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[German version] (Γαλινθιάς; Galinthiás). According to Nicander (Heteroiumena 4 = Antoninus Liberalis 29) G. (Galanthis in Ov. Met. 9,285-323 [5. 469f.];  Historis in Paus. 9,11,3; Akalanthis in Lib. narrationes 8, s. [1]), daughter of Proetus, helped  Alcmene when the Moirai and Eilithyia, on Hera's behalf (cf. Hom. Il. 19,119), delayed the birth of  Hercules by folding their hands. With her false report of his birth, G. alarmed them so much that they broke the magical spell and Hercules was born.…

[German version] (Ὀνομάκριτος/ Onomákritos) from Athens, second half of the 6th/beginning of the 5th cent. BC, oracle interpreter and supervisor of the oracle of Musaeus [1] ( chrēsmológos te kai diathétēs chrēsmṓn) closely connected with the Peisistratids, whose interests he did not always serve. When Lasus [1] of Hermione convicted him for adding an oracle to those of Musaeus, he was banished by Hipparchus [1]. Yet he accompanied the Peisistratids after their downfall to Xerxes in order to induce him, by means of a deliberate choice of oracles, to march against Greece (Hdt. 7,6). Sour…

[German version] (Μαινάς/ Mainás, pl. Μαινάδες/ Mainádes; Lat. Maenas, pl. Maenades). In modern research both the mythical companions (and antagonists) of Dionysus and their historical admirers are mostly called Maenads. But in Greek cult terminology the women who honour the god with a dance ritual every three years are especially called Bákchai (singular Bákchē, Lat. Bacchae), while the substantivized adjective Mainás (‘the mad one’, from maínesthai: ‘to be mad’), apart from four Hellenistic inscriptions with poetic tendencies [7. 52 with note 83], appears t…

[German version] (Ἡλιάδαι; Hēliádai). The sons of  Helios and Rhodos (Rhode: Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 137; schol. Hom. Od. 17,208 confused with Clymene, mother of Heliades [1]): Ochimus, Cercaphus, Actis, Macar(us) (Macareus), Candalus, Triopas and Phaethon (= Tenages: Pind. Ol. 7,71-73; cf. schol. 131a-c, 132a). According to a Rhodian local myth in Pind. Ol. 7,34-55 [2. 2849] Helios advised the H. to be the first to sacrifice to Athena after her birth. In their haste, however, they forgot the fire for …

[German version] (Ἱστορίς; Historís). Daughter of the seer  Teiresias (hence the probable derivation from *ιδ-, ‘to see, to know’). In the context of Theban statues of Pharmacides (= Moirai), Paus. 9,11,3 tells us that H. was able to outwit them like  Galinthias in Nicander. The epithet of Juno Historia (CIL XI 3573) can probably be traced back to H. [1]. Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) Bibliography 1 M. Renard, Iuno Historia, in: Latomus 12, 1953, 137-154.

[German version] (Ὧραι; Hôrai). Divine beings governing cycles of time. Initially, there were three; later usually four (one Hora as goddess of youthful beauty: Pind. Nem. 8,1; series recapitulating 9 or 10 names: Hyg. Fab. 183), probably in connection with distinguishing a fourth season of the year (Alcm. fr. 12 Calame; Hippoc. De aere aquis et locis 1. 10; Aristot. Gen. an. 784a 19). The appellative and the personification are at times barely distinguishable (e.g., Hom. Il. 21,450; Od. 10,469). Like other grouped divinities, the H. often appear as attendants of Olympian …

(Φαέθων/ Phaéthōn, 'the shining one', participle of the Greek phaínein). [German version] [1] Epithet of the sun god Helius Epithet of the sun god Helis (first in Hom. Od. 11,16, aside from the descriptive epithet already in Hom. Il. 11,735), which can also be used on its own to describe him in Roman (since Verg. Aen. 5,105) and Greek poetry of the Imperial period (Anth. Pal. 9,137,3; Nonnus, Dion., esp. 38,151f.). Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) [German version] [2] Son of Eos and Kephalos Son of Eos and Cephalus [1], who is kidnapped by Aphrodite and turned into a temple servant (…

[German version] (Μίση/ Mísē, also Μισατίς/ Misatís). Deity associated with Mḗtēr/Cybele (Hsch. s.v. Μ.). According to Orph. H. 42, M. was bisexual and was worshipped in Eleusis, Phrygia, Cyprus (besides Aphrodite), and Egypt (besides Isis). Inscriptions record her cult in Pergamon (Demeter sanctuary, 2nd century AD) and the surrounding region (Samurlu). Her identification with Kore (Persephone), as attested in the Samurlu inscription (cf. Eur. Hel. 1301-1368; schol. Aristoph. Plut. 431), probably lies behind the non-localised festival of her descent ( káthodos, hence proba…

[German version] (Γάλλοι/ Gálloi). ‘Servants’, ‘attendants’ and ‘worshippers’ of the  Mater Magna [1] chiefly in late Republican and Imperial Rome, described consistently as ‘priests’ only in Christian contexts. They first arose, along with the  Metragyrtae, in Asia Minor, late 3rd/early 2nd cent. BC (Pol. 21,6,6 and 21,37,5, 190 and 189 BC; as literary figures: Dioscorides, Anth. Pal. 6,220). The derivation of the name from Gauls or Galatians is now favoured by [4. 229; 3; 2. 118-120]; only from t…

[German version] (Πενθεύς/ Pentheús; in Hecataeus FGrH 1 F 31 Τενθεύς/ Tentheús). Son of the spartós Echion [1] and Agaue, cousin of Actaeon and Dionysus and the latter's opponent. The earliest surviving complete presentation of the myth is the complex and controversial Bákchai by Euripides [1] (see [7]; cf. also Theocr. 26; Ov. Met. 3,511-731: [2]; Nonn. Dion. 44 and 46). In this play, P. is the young ruler of Thebes who wants to suppress the new cult of Dionysus, into which the god forces the sisters of Semele, because they challenge …

[German version] Character in two short stories by Ovid (sources unknown): 1) Ov. Met. 9,347-348: L. is turned into the Lotus (Serv. Georg. 2,84: faba Syriaca) when she flees from an attempted rape by Priapus (motif parallels: e.g. Daphne, Ov. Met. 1,452-567; Syrinx, Ov. Met. 1,689-712); 2) Ov. Fast. 1,393-440: L. is warned by the donkey of Silenus and escapes from Priapus without metamorphosis (double in Ov. Fast. 6,319-348: Vesta instead of L.). In contrast to the question of priority that can barely be decided, nowadays Ovid's art of variation is rightly emphasized. Heinze, Theodor (…

(Κυδίππη; Kydíppē, Latin Cydippe). [German version] [1] Wife of Acontius According to Xenomedes (FGrH 442 T 2; F 1), Callimachus (fr. 67-75) tells how Acontius elicits from C., through an inscription on an apple (a quince: Aristaen. 1,10,26; on the apple-throwing motif: [1]), the vow that she will marry him. Attempts by the father Ceyx that came to nothing to marry C. to someone else lead to the Delphic oracle recommending Acontius as the son-in-law. Through the union the house of Acontiades is founded in…

[German version] (Χριστὸς Πάσχων; Christòs Páschōn; Lat. Christus Patiens). Christian drama on the story of the Passion, in the form of a  cento. Abbreviated to Ch. P. by A. Bladus (Ed. princeps, Rome 1542); a play of 2,632 lines, in the majority of MSS (mid 13th to beginning 16th cents.) entitled: ‘From the hand of our holy father Gregory the theologian, a dramatic presentation (  Hypóthesis ) after Euripides, comprising the incarnation for our sakes of our Saviour Jesus Christ and his world-redeeming passion’. The paraphrase, offering mo…

[German version] (Ἑρμοχάρης; Hermochárēs). Nicander (Heteroieumena 3 = Antoninus Liberalis 1) applies - in a parallel to, or an adaptation (1, 2 with [1. 71 A11]) of the tale of Acontius and  Cydippe (Call. Aitia fr. 65-75) - the motif of throwing an apple to H. of Athens and Ctesylla, the daughter of Alcidamas of Iulis on Ceos; finally the two flee together to Athens. After the death and disappearance ( aphanismós) of Ktesylla in the form of a dove (in Carthaea: Ov. Met. 7,368-370, cf. [1. 72 A20; 2]), an oracle instructs H. to establish a sanctuary in Iulis (aet…

[German version] (Πρίαπος/ Príapos, Ionian Πρίηπος/ Príēpos, Lat. Priapus). Ithyphallic god of fertility and sexuality and, more generally, of affluence and protection from harm. P. originally comes from the region in northwestern Asia Minor situated on the Hellespont  (Lampsacus most frequently cited as the place). In the Greek heartland where he was "still unknown to Hesiod" (Str. 13,1,12), like Hermaphroditus (Diod. Sic. 4,6), he generally did not appear until the 4th cent. BC and afterwards (cf. Xen…

[German version] (Κέρκαφος; Kérkaphos). One of the seven  Heliadae, of  Cydippe [3] father of the eponyms of the Rhodian towns of Lindus, Ialysus and Cameirus (Pind. Ol. 7,73 with schol. 7,131c-d; 132c; 135; Diod. Sic. 5,57,8; Str. 14,2,8). Heinze, Theodor (Geneva)

[German version] (Μητραγύρται; Mētragýrtai).Wandering ‘beggars of the Mḗtēr’ (according to Aristot. rhet. 1405a 20f. and later sources; older terms are kýbēbos: Semonides frag. 36 West; agersikýbēlis: Kratinos frag. 66 PCG); they spread and and carried out the rituals of the Mḗtēr/ Kybele by dancing ecstatically to the sound of the týmpana and kýmbala followed by begging, apparently as early as the 7th century BC in Greece, later also in Rome ( Mater magna, compare. e. g.Cic. leg. 2,40). Castration probably only took place occasionally (e.g.. Ant…

[German version] Since [7], Mythographus Homericus has been the name given to the unknown author of a Greek mythological commentary on Homer from the early Imperial period. It has been possible to deduce its existence from the mythological tales ( historíai) of the Byzantine scholia and it has now been attested by finds of papyri and an ostrakon from the period of the 1st/2nd to the 5th cent. AD ( historíai not appearing in the scholia are in POxy. 61,4096 = [1. No. 53]). The enarratio historiarum on mythical figures (genealogies, deeds), the founding of localities ( ktíseis) and the origin…

[German version] (Ὀρφικοί/ Orphikoí). In our sources, Orphikoi are exclusively 'authors of Orphic writings' (schol. Eur. Alc. 1 = OF 40; cf. Plat. Crat. 400c = OF 8: οἱ ἀμφὶ Ὀρφέα/ hoi amphì Orphéa) or 'priests who perform Orphic initations' (Ach. Tat. Isagoge in Arati phaenomena 4, p. 33,17; 6, p. 37,8 Maass = OF 70) and are also called Orpheotelestaí (Theophr. Char. 16,11 = OF T 207; Philod. Perí poiēmátōn II fr. 41 Hausrath = OF T 208; Plut. Mor. 224e). Only a bone tablet from  Olbia [1] (from the 5th cent. BC), published in 1978, appears to document the genera…

(Περιμήδης/ Perimḗdēs). [German version] [1] Companion of Odysseus Companion of Odysseus who, sometimes with Eurylochus [1], helped him in the sacrifice to the dead (Hom. Od. 11,23-24; visual representation i.a. on the Nékyia by Polygnotus, cf. [1]) and strengthened his chains as they travelled past the Sirens ( ibid. 12,195-196). Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) [German version] [2] Son of Eurystheus Son of Eurystheus, killed by the Athenians in the defence of the Heraclidae (Ps.-Apollod. 2,168) or by Heracles [1] after his final travail because the latter fel…