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[German version] (Ἡμιθέα; Hēmithéa, ‘demigoddess’). Name of a healing goddess in Castabus on the Carian Chersonnese. Her sanctuary, whose archaeological traces go back to the late 7th cent. BC at the earliest, was expanded under Rhodian hegemony and achieved more than regional fame until the decline of Rhodes after 167 BC. In the sanctuary, patients received healing dreams through  incubation ( klísis, ‘incubation (room)’ in an inscription from c. 150 BC, SEG 14,690); H. also aided women in childbirth (Diod. Sic. 5,63). The cult forbade the use of wine and the sacrifice or any other use of pigs. The aetiology of the cult derives the goddess from  Molpadia, the daughter of Dionysus' son  Staphylus and sister of  Rhoeo and  Parthenos (Diod. Sic. 5,62f.). Molpadia and Parthenos were to guard the newly discovered wine but they fall asleep; a pig smashes the wine jug. The sisters flee, Parthenos is taken to Bubastus by Apollo, Molpadia to Castabus, where she is worshipped as H.…

(stone) denotes various stones used for ritual purposes in Roman cult worship.…

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[German version] Deity with scarcely any attestation, who wards off evil ( deus, in Varro, Ling. 7,102, hence θεὸς ἀποτρόπαιος Gloss. 3,290,31). The name also exists in the form …

[German version] Goddess, mentioned by Plutarch (Quaest. Rom. 52,277a) and Pliny (HN 29,14,58) in conjunction with a canine sacrifice. According to Plutarch, the prayer during the sacrifice was for ‘none of the house slaves to become good (χρηστός, chrēstós)’, interpreted as a euphemism for ‘dead’. Plutarch links the name of the goddess to childbirth. Moder…

[German version] (Ἐναγώνιος; Enagṓnios). Epiclesis of the deities responsible for the Gymnasium, the athletic exercises and the young men engaging in them there; it was especially widespread from the Hellenistic period onwards.  Hermes in particular bears this epithet in many Greek cities but it is also found with Apollo (in various cities), Aphrodite (Athens) and even Dionysus (Magnesia on the Maeandrus). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Βάκις; Bákis). Ecstatic seer from Boeotia, supposed author of hexametric oracles, which have been in circulation since the Persian Wars (Hdt. 7,20; 77; 96; 9,43). Other oracles refer to the reconstruction of Messene (Paus. 4,27,4) or to Theban rites (ibid., 9,15,7; 10,32,8-11); Athenian inscriptions possibly attest to an oracle (IG II4968; SEG.10,175) [1]. The nymphs had driven B. to madness (Paus. 4,27,4; 20,12,11), supposedly those of the Corycian grotto (Schol. Aristoph. Pax 1279). B. also cures madness, like the seer  Melamp…

[German version] Each descendant of  Abas [1], such as Acrisius (Ov. Met. 4,607), Canethus (Apoll. Rhod. 1,78), Idmon (Apoll. Rhod. 2,815) and Perseus, the great-grandson of Abas (Ov. Met. 4,673 and passim). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

(Ἀγανίππη; Aganíppē). [German version] [1] A spring on Mount Helicon, sacred to the muses A spring on Mount Helicon, sacred to the muses, at Thespia in Boeotia; whoever drank from it, was drawn into poetic ecstasy (Verg. Ecl. 10,12; Paus. 9,29,5;  Hippocrene). The spring nymph of the same name is the daughter of the river god Termessus (Paus. 9,29,5) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Mythical person, also known as Eurydice Wife of  Acrisius, mother of Danae (Hyg. Fab. 63). Otherwise, she is called Eurydice (Apollod. 2,26). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 P. F…

[German version] (ἀλάστωρ, also ἐλάστωρ; alástōr, elástōr). Spirit of vengeance, who especially compels atonement for blood guilt; also epithet of avenging deities who thereby re-establish order, like the Erinnyes or Zeus Alastor (Orph. h. 73,3) or Alasterus/Elasterus (Athens, Thasos, Paros).…

[German version] (Γολγοί; Golgoí). Town on Cyprus that is considered by the scholarly Alexandrian writers to be one of the main cult centres of  Aphrodite (Theoc. 15,100 and Lycophr. 589; Catull. 36,14; 64,69); its eponymous hero Golgus is considered to be the son of Aphrodite and  Adonis (Schol. Theoc. 15,100). Acc…

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[German version] (τὰ Γαλάξια; tà Galáxia). Athenian festival in honour of the mother of the gods, named after the milk gruel served on the occasion (Hsch. s.v. G.). The importance of the festival is indicated by the evidence provided by ephebic inscriptions, that in the Hellenistic period the …

(Ἀνδραίμων; Andraímōn). [German version] [1] Mythical founder of Amphissa Mythical founder of Amphissa in Ozolian Locris (Paus. 10,38,5), husband of Gorge and successor to her father  Oeneus in Calydon (Apollod. 1,64; 78). His son Thoas leads the Aetolians at Troy (Hom. Il.2,638; 7,168; Ov. Met. 13,357). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Son of Oxylus Son of Oxylus, husband of  Dryope; A. is also stepfather of  Amphissus through Apollo (Ant. Lib. 32,3; Ov. Met. 9,333). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [3] Pylian, founding hero of Colophon Pylian, f…

[German version] (Χίρων; Chírōn or Χείρων; Cheírōn). Centaur; son of the nymph Philyra and  K…

[German version] (Ἀπατούρια; Apatoúria). Attic/Ionian festival of ‘common fathers/progenitors’ ( sṃ-pator-, explained as homopatṓria (Schol. Aristoph. Ach. 146). It was regarded as a feature of all Ionians (Hdt. 1,147) and is also, to judge by the personal name Apaturias, found in all the areas they founded [1]. It was the festival of the tribal associations, the phratries; accordingly, Zeus Phratrios and A…

[German version] (κουροτρόφος; kourotróphos, ‘child nourishing’) is, as the title of a function, the name or epiclesis of numerous Greek gods and goddesses concerned with the growing up of the new generation and its introduction into the world of adults (lists in [1. 189-195]). The epiclesis is used of Artemis (Diod. Sic. 5,73,5), Demeter (Hsch. s.v. kourotrophos), Eileithyia, Ge (Hes. Theog. 479f.) and the nymphs. It is also attested for Hecate in Hes. Theog. 450-452 and, from Hom. Il. 19,142 onwards, for local river gods. A kourotrophos mentioned in an inscription might be a ma…

[German version] (sc. psalmi or hymni). Songs whose verses or stanzas each begin with a letter of the alphabet in sequence. They are documented in Jewish literature from Jer. 1-4 onwards; Ps 145 is a devotional prayer to this day. In pagan literature they are documented for instance in the late hymns to Dionysus (Anth. Pal. 9,524) or Apollo (Anth. Pal. 9,525) and in magical texts (PGM IV 1363). In Christian literature Augustine's Psalm contra partem Donati (PL 43,25-32) is the best known, composed in 393 or 394 for the ‘entirely uneducated to learn by heart’.  Acrostich. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie, 21925, 146-151 …

[German version] (Αἰναρέτη). Wife of  Aeolus (Hes. fr. 10a 31; Schol. Pl. Min. 315c), who is called Enarete in Apollod. 1,51. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

(Αἴγλη; Aíglē). Suggestive name (‘glory’, ‘radiance’) for youthful radiant heroines, who can have genealogical connections to Helios: [German version] [1] Naiade, with Helios, mother of the Charites Naiade, with Helios, mother of the Charites (Paus. 9,35,5; Verg. Ecl. 6,20). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Daughter of Helios One of the Heliades, daughter of Helios and Clymene, who was turned into a poplar tree together with her sisters, after the death of her brother Phaethon (Hyg. Fab.154; 156, following Hesiod). …