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[German version] In pagan Rome, the antistes is the leader of rites and administrator of a temple, the priest or high priest, though not as a specialist term in sacred language, despite its rare inscriptional use (CIL III 1115,7. X 5654). As old Roman temples did not have permanent priests, the expression was used for specific sacral colleagues such as the vestals (Liv. 1,20,2) or the Decemviri as A. of Apollo (Liv. 10,8,2), for foreign (peregrine) gods like Ceres with a fixed priesthood, or for cults outside Rome (Cic. Verr. 2,3,111). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography J. Marquardt, …

[German version] (Ἀντέρως; Antérōs). ‘Mutual love’, as personified requited love, likewise the avenger of an unrequited love (Serv. Aen. 4,520). In a palaistra from Elis a plastic group of both these was to be seen, in which A. sought to seize the victory palm from Eros (Paus. 6,23,5; altars: 6,23,3); on Tenos C. Pandusinus dedicated Nikes, Erotes and Anteros (IG XII 5,917). Near to the Acropolis in Athens Anteros had an altar as  Alastor (Avenger) of an unrequited love (Paus. 1,30,1), and in an erotic defixio of the imperial period the Anterotes are invoked [1]. In theological …

[German version] (Αἰγιάλεια; Aigiáleia). In prose also Aegiale, daughter of Adrastus (Hom. Il. 5,412) and Amphithea (Apollod. 1,79), and wife of Diomedes. In order to avenge herself for being wounded by Diomedes (Il. 5,330 ff,) Aphrodite coerces her, during Diomedes' absence in Troy, into getting involved with many young men in Argus. Upon returning home, Diomedes wants to murder A., or he flees in abhorrence to Calydon, and then to Italy. The myth establishes Diomedes' Italian adventure with the a…

[German version] (Κελεός; Keleós). An Eleusinian local hero, local king and husband of  Metaneira, who upon the wish of his four daughters hospitably receives  Demeter who is wandering in search of her daughter, entrusts to her the care of his newborn son  Demophon [1] and finally builds her first temple after her epiphany (H. Hom. Cer.; a slightly different version according to the old poet Pamphus is given in Paus. 1,38,3); as a local hero, C. receives cult worship at the Eleusinia (LSCG 10,72). …

[German version] (Λητώ; Lētṓ). Daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe (Hes. Theog. 405). She gives birth to Zeus' twins Apollo and Artemis and appears closely connected to them from Homer (Il. 5,447; 20,39f.). However, the birth of Apollo is closely linked to Delos, while that of Artemis is also linked to Ephesus. In both cases, the myth speaks of Hera's hostility which forces L. to make a long journey and delays the birth. On Delos, the floating island, where L. is finally accepted after sh…

[German version] (Ἀκανθίς, ‘siskin’ and Ἄκανθος, ‘goldfinch’). Daughter and son of Autonous and Hippodamia, sisters of Erodius (‘Heron’), Anthus (obscure bird-name), Schoineus (likewise). When the mares from the father's horse stud pulled Anthus apart, the family grieved for him, until out of compassion Zeus and Apollo transformed them all into birds: the parents into a bittern and a crested lark, the children into the birds whose names they bore (Anton. Lib. 7). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography P.M.C. Forbes Irving, Metamorphosis in Greek myth, 1990, 224 f.

[German version] (Κυνοκέφαλοι; Kynoképhaloi, ‘dog heads’) is the term for various fanciful frontier peoples; they settled in Libya (Hdt. 4,191), in Ethiopia (Aesch. fr. 603ab Mette; Str. 16,4,16) and in India (Ctesias, FGrH 688 F 45), and are considered to be particularly just and long-lived. The link between animal and ideal human traits typifies this utopian thought. Moreover the word also describes the baboons sacred to Egypt.  Monsters Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

Roman god of the outdoors, early identified with the Greek  Pan. In poetry and especially in the figurative arts the two generally coincide: F., lover of the  Nymphs (Hor. Carm. 3,18,1) and insatiable erotomaniac [1], comes from Hellenistic mythology. F. does not have his own iconography [2; 3]. Like Pan, he is associated with forest and mountains as well as with goats and sheep. More his own is his role as originator of nightmares and numinous voices (and then generally as a seer), his association with the   Lupercalia and his integral place in the line of origi…

[German version] (χίμαιρα; chímaira). C., ‘goat’, is the Lycian monster, ‘lion in front, snake behind, and she-goat in the middle’ (Hom. Il. 6,181 = Lucr. 5,905), slain by  Bellerophon. It is the child of  Typhon by Echidna, mother of the  Sphinx (Phix: Hes. Theog. 319-326); a different tradition says it was reared by the Lycian Amisodarus (Hom. Il. 16,328). A firm component of the myth, since Homer, is that it breathes fire: according to Ov. Met. 9,647 and Apollod. 2,31 from the eponymous goat's h…

[German version]  Elk-like animal of nordic countries (Scandinavia or Gangavia), known to the Romans only from hearsay. In the descriptions (Plin. HN 8,39; Solin. 20,3) zoological mirabilia of other animals (elk, elephant, rhinoceros) are mixed with possibly genuine memories of the giant deer, which died out in historical times. The Pliny report survives in the Song of the Nibelungs (16,937), where the achlis is replaced by the ‘Schelch’. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography W. Richter, A., in: Philologus 103, 1959, 281 ff.

[German version] (Ἀγαπήνωρ; Agapḗnōr). Son of Ancaeus (Hyg. Fab. 97), king in Tegea. In connection with the murder of  Alcmaeon [1], Arsinoe, the daughter of Phegeus, was brought to him by her brothers as a slave in a chest (Apollod. 3,90). A. was one of Helen's suitors (Apollod. 3,129) and led the Arcadians before Troy (Hom. Il. 2,609). On the return journey he came to Cyprus, where he founded Paphus and its sanctuary of Aphrodite (Paus. 8,5,2). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography W. Kullmann, Die Quellen der Ilias, 1960, 97.

The goddess of fortune with an ancient cult in Italy; in the Republican period mostly understood as favourable chance but later considered increasingly negative, at least in literature. The myth of her relationship to Servius  Tullius demonstrates that this deification of an abstraction is to be understood in the full personal meaning ( Personification).The multitude of her cultic specifications (lists: Plut. Mor. 281e; 322f.) makes a uniform interpretation of origin and function difficult (revi…

[German version] Daughter of Phegeus of Psophis, possesses the necklace of Eriphyle (Paus. 2,24,8-10); also called  Arsinoe [3]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀγαμήδη; Agamḗdē). Daughter of Augeias, wife of Mulius, like Medea, one with knowledge of healing herbs (Hom. Il. 11,740 f.; Eust. Dion. Per. 322). With Poseidon, mother of Belus, Actor and Dictys (Hyg. Fab. 157). Her name is suggestive (‘Great Thinker’), like the variant Perimede (‘Intense Thinker’, Theoc. 2,16; Prop. 2,4,8) or the name of Medea's mother Idyia (‘Knowing One’). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀρείων [ Areíōn], in MSS also Ἀρίων [ Aríōn], on coins Ἐρίων [ Eríōn]). Adrastus' horse, descended from the gods (Hom. Il. 23,346). Poseidon, in the form of a stallion, fathered it in Thelpousa in Arcadia with Demeter, who had wanted to escape from him by transforming herself into a mare: the myth explains the epicleses of both deities -- Hippios and Erinys (the ‘Angry One’, Paus. 8,25,4-8). After the Cyclic Thebais, Adrastus saves himself on the horse and is the only survivor from the battle of the Seven against Thebes (Paus. 8,25,8). Before Adrast…

(Ἀμφικτύων; Amphiktýōn). [German version] [1] Mythical third king of Athens The third king of Athens, successor of Cranaus, predecessor of Erichthonius, autochthonous or son of Deucalion (Apollod. 3,187; Paus. 1,2,6). He entertained Dionysus in Attica, which in the Athenian region of Dionysus Melpomenus was represented by terracottas (Paus. 1,2,5); in this way he learned the custom of mixing the wine with water, and founded the altar of Dionysus Orthos, of ‘upright Dionysus’ (Philochorus, FGrH 328 F 5 = Athens. 2,7,38 cd) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Son or …

[German version] (Κισσεύς; Kisseús, from Greek κισσός, ‘ivy’, the holy plant of  Dionysus; Latin Cisseus). Name of several mythical kings associated with Thrace and Macedonia (Dionysus' supposed native land) -- the fabrication of these figures is evident. The father of  Hecabe (Eur. Hec. 3 with schol.), the guest of Anchises (Verg. Aen. 5,536f.), whom Serv. z.St. identifies with the former, the father of the Trojan priestess of Athena  Theano (Str. 7,330 fr. 24) are Thracian kings. The treacherous Macedonian …

[German version] (Ἄτυμνος; Átymnos). Cretan hero, brother of Europa. A funeral in Gortyn commemorated his early death, which Phoebus A. (Adymnus) found as charioteer of the sun (Sol. 11,9; Nonnus, Dion. 11,128ff.; 258; 12,217; 19,180). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography R. F. Willetts, Cretan cults and festivals, 1962, 167.

[German version] Play a role in Greek and Roman religion as well as in some other religious cultures. Although the meaning of the iconographically transmitted Minoan ‘cult knot’ is unclear [1], knots are a common symbolic medium of binding something, esp. in the magic and healing rituals of historical times. Thus, the knot of Hercules, depicted in the tied-up snakes on the caduceus - the staff of Hermes - is attributed with special powers of healing wounds when used for the bandage, and is said t…

[German version] (Ἑστία; Hestía). Greek goddess of the  hearth. Like  Vesta, she is a personification closely connected to her subject and cannot be separated from the ritual role of the hearth in both public and private domains. The cultic worship of the hearth probably derives from notions originating in the Indo-European period [1]. The cult of H. is generally characterized by the fact that she is addressed first in every prayer and is the first to receive a donation in every sacrifice (Pind. Nem. 11,5; Eur. Phaeton fr. 781,35; Pl. Crat. 401a).…