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[German version] is the name under which three collections of myths, which have their origins in the teaching of literature in the Middle Ages, are subsumed ever since their publication from Vatican manuscripts by A. Mai in 1831. MV I (anon., no title, now dated between around 875 and 1075, [3]): 233 short fabulae  are compiled simply in three volumes without any discernible overall theme (Main sources: Serv. in Verg.; [Lactantius Placidus] scholia in Stat. Theb.; Ps.-Lactantius Placidus, Narrationes fabularum Ovidianarum; additionally i.a. Remigius of Auxerre). MV II (anon., no…

[German version] (ὄργια/ órgia, nom. plur.; Latin sacra). Etymologically órgia, like orgeṓn (O rgeones ), probably derives from the root *εργ [2] and is thus related to ἔρδω/ érdō - ῥέζω/ rhézō ('I do', 'I sacrifice'; cf. H. Hom. ad Cererem 273f.). A connection with the Mycenaean adjective wo-ro-ki-jo-ne-jo cannot be ruled out [1]. The word ó rgia can mean 'ritual conduct' or 'cult actions', including sacrifices (Syll.3 57,4; Aesch. Sept. 180; Soph. Ant. 1013, Soph. Trach. 765), but may also denote - often clarified by ἄρρητος/ árrhētos ('unspeakable') - '(secret) rites' in the m…

[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 …

[German version] (Ἡρακλεῖδαι; Hērakleîdai). Every descendant of  Hercules may be called Herakleídēs (see below). The narrower sense of the myth, which appears to have originated in the 7th cent. (Tyrteus fr. 2 West) and was developed by the 5th cent. at the latest, of the ‘return of the H. to the Peloponnese’ refers to Hercules' son  Hyllus and his descendants until the fourth generation (main sources: (Ps.-) Apollod. 2,167-180, Diod. Sic. 4, 57-58; as well as papyrus finds of  Euripides Temenos, Temenidai, Kresphontes, Archelaos). While fleeing from Eurystheus after Hercules…

[German version] (Ἑρμαφρόδιτος; Hermaphróditos). Androgynous figure which, like that of Priapus (cf. Diod. Sic. 4,6; [6. 76-79]), did not appear before the 4th cent. BC. Though androgynous gods of the Orient like  Astarte, ‘dual-sexuality’ gods like Aphrodite-Aphroditus on Cyprus, joint cults of Hermes and Aphrodite (see below) have rites involving changing gender roles and the exchange of clothing, as well as a background of myths of successive ( Caeneus,  Teiresias) and simultaneous (e.g. Pl. Symp. 189d-192d) bisexuality, its origin remain somewhat unclear [6. 69]. The na…

(Ἁρπάλυκος; Harpálykos). [German version] [1] Trac. king Thracian king, father of  Harpalyce. Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) [German version] [2] Teacher of Heracles in wrestling From Panopeus. Son of  Hermes, teacher of  Hercules in wrestling, boxing and pancratium (Theoc. 24,111-118). Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) [German version] [3] Trojan Trojan, killed by  Camilla with a lance (Verg. Aen. 11,675). Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) [German version] [4] Son of Lycaon Son of  Lycaon (Apollod. 3,97). According to [1] to be compared with the giant Harpolycus. Heinze, Theodor (Geneva) Bibliograp…

[German version] (ὀργεῶνες/ orgeônes, also ὀργειῶνες/ orgeiônes, masc. sg. ὀργεών/ orgeṓn). Orgeônes in general were 'those in charge of orgia' (Aesch. fr. 144 Radt; Hom. Hymnus ad Apollinem 389: ὀργίονες/ orgíones). In the narrower sense, orgeônes (possibly even from as early as the Archaic period: Gai. apud Dig. 47,22,4 ex lege Solonis; not documented in inscriptions before the 4th cent. BC) were members of Attic societies who celebrated (usually annually) sacrificial rites in honour of a hero (hero cult) or a god. They [2] can be split into …

[German version] (μύησις/ mýēsis, Lat. initiatio). Myesis is the initiation into a mystery (μυστήρια/ mystḗria, Lat. initia) whereby the candidate for initiation became a μύστης ( mýstēs, Lat. initiatus, initiated). As an additional rank the initiated could later attain the epopteía . As nomen actionis for the verb μυέω/ myéō (‘I initiate’; lat. initiare), which is considered a causativum to μύω/ mýō (‘I close [lips/eyes]’), myesis semantically presupposes the term mýstēs, which, like mystḗria, is not derived from myéō but rather from mýō [1; 7. 414f.]. This derivation, which…

(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…