneas enters it. Proserpina is its queen, and Dis (Orcus) its king.

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Part 2 of 9

Babylonius
Bk 2:227-271. Of Babylon, the ancient Mesopotamian capital of the Babylonians, in modern Iraq.

Bacchantes, Maenades, Maenads, Bassarids
Bk 11:85-145. The female followers of Bacchus-Dionysus, noted for their ecstatic worship of the god.
Bk 3:692-733. They celebrate the rites on Mount Cithaeron.
Bk 7:234-293. Medea has the appearance of a Bacchante.
Bk 11:1-66. They kill Orpheus.

Bacchiadae
Bk 5:385-424. An ancient royal family of Corinth, descended from Bacchis, one of the Heraclidae, founder of Syracuse.

Bacchus, Bacheus (=Bacchic)
The god Dionysus, the ‘twice-born’, the god of the vine. The son of Jupiter and Semele. His worship was celebrated with orgiastic rites borrowed from Phrygia. His female followers are the Maenades. He carries the thyrsus, a wand tipped with a pine-cone, the Maenads and Satyrs following him carrying ivy-twined fir branches as thyrsi. (See Caravaggio’s painting –Bacchus – Uffizi, Florence)
Bk 3:273-315. Snatched from his mother Semele’s womb when she is destroyed by Jupiter’s fire, he is sewn into Jupiter’s thigh, reared by Ino and hidden by the nymphs of Mount Nysa. (See Charles Shannon’s painting – The Childhood (or Education) of Bacchus – Private Collection)
Bk 3:528-571. His worship comes to Thebes and is opposed there by Pentheus and at Argos by Acrisius.
Bk 3:597-637. Acoetes tells how Bacchus was discovered on Chios. Bacchus asks to be put ashore on Naxos his home. Acoetes may be a manifestation of Bacchus himself.
Bk 3:638-691. Bacchus transforms the ship and crew.
Bk 3:692-733. His Maenads destroy Pentheus.
Bk 4:1-30. His names, features, deeds and rites. He is Dionysus Sabazius, the barley-god of Thrace and Phrygia, ‘formosissimus alto conspiceris caelo’ the morning and evening star, the star-son, identified by the Jews with Adonis, consort of the Great Goddess Venus Aphrodite or Astarte, and therefore manifested with her in the planet Venus. Later he is the horned Lucifer, ‘son of the morning’.
Bk 4:389-415. He turns the daughters of Minyas into bats.
Bk 4:512-542. Juno mocks at Ino his foster-mother, invoking his name.
Bk 4:604-662. He is worshipped in India and by all of Greece.
Bk 4:753-803. Bk 6:486-548. Bk 7:425-452,
Bk 12:536-579. Bk 13:623-639. Wine at the marriage feast or banquet is his gift. (See Velázquez’s painting – The Drinkers, or the Triumph of Bacchus – Prado, Madrid) (Note: Wine in Ancient Greece contained honey, aloes, thyme, myrtle berries etc. to form a thick sweet syrup which was diluted when drinking, hence the mixing bowls etc. at the banquets.)
Bk 6:571-619. His triennial festival, the trietericus, is celebrated on Mount Rhodope by the young Thracian women.
Bk 8:152-182. He rescues Ariadne on Dia, and sets her crown among the stars as the Corona Borealis.
Bk 8:260-328. He receives libations of wine from the harvest.
Bk 11:85-145. He grants Midas a gift, and takes it away when Midas is plagued by his golden touch.
Bk 13:640-674. He gave Anius’s daughters the power to change everything into corn, wine and olives, and ultimately rescued them by turning them into doves.
Bk 15:391-417. His worship conquered India, and from there he took the lynxes that follow him.

Bactrius
Of the city of Bactria in Persia.
Bk 5:107-148. The native place of Halcyoneus.

Baiae
Bk 15:622-745. The modern Baia, opposite Pozzuoli on the Bay of Pozzuoli, once the fashionable bathing place of the Romans, owing its name, in legend, to Baios, the navigator of Odysseus. The Emperors built magnificent palaces there. Part now lies beneath the sea due to subsidence.

Balearic, Balearicus
Bk 2:708-736. Bk 4:706-752 . Of the Balearic islands between Africa and Spain.

Battus
Bk 2:676-701. A countryman changed by Mercury into a flint (touchstone, the ‘informer’)

Baucis
Bk 8:611-678. The wife of Philemon. They are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals.
Bk 8:679-724. They are both turned into trees, she into a lime tree and he into an oak. (See the painting by Rubens – Landscape with Philemon and Baucis – Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Belides, Danaides
The fifty daughters of Danaus, granddaughters of Belus, king of Egypt.
Bk 4:416-463. They were forced to marry their cousins, the fifty sons of Aegyptus, and, with one exception, Hypermnestra, who saved the life of Lynceus, because he preserved her virginity, killed them on their wedding night. The others were punished in Hades by having to fill a bottomless cistern with water carried in leaking sieves.
Bk 10:1-85. Their punishment in the underworld ceases for a time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.

Bellona
Bk 5:149-199. The goddess of war, and sister of Mars.

Belus
Bk 4:190-213. Founder of the line of Achaemenian Kings of Persia. Not the ancestor of the Belides.
Bk 4:604-662. Ancestor of the Belides, King of Egypt, brother of Agenor, and son of Neptune. Acrisius is his descendant through Danaus.

Berecyntius heros
Bk 11:85-145. Midas, son of Cybele, from Mount Berecyntus (Bk 11:1-66.) in Phrygia.

Beroe
Bk 3:273-315. Semele’s nurse.

Bienor
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Bisaltis
Bk 6:103-128. Theophane, daughter of Bilsaltes, loved by Neptune, and depicted by Arachne.

Bistonius
Bk 13:123-381. Of the Bistones, a people of Thrace.

Boebe
A lake in Thessaly.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there by its reedy shores.

Boeotia
Bk 2:227-271. A country in mid-Greece containing Thebes.
Bk 3:1-49. Cadmus is instructed to found Thebes.
Bk 12:1-38. The Greek ships assemble there at Aulis.

Bona Copia
Bk 9:1-88. The goddess of plenty. The Naiades give her the horn of plenty lost by Achelous in his fight with Hercules.

Bootes
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of the Waggoner, or Herdsman, or Bear Herd. The nearby constellation of Ursa Major is the Waggon, or Plough, or Great Bear. He holds the leash of the constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. He is sometimes identified with Arcas son of Jupiter and Callisto. Arcas may alternatively be the Little Bear.
Bk 8:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation.
Bk 10:431-502. Identified with Icarius the father of Erigone. Led to his grave by his dog Maera, she committed suicide by hanging, and was set in the sky as the constellation Virgo. The Latin text says Icarus, a valid alternative, but I have translated it as Icarius to avoid confusion with Daedalus’s son.

Boreas
Bk 1:52-68. The North Wind. Eurus is the East Wind, Zephyrus is the West Wind, and Auster is the South Wind.
Book VI:675-721. He is identified with Thrace and the north. He steals Orithyia, daughter of Erectheus of Athens, and marries her. She bears him the two Argonauts, Calais and Zetes. (See Evelyn de Morgan’s painting–Boreas and Orithyia– Cragside, Northumberland)
Bk 12:1-38. He prevents the Greeks sailing from Aulis.
Bk 13:399-428. He blows the Greeks home from Troy. (These are the Meltemi or Etesian winds that blow over the northen Aegean in the summer months. On their reliability the Northern Aegean civilisation was based. See Ernle Bradford’s ‘Ulysses Found’ Ch.4)

Botres
Bk 7:350-403. The son of Eumelus, killed by his father for desecrating the sacrifice to Apollo. Apollo pitied the father and changed the boy into a bird, the bee-eater, merops apiaster.

Britanni
Bk 15:745-842. The peoples of ancient Britain. Julius Caesar had two campaigns in Britain in 55 and 54 BC.

Bromius
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet of Bacchus meaning ‘The noisy one’.

Bromus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Broteas(1)
Bk 5:107-148. A famous boxer. A twin brother of Ammon, killed by Phineus.

Broteas(2)
Bk 12:245-289 One of the Lapithae. Killed by Gryneus at the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.

Bruttium
A region of southern Italy, in modern Calabria. The ancient capital of the Bruttians was at Cosentia, modern Cosenza, and was taken by the Romans in 204 BC. It was an important halt on the Via Popilia linking Rome with Reggio and Sicily. (Ovid does not mention it directly in the text)

Bubasis
Bk 9:595-665. Of Bubasos, a town in Caria passed by Byblis.

Bubastis
Bk 9:666-713.A town in Egypt. The lioness, later cat goddess (Bast, Bastet) worshipped there, equated with Diana.

Buris
Bk 15:259-306. A city near the coast of Achaia, on the Coronthian Gulf destroyed by earthquake. Possibly Pausanias’s Boura, see Pausanias VII 25, though it was not on the coast, its destruction was linked with the destruction of Helice.

Busiris
Bk 9:159-210. A king of Egypt who sacrificed strangers. See the entry for Hercules.

Butes
Bk 7:453-500.A son of Pallas, an Athenian prince. Goes with Cephalus on an embassy to Aegina. Brother of Clytos.

Buthrotos, Buthrotum
Bk 13:705-737. A city in Epirus. There Helenus, the Trojan seer, built a replica of Troy. (See Virgil Aeneid III:290-350). Aeneas lands there and Helenus foretells his future.

Byblis
The daughter of Miletus, and Cyanee, twin sister of Caunus.
Bk 9:439-516. The twins are noted for their beauty. Byblis falls in love with Caunus and decides to woo him incestuously.
Bk 9:517-594. She declares her love in a letter to Caunus, and is rejected.
Bk 9:595-665. She follows him as he flees her, and, on Mount Chimaera in Lycia, is turned into an ever-weeping fountain.

Cadmeis
Bk 3:273-315. Semele, daughter of Cadmus.

Cadmus
Bk 3:1-49. The son of the Phoenician king Agenor who searches for his sister Europa stolen by Jupiter. The founder of Thebes.
Bk 3:50-94. He kills the serpent sacred to Mars.
Bk 3:115-137. He founds Thebes.
Bk 3:528-571. He reproves his grandson Pentheus, son of his daughter Agave, for his attempt to lay hands on the god Bacchus.
Bk 4:464-511. His son-in-law is Athamas, husband of his daughter Ino, who are both maddened by the Fury.
Bk 4:563-603. Cadmus and Harmonia are turned into serpents. There is a tradition that this happened in a cave on the coast of Dalmatia near Dubrovnik (Ragusa), see Rebecca West ‘Black Lamb and Grey Falcon’ p251. It was ten miles north of an ancient Dalmatian Epidaurus (now Tsavtat) founded by Greek colonists.
Bk 6:204-266. Amphion is his descendant.
Bk 9:273-323. The Theban women are ‘of Cadmus’

Caeneus
A youth of Thessaly, called Atracides from the city of Atrax. He was born a girl, Caenis, but changed to a youth by Neptune as a gift and made invulnerable. He became a king of the Lapithae.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 12:146-209. Nestor tells his story.
Bk 12:210-244. He is present at the battle of the Lapithae and the Centaurs.
Bk 12:429-535. He is killed, despite his invulnerability to wounds, by being buried under a weight of trees, and is turned into a unique bird with tawny wings.

Caenis
Bk 12:146-209. The daughter of Elatus of Thessaly, raped by Neptune, and changed into the youth and invulnerable warrior Caeneus at her request.
Bk 12:429-535. Latreus taunts Caeneus calling him Caenis.

Caesar, Julius
Bk 15:745-842. The Roman general and Tribune. His deeds, death and deification. (As ‘king of Rome’ he was also the high-priest of Vesta, ‘marrying’ her, the incarnation of Tauric Diana, as described by Fraser in ‘The Golden Bough’ – Ch.1 et.seq.)
Bk 1:199-243. His assassination mentioned.
Bk 15:843-870. He confesses that Augustus has surpassed him. Venus sets him among the stars.

Caicus
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 15:259-306. A river in Mysia in Asia Minor near Pergamum.
Bk 12:64-145. Achilles slaughtered the surrounding peoples.

Caieta
Bk 14:154-222. Bk 15:622-745. The old nurse of Aeneas. The place in Italy where she died and was buried (modern Gaeta).
Bk 14:435-444. Her epitaph.

Calais
Book VI:675-721. One of the winged sons of Boreas and Orithyia. One of the Argonauts.
Bk 7:1-73. Drives away the Harpies.

Calaurea
Bk 7:350-403. An island off the coast of Argolis.

Calchas
A seer and priest, the son of Thestor, who accompanied the Greeks to Troy.
Bk 12:1-38. He foresees the long duration of the war and the ultimate Greek victory, and that the sacrifice of Iphigenia to Diana at Aulis will bring the Greeks favourable winds.

Calliope
The Muse of epic poetry. The mother of Orpheus.
Bk 5:332-384. She sings the song that defeats the Emathides.
Bk 5:642-678. The Muses through her efforts defeat the Emathides and then change them into magpies.
Bk 10:143-219. Orpheus asks his mother for inspiration.

Callirhoe
Bk 9:394-417. The daughter of Achelous. Themis prophesies the events following the war of the Seven against Thebes, when as Alcmaeon’s second wife, she unwittingly unleashes a chain of events involving the fatal necklace of Harmonia, and the murder of Alcmaeon. She begs Jupiter to age her infant sons so that they can avenge the murder.
Bk 9:418-438. Jupiter explains to the gods that he can grant this only because fate wills it also.

Callisto
Bk 2:401-416. A nymph of Nonacris in Arcadia, a favourite of Phoebe-Diana. The daughter of Lycaon.
Bk 2:417-440. Jupiter rapes her.
Bk 2:441-465. Pregnant by Jupiter she is expelled from the band of Diana’s virgin followers by Diana as Cynthia, in her Moon goddess mode. Gives birth to a son Arcas.
Bk 2:466-495. She is turned into a bear by Juno.

Calydon
An ancient city in Aetolia on the River Euenus.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 8:260-328. Bk 14:512-526. Its King is Oeneus. The people ask Theseus’s help against Diana’s avenging wild boar.
Bk 8:451-514. Althaea brings down vengeance on Calydon.
Bk 8:515-546. Meleager’s action brings down the house of Parthaon.
Bk 8:547-610. The victim of Diana’s vengeance.
Bk 8:725-776. Bk 9:1-88. Achelous is a river-god of Calydon.
Bk 9:89-158. Deianira is from Calydon.
Bk 15:745-842. Diomede’s spear is Calydonian.

Calydonian Boar-Hunt
Bk 8:260-328. A famous hunt attended by all the heroes of Greece, caused by Diana, seeking revenge for being slighted. She sent a fierce wild boar against Calydon.

Calymne
An island in the Aegean Sea near Ionia.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly towards it after leaving Crete.

Camenae
Bk 15:479-546. Ancient Italian nymphs, with the gift of prophecy, later identified with the Muses.

Canace, see Aeolia virgo
Bk 6:103-128. Depicted by Arachne.

Cancer
Bk 2:63-89. The constellation of the Crab, and the zodiacal sun sign. It represents the crab that attacked Hercules while he was fighting the multi-headed Hydra and was crushed underfoot but subsequently raised to the stars. The sun in ancient times was in this constellation when furthest north of the equator at the summer solstice (June 21st). Hence the latitude where the sun appeared overhead at noon on that day was called the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees north).
Bk 4:604-662. Seen three times by the storm-driven Perseus.
Bk 10:106-142. The sun is in Cancer when Cyparissus kills the stag.

Canens
Bk 14:320-396. The daughter of Janus and Venilia, and wife of Picus, noted for her singing.
Bk 14:397-434. She wastes away with grief at the loss of Picus.

Canopus
Bk 15:745-842. A city in Egypt in the Nile delta, from where, Cleopatra ruled.

Capaneus
Bk 9:394-417. An Argive leader, one of the Seven against Thebes.
A synonym for pride in the Middle Ages.

Capella
Bk 3:572-596. The ‘she-goat’, the sixth brightest star in the sky, now part of the constellation Auriga the Charioteer, but once part of the Olenian Goat, representing Aege daughter of Olenos.

Capetus
Bk 14:609-622. One of the Alban kings.

Caphereus
Bk 14:445-482. A rocky promontory on the coast of Euboea where the returning Greek fleet came to grief.

Capitolium
Bk 1:553-567. Bk 2:531-565. Bk 15:552-621.
Bk 15:745-842. The hill in Rome, the Tarpeian citadel, on which stood a temple of Jupiter.

Capreae
Bk 15:622-745. An island in the Bay of Naples. The isle of Capri, mountainous, with an inaccessible, precipitous coast, abounding in caves and fantastic rocks. It has perennial sunshine, pure air, and almost tropical vegetation. Tiberius Caesar retired there in 27 AD. See Suetonius ‘The Twelve Caesars’, and Tacitus.

Capys
Bk 14:609-622. An Alban king.

Caria, Cares
The country in Asia Minor bordering the southern Aegean containing Miletus and Halicarnassus. Its inhabitants the Cares or Carians.
Bk 9:595-665. The country of Byblis and Caunus.

Carpathius
Bk 11:221-265. Of the island of Carpathos in the Aegean Sea. An epithet for Proteus.

Cartheius
Bk 7:350-403. From Carthaea, a town on the island of Ceos in the Aegean.
Bk 10:106-142. The home of Cyparissus.

Cassandra
The daughter of Priam and Hecuba, gifted with prophecy by Apollo, but cursed to tell the truth and not be believed. Taken back to Greece by Agamemnon. (See Aeschylus: The Agamemnon)
Bk 13:399-428. Dragged from the burning temple by her hair as Troy falls.
Bk 14:445-482. Her rape by Ajax causes Minerva’s anger to fall on the returning Greeks.

Cassiopeia, Cassiope
The mother of Andromeda and wife of Cepheus. The queen of Ethiopia. She is represented by the constellation Cassiopeia between Cepheus and Andromeda, and is depicted sitting in a chair. The constellation is identifiable by its distinctive W shape.
Bk 4:663-705. She foolishly boasted that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the Nereids, who complained to Neptune who sent a sea monster to devastate Cepheus’s kingdom. The Oracle of Jupiter Ammon told Cepheus to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda. Cassiope and Cepheus accepted Perseus’s offer to rescue Andromeda on condition that she became his wife. For breaking faith with Perseus, Neptune set Cepheus and Cassiopeia as a warning among the stars.
Bk 4:706-752. She rejoices at Perseus’s defeat of the sea-serpent.

Castalius, Castalian
Bk 3:1-49. Of the spring of Castalia and cave on Mount Parnassus and the oracle of Apollo there. The spring is sacred to the Muses.

Castor
The son of Tyndareus of Sparta and Leda, and twin brother of Pollux.
Bk 8:260-328. He joins the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. The brothers hurl their spears.
Bk 12:393-428. Noted for his horses and horsemanship.

Castrum Inui
Bk 15:622-745. An ancient city of the Rutuli.

Caucasus
Bk 2:201-226. The mountain range in Asia.
Bk 5:74-106. The native place of Abaris.
Bk 8:777-842. The haunt of Famine.

Caulon
Bk 15:622-745. A city in Bruttium. (Near the modern Monastarece Marina on the Ionian Sea, ancient Caulonia, the original Achaean colony was destroyed by Syracuse in 389 BC. What is now modern Caulonia, inland, was founded by the survivors.)

Caunus
The son of Miletus and the nymph Cyanee, daughter of the river god Maeander, hence called Maeandrius.
Bk 9:439-516. His twin sister Byblis falls incestuously in love with him, and decides to declare her love in a letter.
Bk 9:517-594. He is horrifed and rejects her.
Bk 9:595-665. Fleeing his sister he founds the city of Caunus in Caria.

Caÿstros, Caÿster
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 5:385-424. A river famous for its swans in Lydia in Asia Minor. Ephesus is near its mouth.

Cea, Ceos
Bk 7:350-403. An island of the Cyclades, off Cape Sunium. Its ancient city was Carthaea.
Bk 10:106-142. Cyparissus was a beautiful boy of the island.

Cebrenis
Bk 11:749-795. Hesperie, daughter of Cebren a river god of the Troad.

Cecropides
Bk 7:453-500. Theseus, as a descendant of Cecrops. The Cecropidae, are therefore the Athenians.
Bk 8:547-610. Theseus in Acarnania.

Cecropis, Cecropides
Bk 2:812-832. Aglauros as daughter of Cecrops. The Cecropides, are the daughters of Pandion, that is Procne and Philomela, as Athenians.

Cecropius
Bk 6:70-103. Bk 6:438-485. Bk 11:85-145. Athenian. From Cecrops the founder of Athens.

Cecrops
Bk 2:531-565. Bk 15:418-452. The mythical founder of Athens. He was a son of mother Earth like Erechthonius (who some think was his father). He was part man and part serpent. His three daughters were Aglauros, Herse and Pandrosus who were goddesses of the Acropolis in Athens.

Celadon(1)
Bk 5:107-148. An adversary of Perseus, killed in the fight with Phineus.

Celadon(2)
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He is killed by Amycus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Celmis
Bk 4:274-316. One of the Dactyls (‘fingers’), born when Rhea pressed her fingers into the earth as she was bearing Jupiter. They were ironsmiths who guarded the infant Jupiter’s cradle. Their sisters taught the mysteries on the island of Samothrace. Celmis was turned into adamantine steel as a punishment for insulting Rhea.

Cenaeus
Bk 9:89-158.An epithet of Jupiter worshipped by Hercules at Cenaeum, the north western point of Euboea.

Cenchreis
Bk 10:431-502. The mother of Myrrha, and wife of Cinyras. Her absence from Cinyras’s bed during the festival of Ceres allows Myrrha to commit her incest.

Centaurs
Creatures, half-man and half-horse living in the mountains of Thessaly, hence called biformes, duplex natura, semihomines, bimembres.
They were the sons of Ixion, and a cloud, in the form of Juno.
Bk 2:633-676. Chiron the centaur and Ocyrhoe his daughter.
Bk 9:89-158. The story of Nessus the centaur and Hercules.
Bk 9:159-210. Hercules fought with Pholus and the Centaurs and wounded Chiron with an arrow poisoned with the Hydra’s venom. Chiron’s agony was ended when he exchanged his immortality for Prometheus’s mortal fate.
Bk 12:210-244. Invited to the marriage feast of Pirithous and Hippdamia, Eurytus precipitates a fight with the Lapithae.
Bk 12:536-579. Nestor finishes telling the story of the battle.

Cephalus
An Athenian prince, the grandson of Aeolus, hence Aeolides.
Book VI:675-721. Married happily to Procris, daughter of Erectheus King of Athens.
Bk 7:453-500. Goes to Aegina to seek help from an ally.
Bk 7:501-613. He hears the history of the plague from Aeacus.
Bk 7:661-758. He is unfaithful to his wife Procris and then tempts her into disloyalty. They are reconciled. She gives him a magic hound and a magic javelin, gifts of Diana.
Bk 7:759-795. He recounts the story of Laelaps the hound.
Bk 7:796-865. He tells how through an error he was led to kill Procris, unwittingly, with the magic spear that was her gift.
Bk 8:1-80. He returns to Athens with the Aeacides.

Cephenes
Bk 4:753-803. Bk 5:1-29. Bk 5:74-106. A name for the Ethiopians from their king Cepheus.

Cepheus
The king of Ethiopia, husband of Cassiope, and father of Andromeda. He is represented by the constellation Cepheus near Cassiopeia which includes the prototype of the Cepheid variable stars used as standard light sources for measurement of distances in space.
Bk 4:663-705. He accepts Perseus’s offer to rescue Andromeda.
Bk 4:706-752. He promises Perseus a kingdom as dowry for defeating the sea serpent and winning Andromeda.

Cephisius
Narcissus, as the son of the river god Cephisus.

Cephisus
Bk 1:348-380. A river in Phocis.
Bk 3:1-49. Cadmus passes by it, following the heifer.
Bk 3:339-358. Father of Narcissus, by the nymph Liriope.
Bk 7:350-403. Mourns for his grandson changed into a seal by Apollo.
Bk 7:425-452. The location where Theseus defeated Procrustes.

Cerambus
Bk 7:350-403.A mythical character, whose home was near Mount Othrys, who escaped Deucalion’s flood. He was saved by the nymphs, who changed him to a scarabeus, and he flew to the summit of Mount Parnassus.

Cerastae
Bk 10:220-242. A horned people of Cyprus turned into wild bullocks by Venus, for the crime of sacrificing strangers and guests on their altars.

Cerberus
Bk 4:416-463. The three-headed watchdog of the Underworld. He bays at Juno entering the city of Dis.
Bk 4:464-511. The foam from his jaws forms part of Tisiphone’s venom of the Furies.
Bk 7:404-424. It also produces the plant wolfsbane, or monkshood, the aconite used by Medea as a poison.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Twelfth Labour he is captured by Hercules and dragged out of the Underworld.
Bk 10:1-85. Mentioned by Orpheus. He has snaky hair.
Bk 14:1-74. Scylla is surrounded by jaws, like Cerberus’s, below the waist.

Cercopes
Bk 14:75-100. A Lydian people. Jupiter changed them into monkeys, because of their trickery and deceit, and sent them to Pithecusae which took its name from them. (pithecium, a little ape)

Cercyon
Bk 7:425-452. A king of Eleusin, who required all travellers to wrestle with him, and killed them when they were defeated. He was defeated by Theseus. The wrestling-ground was on the road to Megara.

Ceres
Bk 1:113-124. The Corn Goddess. The daughter of Saturn and Rhea, and Jupiter’s sister. As Demeter she is represented in the sky by the constellation and zodiacal sign of Virgo, holding an ear of wheat, the star Spica. It contains the brightest quasar, 3C 273. The constellation alternatively depicts Astraea. The worship of her and her daughter Persephone, as the Mother and the Maiden, was central to the Eleusinian mysteries, where the ritual of the rebirth of the world from winter was enacted. Ceres was there a representation of the Great Goddess of Neolithic times, and her daughter her incarnation, in the underworld and on earth.
Bk 5:107-148. Ampycus is one of her priests.
Bk 5:332-384. The Muse Calliope sings of her.
Bk 5:385-424. Her daughter Proserpine (Persephone) is raped and abducted by Dis.
Bk 5:425-486. She searches for her throughout the world. Cyane gives evidence of the abduction, in Sicily, and Ceres blights that land. (On the way she drinks the mixture of water and meal known as the kykeion, the partaking of which was an element of the ritual surrounding the Eleusinian Mysteries.)
Bk 5:487-532. She finds that Persephone is in Hades, and asks Jupiter to intercede. He agrees so long as Persephone has not eaten while in the underworld, a decree made by the Fates.
Bk 5:533-571. She is allowed her daughter for six months of each year.
Bk 5:572-641. She asks Arethusa to tell her story.
Bk 5:642-678. She sends Triptolemus, of Eleusis, with her gift of the crops to the barbarian king of Scythia, Lyncus. He attacks Triptolemus and she changes Lyncus into a lynx.
Bk 6:103-128. Neptune lay with her in the form of a horse.
Bk 7:425-452. Eleusis is sacred to her.
Bk 8:260-328. She is offered the first fruits of the crops.
Bk 8:260-328. A synonym for the harvest.
Bk 8:725-776. Erysichthon violates her sacred oak grove.
Bk 8:777-842. She asks Famine to torment him to death.
Bk 9:418-438. She wishes she could win renewed youthfulness for Iasion, whom she fell in love with at the marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia, and lay with in the thrice-ploughed field.
Bk 10:1-85. A synonym for nourishment.
Bk 10:431-502. The festival of the first fruits (in Attica, the Thesmophoria) held annually in her honour, where married women dressed in white brought corn garlands as offerings, and sexual union and the touch of a man were forbidden for nine nights.
Bk 11:85-145. Bk 13:623-639. Bread is her gift.

Ceyx
Bk 7:350-403. The son of Lucifer. The husband of Alcyone, turned into a kingfisher with her.
Bk 11:266-345. He gives sanctuary to Peleus in his kingdom of Trachin, and tells the story of his brother Daedalion.
Bk 11:346-409. His wife Alcyone begs him not to fight against the wolf from the marshes.
Bk 11:410-473. He goes to consult the oracle of Apollo at Claros.
Bk 11:474-572. He is drowned in the tempest.
Bk 11:573-649. Morpheus is sent to Alcyone, taking on his form.
Bk 11:650-709. Morpheus tells Alcyone of his death.
Bk 11:710-748. His body returns on the tide and he is transformed with her into a halcyon.

Chalciope
Bk 7:1-73.The sister of Medea whom Aeetes had given in marriage to Phrixus.

Chaonian oaks
The sacred oak grove of Chaonia at Dodona in Epirus, the site of an ancient oracle of Jupiter (Zeus).
Bk 10:86-105. The oracular oak is among the gathering of trees when Orpheus sings.

Chaonis, Chaonius
Of Chaonia, the region in Epirus.
Bk 5:149-199. The native country of Molpeus.
Bk 13:705-737. Passed by Aeneas.

Charaxus
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He was killed by Rhoetus at the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.

Chariclo
Bk 2:633-675. A water nymph, the mother of Ocyroe by Chiron the Centaur.

Charon
Bk 10:1-85. The ferryman who carries the dead across the River Styx in the underworld, whose tributary is the Acheron. (See Dante’s Inferno). He prevents Orpheus crossing the Styx for a second time.

Charops
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Charybdis
Bk 7:1-73. Bk 8:81-151. The whirlpool between Italy and Sicily in the Messenian straits. Charybdis was the voracious daughter of Mother Earth and Neptune, hurled into the sea, and thrice, daily, drawing in and spewing out a huge volume of water.
Bk 13:705-737. Bk 14:75-100. Aeneas passes by it.

Chersidamas
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Chimaera
A fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head, goat’s body and serpent’s tail.
Bk 6:313-381. Its native country is Lycia in Asia Minor.
Bk 9:595-665. Byblis travels to Mount Chimeara there and becomes a fountain.

Chione
Bk 11:266-345. The daughter of Daedalion, loved by Apollo and Mercury. She bore twin sons, Philammon to Apollo, and Autolycus to Mercury. She was killed by Diana for criticising the goddess’s beauty and boasting of her own.

Chios, Chius (of Chios)
Bk 3:597-637. The island in the north-eastern Aegean off the coast of Ionia where Acoetes lands and finds Bacchus.

Chiron
Bk 2:612-632. One of the Centaurs, half-man and half-horse. He was the son of Philyra and Saturn. Phoebus Apollo took his new born son Aesculapius to his cave for protection. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Centaurus, which contains the nearest star to the sun, Alpha Centauri.
Bk 2:633-675. Father of Ocyroe, by Chariclo the water-nymph.
Bk 6:103-128. Begot by Saturn disguised as a horse.
Bk 7:350-403. His home is on Mount Pelion.

Chromis(1)
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus who kills the old man Emathion in the fight with Perseus.

Chromis(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Chromius
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Chrysaor
Bk 4:753-803. The brother of Pegasus the winged horse, the warrior born from the blood of Medusa, and clasping a golden falchion. A son of Neptune. The father of Geryon.

Chryse, Chrysa
A coastal city in the Troad near Mount Ida.
Bk 13:123-381. Captured by Achilles.

Chthonius
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Cicones
Book VI:675-721. A Thracian people.
Bk 10:1-85. The country of Orpheus.
Bk 11:1-66. The crazed Ciconian women are the Maenads who murder Orpheus.
Bk 15:307-360. Their river with strange properties.

Cilix
Bk 2:201-226. Of Cilicia in Asia Minor.

Cilla
A city of the Troad.
Bk 13:123-381. Captured by Achilles.

Cimmerians
A fabled people, said to live in caves in perpetual darkness, ‘beyond the north Wind.’
Bk 11:573-649. Their country is the home of Somnus, Sleep.

Cimolus
An island in the Cyclades. Described as chalky-soiled.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.

Cinyphius
Of the River Cinyps in Africa.
Bk 5:107-148. Pelates comes from there.
Bk 7:234-293. Medea uses one of its water snakes as an ingredient for her magic potion.
Bk 15:745-842. Juba’s place of origin.

Cinyras(1)
Bk 6:70-102. An Assyrian King. His daughters were changed into the stone steps of the temple, for their presumption.

Cinyras(2)
The son of Paphos, and the father of Myrrha, and by her incestuously of Adonis. Bk 10:708-739. Adonis is therefore called Cinyreius.
Bk 10:298-355. Myrrha conceives a passion for him.
Bk 10:356-430. He, innocently, asks her to choose a husband.
Bk 10:431-502. He is deceived into admitting her to his bed, and impregnating her, driving her out when he realises what has happened.

Cipus
Bk 15:552-621. A fabled Roman praetor. He grows horns and is prophesied as a king who will enslave Rome if he enters the city, but declares himself instead, and is rewarded with honours.

Circe
Bk 4:190-213. Bk 15:622-745. The sea-nymph, daughter of Sol and Perse, and the granddaughter of Oceanus. (Kirke or Circe means a small falcon)She was famed for her beauty and magic arts and lived on the ‘island’ of Aeaea, which is the promontory of Circeii. (Cape Circeo between Anzio and Gaeta, on the west coast of Italy, now part of the magnificent Parco Nazionale del Circeo extending to Capo Portiere in the north, and providing a reminder of the ancient Pontine Marshes before they were drained, rich in wildfowl and varied tree species.) Cicero mentions that Circe was worshipped religiously by the colonists at Circei. (‘On the Nature of the Gods’, Bk III 47)
(See John Melhuish Strudwick’s painting – Circe and Scylla – Walker Art Gallery, Sudley, Merseyside, England: See Dosso Dossi’s painting - Circe and her Lovers in a Landscape- National gallery of Art, Washington)
Bk 13:898-968. Glaucus seeks her home.
Bk 14:1-74. She refuses him a love potion to make Scylla love him, and instead transforms Scylla into a monster.
Bk 14:223-319. She transforms Ulysses’s men into beasts. Mercury gives him the plant moly to enable him to approach her. He marries her and frees his men, staying for a year on her island. (Moly has been variously identified as ‘wild rue’, wild cyclamen, and a sort of garlic, allium moly. John Gerard’s Herbal of 1633 Ch.100 gives seven plants under this heading, of which the third, Moly Homericum, is he suggests the Moly of Theophrastus, Pliny and Homer – Odyssey XX- and he describes it as a wild garlic.
Bk 14:320-396. She loves Picus, but, thwarted in her love, turns him into the green woodpecker, picus viridis.
Bk 14:397-434. She turns Picus’s companions into wild beasts.
Bk 14:435-444. She had warned Ulysses’s and his crew of the dangers they must still face.

Ciris
Bk 8:81-151. The bird into which Scylla, daughter of Nisus was changed. Nisus was changed into the sea eagle. Elsewhere, and interpolated in this translation, the bird is described as having a purple breast and red legs. From the habits of the sea eagle, that preys on it, from its description, and the sacredness of the dove to Cer, the Cretan Bee-Goddess, this translator takes it to be the rock dove, columba livia. The followers of Cer, the Curetes, shaved their locks. Megara was said to have been founded by Car or Ker, a follower of the goddess. See the entry for Scylla.

Cithaeron
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Boeotia, near Thebes.
Bk 3:692-733. The place chosen for the worship of Bacchus.

Clanis(1)
Bk 5:107-148. The brother of Clytius. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Clanis(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Clarius
Bk 11:410-473. An epithet of Apollo from Claros (Clarus) a city in Ionia, where there was an oracle and temple of the god.

Claros
Bk 1:504-524. A town in Ionia between Smyrna and Ephesus. See Clarius.

Cleatus
The son of Actor, and brother of Eurytus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Cleonae
A town in the Argolis.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.

Cleopatra
Bk 15:745-842. Queen of Egypt, mistress of Julius Caesar and Antony. She fell from power and committed suicide when she and Antony were defeated at the battle of Actium. (See Suetonius ‘The Twelve Caesars’ and, of course, Shakespeare.)

Clitorius
Bk 15:307-360. Of the city of Clitor (Kleitor) in Arcadia, in the fork of the Kleitor and Karnesi rivers. See Pausanias VIII 21.

Clymene
Bk 1:747-764. Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, wife of the Ethiopian king Merops, mother of Phaethon by Phoebus (Sol)
Bk 2:329-343. She mourns for her dead son.

Clymeneius
Bk 2:1-30. An epithet of Phaethon from his mother Clymene.

Clymenus
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus.

Clytaemnestra
The wife of Agamemnon, daughter of Tyndareus of Sparta, and Leda. Sister or half-sister of Helen, and of the Dioscuri. Mother of Orestes, Electra (Laodice), and Iphigenia.
Bk 13:123-381. Tricked by Ulysses into yielding up Iphigenia for sacrifice.

Clytie
Bk 4:190-213. One of the daughters of Oceanus, who loves Sol.
(See the painting by Lord Leighton – Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, on loan to Leighton House, London).
Bk 4:214-255. She tells Leucothoe’s father about her and Sol.
Bk 4:256-273. Sol disdains her and she wastes away, becoming a plant, the heliotrope, that follows the sun.

Clytius
Bk 5:107-148. The brother of Clanis. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Clytus(1)
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Clytus(2)
Bk 7:453-500.A son of Pallas, an Athenian prince. Goes with Cephalus on an embassy to Aegina. The brother of Butes.

Cnidos
Bk 10:503-559. A city in Caria. A haunt of Venus, and famous for its fish, associated with the goddess.

Cnosiacus
Bk 3:206-231. Bk 7: 453-500. Bk 8:1-80. Bk 8:81-151. Cnosius, from Cnosos (Cnossos), a city in Crete, therefore Cretan.
Bk 9:666-713. The royal city of Crete.

Coae matres
Bk 7:350-403. The women of the island of Cos in the Sporades in the Eastern Aegean off Halicarnassus, angered by Hercules because he dressed in women’s clothes to escape detection. They abused him, and were given horns like cows, by Juno.

Cocalus
The mythical king of Sicily whom Daedalus sought refuge with. Daedalus threaded a spiral Triton shell for him, using an ant to pull the thread, lured by honey.
Bk 8:260-328. He defends Daedalus against Minos of Crete.

Cocinthius
Bk 15:622-745. Of the promontory of Cocinthus in Bruttium, somewhere between Croton and Caulon.

Coeranus
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Coeus
Bk 6:146-203. Bk 6:313-381. A Titan, father of Latona and Asterie.

Colchis, Colchus
Bk 7:100-158. Bk 13:1-122. A country in Asia south east of the Black Sea.The destination of the Argonauts and home of Medea.
Bk 7:294-349. Bk 7:294-349. Bk 7:350-403. Medea as the witch of Colchis.

Colophonius
BkVI:1-25. Of Colophon a city in Asia Minor, near the coast, north-west of Ephesus and the mouth of the River Caÿster. The home city of Idmon.

Combe
Bk 7:350-403. The daughter of Ophius, mother of the Aetolian Curetes, changed into a bird.

Cometes
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He was killed by Rhoetus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Corinth, Ephyre, Corinthus
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 15:479-546. The city north of Mycenae, on the Isthmus between Attica and the Argolis. (Built on the hill of Acrocorinth it and Ithome were ‘the horns of the Greek bull’, whoever held them held the Peloponnese. It was destroyed by the Roman general Mummius in 146 BC and rebuilt by Julius Caesar in 44 BC.)
Bk 5:385-424. Origin of the Bacchiadae who founded Syracuse.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is famous for bronze.
Bk 7:350-403. Jason having claimed the throne is king there. Its ancient name is Ephyre. It is famous for the spring of Pirene on the citadel (rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus in the 2nd c. AD).

Cornix
Bk 2:566-595. The daughter of Coroneus king of Phocis. She was turned into a Crow by Minerva.

Coronae, Coroni
Bk 13:675-704. Two youths who sprang from the ashes of the daughters of Orion.

Coroneus
Bk 2:566-595. A king of Phocis. The father of Cornix who was turned into a Crow by Minerva.

Coronides
Bk 15:622-745. An epithet of Aesculapius as the son of Coronis and Apollo.

Coronis
Bk 2:531-565. The daughter of Phlegyas of Larissa, King of the Lapiths and Ixion’s brother. She lived on the shores of Lake Beobis in Thessaly. She was loved by Apollo.
Bk 2:566-595. She is unfaithful to Apollo and killed by him. Bk 2:612-632. Apollo saves their unborn child Aesculapius and gives him into the care of Chiron the Centaur.

Corvus
Bk 2:531-565. The Raven, whose feathers are turned from white to black by Apollo for bringing him the news of Coronis’s unfaithfulness.

Corycides
Bk 1:313-347. Nymphs of the Corycian cave on Parnassus.

Corythus(1)
Bk 5:107-148. A warrior from Marmarica, friend to Perseus.

Corythus(2)
Bk 7:350-403. The son of Paris and Oenone, the fountain-nymph daughter of the river Oeneus. He was sent by Oenone, in jealousy of Helen, to guide the avenging Greeks to Troy.

Corythus(3)
Bk 12:290-326. One of the Lapithae.

Cous
Bk 7:350-403. From the island of Cos.

Cragos
Bk 9:595-665. A mountain in Lycia.

Crantor
Bk 12:290-326. The armour bearer of Peleus.

Crataeis
Bk 13:738-788. A nymph, the mother of Scylla.

Crathis
Bk 15:307-360. A river in Arcadia, into which the corrosive waters of the Arcadian Styx flow. Aegae is at its mouth. Pausanias describes the complex of rivers and towns near Mount Cyllene and Mount Chelmos: Clitor (Kleitor), and Nonacris, the Crathis, and the Arcadian Styx that is its tributary, in Pausanias VIII 17 and 18. He does not confirm Ovid’s comments about hair being turned to gold, but does elaborate on the marvellous properties of the Styx. (Robert Graves has an interesting digression on this, and the Proetides, in ‘The White Goddess’ p353 and p354.)
Alternatively, and since Crathis seems to be coupled here with Sybaris, Ovid is referring to properties of the Italian river Crathis (modern Crati) which may have been what Ovid calls the Sybaris, on which the ancient town of Sybaris probably stood. These properties of the river may have been transferred in legend by Greek colonists from the Greek Crathis.

Crenaeus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Cressa, Telethusa
Bk 9:666-713. A Cretan woman. Telethusa.

Crete
Bk 3:1-49. The island in the Mediterranean Sea. Dictaean from Mount Dicte.
Bk 7:425-452. Famous for its bull-worship in Minoan times. Hercules lets a white bull of Crete loose on the plains of Marathon which Theseus overcomes.
Bk 8:81-151. The kingdom of Minos.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus, kept there by Minos, plans to escape.
Bk 8:260-328. Athens ceases to pay it tribute.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Seventh Labour Hercules killed a bull that was ravaging the island.
Bk 9:666-713. The country of Ligdus and Telethusa.
Bk 9:714-763. The country of monstrosities.
Bk 13:705-737. The country of Teucer, an ancient king of Troy, and its people the Teucri.
Bk 15:479-546. Sacred to Diana.

Crimese
Bk 15:1-59. A town in Lucania.

Crocale
Bk 3:165-205. One of the nymphs of Diana, daughter of the river-god Ismenus, and therefore called Ismenis.

Crocus
Bk 4:274-316. A youth who pined away from love of the nymph Smilax, and was changed into the crocus flower. Smilax became the flowering bindweed.

Cromyon
Bk 7:425-452. A village near Corinth, where Theseus destroyed a fierce and monstrous white sow, that killed the farmers and prevented them ploughing their fields. It was said to be the offspring of Typhon and Echidne.

Croton
A mythical hero who entertained Hercules at his home in Sicily.
Bk 15:1-59. Myscelus founds Crotona, taking the name from its proximity to Croton’s tomb. (This is the modern Crotone, the only harbour between Taranto and Reggio. The ancient town was founded in 710 BC by settlers, sent, according to legend, by the Delphic oracle. It was an important city of the Bruttians, and with Sybaris it conrolled Magna Graecia and included colonies on the Ionian and Tyrrhenian coasts. Pythagoras made it the chief centre of his school but was later expelled from the city, when his supporters fell from power. It conquered the Sybarites in 510 BC, and became subject to Syracuse in 299 BC. Hannibal embarked there after his retreat from Rome.)

Ctesylla
Bk 7:350-403. The daughter of Alcidamas of Ceos. She gave birth to a dove.

Cumae
The site of an oracle of Apollo, and its prophetess, the Sibyl. A legendary entrance to the underworld. Daedalus rested there after his flight from Crete, and built a temple to Apollo, before going on to Sicily, where he made the golden honeycomb, for the goddess at Eryx. An ancient Euboean colony on the sea coast of Campania. (See Michael Ayrton’s drawings and paintings of the site.)
Bk 14:101-153. The site of the Sibyl’s cave, the oracular priestess of Apollo. She guides Aeneas through the underworld, showing him the golden bough that he must pluck from the tree.
Bk 14:154-222. The Sibyl guides Aeneas back to the city.

Cumaea
Bk 14:101-153. Bk 15:622-745.An epithet of the Sibyl of Cumae who guided Aeneas to the Underworld.

Cupid, Cupido, Amor
Bk 1:438-473. The god of love, son of Venus (Aphrodite). He is portrayed as a blind winged child armed with a bow and arrows, and he carries a flaming torch. He causes Apollo to fall in love with Daphne.
Bk 4:317-344. Hermaphroditus is compared with him, for beauty, by Salmacis.
Bk 5:332-384. Venus asks him to make Dis fall in love with Proserpine.
Bk 7:1-73. As love, or passion affects Medea.
Bk 9:439-516. Bk 9:517-594. Byblis names him.
Bk 10:298-355. He is not responsible for Myrrha’s incestuous passion.
Bk 10:503-559. He accidentally wounds his mother Venus with a loose arrow in his quiver, and she falls in love with Adonis.

Cures
Bk 14:772-804. The chief city of the Sabines.
Bk 15:1-59. Numa’s native city.

Curetes
Bk 4:274-316. They or the Dactyls guarded the infant Jupiter. They were the sons of Rhea, and stood around the golden cradle, hung on a tree, clashing their spears and shouting, to drown the noise of his wailing (like the sound of heavy rain?). They seem to have been associated with rain-making ceremonies.

Curetis
Bk 8:152-182. Of Crete. From Cer, the Cretan Great Goddess. See her followers the Curetes.

Cyane
Bk 5:385-424 A fountain nymph of Sicily whose stream flowed into the River Anapis, near Syracuse. She was loved by Anapis and wedded him. She obstructs Dis in his abduction of Proserpine and Dis opens up a way to Tartarus from the depths of her pool.
Bk 5:425-486. She wastes away from grief and the desecration of her pool, but shows Ceres a sign of Persephone’s rape.

Cyaneae, Symplegades
Bk 8:1-80. Two small rocky islands at the entrance to the Euxine Sea, that clashed together when anything approached them.

Cyanee
Bk 9:439-516. A nymph, the daughter of Maeander, and mother of Caunus and Byblis by Miletus.

Cybele
The Phrygian great goddess, personifying the earth in its savage state, worshipped in caves and on mountaintops. Merged with Rhea, the mother of the gods. Her consort was Attis, slain by a wild boar like Adonis. His festival was celebrated by the followers of Cybele, the Galli, or Corybantes, who were noted for convulsive dances to the music of flutes, drums and cymbals, and self-mutilation in an orgiastic fury.
Bk 10:86-105. The pine tree is sacred to her, since it embodies the transformed Attis. It is one of the trees that gather to hear Orpheus.
Bk 10:681-707. Hippomenes and Atalanta desecrate her sacred cave, with its wooden images of the elder gods. She is adorned with a turreted crown. The two sinners are turned into the lions that pull her chariot.
Bk 14:527-565. She transforms Aeneas’s fleet of ships into Naiads, since their timbers were cut on her sacred Mount Ida.

Cyclades
Bk 2:227-271. The scattered islands of the southern Aegean off the coast of the Greece, forming a broken circle.

Cyclopes
Bk 1:244-273. A race of giants living on the coast of Sicily of whom Polyphemus was one. They had a single eye in the centre of their foreheads. They forged Jupiter’s lightning-bolts.
Bk 13:738-788. Bk 13:789-869. Bk 13:870-897.
Bk 14:1-74. Bk 14:154-222. Polyphemus, who loves Galatea and is blinded by Ulysses.
Bk 15:60-142. Pythagoras compares meat-eating to the practices of Polyphemus.

Cycnus(1)
Bk 2:367-380. Son of Sthenelus King of Liguria, mourns Phaethon and is changed into a swan.

Cycnus(2)
Bk 7:350-403. The son of Apollo and Hyrie, a great hunter of Tempe. He is turned into a swan when he attempts suicide to spite Phylius.

Cycnus(3)
Bk 12:64-145. The son of Neptune, deemed invulnerable. He is defeated by Achilles, who chokes him to death, and turned by his father Neptune into a white swan.
Bk 12:146-209. He is unique in his invulnerability to weapons in his generation.

Cydonaeus
Bk 8:1-80. Of Cydonia, a town in northern Crete. Hence used to mean Cretan.

Cyllarus
Bk 12:393-428. A centaur, loved by Hylonome. Inseparable in life they died together.

Cyllene
Bk 1:199-243. A mountain in Arcadia, Mercury’s birthplace, hence Cyllenius, an epithet of Mercury. (Pausanias, VIII, xvii, noting it as the highest mountain in Arcadia mentions the ruined shrine of Hermes-Mercury on its summit, and says it got its name from Cyllen son of Elatus. Mercury’s statue was of juniper (thuon) and stood eight feet tall. Pausanias says that Cyllene was famous for its white (albino?) blackbirds.)
Bk 1:689-721. Mercury lulls Argus to sleep and kills him.
BkII:812-832. Mercury turns Aglauros to stone.
Bk 5:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.
Bk 7:350-403. The place where Menephron committed incest with his mother.
Bk 11:266-345. Mercury’s sacred mountain.

Cyllenius
Bk 5:149-199. Bk 13:123-381. Bk 14:223-319. An epithet of Mercury from Mount Cyllene.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that he fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there he hid in the form of a winged ibis.

Cymelus
Bk 12:429-535. One of the Lapithae.

Cynthia
Bk 2:441-465. Bk 15:479-546. An epithet of Diana as the Moon goddess, derived from Mount Cynthus on Delos her birthplace. She expels Callisto from her band of virgin followers because Callisto is pregnant by Jupiter.
Bk 7:661-758. Procris is her follower.
Bk 15:479-546. She hides Hippolytus and sets him down at Nemi.

Cynthus
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain on the island of Delos sacred to Apollo and Artemis(Diana).
Bk 6:204-266. Latona speaks to her two children Apollo and Diana there.

Cyparissus
Bk 10:106-142.A youth loved by Apollo. He accidentally killed a beloved stag, sacred to the nymphs, and begged to mourn forever. Phoebus turned him into a cypress tree.

Cyprus
Bk 14:623-697. The Island off the south coast of Asia Minor sacred to Venus.
Bk 10:220-242. The city of Amathus was there.
Bk 10:243-297. The whole island celebrates the festival of Venus.
It is called Paphos, after Pygmalion’s daughter.
Bk 10:638-680. It contains the sacred field with the golden tree at Tamasus.
Bk 10:708-739. Venus’s destination prior to the death of Adonis.

Cytherea, Cythereias, Cythereis, Cythereius, Venus, Aphrodite
Bk 4:190-213. Of Cythera, the Aegean island, sacred to Venus- Aphrodite who rose from the sea there. (See Botticelli’s the Birth of Venus: see Baudelaire’s poem ‘Voyage to Cytherea’.).
Bk 4:274-316. An epithet for Venus-Aphrodite. She is the mother of Hermaphroditus by Mercury-Hermes.
Bk 10:503-559. Sacred to Venus.
Bk 10:638-680. Bk 10:708-739. Bk 13:623-639.
Bk 14:483-511. Bk 15:745-842. Venus.
Bk 14:566-580. She obtains deification for her son Aeneas.
Bk 15:361-390. Doves are her sacred birds.

Cythereius heros
Bk 13:623-639. Applied to Aeneas as the son of Venus.

Cythnus
Bk 5:250-293. An island of the Cyclades.

Cytoriacus
Bk 4:274-316. Of Cytorus, a mountain in Paphlagonia, with abundant boxwood. Salmacis’s comb is made from it.
Bk 6:129-145. Minerva’s shuttle is made of it.

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Part 3 of 9

Daedalion
Son of Lucifer, brother of Ceyx, father of Chione.
Bk 11:266-345. Mourning his daughter Chione he leaps from the summit of Parnassus but is turned by Apollo into a hawk (probably an eagle, genus: Accipiter, since Parnassus was famous for them. Note Byron’s letters Nov-Dec 1809. Seeing a flight of eagles on Parnassus he ‘seized the omen’ and wrote some stanzas for Childe Harold hoping ‘Apollo had accepted my homage’).

Daedalus
Bk 8:152-182. The mythical Athenian architect who built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete.
(See Michael Ayrton’s extended series of sculptures, bronzes, and artefacts celebrating Daedalus, Icarus and the Minotaur)
Bk 8:183-235. He makes wings of bee’s-wax and feathers to escape from Crete. Warning Icarus, his son, to follow him in a middle course, they fly towards Ionia. Between Samos and Lebinthos Icarus flies too high and the wax melts, and he drowns in the Icarian Sea and is buried on the island of Icaria.
Bk 8:236-259. He had previously caused the death of Talos, his nephew, the son of his sister Perdix, through jealousy throwing him from the Athenian citadel, but Pallas Athene changed the boy into the partridge, perdix perdix.
Bk 8:260-328. He finds sanctuary in Sicily (after reaching Cumae, where he built the temple of Apollo), at the court of King Cocalus who defends him from Minos. (He threaded the spiral shell for King Cocalus, a test devised by Minos, and made the golden honeycomb for the goddess at Eryx. See Vincent Cronin’s book on Sicily – The Golden Honeycomb.).
Bk 9:714-763. His name was synonymous with ingenuity, invention and technical skill.

Damasichthon
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Danae
The mother of Perseus by Jupiter, and daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos.
Bk 4:604-662. She was raped by Jupiter in the form of a shower of gold, while imprisoned in a brazen tower by Acrisius, who had been warned by an oracle that he would have no sons but that his grandson would kill him. (See Titian’s painting, Museo del Prado, Madrid: See the pedestal of Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus bronze, Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, depicting Danae with the child Perseus: See Jan Gossaert called Mabuse’s panel – Danae - in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich))
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts her rape by Jupiter.
Bk 11:85-145. She would have been deceived by Midas’s gold also.

Danaeius heros
Bk 5:1-29. Perseus, son of Danae.

Danai
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 12:64-145. The Greeks, the descendants of Danaus of Argos, the Pelasgians.

Danube, Hister
Bk 2:227-271. The Lower Danube running to the Black Sea.

Daphne, Peneis
Bk 1:438-472. Daughter of Peneus the river-god. Loved by Phoebus Apollo.
Bk 1:525-552. Turned into the laurel bough. (See Pollaiuolo’s painting – Apollo and Daphne – National Gallery, London)
Bk 1:553-567. She is honoured by Phoebus.

Daphnis
Bk 4:274-316. A shepherd boy of Mount Ida, the son of Mercury, and inventor of bucolic poetry. His mother was a nymph. Pan taught him to play the pipes and he was beloved by Apollo, and hunted with Artemis. A nymph named Nomia made him swear loyalty. Her rival Chimera seduced him, and Nomia (or Mercury) turned him to stone.

Dardanidae matres
Bk 13:399-428. Dardanian, that is Trojan women.

Dardanius
Bk 13:1-122. An epithet applied to the descendants of Dardanus, the son of Jupiter and Electra, who came from Italy to the Troad, and was one of the ancestors of the Trojan royal house.
Bk 15:418-452. The Romans, as descendants of Aeneas.
Bk 15:745-842. Iulus, as the son of Aeneas.

Daulis
Bk 5:250-293. A city in Phocis seized by Pyreneus.

Daunus
Bk 14:445-482. An ancient king of Apulia, Iapygia in southern Italy. Diomede founded Arpi in his kingdom.
Bk 14:483-511. Diomede’s father-in-law.

Deianira
The daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon, hence called Calydonis, and the sister of Meleager.
Bk 8:515-546. She is spared by Diana from being turned into a bird.
Bk 9:1-88. She is wooed by Hercules and Achelous.
Bk 9:89-158. She marries Hercules, and is raped by Nessus. Trying to revive Hercules love for her she unwittingly gives him the shirt of Nessus soaked in the poison of the Hydra. (See Pollaiuolo’s painting – The Rape of Deianira – Yale University Art Gallery)
Bk 9:273-323. Hyllus is her son by Hercules.

Deionides, Miletus
Miletus, son of Deione.

Deiphobus
The son of Priam, a Trojan Hero.
Bk 12:536-579. Cited by Nestor as an enemy.

Delia
Bk 5:572-641. An epithet of Diana from her birthplace, Delos.

Delius, Apollo, Phoebus
An epithet of Apollo, from his birthplace, Delos.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that he fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there he hid in the form of a crow.
Bk 6:204-266. Apollo helps to punish Niobe.
Bk 11:172-193. He gives Midas the ears of an ass.
Bk 12:579-628. He helps Paris destroy Achilles.
Bk 13:640-674. He gave Andros the power of prophecy.

Delos
Bk 1:438-473. Bk 9:324-393. The Greek island in the Aegean, one of the Cyclades, birthplace of, and sacred to, Apollo (Phoebus) and Diana (Phoebe, Artemis), hence the adjective Delian. (Pausanias VIII xlvii, mentions the sacred palm-tree, noted there in Homer’s Odyssey 6, 162, and the ancient olive.)
Bk 5:572-641. Its ancient name was Ortygia.
Bk 6:146-203. Bk 6:313-381. A wandering island, that gave sanctuary to Latona (Leto). Having been hounded by jealous Juno (Hera), she gave birth there to the twins Apollo and Diana, between an olive tree and a date-palm on the north side of Mount Cynthus. Delos then became fixed in the sea. In a variant she gave birth to Artemis-Diana on the islet of Ortygia nearby.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly past it after leaving Crete.
Bk 13:623-639. Aeneas arrives there. Anius is priest on Delos and they sacrifice to the Delian gods.
Bk 15:479-546. Sacred to Diana.

Delphi, Delphicus
Bk 1:504-524. Bk 9:324-393. Bk 11:266-345.
Bk 15:622-745. The site of the oracle of Apollo in Phocis.
Bk 2:531-565. Phoebus Apollo is called Delphicus.
Bk 2:676-701. Phoebus Apollo as lord of Delphi.
Bk 10:143-219. The navel stone in the precinct at Delphi was taken as the central point of the known world.
Bk 11:410-473. Delphi was sacked by the Phlegyans.
BkXV:143-175. Pythagoras is a devotee of the god.

Demoleon
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Deois
Bk 6:103-128. A daughter of Deo, a name of Ceres, so Proserpina.

Deoius
Bk VIII725-777. Of Ceres-Demeter, her oak trees.

Dercetis, Derceto, Atargatis
Bk 4:31-54. A Babylonian goddess worshipped in Syrian Palestine. She was the Syrian goddess Atar-ata, or Atargatis, consort of the Babylonian great god Adad. She was worshipped at Ascalon as half-woman and half-fish, and fish and doves were sacred to her. She was identified, by the Greeks, with Aphrodite. The mother of Semiramis.

Deucalion
Bk 1:313-347. King of Phthia. He and his wife Pyrrha, his cousin, and daughter of Epimetheus, were survivors of the flood. He was he son of Prometheus. (See Michelangelo’s scenes from the Great Flood, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome)
Bk 7:350-403. Cerambus also escaped.

Dia
Bk 3:638-691. An old name for Naxos.
Bk 8:152-182. Ariadne is abandoned there by Theseus, but rescued by Bacchus to whom the island was sacred.

Diana, Phoebe, Artemis
Bk 2:401-416. Daughter of Jupiter and Latona (hence her epithet Latonia) and twin sister of Apollo. She was born on the island of Ortygia which is Delos (hence her epithet Ortygia). Goddess of the moon and the hunt. She carries a bow, quiver and arrows. She and her followers are virgins. See Phoebe. She is worshipped as the triple goddess, as Hecate in the underworld, Luna the moon, in the heavens, and Diana the huntress on earth. (Skelton’s ‘Diana in the leaves green, Luna who so bright doth sheen, Persephone in hell’) Callisto is one of her followers. (See Luca Penni’s – Diana Huntress – Louvre, Paris, and Jean Goujon’s sculpture (attributed) – Diana of Anet – Louvre, Paris.)
Bk 2:441-465. She expels Callisto from her band of virgins because Callisto is pregnant by Jupiter, having been raped by him.
Bk 3:165-205. She is seen by Actaeon while she is bathing and turns him into a stag.
Bk 3:232-252. Her anger is only sated when Actaeon is torn to pieces by his dogs.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that she fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there she hid in the form of a cat.
Bk 5:332-384. A virgin goddess.
Bk 5:572-641. She conceals her amour-bearer Arethusa in a cloud. Ortygia is an epithet for her.
Bk 7:661-758. She gives Procris a magic hound, Laelaps, and a spear, both of which Procris gives to her husband, Cephalus.
Bk 8:260-328. Slighted by King Oeneus, she sends a wild boar against Calydon.
Bk 8:329-375. She steals the point of Mopsus’s spear in flight rendering his shot ineffectual.
Bk 8:376-424. Ancaeus boasts in spite of her.
Bk 8:515-546. She turns the sisters of Meleager, the Meleagrides, into guinea-hens.
Bk 8:547-610. Achelous compares his anger to Diana’s.
Bk 9:89-158. The Naiades dress like her.
Bk 10:503-559. Venus dresses like her, and hunts with Adonis.
Bk 11:266-345. She kills Chione for slighting her beauty.
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 13:123-381. She is angered by some act of Agamemnon’s, and keeps the Greek fleet at Aulis until Iphigenia is sacrificed. She then snatches Iphigenia away in a mist, and leaves a hind for the sacrifice.
Bk 14:320-396. Orestes carried her image to Aricia in Italy where she was worshipped.
Bk 15:176-198. The moon-goddess.
Bk 15:479-546. She was worshipped at the sacred grove and lake of Nemi in Aricia, as Diana Nemorensis, and the rites practised there are the starting point for Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’ (see Chapter I et seq.) She hid Hippolytus, and set him down at Aricia (Nemi), as her consort Virbius.

Dictaeus
Bk 8:1-80. Bk 9:714-763. Of Mount Dicte, in Crete, hence Cretan.

Dictynna
Bk 2:441-465. An epithet of Britomartis in Crete, ‘goddess of the net’, identified with Diana.

Dictys(1)
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Dictys(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Dido
The Phoenician Queen of Carthage, a manifestation of Astarte, the Great Goddess.
Bk 14:75-100. A Sidonian, she founded Carthage, loved Aeneas, and committed suicide when he deserted her. (See Virgil, The Aeneid, Book IV, and Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage: See also Purcell’s operatic work ‘Dido and Aeneas’.)

Didyme
Two small islands near Syros in the Aegean.
Bk 7:453-500. Not allied to Crete.

Dindyma, Dindymus
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Mysia in Asia Minor, sacred to Ceres.

Diomedes(1)
Bk 12:579-628. The son of Tydeus king of Argos, a Greek hero in the war against Troy. See Homer’s Iliad. He dare not compete for the arms of Achilles.
Bk 13:1-122. He reproached his friend Ulysses for abandoing Nestor in the thick of the fighting.
Bk 13:1-122. He shared in Ulysses’s deeds.
Bk 13:123-381. Ulysses claims his friendship and support.
Bk 14:445-482. He founded Arpi in southern Italy (Iapygia). Turnus sends Venulus to seek his help in the war with Aeneas, but he pleads lack of resources and unacceptable risk.
Bk 14:483-511. He tells how his friends were changed into birds.
Bk 14:512-526. He completes his story, and Venulus leaves.
Bk 15:745-842. He wounded Venus at Troy, and Venus once saved Aeneas from his attack.

Dirce
Bk 2:227-271. A famous spring near Thebes in Boeotia.

Dis
Bk 4:416-463. A name for Pluto, king of the Underworld, brother of Neptune and Jupiter. His kingdom in the Underworld described.
Bk 5:332-384. At Venus’s instigation Cupid strikes him with an arrow to make him fall in love with Prosperpine.
Bk 5:385-424. He rapes and abducts her, re-entering Hades through the pool of Cyane.
Bk 5:533-571. Jupiter decrees that she can only spend half the year with him and must spend the other half with Ceres.
Bk 10:1-85. Lord of the Underworld, visited by Orpheus to plead for the life of Eurydice.
Bk 15:479-546. He is angered when Aesculapius restores the life of Hippolytus.

Dodona
The town in Epirus in north western Greece, site of the Oracle of Jupiter-Zeus, whose responses were delivered by the rustling of the oak trees in the sacred grove. (After 1200 BC the goddess Naia, worshipped there, who continued to be honoured as Dione, was joined by Zeus Naios. The sanctuary was destroyed in 391 AD.)
Bk 7:614-660. The oak at Aegina is seeded from it, and sacred to Jupiter.
Bk 13:705-737. Aeneas passes it.

Dodonaeus
Bk 7:614-660. Dodonis, of Dodona.

Dolon
A Phrygian sent by the Trojans to spy on the Greek camp.
Bk 13:1-122. He was captured by Ulysses and Diomede and killed. Hector had promised him the horses and chariot of Achilles for his night’s spying.

Dolopes
Bk 12:290-326. A people of Thessaly. Amyntor is their king.

Don, Tanais
Bk 2:227-271. The River in Scythia.

Doris
Bk 2:1-30. The daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, wife of Nereus the old man of the sea who is a shape-changer, and mother of the fifty Nereids, the attendants on Thetis. The Nereids are mermaids.
Bk 2:227-271. Hid from the sun when Phaethon’s chariot scorched the earth.
Bk 13:738-788. The mother of Galatea.

Dorylas(1)
Bk 5:107-148. A rich man from Nasamonia. A friend of Perseus, killed by Halcyoneus.

Dorylas(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur, killed by Peleus.

Draco, The Dragon ( ancient Serpens)
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of the Dragon, once confusingly called Serpens. It is said to be the dragon Ladon killed by Hercules when stealing the golden apples of the Hesperides. It contains the north pole of the ecliptic (ninety degrees from the plane of earth’s orbit) and represents the icy north.

Dryades, Dryads
Bk 3:474-510. The wood-nymphs. They mourn for Narcissus.
Bk 8:725-776. They inhabit the oak trees in Ceres sacred grove and dance at her festivals. One of them prophesies the doom of Erysichthon who had violated the grove and destroyed her.
Bk 8:777-842. The Dryads mourn the oak and demand punishment for Erysichthon.
Bk 11:1-66. They mourn for Orpheus.
Bk 14:320-396. They are attracted to Picus.

Dryas

The son of Mars, and brother of the Thracian Tereus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 12:290-326. He is present at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Dryope
The daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, mother of Amphissus by Apollo, wife of Andraemon.
Bk 9:324-393. She unwittingly offends the nymphs and is turned into a lotus-tree.

Dulichius
Bk 13:1-122. Bk 13:399-428. Bk 13:705-737.
Bk 14:223-319An epithet of Ulysses from Dulichium, an (unidentified) island near Ithaca.

Dymantis
Bk 11:749-795. Hecuba, the daughter of Dymas and the nymph Eunoe, and wife of Priam, king of Troy.

Dymas
Bk 11:749-795. The father of Hecuba.

Echeclus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Echidna
A monster half-woman, half-snake mother of Cerberus, Chimacra, the Hydra, and the Sphinx.
Bk 4:464-511. Her venom is part of Tisiphone’s poisonous brew.
Bk 7:404-424. Mother of Cerberus.

Echinades
A group of islands off the mouth of the River Achelous, in Acarnania, opposite the island of Cephallenia.
Bk 8:547-610. They were nymphs turned into islands by the river-god.

Echion(1)
Bk 3:115-137. One of the five surviving heroes sprung from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus. He married Agave, the daughter of Cadmus.
Bk 3:511-527. Bk 3:692-733. He was the father of Pentheus.
Bk 10:681-707. He built a temple to Cybele.

Echion(2)
Son of Mercury. The swiftest runner.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. He throws his spear ineffectually at the boar.

Echionides
Bk 3:511-527. Bk 3:692-733. An epithet of Pentheus as son of Echion.

Echo
Bk 3:339-358. A nymph whose voice gave rise to the name for a reverberating sound.
Bk 3:359-401. Juno limits her powers of speech. She falls in love with Narcissus and is rejected. She dwindles to sound alone.
Bk 3:474-510. She pities Narcissus and echoes his farewells and mourns for him and echoes his sister’s lamentations.
(See John William Waterhouse’s painting – Echo and Narcissus – Walker Art Gallery, Merseyside, England)

Edoni, Edonians, Edonides
Bk 11:67-84. The Edonians were a Thracian people, ruled at one time by Lycurgus who was destroyed by Bacchus for opposing his worship. The Edonides, the women of the Edoni, and worshippers of Bacchus, murdered Orpheus, and were turned into oak trees.

Eetion
Bk 12:64-145. The king of Thebes, in Mysia, and father of Andromache the wife of Hector.

Egeria
Bk 15:479-546. An Italian nymph, wife of Numa. Unconsoled at his death she is turned into a fountain, and its attendant streams (at Le Mole, by Nemi in Aricia). She was worshipped as a minor deity of childbirth at Aricia, and later in Rome. (outside the Porta Capena: see Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’ Chapter I.)

Elatus
Bk 12:146-209. Bk 12:429-535. A prince of the Lapithae, father of Caenis.

Eleleus
Bk 4:1-30. A name for Bacchus from the wild cries of the Bacchantes.

Eleusin, Eleusis
A city in Attica, famous for the worship of Ceres-Demeter.
Bk 5:642-678. Triptolemus is the son of the king there, though Eleusis is not mentioned by name at this point in the Latin text.
Bk 7:425-452. Sacred to Ceres, the Mother, and Persephone, the Maiden. The place where Theseus defeated Cercyon.

Elis
Bk 2:676-701. A city and country in the western Peloponnese.
Bk 5:487-532. The native country of Arethusa.
Bk 5:572-641. Land of the river-god Alpheus.
Bk 5:572-641. The city reached by Arethusa in her flight.
Bk 8:260-328. Sends Phyleus to the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Fifth Labour Hercules cleanses the stables of King Augeas of Elis.
Bk 12:536-579. Hercules destroyed the city.
Bk 14:320-396. Site of the quinquennial games.

Elpenor
Bk 14:223-319. A comrade of Ulysses. The Odyssey describes his death when he tumbles from the roof of Circe’s house, the morning after a heavy bout of drinking. His ghost begs Ulysses for proper burial, and for the oar that he pulled with his comrades to be set up over his grave. His ashes were entombed on Mount Circeo.

Elymus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Elysium
Bk 14:101-153. The Paradise of the afterlife, home of the blessed spirits in the Underworld.

Elysius
Bk 14:101-153. Of Elysium, the paradise of the Underworld.

Emathides, The Pierides
The daughters of Pierus, king of Emathia in Macedonia.
Bk 5:294-331. They challenge the Muses to a contest, and one sings of Typhoeus and the flight of the gods to Egypt.
Bk 5:642-678. They are defeated and turned into magpies for their insolence.

Emathion
Bk 5:74-106. An old man killed by Chromis in the fight between Phineus and Perseus.

Emathius
Bk 12:429-535. Bk 15:745-842. Of Emathia, a district of Macedonia.

Enaesimus
Bk 8:260-328. Bk 8:329-375. Son of Hippocoön, killed at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Enipeus
Bk 1:568-587. A river in Thessaly.
Bk 6:103-128. Disguised as the river-god, Neptune rapes Iphimedia and begets the Aloidae.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Ennomus
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Envy, Invidia
Bk 2:752-786. She is sent by Minerva to punish Aglauros.

Eous
Bk 2:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.

Epaphus
Bk 1:747-764. The son of Io and Jupiter, grandson of Inachus, worshipped as a god in Egypt alongside his mother. Io is therefore synonymous with Isis (or Hathor the cow-headed goddess with whom she was often confused), and Epaphus with Horus.

Ephyre, Corinth
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 7:350-403. The city north of Mycenae, on the Isthmus between Attica and the Argolis. Ephyre is an ancient name for the city.

Epidaurus, Epidaurius, Epidauros
Bk 3:273-315. A city in Argolis, sacred to Aesculapius. (The pre-Greek god Maleas was later equated with Apollo, and he and his son Aesculapius were worshipped there. There were games in honour of the god every four years, and from 395 BC a drama festival. The impressive ancient theatre has been restored and plays are performed there. From the end of the 5th c. BC the cult of Asklepios spread widely through the ancient world reaching Athens in 420 BC and Rome (as Aesculapius) in 293 BC.
Bk 7:425-452. The scene of Theseus’s defeat of Periphetes.
Bk 15:622-745. Bk 15:622-745. The home of Aesculapius.

Epimetheus
Bk 1:381-415. A Titan, the brother of Prometheus. He was the father of Pyrrha, wife to Deucalion her cousin. He married Pandora who opened the box that Prometheus had warned them to keep closed, releasing illness, old age, work, passion, vice and madness into the world.

Epimethis
Bk 1:381-415. Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus.

Epirus
A region in northern Greece containing Dodona.
Bk 8:260-328. Described as grassy. Noted for its massive bulls.
Bk 13:705-737. Contains the city of Buthrotos.

Epopeus
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Epytus
Bk 14:609-622. One of the Alban kings.

Erasinus
Bk 15:259-306. A river in Argolis. The river Stymphelos, in Arcadia, that reappears in the Argolis, on Mount Chaon, after running underground. (See Pausanias II 24, and VIII 22)

Erebus
Bk 5:533-571. Bk 10:1-85. Bk 14:397-434. A name for the underworld.

Erectheus
King of Athens, son of Pandion, father of Orithyia and Procris.
Book VI:675-721. He inherits the kingdom from Pandion, and is noted for his sound government and military effectiveness.
Bk 7:425-452. Used to signify Athens and the Athenians.
Bk 7:661-758. He married his daughter Procris to Cephalus.
Bk 8:547-610. His kingship of Athens remembered.

Erichthonius
Bk 2:531-565. A son of Vulcan (Hephaestus), born without a mother (or born from the Earth after Hephaestus the victim of a deception had been repulsed by Athene). Legendary king of Athens and a skilled charioteer. He is represented by the constellation Auriga the charioteer, containing the star Capella. (Alternatively the constellation represents the she-goat Amaltheia that suckled the infant Jupiter, and the stars ζ (zeta) and η (eta) Aurigae are her Kids. It is a constellation visible in the winter months.)
Bk 9:418-438. His father Vulcan (Mulciber) wishes he might have a second life.

Eridanus
Bk 2:301-328. God of the River Po in northern Italy. His river receives the body of Phaethon after the destruction of the sun chariot.
He is represented by the constellation Eridanus, south of Taurus, which meanders across the sky.

Erigdupus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Erigone
Bk 6:103-128. The daughter of Icarius, loved by Bacchus, and depicted by Arachne on her web. Her country is Panchaia.
Bk 10:431-502. She was set in the sky as the constellation Virgo, after her suicide, by hanging, in despair at finding her father Icarius’s body. Icarius is identified with the constellation Boötes. Ovid is contrasting her piety and love for her father with Myrrha’s impiety and carnal desire for hers. In northern latitudes Boötes and Virgo, which are near to each other in the sky, would be declining from the zenith at midnight in late April. Virgo, the second largest constellation, is associated with the goddess of justice holding the scales, but she is also Ceres-Demeter and holds the ear of wheat, the star Spica. (See the Ceres entry). It would not make sense for Virgo to be in the sky at the time of the Greek harvest festival, the Thesmophoria, since that took place in autumn when the sun was in Virgo. However it does make sense for countries where the harvest time is different, as presumably in Panchaia. (The Egyptian harvest for example, geared to the Nile flood-cycle, was in March-April.)

Erinys, Erinnys, Eumenides
Bk 1:199-243. A Fury. The Furies, The Three Sisters, were Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera, the daughters of Night and Uranus. They were the personified pangs of cruel conscience that pursued the guilty. (See Aeschylus – The Eumenides). Their abode is in Hades by the Styx.
Bk 4:416-463. Juno summons them at the gate of hell.
Bk 4:464-511. Tisiphone maddens Ino and Athamas.
Bk 6:401-438. They attend (invisibly) the wedding of Tereus and Procne.
Bk 6:653-674. Tereus calls on them in his grief and desire for revenge.
Bk 8:451-514. Althaea calls on them to aid her vengeance.
Bk 10:1-85. They weep for the first time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.
Bk 10:298-355. They pursued Myrrha.
Bk 11:1-66. A synonym for the madness of the Maenads.

Eriphyle
The wife of Amphiaraus whom she betrayed to Polynices.
Bk 8:260-328. Her husband is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 9:394-417. Themis prophesies her murder by her son Alcmaeon in vengeance for his father’s death.

Erycina
An epithet of Venus from Eryx, a mountain in Sicily sacred to her.
Bk 5:332-384. She asks Cupid to make Dis fall in love with Proserpine.

Erymanthus
Bk 2:227-271. A river and mountain in Arcadia.
Bk 2:496-507. Arcas meets his mother Callisto, who is transformed into a bear, while hunting in the woods of Erymanthus.
Bk 5:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Fourth Labour, Hercules captured a giant wild boar that lived there.

Erysichthon
The son of the Thessalian king Triopas. His daughter is Mestra.
Bk 8:725-776. He violates the grove of Ceres.
Bk 8:777-842. In punishment Ceres torments him with Hunger.
Bk 8:843-884. After living off Mestra’s skills he ends by consuming himself.

Erytus, Eurytus(4)
Bk 5:74-106. The son of Actor, companion of Phineus. There is possibly confusion here with Eurytus(3).

Eryx(1)
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain on the north-western tip of Sicily sacred to Venus Aphrodite. Daedalus made a golden honeycomb for her shrine there, after fleeing from Crete via Cumae.

Eryx(2)
Bk 14:75-100. Acestes. A son of Venus (Eryx), half-brother of Aeneas.

Eryx(3)
Bk 5:149-199. An opponent of Perseus, petrified by the Gorgon’s head.

Eteocles
Bk 9:394-417. The son of Oedipus and Iocasta, brother of Polynices who fights against him in the war of the Seven against Thebes. The two brothers kill each other.

Ethemon
Bk 5:149-199. A Nabatean opponent of Perseus, killed by him.

Ethiopia, Aethiopia
Bk 1:765-779. The country in northeast Africa.
Bk 2:227-271. The people acquire black skins.
Bk 4:663-705. The country of Cepheus.

Etna, Aetna
Bk 2:201-226. The volcanic mountain in eastern Sicily.

Etruria, Etruscus
A country in Central Italy. Its people are the Etrurians or Etruscans. Hence Tuscany in modern Italy.
Bk 14:445-482. The Tyrrhenians. They go to war with Aeneas and his Trojans.
Bk 15:552-621. Noted for their seers’ ability to tell the future.

Euagrus
Bk 12:290-326. One of the Lapithae.

Euander
The son of Carmentis, emigrated from Pallantium in Arcadia before the Trojan War and founded the city of Pallanteum in Latium, on the future site of Rome (The Palatine Hill).
Bk 14:445-482. He gives help to Aeneas in the war.

Euboea
Bk 7:179-233. Bk 13:898-968. The large island close to eastern Greece separated from it by the Euboean Gulf. It contains Eretria and Aegae. Anthedon is on the mainland across the Gulf from Euboea.
Bk 9:89-158. Hercules conquers King Eurytus at Oechalia and sacrifices to Jupiter at Cenaeum in the north-west of the island.
Bk 9:211-272. Lichas becomes an island of that name in the Euboean Gulf.
Bk 13:123-381. Aulis faces it.
Bk 13:640-674. Two of Anius’s daughters flee there from Delos.
Bk 14:1-74. Glaucus fishes it waters.
Bk 14:154-222. Euboean colonists founded Cumae in Italy.

Euenus
Bk 8:515-546. A river of Aetolia near Calydon.
Bk 9:89-158. The scene of the rape of Deianira.

Euhan
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet for Bacchus from the cries of his followers.

Euippe
Bk 5:294-331. The wife of Pierus, and mother of the Pierides.

Eumelus
Bk 7:350-403. The father of Botres.

Eumenides, Erinyes, Furies
Bk 6:401-438. ‘The kindly Goddesses’, an ironic euphemism for the Furies or Erinyes.
Bk 8:451-514. Althaea calls on them to aid her vengeance.
Bk 9:394-417. Themis prophesies that they will pursue Alcmaeon.
Bk 10:1-85. They weep for the first time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.

Eumolpus
A mythical Thracian singer, priest of Ceres-Demeter, who brought the Eleusinian mysteries to Attica.
Bk 11:85-145. He was taught the rites along with Midas by Orpheus.

Eupalamas
Bk 8:329-375. One of the heroes in the Calydonian Boar Hunt. Knocked down by the boar’s charge.

Euphorbus
The son of Panthous, a Trojan killed by Menelaus.
BkXV:143-175. A previous incarnation of Pythagoras.

Euphrates
Bk 2:227-271. The river of ancient Babylon in modern Iraq.

Europa
Bk 2:833-875. Daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, abducted by Jupiter disguised as a white bull. ( See Paolo Veronese’s painting – The Rape of Europa – Palazzo Ducale, Venice)
Bk 6:103-128. Depicted by Arachne.
Bk 8:1-80. Minos is her son.

Eurotas
Bk 2:227-271. A river in Laconia in southern Greece.
Bk 10:143-219. Phoebus haunts it when in love with Hyacinthus.

Eurus
Bk 1:52-68. Bk 8:1-80. The East Wind. Auster is the South Wind, Zephyrus the West Wind, and Boreas is the North Wind.

Eurydice
Bk 10:1-85. The wife of Orpheus, died after being bitten by a snake. Orpheus went to the Underworld to ask for her life, but lost her when he broke the injunction not to look back at her. (See Rilke’s poem, ‘Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes’, and his ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’, and Gluck’s Opera ‘Orphée’).
Bk 11:1-66. Orpheus finds her again after his death.

Eurylochus
Bk 14:223-319. A companion of Ulysses, who escapes Circe’s transformation of Ulysses’s crew.

Eurymides
Bk 13:738-788. Telemus, son of Eurymus.

Eurynome
Bk 4:190-213. The primal Goddess, mother of the Graces (Charites). A goddess, with Thetis, of the sea. Ovid makes her the mother of Leucothoe, by Orchamus of Babylon and Persia. In all her manifestations she is the Great Goddess.
Bk 4:214-255. Sol disguises himself as her to approach Leucothoe.

Eurynomus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Eurypylus(1)
Bk 7:350-403.A king of Cos, slain by Hercules. His city was Astypalaea.

Eurypylus(2)
A Thessalian hero at Troy.
Bk 13:1-122. He does not compete for the arms of Achilles.

Eurystheus
The king of Mycenae, son of Sthenelus.
Bk 9:159-210. Jupiter boasted that he had fathered a son who would be called Heracles (Hercules) the ‘glory of Hera (Juno)’ and rule the house of Perseus. Juno made him promise that any king born before nightfall would be High King. She then hastened the birth of Eurystheus to Nicippe wife of King Sthenelus. Eurystheus ruled Hercules and set him the Twelve Labours to perform. Hercules treates him and Juno as endlessly hostile to himself.
Bk 9:273-323. He pursues his hatred of Hercules through the generations.

Eurytides
Bk 8:329-375. Hippasus, son of Eurytus, one of the heroes in the Calydonian Boar Hunt. His thigh is ripped open but the boar’s tusk.

Eurytion
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Eurytis
Bk 9:394-417. Iole, daughter of Eurytus.

Eurytus(1)
Bk 9:89-158. Bk 9:324-393.The father of Iole and Dryope. The king of Oechalia. He names his grandson, Dryope’s child, Amphissus.

Eurytus(2)
Bk 12:210-244. The centaur. He precipitates the battle between the Lapithae and the Centaurs by attempting to carry off Hippodamia.

Eurytus(3)
Bk 8:260-328. The son of Actor, and the father of Hippasus and brother of Cleatus. Possibly there is confusion here with Eurytus(4).

Eurytus(4), Erytus
Bk 5:74-106. The son of Actor. A companion of Phineus. He is killed by Perseus, with a heavy mixing bowl. Possibly there is confusion here with Eurytus(3).

Exadius
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He killed Gryneus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Fama
Bk 9:89-158.Rumour, personified. She comes to Deianira.
Bk 12:39-63. The House of Rumour described.
Bk 15:1-59. The harbinger of glory.

Fames
Bk 8:777-842. Famine, a hag, the personification of hunger. Ceres sends her to torment Erysichthon.
Bk 8:843-884. She leaves him with an incurable and growing hunger.

Farfarus
Bk 14:320-396. A tributary of the Tiber.

Fates, The Three Goddesses, The Parcae
Bk 2:633-675. The three Fates were born of Erebus and Night. Clothed in white, they spin, measure out, and sever the thread of each human life. Clotho spins the thread. Lachesis measures it. Atropos wields the shears.
Bk 15:745-842. The gods cannot overrule them, and prevent Caesar’s assassination.

Faunigena
Bk 14:445-482. Latinus, son of Faunus.

Fauni
Bk 1:177-198. The fauns. Demi-gods. Rural deities with horns and tails.

Faunus(1)
Bk 13:738-788. Father of Acis. An ancient king of Latium.
Bk 14:445-482. Father of Latinus.

Faunus(2)
Bk 6:313-381. A god of the fields and flocks, identified with Pan. Worshipped by country people.

Faunus(3)
Bk 1:177-198. Bk 6:382-400 . Fauni, Demi-gods, ranked with Satyrs.

Favonius
Bk 9:595-665. The west wind, bringer of warmth and spring.

Fortuna
Bk 2:111-149. Bk 13:1-122. Goddess of fortune, chance, fate. Her attributes are the wheel, the globe, the ship’s rudder and prow, and the cornucopia. She is sometimes winged, and blindfolded. (See Leonardo’s drawings.)

Furies
See Erinys and Eumenides.

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Part 4 of 9

Galanthis
Bk 9:273-323. Handmaid to Alcmena. She deceives Lucina the goddess of childbirth, and is punished by being turned into a weasel, with the same tawny hair. (Weasels in England are reddish-brown. Ovid says ‘flava comus’ which suggests reddish-yellow. The birth of its young through its mouth has, of course, no biological validity, but Graves suggests it derives from the weasel’s habit of carrying its young in its mouth from place to place!)

Galatea
A sea nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris. ( See the fresco ‘Galatea’ by Raphael, Rome, Farnesina)
Bk 13:738-788. She tells her story to Scylla. Loving Acis, she is pursued by Polyphemus.
Bk 13:789-869. She hears Polyphemus’s complaint.
Bk 13:870-897. When Acis is crushed by the rock, thrown at him by Polyphemus, she changes Acis into his ancestral form of a river.
Bk 13:898-968. She ends her story to Scylla and departs.

Ganges
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 4:1-30. Bk 5:30-73. The sacred river of northern India.
Bk 6:619-652. The area along its banks is inhabited by tigers.

Ganymedes
The son of Tros, brother of Ilus and Assaracus, loved by Jupiter because of his great beauty.
Bk 10:143-219. Bk 11:749-795. Jupiter, in the form of an eagle, abducted him and made him his cup-bearer, against Juno’s will. Ganymede’s name was given to the largest moon of the planet Jupiter.

Gargaphie
Bk 3:138-164. A valley and sacred spring in Boeotia sacred to Diana, where Actaeon sees her bathing.

Gaul, Gallicus
Bk 1:525-552. The Roman province, in the region of modern France.

Geryon
Bk 9:159-210. The monster with three bodies, killed by Hercules. In the Tenth Labour, Hercules brought back Geryon’s famous herd of cattle after shooting three arrows through the three bodies. Geryon was the son of Chrysaor and Callirhoe, and King of Tartessus in Spain.

Gigantes, The Giants
Bk 1:151-176. Bk 1:177-198. Bk 10:143-219. Monsters, sons of Tartarus and Earth, with many arms and serpent feet, who made war on the gods by piling up the mountains, and overthrown by Jupiter. They were buried under Sicily.
Bk 10:143-219. Orpheus sang their war with the gods.

Glaucus
Bk 7:179-233. A fisherman of Anthedon in Boeotia.
Bk 13:898-968. He is transformed into a sea god, and tells the story of his transformation to Scylla who rejects him.
Bk 14:1-74. He asks Circe for a charm to make Scylla love him, but she transforms Scylla into a sea-monster instead.

Gorge
The daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon, sister of Meleager.
Bk 8:515-546. She is spared by Diana from being turned into a bird.

Gorgo, Medusa
The best known of the Three Gorgons, the daughters of Phorcys. A winged monster with snake locks, glaring eyes and brazen claws whose gaze turns men to stone. Her sisters were Stheino and Euryale.
Bk 4:604-662, Bk 4:663-705. Perseus has been helped by Athene and Hermes to overcome Medusa. He was not to look at her head directly but only in a brightly-polished shield. He cut off her head with an adamantine sickle, at which Pegasus the winged horse and the warrior Chrysaor sprang from her body. He now uses her head to petrify Atlas, and tells Cepheus and Cassiope of the exploit.
Bk 4:753-803. Perseus tells of how he took her severed head, and of how Minerva placed snakes on her head, because Medusa was violated by Neptune in Minerva’s temple.
Bk 5:149-199 . Perseus uses the head against his enemies.

Gortyniacus
Bk 7:759-795. From Gortyn in Crete, hence Cretan. Its bows noted for the swiftness of the arrow in flight.

Gradivus
Bk 6:401-438. Bk 14:805-828. An epithet of Mars.
Bk 15:843-870. Mars, the father of Romulus (Quirinus).

Graeae
The three daughters of Ceto and Phorcys, sisters of the Gorgons, fair-faced and swanlike but with hair grey from birth and one eye and one tooth between them. Their names were Deino, Enyo and Pemphredo.
Bk 4:753-803. Perseus visits them in their cave under Mount Atlas and steals the single eye.

Graecia, Greece
Bk 13:123-381. The country in southern Europe, bordering on the Ionian, Cretan and Aegean Seas.

Graius
Bk 15:622-745 et.al. Grecian.

Granicus
Bk 11:749-795. A river and river god of Asia Minor, father of Alexiroe. Site of a famous victory of Alexander the Great.

Gratiae, The Graces
The three sisters, daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome, attendants to Venus, used collectively, Gratia. Often depicted with arms entwined in dance (See Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’) their names were Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. They signified giving, receiving, and thanking, later the Platonic triad, love, beauty, truth.
Bk 6:401-438. Attendant on wedding ceremonies.

Gryneus
Bk 12:245-289. A centaur. He kills Broteas, and Orios the son of Mycale. He is killed by Exadius at the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.

Gyarus
Bk 5:250-293. An island of the Cyclades.
Bk 7:453-500. Not allied to Crete.

Hades
Bk 4:416-465. The underworld, the kingdom of Dis.

Haedi
Bk 14:698-771. The Kids, two stars in Auriga the Charioteer, treated as a constellation by the ancients. See Erichthonius.

Haemonia
Bk 1: 568-587. Bk 5:294-331. The ancient name for Thessaly.
Bk 2:63-89. Used as an adjective for the constellation Sagittarius the Archer, the zodiacal sign formed when the Thessalian centaur Chiron was placed among the stars by Zeus.
Bk 7:159-178. The parents of the Argonauts are Haemonians.
Bk 8:777-842. The land of Erysichthon.
Bk 11:221-265. Thetis’s cave is on its shores.
Bk 11:346-409. The land of Acastus, king of Iolchos.
Bk 11:650-709. Trachin in Haemonia.
Bk 12:210-244. The country of Caeneus and Pirithous.

Haemonius
Thessalian, from Haemonia.
Bk 7:100-158. Used of Jason.
Bk 12:64-145. Used of Achilles.

Haemus
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Thrace.
Bk 6:70-102. Supposed to be a mortal turned into a mountain for assuming the name of a great god.
Bk 10:1-85. Orpheus flees there after losing Eurydice a second time.

Halcyoneus
Bk 5:107-148. A companion of Phineus from Bactria, killed by Perseus.

Halesus
Bk 12:429-535. One of the Lapithae.

Halius
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Hamadryas
Bk 1:689-722. A wood nymph.

Hammon
See Ammon.

Harmonia, Harmony
Bk 3:115-137. The wife of Cadmus and daughter of Mars and Venus.
Bk 4:563-603. She is turned with him into a snake.
Bk 9:394-417. At her marriage to Cadmus, Venus gave her the fatal necklace that conferred irresistible beauty.

Harpies
Bk 7:1-73. The ‘snatchers’, Aellopus and Ocypete, the fair-haired, loathsome, winged daughters of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra, who snatch up criminals for punishment by the Furies. They live in a cave in Cretan Dicte. They plagued Phineus of Salmydessus, the blind prophet, and were chased away by the winged sons of Boreas.
Bk 13:705-737. An alternative myth has Phineus drive them away to the Strophades where Ovid has Aeneas meet the harpy Aello, and Virgil, Celaeno. They are foul-bellied birds with girls’ faces, and clawed hands, and their faces are pale with hunger. (See Virgil Aeneid III:190-220)

Harpocrates
Bk 9:666-713. The infant Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. The Egyptian god, misinterpreted as a god of silence by the Greeks, as he is represented sitting on his mother’s lap with his thumb in his mouth.

Hebe
The daughter of Iuno, born without a father.
Bk 9:394-417. She is the wife of Hercules after his deification, and has the power to renew life.

Hebrus
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 11:1-66.The river in Thrace down which Orpheus’s head was washed to the sea.

Hecate
The daughter of the Titans Perses and Asterie, Latona’s sister. A Thracian goddess of witches, her name is a feminine form of Apollo’s title ‘the far-darter’ . She was a lunar goddess, with shining Titans for parents. In Hades she was Prytania of the dead, or the Invincible Queen. She gave riches, wisdom, and victory, and presided over flocks and navigation. She had three bodies and three heads, those of a lioness, a bitch, and a mare. Her ancient power was to give to or withhold from mortals any gift. She was sometimes merged with the lunar aspect of Diana-Artemis, and presided over purifications and expiations. She was the goddess of enchantments and magic charms, and sent demons to earth to torture mortals. At night she appeared with her retinue of infernal dogs, haunting crossroads (as Trivia), tombs and the scenes of crimes. At crossroads her columns or statues had three faces – the Triple Hecates – and offerings were made at the full moon to propitiate her.
Bk 6:129-145. Goddess of magical herbs, used by Minerva.
Bk 7:74-99. Medea the Thracian witch makes Jason promise to marry her, taking his oath on the altar of Hecate, and gives him magic herbs to carry out his tasks.
Bk 7:159-178. Medea invokes her aid in her attempt to renew Aeson’s life.
Bk 7:179-233. Goddess of witchcraft.
Bk 7:234-293. Medea sacrifices to her.
Bk 14:1-74. Bk 14:397-434. Circe invokes her spells and her presence.

Hector
Bk 11:749-795. The Trojan hero, son of Priam and Hecuba.
Bk 12:1-38. Sacrifices at the empty tomb of Aesacus his half-brother.
Bk 12:64-145. He killed Protesilaus, the first Greek to fall in the Trojan War. His own fate is delayed till the end of the war.
Bk 12:429-535. Nestor compares himself in his prime with Hector.
Bk 12:536-579.Nestor cites him as a famous enemy of the Greeks.
Bk 12:579-628. Neptune reminds Apollo of Hector’s body dragged around the walls of Troy.
Bk 13:1-122. He torched the Greek ships, and terrifies the Greeks in battle, bringing the gods with him to the battlefield.
Bk 13:123-381. He promised Dolon the horses of Achilles.
Bk 13:399-428. Hecuba takes his ashes with her from Troy. His son Astyanax is murdered as the city falls.
Bk 13:481-575. The agony of his mother Hecuba.
Bk 13:640-674. His presence had allowed Troy to hold out for so long.

Hecuba
The daughter of Dymas, and wife of Priam, king of Troy.
Bk 7:350-403. Bk 13:399-428. Changed to a black bitch of Hecate, Maera, and spreading terror with her barking.
Bk 11:749-795. The mother of Hector.
Bk 13:399-428. She gathers Hectors’s ashes as Ulysses takes her away from Troy.
Bk 13:429-480. She sees her daughter Polyxena sacrificed to appease the ghost of Achilles.
Bk 13:481-575. She laments Polyxena, finds and laments the body of Polydorus, kills Polymestor, and turns into the maddened dog, Maera. Here undeserved fate is pitied by the Trojan women, the Greeks, and all the gods, even Juno (who sought the downfall of Troy).
Bk 13:576-622. Only Aurora’s thoughts are elsewhere.

Helena, Helen
The daughter of Leda and Jupiter (Tyndareus was her putative father), sister of Clytemnaestra, and the Dioscuri. The wife of Menelaus.
Bk 13:123-381. She was taken, by Paris, to Troy, instigating the Trojan War. Ulysses and Menelaus demanded her return in front of the Trojan senate.
Bk 14:623-697. Noted for her many suitors.
Bk 15:199-236. She bemoans old age, and the ravages of time.

Helenus
Bk 13:1-122. The son of Priam, an augur, captured by Ulysses and Diomede along with Pallas’s sacred image, the Palladium.
Bk 13:705-737. Aeneas visits him at Buthrotos in Epirus where he has built a second Troy, and Helenus foretells his future.
Bk 15:418-452. He prophesied Aeneas’s future, and that of Rome.

Heliades, The Heliads
Bk 2:329-343. The seven daughters of the Sun god and Clymene.
Bk II 344-346.They mourn their brother Phaethon. Two of them are named. Lampetia and the eldest Phaethusa. Turned into poplars as they mourn Phaethon their brother, their tears become drops of amber.
Bk 10:86-105. The trees are among those gathering to hear Orpheus’s song.
Bk 10:243-297. They shed amber tears, and amber adorns Pygmalion’s ivory statue.

Helice(1)
Bk 15:259-306. A seaport of Achaea, near Aigion, on the Corinthian Gulf now submerged after an earthquake. Pausanias gives the background. (See Pausanias VII 24)

Helice(2)
A name for the constellation of the Great Bear, Ursa Major.
Bk 8:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation.

Helices
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Helicon
Bk 2:201-226. The mountain in Boeotia near the Gulf of Corinth where the Muses lived. The sacred springs of Helicon were Aganippe and Hippocrene, both giving poetic inspiration. The Muses’ other favourite haunt was Mount Parnassus in Phocis with its Castalian Spring. They also guarded the oracle at Delphi.
Bk 5:250-293. Minerva visits it to see the fountain of Hippocrene sprung from under the hoof of Pegasus, the winged horse.
Bk 5:642-678. A haunt of the Muses.
Bk 8:515-546. The domain of poetic genius.

Helle
Bk 11:194-220. The daughter of Athamas and Nephele, sister of Phrixus. Escaping from Ino on the golden ram, she fell into the sea and was drowned, giving her name to the Hellespont.

Hellespont, Hellespontus.
The straits that link the Propontis with the Aegean Sea.
Bk 11:194-220. Named after Helle, and close to the site of Troy.
Bk 13:399-428. The scene of Hecuba’s appearance as the black bitch Maera.

Helops
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Hennaeus
Bk 5:385-424. Of Henna (Enna) a town in Sicily. The plains around it.

Herculaneum
Bk 15:622-745. The Roman town near Naples on the slopes of Vesuvius, destroyed with Pompeii by the eruption of 79 AD and rediscovered in 1709. It was a residential town surrounded by the villas of wealthy Romans, with a rich artistic life.

Hercules, Heracles
The Hero, son of Jupiter. He was set in the sky as the constellation Hercules between Lyra and Corona Borealis.
Bk 7:404-424. He drags the dog Cerberus out of the underworld.
Bk 9:1-88. The son of Jupiter and Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon. Called Alcides from Amphitryon’s father Alceus. Called also Amphitryoniades. Called also Tyrinthius from Tiryns his home city in the Argolis. Jupiter predicted at his birth that a scion of Perseus would be born, greater than all other descendants. Juno delayed Hercules birth and hastened that of Eurystheus, grandson of Perseus, making Hercules subservient to him. Hercules was set twelve labours by Eurystheus at Juno’s instigation, Bk 9:159-210:
1. The killing of the Nemean lion.
2. The destruction of the Lernean Hydra. - Bk 9:1-88. He uses the poison from the Hydra for his arrows - Bk 9:89-158.
3. The capture of the stag with golden antlers.
4. The capture of the Erymanthian Boar.
5. The cleansing of the stables of Augeas king of Elis.
6. The killing of the birds of the Stymphalian Lake in Arcadia.
7. The capture of the Cretan wild bull.
8. The capture of the mares of Diomede of Thrace, that ate human flesh.
9. The taking of the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons.
10. The killing of Geryon and the capture of his oxen.
11. The securing of the apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. He held up the sky for Atlas in order to deceive him and obtain them.
12. The bringing of the dog Cerberus from Hades to the upper world.
Bk 9:1-88. He fights with Achelous for the hand of Deianira.
Bk 9:89-158. Bk 12:290-326. He marries Deianira, kills Nessus, falls in love with Iole, daughter of Eurytus who has cheated him, and receives the shirt of Nessus from the outraged Deianira. (See Cavalli’s opera with Lully’s dances – Ercole Amante)
Bk 9:159-210. He is tormented by the shirt of Nessus.
(See T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets – Little Gidding:
‘Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire’)
Bk 9:159-210. He also killed Busiris, King of Egypt brother of Antaeus, who sacrificed strangers at the altars, to fulfil a prophecy that an eight-year drought and famine would end if he did so.
Bk 9:159-210. He killed King Antaeus of Libya, brother of Busiris, who was a giant, child of mother Earth, by lifting him from the ground that gave him strength, and, cracking his ribs, held him up until he died.
Bk 9:159-210. He fought the Centaurs.
Bk 9:159-210. Tormented by the shirt of Nessus he rages among the mountains.
Bk 9:211-272. He kills the servant Lichas who brought the fatal shirt, then builds a funeral pyre, and becomes a constellation and is deified. (See Canova’s sculpture – Hercules and Lichas – Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Rome)
Bk 9:273-323. He had asked his son Hyllus, by Deianira to marry Iole. His birth is described when the sun is in the tenth sign, Capricorn, i.e. at midwinter, making him a solar god. His mother’s seven night labour would also make his birth at the new year, a week after the winter solstice.
Bk 9:394-417. His nephew and companion is Iolaus.
Bk 11:194-220. Bk 13:1-122. He captured Troy and rescued Hesione, with the help of Telamon, and gave her to Telamon in marriage.
Bk 11:573-649. He is hero of the city of Trachin.
Bk 12:536-579. Tlepolemus is his son. Hercules exploits are retold by Nestor.
Bk 13:1-122. Philoctetes received his bow and arrows after his death, destined to be needed at Troy.
Bk 13:399-428. Ulysses goes to fetch Philoctetes and the arrows.
Bk 15:199-236. He is a symbol of strength.
Bk 15:259-306. He shot the centaur Pylenor with a poisoned arrow.

Hermaphroditus
Bk 4:274-316. The son of Mercury and Venus, loved by Salmacis.
Bk 4:346-388. Salmacis dives into the pool to pursue him, and is merged with him, and he prays for the waters of the pool to weaken anyone who bathes there.

Herse
Bk 2:531-565. One of the three daughters of King Cecrops.
Bk 2:708-736. The most beautiful of the Athenian virgins and admired by Mercury.

Hersilia
Bk 14:829-851. The wife of Romulus, deified as Hora.

Hesione
A daughter of Laomedon, exposed to a sea monster at Neptune’s command.
Bk 9:211-272. Hercules rescued her when passing by Troy.
Bk 11:194-220. She was given in marriage to Telamon.

Hesperides
Bk 11:85-145. The three nymphs who tended the garden with the golden apples on a western island beyond Mount Atlas. Their names were Hespere, Aegle, and Erytheis, the daughters of Night, or of Atlas and Hesperis, the daughter of Hesperus.
Bk 4:604-662. The orchard of Atlas described.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Eleventh Labour, Hercules obtains the golden apples by deceiving Atlas.

Hesperie
Bk 11:749-795. A nymph, daughter of the river god Cebren, loved by Aesacus. She runs from him, and is killed by the bite of a snake.

Hesperus
Bk 2:111-149. Bk 4:604-662. Bk 5:425-486. The evening star (the planet Venus). It sets after he sun.

Hiberus
Bk 7:294-349. Hiberian, Spanish. Used to denote the oceans of the west, where the sun sets.
Bk 15:1-59. Hercules returns from there with the herds of Geryon.

Hippalmus
The correct reading for Eupalamas.

Hippasus(1)
Son of Eurytus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. His thigh is ripped open by the boar’s tusk.

Hippasus(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Hippocoön
Bk 8:260-328. King of Amyclae, father of Enaesimus, and others of his sons who were at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. Enaesimus is killed by the boar.

Hippocrene
Bk 5:250-293. A famous spring on Mount Helicon, sacred to the Muses.

Hippodamas
Bk 8:547-610. The father of Perimele.

Hippodame, Hippodamia
The daughter of Adrastus, and wife of Pirithous.
Bk 12:210-244. Bk 14:623-697. Eurytus attempts to carry her off at her wedding and precipitates the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs.

Hippolyte
Queen of the Amazons, warrior maidens living near the Rivers Tanais and Thermodon in Scythia, based on Greek knowledge of the Scythian princesses of the Sarmatian people of the Black Sea region. Burials of warrior princesses have been excavated from the tumuli of the area around Rostov, and north west of the Sea of Azov. See Herodotus IV 110-117, for the Amazons and Scythians.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Ninth Labour, Hercules obtained the golden girdle of Hippolyte.

Hippolytus
Bk 15:479-546. The son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyte. He was admired by Phaedra, his step-mother, and was killed at Troezen, after meeting ‘a bull from the sea’. He was brought to life again by Aesculapius, and hidden by Diana (Cynthia, the moon-goddess) who set him down in the sacred grove at Arician Nemi, where he became Virbius, the consort of the goddess (as Adonis was of Venus, and Attis of Cybele), and the King of the Wood (Rex Nemorensis). All this is retold and developed in Frazer’s monumental work, on magic and religion, ‘The Golden Bough’ (see Chapter I et seq.). (See also Euripides’s play ‘Hippolytos’, and Racine’s ‘Phaedra’.)

Hippomenes
The son of Megareus. Great-grandson of Neptune.
Bk 10:560-637. Falling in love with Atalanta, he determines to race against her, on penalty of death for failure.
Bk 10:638-680. By means of the golden apples he wins the race and claims Atalanta.
Bk 10:681-707. He descrates Cybele’s sacred cave with the sexual act and is turned, with Atalanta, into a lion.

Hippotades
Bk 11:410-473. Bk 14:75-100. Bk 14:223-319.
Bk 15:622-745. Aeolus, as son of Hippotas.

Hippothous
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Hister, Danube
Bk 2:227-271. The Lower Danube running to the Black Sea.

Hodites(1)
Bk 5:74-106. An Ethiopian in the court of Cepheus, the most senior next to the king, killed by Clymenus a follower of Phineus.

Hodites(2)
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Hora
Bk 14:829-851. The name given to Hersilia after her deification and reunion with Romulus.

Horae
Bk 2:1-30. The Hours, attendants of the Sun.
Bk 2:111-149. Yoke up the Sun-god’s horses to his chariot.

Hyacinthia
Bk 10:143-219. A festival in honour of Hyacinthus, at Amyclae.

Hyacinthus
Son of Amyclas, king of Amyclae, hence he is called Amyclides.
Bk 10:143-219. His home was Amyclae, in Taenarus, near Sparta. Loved by Phoebus, he was killed by a discus while they were competing. Phoebus turned him into a hyacinth (the blue larkspur, hyacinthos grapta) that has the marks AI AI (woe! woe!) of early Greek letters on the base of its petals, and was sacred to Cretan Hyacinthus. Later it was linked to Ajax. Sparta celebrated the Hyacinthia festival in his honour.
Bk 13:382-398. He shares the flower with Ajax whose name has similar markings, ΑΙΑΣ.

Hyades
Bk 3:572-596. The daughters of Atlas and Aethra, half-sisters of the Pleiades. They lived on Mount Nysa and nurtured the infant Bacchus. The Hyades are the star-cluster forming the ‘face’ of the constellation Taurus the Bull. The cluster is used as the first step in the distance scale of the galaxy.
Bk 13:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles’s shield.

Hyale
Bk 3:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.

Hyanteus, Hyantius
Bk 3:138-164. Boeotian, applied to Actaeon.
Bk 5:294-331. Applied to the Heliconian fountain of Aganippe.
Bk 8:260-328. Home of Iolaus, present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Hydra
Bk 2:633-675. The many-headed water-serpent, born of Typhon and Echidna, that lived at Lerna near Argos. Its destruction was the Second Labour of Hercules(Heracles).
Bk 9:159-210.Hercules used the Hydra’s venom to tip his poisoned arrows, and struck Chiron his old friend inadvertently while fighting the Centaurs (The Fourth Labour). Chiron was in agony but could not die. Prometheus offered to die in his place. Zeus approved and Chiron was able to choose death.
Bk 9:1-88. Hercules describes his fight with the Hydra while taunting Achelous. (See Gustave Moreau’s painting – Hercules and the Lernean Hydra – in the Art Institute of Chicago)
Bk 9:89-158. The shirt of Nessus is soaked with its venom.

Hyles
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Hyleus
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Hyleus
Bk 13:675-704. From Hyle, a town in Boeotia. The home town of Alcon the engraver.

Hyllus
Bk 9:273-323. The son of Hercules and Deianira. Hercules has him marry Iole.

Hylonome
Bk 12:393-428. A female centaur, loved by Cyllarus. Inseparable in life, they died together, she killing herself to join him.

Hymen, Hymenaeus
Bk 1: 473-503. Bk 4:753-803. Bk 6:401-438. God of marriage.
Bk 9:764-797. He attends the wedding with Venus, the goddess of love, and Juno, the goddess of brides.
Bk 10:1-85. He attends the wedding of Orpheus and Eurydice but fails to bring his usual blessings.

Hymettus, Hymettos
A mountain in Attica south of Athens. It was famous for its wild-flower pasture for bees (See Pausanias I 32 i.) and had a shrine and statue of Zeus of Rain and Far-seeing. (The long Hymettos ridge bounds the plain of Attica on the east, made up of bluish-grey Hymettian marble overlying Pentelic marble, which was worked in ancient times. The hills were then heavily forested.)
Bk 7:661-758. Aurora sees Cephalus from there.
Bk 10:243-297. Its bees’ wax is used for moulding casts for statues etc.

Hypaepae
BkVI:1-25 A town in Lydia. The home of Arachne.
Bk 11:146-171. It is overlooked by Mount Tmolus.

Hypanis
Bk 15:259-306. A river in Sarmatia. A main tributary of the Dnieper. The waters are sweet in their higher reaches, but are joined by a bitter stream flowing out of Scythia. See Herodotus IV 52.

Hyperboreus, Hyperborean
Bk 15:307-360. Belonging to the extreme north. The Hyperboreans, a mythical people living beyond the north wind. They cover their bodies with feathers by plunging nine times in Minerva’s pool. Herodotus has some interesting chapters on the Hyperboreans in IV 32-36. In 31 he speculates on the confusion of feathers with snowflakes. (See also Robert Graves ‘The White Goddess’ p.284)

Hyperion(1)
Bk 4:214-255. A Titan, the son of Coelus and Terra, and father of the sun-god.

Hyperion(2)
The Sun god himself. Heliopolis in Egypt, Hyperion’s city.
Bk 8:547-610. The sun.
Bk 15:391-417. The sun-god at Heliopolis, to which the phoenix flies.

Hypseus
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus killed by Lyncides.

Hypsipyle
The daughter of Thoas, king of Lemnos.
Bk 13:399-428. Ulysses sails for the island to bring back the arrows of Hercules. Thoas was king there when the Lemnian women murdered their menfolk because of their adultery with Thracian girls. His life was spared because his daughter Hypsipyle set him adrift in an oarless boat.

Hyrie
Bk 7:350-403. A lake and the town near it in Boeotia, named from the mother of Cycnus(2) by Apollo. She turns into a lake weeping for her son, whom she thinks dead.

Iacchus
Bk 4:1-30. A name for Bacchus from the shouts of his worshippers.

Ialysius
Bk 7:350-403. Of Ialysos, a city on the north eastern coast of the island of Rhodes.

Ianthe
Bk 9:714-763.The daughter of Telestes of Dicte, who is loved by Iphis, a girl reared as a boy, and betrothed to her.
Bk 9:764-797. Iphis is transformed into a boy by Isis, and marries her.

Ianus
The Roman two-headed god of doorways and beginnings, equivalent to the Hindu elephant god Ganesh. The Janus mask is often depicted with one melancholy and one smiling face.
Bk 14:320-396. The father of Canens.
Bk 14:772-804. The naiades have a spring by his (later) temple.

Iapetionides
Bk 4:604-662. Atlas, the son of Iapetus.

Iapetus
Bk 1:68-88. Bk 4:604-662. A Titan, father of Prometheus, Atlas and Epimetheus.

Iapygia
Bk 14:445-482. Bk 14:483-511. Bk 15:1-59.
Bk 15:622-745. The region in the heel of Italy. Apulia. Its king was Daunus. Named after Iapyx.

Iapyx
Bk 15:1-59. A son of Daedalus, who ruled in Apulia in southern Italy.

Iasion
Son of Jupiter and Corythus’s wife Electra.
Bk 9:418-438. Ceres fell in love with him and lay with him in the thrice-ploughed field. She wishes she could obtain a renewal of his youth.

Iason, Jason
The son of Aeson, leader of the Argonauts, and hero of the adventure of the Golden Fleece. The fleece is represented in the sky by the constellation and zodiacal sign of Aries, the Ram. In ancient times it contained the point of the vernal equinox (The First Point of Aries) that has since moved by precession into Pisces.
Bk 7:1-73. Reaches Colchis and the court of King Aeetes.
Bk 7:74-99. Accepts Medea’s help and promises her marriage.
Bk 7:100-158. Completes the tasks and wins the Golden Fleece, and marries Medea, before returning to Iolchos.
Bk 7:159-178. He asks Medea to lengthen his father’s life.
Bk 7:350-403. He acquires the throne of Corinth, and marries a new bride Glauce. Medea in revenge for his disloyalty to her sends Glauce a wedding gift of a golden crown and white robe, that burst into flames when she puts them on, and consume her and the palace. Medea then kills her own sons by Jason, and flees his wrath.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. He throws his spear at the boar, but overshoots.
Bk 8:376-424. He wounds a hound by accident.

Icarus(1)
Bk 8:183-235.The son of Daedalus for whom his father fashioned wings of wax and feathers like his own in order to escape from Crete. Flying too near the sun, despite being warned, the wax melts and he drowns in the Icarian Sea, and is buried on the island of Icaria. ( See W H Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’ referring to Brueghel’s painting, Icarus, in Brussels)

Icarus(2), = Icarius
Bk 10:431-502. The father of Erigone.

Icelos
The son of Somnus (Sleep), and a god of dreams.
Bk 11:573-649. He takes the shape of creatures.

Ida
Bk 2:201-226. One Mount Ida is near Troy. There is a second Mount Ida on Crete.
Bk 4:274-316. Hermaphroditus is raised there.
Bk 7:350-403. Liber hides his son’s theft of a bullock by changing the animal to a stag.
Bk 10:1-85. Olenus and Lethaea are turned to stones there.
Bk 11:749-795. Birthplace of Trojan Aesacus.
Bk 12:429-535. The scene of Nestor’s tale at Troy.
Bk 13:1-122. The mountain near Troy.
Bk 14:527-565. Trojan Ida is sacred to Cybele. Aeneas’s ship timbers were felled there.

Idalia
Bk 14:623-697. An epithet of Venus from Mount Idalium, her sacred mountain in Cyprus.

Idas(1)
Proles Aphareia. A son of Aphareus, king of Messene.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Idas(2)
Bk 5:74-106. A courtier of Cepheus, killed by Phineus, though a neutral in the fight with Perseus.

Idas(3)
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. Venus transforms him into a bird.

Idmon
BkVI:1-25. Bk 6:129-145. Of Colophon, the father of Arachne.

Idomeneus
King of Crete, leader of the Cretan contingent fighting against Troy.
Bk 13:1-122. He does not compete for the arms of Achilles.

Iliades(1)
Bk 10:143-219. An epithet of Ganymedes, son of Tros. Trojan.

Iliades(2)
Bk 14:772-804. Bk 14:805-828. An epithet of Romulus, as son of Ilia.

Ilion, Ilium, Troy
Bk 13:123-381. Bk 13:399-428. Bk 14:445-482. See Troia.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba mourns the end of Troy.

Ilioneus
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Ilithyia
Bk 9:273-323. The Greek goddess of childbirth, corresponding to Lucina who was an aspect of Juno, as the Great Goddess.

Illyricus
Of Illyria (Illyris), a country on the Adriatic, north of Epirus.
Bk 4:563-603. The country where Cadmus and Harmonia are turned into serpents.

Ilus
Bk 11:749-795. The son of Tros, builder of Troy (Ilium). The father of Laomedon.

Imbreus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Inachides
A male descendant of Inachus.
Bk 4:706-752. Perseus as deriving from the royal line of Argos.

Inachis
Bk 9:666-713. Io, the daughter of Inachus, worshipped as a manifestation of Isis, the Egyptian goddess.

Inachus
Bk 1:568-587. A river in Argolis. The river-god, father of Io (Inachis).

Inarime
Bk 14:75-100. An island off the coast of Campania (Southern Italy).

Indiges
Bk 14:566-580. The name under which the deified Aeneas was worshipped (the national deity).

Indigetes
Bk 15:843-870. Deified heroes, worshipped as deities of their native countries.

Indus
Bk 1:765-779. Bk 5:30-73. Bk 8:260-328.
Bk 11:146-171 Of India.

Ino
Bk 3:273-315. The daughter of Cadmus, wife of Athamas, and sister of Semele and Agave. She fosters the infant Bacchus.
Bk 3:692-733. She participates in the killing of Pentheus.
Bk 4:416-463. She incurs the hatred of Juno.
Bk 4:512-542. Maddened by Tisiphone, and the death of her son Learchus, at the hand of his father, she leaps into the sea, and is changed to the sea-goddess Leucothoe by Neptune, at Venus’s request.

Io
Bk 1:587-600. Daughter of Inachus a river-god of Argolis, chased and raped by Jupiter.
Bk 1:601-621. Changed to a heifer by Jupiter and conceded as a gift to Juno.
Bk 1:622-641. Guarded by hundred-eyed Argus.
Bk 1:722-746. After Mercury kills Argus, and driven by Juno’s fury Io has reached the Nile, she is returned to human form.
Bk 1:747-764. With her son Epaphus she is worshipped in Egypt as a goddess. Io is therefore synonymous with Isis (or Hathor the cow-headed goddess with whom she was often confused), and Epaphus with Horus.
Bk 9:666-713. Worshipped in Crete as a manifestation of Isis.

Iolaus
The son of Iphicles, nephew and companion of Hercules.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 9:394-417. He is returned to life by Hebe. (He is the grandson of Alcmene, since his father Iphicles is her son by Amphitryon, and Hercules mortal half-brother, the twin or tanist of the sun-god. Iolaus’s renewal and appearance at the threshold may indicate his cult as a representative of the risen sun of the new year. His cult was celebrated in Sardinia where he was linked to Daedalus.)
Bk 9:418-438. Jupiter explains that this is through the power of fate as well.

Iolchos, Iolciacus
A seaport town in Thessaly from which the Argonauts sailed.
Bk 7:100-158. They return there with Medea and the Golden Fleece.

Iole
Bk 9:89-158. The daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, whom Hercules was enamoured of.
Bk 9:273-323. Hercules asks his son Hyllus, by Deianira, to marry her.
Bk 9:324-393. She tells her mother-in-law Alcmena the story of her half-sister Dryope.
Bk 9:394-417. She weeps for Dryope and is comforted by Alcmena.

Ionia
The region of ancient Greek territory bordering the Eastern Aegean, containing Lydia and Caria and the islands of Samos and Chios.

Ionium, aequor, mare
The Ionian Sea, west of the Greek mainland.
Bk 4:512-542. Ino leaps into its waters.
Bk 15:1-59. Myscelus sails it.
Bk 15:622-745. Aesculapius crosses it to Italy.

Iphigenia
The daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Clytaemnestra. She is called Mycenis.
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 13:123-381. She is sacrificed by her father at Aulis, to gain favourable winds for the passage to Troy but snatched away by Diana. (to Tauris)

Iphinous
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Iphis(1)
Bk 9:666-713. Daughter of Ligdus, a Cretan and his wife Telethusa. Her mother is visited by a prophetic dream of Isis before her birth. She is named after the grandfather, the father being deceived into believing she is a boy.
Bk 9:714-763. She laments her inability to consummate her passion for Ianthe whom she loves.
Bk 9:764-797. She is transformed into a boy, by Isis, and marries Ianthe.

Iphis(2)
A youth of Cyprus who loved Anaxarete.
Bk 14:698-771. He commits suicide when she disdains him.

Iphitides
Coeranus, the son of Iphitus.
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Iris
Bk 1:244-273. Juno’s messenger, the Rainbow. (See Shakespeare’s Tempest – the masque).
Bk 4:464-511. Purifies Juno after her visit to Hades.
Bk 11:573-649. Goes to Somnus, god of Sleep, to command him to send a dream to Alcyone.
Bk 14:75-100. At Juno’s command she attempts to destroy Aeneas’s ships (see Virgil The Aeneid V 600)
Bk 14:829-851. Juno sends her to Hersilia.

Isis
Bk 9:666-713. The Egyptian Goddess, in Greek mythology the deified Io and identified also with Ceres-Demeter. The wife of Osiris. Goddess of the domestic arts. Her cult absorbed the other great goddesses and spread through the Graeco-Roman world as far as the Rhine. Isis was the star of the sea, and the goddess of travellers. She visits Telethusa in a dream. She is accompanied by Anubis, the jackal-headed god, associated with Mercury; Bubastis, or Bast (Bastet), the lion or cat-headed goddess, associated with Diana; Apis the sacred Bull; Harpocrates the child Horus; and Osiris her husband, whom she searches for, in the great vegetation myth of Egypt. She has the sacred rattle or sistrum; the serpent that she fashioned, that poisoned the sun-god Ra, whom she cured in exchange for his true name; and on her forehead she carries the horns, moon disc, and ears of corn symbolising her moon, fertility and cow attributes.
Bk 9:764-797. She protects Paraetonium, Pharos, the Nile and the Mareotic fields.

Ismarius

Bk 2:227-271. From Mount Ismarus in Thrace. Thracian.
Bk 9:595-665. The Bacchantes perform the rites there.
Bk 10:298-355. The Thracian race to which Orpheus belongs.
Bk 13:481-575. Polymestor is the king of Thrace.

Ismenis
Bk 3:165-206. Crocale, the daughter of Ismenus, the Boeotian river god.

Ismenus(1), Ismenides
Bk 2:227-271. The river and river-god of Boeotia, near Thebes. The women of Thebes, being near the river. Crocale one of Diana’s nymphs is the daughter of the river-god and therefore called Ismenis.
Bk 3:692-733. Bk 4:31-54. The women of Thebes, who now worship the new religion of Bacchus.
Bk 4:543-562. Followers of Ino who are turned to stone.
Bk 6:146-203. The women of Thebes exhorted to worship Latona, and her children, Apollo and Diana.
Bk 13:675-704. The country of Therses.

Ismenus(2)
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Isse
The daughter of Macareus(1).
Bk 6:103-128. Raped by Phoebus, disguised as a shepherd, and depicted by Arachne.

Isthmus
Bk 6:401-438. The Isthmus of Corinth between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Sea.
Bk 7:404-424. Cleansed of robbers by Theseus.
Bk 15:479-546. Crossed by Hippolytus at his death.

Italia
Bk 15:622-745. Italy.

Ithaca
The island off the coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea (to the west of mainland Greece), home of Ulysses.
Bk 13:481-575. Home of Penelope.
Bk 13:705-737. Passed by Aeneas.
Bk 14:154-222. Dear to Macareus of Neritos.

Ithacus
Bk 13:1-122. A name for Ulysses, as king of Ithaca.

Itys
Bk 6:401-438. The son of Tereus and Procne. His birthday is named as a festival.
Bk 6:619-652. Bk 6:653-674. He is murdered by his mother in revenge for Tereus’s rape of Philomela, and his flesh is served to his father at a banquet.

Iuba
Bk 15:745-842. King of Numidia. Aligned with Scipio and beaten by Caesar in North Africa where the remnants of the Pompeian party were being reorganised.

Iulus
Bk 14:566-580. Ascanius, the son of Aeneas, from whom the Iulian clan claimed their origin.
Bk 15:418-452. Bk 15:745-842. The ancestor of Julius Caesar.

Iuno, Juno
Bk 1:244-273. The daughter of Rhea and Saturn, wife of Jupiter, and the queen of the gods. A representation of the pre-Hellenic Great Goddess. (See the Metope of Temple E at Selinus – The Marriage of Hera and Zeus – Palermo, National Museum.)
Bk 1: 601-621. Catching Jupiter deceiving her with Io, asks the girl, transformed into a heifer by Jupiter, as a gift.
Bk 1: 722-746. Relenting, she returns Io to human form.
Bk 2:466-495. Turns Callisto into a bear after her rape by Jupiter.
Bk 2:508-530. After Callisto is set in the heavens as the Great Bear by Jupiter, she requests Tethys and Oceanus not to allow the constellation to enter their waters (and fall below the horizon).
Bk 2:531-565. Her chariot is drawn by peacocks.
Bk 3:253-272. She sets out to punish Semele.
Bk 3:273-315. She deceives Semele.
Bk 3:316-338. She blinds Tiresias for his judgement.
Bk 3:359-401. She limits Echo’s powers of speech.
Bk 4:167-189. Vulcan is her son.
Bk 4:416-463. She is angered by Ino sister of Semele.
Bk 4:464-511. She asks Tisiphone, the Fury, to madden Ino and Athamas, her husband, and sees them come to grief.
Bk 4:543-562. She turns Ino’s protesting servants into stone.
Bk 6:70-102. Turned the Queen of the Pygmies into a crane and forced her to war against her own people, and turned Antigone of Troy into a stork.
Bk 6:313-381. She pursued Latona in jealousy.
Bk 6:401-438. She is the goddess who attends brides in the wedding ceremony.
Bk 7:501-613. Jealous of Aegina, because of her affair with Jupiter, Juno sends a plague to the island of Aegina named after her where, her son Aeacus is king.
Bk 8:183-235. The island of Samos is sacred to her.
Bk 9:1-88. Bk 9:159-210. The stepmother, and in some myths foster-mother of Hercules. She is inimical to him because of Jupiter’s adultery with Alcmena his mother. She instigates his Twelve Labours through Eurystheus.
Bk 9:211-272. She resents Hercules’s deification.
Bk 9:273-323. She had previously made Alcmena’s labour difficult in giving birth to Hercules.
Bk 9:394-417. Her daughter is Hebe.
Bk 9:439-516. She married her brother Jupiter.
Bk 9:764-797. She attends weddings with Venus and Hymen.
Bk 10:143-219. She objects to Ganymede becoming Jupiter’s cup-bearer.
Bk 11:573-649. She sends Iris goddess of the rainbow, her messenger, to Somnus, Sleep, ordering him to send a dream to Alcyone telling her of the death of Ceyx.
Bk 12:429-535. Ixion had attempted to seduce her.
Bk 13:481-575. She admits that Hecuba does not deserve the fate that befell her.
Bk 14:75-100. She sends Iris to destroy Aeneas’s ships.
Bk 14:101-153. Proserpina is ‘the Juno of Avernus’.
Bk 14:566-580. She accepts Aeneas’s deification.
Bk 14:772-804. She unbars the Roman citadel to the Sabines. (Pursuing her vendetta against the descendants of Aeneas.)
Bk 14:829-851. She sends Iris to Hersilia.
BkXV:143-175. She has a temple at Argos.
Bk 15:361-390. Her bird is the peacock.
Bk 15:622-745. She had a famous temple at Lacinium.
Bk 15:745-842. Venus says she was on Turnus’s side during the wars in Latium.

Iunonigena
Bk 4:167-189. Vulcan, the son of Iuno.

Iuppiter, Jupiter, Jove
Bk 1:89-112. The sky-god, son of Saturn and Rhea, born on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia and nurtured on Mount Ida in Crete. The oak is his sacred tree. His emblems of power are the sceptre and lightning-bolt. His wife and sister is Juno (Iuno). (See the sculpted bust(copy) by Brassides, the Jupiter of Otricoli, Vatican)
Bk 1:113-124. Creates the seasons.
Bk 1:587-600. Chases and rapes Io.
Bk 1:668-688. Father of Mercury by the Pleiad Maia.
Bk 1:722-746. After Juno transforms Io into a heifer, he employs Mercury to dispose of Argus, and though Juno sets Io wandering, he eventually prevails on her to return Io to human form, when she has reached the Nile.
Bk 1:747-764. Father of Epaphus, by Io.
Bk 2:301-328. Rescues the earth by destroying Phaethon and the runaway sun chariot.
Bk 2:401-416. Sees Callisto in the woods of Arcadia.
Bk 2:417-440. He rapes Callisto.
Bk 2:496-507. He sets Callisto and her son Arcas among the stars as the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Great and Little Bear.
Bk 2:833-875. Jupiter abducts Europa.
Bk 3:273-315. He unwillingly destroys Semele who has been deceived by Juno but rescues their son Bacchus who is sewn into his thigh to come to full term.
Bk 3:316-338. He gives Tiresias the power of prophecy.
Bk 3:359-401. He often lies with the mountain nymphs.
Bk 4:274-316. He was guarded in his cradle by the Dactyls (‘fingers’), one of whom was Celmis, born when Rhea was bearing Jupiter and pressed her fingers into the earth.
Bk 4:663-705. As Jupiter Ammon his oracle sentenced Andromeda to be chained to the rock for her mother’s fault.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that he fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there as Libyan Ammon hid in the form of a ram.
Bk 5:332-384. He is subject to Cupid, as are the other gods.
Bk 5:487-532. Ceres asks him to restore their daughter Proserpine.
Bk 5:533-571. He decrees that Proserpine must spend half the year with Dis and half with Ceres.
Bk 6:26-69. Minerva ( Pallas Athene) is his daughter.
Bk 6:70-103. He is head of the court of the gods that judges between Neptune and Pallas regarding their right to the city of Athens.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts his rapes of Europa, Leda, Asterie, Antiope, Alcmena, Danae, Aegina, Mnemosyne, and Proserpine.
Bk 6:486-548. Bk 15:361-390. The eagle is his representative bird.
Bk 7:350-403. He sank the Telchines of Rhodes under the sea.
Bk 7:501-613. The sacrifices to him during the plague at Aegina have no effect.
Bk 7:614-660. He finally answers Aeacus’s prayer and repopulates the city by changing the ants into people, the Myrmidons.
Bk 7:796-865. Procris would prefer Cephalus’s bed to his.
Bk 8:81-151. Minos calls Crete the cradle of Jove. Minos is his son by Europa.
Bk 8:260-328. The Athenians pray to him, and the other gods.
Bk 8:611-678. Disguised as a mortal he visits Philemon and Baucis with Mercury, his son.
Bk 8:679-724. Jupiter is referred to as Saturnius, the son of Saturn. He transforms Philemon and Baucis into trees, an oak and a lime-tree.
Bk 9:1-88. Bk 9:89-158. Bk 9:211-272. Bk 9:273-323.
Bk 15:1-59. He is the father of Hercules by Alcmena. Hercules sacrifices to him at Cenaeum in Euboea.
Bk 9:211-272. He addresses the gods before setting Hercules in the sky as a new constellation.
Bk 9:394-417. Themis prophesies he will intervene in the war of the Seven against Thebes, destroying Capaneus, and aiding the subsequent chain of revenge.
Bk 9:418-438. Bk 9:439-516. He explains the power of fate to the other gods. He recognises the piety and love for him displayed by Aeacus, and the just nature of the lawgivers Minos and Rhadamanthus.
Bk 9:439-516. Bk 13:481-575. He married his sister Juno.
Bk 10:143-219. Bk 11:749-795. In the form of an eagle he abducted Ganymede.
Bk 11:194-220. Bk 11:266-345. The grandfather of Peleus (through Aegina) and his father-in-law (through Thetis). There was an altar of Panomphaean (‘source of all oracles’) Jupiter the Thunderer (Tonaus) near Troy.
Bk 11:221-265. He yields Thetis to Peleus because of a prophecy.
Bk 12:39-63. The creator of distant thunder.
Bk 13:1-122. The father of Aeacus, by Aegina. He aids the Trojans in attacking the Greek ships.
Bk 13:123-381. Ajax and Ulysses are both great-grandsons of Jupiter through the male line. Ajax through Telamon and Aeacus, Ulysses through Laertes and Arcesius.
Bk 13:123-381. Agamemnon dreamed that Jupiter ordered him to abandon the war.
Bk 13:399-428. Priam is murdered at his altar as Troy falls.
Bk 13:576-622. He grants Aurora’s request and creates the Memnonides, a flock of warring birds, to commemorate Memnon.
Bk 13:705-737. He plagues Aeneas’s people on Crete until they are forced to leave. (See Virgils’ Aeneid III:130-160)
Bk 13:705-737. He saves Munichus, the Molossian king, and his family changing them into birds.
Bk 13:789-869. Polyphemus compares himself in size to Jove.
Bk 14:75-100. Jupiter changes the Cercopes into monkeys.
Bk 14:566-580. He allows the deification of Aeneas.
Bk 14:805-828. He agrees to the deification of Romulus.
Bk 15:60-142. Pythagoras questioned as to whether thunder and lightning were merely natural phenomena, and not caused by Jupiter.
Bk 15:745-842. Jupiter grants Caesar deification, and prophesies Augustus’s achievements.
Bk 15:843-870. Jupiter surpasses his father Saturn, as Augustus surpasses Julius Caesar. He is worshipped on the Tarpeian citadel, the Capitoline Hill.
Bk 15:871-879. Ovid’s work is secure from Jupiter’s, and therefore also Augustus’s anger, he being Jupiter incarnate, implying perhaps that Ovid may have retouched the envoi after Augustus’s death in AD 14, and before his own death in AD 17, as his last word, never having been pardoned by Augustus, but claiming now his own immortality.

Ixion
King of the Lapithae, father of Pirithous, and of the Centaurs.
Bk 4:416-463. Punished in Hades for attempting to seduce Juno. He was fastened to a continually turning wheel.
Bk 8:376-424. Bk 8:611-678. The father of Pirithous.
Bk 9:89-158. The father of Nessus and the other centaurs.
Bk 10:1-85. His punishment in the underworld ceases for a time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.
Bk 12:210-244. Bk 12:290-326. His son is Pirithous.
Bk 12:429-535. He had attempted to seduce Juno, but Jupiter created a false image of her, caught Ixion in the act with this simulacrum, and bound him to a fiery wheel that rolls through the sky (or turns in the Underworld).

Ixionides
Bk 8:547-610. Pirithous, as the son of Ixion.

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Part 5 of 9

Laconia, Laconis, Lacedaemonian, Lacedaemionius
Bk 2:227-271. The area around Sparta. Of Sparta, the chief city also called Lacedaemon.

Lacinius
Bk 15:1-59. Bk 15:622-745. Of Lacinium, a promontory near Crotona in Italy. (Near modern Capo Colonna on the ‘heel’ of Italy.) It had a famous temple of Juno.

Laconis
Bk 3:206-231. Spartan, Lacedaemonian, Laconian.

Ladon
Bk 1:689-721. A river in Arcadia. (Pausanias says, VIII xx, that its springs derive from the Phenean Lake and that it has the finest water of any river in Greece.)

Laertes
The father of Ulysses, and son of Arcesius.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. He is father-in-law to Penelope.
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:123-381. The father of Ulysses.

Laertiades
Bk 13:1-122. Ulysses, son of Laertes.

Laertius heros
Bk 13:123-381. Ulysses, son of Laertes.

Laestrygones
Bk 14:223-319. An ancient people of Campania in Italy, fabled to be cannibals. See Lamus. They attack Ulysses and his comrades.

Laiades, Oedipus
Bk 7:759-795. Oedipus, son of Laius. He was exposed as an infant on Mount Cithaeron. Later, he unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, to become King of Thebes, and from that Sophocles’s great tragedies are developed. Oedipus guessed the answer to the Sphinx’s riddle, that it is Humankind that goes on four legs at dawn, two in the afternoon, and three at evening (a crawling child, an adult, an aged person with a staff). The Sphinx was the monstrous daughter of Typhon and Echidne, and came to Thebes from Ethiopia. She had a woman’s had, a lion’s body, a serpent’s tail, and eagle’s wings. The Sphinx leapt to her death from Mount Phicium. (See Sophocles plays, ‘The Theban cycle’, Ingres’s painting Oedipus and the Sphinx, Louvre, Paris, Gustave Moreau’s painting in the Metropolitan Gallery ,New York, and Charles Ricketts pen and ink drawing of the same subject, Carlisle Art Gallery, England)

Lampetia, Lampetie
Bk 2:344-366. One of the Heliads, daughters of Clymene and the Sun, who are turned into poplar trees while mourning Phaethon.

Lampetides
Bk 5:107-148. A musician at the court of Cepheus, killed by Pedasus.

Lamus
Bk 14:223-319. Mythical king of the Laestrygonians, and founder of Formiae. (The Laestrygonian country has been placed in Sicily, here at Formia on the coast of Campania, or, as Ernle Bradford suggests in ‘Ulysses Found’ Ch.12, from the details of the natural harbour described by Homer in the Odyssey, at Bonafacio in Corsica, in the sea-gate between Corsica and Sardinia.)

Laomedon
Bk 11:749-795. The king of Troy, son of Ilus the younger, father of Priam, Hesione and Antigone.
Bk 6:70-102. Father of Antigone of Troy.
Bk 11:194-220. He reneges on his agreement to reward Apollo and Neptune for building the walls of Troy. His daughter Hesione is chained to a rock to be taken by a sea-monster. Hercules rescues her and is also denied his reward. He seizes Troy and marries Hesione to Telamon.

Lapithae
Bk 12:245-289. Bk 14:623-697. An ancient people of south western Thessaly. The marriage of Pirithous and Hippodamia was disrupted by Eurytus one of the centaurs invited to the feast, leading to the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs. (See the sculpture from the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia – e.g. the detail, Lapith Woman and Centaur)
Bk 12:536-579. Nestor finishes telling the story of the battle.

Larissaeus, Larissa
Bk 2:531-565. Of Larissa a town in Thessaly.

Latialis, Latinus
[Passim]. Of Latium, Latian, Latin, Roman.

Latinus(1)
Bk 14:445-482. The son of Faunus, grandson of Picus, king of Laurentum in Latium, and father of Lavinia. Aeneas marries his daughter and becomes king.

Latinus(2)
Bk 14:609-622. One of the Alban kings.

Latium
Bk 14:320-396. A country in Central Italy, containing Rome. (The modern Lazio region. It originally designated the small area between the mouth of the Tiber and the Alban Hills. With the Roman conquest it was extended south-east to the Gulf of Gaeta, and west to the mountains of Abruzzo, forming the so-called Latium novum or adiectum.)
Bk 14:445-482. At war with Etruria.
Bk 14:623-697. Pomona’s country.
Bk 15:622-745. Suffers the plague.

Latius, Latian, Latin
Bk 14:320-396 Bk 14:397-434. Bk 14:829-851. Of Latium. Roman.

Latois
Bk 8:260-328. Diana, the daughter of Latona.

Latoius
Bk 11:194-220. Apollo, the son of Latona.

Latona, Leto
Bk 1:689-721. Daughter of the Titan Coeus, and mother of Apollo and Artemis (Diana) by Jupiter.
Bk 6:146-203. Worshipped at Thebes.
Bk 6:204-266. Offended by Niobe she asks her children to exact punishment.
Bk 6:267-312. They pursue vengeance on her behalf, killing all Niobe’s children. Niobe is turned to stone, and her husband Amphion commits suicide in his grief.
Bk 6:313-381. Bk 13:623-639. Pursued by a jealous Juno, she was given sanctuary by Delos, a floating island. There between an olive tree and a date-palm she gave birth to Apollo and Diana-Artemis, by Mount Cynthus. Delos became fixed. A variant has Artemis born on the nearby islet of Ortygia.
Ovid also tells how Latona turned the Lycian countrymen into frogs, for refusing to allow her to drink at their pool.
Bk 7:350-403. The island of Calaurea is sacred to her.

Latonia
Bk 1:689-721. Bk 8:376-424. Bk 8:515-546. Diana, as the daughter of Latona.

Latonigenae
Bk 6:146-203. Apollo and Diana, the twin children of Latona, worshipped at Thebes.

Lataous
Of Latona, her altar. Also of her son Phoebus Apollo.
Bk 6:382-400. An epithet for Apollo.

Latreus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Laurens
Of Laurentum, an ancient city of Latium, seat of king Latinus. Possibly identified with ancient Lavinium between modern Ostia and Anzio.
Bk 14:320-396. Picus comes from there.
Bk 14:566-580. Venus descends there.

Lavinia
Bk 14:445-482. Bk 14:566-580. The daughter of Latinus. She married Aeneas, and the disappointed Turnus initiated the war in Latium.

Lavinium
Bk 15:622-745. A city of Latium founded by Aeneas.

Learchus
The son of Athamas and Ino.
Bk 4:512-542. Killed by his father, maddened by Tisiphone.

Lebinthus
An island in the eastern Aegean, one of the Sporades.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly to the north of it after leaving Crete.

Leda
The daughter of Thestius and wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus. She had twin sons Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux), the Tyndaridae, following her rape by Jupiter in the form of a swan. Castor and Pollux are represented in the sky by the two bright stars in the constellation of Gemini, the Twins. They were the protectors of mariners appearing in the rigging as the electrical phenomenon now known as St Elmo’s fire. Gemini contains the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower. (See the painting Leda, by Gustave Moreau in the Gustave Moreau Museum Paris)
Bk 6:103-128. Depicted by Arachne.
Bk 8:260-328. The mother of the Tyndaridae.

Leleges
A Pelasgic people of Greece and Asia Minor.
Bk 7:425-452. Builders of the walls of Megara.
Bk 9:595-665. Armed inhabitants of Caria.

Lelex
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:547-610. Descibed as a hero of Troezen, he is present when Achelous offers Theseus his hospitality.
Bk 8:611-678. He tells the story of Baucis and Philemon.
Bk 8:725-776.He completes his tale.

Lemnicola
Bk 2:752-786. Vulcan, whose favourite dwelling-place was Lemnos.

Lemnos
Bk 2:752-786. Bk 13:1-122. The Greek island. The home of Vulcan the blacksmith of the gods.
Bk 4:167-189. Vulcan is called the Lemnian.
Bk 13:1-122. Philoctetes was bitten by a snake there, and on Ulysses advice was abandoned there. He had inherited the bow and arrows of Hercules.
Bk 13:399-428. Ulysses sails for the island to bring back the arrows of Hercules. Thoas was once king there when the Lemnian women murdered their menfolk because of their adultery with Thracian girls. His life was spared because his daughter Hypsipyle set him adrift in an oarless boat.

Lenaeus
Bk 4:1-30. Bk 11:85-145. An epithet for Bacchus as god of the vineyards.

Leo
Bk 2:63-89. The constellation and zodiacal sign of the Lion. It contains the star Regulus ‘the heart of the lion’, one of the four guardians of the heavens in Babylonian astronomy, which lies nearly on the ecliptic. (The others are Aldebaran in Taurus, Antares in Scorpius, and Fomalhaut ‘the Fish’s Eye’ in Piscis Austrinus. All four are at roughly ninety degrees to one another). The constellation represents the lion killed by Hercules as the first of his twelve labours.

Lerna
Bk 1:587-600. Bk 9:1-88. Bk 9:89-158.The marshland in Argolis, the home of the Hydra.

Lesbos
Bk 2:566-595. The island in the eastern Aegean. Among its cities were Mytilene and Methymna. Famous as the home of Sappho the poetess, whose love of women gave rise to the term lesbian. Here the home of Nyctimene.
Bk 11:1-66. Orpheus’s (prophetic) head is washed ashore there.
Bk 13:123-381. Captured by Achilles.

Lethaea
Bk 10:1-85. The wife of Olenus. She was punished for her pride in her beauty and he chose to share her guilt. They were turned into stones on Mount Ida.

Lethe
A river of the Underworld, whose waters bring forgetfulness.
Bk 7:100-158. Used of the magic juice (juniper?) that Jason uses to subdue the dragon that guards the Golden Fleece.
Bk 11:573-649. Its stream flows from the depths of the House of Sleep, and induces drowsiness with its murmuring. (Hence the stream of forgetfulness)

Letois
Bk 7:350-403. Of Leto, or Latona, applied to Calaurea an island to the east of Argolis sacred to her.

Letoius
Bk 8:1-80. Phoebus Apollo, as the son of Latona (Leto).

Leucas
An island off the coast of Acarnania in western Greece, in the Ionian Sea north of Ithaca.
Bk 15:259-306. Once joined to the mainland. (The Corinthians bored a channel through the isthmus in the 7th century BC, see Ernle Bradford’s ‘Ulysses Found’ Appendix II)

Leucippus
The brother of Aphareus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Leuconoe
Bk 4:31-54. One of the daughters of Minyas who rejected the worship of Bacchus and was changed into a bat.
Bk 4:167-189. She tells the story of Mars and Venus.

Leucosia
Bk 15:622-745. An island, near Paestum in Italy.

Leucothoe(1)
Bk 4:190-213. The daughter of Orchamus, king of Babylon loved by Sol.
Bk 4:214-255. Raped by Sol, and buried alive by her father, Sol changes her into a tree with incense-bearing resin (frankincense, genus Boswellia?)

Leucothoe(2)
The White Goddess, the sea-goddess into whom Ino was changed, who as a sea-mew helps Ulysses (See Homer’s Odyssey). She is a manifestation of the Great Goddess in her archetypal form. (See Robert Graves’s ‘The White Goddess’)
Bk 4:512-542. Venus intercedes for Ino, after she has leapt into the sea with her son, and Neptune changes them into sea-deities.

Liber
Bk 3:511-527. An ancient rural god of Italy who presided over planting and fructification. He became associated (as Liber Pater) with Bacchus-Dionysus.
Bk 3:597-637. An epithet of Bacchus in the story of Acoetes.
Bk 6:103-128. The ensnaring of Erigone is depicted by Arachne.
Bk 7:294-349. Medea restores the youth of the Nyseides for him.
Bk 7:350-403. He hides the bullock his son has stolen, concealing it in the form of a stag.
Bk 8:152-182. He rescues Ariadne.
Bk 13:640-674. He gave Anius’s daughters the power to change everything into corn, wine and olives.

Libya
Bk 2:227-271. The country in North Africa. Turned to desert when Phaethon loses control of the sun chariot.
Bk 4:604-662. The drops of blood falling from the Gorgon’s head as Perseus flies over its sands infest it with poisonous snakes.
Bk 5:74-106. Amphimedon’s native country.
Bk 14:75-100. Carthage is sited there, supposedly founded by Dido, originally a Phoenician trading post. Aeneas is driven there from Sicily by adverse winds.

Libys(1)
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Libys(2)
Bk 5:294-331. African, applied to Ammon.

Lichas
Bk 9:89-158.A servant of Hercules entrusted with the shirt of Nessus which he unwittingly gives to his master.
Bk 9:211-272. He is thrown into the Euboean Gulf by Hercules and becomes a sacred island, called by his name.

Ligdus
Bk 9:666-713.A Cretan. His wife is Telethusa. She has a daughter who he wishes to be exposed, but he is deceived into believing the daughter is a male child and names it Iphis.

Ligures, Liguria
Bk 2:367-380. A people and country of northern Italy.

Lilybaeon, Lilybaeum
Bk 5:332-384. Bk 13:705-737. A promontory on the southern coast of Sicily.

Limnaee
Bk 5:30-73. A nymph of the River Ganges, daughter of the river god, and mother of Athis.

Limyre
Bk 9:595-665. A city in Lycia.

Liriope
Bk 3:339-358. Raped by the river-god Cephisus she gives birth to Narcissus.

Liternum
Bk 15:622-745. A city in Campania in Italy. Famous for its mastic bearing lentisk trees. (The gum mastic from lentisk trees for which the island of Chios was also famous, formed the basis of ‘Turkish Delight’, the sweet of the Sultan’s harem.) (The modern Lago di Patria near Cumae was once the harbour of the Roman colony.)

Lotis
Bk 9:324-393. A nymph, daughter of Neptune. Changed into a lotus tree while fleeing from Priapus.

Lucifer
Bk 2:111-149. Bk 15:176-198. The morning star (the planet Venus). It sets with the rising sun and vanishes as Phaethon begins his ride. (Lucifer the ‘Son of Morning’)
Bk 2:708-736. The brightest star, but outshone by the moon.
Bk 4:604-662 Wakes Aurora’s fires to begin the day.
Bk 8:1-80. Bk 11:85-145. He dispels the night.
Bk 11:266-345. His sons are Ceyx and Daedalion.
Bk 11:346-409. His son Ceyx tells the story of Daedalion.
Bk 11:474-572. Ceyx calls to him in extremis. He hides his face, when Ceyx is drowned, in mourning.
Bk 15:745-842. His face is darkened as an omen of Caesar’s assassination.

Lucina
Bk 9:666-713. ‘The light bringer’, the Roman goddess of childbirth, a manifestation of Juno, but also applied to Diana, as the Great Goddess.
Bk 5:294-331. Appealed to, for help in childbirth, by Euippe.
Bk 9:273-323. Her Greek equivalent was Ilithyia.
Bk 9:273-323. Alcmena calls out to her in childbirth. Her companion gods, the guardians of women in labour, are the Nixi.
She squats on the altar and, using sympathetic magic, clasps her crossed knees to retard the childbirth at Juno’s orders.
Bk 10:503-559. She assists at the birth of Adonis.

Luna
Bk 2:201-226. The moon goddess. A manifestation of Artemis-Diana-Phoebe, sister of Apollo-Sol-Phoebus. Amazed at the sun chariot running amok with Phaethon.
Bk 7:179-233. At the eclipse, bronze weapons etc were clashed to ease the birth-pangs of the moon as she brought forth renewed light, in order to ensure a safe outcome to the eclipse.
Bk 7:501-613. A synonym for the moon.

Lyaeus
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet of Bacchus meaning ‘the deliverer from care’.
Bk 8:260-328. King Oeneus pours libations of wine to him.
Bk 11:67-84. Bacchus turns the Maenads who killed Orpheus into oak trees.

Lycabas(1)
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Lycabas(2)
Bk 5:30-73. An Assyrian, companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus trying to avenge his friend and lover Athis.

Lycabas(3)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Lycaeus
Bk 1:689-721. A mountain in Arcadia. (Pausanias, VIII xxxviii, has a long section on this mountain, the Holy Peak, sacred to Zeus-Jupiter, and Pan. In the precinct of Zeus no shadow is cast.)
Bk 8:260-328. The home of Atalanta (1) who is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Lycaon
Bk 1:151-176. Son of Pelasgus. Lycaon was a king of primitive Arcadia who presided over barbarous cannibalistic practises. He was transformed into a wolf by Zeus, angered by human sacrifice. His sons offered Zeus, disguised as a traveller, a banquet containing human remains. They were also changed into wolves and Zeus then precipitated a great flood to cleanse the world.
Bk 2:466-495. The father of Callisto.

Lycetus
Bk 5:74-106. A native of the River Spercheos. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Lyceum
Bk 2:708-736. The gymnasium at Athens amongst fountains and groves frequented by the philosophers.

Lycia
Bk 4:274-316. A country in Asia Minor, south of Caria, bordering the Mediterranean.
Bk 6:313-381. Home of the Chimaera. Scene of Latona’s transformation of the farmers into frogs.
Bk 9:595-665. The country of Byblis’s final transformation on Mount Chimaera home of the monster. Landmarks are Mount Cragus and Limyre, and the plain of Xanthus.
Bk 12:64-145. The country of Menoetes.
Bk 13:123-381. The country of Sarpedon.

Lycidas
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Lycopes
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Lycormas(1)
Bk 2:227-271. A river in Aetolia.

Lycormas(2)
Bk 5:107-148. A follower of Perseus, kills Pedasus.

Lyctius
Bk 7:453-500. Of Lyctos, a city in Crete. Used of the Cretan fleet under Minos.

Lycurgus
Bk 4:1-30. King of the Edonians (Edoni) of Thrace who opposed Bacchus’s entry into his kingdom at the River Strymon. Lycurgus was driven mad and killed his own son Dryas with an axe thinking he was a vine. He pruned the corpse, and the Edonians, horrified, instructed by Bacchus, tore Lycurgus to pieces with wild horses on Mount Pangaeum.

Lycus(1)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Lycus(2)
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. Venus transforms him into a bird.

Lycus(3)
Bk 15:259-306. A river in Phrygia, a tributary of the Maeander. The Lycus plunges into a chasm, runs underground for some distance, and reappears before entering the Maeander. (See Herodotus VII 30, where it is visited by Xerxes, on the march.)

Lydia
A country in Asia Minor, containing Ephesus, with its temple of Artemis-Diana, and Smyrna. Famous for its wealth.
BkVI:1-25. The country of Arachne.
Bk 6:146-203. The country of Niobe.
Bk 11:85-145. The country of Midas.

Lyncestius
Bk 15:307-360. Of the Lyncestae, a people in Macedonia. Lyncestian.

Lynceus
The son of Aphareus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Lyncides
Bk 5:74-106. A descendant of Lynceus, father of Abas, whose great grandson was Perseus. A follower of Perseus (or Perseus himself?) in the fight against Phineus.
Bk 5:149-199. As an epithet of Perseus.

Lyncus
King of Scythia.
Bk 5:642-678. He attacks Triptolemus and is changed into a lynx.

Lyrceus
Bk 1:587-600. The land near Mount Lyrceum between Argolis and Arcadia.

Lyrnesius
Of Lyrnessus, a town in the Troad, near Mount Ida.
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 13:123-381. Sacked by Achilles.

Macareis
Bk 6:103-128. Isse, the daughter of Macareus(1).

Macareus(1)
An inhabitant of Lesbos.
Bk 6:103-128. His daughter is Isse.

Macareus(2)
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Macareus(3)
Bk 14:154-222. Of Neritos. A companion of Ulysses who settled in Italy at Caieta, after their wanderings.
Bk 14:223-319. He tells the story of their wanderings, and warns Aeneas not to encounter Circe.
Bk 14:435-444. He ends his story.

Macedonia, Macedonius
Bk 12:429-535. The country bordering the northern Aegean.

Maeandrus, Maeandrius
Bk 2:227-271. The Maeander river in Lydia in Asia Minor famous for its wandering course, hence ‘meander’. Also its river-god. (Pausanias mentions, VIII vii, a boiling hot spring that comes out of the riverbed and out of a rock mid-stream. Also, V xiv, that it is famous for its many huge tamarisk trees.)
Bk 8:152-182. Its windings are compared to the Cretan maze.
Bk 9:439-516. Cyanee is his daughter.
Bk 9:517-594. Caunus is his grandson.

Maenades, Maenads, Bacchantes
The female followers of Bacchus-Dionysus, noted for their ecstatic worship of the god. Dionysus brought terror and joy. The Maenads’ secret female mysteries may indicate older rituals of ecstatic human sacrifice.
Bk 3:692-733. Led by Agave and Autonoe they destroy Pentheus.
Bk 11:1-66. They kill Orpheus.
Bk 11:67-84. They are turned into oak trees.

Maenalos, Maenala
Bk 1:199-243. A mountain range in Arcadia. (Pausanias, VIII xxxvi, says it is sacred to Pan, and the people living there hear him piping.)
Bk 2:401-416. Bk 2:441-465. The haunt of Diana the goddess of the hunt and her virgin companions.
Bk 5:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.

Maeonias, Maeonia
Bk 2:227-271. An ancient name for Lydia.
BkVI:1-25. The country of Arachne.
Bk 6:146-203. The country of Niobe, and Mount Sipylus.

Maeonis
Bk 6:103-128. An epithet of Arachne, as a native of Maeonia.

Maera
Bk 7:350-403. Hecuba, changed into a black bitch of Hecate, in Thrace, where she was taken by Ulysses after the fall of Troy. She murdered Polymestor her son-in-law, who had killed her son Polydorus. She terrified the Thracians who tried to kill her, by her howling.

Magnetes
Bk 11:346-409. The inhabitants of Magnesia in Thessaly.

Maia
Bk 2:676-701. The daughter of Atlas, a Pleiad, and mother of Mercury by Jupiter.
Bk 11:266-345. The mother of Mercury.

Manto
A Theban prophetess, the daughter of Tiresias.
Bk 6:146-203. Calls the women of Thebes to the worship of Latona and her children, Apollo and Diana.

Marathon
A town and plain on the east coast of Attica. Site of the famous Greek victory in the war against Persia.
Bk 7:425-452. Theseus overcame a white bull of Poseidon there, brought by Hercules from Crete. He then sacrificed it at Athens on the Acropolis.

Mareoticus
Bk 9:764-797. Of Mareota, a lake and city in Lower Egypt. (See Shelley ‘The Witch of Atlas) Protected by Isis.

Marmarides
From Marmarica, in Egypt.
Bk 5:107-148. Corythus comes from there.

Mars, Mavors
The war god, son of Jupiter and Juno. An old name for him is Mavors.
Bk 3:1-49. The snake killed by Cadmus is sacred to him.
Bk 4:167-189. Venus commits adultery with him and he is caught in a net with her by her husband Vulcan.
Bk 12:64-145. His armour is decorative only.
Bk 14:772-804. The father of Romulus.
Bk 14:805-828. He asks for Romulus’s deification.

Marsyas
A Satyr of Phrygia who challenged Apollo to a contest in musical skill, and was flayed alive by the God when he was defeated. (An analogue for the method of making primitive flutes, Minerva’s invention, by extracting the core from the outer sheath) (See Perugino’s painting – Apollo and Marsyas – The Louvre, Paris)
Bk 6:382-400. He repents, and the tears of all those who mourn for him become a river with his name in Phrygia.

Mavors, Mars
An old name for Mars, the war god, son of Jupiter and Juno.
Bk 3:528-571. Pentheus calls the Thebans the people of Mavors.
Bk 7:100-158. The field of Mars in Colchis.
Bk 8:1-80. A term for military might.
Bk 14:805-828. He asks for Romulus’s deification.

Mavortius
Of or descended from Mars, as applied to the Thebans descended from the Echionides, the dragon’s teeth of Mars sacred serpent. The proles Mavortia.
Bk 6:70-103. Applied to Ares’s Hill in Athens, seat of the court of the Aeropagus. (see Herodotus VIII 52). Here the Olympian gods judge the rights of Poseidon-Neptune and Pallas-Athene to own and name the city of Athens. Pallas depicts the scene on her web in the contest with Arachne.
Bk 8:425-450. Meleager as the great-grandson of Mars.

Medea
Bk 7:1-73. The daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis and the Caucasian nymph Asterodeia. She is called Aeetias. A famous sorceress. She conceives a passion for Jason and agonises over the betrayal of her country for him.( See Gustave Moreau’s painting ‘Jason and Medea’, Louvre, Paris: Frederick Sandys painting ‘Medea’, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England: and Castiglione’s painting, ‘Medea casting a spell’, Wadsworth Athanaeum, Hartford, Connecticut)
Bk 7:74-99. She determines to help Jason and makes him swear on the altar of Triple Hecate to marry her. She gives him magic herbs to facilitate his tasks (probably including the Colchian crocus, meadow saffron, colchicum autumnale, that sprang from the blood of the tortured Prometheus. The plant is highly toxic, and the seeds and corms were collected for the extraction of the narcotic drug colchicine, tinctura colchici, used as a specific against gout.)
Bk 7:100-158. Jason carries out his tasks using the magic herbs, including magic juice (juniper?) to subdue the dragon, and takes Medea back with him to Iolchos.
Bk 7:159-178. She offers to attempt to renew Aeson’s life at Jason’s request.
Bk 7:234-293. She makes a magic potion and restores Aeson’s youth.
Bk 7:294-349. She rejuvenates the nymphs of Mount Nysa. She then deceives Pelias’s daughters and employs them to help destroy him.
Bk 7:350-403. She flees through the air with her winged dragons, making a clockwise journey round the Aegean, the Cyclades, the Peloponnese, Aetolia, and Arcadia, to reach Corinth. There she kills Glauce her rival, and then sacrifices her own sons, before fleeing to Athens where she marries King Aegeus.
Bk 7:404-424. She attempts to poison Theseus using aconite, but Aegeus recognises Theseus’s sword as his own, and dashes the cup away in time. Medea vanishes in a mist conjured by her magic spells.

Medon(1)
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Medon(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Medusa, Phorcynis, Gorgo
One of the three Gorgons, daughter of Phorcys the wise old man of the sea. She is represented in the sky by part of the constellation Perseus, who holds her decapitated head.
Bk 4:604-662. Perseus turns Atlas to stone with her severed head.
Bk 4:706-752. He protects it from damage.
Bk 5:200-249. It turns Phineus and his followers, and Proetus, and Polydectes to stone.
Bk 6:103-128. Neptune lay with her in the form of a bird, and she produced Pegasus.

Medusaeus
Bk 5:200-249. Of Medusa. Her severed head.
Bk 5:250-293. Bk 5:294-331. The winged horse Pegasus born from her blood.
Bk 10:1-85. Cerberus, as a putative child of Medusa.

Megareius heros
Bk 10:638-680. Hippomenes, son of Megareus.

Megareus
Bk 10:560-637. The father of Hippomenes, and grandson of Neptune, called Onchestius from the town of Onchestus near Lake Copais in Boeotia.

Melaneus(1)
Bk 5:107-148. A friend of Perseus, killed in the fight with Phineus.

Melaneus(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Melantho
Daughter of Deucalion.
Bk 6:103-128. Raped by Neptune as a dolphin. Depicted by Arachne.

Melanthus
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Melas
Bk 2:227-271. A Thracian river.

Meleager
King of Calydon, the son of Oeneus, and Althaea, daughter of Thestius.
Bk 8:260-328. As prince, a hero of Calydon. He joins the Calydonian Boar hunt. He falls in love with Atalanta.
Bk 8:376-424. He kills the boar.
Bk 8:425-450. In an argument over the spoils he murders his uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus.
Bk 8:515-546. His mother Althaea punishes him, with death, by throwing the brand, that is linked to his life, into the fire.
Bk 9:89-158. Deianira is his sister.

Meleagrides
Bk 8:515-546. The sisters of Meleager. They are turned into guinea hens by Diana, while mourning for their brother. The birds are the helmeted guinea fowl of Africa, numida meleagris, worshipped as icons of Artemis on Leros, probably the East African blue-wattled variety, not the red-wattled, tufted guinea fowl variants introduced into Italy, though wattle colour varies in Africa. The squeaky cackling of these noisy birds was taken to represent mourning, and the birds were prohibited from being eaten by devotees of Artemis or Isis.

Melicertes
The son of Athamas and Ino.
Bk 4:512-542. His mother Ino, maddened by Tisiphone and the sight of her son Learchus’s death, at the hands of his father, leaps into the sea with him. He is changed by Neptune, at Venus’s request, into the sea-god Palaemon.

Memnon
The son of Tithonus and Aurora, fought for Troy in the Trojan War with Greece.
Bk 13:576-622. He was killed by Achilles, but his mother Aurora begged Jupiter for funeral honours, and he created the warring flock of birds, the Memnonides, from his ashes.

Memnonides
Bk 13:576-622. The birds that sprang from Memnon’s ashes, fated to appear annually and enact the Trojan War in a battle of the birds as a ritual ceremony in memory of Memnon.

Mendesius
Of Mendes, a city in Egypt.
Bk 5:107-148. An epithet of Celadon.

Menelaus
The younger son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, hence called Atrides minor. Paris’s theft of his wife Helen instigated the Trojan War.
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:1-122. He does not dare to compete for the arms of Achilles.
Bk 13:123-381. He is part of the embassy to the Trojan senate when Ulysses demands the return of Helen.
BkXV:143-175. He killed Euphorbus in the Trojan War, an incarnation of Pythagoras.

Menephron
Bk 7:350-403. An Arcadian who committed incest with his mother on Mount Cyllene.

Menoetes
Bk 12:64-145. A Lycian, killed by Achilles.

Menthe
Bk 10:708-739.A nymph loved by Proserpina who turned her into a herb, the mint.

Mercury, Mercurius, Hermes
Bk 1:689-721. The messenger god, Hermes, son of Jupiter and the Pleiad Maia, the daughter of Atlas. He is therefore called Atlantiades. His birthplace was Mount Cyllene, and he is therefore called Cyllenius. He has winged feet, and a winged cap, carries a scimitar, and has a magic wand, the caduceus, with twin snakes twined around it, that brings sleep and healing. The caduceus is the symbol of medicine. (See Botticelli’s painting Primavera.) He is summoned by Jupiter to lull Argus to sleep and kills him.
Bk 2:676-701. Called Atlantiades and son of Maia (Atlantis). He steals Apollo’s cattle and turns Battus the countryman into a touchstone ( flint, the ‘informer’).
Bk 1:689-721. Mercury lulls Argus to sleep and kills him.
Bk 2:708-736 . Sees Herse in the sacred procession.
Bk 2:737-751. Called the grandson of Atlas and Pleione. Elicits help from Aglauros to seduce Herse.
BkII:812-832. Mercury turns Aglauros to stone.
Bk 4:274-316. Hermaphroditus is his son by Venus-Aphrodite.
Bk 4:346-388. With Venus he grants Hermaphroditus’s prayer that the pool of Salmacis weaken anyone bathing there.
Bk 4:753-803. Perseus builds an altar to him.
Bk 5:149-199. Perseus employs the curved scimitar Mercury has given him.
Bk 8:611-678. Disguised as a mortal he visits Philemon and Baucis with Jupiter, his father.
Bk 11:266-345. He loves Chione, and she bears him Autolycus.
Bk 13:123-381. The divine father of Ulysses through Mercury’s seduction of Autolycus’s daughter, Anticleia, Ulysses’s mother, and wife of Laertes.
Bk 14:223-319. He gives his son Ulysses the plant moly to protect him from Circe’s spells.

Meriones
A companion of Idomeneus, from Crete.
Bk 13:1-122. He does not compete for the arms of Achilles.

Mermeros
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur. Noted for his fleetness of foot.

Merops
Bk 1:747-764. King of Ethiopia, husband of Clymene. Putative father of Phaethon.
Bk 2:178-200. Phaethon regrets he is not merely Merops’s son.

Messanius
Bk 14:1-100. Of Messana, a city in Sicily.

Messapius
Bk 14:512-526. Of the Messapians, a people of lower Italy. Calabrian.

Messenia, Messene
Bk 2:676-701. The country and city in the western Peloponnese.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is described as warlike.
Bk 12:536-579. Hercules razed its walls.

Mestra
Bk 8:725-776. The daughter of Erysichthon, grand-daughter of Triopas, and wife of Autolycus who possessed the power of shape-changing.
Bk 8:843-884. Neptune took her virginity and in turn gave her the power to deceive. It saves her from becoming a slave, or prostituting herself.

Methymnaeus
Bk 11:1-66. Of Methymna, one of the cities of Lesbos.

Metion
Bk 5:74-106. The father of Phorbas, of Syene.

Midas
The king of Phrygia, son of Gordius and Cybele, called Berecyntius heros from Mount Berecyntus in Phrygia, sacred to Cybele.
Bk 11:85-145. In reward for returning Silenus to him, Bacchus grants Midas a gift. He chooses the golden touch, and when it plagues him Bacchus takes it away again. He is instructed to bathe in the waters of the Pactolus to cleanse himself. (Lines 131-141 suggest that Ovid was aware of early confession and baptism rites, from Christianity or some other religion, or, less likely, that there has been rewriting by a later Christian scribe)
Bk 11:146-171. Bk 11:172-193. Phoebus gives him the ears of an ass, and a servant gives away the secret

Miletis
Bk 9:595-665.Byblis, the daughter of Miletus.

Miletus, Deionides
The son of Phoebus and the nymph Deione, founder of the city of Miletus in Caria in Asia Minor.
Bk 9:439-516. He flees from Minos and Crete to Asia Minor. There he loves Cyanee, who gives birth to Byblis and Caunus.

Milon
Bk 15:199-236. An athlete of Crotona. He bemoans old age.

Mimas
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain range in Ionia.

Minerva, Pallas, Athene
Bk 2:531-565. The Roman name for Athene the goddess of the mind and women’s arts (also a goddess of war and the goddess of boundaries – see the Stele of Athena, bas-relief, Athens, Acropolis Museum)
Bk 2:566-595. Saves Cornix her servant from rape and turns her into the Crow.
Bk 2:708-736. Athens is her sacred city.
Bk 2:752-786 . She calls on Envy to punish Aglauros.
Bk 4:31-54. She is the goddess of weaving and working in wool.
Bk 4:753-803. Perseus builds an altar to her. He tells how she changed Medusa’s hair to snaky locks because Neptune had violated the girl in her temple.
Bk 5:250-293. She visits the Muses on Helicon to see the fountain of Hippocrene.
Bk 5:642-678. Her sacred city is Athens.
BkVI:1-25. She is offended by Arachne’s rejection of her.
Bk 6:382-400. She invented the flute.
Bk 8:236-259. She changes Talus, Daedalus’s nephew, into the partridge, perdix perdix.
Bk 8:260-328. The Athenians call on her as goddess of war. King Oeneus of Calydon offers libations of oil from the olive harvest to her.
Bk 8:611-678. Philemon and Baucis are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals, and offer them the olives of pure Minerva as part of their meal.
Bk 13:1-122. Ulysses and Diomede stole her sacred image the Palladium from her sanctuary in Phrygia.
Bk 13:640-674. The olive is her gift.
Bk 14:445-482. She punished the Greeks on the way back from Troy because of Ajax’s rape of virgin Cassandra.
Bk 14:445-482. She rescues Diomede on his way back from Troy.
Bk 15:307-360. The Hyperboreans cover their bodies with plumage by plunging nine times in Minerva’s pool.
Bk 15:622-745. Her promontory near Capri.

Minois
Bk 7:159-178. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos.

Minos
Bk 7:453-500. The King of Crete, ruler of a hundred cities. Son of Jupiter and Europa. he prepares for war with Athens after his son Androgeos is killed by Aegeus. He obtains the allegiance of many of the islands of the Aegean, but fails to win over Aeacus at Aegina.
Bk 7:501-613. He is assumed to be seeking control of all Greece.
Bk 8:1-80. He attacks Megara.
Bk 8:81-151. Scylla, the daughter of King Nisus betrays the city to him out of love, but he rejects her and sails away. Scylla berates him and reminds him of his wife Pasiphae’s illicit love for the bull from the sea, and her bearing of his son Asterion, the Minotaur. He imposes laws on the conquered peoples. The Cretans said that Minos made their laws, and was divinely inspired, see Pausanias III ii.
Bk 8:152-182. He sacrifices to Jove on returning to Crete, and imprisons his shameful son, the Minotaur, in the labyrinth built by Daedalus.
Bk 8:183-235. He keeps Daedalus effectively a prisoner, but Daedalus plans his escape.
Bk 8:260-328. He makes war on King Cocalus of Sicily where Daedalus has taken refuge after his escape from Crete.
Bk 9:418-438. Jupiter, recognising his love of justice, wishes he could enjoy perpetual youth.
Bk 9:439-516. In old age he fears Miletus who flees of his own accord to Asia Minor.

Minotauros, Asterion
Bk 8:152-182. The son of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, and the white bull from the sea. A man-headed bull, imprisoned in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus at Cnossos and destroyed by Theseus. (See the sculpture and drawings of Michael Ayrton, and Picasso’s variations on the theme in the Vollard Suite)

Minturnae
Bk 15:622-745. A city of Latium on the border of Campania. The chief Tyrrhenian river-port of the Ausoni, becoming a Roman colony in 295 BC, crossed by the Appian Way. (Near modern Minturno, and built amidst malarial marshes formed by the overflowing River Garigliano, the ancient Liris. Here the proscribed Marius, taken prisoner in 88 BC, daunted the would-be assassin sent by Sulla. )

Minyas, Minyae, Minyeides, Minyeias (Alcithoe), Minyeias proles
Bk 4:1-30. The Minyae, a people named from their king Minyas who ruled Orchomenus in Boeotia.
Bk 4:31-54. His three daughters, the Minyeides, Alcithoe, Arsippe and Leuconoe, reject Bacchus.
Bk 4:389-415. They are changed into bats.
Book VI:675-721. Bk 7:1-73. Bk 7:100-158. A name for the Argonauts since they sailed from Iolchos in Minyan territory.

Misenus
Bk 14:101-153. A mortal son of Aeolus, a trumpeter of Aeneas. He lost his life near Cumae and was buried there. (He gave his name to Cape Miseno between Naples and Ischia).

Mithridates
Bk 15:745-842. King of Pontus. Mithridates the Great, sixth king of Pontus of that name, defeated by Lucullus and Pompey. Caesar crushed his son Pharnaces in a swift battle at Zela in 47BC (So swift a victory that Caesar spoke the famous words ‘veni, vidi, vici ‘ = ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’).

Mnemonides
Bk 5:250-293. The nine Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, Memory.

Mnemosyne
The mother, by Jupiter, of the nine Muses.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts how Jupiter lay with her as a shepherd.

Molossus
Bk 1:199-243. Belonging to the Molossi, a people of Epirus.
Bk 13:705-737. Munichus the king was attacked by robbers and his palace set on fire. To save his family Jupiter changed them into birds.

Molpeus
Bk 5:149-199. Of Chaonia, a friend of Phineus, wounded by Perseus.

Monychus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Mopsopius
Bk 5:642-678. Bk 6:401-438. Athenian. From Mopsopus an ancient king.

Mopsus
The son of Ampyx. Ampycides. A soothsayer among the Lapithae.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. He strikes the boar but Diana steals the point of his spear in flight.
Bk 12:429-535. He fights at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs, and sees Caeneus transformed into a bird with tawny wings.

Morpheus
The son of Somnus. A god of Dreams.
Bk 11:573-649. He is sent as a dream-messenger to Alcyone in the form of her husband Ceyx.
Bk 11:650-709. He reveals himself as Ceyx in a dream and tells her of his death.

Mulciber
Bk 2:1-30. A name for Vulcan, the smith, as a metal-worker.
(See Milton’s Paradise Lost Book I, as the architect of the towers of Heaven. ‘From Morn to Noon he fell...’)
Bk 9:211-272. A synonym for fire. He consumes the mortal part of Hercules.
Bk 9:418-438. He wishes a second life for his son Erichthonius.
Bk 14:527-565. A synonym for fire. His flames burn Aeneas’s fleet.

Munychius
Bk 2:708-736 . Of Munychia, the Athenian port, hence Athenian.

Muses
Bk 2:201-226. The nine Muses are the virgin daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They are the patronesses of the arts. Clio(History), Melpomene(Tragedy), Thalia(Comedy), Enterpe(Lyric Poetry), Terpsichore(Dance), Calliope(Epic Poetry), Erato(Love Poetry),Urania(Astronomy), and Polyhymnia(Sacred Song). Mount Helicon is hence called Virgineus. Their epithets are Aonides, and Thespiades.
Bk 5:250-293. Mount Helicon is one of their haunts.
Bk 5:642-678. Calliope wins the singing contest with the Emathides (Pierides), and the Muses change the Emathides into magpies.
BkVI:1-25. Minerva approves their song.
Bk 10:143-219. Calliope is the mother of Orpheus, and inspires him.
Bk 15:622-745. Ovid invokes them.

Mutina
Bk 15:745-842. A city in Cisalpine Gaul. Antony fought Decimus Brutus there, and was in turn defeated by Octavian in 43 BC.

Mycale(1)
Bk 2:201-226. A promontory in Ionia.

Mycale(2)
Bk 12:245-289. A Thessalian witch, the mother of Orios, who could draw down the moon with her incantations.

Mycenae
The city in the Argolis, near Argos and Tiryns. Excavated by Schliemann who opened the beehive tombs of the royal tomb circle. Famous for its Lion Gate once topped perhaps by a statue of the Cretan Great Goddess.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 15:418-452. A symbol of vanished power.

Mycenis
A woman of Mycenae.
Bk 12:1-38. Iphigenia.

Myconos
An island in the Cyclades, near Delos. Described as low-lying.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.

Mygdonis, Mygdonius
Bk 2:227-271. Of the Mygdonians, a Thracian people.
Bk 6:26-69. They emigrated to Phrygia in Asia Minor, near Lydia, hence = Phrygian.

Myrmidones
The Myrmidons, a race of men created out of ants. Led by Achilles to the war against Troy.
Bk 7:614-660.Created from ants on the island of Aegina by Jupiter, and named after the Greek word for an ant, μύρμηξ.

Myrrha
The daughter of Cinyras, mother of Adonis, incestuously, by her father.
Bk 10:298-355. She conceives an incestuous passion for her father.
Bk 10:356-430. She attempts suicide, and is rescued by her nurse who promises to help her.
Bk 10:431-502. She sleeps with her father, is impregnated by him, and when discovered flees to Sabaea, and is turned into the myrrh-tree, weeping resin. Adonis is born from the tree.

Myscelus
The son of Alemon of Argos, and founder of Crotona.
Bk 15:1-59. The story of his founding of the city.

Mysus, Mysia, Mysian
Bk 2:227-271. Of the country of Mysia in Asia Minor containing the city of Pergamum.
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 13:123-381. Contains the city of Mysian Thebes.
Bk 15:259-306. The river there, that flows underground to appear as the Caicus.

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Part 6 of 9

Nabateus
Of Nabatea, a country in Arabia containing Petra.
Bk 5:149-199. Ethemon comes from there.

Naiades, Naides (singular Naias, Nais)
Bk 2:301-328. The water nymphs, demi-goddesses of the rivers, streams and fountains. The Italian nymphs of the River Po bury Phaethon’s body and compose his epitaph.
Bk 3:339-358. Liriope gives birth to Narcissus.
Bk 3:474-510. They mourn for Narcissus, as his sisters.
Bk 4:31-54. Ovid mentions a Naiad whose spells turned youths to fish until she herself was also changed.
Bk 4:274-316. The Naiads nurse Hermaphroditus.
Bk 6:313-381. Country people dedicate altars to them.
Bk 9:1-88. They consecrate the broken-off horn of Achelous.
Bk 9:89-158. A Naiad serves food to Achelous’s guests.
Bk 10:1-85. A crowd of Naiads accompany Eurydice.
Bk 10:503-559. They assist at the birth of Adonis.
Bk 11:1-66. They mourn for Orpheus.
Bk 13:576-622. River-fogs are exhaled by the naiads.
Bk 14:320-396. They are attracted by Picus.
Bk 14:527-565. Cybele turns Aeneas’s ships into naiads.
Bk 14:772-804. They inhabit the springs by the temple of Janus in Ausonia.

Nar
Bk 14:320-396. A river of Umbria.

Narcissus
Bk 3:339-358. The son of the Naiad Liriope and the river-god Cephisus.
Bk 3:359-401. He rejects Echo out of pride and self-love and she wastes away.
Bk 3:402-436.He falls in love with his own reflected image. (See the painting by Caravaggio- Palazzo Barberini, Rome).
Bk 3:437-473. He laments the pain of unrequited love.
Bk 3:474-510. He turns into the narcissus flower.

Narycius
Of Naryx, a city of the Locrians of Central Greece.
Bk 8:260-328. Home of Lelex, present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 14:445-482. A city of Ajax.
Bk 15:622-745. The Italian city of Narycia, probably Locri (near modern Locri), at the toe of Italy, the famous Locri Epizephyrii, founded by Greek colonists in 710 BC or 683 BC. It was the first Greek city to possess a written code of laws, and was praised by Pindar as a model of good government. It contained a sanctuary of Persephone. Cicero mentions that Dionysius the Elder, Tyrant of Syracuse, pillaged the temple of Proserpina at Locri. (‘On the Nature of the Gods BkIII 82’)The Locrians conquered the Crotonians, allied themselves to Syracuse, and finally surrendered to Rome in 205 BC.

Nasamoniacus
Of the Nasamones, a Libyan people living south west of Cyrenaica.
Bk 5:107-148. Dorylas, is their richest man. It is a spice country.

Naupliades
Bk 13:1-122. Palamades son of Nauplius.

Nauplius
Bk 13:1-122. A king of Euboea, father of Palamades. See Caphareus.

Naxos
Bk 3:597-637. The largest island of the Cyclades, and the home of Bacchus.

Nedymnus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Neleius
Bk 12:536-578. Nestor, the son of Neleus.

Neleus
Bk 2:676-701. King of Pylos, son of Neptune and the nymph Tyro. Father of Nestor and his eleven brothers including Periclymenus.
Bk 12:536-579. Neptune founded his bloodline.

Neleus
Belonging to Neleus.
Bk 6:401-438. The city of Pylos, founded by him.

Nelides
Bk 12:536-579. The twelve sons of Neleus. They were killed by Hercules, all except Nestor.

Nemeaeus
Of Nemea, a town in Argolis.
Bk 9:159-210. In the First Labour, Hercules destroys the Nemean Lion and takes its pelt that is proof against stone, bronze, and iron. He wrestled with it and choked it to death.
Bk 9:211-272. Hercules spreads the lion’s pelt, and lies down on it, on the summit of his funeral pyre.

Nemesis, Rhamnusia
Bk 3:402-436. Bk 14:623-697. The Goddess of retribution. She punishes mortal pride and arrogance (hubris) on behalf of the gods.

Neoptolemus
Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.
Bk 13:429-480. He watches the sacrifice of Polyxena to appease his father’s ghost.

Nephele(1)
Bk 3:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.

Nephele(2)
Bk 11:194-220. The wife of Athamas, mother of Phrixus and Helle.

Nepheleis
Bk 11:194-220. Helle, the daughter of Nephele.

Neptunius
Bk 9:1-88. An epithet of Theseus as the supposed son of Neptune.

Neptunus, Neptune, Poseidon
Bk 1:274-292. God of the sea, brother of Pluto and Jupiter. The trident is his emblem. He helps to initiate the Great Flood (see Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks for the influence of Book I on his descriptions of the deluge, and his drawing Neptune with four sea-horses, Royal Library, Windsor: See the Neptune Fountain by Bartolomeo Ammannati, Piazza della Signoria, Florence.)
Bk 2:227-271. Cannot lift his head or arms from the sea because of the heat of the sun chariot when Phaethon falls.
Bk 4:512-542. At the request of Venus, he changes Ino and her son into sea-deities.
Bk 4:753-803. He raped Medusa in the temple of Minerva, fathering Pegasus and Chrysaor, for which Minerva filled Medusa’s hair with snakes.
Bk 6:70-103. Pallas Athene depicts the ancient dispute between herself and Neptune-Poseidon as to their rights to Athens. Poseidon made a ‘sea’, a well of seawater on the Acropolis, but Athene planted an olive-tree and asked Cecrops to witness her claim to the land. She was judged by the Gods to have the right to the city. ( See Herodotus VIII 55, and Apollodorus III 14,1)
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts his rapes of Canace, Iphimedia, Theophane, Ceres, Medusa, and Melantho.
Bk 8:547-610. He turns Perimele into an island.
Bk 8:843-884. He gives Mestra the power to change her shape.
Bk 10:560-637. Bk 10:638-680. Hippomenes is descended from him, through Megareus.
Bk 11:194-220. He and Apollo build the walls of Troy for Laomedon. He floods the land when Laomedon refuses to pay, and demands the sacrifice of Hesione to a sea-monster.
Bk 12:1-38. He is thought to be protecting Troy.
Bk 12:64-145. Cycnus(3) is his son, and is turned by him into a white swan, when Achilles defeats him.
Bk 12:536-579. He gave Periclymenus, his descendant the power to change shape.
Bk 13:789-869. The father of Polyphemus and the Cyclopes.

Nereids
Bk 1:293-312. The fifty mermaids, attendants on Thetis. they are the daughters of Doris and Nereus. They are astonished by the Flood.
Bk 2:1-30 Depicted on the palace of the Sun.
Bk 5:1-29. Their ruler is Neptune.
Bk 11:346-409. They have a temple at Trachin in Thessaly. Psamathe is one of them.
Bk 13:898-968. Galatea swims off with them.
Bk 14:223-319. They are servants of Circe.

Nereis
Bk 11:221-265. Bk 12:64-145. A sea nymph, a daughter of Nereus. Thetis.
Bk 13:738-788. Bk 13:789-869. Galatea.

Nereius
Bk 7:661-759. Belonging to Nereus. Used of Phocus.
Bk 13:123-381. Thetis, genetrix Nereia.

Neretum
Bk 15:1-59. A town in Calabria.

Nereus
Bk 1:177-198. A sea-god. The husband of Doris, and, by her, the father of the fifty Nereids, the mermaids attendant on Thetis.
Bk 2:227-271. Hides from the sun chariot’s heat.
Bk 11:346-409. He has a temple near Trachin in Thessaly.
Bk 12:64-145. He is ruled by Neptune.
Bk 13:738-788. He is Galatea’s father.

Neritius
Bk 13:705-737. Of Neritos, a mountain in Ithaca, and a small island nearby passed by Aeneas. = Ithacan.
Bk 14:154-222. Macareus comes from there.
Bk 14:527-565. Ulysses.

Nessus
Bk 9:89-158. A centaur, the son of Ixion. He attempts to steal Hercules’s bride Deianira, and is killed by Hercules, who reminds him of his father Ixion’s punishment in Hades, tied to a wheel. Dying he soaks his shirt in blood mixed with the Hydra’s poison, from Hercules’s arrow that has killed him, and gives it to Deianira, telling her it will revive a dying love.
Bk 12:290-326. He is present at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs where Asbolus the augur foretells his fate.
Bk 12:429-535. He kills Cymelus in the battle.

Nestor
King of Pylos, son of Neleus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. He escapes the boar’s charge by vaulting into a tree.
Bk 12:146-209. He tells the story of Caeneus-Caenis. He is noted for his eloquence and wisdom.
Bk 12:536-579. He tells of the evil deeds of Hercules, and the death of his brother Periclymenus.
Bk 13:1-122. Abandoned by Ulysses on the battlefield but rescued.

Nileus
Bk 5:149-199. An opponent of Perseus, who boasted of his descent from Nilus the river god of the Nile, turned to stone by the Gorgon’s head.

Nilus
Bk 1:416-437. The river Nile and its god. The river was noted for its seasonal flooding in ancient times.(See the Hellenistic sculpture, ‘ The Nile’, in the Vatican, from the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius, Rome)
Bk 1:722-746. Provides a sanctuary for Io.
Bk 2:227-271. Its mouths dried up by the sun chariot when Phaethon falls. Hides its head. (Its source unknown in ancient times).
Bk 5:149-199. Seven-mouthed, the source of Nileus’s people.
Bk 5:294-331. Seven-mouthed, a refuge for the gods.
Bk 9:764-797. Seven-mouthed, protected by Isis-Io.
Bk 15:745-842. Sailed by Caesar’s victorious fleet. He defeated Ptolemy XIII and placed Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt in 47 BC.

Ninus
Bk 4:55-92. Shamshi-Adad V, King of Assyria. The husband of Semiramis, historically Sammuramat, Queen of Babylon. She reigned after him as regent from 810-805 BC.

Niobe
The daughter of the Phrygian king Tantalus, and Dione one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas. The wife of Amphion, king of Thebes.
Bk 6:146-203. She rejects Latona and boasts of her children.
Bk 6:204-266. Her seven sons are killed by Apollo and Diana, the children of Latona(Leto), and her husband commits suicide.
Bk 6:267-312. Still unrepentant, her daughters are also killed, and she is turned to stone and set on top of a mountain in her native country of Lydia where she weeps eternally. (A natural stone feature exists above the valley of the Hermus, on Mount Sipylus, which weeps when the sun strikes its winter cap of snow – See Freya Stark ‘Rome on the Euphrates’ p9.)

Niseia virgo
Bk 8:1-80. Scylla, the daughter of Nisus.

Nisus
Bk 8:1-80. The King of Megara, besieged by Minos. He had a purple lock of hair on his head, on which his life, and the safety of his kingdom, depended. His daughter was Scylla.
Bk 8:81-151. Scylla cuts off the sacred lock and betrays the city. He is turned into the white-tailed eagle or sea eagle, haliaeetus albicilla, while she becomes the rock dove, columba livia, which is the common prey of the sea eagle, and no doubt nested on the rocks of the citadel of Megara or its coastline. The sea eagle does not hover but has a flapping flight like a heron or vulture, and soars and dives from the air. See the entry on Scylla for further information.

Nixi
Bk 9:273-323. The three guardian deities of women in labour. Their statues stood in the Capitol in Rome, representing the gods kneeling. They are companions of Lucina, goddess of childbirth, whom Alcmena calls out to in childbirth.

Nixus genu
Bk 8:152-182. The constellation of Hercules, ‘the one with knee bent’.

Noemon
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Nonacria, Nonacrinas, Nonacris
Bk 1:689-721. Mount Nonacris in Arcadia. Also a town in the same region.
Bk 2:401-416. Home of Callisto the Arcadian nymph and follower of Diana.
Bk 8:425-450. The home of Atalanta(1), the warrior girl.

Noricus
Of Noricum, a country lying between the Danube and the Alps.
Bk 14:698-771. Known for its well-tempered steel.

Notus
Bk 1:244-273. The south wind, that brings rain.

Nox
Bk 4:416-464. Bk 11:573-649. Bk 15:1-59. The goddess of night, daughter of Chaos and mother of the Furies. She scatters the dew of sleep.
Bk 14:397-434. Circe summons her and the gods of Night.

Numa Pompilius
Bk 15:1-59. The second king of Rome. He searches for knowledge.
He hears the story of the founding of Crotona.
Bk 15:479-546. Having been instructed by Pythagoras, he returns to Latium, rules there, teaches the arts of peace, and dies. His wife is Egeria, the nymph.

Numicius
Bk 14:320-396. A small river in Latium.
Bk 14:566-580. The river-god purges Aeneas of his mortality.

Numidae
Bk 15:745-842. A people in North Africa, conquered by Caesar at the battle of Thaspus.

Numitor
Bk 14:772-804. The king of Alba, driven from the throne by his brother Amulius and reinstated by Romulus.

Nycteis
Antiope, daughter of the Boeotian king Nycteus, mother by Jupiter of Zethus and Amphion.
Bk 6:103-128. Her rape by Jupiter as a satyr depicted by Arachne.

Nyctelius
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet of Bacchus from the performance of his rituals at night.

Nycteus
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. Venus transforms him into a bird. (Note: not the father of Antiope)

Nyctimene
Bk 2:566-595. The daughter of Epopeus king of Lesbos who unknowingly slept with her father. She fled to the woods and was changed by Minerva to her sacred bird the Little Owl, often depicted on ancient Athenian coins.

Nymphae
Bk 1:177-198. The nymphs. Semi-divine maidens inhabiting rivers, springs, seas, hills, trees and woodlands, or attendants on greater deities.
Bk 3:359-380. The mountain nymphs often lie with Jupiter.
Bk 9:324-393. Lotis is a nymph changed to a lotus tree when pursued by Priapus.
Bk 13:675-704. They are depicted weeping on Alcon’s cup.
Bk 14:223-319. They are servants of Circe.
Bk 14:512-526. A shepherd is transformed into the wild olive tree for mocking their dance.

Nysa, Nyseides
Bk 3:273-315. Heliconian Mount Nysa. The Nyseids were the nymphs Macris, Erato, Bromie, Bacche and Nysa who hid Bacchus in their cave and nurtured him. They became the Hyades.
Bk 7:294-349. Medea restores their youth.

Nyseus
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet of Bacchus, from Mount Nysa.

Oceanus
Bk 2:508-530. Bk 15:1-59.The Ocean, personified as a sea-god, son of Earth and Air, and husband of Tethys his sister. Oceanus and Tethys are also the Titan and Titaness ruling the planet Venus. Some say from his waters all living things originated and Tethys produced all his children. Visited by Juno for help in punishing Callisto.
Bk 9:439-516.He married his sister, Tethys.
Bk 13:898-968. With Tethys, he purges Glaucus.

Ocyrhoe
Bk 2:633-675. Daughter of Chiron the Centaur and the water-nymph Chariclo, and named after the river where she was born.
A prophetess of Apollo, she foretells Aesculapius’s fate and that of her father Chiron. She is turned into a horse by the gods for her pains.

Odrysius
Bk 6:486-548. An epithet from a tribe in Thrace, used for Thracian.
Bk 13:481-575. Polymestor, the Thracian king.

Oeagrius, Oeagrus
Bk 2:201-226. Of Oeagrus an ancient king of Thrace. Supposedly the father of Orpheus and of Linus his brother. Their mother was the Muse Calliope.

Oebalides, Oebalius
Bk 10:143-219. Bk 13:382-398. Spartan, from Oebalus, king of Sparta. See Hyacinthus.

Oechalia
A city in Euboea.
Bk 9:89-158. Ruled by King Eurytus who offered his daughter Iole to whoever won an archery contest, but he refused Hercules the prize. Hercules killed his eldest son Iphitus, and fell in love with Iole. He had to appease Jove for this breach of his role as a guest.
Bk 9:324-393. Bk 9:324-393. Iole’s city.

Oechalides
Bk 9:324-393: The women of Oechalia.

Oeclides
Amphiaraus as the son of Oecleus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Oedipodioniae
Bk 15:418-452. An epithet of Thebes, as the city of Oedipus.

Oeneus
King of Calydon, son of Parthaon, husband of Althaea, father of Meleager, Tydeus, and Deianira.
Bk 8:260-328. He slights Diana, and she sends the wild boar against him.
Bk 8:451-514. Althaea ends the life of their son, Meleager.
Bk 9:1-88. Hears the suitors for Deianira’s hand.

Oenides
A male descendant of Oeneus.
Bk 8:376-424. Meleager, son of Oeneus, brother of Tydeus.
Bk 14:512-526. Diomede, grandson of Oeneus, son of Tydeus.

Oenopia
Bk 7:453-500. Bk 7:453-500. An older name for the island of Aegina.

Oetaeus
Bk 11:346-409. An epithet of king Ceyx, because Trachin his city was near Mount Oeta.

Oete, Oeta
Bk 1:313-347. A mountain range between Aetolia and Thessaly.
Bk 9:159-210. Bk 9:159-210. Hercules endures the torment of the shirt of Nessus there.
Bk 9:211-272. Hercules builds his own funeral pyre there.

Oileus
Bk 12:579-628. The king of the Locrians and father of Ajax(2).

Olenides
Bk 12:429-535. Tectaphus, the son of Olenus.

Olenius(1)
Bk 3:572-596. Of Olenus, whose daughter Aege is identified with Capella, the ‘she-goat’, the sixth brightest star in the sky (a binary yellow giant) in the constellation Auriga, the Charioteer. Auriga is now usually associated with Erichthonius, and Capella with Amaltheia who suckled the infant Zeus.

Olenius(2)
Bk 8:260-328. Of Olenos, a town in Aetolia, hence Aetolian. Scene of the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Olenus
Bk 10:1-85.The husband of Lethaea. She was punished for her pride in her beauty, and he chose to share her guilt. They were turned into stones on Mount Ida.
Bk 12:429-535. The father of Tectaphos?

Oliarus
An island of the Cyclades.
Bk 7:453-500. Not allied to Crete.

Olympus
Bk 1:151-176. Bk 13:738-788. A mountain in northern Thessaly supposed to be the home of the gods.
Bk 6:486-548. The heavens, themselves.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk 9:439-516. Jupiter is the ruler of Olympus.

Onchestius
Bk 10:560-637. Of Onchestus, a city in Boeotia near Lake Copais, not far from Helicon. The home city of Megareus.

Onetor
Bk 11:346-409. A Phocian herdsman, servant of Peleus.

Opheltes
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Ophias
Bk 7:350-403. Combe, daughter of Ophius.

Ophionides
Bk 12:245-289. Amycus, a centaur, son of Ophion.

Ophiuchus
Bk 8:152-182. The constellation, ‘The Serpent Holder’. See Aesculapius.

Ophiusius
Bk 10:220-242. Of Ophiusa, an old name for Cyprus.

Ops
Goddess of plenty, an old Italian deity, wife of Saturn and patroness of husbandry.
Bk 9:439-516. She married her brother Saturn.

Orchamus
Bk 4:190-213. King of Babylon, father of Leucothoe.
Bk 4:190-213. Ruled Achaemenian Persia in line from Belus.

Orchomenus
A city in Boeotia.
Bk 5:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is described as fertile.

Orcus
Bk 14:101-153. The Underworld, the house of the dead, and a name for Pluto (Dis) as the god of the Underworld.

Oreas
Bk 8:777-842. An Oread. One of the mountain nymphs. Sent by Ceres to relay her orders to Famine.

Orestea
Bk 15:479-546. Of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, applied to Diana because Orestes took the image of Diana from Taurus to Aricia in Italy. The rites of the sanctuary there, at Nemi, are the starting point for Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’ (see Chapter I et seq.)

Orion
The mighty hunter, one of the giants, now a constellation with his two hunting dogs and his sword and glittering belt. The brightest constellation in the sky, it is an area of star formation in a nearby arm of the Galaxy centred on M42 the Orion Nebula, which marks Orion’s sword. He is depicted as brandishing a club and shield at Taurus the Bull. He was stung to death by a scorpion, and now rises when Scorpio sets and vice versa. His two dogs are Canis Major, which contains Sirius the brightest star in the sky after the sun, and Canis Minor, which contains the star Procyon, forming an equilateral triangle with Sirius and Betelgeuse the red giant in Orion.
Bk 8:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation.
Bk 13:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles’s shield.
Bk 13:675-704. Orion’s daughters, Menippe and Metioche, killed themselves as an offering to the gods to relieve the city of Thebes from plague.

Orios
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. The son of Mycale, killed by Gryneus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.

Orithyia
The daughter of the Athenian king Erectheus, and the sister of Procris.
Book VI:675-721. Stolen away by Boreas, and married to him. She becomes the mother of Calais and Zetes. (See Evelyn de Morgan’s painting–Boreas and Orithyia– Cragside, Northumberland)
Bk 7:661-758. Mentioned as Procris’s more famous sister.

Orneus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Orontes
Bk 2:227-271. A river in Syria.

Orpheus
The mythical musician of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope the Muse. His lyre, given to him by Apollo, and invented by Hermes-Mercury, is the constellation Lyra containing the star Vega.
(See John William Waterhouse’s painting – Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus – Private Collection, and Gustave Moreau’s painting – Orpheus – in the Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris: See Peter Vischer the Younger’s Bronze relief – Orpheus and Eurydice – Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: and the bas-relief – Hermes, Eurydice and Orpheus – a copy of a votive stele attributed to Callimachus or the school of Phidias, Naples, National Archaeological Museum: Note also Rilke’s - Sonnets to Orpheus – and his Poem - Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes.)
Bk 10:1-85. He summons Hymen to his wedding with Eurydice. After she is stung by a snake and dies he travels to Hades, to ask for her life to be renewed. Granted it, on condition he does not look back at her till she reaches the upper world, he falters, and she is lost. He mourns her, and turns from the love of women to that of young men.
Bk 10:106-142. He sings the stories of: Ganymede, Hyacinthus, the Cerastae, the Propoetides, Pygmalion, Myrrha, Venus and Adonis, and through Venus’s ‘tale within a tale’ Atalanta and Hippomenes.
Bk 11:1-66. He is killed by the Maenads of Thrace and dismembered, his head and lyre floating down the river Hebrus to the sea, being washed to Lesbos. (This head had powers of prophetic utterance) His ghost sinks to the fields of the Blessed where he is reunited with Eurydice.
Bk 11:85-145. He taught Midas and Eumolpus the Bacchic rites.

Orphne
Bk 5:533-571. A nymph of the Underworld, mother of Ascalaphus by Acheron.

Ortygia(1)
Bk 1:689-721. An ancient name for the island of Delos, originally of an islet nearby (Quail Island), and an epithet of Diana, the Delian goddess.
Bk 15:307-360. Once a floating island.

Ortygia(2)
Bk 5:487-532. Part of the city of Syracuse in Sicily on an island in the harbour.
Bk 5:572-641. Arethusa is pleased by its name, since it reflects that of her goddess Diana, from her birthplace on Delos.

Osiris
The Egyptian god, Ousir, identified with Dis and Bacchus-Dionysus. A nature god, the son of Geb and Nut, born in Thebes in Upper Egypt. His consort was Isis. The story is of his death initiated by his brother Set, and his resurrection thanks to Isis, Thoth, Anubis and Horus.
Bk 9:666-713. He was searched for by Isis

Ossa
Bk 1:151-176. Bk 2:201-227. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk 12:290-326. Aphidas is lying on the skin of a bear from Ossa.

Othrys
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk 7:350-403. The region where Cerambus came from.
Bk 12:146-209. The region where Caeneus came from.
Bk 12:429-535. A haunt of the Centaurs.

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Part 7 of 9

Pachynus
Bk 5:332-384. Bk 13:705-737. The south eastern promontory of Sicily.

Pactolides
Bk 6:1-25. Nymphs of the River Pactolus.

Pactolus
BkVI:1-25. A river in northern Lydia, a tributary of the River Hermus.
Bk 11:85-145. The site of the royal capital of Lydia is at Sardis nearby, and both are near Mount Tmolus. Its waters become a gold-bearing stream at the touch of Midas.

Padus
Bk 2:227-271. The River Po in northern Italy.

Paean
Bk 1:553-567. Bk 15:479-546. A name for Apollo the Healer.
Bk 14:698-771. A religious hymn in his honour.

Paeones
The Paeonians, a people of northern Macedonia.
Bk 5:294-331. The native country of Euippe.

Paeonius
Of Apollo as god of healing, and of Aescalapius his son.

Paestum
Bk 15:622-745. A city of Lucania in Italy. The site is near modern Agropoli on the Bay of Salerno, a ruin in a wilderness, with Doric temples that surpassed those of Athens. Originally called Poseidonia, the city of Neptune, it was founded by Greeks from Sybaris in the 6th c. BC. It became Paestum when it passed into the hands of the Lucanians in the 4th century. It was taken by the Romans in 273 BC. In antiquity it was famous for its roses, which flowered twice a year, and its violets. Malaria eventually drove away its population.

Pagasaeus
Bk 7:1-73. Bk 13:1-122. Of Pagasae, a seaport of Thessaly, on the Pagasaean Gulf, where the Argo was built.
Bk 8:329-375. An epithet of Jason.
Bk 12:393-428. Hylonome bathed in a mountain stream nearby.

Palaemon
Bk 13:898-968. The sea god into whom Melicertes was changed.
Bk 4:512-542. Ino, his mother leaps with him into the waves, but Venus intercedes, and Neptune, at her request, changes him and his mother into sea-deities.

Palaestinus
Bk 4:31-54. Bk 5:107-148. Of Palestine, identified as Syrian.

Palamedes
Bk 13:1-122. The son of Nauplius, Naupliades. He revealed Ulysses pretence of madness and drew him into the expedition against Troy. Ulysses subsequently hid gold in Palamades’s tent, and claimed it was a bribe from Priam. Palamedes died dishonoured. Ulysses defends his action.

Palatium, Palatine, Palatinus
BkI: 151-176. Bk 15:552-621. The Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, the prestigious location where Augustus built his palace, the Palatia.
Bk 14:320-396. The hill where Venilia bore Canens.
Bk 14:609-622. The Romans.
Bk 14:805-828. The hill where Mars lands, and where Romulus is dispensing justice.

Palici
The sons of Jupiter and the nymph Thalia, worshipped in Sicily at Palica, where a temple and two lakes were sacred to them.
Bk 5:385-424. Dis passes through the sulphurous swamps there while abducting Proserpine.

Palilia
Bk 14:772-804. The feast of Pales, the god of shepherds, celebrated on April 21st, the day on which Rome was founded. (753BC)

Palladium
Bk 13:1-122. An image of Pallas, said to have fallen from the sky at Troy. The safety of Troy depended on its preservation according to an oracle. It was stolen by Ulysses and Diomede.

Palladius
Of Pallas.

Pallantias, Pallantis
Bk 9:418-438. Bk 15:176-198. Aurora as daughter of the Titan, Pallas.
Bk 15:622-745.The dawn.

Pallas(1), Minerva, Athene
Bk 2:531-565. The goddess Athene, patron goddess of Athens. She is a representation of the Phoenician triple Goddess Astarte of Asia Minor. She was born beside lake Tritonis in Lybia and nurtured by the nymphs. She killed her playmate Pallas (‘youth’) when young and her name is a memorial to him. She carries the aegis, a magical goat-skin bag containing a snake and covered by a Gorgon mask. She is the goddess of the Mind and of women’s arts. She hides the infant Erichthonius in a box and gives it to the daughters of Cecrops to guard.
Bk 3:95-114. She instructs Cadmus to sow the dragon’s teeth.
Bk 3:115-137. And then ends the war of the earth-born warriors.
Bk 5:30-73. She protects Perseus with her shield, the aegis.
Bk 5:332-384. She asks the Muses to sing the song they sang to defeat the Emathides.
Bk 5:332-384. A virgin goddess.
BkVI:1-25. The goddess of wool-working, spinning, weaving etc. who taught Arachne.
Bk 6:26-69. Pallas takes up Arachne’s foolish challenge.
Bk 6:70-103. She weaves her web. Its main feature is the Aeropagus in Athens and the court where the twelve Olympians declared her right over Neptune to the city. ( see the Neptune entry)
Bk 6:129-145. She turns Arachne into a spider.
Bk 6:313-381. Latona has the help of her olive tree and a date palm, between which she gives birth at Delos to Apollo and Diana.
Bk 7:350-403. Bk 7:661-758. Athens is her city.
Bk 12:146-209. Achilles sacrifices to her.
Bk 12:290-326. She protects Theseus, according to himself.
Bk 13:1-122. Ulysses and Diomede stole her sacred image at Troy, the Palladium.

Pallas(2)
An Athenian prince, son of Pandion.
Bk 7:453-500. His sons Clytos and Butes go on an embassy to Aegina with Cephalus.

Pallas(3)
A Titan, the father of Aurora.

Pan
Bk 1:689-721. The god of woods and shepherds. He wears a wreath of pine needles. He pursues the nymph Syrinx and she is changed into marsh reeds. He makes the syrinx or pan-pipes from the reeds. He is represented by the constellation Capricorn, the sea-goat, a goat with a fish’s tail. Pan jumped into a river to escape the monster Typhon.
Bk 11:146-171. He competes with Apollo, but his reeds are inferior to the music of the lyre.
Bk 14:512-526. He inhabits caves.
Bk 14:623-697.Woodland deities (plural) who pursue Pomona.

Panchaeus
Of Panchaia, an island east of Arabia.
Bk 10:298-355. The source of cinnamon, incense, myrrh etc.
Bk 10:431-502. The country of Myrrha.

Pandion
Bk 6:401-438. Bk 6:619-652. A king of Athens, father of Procne and Philomela. He marries Procne to Tereus, king of Thrace.
Bk 6:486-548. He entrusts his daughter Philomela to Tereus, who violates her.
Book VI:675-721. The subsequent tragedy sends him to an early grave.

Pandioniae
Bk 15:418-452. An epithet of Athens from its king, Pandion.

Pandrosus
Bk 2:531-565. One of the three daughters of King Cecrops.

Panomphaeus
Bk 11:194-220. An epithet of Jupiter ‘as origin of all oracles’.

Panope
Bk 3:1-49. A city in Phocis passed by Cadmus as he follows the heifer on his way to found Thebes.

Panopeus
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Panthoides
BkXV:143-175. Euphorbus, son of Panthous, an incarnation of Pythagoras.

Paphius
Bk 10:243-297. Of Paphos, a city on Cyprus sacred to Venus-Aphrodite. Paphius heros, Pygmalion.

Paphos(1)
A city on the island of Cyprus, scared to Venus-Aphrodite.
Bk 10:243-297. Pygmalion’s home city.
Bk 10:503-559. A haunt of Venus.

Paphos(2)
The son of Pygmalion, and Galatea, the ivory statue that changed into a woman.
Bk 10:243-297. He gave his name (‘foam’) to the island of Cyprus, sacred to foam-born Venus-Aphrodite.
Bk 10:298-355. The father of Cinyras.

Paraetonium
Bk 9:764-797. A seaport on the coast of North Africa under the protection of Isis.

Parcae, Fates, Moerae
The Three Fates. The Three Sisters, the daughters of Night. Clotho, the spinner of the thread of life, Lachesis, chance or luck, and Atropos, inescapable destiny. Clotho spins, Lachesis draws out, and Atropos shears the thread. Their unalterable decrees may be revealed to Jupiter but he cannot change the outcome.
Bk 5:487-532. They have made a decree that Persephone can return to heaven so long as she has not eaten anything in the underworld, and Jupiter is subject to the decree.
Bk 8:451-514. They prophesy the span of Meleager’s life, linking it to the burning brand of wood in the fire.

Paris
Prince of Troy, son of Priam and Hecuba, brother of Hector. His theft of Menelaus’s wife Helen provoked the Trojan War.
Bk 7:350-403. He lies buried under a heap of sand near Mount Ida, having been shot by Philoctetes’s arrows and been refused help by the nymph Oenone whom he had deserted.
Bk 12:1-38. Absent from the mourning for Aesacus. The cause of the Trojan War because of his abduction of Helen.
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:481-575. With Apollo’s help he destroys Achilles (shooting him through the vulnerable heel).
Bk 13:123-381. Denounced by Ulysses in the senate-house of Troy.
Bk 15:745-842. He was once saved from death at the hands of Menelaus, when Venus veiled him in cloud.

Parnasus, Parnassus, Parnasius
Bk 1:313-347. A mountain in Phocis sacred to Apollo and the Muses. Delphi is at its foot where the oracle of Apollo and his temple were situated. Themis held the oracle in ancient times.
Bk 4:604-662. Site of the oracle of Themis.
Bk 5:250-293. Haunt of the Muses. (See Raphael’s fresco ‘Parnassus’ in the Vatican, Stanza della Segnatura, which includes the figure of Ovid among the poets.)
Bk 11:146-171. Its laurel crowns Phoebus’s hair.
Bk 11:266-345. It is the scene of Daedalion’s transformation.

Paros
Bk 3:402-436. One of the Cyclades. An island celebrated for its marble quarries.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly past it after leaving Crete.

Parrhasis, Parrharsius
Bk 2:441-465. Of the town in Arcadia, hence Arcadian.
Bk 8:260-328. Home of Ancaeus, present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Parthaon
Bk 8:515-546. King of Calydon, father of Oeneus. His house was destroyed through Diana, and the actions of Meleager.
Bk 9:1-88. Oeneus is his son.

Parthenius
Bk 9:159-210.A mountain in Arcadia. In the Third Labour Hercules captures the Ceryneian Hind there, sacred to Diana, that had bronze hooves and golden antlers like a stag, so that some called it a stag.

Parthenope
Bk 14:101-153. Bk 15:622-745. An ancient name for the Italian city of Naples. Aeneas and Aesculapius pass it on their way north.

Pasiphae
Bk 8:81-151. Bk 9:714-763.The daughter of the Sun and the nymph Crete (Perseis). She was the wife of King Minos of Crete and mother of Phaedra and Ariadne.
She was inspired, by Poseidon,with a mad passion for a white bull from the sea, and Daedalus built for her a wooden frame in the form of a cow, to entice it. From the union she produced the Minotaur, Asterion, with a bull’s head and a man’s body.

Pasiphaeia
Bk 15:479-546. Phaedra, the daughter of Pasiphae.

Patara, Patareus
Bk 1:504-524. A town in Lydia.

Patrae
An ancient city in Achaia.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.

Patroclus
Achilles beloved friend whose death causes him to re-enter the fight against the Trojans.
Bk 13:123-381. He pushed the Trojans back from the Greek ships, dressed in Achilles’s armour.

Pedasus
Bk 5:107-148. See Pettalus.

Pegasus
Bk 4:753-803. The winged horse, sprung from the head of Medusa when Perseus decapitated her. At the same time his brother Chrysaor the warrior was created. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Pegasus.
Bk 5:250-293. The sacred fountain of Hippocrene on Mount Helicon, haunt of the Muses, springs from under his hoof.
Bk 6:103-128. Created by Neptune’s union with Medusa.

Pelagon
Bk 8:329-375. One of the Calydonian Boar hunters. He is knocked down by the boar’s charge.

Pelasgus, Pelasgian, Pelasgi
An ancient Greek people (Pelasgi) and their king Pelasgus, son of Phoroneus the brother of Io. He is the brother of Agenor and Iasus.
Bk 7:1-73. Used of Greece as a whole.
Bk 7:100-158. Used of the Argonauts.
Bk 12:1-38. Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:1-122.
Bk 13:123-381. Bk 14:527-565. The Greeks who set sail for Troy.
Bk 13:481-575. They are moved by Hecuba’s fate.
Bk 15:418-452. They conquered Troy, but by doing so ensured that, through Aeneas, Rome would conquer them, and the world.

Pelates(1)
Bk 5:107-148. A companion of Phineus, struck by Corythus and killed by Abas.

Pelates(2)
Bk 12:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He kills Amycus.

Pelethronius
Bk 12:429-535. Of the region in Thessaly inhabited by Lapiths and Centaurs.

Peleus
Bk 7:453-500.The son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, brother of Telamon and Phocus He comes to meet Minos. As the son of Aeacus, called Aeacides. The husband of Thetis and father by her of Achilles. ( See Joachim Wttewael’s – The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis - Alte Pinakothek, Munich: see W.B Yeats poem ‘News for the Delphic Oracle, verse III)
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:376-424. He steps in to help Telamon.
Bk 11:194-220. He is married to the goddess, Thetis.
Bk 11:221-265. He wins Thetis with the help of Proteus and they conceive the hero Achilles.
Bk 11:266-345. Bk 13:123-381. He killed his brother Phocus and fled to Trachin, where Ceyx gave him sanctuary.
Bk 11:346-409. He fights the wolf from the marshes.
Bk 12:146-209. The father of Achilles.
Bk 12:290-326. His armour bearer was Crantor, a gift from Amyntor as a peace-pledge.
Bk 13:1-122. He is Ajax’s uncle.
Bk 15:843-870. His son Achilles surpasses him in fame.

Pelias
Bk 7:294-349. The half-brother of Aeson whom he drove from the throne of Iolchos in Thessaly. Medea pretends to rejuvenate him but instead employs his daughters to help destroy him.

Pelides
Bk 12:579-628. Achilles, the son of Peleus.

Pelion
Bk 1:151-176. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk 7:350-403. Medea passes its shadowy slopes, the home of Chiron the Centaur, when fleeing.
Bk 12:64-145. Achilles’s spear is made from an ash-tree of Pelion.
Bk 12:429-535. A haunt of the Centaurs.

Pellaeus
Of Pella, a city in Macedonia.
Bk 5:294-331. The native place of Pierus.
Bk 12:245-289. The native city of Pelates the Lapith.

Pelopeias, Pelopeius
Bk 6:401-437. Bk 8:611-678. Of Pelops.

Peloponnese
The region of Southern Greece containing Sparta.
Bk 6:401-438. Contains Mycenae.

Pelops
Bk 6:401-438. The son of Tantalus, and brother of Niobe. He was cut in pieces and served to the gods at a banquet by his father to test their divinity. Ceres-Demeter, mourning for Persephone, did not perceive the wickedness and ate a piece of the shoulder. The gods gave him life again and an ivory shoulder. He gave his name to the Peloponnese.
Bk 8:611-678. The father of Pittheus, king of Troezen.

Pelorus
Bk 5:332-384. Bk 13:705-737. Bk 15:622-745. A promontory on the north east coast of Sicily.

Penates
Bk 3:528-571. The old Latin household gods, two in number, whose name derives from penus a larder, or storage room for food. They were closely linked to the family and shared its joys and sorrows. Their altar was the hearth, which they shared with Vesta. Their images were placed at the back of the atrium in front of the Genius, the anonymous deity that protected and was the creative force in all groups and families, and, as the Genius of the head of the house and represented as a serpent, was placed between the Lar (Etruscan guardian of the house) and Penates. At meals they were placed between the plates and offered the first food. The Penates moved with a family and became extinct if the family did.
Bk 5:149-199. Polluted by violence.
Bk 5:487-532. Arethusa’s household gods have moved with her to her new home in Sicily.
Bk 5:642-678. Triptolemus enters the palace: ‘regis subit ille penates’.
Bk 7:501-613. The people of Aegina afflicted with plague abandon their houses.
Bk 8:81-151. Scylla betrays her city and her gods.
Bk 8:611-678. Philemon and Baucis are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals, so that heavenly gods meet the humblest of household gods.
Bk 9:439-516. The just Minos cannot deny Miletus access to his home (‘est patriis arcere penatibus ausus’)
Bk 9:595-665. Byblis flees her home.
Bk 12:536-579. Nestor’s household gods overthrown by Hercules.
Bk 15:418-452. Aeneas carried his gods away from Troy.
Bk 15:843-870. Vesta is worshipped amongst Caesar’s ancestral gods.

Peneis, Peneia
Of the river god Peneus.
Bk 1:438-473. Bk 1:525-552. Bk 2:496-508. Daphne his daughter.
Bk 1:525-552. His waters.
Bk 12:146-209. His fields.

Penelope, Arnea, Arnacia
The wife of Ulysses, and daughter of Icarius and the Naiad Periboa.
(See J R Spencer Stanhope’s painting- Penelope – The De Morgan Foundation)
Bk 8:260-328. Her father-in-law Laertes is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba imagines herself Penelope’s servant after Ulysses takes her as a prize at the fall of Troy.
Bk 14:623-697. She is pestered by many suitors (a hundred and eight, in Homer), while she waits faithfully for Ulysses to return from Troy.

Peneus
Bk 1:438-473. A river in Thessaly flowing from Mount Pindus through the valley of Tempe, and its river-god, the father of Daphne.
Bk 1:553-567. Transforms his daughter Daphne into the laurel.
Bk 1: 568-587. Receives condolences from the other river-gods after the loss of Daphne.
Bk 2:227-271. Peneus scorched by the sun chariot when Phaethon loses control of it.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Pentheus
Bk 3:511-527. The son of Echion and Agave, the grandson of Cadmus through his mother. He is King of Thebes. Tiresias foretells his fate at the hands of the Maenads.
Bk 3:528-571. He rejects the worship of Bacchus-Dionysus and orders the capture of the god.
Bk 3:572-596. He interrogates Acoetes the priest of Bacchus.
Bk 3:692-733. He is torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.

Peparethos
An island north of Euboea in the north western Aegean.
Bk 7:453-500. Not allied to Crete. Rich in olives.

Perdix
Bk 8:236-259. The sister of Daedalus. Her son Talus was killed by Daedalus in a fit of jealousy, thrown from the Athenian citadel, but Pallas turned him into the partridge, which takes its name from his mother, perdix perdix.

Pergamum
Bk 12:429-535. Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:123-381.
Bk 14:445-482. Bk 15:418-452. Pergama, the citadel of Troy. Troy itself.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba mourns its end.

Pergus
Bk 5:385-424 A lake in Sicily near the city of Enna.

Periclymenus
The son of Neleus, brother of Nestor and grandson of Neptune.
Bk 12:536-579. Neptune granted him the power to change shape, but Hercules killed him, when he was in the form of an eagle.

Perimele
Bk 8:547-610. The daughter of Hippodamas, loved by the river god Achelous. Her father threw her into the Ionian Sea, but she was rescued by Achelous, and changed by Neptune into an island.

Periphas(1)
Bk 7:350-403. An ancient Attic king. He was held in such high esteem by his people that Jupiter would have killed him, but changed him into an eagle and his wife Phene into an osprey at Apollo’s request.

Periphas(2)
Bk 12:429-535. One of the Lapithae.

Periphetes
Bk 7:425-452. A monstrous son of Vulcan who lived at Epidaurus killing travellers with a bronze club. He was killed by Theseus.

Perrhaebus
Bk 12:146-209. Of Perrhaebia, a district in Thessaly, hence Thessalian.

Perseis
Bk 7:74-99. Hecate, daughter of the Titan Perses.

Perseius
Bk 5:107-148. Of Perseus.

Persephone
Bk 5:425-486. Proserpina, Proserpine, daughter of Ceres-Demeter.
Ceres searches for her after she is abducted by Dis.
Bk 10:1-85. The co-ruler of the Underworld with Dis.
Bk 10:708-739. She turned Menthe into a herb, the mint.

Perseus
The son of Jupiter and Danae, grandson of Acrisius, King of Argos. He was conceived as a result of Jupiter’s rape of Danae, in the form of a shower of gold. He is represented by the constellation Perseus near Cassiopeia. He is depicted holding the head of the Medusa, whose evil eye is the winking star Algol. It contains the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower. His epithets are Abantiades, Acrisioniades, Agenorides, Danaeius, Inachides, Lyncides.
(See Burne-Jones’s oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series particularly The Arming of Perseus, The Escape of Perseus, The Rock of Doom, Perseus slaying the Sea-Serpent, and The Baleful Head.)( See Benvenuto Cellini’s bronze Perseus - the Loggia, Florence)
Bk 4:604-662. His divine origin is rejected by Acrisius, his grandfather. He returns from defeating the Gorgon, Medusa, carrying her snaky head, that turns people to stone on sight.
Bk 4:604-662. He turns Atlas to stone with the Gorgon’s head. He is equipped with the wings and curved sword (scimitar) of Mercury.
Bk 4:663-705. He offers to rescue Andromeda.
Bk 4:706-752. He defeats the sea serpent, wins Andromeda and is promised a kingdom as a dowry by Cepheus.
Bk 4:753-803. At his marriage feast he relates his adventures, the theft of the Graeae’s single eye, and the taking of Medusa’s head. He tells how Medusa acquired her snaky hair. He is aided by Minerva, and equipped with her bronze shield.
Bk 5:30-73. He is attacked by Phineus, who escapes him. He kills Athis and Lycabas, a pair of friends and lovers.
Bk 5:74-106. Bk 5:107-148. He kills many of Phineus’s followers.
Bk 5:149-199. He is forced to use the Gorgon’s head.
Bk 5:200-249. He petrifies Phineus, overcomes Proetus who has seized the kingdom of his grandfather Acrisius, and petrifies him, and turns Polydectes king of Seriphus to stone.

Persis
Bk 1:52-67. Persian.

Petraeus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Pettalus, correctly Pedasus
Bk 5:107-148. A companion of Phineus, killed by Lycormas.

Peucetius
Bk 14:512-526. Of Peucetia, a region in Apulia.

Phaeaces
Bk 13:705-737The Phaeacians, the fabled inhabitants of the island of Scheria, where Ulysses lands. See Homer’s Odyssey. (Possibly identified with Corfu). Aeneas passes by.

Phaedimus
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Phaedra
Bk 15:479-546. The daughter of King Minos of Crete and Pasiphae, sister of Ariadne. She loves Hippolytus her stepson, and brings him to his death. (See Racine’s play – Phaedra).

Phaeocomes
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Phaestias
Bk 9:666-713. Bk 9:714-763. Phaestius, of Phaestos, a city on the southern coast of Crete.

Phaethon
Bk 1:747-764. Son of Clymene, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys whose husband was the Ethiopian king Merops. His true father is Sol, the sun-god ( Phoebus). Asks his mother for proof of his divine origin.
Bk 2:31-48. Goes to the courts of the Sun to see his father who grants him a favour. He asks to drive the Sun chariot.
Bk 2:178-200. He loses control of the chariot.
Bk 2:301-328. He is destroyed by Jupiter in order to save the earth from being consumed by fire.
Bk 4:214-255. His father remembers his death when Leucothoe dies.

Phaethonteus
Bk 4:416-463. Of Phaethon, his fires.

Phaethontis
Bk 12:579-628. Of Phaethon. His bird, the swan.

Phaethusa
Bk 2:344-366. The eldest of the Heliads, the daughters of Clymene and the Sun, sisters of Phaethon, who are turned into poplar trees as they mourn for him, their tears becoming drops of amber.

Phantasos
Son of Somnus. A god of sleep.
Bk 11:573-649. He takes the shape of inanimate things.

Pharos
Bk 9:764-797. An island near Alexandria in Egypt, site of the lighthouse. Protected by Isis as goddess of the sea.
Bk 15:259-306. Subsequently silted up and linked to the mainland.

Pharsalia
Bk 15:745-842. The region around Pharsalus, a city in Thessaly, where Julius Caesar defeated Pompey the Great. (9th August 48 BC)

Phasias
Bk 7:294-349. An epithet of Medea, from the Phasis, a river of her native Colchis.

Phasis
Bk 2:227-271. A river in Colchis, in Asia, east of the Black Sea.
Bk 7:1-73. Reached by the Argonauts.

Phegeius
Of Phegeus king of Psophis in Arcadia. Father of Alphesiboea, the first wife of Alcmaeon, who left her to marry Callirhoe and was killed by the brothers of Alphesiboea.
Bk 9:394-417. His sword in his son’s hands kills Alcmaeon and punishes him for the murder of Eriphyle.

Phegiacus
Bk 2:227-271. Of the city of Phegia in Arcadia.

Phene
Bk 7:350-403. The wife of Periphas, changed into an osprey.

Pheneos
Bk 15:307-360. A place in Arcadia near Mount Cyllene. See Pausanias VIII 14.

Pheretiades
Admetus, son of Pheres, king of Pherae in Thessaly.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Phiale
Bk 3:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.

Philammon
Bk 11:266-345. The son of Apollo and Chione, famous for his voice and lyre.

Philemon (and Baucis)
A pious old man of Phrygia.
Bk 8:611-678. He is the husband of Baucis. They are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals.
Bk 8:679-724. They are both turned into trees, he into an oak, and she into a lime tree.

Philippi
Bk 15:745-842. A city in Macedonia where, during the Triumvirate in 42 BC, Octavian and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius after the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Philoctetes
Bk 9:211-272. The son of Poeas. He lights Hercules’s funeral pyre and receives from him the bow, quiver and arrows that will enable the Greeks to finally win at Troy, and that had been with Hercules when he rescued Hesione there.
Bk 13:1-122. Bitten by a snake on Lemnos, he is abandoned there on Ulysses advice. Ulysses accepts that Philoctetes and his weapons are essential for the defeat of Troy.
Bk 13:399-428. Ulysses brings Philoctetes and the weapons to Troy.

Philomela
The daughter of Pandion, sister of Procne, raped by her sister’s husband Tereus.
Bk 6:438-485. Convinces her father to allow her to visit her sister Procne, unaware of Tereus’s lust for her.
Bk 6:486-548. Tereus violates her, and she vows to tell the world of his crime.
Bk 6:549-570. He severs her tongue and tells Procne she is dead.
Bk 6:571-619. Philomela communicates with Procne by means of a woven message, and is rescued by her during the Bacchic revels.
Bk 6:619-652. She helps Procne to murder Itys, the son of Tereus and Procne.
Bk 6:653-674. Pursued by Tereus she turns into a swallow, with a red throat. (pectus is translated here as throat, to correspond with the English swallow, hirundo rustica, though in Egypt and elsewhere this bird has a chestnut red underbody as well ). Having no tongue, the swallow merely screams and flies around in circles.

Philyra
Bk 2:676-701. The mother of the centaur, Chiron. A nymph, the daughter of Oceanus whom Saturn loved. he changed himself into a stallion and her into a mare, and their son Chiron was half-horse, half-man, and a demi-god.
Bk 6:103-128. She is not referred to directly, but her union with Saturn is alluded to in Arachne’s weaving.

Philyreius heros
Bk 2:676-707: Chiron, the son of Philyra.

Phineus(1)
The brother of the Ethiopian king Cepheus, uncle of Andromeda.
Bk 5:1-29. He complains that Perseus has stolen Andromeda his promised bride.
Bk 5:30-73. He attacks Perseus and his own brother Cepheus, but escapes from Perseus by taking refuge behind the altars.
Bk 5:74-106. Many of his followers are killed by Perseus. He dares not fight Perseus but kills Idas a neutral by mistake.
Bk 5:107-148. He kills Broteas and Ammon, and Ampycus the priest.
Bk 5:149-199. He attempts to mob Perseus with his many followers.
Bk 5:200-249. He is finally turned to stone, a statue in the Palace of Cepheus.

Phineus(2)
Bk 7:1-73. King of Salmydessus in Thrace, a blind prophet, who had received the gift of prophecy from Apollo. He was blinded by the gods for prophesying the future too accurately, and was plagued by a pair of Harpies. Calais and Zetes, the sons of Boreas, rid him of their loathsome attentions, in return for advice on how to obtain the Golden Fleece. The two winged sons chased the Harpies to the Strophades islands, were some say their lives were spared.

Phlegethon
Bk 5:533-571. Bk 15:479-546.One of the rivers of the Underworld.

Phlegon
Bk 2:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.

Phlegraeus(1)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Phlegraeus(2)
Of Phlegra, a region of Macedonia.
Bk 10:143-219. The site of Jupiter’s overthrow of the Giants.

Phlegyae
Bk 11:410-473. A robber people of Thessaly who destroyed the temple at Delphi.

Phlegyas
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Phobetor, Icelos
A son of Somnus. A god of sleep.
Bk 11:573-649. He takes the shape of creatures.

Phocis
Bk 1:313-347. The land between Aetolia and Boeotia in Greece.
Bk 2:566-595. Home of Corone, daughter of Coroneus.
Bk 5:250-293. Seized by Pyreneus.
BkVI:1-25. A source of murex shellfish for purple dye.
Bk 11:346-409. The country of Onetor, Peleus’s herdsman.

Phocus
Bk 7:453-500.The son of Aeacus, king of Aegina. He comes to meet Minos.As the son of Aeacus by the Nereid Psamathe, he is half brother of Peleus and Telamon.
Bk 7:661-758. He is host to Cephalus.
Bk 7:759-795. He listens to Cephalus’s tale of Laelaps the hound and asks about Cephalus’s magic spear.
Bk 7:796-865. He hears the sad tale of Procris’s death.
Bk 11:266-345. He was killed by his brother Peleus.
Bk 11:346-409. His mother Psamathe pursues Peleus.

Phoebe
Bk 1:1-30. The Titaness who rules the moon. Her daughter Leto bore Phoebus Apollo and Artemis (Diana) to Zeus. Phoebe is therefore another name for Artemis, and for the moon itself.
Bk 1:473-503. As virgin huntress.
Bk 2:401-416. Callisto is one of her followers. She has the epithet Trivia, of the crossways, as she is worshipped where three ways meet.
Bk 6:204-266. Diana helps to punish Niobe for her rejection of her mother Latona (Leto).
Bk 12:1-38. Diana.

Phoebus, Apollo
Bk 1:313-347. Bk 5:385-424. Bk 6:486-548. Bk 7:294-349. Bk 15:176-198. Bk 15:418-452. A familiar name for Apollo as the sun-god, and so the sun itself.
Bk 1:438-473. Destroys the Python and founds the Pythian games. Falls in love with and pursues Daphne. Failing to catch her turns her into the laurel tree. Institutes the use of laurel for ceremonial crowns. (See Bernini’s sculpture – Apollo and Daphne – Galleria Borghese, Rome)
Bk 2:531-565. Loves Coronis of Larissa who is unfaithful to him.
Bk 2:612-632. Having killed her, he rescues their unborn son Aesculapius and entrusts him to Chiron the Centaur.
Bk 3:1-49. His oracle reveals to Cadmus how he will found Thebes in Boeotia.
Bk 6:103-128. His disguises and his rape of Isse are depicted by Arachne.
Bk 6:204-266. Helps to punish Niobe for her rejection of his mother Latona.
Bk 6:382-400. Defeats Marsyas in a contest of flute-playing and flays him alive.
Bk 7:350-403. Loves Rhodes, and Rhode the nymph of the island.
Bk 8:1-80. He built the walls of Megara, and where he rested his lyre the stones afterwards gave out a resonant, musical, note.
Bk 8:329-375. Mopsus prays to him for help against the Calydonian wild boar.
Bk 9:439-516. Fathered Miletus on the nymph Dione.
Bk 9:595-665. Byblis, Miletus’s daughter is his grandchild.
Bk 10:106-142. He turns Cyparissus into a cypress tree.
Bk 10:143-219. He turns Hyacinthus into the hyacinth (blue larkspur, hyacinthos grapta) with the marks AI on the base of its petals.
Bk 11:1-66. He rescues the head of Orpheus who was his poet.
Bk 11:146-171. He competes on the lyre with Pan on his reed-pipes.
Bk 11:266-345. He loves Chione and she bears him a son Philammon. He turns Daedalion into a hawk.
Bk 13:481-575. He aids Paris in killing Achilles.
Bk 13:623-639. Bk 13:640-674. Anius is his high priest on Delos.
Bk 13:675-704. Aeneas consults the oracle, and is told to seek out his ancient mother, and ancestral shore.
Bk 14:101-153. Phoebus grants the Sibyl of Cumae eternal life, but she forgets to ask for eternal youth, and is doomed to wither away, until she is merely a voice.
Bk 15:622-745. Bk 15:622-745. His oracle is at Delphi. Aesculapius is his son.
Bk 15:843-870. Vesta, as the Tauric Diana, is worshipped alongside himself.

Phoenissa
Bk 3:1-49. Bk 15:259-306. Phoenix, of Phoenicia, hence Phoenician.

Phoenix(1)
The son of Amyntor of Thessaly, and companion of Achilles.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Phoenix(2)
The mythical bird, symbol of continually renewed existence.

Pholus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Phorbas(1)
Bk 5:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Phorbas(2)
Bk 11:410-473. The leader of the Phlegyae who plundered Delphi.

Phorbas(3)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Phorcides
Bk 4:753-803. The Graeae, the daughters of Phorcys, who had one eye between them.

Phorcynis
Bk 4:706-752. Bk 5:200-249. Medusa as the daughter of Phorcys.

Phoronis
Bk 1:668-688. An epithet of Io, sister of Phoroneus the son of Inachus king of Argos.
Bk 2:508-530. Used by Juno in reference to Io, the Argive.

Phrixea vellera
Bk 7:1-73. The Golden Fleece of the winged ram on which Phrixus son of Athamas and Nephele and brother of Helle, escaped, with his sister, from his stepmother Ino, and fled to Colchis, in order to avoid being sacrificed. Helle fell into the sea and the Hellespont is named after her. Phrixus reached Colchis where Sol stables his horses, and sacrificed the ram to Zeus, or in other versions Ares (Mars), and it hung in the temple of Mars where it was guarded by a dragon. Its return was sought by Jason and the Argonauts.

Phryges
Bk 11:85-145. The Phrygians, and more restrictedly the Trojans.

Phrygia
A region in Asia Minor, containing Dardania and Troy, and Mysia and Pergamum. Ovid uses the term for the whole of Asia Minor bordering the Aegean.
Bk 6:146-203. Used for Greek Asia Minor.
Bk 6:382-400. The river Marsyas, its clearest river, is formed there from the tears wept for him.
Bk 8:152-182. The Maeander river runs there.
Bk 8:611-678. The country of Baucis and Philemon.
Bk 10:143-219. The country of Trojan Ganymede.
Bk 11:194-220. Bk 12:1-38. Bk 13:576-622. The country of Laomedon and Troy.
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 12:146-209. Bk 12:579-628. The land of the Trojans.
Bk 13:123-381. The country of Dolon, the spy.
Bk 13:429-480. Thrace is across the Hellespont, and opposite Troy is the country of the Bistones.
Bk 14:75-100. Bk 14:527-565. Bk 15:418-452. The country of Aeneas.

Phthia
Bk 13:123-381. A city in Thessaly, birthplace of Achilles, and ruled by his father Peleus.

Phyleus
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

Phylleus
Bk 12:429-535.An epithet of Caeneus from the Thessalian town of Phyllos.

Phylius
Bk 7:350-403. The friend of Cycnus(2), who brings him presents of tamed animals and birds, but when his love is spurned refuses a last gift. Cycnus attempts suicide but is turned into a swan.

Picus
The son of Saturn, and ancient king of Latium, husband of Canens.
Bk 14:320-396. He is loved by Circe, and turned by her into a woodpecker that bears his name. (Picus viridis is the green woodpecker, distinguished by its red nape and crown, and its golden-green back.)
Bk 14:397-434. His companions are turned into wild beasts, and Canens wastes away with grief.

Pierus
Bk 5:294-331. King of Emathia. His nine daughters were the Emathides, or the Pierides, in fact the Muses, from the earliest place of their worship, in Pieria, in northern Greece (Macedonia).

Pindus
Bk 2:201-226. Bk 11:474-572. A mountain in Thessaly. The Centaurs took refuge there after their battle with the Lapiths.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Piraeus
Bk 6:438-485. The harbour of Athens.

Pirene, Pirenis, Peirene
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 7:350-403. The Pirenian Spring. A famous fountain on the citadel of Corinth sacred to the Muses, where Bellerephon took Pegasus to drink. Pausanias says (II:iii, Corinth) that Peirene was a human being who became a spring, through weeping for her son Cenchrias, killed by accident by Artemis, and that the water is sweet to taste. (It has Byzantine columns, and was once the private garden of the Turkish Bey.). The spring was said never to fail. It was also the name of a fountain outside the city gates, towards Lechaeum, into whose waters the Corinthian bronzes were dipped red-hot on completion.

Pirithous
Son of Ixion. King of the Lapithae in Thessaly and friend of Theseus.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:376-424. He is warned away from the boar by his friend Theseus.
Bk 8:547-610. He is with Theseus when Achelous offers them hospitality.
Bk 8:611-678. He is scornful of the ability of the gods to alter human forms.
Bk 12:210-244. He marries Hippodamia, and invites the centaurs to the wedding. Eurytus attempts to carry her off, and starts a fight.
Bk 12:290-326. He fights in the battle with the centaurs.

Pisa
Bk 5:385-424. A city in Elis, near Olympia.
Bk 5:487-532. Native city of Arethusa.

Pisces, Piscis
The constellation of the fishes, the twelfth sign of the Zodiac. An ancient constellation depicting two fishes with their tails tied together. It represents Venus and Cupid escaping from the monster Typhon. It contains the spring equinox, formerly in Aries. The vernal equinox has moved into Pisces since ancient times due to the effects of precession (the ‘wobble’ of the earth on its polar axis).
Bk 10:1-85. Bk 10:143-219. The last sign of the solar year, preceding the spring equinox in ancient times. A water sign.

Pisenor
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Pitane
Bk 7:350-403. A city on the Aeolic coast of Asia Minor, near Lesbos.

Pithecusae
Bk 14:75-100. An island not far from Cumae in Italy. The modern Ischia. It was called Pithecusa by its Greek colonists, then Inarime by the Romans. It is the largest island in the Bay of Naples.

Pittheus
Bk 6:401-438. Bk 15:259-306. Bk 15:479-546. King of Troezen, son of Pelops, grandfather of Theseus.
Bk 8:611-678. He once sent Lelex to Phrygia.

Pleiades
Bk 1:668-688. The Seven Sisters, the daughters, with the Hyades and the Hesperides, of Atlas the Titan. Their mother was Pleione the naiad. They were chased by Orion rousing the anger of Artemis to whom they were dedicated and changed to stars by the gods. The Pleiades are the star cluster M45 in the constellation Taurus. Their names were Maia, the mother of Mercury by Jupiter, Taÿgeta, Electra, Merope, Asterope, Alcyone (the brightest star of the cluster), and Celaeno.
Bk 6:146-203. Niobe claims one of the Pleiads as her mother, Dione; or, in an alternative reading, Ovid would make Dione a sister of the Pleiades, but not one of them. (Traditionally she is a Pleiad: an alternative name for one of the seven sisters above?)
Bk 13:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles’s shield.

Pleione
Bk 2:737-751. The daughter of Atlas and Oceanus, and mother of the Pleiades.

Pleuron
Bk 7:350-403. A city in Aetolia.
Bk 14:483-511. The home of Acmon.

Plexippus
The son of Thestius, brother of Althaea, uncle of Meleager.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:425-450. He is killed by Meleager, his nephew, in an argument over the spoils.

Plough, Ursa Major, The Great Bear, The Big Dipper
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of Ursa Major. It represents Callisto turned into a bear by Jupiter. The two stars of the ‘bowl’ furthest from the ‘handle’, Merak and Dubhe, point to Polaris the pole star. The ‘handle’ points to Arcturus in Bootes, who is the Herdsman or Bear Herd (Arcturus means the Bearkeeper).

Pluto, Dis, Hades
The God of the Underworld, elder brother of Jupiter and Neptune, and like them the son of Saturn and Rhea.

Poeantiades, Poentia Proles
Bk 13:1-122. Philoctetes, son of Poeas.

Poeas
Bk 9:211-272. Bk 13:1-122. The father of Philoctetes.

Polites
Bk 14:223-319. A companion of Ulysses.

Polydaemon
An incorrect reading for Polygdemon in V:85.

Polydamas
A Trojan, son of Panthous, a friend of Hector.
Bk 12:536-579. Cited by Nestor as an enemy.

Polydectes
Bk 5:200-249. A ruler of the island of Seriphos, who rejects Perseus and is turned to stone.

Polydegmon
Bk 5:74-106. A descendant of Queen Semiramis. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.

Polydeuces, Pollux
The son of King Tyndareus of Sparta, and Leda, and one of the twin Dioscuri, brother of Castor.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:329-375. The brothers hurl their spears.

Polydorus
The son of Priam and Hecuba.
Bk 13:429-480. Sent by his father to the court of Polymestor king of Thrace who had married his sister Ilione, and murdered there by Polymestor for the sake of the treasure sent with him.
Bk 13:481-575. His body is thrown up on the beach where Hecuba is mourning Polyxena, and the event precipitates her madness.
Bk 13:623-639. Aeneas leaves the shores drenched by his blood.

Polymestor
King of Thrace, husband of Ilione daughter of Priam.
Bk 13:429-480. He murders his young foster child Polydorus, sent to him by Priam.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba in turn murders him, and tears out his eyes.

Polypemon
Bk 7:350-403. The father of Sciron, and by some lineage, presumably maternal, a grandfather of Alcyone (neptem Polypemonis). Sometimes claimed as the father of Sinis. He himself is identifed with Procrustes.

Polyphemus
One of the Cyclopes, sons of Neptune, one-eyed giants living in Sicily.
Bk 13:738-788. He falls in love with Galatea.
Bk 13:789-869. He complains of her rejection of him.
Bk 13:870-897. He kills Acis with a rock.
Bk 14:154-222. He was feared by Achaemenides, and roamed Aetna, blinded by Ulysses, seeking revenge.

Polyxena
The daughter of Priam and Hecuba.
Bk 13:429-480. She is sacrificed to appease the ghost of Achilles.

Pomona
Bk 14:623-697. A beautiful wood nymph (hamadryad) of Latium, devoted to horticulture. She is loved by Vertumnus who sets out to woo her, in disguise.
Bk 14:698-771. He reveals his true form and she loves him also.

Pompeius Sextus
Bk 15:745-842. The second son of Pompey the Great conquered in the sea battles, off Sicily, between Mylae and Naulochus, by Agrippa, Augustus’s admiral, in 36 BC.

Pontus
Bk 15:745-842. The Black Sea, and the kingdom in Asia Minor bordering it. Ruled by Mithridates.

Priamaeia coniunx
Bk 13:399-428. Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba, the wife of Priam.

Priamides
Bk 13:1-122. Bk 13:705-737. Bk 15:418-452. Helenus, son of Priam.
Bk 13:481-575. The Priamidae, the children of Priam.

Priamus, Priam
Bk 11:749-795. Bk 14:445-482. The King of Troy at the time of the Trojan War, the son of Laomedon, husband of Hecuba, by whom he had many children. In the Metamorphoses Ovid mentions Hector, Helenus, Paris, Polydorus, Deiphobus, Cassandra and Polyxena. Aesacus was his son by Alexiroe.
Bk 12:1-38. He mourns for Aesacus, thinking him dead.
Bk 12:579-628. Achilles’s death alone brings him pleasure after the death of Hector.
Bk 13:123-381. Heard Ulysses’s case for Helen’s return in front of the Trojan senate.
Bk 13:399-428. He is murdered at Jupiter’s altar as Troy falls.
Bk 13:429-480. He had sent his son Polydorus to be brought up in the court of Polymestor of Thrace who had married his daughter Ilione.
Bk 13:481-575. Hecuba counts him lucky to have died with Troy.
Bk 13:576-622. The uncle of Memnon, since Memnon’s father Tithonus is his brother.

Priapus
The Pan of Mysia in Asia Minor, venerated as Lampsacus. God of gardens and vineyards. His phallic image was placed in orchards and gardens. He presided over the fecundity of fields, flocks, beehives, fishing and vineyards. He became part of the retinue of Dionysus.
Bk 9:324-393. Pursues Lotis who is changed into a lotus-tree.
Bk 14:623-697. He pursues Pomona.

Proca
Bk 14:609-622. An Alban king, father of Numitor and Amulius.

Prochyte
Bk 14:75-100. An island off the coast of Campania (Southern Italy).

Procne
Bk 6:401-438. The daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, married to Tereus, king of Thrace.
Bk 6:438-485. Persuades Tereus to bring her sister Philomela to stay with her.
Bk 6:549-570. Tereus rapes and mutilates her sister, and tells Procne that Philomela is dead.
Bk 6:571-619. Philomela communicates with her by means of a woven message, and she rescues her during the Bacchic rites.
Bk 6:619-652. She murders her son Itys and serves the flesh to Tereus.
Bk 6:653-674. Pursued by Tereus she turns into a nightingale. The bird’s call, mourning Itys, is said to be ‘Itu! Itu!’ which is something like the occasional ‘chooc, chooc’ among its wide range of notes.

Procris
The daughter of Erectheus king of Athens.
Book VI:675-721. Married happily to Cephalus, the grandson of Aeolus.
Bk 7:661-758. Cephalus is unfaithful and tempts her into unfaithfulness but they are reconciled. She gives him a magic hound and a magic javelin, gifts of Diana.
Bk 7:796-865. Through an error she is killed by Cephalus, with the spear that was her gift to him.

Procrustes
Bk 7:425-452. A famous robber who trimmed or stretched his guests’ bodies to the size of his bed. Theseus served him in the same way, destroying him. Possibly identical with Polpemon.

Proetides
Bk 15:307-360. The daughters of Proetus king of Tiryns, Lysippe, Iphinoe, and Iphianassa, who were maddened by the gods, and whose madness Melampus purged. (Clitor, Nonacris and the Styx are in the Mount Chelmos area, described interestingly by Pausanias, VIII 18, where he also describes the purification of the Proetides at Lousoi, in the sanctuary of Artemis.)

Proetus
Bk 5:200-249. The son of Abas, twin brother of Acrisius who drove the latter from his throne of Argos. He is turned to stone by Perseus.

Prometheus
Bk 1:68-88. The son of Iapetus by the nymph Cleomene, and father of Deucalion. Sometimes included among the seven Titans, he was the wisest of his race and gave human beings the useful arts and sciences. Jupiter first withheld fire and Prometheus stole it from the chariot of the Sun. Jupiter had Prometheus chained to the frozen rock in the Caucasus where a vulture tore at his liver night and day for eternity. (See Aeschylus’s ‘Prometheus Bound’, and Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound’)

Promethides
Bk 1:381-415. Deucalion, son of Prometheus.

Propoetides
Bk 10:220-242. Girls of Amathus who denied Venus’s divinity. They became public prostitutes, and turned to stone, as they lost their sense of shame. This is a tale based on the ritual public prostitution which was a feature of the worship of Diana (at Ephesus) and Astarte, etc. and at the Temple in Jerusalem during the deviations from the worship of Jehovah, by the Jews.

Proreus
Bk 3:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.

Proserpina, Proserpine, Persephone
The daughter of Ceres-Demeter and Jupiter.
Bk 5:332-384. Aspires to be a virgin like Pallas and Diana, but Venus asks Cupid to make Dis fall in love with her.
Bk 5:385-424. She is raped and abducted by Dis. ( See Rembrandt’s painting The Rape of Proserpine – panel, Berlin-Dahlem)
Bk 5:487-532. Jupiter decrees she can return to heaven subject to her not having eaten anything in the underworld.
Bk 5:533-571. Having eaten seven pomegranate seeds, she is only allowed to return to the world for six months of each year, and Jupiter decrees she must spend the other six months with Dis.
Bk 6:103-128. Arachne depicts how Jupiter lay with her disguised as a spotted snake.
Bk 14:101-153. The queen of the underworld, called ‘the Juno of Avernus’.

Protesilaus
Bk 12:64-145. A Thessalian chief killed by Hector, the first of the Greeks to be slain in the Trojan War.

Proteus
Bk 2:1-30. Bk 13:898-968. The sea-god who can shift his form. His image is depicted on the palace of the Sun.
Bk 8:725-776. Achelous, the river-god, tells of his many transformations.
Bk 11:221-265. He helps Peleus to win Thetis.

Prothoenor
Bk 5:74-106. A courtier of Cepheus, killed by Hypseus a follower of Phineus.

Prytanis
Bk 13:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.

Psamathe
A Nereid, mother of Phocus by Aeacus, whom his half brother Peleus accidentally killed.
Bk 11:346-409. She pursues Peleus, and ultimately relents.

Psecas
Bk 3:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.

Psophis
A city in Arcadia.
Bk 5:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.

Pudor
Bk 1: 601-621. Shame, opposes Amor (Love) in Jupiter’s mind, over the gift of Io to Juno.

Pygmaeus, Pygmies
A Pigmy, one of the dwarf peoples.
Bk 6:70-102. The Queen of the Pygmies turned into a crane by Juno and forced to war against her own people.

Pygmalion
A Cyprian who fashioned an ivory statue of a beautiful girl that he brought to life, calling her Galatea. (See the sequence of four paintings by Burne-Jones, ‘Pygmalion and the Image’, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England, titled: The Heart Desires, The Hand Refrains, The Godhead Fires, The Soul Attains: See also Rameau’s operatic work ‘Pygmalion’)
Bk 10:243-297. Venus brings her to life, and he marries her. She gives birth to a daughter, Paphos who gives her name to the island of Cyprus, sacred to Venus.

Pylos
Bk 2:676-701. The city in Elis in the western Peloponnese, the home of Nestor the wise, in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is described as Nelean, after its founder Neleus.
Bk 8:329-375. Nestor joins the Calydonian boar hunt.
Bk 12:536-579. The home of Nestor.
Bk 12:536-579. Hercules destroyed it and killed Nestor’s brothers.

Pyracmus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Pyraethus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Pyramus
Bk 4:55-92 . A fictional Babylonian boy. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Bk 4:93-127. His death is described.

Pyreneus
King of Thrace.
Bk 5:250-293. He offered the Muses shelter, and then attempted violence. They flew away: he tried to follow and was killed.

Pyrois
Bk 2:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.

Pyrrha
Bk 1:348-380. Wife and cousin to Deucalion, and the only woman to survive the Great Flood. Daughter of the Titan Epimetheus, hence called Titania.

Pyrrhus
Bk 13:123-381. The son of Achilles and Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes king of the Aegean island of Scyros.

Pythagoras
The famous Greek philosopher of Samos, the Ionian island, who took up residence at Crotona in Italy, where Numa came to be his pupil. His school was later revived at Tarentum. He flourished in the second half of the 6th century BC.
Bk 15:60-142. He teaches the vegetarian ethic based on the sanctity of life.
BkXV:143-175. He teaches the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, metempsychosis, and was Euphorbus at the time of the Trojan War.
Bk 15:176-198. He teaches the doctrine of eternal flux. This is the panta rei (πάντα ρει), ‘all things flow’, taught by Heraclitus the Ephesian, (flourished c500 BC), but not apparently original with him: he also said ‘you cannot step in the same river twice’ as attested by Plato.
Bk 15:199-236. He teaches the four ages of man.
Bk 15:237-258. He teaches here a theory of the rarefaction and condensation of the four ‘elements’ that is attributed to Anaximenes of the Milesian school of philosophers. (Founded by Thales, and ended by the fall of Miletus in 494 BC.) Anaximenes also taught that air was the primary Urstoff . His theory introduced the idea of changes of quantity creating changes of quality. Like other Ionian philosophers the eternity of matter, and its transformations, is assumed.

Pythia
Bk 1:438-473. The Pythian games were instituted at Delphi by Apollo. They were celebrated every four years.

Python
Bk 1:438-473. The huge serpent created by earth after the Flood, destroyed by Apollo, giving its name to the Pythian games.

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Part 8 of 9

Quirinus
Bk 14:805-828. Bk 15:843-870. The name for the deified Romulus.
Bk 14:829-851. He receives his wife Hersilia in heaven, deified as Hora.
Bk 15:552-621. Bk 15:745-842. The Romans are his people.

Quirites, Quires
Bk 15:552-621. The Sabines, or Cures, the Romans after the union with the Sabines.
Bk 14:566-580. They worship the deified Aeneas as Indiges.

Remulus
Bk 14:609-622. An Alban king, killed by a lightning bolt.

Rhadamanthus
The son of Jupiter and Europa, brother of Minos, with his brother a judge of the dead in the Underworld.
Bk 9:418-438. Bk 9:439-516. Jupiter, recognising his love of justice, wishes he could enjoy perpetual youth.

Rhamnusia, Rhamnusis
Bk 3:402-436. A name for Nemesis from her temple at Rhamnus in Attica. She punishes Narcissus.
Bk 14:623-697. She is angered by those who are too proud and self-sufficient.

Rhanis
Bk 3:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.

Rhegion, Rhegium
Bk 14:1-74. A city (modern Reggio) in the southern part of Ausonia (modern Calabria), on the Sicilian Strait. (The Straits of Messina) It was founded c 723 BC by the Chalcidians, who were later joined by the Messenese, was sacked by Syracuse, and repopulated by the Romans.

Rhenus
Bk 2:227-271. The River Rhine in northern Europe.

Rhesus
A Thracian king of whom the oracle had said that if his horses drank of the Xanthus, Troy would not be taken.
Bk 13:1-122. He was killed by Ulysses and Diomede, and his horses captured before they could drink of Xanthus.

Rhexenor
Bk 14:483-511. A companion of Diomede. Venus transforms him into a bird.

Rhodanus
Bk 2:227-271. The River Rhone in Gaul, modern France.

Rhodope
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Thrace.
Bk 6:70-102. Supposed to be a mortal turned into a mountain for assuming the name of a great god.
Bk 6:571-619. The scene of the triennial festival of Bacchus, the trietericus.
Bk 10:1-85. Orpheus flees there after losing Eurydice a second time.

Rhodopeius
Bk 10:1-85.An epithet of Orpheus, from Mount Rhodope in his native Thrace.

Rhodos, Rhodes
Bk 4:190-213. The island in the Aegean off the coast of Asia Minor. Sol loved Rhode, the nymph of the island.
Bk 7:350-403. His love is of the island itself.
Bk 12:536-579. The leader of the Rhodian fleet is Tlepolemus.

Rhoeteus
Bk 11:194-220. Of Rhoeteum, a promontory in the Troad.

Rhoetus(1)
Bk 5:30-73. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus, who aimed at Phineus the spear which he had thrown at him.

Rhoetus(2)
Bk 12:245-289. A centaur. He killed Cometes and his friend Charaxus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.
Bk 12:290-326. He killed Euagrus and Corythus, a boy, but wounded by Dryas, he fled the battle.

Ripheus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Roma, Rome
Bk 1:199-243. The city on the Tiber, capital of the Empire.
Bk 14:772-804. Founded by Romulus in 753BC on the feast of Pales, the Palilia, April 21st.
Bk 15:418-452. Its future greatness prophesied.
Bk 15:552-621. Cipus puts its good before his own.
Bk 15:622-745. Aesculapius ends the plague.
Bk 15:871-879. Ovid claims immortality wherever Rome’s potentia, that is its power, but equally its authority, or its influence, extends, over the lands, terris domitis, that it has conquered, or equally tamed, that is civilised.

Romanus
Bk 15:622-745. Bk 15:745-842. The Roman people.

Romethium
Bk 15:622-745. A place in Italy between Scylaceum and Caulon.

Romuleus
Bk 14:829-851. Of Romulus. The Quirinal hill.

Romulus
The son of Mars and Ilia, hence Iliades, the father of the Roman people (genitor).
Bk 14:772-804. He reinstates Numitor, and makes peace with the Sabines, sharing the rule of Rome with Tatius the Sabine king.
Bk 14:805-828. He is deified, as Quirinus.
Bk 14:829-851. His hill is the Quirinal. As Quirinus, he receives his deified wife Hersilia into heaven, as Hora.
Bk 15:552-621. His spear was magically transformed into a tree.
Bk 15:622-745. Rome is his city.

Rutuli
Bk 14:445-482. A people of Latium whose chief city was Ardea, and whose hero was Turnus. They fight Aeneas and the Trojans.
Bk 14:527-565. They set fire to the Trojan ships.
Bk 14:566-580. They persist with the war.

Sabaeus
Bk 10:431-502. Of the Sabaeans, a people in Northern Arabia. Myrrha reaches their land.

Sabini
The Sabines, a people of Central Italy who merged with the people of Romulus. ( See Giambologna’s sculpture – The Rape of the Sabines – Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence)
Bk 14:772-804. Their king is Tatius. They make peace.
Bk 14:829-851. They are absorbed into the Roman people.
Bk 15:1-59. Numa desires knowledge beyond theirs.

Sagittarius
Bk 2:63-89. The constellation and zodiacal sun sign of the Archer, half man and half beast, formed when Chiron the centaur was placed by Jupiter among the stars. He aims his stellar arrow at the heart of Scorpio. The star-rich constellation contains the centre of the galaxy. It is full of star clusters and nebulae (Trifid, Lagoon, Horseshoe etc). The sun is in Sagittarius at the winter solstice.

Salamis
A city on the island of Cyprus, founded by Teucer, who came from the island of Salamis in the Saronic Sea, site of the famous naval battle where the Greeks defeated the Persians.
Bk 14:698-771. It contains Anaxarete’s statue, and a temple to Venus Prospiciens – ‘she who looks out’.

Sallentinus
Bk 15:1-59. Of the Sallentines, a people of Calabria.

Salmacis
Bk 4:274-316. A pool in Caria whose waters were enervating, and the nymph of the pool who loved Hermaphroditus.
Bk 4:346-388. Salmacis dives into the pool to pursue Hermaphroditus, and is merged with him. He prays that the pool will weaken anyone who bathes there.
Bk 15:307-360. Its waters have enervating powers.

Samius
Bk 15:60-142: An epithet of Pythagoras, the philosopher. from Samos.

Samos(1)
An island off the coast of Asia Minor opposite Ephesus, sacred to Juno, and the birthplace of Pythagoras (at Pythagórion = Tigáni). Samos was famous for its Heraion, the great sanctuary of the goddess Hera-Juno.
Bk 8:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly towards it after leaving Crete.
Bk 15:60-142. Pythagoras flees from Samos and enters voluntary exile at Crotona.

Samos(2), Same
Bk 13:705-737. An island in the Ionian Sea under the dominion of Ulysses, passed by Aeneas.

Sardes, Sardis
Bk 11:85-145. The ancient capital of Lydia on the River Pactolus.
Bk 11:146-171. It is overlooked by Mount Tmolus.

Sarpedon
A Lycian chief, the son of Jupiter and Europa, killed by Patroclus in the war with the Greeks.
Bk 13:123-381. His ranks decimated by Ulysses.

Saturn, Saturnus, Saturnius (Of Saturn)
Bk 1:151-176. Son of Earth and Heaven (Uranus) ruler of the universe in the Golden Age. Saturn was deposed by his three sons Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto who ruled Heaven, Ocean and the Underworld respectively. He was banished to Tarturus. He was the father also of Juno, Ceres and Vesta by Ops.
Bk 5:385-424. Dis (Pluto) as son of Saturn.
Bk 6:103-128. He fathers Chiron the Centaur on Philyra, while disguised as a horse, and is depicted by Arachne.
Bk 9:211-272. Jupiter as son of Saturn.
Bk 9:439-516. Saturn married his sister Ops, a personification of the Earth.
Bk 14:320-396. The father of Picus.
Bk 15:843-870. Jupiter his son, surpasses him.

Saturnia, Juno
Bk 1:601-621. Bk 14:772-804. An epithet for Juno, daughter of Saturn.
Bk 2:531-565. Her chariot is drawn by peacocks.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that she fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there she hid in the form of a white cow.
Bk 9:159-210. As Hercules stepmother she sets him onerous tasks, pursuing him as a punishment for Jupiter’s affair with his mother Alcmena.

Satyri
Bk 1:177-198. The Satyrs. Demi-gods. Woodland deities of human form but with goats’ ears, tails, legs and budding horns. Sexually lustful.
Bk 4:1-30. Bk 11:85-145. They are followers of Bacchus-Dionysus.
Bk 6:382-400. Marsyas is one of them, and they weep when he is flayed by Phoebus-Apollo.
Bk 14:623-697. They pursue Pomona.

Schoeneia
Bk 10:560-637. Bk 10:638-680. Atalanta, the daughter of Schoeneus, king of Boeotia.

Sciron
Bk 7:425-452. A famous robber on the coast between Megaris and Attica who threw his victims into the sea. Theseus did the same to him, and his bones eventually became the sea cliffs near the Molurian Rocks.

Scorpio, Scorpius
Bk 2:63-89. The constellation and zodiacal sun sign of the Scorpion. It contains the red giant Antares (‘like Mars’), one of the four Babylonian guardian stars of the heavens, lying nearly on the ecliptic. (The others are Regulus in Leo, Aldebaran in Taurus, and Fomalhaut ‘the Fish’s Eye’ in Piscis Austrinus. All four are at roughly ninety degrees to one another). Scorpius, because of its position, is one of the two ‘gateways’ to the Milky Way, the other being the opposite constellation of Orion. The Scorpion men attacked Osiris in Egyptian legend, and the Scorpion’s sting killed Orion in Greek myth.
Bk 2:178-200. In ancient Greek times Scorpius was a larger constellation extending over two star signs, Scorpio and Libra.

Scylaceus
Bk 15:622-745. Of Scylaceum, a place on the Bruttian coast. (This is the modern town of Squillace overlooking the Gulf of Squillace, between the ‘heel’ and ‘toe’ of Italy. The Greek city of Schilletion, it was renamed Solacium by the Romans.)

Scylla(1)
Bk 7:1-73. Bk 14:75-100. The daughter of Phorcys and the nymph Crataeis, remarkable for her beauty. Circe or Amphitrite, jealous of Neptune’s love for her changed her into a dog-like sea monster, ‘the Render’, with six heads and twelve feet. Each head had three rows of close-set teeth.Her cry was a muted yelping. She seized sailors and cracked their bones before slowly swallowing them.
Bk 13:705-737. She threatens Aeneas’s ships. She was once a nymph who rejected many suitors and spent time with the ocean nymphs who loved her.
Bk 13:738-788. She listens to Galatea’s story.
Bk 13:898-968. She meets Glaucus and hears his story.
Bk 14:1-74. She is changed by Circe’s poisons into a monster with a circle of yelping dogs around her waist. Finally she is turned into a rock. (The rock projects from the Calabrian coast near the village of Scilla, opposite Cape Peloro on Sicily. See Ernle Bradford ‘Ulysses Found’ Ch.20)

Scylla(2)
Bk 8:1-80. The daughter of Nisus of Megara, who loved Minos. She decides to betray the city to him.
Bk 8:81-151. She cuts off the purple lock of Nisus’s hair that guarantees the safety of his kingdom and his life. Minos rejects her and she is changed into the rock dove, columba livia, with its purple breast and red legs, while her father is changed into the sea eagle, haliaeetus albicilla. Her name Ciris, from κείρω, ‘I cut’, reflects her shearing of Nisus’s hair, as does the purple breast of the bird. But she is also an embodiment of the Cretan Great Goddess, Car, Ker or Q’re, to whom doves were sacred. Pausanias I xxxix says that Kar founded Megara, Nisus’s city and was king there. The acropolis was named Karia, and Kar built a great hall to Demeter (Ceres) there, Pausanias I xxxx. His tumulus was decorated with shell-stone sacred to the goddess at the command of an oracle, Pausanias I xxxxiii. The rock dove no doubt nested on the rocks of the citadel and coastline. Pausanias II xxxiv says that Cape Skyllaion (Skyli) was named after Scylla. Hair cutting reflects ancient ritual and the Curetes were the ‘young men with shaved hair’ the devotees of the moon-goddess Cer, whose weapon clashing drove off evil spirits at eclipses and during the rites.

Scyros(1)
Bk 13:123-381. An island in the central Aegean off the coast of Euboea, ruled by Pyrrhus.

Scyros(2)
A town in Asia Minor.
Bk 13:123-381. Captured by Achilles.

Scythia
The country of the Scythians of northern Europe and Asia to the north of the Black Sea. Noted for the Sarmatian people, their warrior princesses, and burial mounds in the steppe (kurgans). They were initially horse-riding nomads. See (Herodotus, The Histories).
Bk 2:201-226. Scorched by the chariot of Phaethon.
Bk 5:642-678. Ruled by Lyncus, the barbarian king.
Bk 7:404-424. There is a dark cave there, a path to the underworld by which Hercules drags the dog Cerberus to the light.
Bk 8:777-842. The haunts of Famine.
Bk 10:560-637. The Scythians were famous bowmen, noted for the swiftness and surety of their arrows.
Bk 14:320-396. Scythian Diana was worshipped at Aricia in Italy, to which Orestes carried her image, from Taurus.
Bk 15:259-306. Contains the river Hypanis.
Bk 15:307-360. The Scythian women cover their bodies with plumage by sprinkling themselves with magic drugs. See Herodotus IV 31 where he suggests the feathers are snowflakes.

Semele
Bk 3:253-272. The daughter of Cadmus, loved by Jupiter. The mother of Bacchus (Dionysus). (See the painting by Gustave Moreau – Jupiter and Semele – in the Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris)
Bk 3:273-315. She is consumed by Jupiter’s fire having been deceived by Juno. Her unborn child Bacchus is rescued.

Semeleius
An epithet of Bacchus from his mother, Semele.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that he fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there he hid in the form of a goat.
Bk 9:595-665. The Thracian women perform his rites.

Semiramis
Bk 4:31-54. The daughter of Dercetis or Atargatis, the Syrian goddess. She was said to have been cast out at birth and tended by doves. Doves were sacred to her, as they were to Dercetis. Historically she is Sammuramat, Queen of Babylon, and wife of Shamshi-Adad V (Ninus). She reigned after him as regent from 810-805 BC.
Bk 5:74-106. Polydegmon is her descendant.

Seriphos
Bk 5:200-249. Bk 5:250-293. An island of the Cyclades, ruled by Polydectes.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete. Described as flat.

Serpens, The Dragon, Draco
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of the Dragon, once confusingly called Serpens. It is said to be the dragon Ladon killed by Hercules when stealing the golden apples of the Hesperides. It contains the north pole of the ecliptic (ninety degrees from the plane of earth’s orbit) and represents the icy north.

Serpent, Anguem
Bk 2:111-149. Bk 8:152-182.The constellation of the Serpent, north of the ecliptic in the northern hemisphere. It is separated into two parts, Serpens Cauda, and Serpens Caput, the tail and the head. It contains M5 the finest globular star cluster in the northern sky, and M16 a cluster in the Eagle Nebula.

Sibylla
Bk 15:622-745. The priestess of Apollo in the temple at Cumae built by Daedalus. She prophesied perched on or over a tripod.
Bk 14:101-153. She guides Aeneas through the underworld and shows him the golden bough that he must pluck from the tree. She tells him how she was offered immortality by Phoebus, but forgot to ask also for lasting youth, dooming her to wither away until she is merely a voice.
Bk 14:154-222. She leads Aeneas back from the Underworld.

Sicania, Trinacris
A name for Sicily. The Mediterranean island, west of Italy.
Bk 8:260-328. Daedalus finds refuge there at the court of King Cocalus, noted for his peacableness. It is at war with Crete.
Bk 13:705-737. Aeneas passes it.
Bk 15:259-306. The river Amenanus flows there.

Sicelis, Siculus
Bk 7:1-73. Bk 13:738-788. Bk 15:745-842. Of Sicily. Sicilian.
Bk 8:260-328. Sicily noted for its large bulls.
Bk 14:1-74. Bk 15:622-745. The Straits of Messina (Zancle) divide Sicily from Ausonia in Italy.

Sicyonius
Bk 3:206-231. Of the city of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus, near Corinth. (The home of the sculptor Lysippos. It is near modern Vasilikó.)

Sidon
Bk 2:833-875. The city of the Phoenicians in the Lebanon. Home of Europa.
Bk 4:543-562. Ino’s closest servants come from there.
Bk 4:563-603. Cadmus recalls his homeland.

Sidonis
Bk 14:75-100. An epithet of Dido, from her native Phoenician city of Sidon.

Sidonius
Bk 3:115-137. An epithet of Cadmus who came from Phoenician Sidon and Tyre.
Bk 4:543-562. An epithet of the Theban companions of Ino because they were of Phoenician origin, followers of Cadmus.

Sigeius, Sigeus
Bk 11:194-220. Bk 12:64-145. A promontory in the Troad, near Troy, and by the mouth of the Scamander.
Bk 13:1-122. The scene of the debate over the arms of Achilles in front of the Greek ships.

Silenus
Bk 4:1-30. Silenus and his sons the satyrs were originally primitive mountaineers of northern Greece who became stock comic characters in Attic drama. He was called an autochthon or son of Pan by one of the nymphs. He was Bacchus’s tutor, portrayed usually as a drunken old man with an old pack-ass, who is unable to tell truth from lies.( See the copy of the sculpture attributed to Lysippus, ‘Silenus holding the infant Bacchus’ in the Vatican)
Bk 11:85-145. He is captured by the Lydians and taken to King Midas. Bacchus grants Midas a gift (he chooses the golden touch) as a reward for returning Silenus to him.

Silvani
Bk 1:177-198. Demi-gods. Offspring of Silvanus the deity of uncultivated land.

Silvanus
Bk 14:623-697. A god of the woodlands who pursues Pomona.

Silvius
Bk 14:609-622. The son of Ascanius, king of Alba.

Simois
Bk 13:1-122. A river near Troy, often paired with the Scamander (Xanthus).

Sinis
Bk 7:425-452. An Isthmian robber, the son of Polypemon, who killed his victims by tying them to pine trees bent with ropes, and releasing the ropes. Theseus served him in the same way.

Sinuessa
Bk 15:622-745. A town in Campania, established as a Roman colony in 296 BC. (Its site was on the Via Appia, near the modern Mondragone on the Gulf of Gaeta.)

Siphnos
An island of the Cyclades, between Seriphos and Melos.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete. Betrayed to Minos by Arne.

Sipylus
One of the seven sons of Niobe, named after Mount Sipylus in his mother’s country.
Bk 6:146-203. The mountain, near Smyrna, is where Niobe lived before her marriage.
Bk 6:204-266. He is killed by Apollo’s and Diana’s assault on the seven sons.

Sirenes, Sirens
Bk 5:533-571. The daughters of Achelous, the Acheloides, companions of Proserpina, turned to woman-headed birds, or women with the legs of birds, and luring the sailors of passing ships with their sweet song. They searched for Proserpine on land, and were turned to birds so that they could search for her by sea. (There are various lists of their names, but Ernle Bradford suggests two triplets: Thelxinoe, the Enchantress; Aglaope, She of the Beautiful Face, and Peisinoe, the Seductress: and his preferred triplet Parthenope, the Virgin Face; Ligeia, the Bright Voice; and Leucosia, the White One – see ‘Ulysses Found’ Ch.17. Robert Graves in the index to the ‘The Greek Myths’ adds Aglaophonos, Molpe, Raidne, Teles, and Thelxepeia.)
(See Draper’s painting – Ulysses and the Sirens – Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, England, and Gustave Moreau’s watercolour in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard)
Bk 14:75-100. Aeneas passes their island, between the Aeolian Islands and Cumae. (This was traditionally Capri, or more likely one of the five Galli islets, the Sirenusae, at the entrance to the Gulf of Salerno)

Sirinus
Bk 15:1-59. Of Siris, a town and river in Lucania.

Sisyphus
The son of Aeolus, and brother of Athamas, famous for his cunning and thievery.
Bk 4:416-463. He was punished in Hades, continually having to push a stone to the top of a hill, and then pursuing it as it rolled down again.
Bk 10:1-85. His punishment in the underworld ceases for a time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.
Bk 13:1-122. The reputed father of Ulysses.

Sithon
Bk 4:274-316. A person of indeterminate sex, mentioned briefly by Alcithoe.

Sithonius
Bk 6:571-619. Bk 13:481-575. Of the Sithonians, a Thracian people.

Smilax
Bk 4:274-316. A nymph who was loved by Crocus, who pined away from hopeless love of her. She was changed into the flowering bindweed and he into the crocus flower.

Smintheus
Bk 12:579-628. An epithet of Apollo, ‘mouse-Apollo’. Sminthos is the ancient Cretan word for ‘mouse’, a scared creature at Cnossos, Philistia and Phocis.

Sol
Bk 1:747-764. Bk 13:789-869. Bk 15:1-59.The sun-god, son of Hyperion. Identified with Phoebus Apollo.
Bk 1:765-779. Clymene swears to Phaethon that he is Sol’s sun. Sol, appealed to as witness here in Egypt, and by Clymene, married to the king of Ethiopia, is synonymous with Ra, the Egyptian sun-god. He is worshipped with outstretched arms and his glittering rays are depicted in the heiroglyphs as having hands at the end to reach out to his worshippers. Hathor-Io is sometimes described as the daughter of Ra and wife of Horus, sometimes as the mother or ‘dwelling’ of Horus, who is himself an incarnation of the sun and identified with Phoebus Apollo, and the sun-god is enclosed by her each evening to be re-born at dawn.
Bk 2:1-30. His son Phaethon visits his palace and is granted a favour. He asks to drive the Sun’s chariot for a day.
Bk 2:49-62. Sol tries to dissuade Phaethon from driving the chariot.
Bk 2:63-89. The Sun progresses annually along the ecliptic through the zodiac in the opposite direction (anti-clockwise) to the daily (clockwise) rotation of the fixed stars.
Bk 2:111-149. Sol concedes the sun chariot to Phaethon with dire warnings.
Bk 2:381-400. He mourns Phaethon and is reluctantly persuaded to resume his daily driving of the sun chariot.
Bk 4:167-189. He sees the adultery of Venus with Mars and informs Vulcan her husband.
Bk 4:190-213. In revenge for his interference Venus makes him fall in love with Leucothoe.
Bk 4:214-255. She is killed by her father and Sol attempts to restore her, changing her into a tree, with incense bearing resin (frankincense, genus Boswellia?).
Bk 4:604-662. The western ocean receives his chariot and his weary horses at the end of each day.
Bk 7:74-99. The father of King Aeetes of Colchis, and of his sister Circe by the Oceanid Perse.
Bk 7:179-233. The grandfather of Medea.
Bk 9:714-763. The father of Pasiphae by the nymph Crete, or Perseis.
Bk 13:789-869. Bk 14:1-74. The father of Circe. In revenge for his tale-bearing, see above, Venus perhaps made Circe susceptible to passion.

Somnus
Bk 11:573-649. The god of sleep. His cave is in Cimmeria. He has many sons, including Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos who take on the images of human beings, creatures, and inanimate things respectively. He sends Morpheus to Alcyone.

Sparta
The chief city of Laconia on the River Eurotas, and also called Lacadaemon.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 10:143-219. Hyacinthus lives nearby at Amyclae.
Bk 15:1-59. Tarentum in Italy is a Spartan colony.
Bk 15:418-452. A symbol of vanished power.

Sperchios, Spercheus, Spercheos
Bk 1: 568-587. A river in Thessaly.
Bk 2:227-271. Scorched by the sun chariot when Phaethon fell.
Bk 5:74-106. The native place of Lycetus.
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Stabiae
Bk 15:622-745. A city on the bay of Naples.

Stheneleius(1)
Of Sthenelus(2), king of Liguria, hence his son Cycnus(2).

Sthenelus(1)
Bk 9:273-323. King of Mycenae, hence his son Eurystheus.

Sthenelus(2)
Bk 2:367-380. King of Liguria, father of Cycnus.

Strophades
Bk 13:705-737. Two small islands in the Ionian Sea, ‘the turning islands’, with a dangerous anchorage. Aeneas encounters the Harpies there, foul-bellied birds with girls’ faces, with clawed hands and pallid faces (See Virgil Aeneid III:190-220).

Strymon
Bk 2:227-271. A river in Thrace and Macedonia.

Stymphalis
Bk 5:572-641. Of Stymphalus, a district in Arcadia with a town, mountain and lake of the same name, near Mount Cyllene. It is a haunt of Diana and Arethusa. (Pausanias says, VIII xxii, that there were three temples of Juno-Hera, at ancient Stymphelos, as the Child, the Perfect One, and the Widow, the moon phases.)
Bk 9:159-210. In the Sixth Labour Hercules killed or dispersed the brazen beaked and clawed man-eating birds of the Stymphalian Lake that killed men and animals and blighted crops. According to some accounts they were bird-legged women sacred to Artemis-Diana.

Styphelus
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Styx, Stygian
Bk 1:722-746. Bk 12:290-326. A river of the underworld, with its lakes and pools, used to mean the underworld or the state of death itself.
Bk 3:50-94. Its mouth exudes a poisonous black breath like the serpent that Cadmus destroys.
Bk 5:487-532. Arethusa passes its streams while journeying through the deep caverns from Elis to Sicily. This is the Arcadian river Styx near Nonacris. It forms the falls of Mavroneri, plunging six hundred feet down the cliffs of the Chelmos ridge. Pausanias says, VIII xvii, that Hesiod (Theogony 383) makes Styx the daughter of Ocean and the wife of the Titan Pallas. Their children were Victory and Strength. Epimenedes makes her the mother of Echidna. Pausanias says the waters of the river dissolve glass and stone etc.
Bk 6:653-674. Bk 10:298-355. Its valley is home to the Furies.
Bk 10:1-85. Orpheus visits it on his quest for Eurydice, and is prevented from crossing it for a second time by the ferryman, Charon.
Bk 10:681-707. Cybele considers plunging Hippomenes and Atalanta beneath its waters.
Bk 11:474-572. It waters are a dark colour.
Bk 14:154-222. Visited by Aeneas.
Bk 14:566-580. Aeneas’s visit entitles him to deification.
BkXV:143-175. Pythagoras believes it an invention of the poets.
Bk 15:745-842. The screech-owl, whose call is an omen, is said to be Stygian.

Surrentinus
Bk 15:622-745. Of Surrentum, a town on the Bay of Naples. The modern Sorrento, La Gentile, perched on a tufa rock and bounded by ravines, in a district famed for its beauty, and its fruit. (Torquato Tasso the poet was born there.)

Sybaris
Bk 15:1-59. Bk 15:307-360. A town in Italy, on the Gulf of Taranto. It probably stood on the left bank of the Crathis (modern Crati) and was an Achaean colony whose luxury and corruption became a byword (hence sybaritic) and was destroyed by the men of Croton in 510 BC. The descendants of the survivors founded Thurii inland, with the help of Athenian colonists, including Lysias the orator and Herodotus who died there. Sybaris was Romanised after 290 BC and named Copiae.

Syenites
The inhabitants of Syene in Upper Egypt.
Bk 5:74-106. Phorbas’s native place.

Symaethis
Bk 13:738-788. A daughter of the river god Symaethus in Sicily, the mother of Acis.

Symaethius
Bk 13:870-897. Of Symaethus, a town in Sicily. Acis.

Symphlegades, Symplegades
Bk 7:1-99. Two rocky islands in the Euxine Sea, clashing rocks according to the fable, crushing what attempted to pass between them.
Bk 15:307-360. The Argo had to avoid them.

Syrinx
Bk 1:689-721. An Arcadian nymph pursued by Pan and changed to marsh reeds by her sisters in order to escape him. She gave her name to the syrinx, or pan pipes, the reedy flute. (See Signorelli’s painting – Court of Pan – Staatliche Museum, Berlin)

Syros
An island of the Cyclades, near Delos. Described as flowering with thyme.
Bk 7:453-500. Allied to Crete.

Syrtis
Bk 8:81-151. A dangerous series of sandbanks on the north coast of Africa.

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Part 9 of 9

Taenarius(1)
Bk 2:227-271. Laconian, of the river Eurotas.
Bk 10:143-219. The home of Hyacinthus.

Taenarius(2)
Bk 10:1-85. Laconian, of the cave reputed to give entry to the Underworld.

Taenarus, Taenarides
Bk 2:227-271. The southern part of Laconia in southern Greece near the mouth of the Eurotas.
Bk 10:1-85. One of the traditional gateways to the Underworld.

Tages
Bk 15:552-621. An Etrurian deity, grandson of Jupiter. He sprang from a clod of earth in human form, and taught the Etruscans the art of divination.

Tagus
Bk 2:227-271. The river in Spain and Portugal, reputedly gold bearing.

Tamasenus
Bk 10:638-680. Of Tamasus, a city in Cyprus. Its sacred field is sacred to Venus and contains a tree with golden apples

Tanais
Bk 2:227-271. The river and river-god of Scythia. The River Don.

Tantalides
Bk 12:579-628. Agamemnon, great grandson of Tantalus.

Tantalis
Bk 6:204-266. Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus.

Tantalus(1)
The king of Phrygia, son of Jupiter, father of Pelops and Niobe.
Bk 4:416-463. He served his son Pelops to the gods at a banquet and is punished by eternal thirst in Hades.
Bk 6:146-203. Boasted of by Niobe.
Bk 10:1-85. His punishment in the underworld ceases for a time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.

Tantalus(2)
Bk 6:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.

Tarentum
Bk 15:1-59. A city on the ‘heel’ of Italy founded by Lacedaemonians, the modern Taranto, and a commercial port. The Spartan colony of Taras, it was founded in 708 BC and became the greatest city of Magna Graecia, famous for its purple murex dyes, wool etc. It was a centre of Pythagorean philosophy. It became subject to Rome in 272 BC, and surrendered to Hannibal in 209 BC for which it was severely punished, on being retaken.

Tarpeia
Bk 14:772-804. A Roman girl who treacherously opened the citadel to the Sabines, and was killed beneath the weight of the weapons, which were thrown on her.
Bk 15:843-870. The Tarpeian citadel was the Capitoline Hill with its temple of Jupiter.

Tartarus, Tartara
Bk 1:113-124. The underworld. The infernal regions ruled by Pluto (Dis).
Bk 2:227-271. Light penetrates there when Phaethon loses control of the sun chariot.
Bk 5:332-384. The third part of the universe.
Bk 5:385-424. Dis re-enters Tartarus through the pool of Cyane after raping and abducting Proserpine.
Bk 10:1-85. Mentioned by Orpheus.
Bk 11:650-709. Bk 12:245-289. Bk 12:429-535.
Bk 12:579-628. The void of the afterlife.

Tartessius
Bk 14:397-434. Of Tartessus, an old Phoenician colony in Spain.

Tatius
Bk 14:772-804. A king of the Sabines who fought against Romulus, but afterwards made peace and ruled jointly with him.
Bk 14:805-828. He dies.

Taurus(1)
Bk 2:63-89. The constellation and zodiacal sun sign of the Bull. It represents the white ‘Bull from the Sea’, a disguise of Jupiter when he carried off Europa. Its glinting red eye is the star Aldebaran one of the four Babylonian guardians of the heavens, lying near the ecliptic. (The others are Regulus in Leo, Antares in Scorpius, and Fomalhaut ‘the Fish’s Eye’ in Piscis Austrinus. All four are at roughly ninety degrees to one another.)

Taurus(2)
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Asia Minor.

Taÿgeta, Taÿgete
Bk 3:572-596. One of the Pleiades, daughter of Atlas.

Tectaphus
Bk 12:429-535. One of the Lapithae.

Tegeaea
Arcadian, from Tegus an ancient town in Arcadia.
An epithet of Atalanta(1).
Bk 8:260-328. She is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:376-424. She wounds the boar.

Telamon
Bk 7:453-500. The son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, brother of Peleus and Phocus, and father of Ajax. He comes to meet Minos.
Bk 7:614-660. He brings his father news of the Myrmidons having been created.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:376-424. He trips over a tree-root and falls.
Bk 11:194-220. He helps Hercules rescue Hesione and is given her in marriage.
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:1-122.The father of Ajax, the great.
Bk 13:123-381. Ajax’s father, and Peleus’s brother, exiled with him for the murder of Phocus.

Telamoniades, Telamonius
Bk 13:123-381. Ajax as son of Telamon.

Telchines
Bk 7:350-403. A fabled family of priests in Ialysus, an ancient city of Rhodes. Neptune fell in love with the nymph Halia, and her six sons committed outrages that led a disgusted Jupiter to sink them below the earth or under the waves.

Teleboas
Bk 12:429-535. A centaur.

Telemus
Bk 13:738-788. The son of Eurymus, a seer, who prophesies that Ulysses will seize the single eye of Polyphemus.

Telephus
King of Mysia, son of Hercules and the nymph Auge.
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 13:123-381. He was wounded and healed by the touch of Achilles’s spear at Troy.

Telestes
Bk 9:714-763. A Cretan, father of Ianthe.

Telethusa
Bk 9:666-713. The wife of Ligdus, and mother of Iphis. her husband orders to have any female child killed, but she has a prophetic dream of Isis telling her to save the child in her womb, a daughter, and deceives him into believing her female infant is male.
Bk 9:764-797. She prays to Isis for help.

Tellus
Bk 2:272-300. The Earth Mother, the Goddess of the Earth. She appeals to Jupiter to save the world after Phaethon has lost control of the sun chariot.

Temese
Bk 7:179-233. Bk 15:622-745. A town in Bruttium, possessing rich copper mines. Source of famous bronzes.

Tempe
Bk 1:568-587. The valley in Thessaly between Ossa and Olympus through which the River Peneus flows. It was celebrated in antiquity for its abundance of water and luxurious vegetation, and as the place where Apollo came to purify himself after killing Python. It was the principal route into Greece from the north.)
Bk 7:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.

Tenedos
Bk 1:504-524. An island in the Aegean near the Trojan coast. (See Homer’s Iliad).
Bk 12:64-145. Sacked by Achilles.
Bk 13:123-381. Captured by Achilles.

Tenos
An island of the Cyclades, between Andros and Myconos.
Bk 7:453-500. Not allied to Crete.

Tereus
Bk 6:401-438. The king of Thrace, husband of Procne.
Bk 6:438-485. Brings her sister, Philomela, to stay with her, while conceiving a frenzied desire for the sister.
Bk 6:486-548. He violates the girl.
Bk 6:549-570. He cuts out her tongue, and tells Procne she is dead.
Bk 6:619-652. Procne serves him the flesh of his murdered son Itys at a banquet.
Bk 6:653-674. Pursuing the sisters in his desire for revenge, he is turned into a bird, the hoopoe, upupa epops, with its distinctive feathered crest and elongated beak. Its rapid, far-carrying, ‘hoo-hoo-hoo’ call is interpreted as ‘pou-pou-pou’ meaning ‘where? where? where?’.
Book VI:675-721. His actions sour the relationship between Thrace and Attica.

Terra
Bk 1:151-176. The goddess of Earth, mother of the Giants, see Tellus.

Tethys
Bk 2:63-89. A Titaness, co-ruler of the planet Venus with Oceanus. She reigns over the sea. The sister and wife of Oceanus, in whose waters some say all gods and living things originated, she is said to have produced all his children. Her waters receive the setting sun.
Bk 2:150-177. She lets loose the four horses of the Sun. As father of Phoebus the sun (see above), Phaethon the Sun’s child is her grandson.
Bk 2:508-530. Visited by Juno for help in punishing Callisto.
Bk 9:439-516. She married her brother Oceanus.
Bk 11:749-795. She turns Aesacus into a diving bird, probably the merganser, mergus serrator, from mergus, a diver.
Bk 13:898-968. With Oceanus she purges Glaucus.

Teucer(1)
Bk 13:705-737. A king of early Troy, originally from Crete. His people the Teucrians.

Teucer(2)
Bk 13:123-381. The son of Telamon and Hesione, half-brother of Ajax, cousin of Achilles.
Bk 14:698-771. He founded Salamis in Cyprus, having been born on the Greek island of Salamis that was the scene of the naval battle against the Persians.

Teucri
Bk 13:705-737. The Trojans, from their king Teucer.

Teuthranteus
Bk 2:227-271. Of Teuthrania in Mysia in Asia Minor. Mysian. Of the river Caicus.

Thaumantea, Thaumantias, Thaumantis
Bk 4:464-511. Bk 11:573-649. Bk 14:829-851. Epithets of Iris, daughter of Thaumas.

Thaumas(1), Thaumus
The father of Iris. See Thaumentea.

Thaumas(2)
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Thebes(1), Thebae
Bk 3:1-49, The city in Boeotia founded by Cadmus. Phoebus instructs him how to find the site by following a heifer.
Bk 4:389-415. The Theban women follow Bacchus, but the daughters of Minyas reject him and are changed into bats.
Bk 5:250-293. It is near Mount Helicon, home of the Muses.
Bk 6:146-203. Amphion rules there with his wife Niobe.
Bk 6:401-438. Rulers of the cities of the Peloponnese, Boeotia and Attica, go to Thebes to show sympathy at the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 7:759-795. The city of Oedipus, plagued by the Sphinx and the Teumessian vixen.
Bk 9:394-417. Themis prophesies concerning the war of the Seven against Thebes.
Bk 13:675-704. The city of seven gates on Alcon’s cup. It depicts the sacrifice of the daughters of Orion to save the city from plague.
Bk 15:418-452. A symbol of vanished power. (It was razed to the ground by Alexander, in 335 BC, with the exception of the house occupied by the poet Pindar.)

Thebes(2)
Bk 12:64-145. Bk 13:123-381.A city in Mysia sacked by Achilles.

Thebaides
Bk 6:146-203. The women of Thebes.

Themis
Bk 1:313-347. A Titaness, co- ruler of the planet Jupiter, daughter of heaven and earth. Her daughters are the Seasons and the Three Fates. She is the Triple-Goddess with prophetic powers.
Bk 4:604-662. She has prophesied the theft of the golden apples from Atlas’s orchard in the Hesperides.
Bk 7:759-795. Ovid suggests the Sphinx was sacred to Themis (as the moon-goddess of Thebes?) who then avenges her death.
Bk 9:394-417. Bk 9:418-438. She prophesies concerning the war of the Seven against Thebes and its aftermath.

Thereus
Bk 12:290-326. A centaur.

Thermodon
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 9:159-210. Bk 12:579-628. A river of Pontus, the Black Sea region where the Amazons lived.

Therses
Bk 13:675-704. A friend of King Anius who sends him the gift of a drinking cup.

Thersites
A Greek at Troy who used to hurl abuse at the Greek leaders.
Bk 13:123-381. Punished for his insolence by Ulysses.

Thescelus
Bk 5:149-199. A companion of Phineus, turned to stone by the Gorgon’s head.

Theseius heros
Bk 15:479-551. Hippolytus, son of Theseus.

Theseus
Bk 7:404-424. King of Athens, son of Aegeus, hence Aegides. His mother was Aethra, daughter of Pittheus king of Troezen. Aegeus had lain with her in the temple. His father had hidden a sword , and a pair of sandals, under a stone (The Rock of Theseus) as a trial, which he lifted, and he made his way to Athens, cleansing the Isthmus of robbers along the way.
Bk 7:404-424. Medea attempts to poison Theseus but Aegeus recognises his sword, and his son, and prevents her.
Bk 7:425-452. Escaping the attempt by Medea to poison him, his deeds are celebrated by the Athenians: the killing of the Minotaur, and the wild sow of Cromyon, the defeat of Periphetes, Procrustes, Cercyon, Sinis, and Sciron.
Bk 8:152-182. He kills the Minotaur in the Cretan labyrinth, and abandons Ariadne on Dia (Naxos). (See Canova’s sculpture – Theseus and the Dead Minotaur – Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
Bk 8:260-328. Athens no longers pays tribute to Minos since he destroyed the Minotaur. The towns of Achaia beg his help in the Calydonian boar hunt, which he joins.
Bk 8:376-424. He warns off his friend Pirithous, and aims at the boar, but his spear is deflected.
Bk 8:547-610. He is delayed on his return from the Calydonian Boar Hunt, by the River Achelous, and the river-god tells the story of Perimele.
Bk 8:725-776. He wishes to hear more stories of the god’s actions.
Bk 9:1-88. He asks Achelous to explain how he lost one of his horns.
Bk 12:290-326. He is present at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs, with his oaken club.
Bk 15:479-546. Hippolytus is his son, loved by Theseus’s wife Phaedra.
Bk 15:843-870. He surpasses his father Aegeus.

Thespiades
Bk 5:294-331. A name given to the Muses from Thespiae a city near Mount Helicon their haunt in Boeotia.

Thessaly, Haemonia, Haemonius, Thessalis, Thessalus (of Thesssaly)
Bk 2:531-565. The region in northern Greece. Its old name was Haemonia, hence Haemonius, Thessalian.
Bk 7:179-233. Contains the vale of Tempe.
Bk 7:234-293. One of its valleys is a source of the magic roots used by Medea.
Bk 8:725-776. The country of Erysichthon.
Bk 12:146-209. The country of Caenis.
Bk 12:290-326. The mountains are the haunt of bears.

Thestiadae
The two sons of Thestius, Toxeus and Plexippus, the brothers of Althaea, and uncles of Meleager.
Bk 8:260-328. They are present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:425-450. They are killed by Meleager in an argument.

Thestias
Bk 8:451-514. Althaea, daughter of Thestius, mother of Meleager.

Thestorides
Bk 12:1-38. Calchas, the son of Thestor.

Thetis
A sea goddess, daughter of Nereus and Doris.
Bk 11:194-220. She is the wife of Peleus.
Bk 11:221-265. She is a shape-changer, but Peleus overcomes her, and she bears him the hero Achilles.
Bk 11:346-409. She obtains forgiveness for him, for the murder of his half-brother Phocus, from Psamathe.
Bk 13:123-381. She hid Achilles among the women, foreseeing his early death.

Thisbaeus
Bk 11:266-345. Of Thisbe, a town in Boeotia in a region famous for doves.

Thisbe
Bk 4:55-92. A fictional Babylonian girl. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Bk 4:128-166. Her death is described. The mulberry gets its dark-reddish colour

Thoactes
Bk 5:107-148. Armour bearer of Cepheus, killed in the fight between Perseus and Phineus.

Thoas
The king of Lemnos, son of Andraemon, and father of Hypsipyle.
Bk 13:1-122. He does not compete for the arms of Achilles.
Bk 13:399-428. Ulysses sails for the island to bring back the arrows of Hercules. Thoas was king there when the Lemnian women murdered their menfolk because of their adultery with Thracian girls. His life was spared because his daughter Hypsipyle set him adrift in an oarless boat.

Thoön
Bk 13:123-381. A Trojan, killed by Ulysses.

Thrace, and Thracius, Thrax, Threicius(of Thrace)
Bk 2:227-271. The country bordering the Black Sea, Propontis and the northeastern Aegean.
Bk 6:70-102. Mount Haemon (Haemus) and Mount Rhodope are sited there.
Bk 6:401-438. Tereus is its king and an ally of Athens.
Book VI:675-721. Boreas is associated with this northern region.
Bk 9:159-210. In the Eighth Labour, Hercules destroys Thracian King Diomede and his four savage mares that fed on human flesh.
Bk 10:1-85. The country of Orpheus, containing Mount Rhodope, and the territory of the Cicones. He introduces homosexual love of young boys into Thrace.
Bk 11:1-66. The country of Orpheus, where he is killed by the Maenads, his severed head floating down the river Hebrus to the sea.
Bk 11:85-145. The country of Orpheus.
Bk 13:429-480. Ruled by Polymestor of the Bistones. Agamemnon beaches the fleet there on the way back from Troy, and the ghost of Achilles appears.
Bk 13:481-575. Polydorus was murdered by the Thracians. They attack Hecuba after her murder of Polymestor.
Bk 13:623-639. Aeneas leaves its shores behind.

Thurinus
Of Thurii, a city on the Tarentine Gulf.

Thybris, Albula
Bk 2:227-271. Bk 15:418-452. Bk 15:622-745. A poetic form of the River Tiber the river of Rome.
Bk 14:397-434. Canens dies by its shore.
Bk 14:445-482. It is dark-shadowed and yellow with sand.
Bk 14:609-622. It is named after King Tiberinus who drowned there.

Thyestae mensae
Bk 15:453-478. A ‘Thyestean meal’, such as that of Thyestes, whose two sons were cooked and served to him, by his brother Atreus, as a revenge.

Thyneius
Of the Thyni, a people of Thrace who emigrated to Bithynia.
Bk 8:679-724. Thynia, the country of Baucis and Philemon, who are Phrygians. They are both turned into trees, she into a lime tree and he into an oak. It is the region north of the Hellespont opposite Dardania and Troy.

Thyoneus(1)
Bk 4:1-30. An epithet of Bacchus from Thyone, a name under which his mother Semele was worshipped as one of the Wild Women of the rites (at Athens, Delphi and Troezen).

Thyoneus(2)
Bk 7:350-403. A son of Bacchus.

Tiberinus
Bk 14:609-622. Bk 15:622-745. An Alban king who drowned in and gave his name to the river Tiber.

Timolus
See Tmolus.

Tiresias
Bk 3:316-338. The Theban sage who spent seven years as a woman and decides the dispute between Juno and Jupiter. He is blinded by Juno but given the power of prophecy by Jupiter.
Bk 6:146-203. His daughter is Manto, the prophetess.

Tirynthia
Bk 7:100-158. Alcmena, the mother of Hercules, from Tiryns applied to Hercules as an epithet.

Tirynthius
Bk 7:404-424. Bk 9:1-88. Bk 9:211-272. Bk 12:536-579.
Bk 13:399-428. Of Tiryns, a city in Argolis near Argos, commonly applied as an epithet to Hercules.

Tisiphone
One of the Furies.
Bk 4:464-511. She is sent by Juno to madden Athamas and Ino.

Titan
Bk 1:1-30. Uranus fathered the Titans on Gaea (Mother Earth). The name Titan is applied to Sol the sun god, son of the Titan Hyperion, and to Phoebus Apollo, as a sun god and daughter of Leto (Latona) whose mother was Phoebe the Titaness.
Bk 2:111-149. Bk 6:438-485. Bk 10:1-85.Phoebus Apollo. The Sun god as Titan.
Bk 7:350-403. Medea’s winged dragons are born of the Titans.
Bk 10:143-219. Bk 11:221-265. The sun.

Titania, Titanis
An epithet for the descendant of a Titan.
Bk 1:381-415. Pyrrha the granddaughter of Iapetus.
Bk 3:165-205. Diana as granddaughter of Coeus.
Bk 6:146-203. Bk 6:313-381. Latona as a daughter of Coeus.
Bk 13:898-968. Bk 14:1-74. Bk 14:320-396.
Bk 14:435-444. Circe, daughter of Titan, the Sun.

Tithonus
The son of Laomedon, husband of Aurora, and father of Memnon.
Bk 9:418-438. Aurora, having obtained eternal life for him wishes she could obtain eternal youth for him also.

Tityos
A giant, who attempted violence to Latona, and suffers in Hades.
Bk 4:416-463. Vultures feed on his liver, which is continually renewed.
Bk 10:1-85. His punishment in the underworld ceases for a time at the sound of Orpheus’s song.

Tlepolemus
Bk 12:536-579. A son of Hercules, leader of the Rhodians. He upbraids Nestor for neglecting to mention Hercules.

Tmolus, Timolus
Bk 2:201-226. A mountain in Lydia, near the source of the River Caÿster.
Bk 11:85-145. It is sacred to Bacchus.
Bk 11:146-171. Bk 11:194-220. The sea is visible from the mountain, which overlooks Sardis, and whose god judges the music contest between Pan and Apollo.

Tonaus
Bk 1:151-176. Bk 11:194-220. The Thunderer, an epithet for Jupiter.

Toxeus
The son of Thestius. Brother of Althaea, and uncle of Meleager.
Bk 8:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk 8:425-450. He is killed by his nephew Meleager in an argument over the spoils.

Trachas
Bk 15:622-745. A town in Latium.

Trachin
Bk 11:266-345. Bk 11:573-649. A city in Thessaly, ruled by Ceyx, where Peleus finds sanctuary after killing his brother. Hercules is its hero.

Trachinius
Bk 11:346-409. An epithet of Ceyx, king of Trachin.
Bk 11:474-572. Of Trachin.

Tridentifer
Bk 8:547-610. An epithet of Neptune from his three-pronged trident.

Trinacria, Trinacris
Bk 5:332-384. An ancient name for Sicily. Typhoeus the giant is buried under it by the gods.
Bk 5:425-486. Ceres blights it because Persephone is abducted from its soil.
Bk 5:487-532. Arethusa loves the land, though a foreigner, and begs Ceres to preserve it from harm.

Triones
Bk 2:150-177. Bk 10:431-502. The constellations of the Great and Little Bear. See Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Triopeis
Bk 8:843-884. Mestra, the daughter of Erysichthon and granddaughter of Triopas, king of Thessaly.

Triopeius
Bk 8:725-776. Erysichthon, son of Triopas king of Thessaly.

Triptolemus
The son of Celeus, king of Eleusis in Attica.
Bk 5:642-678. Ceres sends him to take the gift of her crops to Lyncus king of the Scythian barbarians. He is attacked, but saved by Ceres.

Triton
Bk 1:313-347. Bk 13:898-968. The sea and river god, son of Neptune and Amphitrite the Nereid. He is depicted as half man and half fish and the sound of his conch-shell calms the waves. (See Wordsworth’s sonnet ‘The world is too much with us; late and soon,’)
Bk 2:1-30. His image depicted on the palace of the Sun.

Tritonia, Tritonis
Bk 2:752-786. Bk 5:250-293. BkVI:1-25. An epithet of Minerva (Pallas Athene) from her original home near lake Triton in Libya.
Bk 5:642-678. Bk 8:547-610. Applied to her city of Athens.

Tritoniaca harundo
Bk 6:382-400. ‘Minerva’s reed’, the flute she invented.

Trivia
Bk 2:401-416. An epithet of Diana, worshipped at the meeting of three ways, ‘Diana of the crossroads’.

Troezen, Troizen
A city in the southern Argolis.
Bk 6:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Bk 8:611-678. Bk 15:259-306. Its later ruler is Pittheus.
Bk 15:259-306. The earthquake described here by Ovid is sited by Strabo at Methone. Troizen was a sanctuary of Poseidon- Neptune, god of the sea, the bulls, and earthquakes as were Helice and Buris, according to Pausanias.
Bk 15:479-546. Hippolytus is killed near there, when the bull from the sea, rises from the waves.

Troezenius heros
Bk 8:547-610. Lelex, an inhabitant of Troezen.

Troy, Troia, and Troianus,Troicus (of Troy), Ilium
Troy in Dardania, the famous city of the Troad in Asia Minor near the northern Aegean Sea and the entrance to the Hellespont.
Bk 6:70-102. The home city of Antigone, daughter of Laomedon.
Bk 8:329-375. The future scene of the TrojanWar.
Bk 9:211-272. The place where Philoctetes will be needed, to make use of the bow of Hercules, on the Greek side, in the war.
Bk 11:194-220. Apollo and Neptune built its walls for Laomedon.
Bk 11:749-795. Priam was its last king.
Bk 12:1-38. The Greeks set sail from Aulis to make war over the abduction of Helen by Paris.
Bk 12:579-628. The ten-year war. The death of Achilles.
Bk 13:1-122. Captured by Hercules.
Bk 13:399-428. Troy falls to the Greeks and is burned.
Bk 13:429-480. It lies opposite the land of the Bistones.
Bk 13:481-575. The Trojan women, who aid Hecuba, and are moved by her fate.
Bk 13:576-622. Its cause was aided by Aurora.
Bk 13:623-639. Bk 14:101-153. Bk 15:745-842. Troy’s destiny lies with Aeneas.
Bk 13:640-674. Agamemnon is its ravager.
Bk 13:705-737. Helenus builds a replica of Troy at Buthrotos.
Bk 14:445-482. Aeneas and his Trojans wage war in Latium.
BkXV:143-175. Pythagoras fought in the Trojan war, as his incarnation Euphorbus.
Bk 15:418-452. A symbol of vanished glory, but as its descendant city, Rome, a symbol of glory to come.
Bk 15:622-745. An epithet of the goddess Vesta, a name for Tauric Diana at Nemi.

Troius
Bk 11:749-795. An epithet of Aesacus, son of Priam.
Bk 14:154-222. An epithet of Aeneas.

Turnus
King of the Rutuli in Italy, who opposed Aeneas. His capital was at Ardea, south of Rome, near modern Anzio.
Bk 14:445-482. He goes to war when Aeneas steals his promised bride Lavinia. He sends Venulus to ask help from Diomede.
Bk 14:527-565. He burns Aeneas’s fleet.
Bk 14:566-580. Bk 15:745-842. He is defeated.

Tuscus
Bk 3:597-637. Tuscan or Etrurian, but also Tyrrhenian since Etruria was settled by immigrants from Mysia.
Bk 14:609-622. The Tiber is a Tuscan stream.

Tydides
Bk 12:579-628. Bk 13:1-122. Diomede, son of Tydeus.

Tyndaridae
Bk 8:260-328. The twins, Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, the sons of Leda by the Spartan king Tyndareus, both present at the Calydonian Boar-Hunt.

Tyndaris
Bk 15:199-236. An epithet of Helen, as the daughter of Tyndareus.

Typhoeus
Bk 3:273-315. Bk 14:1-74. The hundred-handed giant, one of the sons of Earth, who fought the gods. Deposed by Jupiter he was buried under Sicily.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that he chased the gods into Egypt.
Bk 5:332-384. Calliope, the Muse, tells how Typhoeus was buried under Sicily by the gods.

Tyria paelex
Bk 3:253-272. An epithet of Europa.

Tyros, Tyre, Tyrius(=Tyrian)
Bk 2:833-875. The city of the Phoenicians in the Lebanon.
Bk 5:30-73. Bk 6:26-69. Bk 10:243-297.Famed for its purple dyes used on clothing, obtained from the murex shell-fish.
Bk 5:385-424. The violet flowers of Enna picked by Proserpine are compared to the purple dyes.
Bk 6:204-266. Amphion’s sons have Tyrian dyed horsecloths.
Bk 9:324-393. The flowers of the lotus tree are compared in colour to its dyes.
Bk 10:143-219. The colour of Hyacinthus’s flower.
Bk 11:146-171. Phoebus’s robes are of Tyrian purple.
Bk 15:259-306. Once an island harbour, subsequently linked to the mainland.

Tyrrhenia, Tyrrhenian
Bk 15:552-621. Inhabitants of Maeonia in Lydia. The Tyrrhenians migrated into Italy from Lydia (Tyrrha on the River Cayster) to form the rootstock of the Etrurians (Etruscans).
Bk 3:572-596. Acoetes the priest of Bacchus explains his Tyrrhenian origins.
Bk 14:1-74. Glaucus crosses the Tyrrhenian Sea to seek out Circe. (Possibly located at Cape Circeo, between Anzio and Gaeta)
Bk 14:445-482. The Etrurians who go to war with the Trojans under Aeneas.

Ulysses, Ulixes
The Greek hero, son of Laertes. See Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
(See Francesco Primaticcio’s painting – Ulysses and Penelope – The Toledo Museum of Art)
Bk 12:579-628. He competes for the arms of Achilles.
Bk 13:1-122. Ajax cites his deficiencies; his cunning; his reluctance to join the expedition against Troy; his desertion of Philoctetes; his desertion of Nestor; his desertion of the ships when Hector torched them; his unworthy victims; and his theft of the Palladium.
Bk 13:123-381. Ulysses replies by extolling intelligence and ability over ancestry and mere brawn and courage. He is nobler than Ajax; he discovered the concealed Achilles and sent him to Troy; influenced Agamemnon at Aulis and Troy; went as ambassador to Priam; uncovered a spy, Dolon; killed Rhesus and others; and made the destruction of Troy possible by obtaining the Palladium, its guarantee of safety. He claims Diomede as a true friend.
Bk 13:399-428. He sets sail for Lemnos to bring back the arrows of Hercules.
Bk 13:399-428. He finds Hecuba among the tombs of her sons at the fall of Troy.
Bk 13:481-575. Even Ulysses would not want Hecuba except as the mother of Hector.
Bk 13:705-737. Ithaca is his home.
Bk 13:738-788. Telemus prophesies that he will destroy the single eye of Polyphemus.
Bk 14:154-222. Macareus and Achaemenides were two of his companions. He blinded Polyphemus, and his ship was nearly wrecked by him.
Bk 14:223-319. Aeolus gave him the bag of winds, but opened by his men, he was blown back to Aeolus, then encountered the Laestrygonians and came to Circe’s isle where his men were transformed into beasts. He ‘married’ Circe, rescued them, and stayed there for a year.
Bk 14:527-565. The Trojan ships transformed into naiads rejoice to see the wreckage of his ship.
Bk 14:623-697. Penelope waits for him while he is delayed by the war.

Urania
One of the nine Muses, later Muse of Astronomy.
Bk 5:250-293. She welcomes Minerva to Helicon.

Ursa Major, The Great Bear, The Waggon (plaustra), The Wain, The Plough, The Big Dipper, Helice
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of Ursa Major. It represents Callisto turned into a bear by Jupiter, or the plough or waggon or cart of Bootes. The two stars of the ‘bowl’ furthest from the ‘handle’, Merak and Dubhe, point to Polaris the pole star. The ‘handle’ points to the star Arcturus in the constellation Bootes, who is the Waggoner or Herdsman or Bear Herd (Arcturus means the Bearkeeper) or Ploughman.
Bk 2:496-507. Jupiter turns Callisto into the Great Bear and Arcas her son into the Little Bear, Ursa Minor.
Bk 2:508-530. The constellation is prevented, through Juno’s request to Tethys and Oceanus, from dipping below the horizon.
Bk 8:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation.

Ursa Minor, Triones
Bk 2:150-177. The constellation of the Little Bear or Little Dipper, said to have been introduced by Thales in about 600BC. Close to Polaris the Pole Star it is a smaller version of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, and represents the far north.
Bk 2:496-507. Jupiter turns Arcas into the Little Bear and his mother Callisto into the Great Bear, Ursa Major.

Venilia
Bk 14:320-396. The wife of Janus, and mother of Canens.

Venulus
Bk 14:445-482. A messenger from Turnus to Diomede.
Bk 14:512-526. He returns having failed to win Diomede’s help.

Venus
Bk 1:438-472. The Goddess of Love. The daughter of Jupiter and Dione. She is Aphrodite, born from the waves, an incarnation of Astarte, Goddess of the Phoenicians. The mother of Cupid by Mars.
(See Botticelli’s painting – Venus and Mars – National Gallery, London)
Bk 4:167-189. Bk 14:1-74. She commits adultery with Mars and is caught in a net by her husband Vulcan after Sol has betrayed their affair.
Bk 4:190-213. She is called Cytherea, from the island of Cythera, and takes her revenge on Sol.
Bk 4:346-388. She is the mother of Hermaphroditus, by Mercury, and grants, with him, their son’s prayer that the pool of Salmacis weaken anyone who bathes there.
Bk 4:512-542. She asks Neptune her uncle to change Ino and her son into sea-deities.
Bk 5:294-331. The Emathides pretend that she fled to Egypt in the war between the giants and the gods, and there she hid in the form of a fish.
Bk 7:796-865. Cephalus would prefer Procris to her.
Bk 9:394-417. She gave Harmonia the fatal necklace made by Vulcan (Hephaestus), that was Jupiter’s love gift to Europa, and that conferred irresistible beauty.
Bk 9:418-438. She wishes to ward off old age from her mortal lover Anchises.
Bk 9:439-516. Bk 9:517-594. Byblis names her.
Bk 9:764-797. She attends weddings with Juno and Hymen.
Bk 10:220-242. She turned the Cerastae into wild bullocks, and forced the Propoetides to perform acts of public prostitution. This latter was a feature of the worship of the great goddess as Astarte and Diana(at Ephesus etc). Cyprus was one of her sacred islands.
Bk 10:243-297. She brings the ivory girl Pygmalion created to life.
Bk 10:503-559. She falls in love with Adonis. (He is a vegetation god, and as her consort, mirrors Attis with Cybele, Tammuz with Astarte etc See Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’.)
Bk 10:560-637 . Bk 10:638-680. She tells the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes.
Bk 10:681-707. She initiates her revenge on Hippomenes, and warns Adonis to avoid the wild beasts of the forest.
Bk 10:708-739. Adonis ignores her warning and is killed by a wild boar (sacred to her as the moon goddess) that gores his thigh. She initiates the annual re-enactment of his death (a vegetation ritual, of the death and resurrection of the Goddess’s consort), and turns his blood into the fragile anemone, the windflower. (See Frazer: The Golden Bough XXIX).
Bk 13:623-639. Aeneas is her son by Anchises.
Bk 13:640-674. She is Aeneas’s guardian goddess in his wanderings, and the white doves, into which the daughters of Anius are turned, are sacred to her.
Bk 13:738-788. Her influence is gentle but powerful, making Polyphemus change his nature after falling in love with Galatea.
Bk 14:1-74. She perhaps made Circe, Sol’s daughter, susceptible to passion, in revenge for her father’s tale-bearing, see above.
Bk 14:445-482. Bk 15:745-842. She punished Diomede for wounding her during the Trojan War.
Bk 14:483-511. She changes Diomede’s friends into birds.
Bk 14:566-580. She obtains deification for her son Aeneas.
Bk 14:623-697. She hates hard hearts.
Bk 14:698-771. Cyprian Salamis has a temple of Venus Prospiciens –‘she who looks out’.
Bk 14:772-804. She asks the naiades to help the Romans. (Pursuing her support for the descendants of her son Aeneas.)
Bk 15:745-842. She asks the gods to prevent the assassination of her descendant Julius Caesar. Jupiter, however, declares his deification, prophesies the glory of his ‘son’ Augustus, and allows Venus to snatch him up into heaven, as a comet.
Bk 15:843-870. She sets Julius Caesar among the stars.

Vertumnus
An ancient Italian god, of the seasons and their produce.
Bk 14:623-697. He sets out to woo Pomona, in disguise.
Bk 14:698-771. He reveals his true form, and wins her.

Vesta
The daughter of Saturn. The goddess of fire. The ‘shining one’. Every hearth had its Vesta, and she presided over the preparation of meals and was offered first food and drink. Her priestesses were the Vestal Virgins. Her chief festival was the Vestalia in June. The Virgins took a strict vow of chastity and served for thirty years. They enjoyed enormous prestige, and were preceded by a lictor when in public. Breaking of their vow resulted in whipping and death. There were twenty recorded instances in eleven centuries.
Bk 15:622-745. A name for the Tauric Diana at Nemi.
Bk 15:745-842. She ‘married’ her high priest the ‘king of Rome’, e.g. Julius Caesar. See Fraser’s ‘The Golden Bough’ Ch1 et seq.
Bk 15:843-870. She is worshipped with her brother Phoebus, and is set among Caesar’s ancestral gods.

Virbius
Bk 15:479-546. The name for the deified Hippolytus in Italy. He was the King of the Wood (Rex Nemorensis) at Nemi, near Aricia.
He was Diana’s consort, and a minor deity with Egeria.

Volturnus
Bk 15:622-745. A river, the modern Volturno, in Campania that runs by the site of ancient Capua.

Vulcan, Mulciber
Bk 2:752-786. Son of Juno. The blacksmith of the gods, father of Erichthonius. His home is on Lemnos.
Bk 4:167-189. He catches his adulterous wife Venus in a net.
Bk 7:100-158. Creator of the bronze-footed bulls of King Aeetes.
Bk 7:425-452. Periphetes the cripple was his son by Anticleia. he owned a huge bronze club with which he killed passers by. Theseus defeated him.
Bk 9:211-272. The god of fire. Hercules on his funeral pyre is subject to it only in his mortal part, owed to his mother Alcmene.
Bk 12:579-628. He made for Thetis, the armour of Achilles, and his fire is the flame of Achilles’s funeral pyre.
Bk 13:1-122. Lemnos is his island.

Xanthus, Scamander
Bk 2:227-271. A river of Troy in Asia Minor and the river-god. His brother and companion river is the Simois. (See Homer’s Iliad). He is a son of Zeus. In the Iliad Achilles drives the Trojans into a bend of the river ‘as though a swarm of locusts driven into the river by a raging fire, clustered in the water to escape the flames’ and slaughters them till Scamander runs red with blood.

Zancle, Messene, Messana
An older name for the city of Messana (Messina) in Sicily.
Bk 13:705-737. Aeneas passes it.
Bk 14:1-74. Glaucus leaves it behind. Scylla is transformed there.
Bk 15:259-306. Once joined to Italy before the formation of the straits of Messina.

Zephyrus
Bk 1:52-68. The West Wind. Eurus is the East Wind, Auster is the South Wind, and Boreas is the North Wind.

Zetes
Book VI:675-721. One of the winged sons of Boreas and Orithyia. One of the Argonauts.
Bk 7:1-73. Drives away the Harpies.