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(Ἀργεία [ Argeía], Argia). Appears as the ‘wife of Argus’ in a supporting role in various myths concerning Argus. [German version] [1] Daughter of Oceanus Daughter of Oceanus, sister and wife of Inachus, mother of the early Argive king Phoroneus and Io (Hyg. Fab. 143). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Older daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea Older daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea, wife of Polynices (Hyg. Fab. 69,5). She participated in Oedipus' burial (Hes. fr. 192) and helped Antigone to guard the dead Polynices, but fled before Creon…

[German version] (Κομβάβος; Kombábos) in the aetiological myth recounted by Lucian (De Dea Syria 17-27) is the founder of the temple of Atargatis in Hierapolis who introduced self-castration and women's clothing for the eunuchs ( gálloi); for the motivation the author himself draws an analogy with the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus. Certainly the name C. suggests Cybebe ( Cybele), a term for the Great Mother (Hdt. 5,102) cognate with the Hittite Kubaba, and kýbēbos, a term for the gállos (Semonides fr. 36 West); however, it is unclear here, as in other unrelated details,…

[German version] Healing heroes in a sanctuary in Messenian Pharae. They are regarded as the sons of  Machaon and Anticlea, the daughter of king Diocles (Paus. 4,30,3). Their sanctuary was donated by Isthmius, son of the Glaucus who initiated the cultic worship of Machaon (Paus. 4,3,10). Through these myths, an independent healing cult is obviously incorporated into the cult of  Asclepius so central to Messenia. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Αὐτονόη; Autonóē). Daughter of  Cadmus and  Harmonia, sister of  Semele,  Agave and Ino ( Leucothea), wife of Aristaeus, mother of  Actaeon (Hes. Theog. 977; Apollod. 3,26; 30; Hyg. Fab. 184). In Euripides' Bacchae she leads a thiasos of Theban Maenads (230; 680; Ov. Met. 3,720). Following the death of her son, she goes to Megara; her tomb is mentioned by Pausanias (1,44,5). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. Kossatz-Deissman, s.v. Autonoe, LIMC 3.1, 64f.

The Roman god of passage in a topographical, temporal and figurative sense. His name is derived from ianua (‘passage, gate’) and is connected with  Ianiculum. The name refers to the god as well as to the cultically relevant gates connected to him. Iconographical representations begin in the Republican period, depicting I. usually with two faces, occasionally with four ( bifrons, quadrifrons). [German version] A. Cult centres His cult is almost exclusively public and political, only two private dedications to him are extant. Two old altars of I. in Rome are att…

[German version] (Κινύρας, Kinýras). Mythic founder of the temple of  Aphrodite of Paphus, and progenitor of the priestly family of the Cinyradae, who shared the leadership of the cult together with the Tamiradae family (whose ancestor, the Cilician seer Tamiras, C. had introduced), but later presided alone over the worship and oracle (Tac. Hist. 2,3). C. is connected with  Apollo (Pind. Pyth. 2,15), which indicates the role of singers in the cult. He is often regarded as a son of Apollo; but it is…

[English version] The polarity between Apollo and Dionysus and the phenomena linked with these gods was introduced into modern aesthetic discussion by Friederich Nietzsche. Nietzsche understood the ‘duplicity of Apollo and Dionysus’ as a fundamental opposition of Greek aesthetics : An ihre (sc. der Griechen) beiden Kunstgottheiten, Apollo und Dionysus, knüpft sich unsere Erkenntnis, daß in der griech. Welt ein ungeheurer Gegensatz, nach Ursprung und Zielen, zw. der Kunst des Bildners, der apollinischen, und der unbildlichen Kunst der Musik, als der des Dionysus, besteht (‘it i…

(Ἀλήτης; Alḗtēs). Suggestive hero's name, ‘Roamer’. [German version] [1] Mythical conqueror of Corinth Son of the Heraclid Hippotes, captures and colonizes Corinth after expelling the descendants of  Sisyphus with help from Melas, an ancestor of  Cypselus (Str. 8,8,5; Konon FGrH 26 F 1,26; Paus. 2,4,3 f; 5,18,8), or he receives the rulership from the Heraclids (Diod. Sic. 7,9,2). His dynasty is replaced by the  Bacchiadae, and in poetry the Corinthians are called Aletidai after him. He won power in Corinth with the help of the Dodona oracle, which told him that he w…

(Ἀφείδας; Apheídas). Suggestive heroic name, ‘not miserly’. [German version] [1] Figure of the Odyssee Son of Polypemon from Alybas, as whose son Eperitus Odysseus passes himself off (Hom. Od. 24,304). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] King of Athens King of Athens, son of Oxyntes; his illegitimate brother kills him (Demon FGrH 327 F 1; Nikolaus FGrH 90 F 48). He is progenitor of the noble family of the Aphidantidae [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] King of Tegea Son of Arcas, younger brother of Elatus, king of Tegea (Apollod. 3,102; Paus. 8,4…

(Ἄμφιος; Ámphios). [German version] [1] Son of the seer Merops of Percote A. and Adrestus, sons of the seer Merops of Percote, fought in the Trojan war against his will and were slain by Diomedes (Hom. Il. 2,828-834; 11,328-334). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Son of Selagos from Paesus Son of Selagos from Paesus, killed by Telamonian Ajax (Hom. Il. 5,612; Tzetz. Allegoriae Iliadis Proleg. 812) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 O. Tauchefen, LIMC 1.1, 318, no. 24.

[German version] ‘Eternity’, personification of duration of political rule. In the imperial period one can swear by the ‘eternal duration’ of the rule of an emperor, likewise invoke his fame or his well-being (Plin. Ep. 10,41,1; 83). The cult of Aeternitas probably begins in the early imperial period in Spain: coins (for instance from Tarraco and Emerita) under Augustus and Tiberius depict a temple with the legend, Aeternitati Augustae [1]. First depictions of the goddess occur under Vespasian, and the first cult reference is a sacrifice of   the Arvales fratres to A. imperii, after the…

[German version] (Ἄνδροκλος; Ándroklos). Son of king Codrus of Athens. According to Pherecydes (FGrH 3 F 155), the leader of the procession of colonists going from there to Ionia; however, according to Hellanicus (FGrH 4 F 125), Neleus, son of Codrus, already has this role. A. expels Leleges and Lydians and founds Ephesus; the royal lineage in Ephesus may have been called ‘the Androclids’. A. is said to have fought against the Samians and Carians and to have fallen when securing Priene as an Ionian colony (Paus. 7,2,9). Ephesian coins of the imperial period show his image. Graf, Fritz (Colu…

[German version] (Ἄντικλος; Ántiklos). One of the Greeks in the wooden horse. He wanted to answer Helena, when, near the horse standing on the hill fortress, she was imitating the voices of Greek women. However, Odysseus closed his mouth until Athena had led Helena away (Hom. Od. 4,271-89; Q. Smyrn. 12,317; Apollod. ep. 5,19; Ov. Ib. 567). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Αἴγεστος; Aígestos). Son of Trojan parents who had fled to Sicily; fights with Elymus at Troy and founds Egesta/Segesta after his return (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,52). According to another tradition, son of Sicilian river god   Crimisus and the Trojan nymph Egesta/Segesta (Serv. Aen. 1,550). Virgil recounts in Aen. 5, how A. (whom he calls Acestes) receives Aeneas as a guest. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography C. Arnold-Biucchi, s. v. A., LIMC 1.1, 357 f.

Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] A. Terminology (CT) Neither Greek nor Latin had a word that precisely corresponds to the modern term 'religion' in its academic sense, whether to designate a specific cultural subsystem ('the religion of the Aztecs') or to refer to the anthropological constant of religion. This modern concept was a result of the Enlightenment and ethnological discoveries, and dates only to the Early Modern era. Ancient concepts focused on individual areas: the Greek thrēskeía, 'worship', and the Greek eusébeia refer only to ritual in the collective…

[German version] (Ἄμυρις; Ámyris). From Siris, called ‘the Wise’, father of Damasus, one of the suitors of  Agariste, the mother of Cleisthenes (Hdt. 6,127). The epithet associates him with the general sphere of the pre-philosophical, archaic Tales of Sages [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 F. Wehrli, Hauptrichtungen des griech. Denkens, 1964, 39-43.

[German version] (Ἀμυθάων; Amytháōn). Son of Cretheus and Tyro in Iolcus, brother of Phereus and Aeson, half brother of Neleus and Pelias, the sons of Poseidon (Hom. Od. 11,235-259; Hes. fr. 38). He settles in Pylos, which Neleus founded, and here he fathers his sons Melampus and Bias (Diod. Sic. 4,68,3; Apollod. 1,93; 96). He appears with his relatives in Iolcus, to demand Iason's inheritance from Pelias; he is one of the Argonauts (Pind. Pyth. 4,126). A part of Elis is called Amythaonia after him; before Pelias and Neleus he renews the Olympic games (Paus. 5,8,2). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, …

[German version] (‘Little story’). Modern term describing brief tales built into magic formulas, providing a mythic precedence for a magically effective treatment. Historiolas are already documented in Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian  magic. In the Graeco-Egyptian  magic papyri (PGM), they provide references to both Greek (e.g. PGM XX) and Egyptian (e.g. PGM IV 1471) mythology, and to Christian legends in Christian rites. However, historiolas should not be understood as abridgments of well-known myths or as ad hoc inventions, rather the narrator understands them as p…

[German version] (Αἰολία sc. νῆσος; Aiolía nêsos). Residence of  Aeolus [2], the lord of the winds. It is a floating island, which is hedged around by steep cliffs and a bronze wall (Hom. Od. 10.3 f.); in a certain contrast to these fairy-tale motives -- especially the floating of the island -- is the very Greek idea that the city and the ‘beautiful houses’ of A. and his family are on this island (loc. cit.13). Since the 5th cent. it is sited in actual geography and in particular identified with the Liparic or Aeolic Islands (Αἰόλου νῆσοι) (Antiochus of Syracuse FGrH 555 F 1; Thuc. 3,88). Graf, Fri…

(Ἀργεῖος; Argeîos). [German version] [1] Son of Likymnios Son of Licymnius. In two myths he is the doomed battle comrade of Hercules. He accompanies him together with his brother Melas on the quest to conquer Oichalia; both are slain and are buried by Hercules (Apollod. 2,156). According to another version he accompanies Hercules on his Trojan campaign, in spite of his father's resistance; Hercules had to swear an oath promising to bring him back. When he is slain outside Troy, Hercules burns the corpse and brings back the ashes (Schol. Hom. Il. 1,52). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) …

(Ἀκταῖος; Aktaîos), ‘he from the coast’ ( akte) or ‘of Akte’. [German version] [1] Attic primal king Attic primal king, the first (Paus. 1,2,6) or successor of Porphyrion (Paus. 1,14,7); father of the (first) Aglaurus, the wife of Cecrops and mother of Aglaurus [2], Herse and Pandrosus (Apollod. 3,180, who in 3,177 first made Cecrops the primal king). Attica was first called Acte after him, as was the Piraeus peninsula in the historical period (Apollod. 3,177; Harpocrat. s. v. Akte). According to Pherecydes (FGrH 3 F 60) he is father of Telamon of Glauce, the daughter of th…

(Ἀτύμνιος; Atýmnios). [German version] [1] Son of the Carian king Amisodarus Son of the Carian king Amisodarus. He and his brother Maris, companions at arms of Sarpedon, were killed by two sons of Nestor (Hom. Il. 16,317). Later, he is regarded as identical to Tymnius, the eponymous founder of the Carian city of Tymnus [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Son of Zeus Son of Zeus (of the Phoenix: Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2,178) and  Cassiopea, courted by the brothers Minos and Sarpedon in competition with each other. Otherwise Miletus, the son of Ap…

[German version] (Εἰλειθυία; Eileithyíai, Doric Ἐλευθ(υ)ία; Eleuth(y)ía, Mycenaean in Knosos e-reu-ti-ja). Greek goddess, worshipped almost exclusively by women in the context of pregnancy and birth, also in the context of children's and women's diseases (Diod. Sic. 5,73,4; [1]). Already known by Homer in this function (μογοστόκος, ‘concerned with the effort of giving birth’, Hom. Il. 16,187). The name itself seems to be telling ─ it can be connected with eleuth-, ‘to go, to come’ [2]. She has almost no independent myths: she was born at her important cult centre…

[German version] (Βοώτης; Boṓtēs). (‘Ox-driver’) One of the names of a constellation near that of Ursa Major; attested since Hom. Od. 5,272. If the latter constellation is thought of as a bear, the former, as its companion, is termed instead ‘bear-keeper’, Arktophylax (Arat. 91-83; Ov. Fast. 3,145; Manil. Astr. 1,316-318 etc.). Its brightest star is Arcturus (Arktouros), which occasionally gives its name to the whole constellation (Eratosth. Catast. 8). Various legends about the stars give a mythical background to the meaning of Bootes. 1. He is generally underst…

[German version] (ἐποπτεία; epopteía, ‘the seeing’). One of the levels of initiation into the  mysteries; whoever attained it, was epóptēs. In  Eleusis, whence the term originated, epopteia refers to the stage of initiation after the initial  myesis ─ epopteia either refers to the public ‘display’ during the celebration of the mysteries, in which myesis was the individual dedication which could take place outside of the celebrations, or rather a second facultative stage following on from the obligatory mýēsis [1; 2]. In any case, the term underlines the importance of vis…

(Ἀλκίππη; Alkíppē). Common woman's name in mythological epics. [German version] [1] Figure of Greek myth: daughter of Ares Daughter of Ares and Cecrop's daughter Agraulus, raped by  Halirrhotius (Apollod. 3,180), Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure of Greek myth: grandmother of Daedalus Grandmother of Daedalus, mother of Eupalamus by Metion (Apollod. 3,214). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] Figure from the Iliad: slave of Helena A slave of Helena (Hom. Od. 4,124). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Κατρεύς; Katreús). Son of  Minos and Pasiphae, eponym of the Cretan town Catre; he is killed by his son  Althaemenes, even though he fled to Rhodes to avoid his father who had been warned by an oracle (Apollod. 3,12-16); when his grandson  Menelaus takes part in his funeral, Paris kidnaps Helena (ibid. 3,3). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (ἄγαλμα; ágalma). Derived from the Greek agállein, ‘to praise, honour’ (especially a deity, cf. Hsch. s. v.), is actually everything that adorns, from honour (Hom. Il. 4,144) to weapons (Alc. fr.15) to children (Aesch. Ag. 208). But it is found especially in the religious sphere; here, already in Homer, agalma is the votive offerings, like   anathema (Hom. Od. 3,438; IG I3 552, 617 and passim). More narrowly, agalma designates statues (Hdt. 1,131; Isoc. Or. 9,57), but also sculpture in contrast to painting (Aristot. Pol. 1336 b 15). Later the term agalma could mean th…

[German version] (Ἀράχνη; Aráchnē). The metamorphosis of A. (‘Spider’) is told in Ov. Met. 6,5-145 according to an unknown Greek source. The daughter of the Colophonian wool-dyer Idmon is a brilliant weaver and is living in Hypaipa in Lydia. She challenges Athena, patron of the art of weaving, to a competition: A. surpasses the goddess with her technical skills, whereupon the goddess hits the girl in anger and tears up her weaving. A., full of despair, hangs herself and Athena turns her into a spid…

(Ἰκάριος; Ikários). [German version] [1] Att. hero Attic hero, whose cult (probably in the deme Icaria) is recorded as early as the 5th cent. (IG I3 253, 6.9); sacrifices to him, his daughter  Erigone [1] and their dog are mentioned by Ael. NA 7,28. His myth is known in various facets since the ‘Erigone’ of Eratosthenes, which has survived only in fragments (Hyg. Poet. Astr. 2,4; Apollod. 3,192f., etc.). The god  Dionysus comes to I., is fed by him, and gives him the first wine as thanks. When I. serves this to his nei…

(Παρθένος; Parthénos). [German version] [1] Divine epithet primarily of Athena 'Maiden' (in the sense of an unmarried woman of marriageable age) is the epithet of several Greek goddesses (Hom. H. ad Venerem 7-30 mentions Athena, Artemis, and Hestia), particularly Athena as the goddess of Athens [1]: the statue of Phidias is the 'so-called Parthenos' (Paus. 5,11,10; 10,34,8); from the image on them (head of Athena), parthénoi (plural) is also a nickname for Attic coins (Poll. 9,74). The epithet parthenos often refers to the role of these goddesses in the lives of women [1;…

(Κάβειροι; Kábeiroi, Lat. Cabiri). A group of divine beings (usually two), appearing occasionally but also one alone. They can be found in a series of local  mystery cults, were not actually Pan-Hellenic, and according to ancient views, were pre-Greek or not even Greek at all (Phrygian or Thracian) (overviews [1; 2]). [German version] A. Name The origin and meaning of the name C. are vague, the spelling not entirely clear: The texts traditionally use Kábeiroi, dialectal inscriptions also refer to Kábiroi. According to ancient thought, the name derives from a Phrygian mounta…

A suggestive hero name (‘Defender’), which occurs in various genealogies. [German version] [1] Figure from the Odyssee: servant of Menelaus Father (Schol. Hom. Od. 4,22) or uncle (Pherecyd. FGrH 3 F 132) of Eteoneus, servant of Menelaus (Hom. Od. 4,22) and Iphiloche (Echemela), whom Megapenthes, Menelaus' son by a slave woman, married (Hom. Od. 4,10); he was son of  Argeius and Hegesandra (Pherecydes loc. cit.). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Mythical argive king Argive. King, son of Megapenthes, father of Anaxagoras (Paus. 2,18,4) and of Iphis (Apollod. 3,60). Graf,…

[German version] (Ἀγχίσης; Anchísēs). Son of Capys (Hom. Il. 20,239) and of a Themis (Apollod. 3,141) or a Naiad (Dion. Hal. 1,62,2); besides Priam, one of the most respected heroes of Troy, already in the Iliad described as father of  Aeneas [1] by Aphrodite. The Homeric Aphrodite hymn (h. 5) describes how the shepherd A. is seduced by Aphrodite on Mount Ida and thus becomes father of Aeneas; because of this his lineage will rule in the Troad [1]. Later hymns report that Aphrodite had also given h…

[German version] (Αἰθήρ; Aithḗr). The ‘radiantly clear’ heaven, since the epic (Hom. Il. 2,412) domicile of the gods; in the cosmology up to late antiquity the highest and purest part of the cosmos (Macrob. Sat. 1,17,70). In cosmogonic poetry aether has various roles. For Hesiod the light aether is the son of the dark power Nyx ‘Night’ (and Erebus, Acusilaus of Argus FGrH 2 F 6b), but brother of Hemera, ‘Day’ (Theog. 124); with Hemera he generates the enigmatic Brotus (Hes. fr. 400), according to l…

(Ἀστυόχη; Astyóchē). Common mythic-epic woman's name, which is easily adapted to the hexameter, for instance: [German version] [1] Sister of  Agamemnon and Menelaus Sister of  Agamemnon and Menelaus, wife of the Phocian Strophius, who was the father of Pylades (Hyg. Fab. 117). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Daughter of  Laomedon Daughter of  Laomedon (Apollod. 3,146), wife of Telephus, mother of Eurypylus, whom she sent to help Priam (Apollod. Ep. 5,12). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] Daughter of an Actor Daughter of an  Actor, through Ares mo…

[German version] (Ἀνθώ; Anthṓ). Daughter of the usurper  Amulius, from whom she gained the promise that Rea Silvia would not be killed (Plut. Romulus 3,4, following Fabius Pictor and Diocles of Peparethus). The Greek name (‘flower’) has aetiological foundations. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography C. Ampolo, in: C. Ampolo, M. Manfredini (eds.), Plutarco. Le vite di Teseo e Romolo, 1988, 280 f. T. P. Wiseman, Remus, 1995, 142.

[German version] Mythical founder of  Praeneste (Cato Orig. 59 Peter; Verg. Aen. 7,678-81; Serv. Aen. 7,678; Solin. 2,9, according to the libri Praenestini; Festus s.v.). Conceived from a spark of the hearth fire and thus a son of  Vulcanus (or euhemeristically -- according to Cato -- found on a hearth), he was abandoned and brought up by his maternal uncles. He gathered shepherds around him, and with them founded the town. This myth is a combination of familiar motives (birth from the hearth fire like  Tarquinius Pr…

[German version] (Χρόνος, ‘Time’). Personification of Time, which appears in Greek religious thought as one of the primary powers and often as an allegorical reinterpretation of the primal deity  Kronos; cf. e.g. Pherecydes of Soros (Diels, Vorsokr. 7 vol. 1), where C. appears next to the primal pair Zas and Chtonia as a primal deity [2; 3]. He is particularly important in the Orphic theogonies and cosmogonies from their beginnings on; instead of the Hesiodic  Chaos, he appears as the father of Er…

(Ἄντιφος; Ántiphos). The name of a number of Homeric heroes on both the Trojan (Il. 2,864; 12,191) and the Greek sides (Il. 2,678; 17,68). Those of interest are: [German version] [1] Son of Priam and Hecabe The son of Priam and Hecabe. Achilles captures him on Mount Ida, Priam ransoms him, and finally A. is killed by Agamemnon in battle (Il. 11,101, cf. 4,489). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure of the Odyssee, son of the Ithacan Aegyptus Son of the Ithacan Aegyptus, brother of the suitor of Eurynomus, whom Polyphem killed (Od. 2,15-22). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] [1] Deity of the inlet of the same name into Lake Nemi near Aricia Deity (‘Nymph’) of the inlet of the same name into Lake Nemi near Aricia, related to the sanctuary of  Diana there (Str. 5,3,12; Verg. Aen. 7,761-777; Schol. Juv. 3,17). Wife or lover of the Roman king  Numa [1], whom she advised with respect to his cultic arrangements (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,60; Ov. Fast. 3,273-299; Plut. Numa 4,2). Ennius already reports that she gave him the ancilia (Ann. 114). A rationalizing reading makes this myth an invention with which Numa legitimized his religious re…

(Ἀργιόπη; Argiópē). [German version] [1] Nymph Nymph. Rejected by her lover Philammon, she journeys from Parnassus to the Odrysae in Thrace and there gives birth to the singer  Thamyris (Apollod. 1,16; Paus. 4,33,3) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Thracian wife of Orpheus Thracian wife of Orpheus, for whose sake he enters the Underworld (Hermesianax fr. 7,1-14 Powell). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] Daughter of Teuthras Daughter of Teuthras, the king of Mysia, wife of  Telephus (Diod. Sic. 4,33). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [4] D…

[German version] (Ἄμυνος; Ámynos). Athenian god of healing. His domain (Amyneion) with a fountain lay at the southern slope of the Areopagus; the earliest finds date to the 6th cent. According to inscriptional evidence, Asclepius and Hygiea were also venerated in this domain. A cultic organization to venerate ( orgeones) A., Asclepius and Dexion is likewise attested; located nearby was the domain of this hero (under whose name Sophocles was revered due to his reception of Asclepius). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography Kearns, 14-21.

[German version] The autumn; evidence exists for him personified in illustrative art and poetry from the Augustan era onwards, yet without any proven cult. He is usually associated with the  Horae and therefore often represented as feminine. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography L. A. Casal, s.v. A., LIMC 5.1, 819f.

[German version] (Λαόγονος/ Laógonos, ‘who grew out of the people's army’). Descriptive name of two Trojan warriors in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 16,303 and 20,460). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀγλαονίκη; Agolaoníkē). Daughter of Hegetor (Plut. Coniugalia praecepta 48,145c; de def. or. 13,417a), a Thessalian, who as witch was not only able to draw down the moon (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 4,59), but was also able ritually to purify the moon when a lunar eclipse occurred (Plut. loc. cit. credits her with rationalizing astronomical knowledge). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀστεροπαῖος; Asteropaîos). Son of Pelegon, grandson of the river god Axius, leader of the Paeonians who were allies of Troy, killed by Achilles. Physically he was the tallest of the Trojans and Achaeans (Hom. Il. 21,140-83; Philost. Heroicus 48,14-22). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. Kossatz-Deissmann, LIMC 1. 1, 132, no. 556.

[German version] (Λεύκασπις; Leúkaspis, ‘the one with the white shield’). Repeatedly used name of Greek heroes. L. especially refers to one of the five commanders of the Sicani, who are killed by Heracles and who are honoured cultically (Diod. Sic. 4,23,5); he is portrayed on Syracusan coins from the 5th cent. onwards [1]. The cult of a hero L. is also attested for the Attic deme of Erchia [2], while Virgil uses the name for a drowned Trojan (Verg. Aen. 6,334). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 HN 175 2 LSCG 18 G 50.

[German version] (Ἐλαφηβόλος; Elaphēbólos, ‘Stag Slayer’). Poetic (Anac. fr. 1 Calame; Soph. Trach. 213) and cultic epiclesis of  Artemis. Her feast of Elaphebolia (with characteristic ritual destruction in the Phocian federal sanctuary of Hyampolis, Plut. Mor. 244 BD; Paus. 10,1,6; [1; 2; 3]) and the Athenian month name  Elaphebolion derived from the festival attest to the significance of the association of the goddess with her quarry. The association has been attested in literature since Homer (O…

[German version] (Ἀναιδεία; Anaideía). ‘Indecency’, divine power (Xen. Symp. 8,35; Men. Fr. 223 K., perhaps Soph. fr. 269 = TGF 4,291). According to Theophrastus she had altars in Athens, together with Hybris (Zenob. 43,6, cf. Cic. Leg. 2,28 Contumeliae et Impudentiae fanum): meant are the ‘stone of indecency’ (λίθος Ἀναιδείας, líthos anaideías) and the ‘stone of temerity’ ( líthos Hýbreos) on the Athenian Areopagus, where accusers and the accused (Paus. 1,28,5) gathered. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography C. E. of Erfa, ΑΙΔΩΣ und verwandte Begriffe in ihrer Entwickl…

[German version] (Ἄσκιοι; Áskioi). The ‘shadowless ones’ is the name given to the inhabitants of those zones of the earth, within which the sun on certain days of the year is at its zenith so that the  gnomon does not cast a shadow, such as on the day of the summer solstice in Syene (Poseidon. fr. 115 Edelstein-Kidd); Onesicritus (FGrH 134 F 10) told of such ascia loca in India. In the system formulated by Posidonius (fr. 208 Edelstein-Kidd) the people between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are called ἀμφίσκιοι ( amphískioi), whereas those between the polar circle and the tropics …

[German version] The Roman goddess of war (from bellum, old form Duellona from duellum; cf. Varro, Ling. 5,73; Ant. rer. div. fr. 189 Cardauns), who stands beside Mars and is relatively independent of him: the devotional formula of P. Decius Mus names her directly after  Ianus who is invoked at each new beginning and the triad of old Roman state gods Jupiter, Mars and Quirinus -- no doubt as the actual female ruler of war (Liv. 8,9,6). In Latium her cult is attested in a 5th-cent. inscription (CIL I2 441) [1], whilst an urban Roman temple to her was vowed by Appius Claudius Caecus …

[German version] (ἡ λάβρυς; he lábrys) refers to the double-headed axe (Latin bipennis), which has two blades opposite each other; it is a tool as well as a ritual device and religious symbol. The expression, known in Greek only as a Lydian word in a gloss (Plut. Mor. 45,302a), was introduced into scholarly language in the late 19th cent. to refer to the Minoan ritual symbol as well as to indicate its Anatolian origin. In Minoan but more especially in Greek ritual, there is good evidence for the double-head…

[German version] (Λήϊτος; Lḗïtos). Son of Alector [4], a Boeotian hero; he has a tomb and cult in Plataeae (Paus. 9,4,3). He is integrated into several Panhellenic narrative cycles: he is one of the leaders of the Boeotians outside Troy, distinguishes himself occasionally and is wounded slightly - in the battle for the corpse of Patroclus - by Hector, returns to his homeland; he wooes Helene [1] and takes part in the expedition of the Argonauts (Hom. Il. 2,494; 17,601; Eur. IA 259; Catalogues: Apollod. 1,113; 3,130). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography W. Kullmann, Die Quellen der I…

[German version] Descendant of the Athenian king Codrus. Was brought to the city of Phocaea, together with the Codrideans Deoites and Periclus, from Erythrae and Teos, because the Ionians did not want to accept Phocaea in the Ionian league until it had Codrians as kings (Paus. 7,3,10). The myth legitimated the claim of Athens to hegemony over Ionia. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. Sakellariou, La migration grecque en Ionie, 1958, 238, n. 3.

[German version] (Ἄλκανδρος; Álkandros). Suggestive name (‘strong man’), which was given to various historical and mythical persons. Important points are: a) in the Lycurgus myth he strikes out an eye of Lycurgus in anger (aition for the cult of Athena Opilletis, Plut. Lycurgus 11,2-8; Paus. 3,18,2); b) in Lebadeia he is venerated as the son of Trophonius and as a saving hero, to whom one sacrifices before the katabasis (Paus. 9,39,5). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀστυάναξ; Astyánax). Son of  Hector and  Andromache; called Scamandrius by his parents, and A. (‘lord of the town’) by the Trojans in honour of Hector (Hom. Il. 6,402f., 22,506f.). According to the Ilioupersis, the young A. was hurled from the walls of Troy -- the Achaeans making the decision to do this (Paus. 10. 25) -- to ensure that he could not grow up to take revenge on the conquerors (Clem. Al. Strom. 6,2,19); Stesichorus recounts the same story (fr. 25 PMG). The tragic poet used by Accius in his A. has the seer Calchas give the order to murder A. in order to g…

[German version] In the records of the   Arvales fratres of the year 183 in the lists of sacrifice receivers, Adolena, Commolenda, Deferunda appear twice (8 February, 13 May); in those of the year 224 Admetus and Coinquenda [1]. Each time the sacrifice is a lustrum missum, the one offered in the year 183 is for the removal ( deferre), splitting up ( commolere) and burning ( adolere) of the fig tree growing on the roof of the temple of Dea Dia, which was damaging the roof; the one in the year 224 is for the hacking up ( coinquere) and burning of those trees struck by lightning in the grove. Since Marini […

[German version] (ἱερομνήμονες; hieromnḗmones, singular hieromnḗmōn, ἱερομνήμων). Religious officials with wide-ranging duties. Aristot. Pol. 6,5, 1321b 35 counts them, together with mnḗmones, epistátai et al., as archives officers; Plut. Symp. 8,8,4 attests the title for the priests of  Poseidon Phytalmios in Leptis; this is an isolated instance. The copious epigraphical evidence shows that the hieromnemones in some places really were archivists, frequently organized festivals, conducted temple finances or looked after temple property; prominent hieromnemones were t…

(Ἄγριος; Ágrios), ‘the wild’. [German version] [1] Mythical Calydonian Calydonian, son of Porthaon and Eureite (Hes. fr. 10a 49; Euryte: Apollod. 1,63), brother of Melas and Oeneus (Hom. Il. 14,117; about this Alcathous Hes. fr. 10a 52 f.; cf. Apollod. loc. cit.). He dethrones Oeneus, is expelled by Diomedes and kills himself (Hyg. Fab. 175, 242); after others his sons too are the usurpers and are killed by Diomedes (Apollod. 1,77-8; Ant. Lib. 37) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Son of Odysseus and Circe Son of Odysseus and Circe, brother of Latinus and toge…

[German version] (Ἀδρανός) City deity of the Sicilian city of the same name. Founded by Dionysius I, with temple and dog sacrifice (Diod. Sic. 14,37,5; Ael. NA 11,20). According to coin evidence, A. is a river god [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, 1911, 119.

[German version] (λαμπαδηδρομία/ lampadēdromía, schol. Aristoph. Ran. 131; Ionian λαμπαδηφορίη/ lampadēphoríē, Hdt. 8,98; more commonly λαμπάς/ lampás since Hdt. 6,105; Pl. Resp. 328a and inscriptions) is the cultic agōn (contest) of the torch race, which was mostly performed as a relay race. In addition there were individual races, and in the cult of Bendis at Athens, a spectacular horse race. The ritual goal of the lampadedromía was ultimately the renewal of the fire; for this reason it always began at important altars. In antiquity, this renewal was unders…

[German version] (ἐπιφάνεια; epipháneia, ‘manifestation, appearance’) refers to the manifestation of a deity in a spontaneous vision, or during an actual ritual process ( Ecstasy), as well as in stories; such appearances are the essence of superhuman beings. Because divine existence mainly manifests itself in the active help given to human beings, deities, who had been helpfully present, were from the Hellenistic period onwards denoted with the  epiclesis ‘becoming apparent’ (ἐπιφανής,   epiphanḗs , Lat. praesens). Epiphany seems to have played an important role withi…

[German version] (Ἴακχος; Íakchos). One of the deities of the Mysteries of  Eleusis [1]. I. is the personification of the ecstatic cultic cry ( íakchos, onomatopoetic) by the participants in the Mysteries during their procession from Athens to the Eleusinian sanctuary where they underwent initiation into the mysteries (Hdt. 8,65; Aristoph. Ran. 316-353). His image, which was kept in a temple of Demeter, Kore and I. by the Pompeion at the Sacred Gate (Paus. 1,2,4, probably identical with the Iaccheion Plut. Aristides 27,4), was carried ahead of this procession by the iakchagōgós (‘lead…

(Ἀρηίθοος; Arēíthoos). [German version] [1] Arcadian hero Arcadian hero whose weapon is an iron club. Nestor tells how he killed the Arcadian  Ereuthalion, who carried A.s' club;  Lycurgus had taken it from A. in a narrow pass and given it to his follower Ereuthalion (Il. 7,137-150). Pausanias saw his grave in a narrow pass near Mantinea (8,11,4). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Club-carrier from Arne Shortly prior to this, but unconnected to Nestor's story, Menesthius is mentioned as son of A. the club-carrier from Arne, who was shot by Paris (…

[German version] Wife of Latinian king Latinus, mother of Lavinia. She opposes the marriage of her daughter to Aeneas, because she favours her nephew Turnus (Serv. Aen. 7,366), and is thus partly responsible for the war against Aeneas (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,64,2; Verg. Aen. 7,56 ff.; Origo gent. Rom. 13,5). Because she prematurely regards Turnus as dead, she commits suicide by hanging (Verg. Aen. 12,595 ff.) or starvation (Fabius Pictor ap. Serv. Aen. 12,603; HRR fr. 1, S. 112 no. 1). She either blinds or kills both her sons, because they supported Aeneas (Serv. Aen. 8,51). So the tra…

(Ἀλκυονεύς; Alkyoneús). [German version] [1] Figure of Greek myth: Giant Giant. He is regarded as the oldest (Lyr. adesp. 985 PGM), is domiciled in Pallene (loc. cit.) and does not die, as long as he remains in contact with his native soil. Thus, in the Gigantomachy, following Athena's suggestion, Hercules has to drag him away so as to be able to kill him (Apollod. 1,35 f.). On the Pergamum altar frieze Athena herself is dragging the winged A. away by the hair. It is said that he is buried under Vesuvius (Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3,185); the Neapolitans displayed his bones (Philostr. heroicus 9,15). I…

[German version] Hymn used by the   Arvales fratres to accompany their dance ( tripudium) for  Dea Dia and  Mars (CLE 1). Whilst its earliest transmission is an inaccurate inscription from AD 218 [1. 644-64], the text does preserve some characteristics of the early language (Lases without changing the intervocalic -s- - > -r-). In its substance, it must precede quite substantially the early Augustan reform of the cult, even if it was developed under Greek influence [2]; in any case, it is unlikely to be an archaistic creation of the middle Impe…

[German version] (Λευκοφρυήνη; Leukophryḗnē). Epiclesis of Artemis of Magnesia on the Maeander, the chief goddess of the city; after an epiphany in the mid 2nd cent. BC, an impressive temple was built for her (Vitr. De arch. 3,2,6), a new cult statue was solemnly erected [1], a trans-regional festival with agon was inaugurated [2] and the sanctuary was given the right to give asylum (Tac. Ann. 3,62,1). At the same time L. is the name of the heroine (thus derived), who (as is often the case) is bur…

[German version] In the strict sense, this is the ritual driving out of a demon ( Demons), who is causing an illness in the person possessed. The process primarily involves the use of verbal rites (ἐπῳδαί, carmina) (Isid. Orig. 6,19,55: sermo increpationis in diabolum ut excedat): the exorcist makes verbal contact with the demon and forces it to leave the person. The Greek root ἐξορκίζειν ( ex(h)orkízein), which originally merely meant ‘to swear’ (dating from Demosthenes; ἐξορκισμός; ex(h)orkismós, ‘oath’, Pol. 6,21,6), is understood in this context as ‘to conjure out’. In this sens…

[German version] (Ἀονίη; Aoníē). Region of Boeotia, site of the Helicon, named after the ancient people of the Aones and their eponym Aon, the son of Poseidon (Schol. Stat. Theb. 134). In Greek-Hellenistic and especially in Roman poetry, derivations from this are used as learned designations for Boeotia (Callim. Fr. 2a 30 with schol.; Verg. Ecl. 6,65), Thebes (Call. h. 4,75 with Schol.), for Helicon (Verg. G. 3,11) and the associated spring of Aganippe (Verg. Ecl. 10,12) and also for the Muses (Ov. Met. 5,333). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Αὔσων; Aúsōn). Son of Odysseus (or Atlas) and Circe (or Calypso). First king of the  Ausones (Serv. Aen. 3,171; 8,328 a.o). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] A. Cult in early Italy Italian goddess who was connected especially with grain, as well as with the realm of the dead and who was equated early in Roman history with the Greek Demeter. Numerous inscriptions prove the cult's existence in central and southern Italy from the late 7th cent. BC onwards. Wherever it is possible to ascertain details, she is especially associated with grain (Faliscan inscription from the period about 600 [1. 241; 2. 43], Paelignian inscription from Corfinium [1. 204; 3], Oscan tablet from Agnone c. 250 BC [1. 147; 4], bust from Aricia w…

(Ἀστερίων; Asteríōn). [German version] [1] Mythical king of Crete Cretan king, who married  Europa and adopted her children by Zeus (Hes. fr. 140; Bacchyl. fr. 10; Apollod. 3,5; 8). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] The Minotaurus Son of Pasiphae with the Cretan bull, thus  Minotaurus (Apollod. 3,11; Paus. 2,31,1). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (rarely, Larentina). Elusive figure of myth and cult in Rome; whether she is identical with the Mater Larum (also revered by the Arval priests), is disputed [9. 587-595; 10]. Her aetiological myth has come down in two versions and an extension (synthesis in the Fasti Praenestini, cf. Plut. Romulus 4 f.; qu.R. 35,272 ef; [1]): 1. At the time of Ancus Marcius the aedituus of Hercules plays dice with his god for a meal and a woman; the aedituus loses and brings the prostitute Acca La…

[German version] (ἱερόδουλοι; hieródouloi, ἱεροὶ δοῦλοι; hieroì doûloi). Literally, ‘temple slaves’; in ancient life they were, first, persons who (like land) were the property of a temple but not cultic personnel, second, persons who were donated as slaves (and often as cultic personnel) to the temple, and third, slaves who achieved partial or complete freedom through transfer to a deity (sacred  manumission). In modern terminology the holy prostitutes stand in the foreground ( Prostitution), as attes…

[German version] (Ἀρέστωρ; Aréstōr). Son of Phorbas, great-grandson of Argus [1], father of Argus [2] by Mycene (Hes. fr. 246; Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 66 f.). The Argives are called Arestoridae after him (Kallim. h. 5,34). Another version of his lineage is that he is the son of Ecbasus, the grandson of Argus [1] and father of Pelasgus and Io (Charax FGrH 103 F 13, 15). The variants demonstrate that he is the product of systemizations of family trees rather than an actual independent character [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography Ed. Meyer, Forsch. zur Alten Gesch., 1, 92-94.

[German version] (Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων, also Agathodaímōn). As ‘good deity’ a deity of blessing especially of private worship, often connected with Agathe  Tyche (Ἀγαθὴ Τύχη) [1], as guardian of individual visitors of the oracle in the sanctuary of Trophonius (Paus. 9,39,5); where Agathos Daimon (AD) is specified this does not happen uniformly. In Greek households AD was given a gift of pure wine after each meal (Aristoph. Equ. 105-107; cf. Vesp. 525), had home altars [2] in the Hellenistic period and could…

[German version] (Ἑλλωτίς; Hellōtís). Epiclesis of  Athena in Marathon and Corinth, as well as the name of a goddess in Crete identified with  Europe [2]. In Marathon a sanctuary (Ath. 15,22,678b; schol. Pind. Ol. 13,56ad) and sacrifices (LSCG 20) are attested; the epithet is derived from a local swamp (Greek hélos). In Corinth the festival of Hellotia is celebrated for Athena H. with an agon (Pind. Ol. 13,40, according to schol. ad loc. a torch race of young men); the aetion derives the cult either from Athena capturing Pegasus (Greek heleín) and bridling him here - more commonly as…

[German version] (βασιλίννα; basilínna, ‘queen’) is the designation for the wife of the Athenian  Archon Basileus (‘king’) who is considered to be the democratic successor in the sacred duties of the king (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 3 on the origin; 57 on the duties). She must be a citizen of Athens and a virgin at the time of marriage. Her sacred duties include secret rites in the Dionysus cult, particularly at the Anthesteria, which she conducts with the gera(i)rai (‘aged women’ or ‘venerable women’). In the context of these rites, she is given to  Dionysus as wife. More impor…

[German version] (τὰ Γενέσια; tà Genésia). Name of a Greek family festival in honour of a dead ancestor (Hdt. 4,26). In Athens, it became ─ allegedly at Solon's instigation ─ a public festival of the dead, the celebrations of which on the 5th Boedromion also included a sacrifice to  Gaia (Philochorus FGrH 328 F 168). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography F. Jacoby, Γενέσια. A forgotten festival of the dead, in: CQ 38, 1944, 65-75.

[German version] In the tradition set by Virgil I. is the only son of  Aeneas and  Creusa of Troy, progenitor of the Roman gens Iulia; in Troy he is called Ilus, later Ascanius (Aen. 1,267f.). The name Ascanius for a (usually the eldest) son of Aeneas first appears after Homer (in Homer two confederates of the Trojans have this name, Hom. Il. 2,862 from Ascania in Phrygia; 13,790), both in founding legends (Hellanicus FGrH 4 F 31; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,54,2), which rule out his arrival in Italy, as in the account of A…

[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.