(See Centaurs, Circe, Chiron, Colchis, Golden Fleece, Harpies, Hylas, Medea, Orpheus, Sirens)
K
Kampê
A female monster with a female head and torso and a scorpion’s tail, sometimes described as having wings. She guarded the Hekatonkheires and Cyclopes when Kronos trapped them in Tartarus, and was killed by Zeus when he rescued them for help in the battle against the Titans.
Kronos
Youngest of the Titans, son of Uranus and Gaia, who castrated and overthrew his father. Kronos married his sister Rhea, who gave birth to many of the Olympian gods (Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Poseidon, and Zeus). Fearing that his children would overthrow him as he had overthrown his own father, Kronos swallowed them all as babies except the youngest, Zeus, for whom Rhea substituted a stone. Later Zeus led a revolt against his father, making Kronos vomit back up all the gods he had swallowed. Kronos was then imprisoned in Tartarus, the depths of the Underworld. Paradoxically, Kronos’s reign was later also remembered as a Golden Age, a utopian era in which there was universal peace and humanity did not have to work, as the earth produced food for free.
(See Aphrodite, Hades, Kampê, Ouranos, Titans, Zeus)
L
Labyrinth
Maze built on the island of Crete to hide the Minotaur, the half-bull, half-human offspring of Queen Pasiphae and a bull. King Minos ordered the Athenian master craftsman Daedalus to create an impenetrable maze with countless twists and turns to conceal this monster of royal birth, and the Minotaur grew up in the Labyrinth’s center, living off of the sacrificial victims that were sent to feed him. Thrust into the Labyrinth, these victims became hopelessly lost in its corridors until the beast loomed up out of the darkness to devour them. The word “labyrinth” possibly derives from the same root as labrys, the ancient name for a double-headed ax, a common Cretan religious symbol.
(See Ariadne, Minos, Minotaur, Pasiphae, Theseus)
Laistrygonians
Cannibalistic giants who lived in the land of Lamus, somewhere in the western Mediterranean. Odysseus and his sailors, going ashore for water and food during their long wandering, encountered the Laistrygonians. Two of them were eaten by the Laistrygonians before the rest of the crew managed to escape.
Laurel
Plant with leaves sacred to Apollo, the god of poetry, sport, and music. Crowns of laurel leaves were usually given to victors in poetry and athletic contests (and were the only prizes given to winners at the ancient Olympic Games). Today national poets are often called poets laureate after this tradition.
(See Apollo, Dryads)
Lotus
Plant with leaves that, when eaten, make you forget all desires. Odysseus on his long voyages around the Mediterranean came to the mysterious Land of the Lotus Eaters (which may have been in modern Tunisia, north Africa), whose inhabitants lived idle, contented lives thanks to their diet of lotus leaves. Some of Odysseus’ sailors who tried eating the lotus plant lost all their longing to return home and had to be dragged back to the ships by their comrades.
M
Maenads
Manic, intoxicated female followers of the wine god Dionysus. Maenads took part in drunken orgia (orgies) on the mountainside outside Greek cities, dancing alongside the god of ecstasy to the sound of drums and flutes. It was death to any man to stand against them, as Pentheus, king of Thebes, and the grieving poet Orpheus discovered: Both men were torn apart by these raving female worshippers.
(See Dionysus, Orpheus)
Master Bolt
Final, most awesome weapon of Zeus, which he only unleashed after consulting with the other gods.
Medea
Granddaughter of Helios, the sun god, and daughter of the king of Colchis, home of the Golden Fleece. As the niece of Circe, the witch who turned Odysseus’ men into swine, Medea had magic in her blood, and knew the lore of sacred herbs and potions. She helped Jason win the Golden Fleece before sailing off with him to become queen of Corinth. When Jason left her for another woman, however, she revealed her full fury. She murdered Jason’s new bride and also her own children by him, then flew off to Athens in a winged chariot drawn by dragons. In Athens she seduced the elderly King Aegeus and tried to poison Aegeus’ young son Theseus when he turned up in disguise. Foiled just in time when Theseus revealed his true identity, Medea again took off in her chariot, returning to Colchis.
(See Circe, Colchis, Golden Fleece, Jason, Talos, Theseus)
Medusa
One of the three Gorgons. Medusa and her sisters Stethno and Euryale had wings, bronze claws, and glaring eyes, and their horrific appearance alone was enough to turn all who looked on them into stone. She was killed by the hero Perseus, who with the help of the goddess Athena and the god Hermes surprised her while she slept and cut off her head. From Medusa’s severed neck sprang the winged horse Pegasus, on which Perseus fled from the other enraged Gorgons.
(See Andromeda, Athena, Geryon, Helm of Darkness, Pegasus, Perseus)
Minos
Legendary king of Crete who lived three generations before the traditional date of the Trojan War. The son of Zeus and Europa, a princess whom Zeus had carried off from her home, Minos was renowned for his kingly wisdom. He drew up laws with his brother Rhadamanthys and, in the Underworld, was said to judge the dead. But he wasn’t always wise. One day Minos prayed to Poseidon, god of the sea, to send him a fine bull to sacrifice. Minos was so impressed by Poseidon’s bull that he decided to keep it—an unfortunate decision, for his wife Pasiphae became besotted with it. From her passion was born the half-human Minotaur, which was kept in the Labyrinth. Minos also built the first navy that ruled the waves, making him thalassocrat, sea ruler. When the Athenians killed his son Androgeus, he made them send an annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, which continued until Theseus killed the monster. The name Minoan is used by modern archaeologists for the whole ancient Cretan civilization of the Bronze Age.
(See Ariadne, Cadmus and Europa, Cocalus, Hades, Labyrinth, Minotaur, Pasiphae, Theseus, Zeus)
Minotaur
Son of Queen Pasiphae of Crete and a bull sent to Pasiphae’s husband, King Minos, by Poseidon, god of the sea. It had a bull’s head and legs but the body of a man. King Minos of Crete, appalled by his queen’s monstrous offspring, had the Labyrinth built to contain it. The Minotaur lived in its center, and was fed on a diet of human sacrifices from Athens. The Minotaur, though possessed of immense strength, finally met his match in Theseus, the Athenian hero who killed him with the aid of Princess Ariadne, the Minotaur’s half-sister.
(See Aegean Sea, Ariadne, Labyrinth, Minos, Pasiphae, Pankration, Theseus)
Mount Etna
Volcano in eastern Sicily. Mount Etna was the highest volcano known to the Greeks. Reaching almost 11,000 feet, it is snow-capped much of the year. It is also frequently volcanically active, although its damage does not usually spread far. In its fiery depths Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, was said to have his main furnace, where he hammered away at his magical forge with the assistance of one-eyed giant Cyclopes. The philosopher and magus Empedocles met his death by throwing himself into Etna’s molten mouth.
(See Briares, Hephaestus, Typhon)
Mount Olympus
Highest mountain in Greece. Rising to 9,677 feet, Mount Olympus’ peaks are often shrouded in clouds or covered in snow. This led the early Greeks to consider the mountain the home of their main deities, the twelve “Olympian” gods. (Only Hades, lord of the Underworld, shunned it, preferring his own gloomy realm.) Life in the palaces built by Hephaestus on Olympus was splendid. At their great banquets the gods drank ambrosia, their divine liquor, served by Ganymede, their beautiful cupbearer, while Apollo played the lyre and the Muses sang. Mortals and demigods were permitted to visit occasionally, but Olympus was no heaven in a Christian sense; the spirits of dead humans descended to Hades’ Underworld.
(See Ganymede, Hephaestus, Hera, Mount Othrys, Zeus)
Mount O
thrys
Mountain in north-central Greece. Mount Othrys was seized by the Titans in the war that they fought against Zeus and his brother gods, the Titanomachia. But Zeus had already occupied the far grander peak of Mount Olympus; Mount Othrys is only 5,610 feet high.
N
Naiads
Nymphs who lived in fresh water, especially in streams and brooks. Like other nymphs, they were generally benevolent and were often worshipped by human beings. Though not always immortal, they had very long lives, and remained always young and beautiful.
(See Hylas, Nymphs)
Nemean Lion
Enormous lion that terrorized the area around Nemea. The Nemean Lion’s hide was so thick that normal weapons—arrows, swords, clubs—were useless against it. Killing it was the first of the Twelve Labors performed by Hercules, and he finally succeeded by closing in and sticking his arm down the creature’s throat to choke it to death. He then tried to skin it, but was unable to do so until the goddess Athena showed him how: by using the lion’s own savage claws. Wearing the lion’s hide made Hercules almost invincible.
(See Hercules)
Nereids
Fifty sea nymphs, or mermaids, daughters of the sea nymph Doris and Nereus, the old man of the sea. The Nereids lived in the depths of the ocean, and loved to play amid the waves. Three Nereids were brought up by Aphrodite, the goddess of love: Acis, Arethusa, and Thetis, all of whom were golden-haired and beautiful. Thetis was especially attractive. She caught the eyes of mortals and gods, and was desired by both Zeus and his brother Poseidon. To avoid family quarrels, Zeus arranged for the (human) king of Thessaly, Peleus, to marry her. Thetis disliked Peleus, however, and tried to escape him. From their unhappy union was born the hero Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Trojan War.
(See Andromeda, Nereus, Nymphs, Poseidon)
Nereus
Minor sea god renowned for his wisdom and prophetic powers and known as the “old man of the sea.” Nereus lived in the ocean’s depths, but surfaced at times to help shipwrecked sailors. His daughters with the sea nymph Doris were known as the Nereids.
(See Nereids)
Nymphs
Minor female divinities personifying aspects of wild nature. They came in many different guises: Dryads and hamadryads were tree nymphs; lemoniads were meadow nymphs; oreads were mountain nymphs; naiads were fresh water nymphs; Nereids and oceanids were sea nymphs. All were beautiful and forever young, and so loved by both men and gods. (The Greek word nymphe also meant unmarried young woman.) Nymphs themselves also sometimes fell in love with mortals, occasionally abducting especially handsome boys. Nymphs often accompanied gods such as Dionysus, Pan, Artemis, and Apollo, while satyrs pursued them ardently if not always with success. Nymphs were often worshipped by mortals, and they could grant humans minor favors such as helping the sick and guiding lost hunters.
(See Andromeda, Artemis, Charybdis and Scylla, Dionysus, Dryads, Hylas, Naiads, Nereids, Oceanus, Pan, Satyrs, Zeus)
O
Oceanus
Titan, and the all-encompassing Ocean. This was a great freshwater river rather than a sea that, according to early Greek geography, encircled the whole inhabited Earth beyond the east and west, and fed all the Earth’s rivers through subterranean sources. As a god, Oceanus was considered to be the son of Ouranos (the sky) and Gaia (the earth), the two primeval deities. He was the father of the oceanids, sea nymphs, and was considered a great, mainly benevolent cosmic force, essential for maintaining the Earth’s natural life by renewing the rivers and streams.
Odysseus
King of Ithaca, a tiny island. Odysseus is the focus of Homer’s second grand poem, The Odyssey, which relates Odysseus’ adventures on his long way home from the Trojan War (the real distance from Troy to Ithaca is small but the legendary distance is vast). The poem opens with Odysseus still held captive by Calypso, a bewitching nymph, after ten years. Released on Zeus’ orders, he set out with his companions on an epic journey. On the way he encountered Cyclopes, one-eyed man-eating monsters; sailed past Sirens, whose songs lured sailors to their death; outwitted the witch Circe, who turned men into pigs; and visited the Underworld. A colorful, wily hero, he survived more by his wits than his strength. Finally shipwrecked, with all his crew drowned, Odysseus reached the land of the Phaecians. There the beautiful princess Nausicaa found and befriended him, and introduced him to the king. The Phaecians listened to his tales, gave him gifts, and sent him back to Ithaca. But his adventures did not end when his ship touched his native shores, for in his twenty-year absence his faithful wife Penelope had been pestered by suitors. Thinking Odysseus dead, they wanted to marry her and gain the kingdom. In disguise, Odysseus returned to his palace to take revenge—by killing all the suitors with a great bow that he alone had the strength to draw. Then at last he and Penelope were reunited in the great marriage bed he had made long ago.
(See Athena, Calypso, Circe, Cyclopes, Ithaca, Laistrygonians, Lotus, Medea, Odyssey, Polyphemus, Poseidon, Sirens)
Odyssey, The
Second of Homer’s great epic poems. The Odyssey relates the adventures of Odysseus on his long way home from the Trojan War to Ithaca.
(See Ithaca, Odysseus, Polyphemus)
Oedipus
Son of Laius, king of Thebes. To avert a prophecy that his son would kill him, Laius ordered a shepherd to expose baby Oedipus on a mountainside. But the shepherd saved Oedipus, who was brought up by the king of Corinth as his own. Oedipus, warned by an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother, fled Corinth to avoid this. But at a crossroads near Thebes he met and killed Laius, who he failed to recognize, and won a debate with the Sphinx, an enigmatic lion-like creature. Reaching Thebes, Oedipus was hailed as king and married the widowed queen Jocasta. Years later, as plague ravaged Thebes, Oedipus heard from the Delphic Oracle that the killer of Laius was the plague’s cause. Finally he realized that he had killed his own father. Hearing the news of her husband’s murder and her own incest, Jocasta committed suicide. Oedipus blinded himself and went into exile.
(See Sphinx)
Ogygia
Calypso’s island home, where Odysseus washed ashore after his men perished. There is much speculation regarding Ogygia’s location. Some associate Ogygia with present-day Gozo, in the Mediterranean Sea. Others associate Ogygia with the lost Atlantis.
(See Calypso)
Ophiotaurus
Hybrid monster whose front resembled a bull’s and whose rear resembled a serpent’s. This creature, which was among Gaia’s weirdest offspring, became an ally of Zeus and was killed with an adamantine axe by Briares, one of the Titan’s allies, during their war against the gods of Olympus. The Ophiotaurus’ entrails, when set alight, produced a fire so great that it could have destroyed any of the gods, even Zeus. After the Ophiotaurus’ death, it was placed by a grateful Zeus in the heavens as the combined constellations Taurus (bull) and Cetus (whale).
Oracles
Places where the Greeks asked advice from the gods. There were several important oracles: Dodona in northwest Greece, reputedly the oldest oracle, where Zeus spoke from a grove of sacred oak trees; the island Delos, where Apollo was honored; Siwah, in the western desert of Egypt, where Amon, the Egyptian equivalent of Zeus, was worshipped, and which Alexander the Great visited in 331 B.C.; and above all the Pythian Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, the most sacred site in the Greek world.
(See Delphi, Python)
Orpheus
Son of the god Apollo and the Muse Calliope. Orpheus was the archetypal poet, whose music had magical powers. He accompanied Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and proved useful when his music was able to refloat their ship when it stranded, and when he was able to counter the song of the Sirens with his own, thus saving the ship’s crew from certain death. He loved his wife Eurydice so deeply that when she died from a snakebite, he descended to the Underworld. His singing charmed the ferryman Charon, the infernal watchdog Cerberus, and even Hades him
self. The god agreed to let Eurydice return with Orpheus provided he did not look back at her until they had left the Underworld. But he could not resist glancing round at her on the long path towards daylight, and so lost her forever. Grieving, he retired to the wilderness, where his music charmed the animals. Still mourning Eurydice, he spurned all women, until the Maenads, enraged by his celibacy, tore him to pieces. However, his head, still singing, floated over the waters to the island of Lesbos. Many mystical poems about immortality, written after his death, were later attributed to him.