Oh My Gods, page 39
GRAEAE, ancient gray-haired hags who shared a single eye among themselves, which was stolen by Perseus.
HADES (Latin Pluto or Dis), in Greek mythology, the name for both Zeus’ brother, who served as god of the underworld, and the land of the dead itself.
HARMONIA, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, wife of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes.
HARPIES, foul female monsters with the bodies of birds, best known for ruining the food of Phineus, king of Thrace, and Aeneas on his voyage to Italy.
HEBE, daughter of Zeus and Hera who married Hercules.
HECATE, goddess of the underworld and the dark forces of the universe.
HECTOR, son of Priam and greatest hero of the Trojans.
HELEN, queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus who went with Paris to Troy, provoking the Trojan War.
HELENUS, son of Priam and a Trojan seer.
HELIOS (Latin Sol), son of the Titan Hyperion, he was god of the sun and father of the unfortunate Phaethon.
HEPHAESTUS (Latin Vulcan), crippled god of the forge, usually described as a son of Hera.
HERA (Latin Juno), daughter of Cronus and Rhea, goddess of marriage and women, she joined with her brother Zeus in an often quarrelsome marriage.
HERACLES (see Hercules)
HERCULES, known in Greek as Herakles or Heracles, greatest hero of ancient Greece.
HERMAPHRODITUS, son of Hermes and Aphrodite who unwillingly merged with the nymph Salmacis to become both male and female.
HERMES (Latin Mercury), son of Zeus and Maia, messenger of the gods, and guide for the dead to the underworld.
HERO, priestess of Aphrodite and secret bride of Leander, she killed herself rather than live without him.
HESIONE, daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy, she was rescued from a sea monster by Hercules.
HESTIA (Latin Vesta), daughter of Cronus and Rhea, she was the goddess of the hearth.
HIPPODAMIA, wife of Pelops and mother of Atreus and Thyestes.
HIPPOLYTE, Amazon queen killed by Hercules for her belt as part of his ninth labor.
HIPPOLYTUS, son of Theseus and the Amazon queen Antiope, he died after refusing the advances of his father’s wife, Phaedra.
HORATII, triplet brothers who fought as champions for Rome against three brothers from the town of Alba Longa. The last surviving Horatii brother killed the three enemy champions.
HORATIUS, called Cocles, or “one-eyed,” he held back the entire invading army of the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna on a bridge across the Tiber.
HYACINTH, a prince of Sparta and lover of Apollo who was killed accidentally by the god, who then transformed him into a flower.
HYLAS, boy lover of Hercules who accompanied the hero on the voyage of the Argonauts until he was lured into a spring by a nymph.
Hymen, god of marriage in later classical stories.
HYPERION, son of Earth and Sky, he was the father of Eos, Helios, and Selene.
HYPERMNESTRA, daughter of Danaus who refused her father’s orders to kill her new husband, Lynceus.
IAPETUS, son of Earth and Sky, father of Atlas and Prometheus.
ICARUS, son of Daedalus who died when he flew too close to the sun while escaping Crete on wings.
INACHUS, river god in Argos, father of Io.
INO, daughter of Cadmus, sister of Semele, she became a minor sea goddess.
IO, unfortunate and unwilling lover of Zeus, turned into a cow by the god to disguise his affair from Hera, who nonetheless long tormented Io.
ION, son of Creusa after Apollo raped her, he became a priest at Delphi.
IPHICLES, mortal brother of Hercules.
IPHIGENIA, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra sacrificed at Aulis to gain a favorable wind for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy.
IRIS, goddess of the rainbow and divine messenger.
ISMENE, daughter of Oedipus and sister of Antigone.
IULUS, also known as Ascanius, he was the son of Aeneas and his first wife, Creusa.
IXION, king of Thessaly who tried to seduce Hera, but by the design of Zeus made love with a cloud and fathered the first of the centaurs.
JASON, leader of the Argonauts who retrieved the Golden Fleece with the help of Medea.
JOCASTA, mother and wife of Oedipus.
JUNO (see Hera)
JUPITER (see Zeus)
LACHESIS, one of the three Fates, she measured out the thread of life.
LAIUS, father of Oedipus who was unknowingly murdered by his son.
LAOCOON, Trojan priest of Apollo who told his countrymen to beware of Greeks bearing gifts before he was killed by a sea monster sent from Poseidon.
LAOMEDON, king of Troy who cheated Apollo and Poseidon after they labored for him for a year.
LAPITHS, a tribe in northern Thessaly who battled the centaurs at the wedding of their king, Peirithous.
LARS PORSENNA, Etruscan king and enemy of Rome.
LATINUS, elderly Italian king who at first welcomed Aeneas to his shores, then withdrew his support when hostilities began.
LAVINIA, daughter of Latinus and second wife of Aeneas.
LEANDER, secret husband of Hero who swam the straits of the Hellespont each night to be with her.
LEDA, mother of Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux.
LETO, daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, she was mother of Apollo and Artemis.
LUCRETIA, Roman wife who killed herself after being raped by her husband’s best friend.
MAIA, daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes by Zeus.
MARS (see Ares)
MARSYAS, foolish satyr who challenged Apollo to a flute contest and was flayed alive by the god when he lost.
MEDEA, daughter of Aeetes of Colchis, she sacrificed everything to help Jason retrieve the Golden Fleece, but later murdered her children in revenge when Jason abandoned her.
MEDUSA, once a beautiful maiden, she became a hideous Gorgon and was killed by Perseus, who used her head to turn his enemies to stone.
MEGARA, first wife of Hercules, murdered by the hero in a fit of madness.
MELAMPUS, Greek seer who could understand the language of animals.
MELEAGER, Greek hero who sailed with the Argonauts, the Fates told his mother he would live only as long as a certain log was not burned; later she burned it in anger.
MELPOMENE, muse of tragedy.
MENELAUS, son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen before Paris took her to Troy.
METIS, daughter of Ocean and Tethys, she helped Zeus overthrow Cronus. Zeus then married her, but swallowed her whole when she became pregnant. Their daughter, Athena, later burst from his forehead.
MEZENTIUS, cruel Etruscan king who fought against Aeneas.
MIDAS, king in Phrygia who was granted the power to turn anything he touched into gold. In a separate incident, Apollo gave him the ears of an ass.
MINERVA (see Athena)
MINOS, son of Europa and king of Crete, he ordered Daedalus to build the Labyrinth to house the Minotaur.
MINOTAUR, deadly half-human, half-bull offspring of his mother, Pasiphae, and a bull.
MNEMOSYNE, wife of Zeus and mother of the Muses.
MOERAE (see Fates)
MUSES, goddesses who inspired poets, artists, and scholars.
MYRRHA, mother of Adonis by an incestuous relationship with her father.
NARCISSUS, beautiful son of a nymph and river god, he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool and starved to death.
NAUSICAA, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of Phaeacia, she helped Odysseus when he washed ashore on their island.
NEMESIS, goddess of retribution.
NEPTUNE (see Poseidon)
NEREUS, sea god and father of fifty nymph daughters, the Nereids.
NESSUS, centaur driven from Acadia by Hercules, he tricked Hercules’ wife Deianara into giving her husband a cloak soaked in his poisonous blood.
NESTOR, aged king of Pylos who advised Agamemnon during the Trojan War.
NIGHT (Greek Nyx), born from primordial Chaos, she was the personification of darkness and the mother of many children.
NIOBE, proud and foolish mother of many sons and daughters who had all her children slain by Apollo and Artemis when she insulted their mother, Leto.
NUMITOR, grandfather of Romulus and Remus.
NYMPHS, minor female deities of various origins and types, such as Dryads (tree nymphs) and Oceanids (daughters of Ocean).
OCEAN, son of Earth and Sky, he was the great river of boundless water that encircled the world.
ODYSSEUS (Latin Ulysses), clever Greek warrior from Ithaca, husband to Penelope and father of Telemachus. He spent ten years fighting at Troy and an equal time trying to make his way home.
OEDIPUS, son of King Laius of Thebes and Jocasta, he unknowingly killed his father and married his own mother before discovering the truth and blinding himself.
OLYMPIA, town in western Peloponnesus where the Olympic games were founded by Hercules.
OLYMPUS, MOUNT, home of the gods, this series of peaks between Thessaly and Macedonia reaches almost ten thousand feet in height.
ORESTES, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, he avenged his father’s death by killing his mother.
ORION, hunter of giant size born from a bull hide soaked with urine from Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes.
ORPHEUS, son of the Muse Calliope, he was the greatest bard in ancient Greece.
ORTHUS, ferocious hound born from Typhon and Echidna.
OTUS, with his twin brother and fellow giant Ephialtes, he launched an almost successful attack on the gods at Mount Olympus.
PALLAS, (1) a Titan born of Crius and Eurybia. (2) Son of King Evander who was killed by Turnus and avenged by Aeneas.
PAN (Latin Faunus), shepherd god fathered by Hermes.
PANDORA, the first mortal woman, created as a beautiful punishment for men by Zeus.
PARIS, son of King Priam of Troy, he took Helen from her husband Menelaus and precipitated the Trojan War.
PASIPHAE, wife of Minos who mated with a bull to produce the Minotaur.
PATROCLUS, best friend of Achilles killed by Hector at Troy.
PEGASUS, winged horse sprung from the body of Medusa.
PELEUS, father of Achilles by the goddess Thetis.
PELIAS, uncle of Jason who sent him on the search for the Golden Fleece.
PELOPS, son of Tantalus and father of Atreus, he was restored to life after he was cut up by his father and served to the gods.
PENELOPE, wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus who endured twenty years without her husband in Ithaca.
PENTHEUS, grandson of Cadmus and son of Agave, he was lured to his death by Dionysus when he refused to worship the new god.
PERIPHETES, outlaw who used his club to kill travelers, he was killed by Theseus.
PERSEPHONE, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, she was kidnapped and taken to the underworld by Hades, but later released for part of each year.
PERSEUS, son of Zeus and Danae, he beheaded Medusa, turned Atlas into a mountain, and rescued Andromeda from a sea monster.
PHAENON, handsome youth created by Prometheus and taken away by Zeus.
PHAETHON, child of Helios and Clymene, he drove his father’s chariot recklessly through the heavens and was destroyed by Zeus.
PHILEMON, elderly husband of Baucis who entertained Zeus and Hermes unawares and was rewarded for his kindness.
PHILOCTETES, set fire to the pyre of Hercules at his request and was rewarded with the hero’s bow and arrows. He later joined the Greek expedition to Troy, but was abandoned on the island of Lemnos because of his horrid stench.
PHILOMELA, sister of Procne who was raped by Tereus, who then cut out her tongue.
PHINEUS, Thracian seer who was besieged by Harpies until rescued by the Argonauts.
PHOEBE, daughter of Earth and Sky, she became the mother of Leto and Asteria by her brother Coeus.
PHOENIX, (1) brother of Cadmus and Europa, namesake of Phoenicia. (2) Tutor of Achilles.
PIRITHOUS, king of the Lapiths, he was trapped in Hades forever when he attempted to take Penelope from the underworld.
PITTHEUS, king of Troezen, father of Aethra, the mother of Theseus.
PLEIADES, seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione.
PLUTO (see Hades)
POLLUX or Polydeuces, brother of Castor and Helen, sailed with Jason on the Argo.
POLYDECTES, king of the island of Seriphus who sent Perseus to fetch Medusa’s head.
POLYHYMNIA, muse of hymns and pantomime.
POLYNICES, son of Oedipus, killed by his brother Eteocles when he attacked Thebes.
POLYPHEMUS, Cyclops blinded by Odysseus.
POMONA, Roman goddess of fruit and orchards, she resisted the love of Vertumnus.
POSEIDON (Latin Neptune), god of the seas, son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Hades.
PRIAM, father of Paris and Hector, aged king of Troy during the war against the Greeks.
PRIAPUS, son of Aphrodite; a lascivious and well-endowed god of fertility.
PROCNE, sister of Philomela and wife of Tereus, she killed her son and served him to her husband when she discovered his treatment of her sister.
PROCRIS, wife of Cephalus who tricked her husband in a test of marital faithfulness, just as he had tricked her.
PROCRUSTES, outlaw who violently fit houseguests to the size of his bed before Theseus killed him.
PROMETHEUS, son of the Titan Iapetus and creator and patron of men, who stole fire from heaven for them, he was chained to a distant mountain by Zeus as punishment and had his liver eaten daily by an eagle.
PROTEUS, shape-changing god of the sea.
PSYCHE, bride of Cupid who could not resist the urge to discover who her husband really was.
PYGMALION, king of Cyprus who carved a faultless woman out of ivory, brought to life for him by Aphrodite.
PYRAMUS, young man who loved the maiden Thisbe and killed himself when he believed her dead in a lion attack.
PYRRHA, wife of Deucalion and only female survivor of the great flood sent by Zeus.
PYTHIA, name given to the priestess of Apollo at Delphi.
PYTHON, enormous guardian serpent at Delphi killed by Apollo.
REMUS, brother of Romulus and cofounder of Rome.
RHADAMANTHYS, son of Zeus and Europa, brother of Minos, he was a lawgiver made a judge in the underworld.
RHEA, daughter of Earth and Sky, wife of Cronus, mother of Zeus and other gods.
RHEA SILVIA, daughter of Numitor and a vestal virgin who became pregnant by Mars and gave birth to the twins Romulus and Remus.
ROMULUS, son of Rhea Silvia and cofounder of Rome with his brother Remus.
SABINE WOMEN daughters of nearby Sabine villages kidnapped by Romulus to be husbands for the single men of Rome.
SALMONEUS, arrogant king who pretended he was Zeus and was destroyed by the god.
SARPEDON, son of Zeus and king of Lycia who fought and died for the Trojans in the Trojan War.
SATURN (see Cronus)
SATYR, half-man, half-goat creatures given to drinking and unrestrained sex.
SCAEVOLA, Roman warrior who proved his bravery to the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna by thrusting his hand into a fire.
SCYLLA, once a beautiful maiden, she was turned into a horrible monster by Circe.
SEA (Greek Tethys), child of Earth and Sky who married her brother Ocean.
SELENE (Roman Luna), the moon, daughter of Hyperion and sister to Helios and Eos.
SEMELE, daughter of Cadmus who asked to see Zeus in all his glory. She died, but Zeus rescued their son, Dionysus, from her womb.
SIBYL, beloved by Apollo, she tricked the god into long life but forgot to ask for eternal youth. She was the oracle who led Aeneas to the underworld at Cumae in Italy.
SINIS, outlaw who tied travelers to two bent pine trees to pull them apart; slain by Theseus.
SINON, Greek left behind on Trojan beach to tell the Trojans the lie of the Trojan Horse.
