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[German version] (Κάνδαλος; Kándalos). One of the seven sons of Helius and the nymph Rhodus; in the prehistory of the island of Rhodes, they are culture-bringers after the  Flood. After the most handsome of the brothers,  Tenages, is killed by the rest, they flee; C. settles on the neighbouring island of Cos (Diod. Sic. 5.56f.; schol. Pind. Ol. 7.72f.). The myth most likely reflects the island of Rhodes' political claims to Cos. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀνθεύς; Antheús). Epithet of Dionysus in Patrae. Here he was venerated simultaneously as A., Mesateus and Aroeus, after the three villages whose synoecism formed Patrae, and whose old Dionysian images were each brought into the sanctuary of Dionysus Aesymnetes in his festival (Paus. 7,21,6). The festival played out the dissolution of the political unity on the entry of the god; the local epiclesis here is to be distinguished from related ones, such as of Evanthes and Anthius in Attica (Paus. 1,31,4). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography Graf, 84 f.

(Ἀλκάνωρ; Alkánōr). [German version] [1] Figure in the Aeneid: Trojan from Mount Ida Trojan from Mount Ida, whose sons Pandarus and Bitias fought in Aeneas' army in Italy (Verg. Aen. 9,672). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure in the Aeneid: a Rutulian A Rutulian, who is killed by Aeneas, brother of Maeon and Numitor (Verg. Aen. 10,338). The name is formed from good epic elements, only attested historically in Greek [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 Bechtel, HPN, 36.

[German version] (Ἄνθος; Ánthos). Son of Autonous and Hippodamia, who was torn apart by his father's horses and transformed into the bird A.; since then he flees from horses and imitates their neighing (Aristot. Hist. an. 9,1 609b 14; Plin. HN 10,116; cf. Ant. Lib. 7).  Acanthis. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἁλιρρόθιος; Halirrhóthios). Attic hero, son of Poseidon and a nymph, whose death was the subject of the first trial before the  Areopagus. In the most common form of the myth, which explains the role of the Areopagus as a homicide court, he rapes the daughter of Ares and Aglaurus, Alcippe, and is struck down by Ares; the site of both deeds is the spring in the later Asclepium above the theatre of Dionysus. Poseidon indicts Ares, the court of the twelve gods acquits him (Eur. El. 1…

[German version] (from the Latin incubare; Greek ἐγκοιμᾶσθαι/ enkoimâsthai, ‘to sleep in a temple’). The term for a method, practised in many religions, for receiving revelations: the sleep in a sacred place, during which the superhuman occupant of the place appears, gives information and advice (even in the comic fracture of Aristoph. Plut. 698-747 Asclepius himself appears). In Graeco-Roman antiquity, just as in Byzantine Christianity, incubation was particularly practised in the  healing cults, above…

[German version] (Ἀκεσώ). Healing heroine ( akéomai ‘to heal’), daughter of Asclepius and Epione, venerated in Epidaurus (Suda s. v. Ἠπιόνη 578 eagle). In inscriptions in Athens, as daughter of Epione she is connected with Iaso, Panacea, Hygiea (LSCG 21 A) and  Aegle [4] (CIA III 171 b). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography Edelstein, Asclepius vol. 2, 87 ff. J. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, 1994, 62 f.

[German version] (Ἰξίων; Ixíōn). Thessalian king and one of the great sinners being punished in the Underworld. According to Pindar, he is the first murderer of a relative (Pindar leaves the identity of the victim open, later - Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 51 - it is his father-in-law Eïoneus). When Zeus purifies him personally from the blood of murder (Aesch. Eum. 717f.) and takes him to himself, he wants to indecently assault Hera; but Zeus substitutes a cloud for her and I. fathers the first  Centaurs (u…

(Μυστήρια/ Mystḗria). [German version] A. Terminology Mysteria is the Attic name of the main cult festival of Demeter and Kore (Persephone) in Eleusis [1]. The name is formed in the same way as most Attic festival names, but the etymology is unclear (Mysteries [1. 15]). Eleusis was also the place for the polis festival of the Eleusinia, a festival which included games and contests, probably held in late spring, in modern times often confused with the Mysteria. Beginning with Hdt. 2,51,2, the festival…

[German version] Views about what awaits humans after death exist in most cultures. In the Graeco-Roman world, they were found in literature and art, in philosophical reflection, theological propaganda and, not least, in epitaphs; yet the literary and philosophical opinions in themselves are more coherent than the everyday concepts expressed in the epitaphs. It must also be emphasized that it is difficult to discern a strong connection between concepts of the afterlife and funerary rites, in the s…

(Ἀλκαθόη, Ἀλκιθόη; Alkathóē, Alkithóē). [German version] [1] Figure of Greek myth: One of the Minyades One of the Minyades, together with Leucippe and Arsinoe, daughter of Minyas of Orchomenus. Her myth belongs to the myths of resistance against Dionysus and is an aition of their  agrionia (Plut. Quaest. Graec. 299ef). While all the other women celebrated the god on the mountain, the Minyades remained at the loom and remained unmoved by miraculous signs. Finally Dionysus made them insane; they tore Leucippe's …

[German version] ‘Temple guardians’, older, aeditumus (discussions of the word form Varro, ling. 7,12; rust. 1,2,1; Gell. NA 12,2; ThLL 1,934,6 ff.). The aedituus (inscriptions attested for women also: CIL VI 2209. 2213) is especially responsible for access to the temple -- he opens the temple, gives admittance to private individuals, even to the cult idol itself (Sen. Epist. 41,1), and can also, when directed by the responsible magistrate, open the temple on exceptional occasions, for instance for thanksgiving festi…

[German version] Sister of  Dido; she plays an important narrative role especially in Verg. Aen. 4 [1]. Her earlier history is not clear: according to Varro it was not Dido, but rather A. who immolated herself for love of Aeneas (Serv. auct. Verg. Aen. 4,682; Serv. Verg. Aen. 5,2). Ovid at the latest identifies her with the goddess  Anna Perenna; the possibly Semitic name of Dido's sister was associated by popular etymology with annus, ‘year’. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 R. Heinze, Vergils ep. Technik, 1915, 126-130.

[German version] (In Greek always, in Latin very rarely Carmenta). Roman goddess of birth and ‘everything future’ (Fast. Praenestini on 11 January). Even if in historical times, she was overshadowed by related female deities (especially  Iuno Lucina), her old importance is evident in the existence of a Flamen Carmentalis. Her sanctuary lay between the Capitol and the Tiber at the Porta Carmentalis [1] and was regarded as being founded by the matrons at the resumption of births after a birth-strike…

[German version] Roman ‘special deity’ which according to Varro (ant. rer. div. 116 Cardauns) is mentioned in Christian polemic (Tert. Ad nat. 2,11; Aug. civ. 4,21) together with Adeona, and is derived from abire or adire. According to Varro both are deities of childhood; the etymological derivation probably refers to the first attempts to walk. The problems associated with all   indigitamenta apply to the name. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography B. Cardauns, M. Terentius Varro. Antiquitates rerum divinarum II (commentary), 1976, 206.

[German version] (Γαῖα, Γῆ; Gaîa, Gê). Greek personification of the earth as the basis of all existence; her name can be interpreted possibly in Indo-European as ‘she who gives birth’ [1]. From Hesiod (Theog. 117ff.), she is seen in theogonic poetry as a primal power, who first gave birth to  Uranus, the sky, and Pontus, the Sea, then became the mother of the subsequent generation of deities as well as that of a number of monsters, whose birth even posed a threat to the order of Zeus ( Giants,  Typho…

[German version] (Ὑγίεια; Hygíeia). Personification of health and one of the daughters of  Asclepius and  Epione (along with  Aceso, Iaso and Panacea); she has no independent mythology. While her sisters incorporate various forms of healing in their names (Greek iáomai, akéomai), H. is the personification of ‘health’ itself. As such, by the late 5th cent. BC she began to displace the rest of her family, at least in cultic significance (Aristid. 38,22). In cult worship, she is usually the only one invoked together with Asclepius and ma…

[German version] (Δήλιος; Dḗlios). Epithet of  Apollo, indicating his association with the island of  Delos: he was born there, and along with  Leto and  Artemis had a central cult site there. D. is as frequent an epiclesis for Apollo as  Pythius, which indicates his association with  Delphi. Whereas there are many cases where the cult of a divinity named Pythius was established (i.e. sanctioned) by the Delphic oracle, there is no comparable institution on Delos: the epiclesis D. is more the expres…

[German version] (Ἀγήτωρ; Agḗtōr, Doric for Ἡγήτωρ; Hegḗtōr). Epiclesis of Zeus in Sparta, connected with the preliminary sacrifices at the beginning of a campaign (Xen. Lac. Pol. 13,2), of Hermes in Megalopolis (Paus. 8,31,7, in the form of Hermes) and of Apollo Karneios in Argos (Theopomp, FGrH 115 F 357 = Schol. Theocr. 5,83). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] I. Egypt see Nile. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) II. Greece and Rome [German version] A. General The personification of conditions from the physical environment is part of many myths and religions in antiquity. Apart from the sun and the moon, the mountains and rivers are of special significance: they firmly belong to a particular local environment, and thus define identity and home. Whereas the mountain gods in the Greco-Roman world have only mythological and hardly any cultic reality, the worship …