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[German version] (ἀρχηγέτης; archēgétēs). ‘Leader’, functional title of heroes and epiclesis of Apollo and Hercules. In the case of heroes, A. indicates in particular the role of progenitor and patron -- examples are the heroes of Attic demes (Demosth. 43,66 [1]) and the Thracian horse-riding hero in northern Greece and in Pontus [2]. Apollo A. denotes Apollo as the main god of the Seleucid foundations. The basis for this is the god's role in the Seleucid dynasty [3], but the epiclesis as a descrip…

[German version] (Κόδρος; Kódros). Son of  Melanthus, a mythical king of Athens. In the list of Attic kings, his role is primarily to establish the connection to the Pylian colonists of Ionia. According to a tradition common in the 5th cent. BC, his father, a Neleid, came to Athens as a refugee and was made king by the last descendant of  Theseus; C. followed his father. His only notable act was his voluntary sacrificial death in order to save the city: when the Dorians attacked Athens and an oracl…

(Ἀλκάθοος; Alkáthoos). [German version] [1] Megarian hero, connected with the town that was also called Alcathoe Megarian hero, son of Pelops and Hippodamia of Elis. A fugitive after striking his brother dead, by killing the Cithaeronian lion he won the daughter of the Megarian king Megareus and succeeded him to the throne. Many aetiologies connect him with the city (Paus. 1,41,3-43,3), which is addressed as Alcathoi urbs or Alcathoe. With Apollo's help, he renewed the city wall that made sounds like a kithara (Ov. Met. 6,16), built temples (Apollo and Artemis) …

[German version] (Ἀκεσ(σ)αμενός). King of Pieria, founder and hero of Acesamenae in Macedonia (Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀκεσαμεναί); father of Periboea, who became mother of Pelegon by the river god Axius (Hom. Il. 21,142). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἀχλύς). The darkness that in Homer comes upon the eyes of mortals (e.g. Il. 5,696) or those whom the gods have blinded (e.g. Il. 20,324). It is depicted on the shield of Hercules in a female personification with hideous baroque-like features as leader of the team of horses of Nyx (Hes. asp. 264), in the late Orph. A. 341. The Latin correspondence to her is Caligo ‘dark fog’, Mother of Chaos and Nox in the cosmogonical myth, of unknown, but probably Greek origin (Hyg. Fab. praef. 1). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography F. Queyrel, s. v. A., LIMC 1.1, 214 A. Shapiro, Personi…

[German version] (Αἰαία). ‘The woman from  Aea’, the corresponding epithet of Circe (Hom. Od. 9,32; Verg. Aen. 3,386), Calypso (Prop. 3,12,31), Medea (Apoll. Rhod. 3,1136). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ὑριεύς; Hyrieús). Son of  Poseidon and  Alcyone [1], founder of the Boeotian town  Hyria.  Trophonius and Agamedes build him a treasury, but such that they can secretly steal from it; a story follows this which varies the tale of the master thief (Hdt. 2,121) (Paus. 9,27,5-7). The story of how H. comes by his son Orion is often told: Zeus and Apollo visit the childless widower, and in thanks for his hospitality (he slaughters his only cow for them) they urinate into the skin of the beast; from this is created the child Orion (wordplay on oureîn, ‘urinate’; in detail Ov. Fas…

[German version] (Λήναια, the Lenaea). Name of a festival of Dionysus that according to the name of the month associated with it - Lenaion - must have been widespread over the whole of Ionia. However, we have more precise knowledge only of the festival from Athens, where the Lenaea together with the Anthesteria and the two Dionysia were part of the winter festival cycle for Dionysus. They took place in the month of Gamelion (January/February) and in the texts were called Dionysia ‘on the Lenaion’ (ἐπὶ Ληναίωι), a place in the lower part of the Athenian Agora. They comprised a pompḗ (procession…

[German version] (mid-Persian, Avesta Angra Mainyu, Greek Ἀρειμάνιος; Areimánios, Latin Arimanius). One of the twin gods in the system of Zoroaster; the ‘evil spirit’ alongside Spnta Mainyu, the ‘spirit of wholeness’, the two opposing creators of the world (Yasna 30,3-5) and apparently sons of  Ahura Mazdā (Yasna 47,2-3), with whom A. merges in the post-Gathas period. Thus in the theology presented at Plut. De Is. et Os. 46 f. Areimanius is a cult god and enemy of Ōromazdes (Ahuramazda); the mediator b…

[German version] (usually spelled Halaesus). Italic hero, companion or illegitimate son of  Agamemnon, who fled to Italy (Serv. Aen. 7,723). He is regarded as the founder of  Falerii and the eponymous hero of the  Falisci, and imported the local cult of Juno from Argos (Ov. Am. 3,13,31-35; Fast. 4,73f.; connection of Falerii with Argos: Cato fr. 47 HRR). Alternatively, he is the founder of Alsium (Sil. Pun. 8,474). The former case presupposes the Faliscan sound change f > h [1]; the latter assumes the name takes the form * Alesus. In Virgil, H., the companion of Agamemnon (Aen. 7,7…

[German version] (Ἄφίδνος; Aphídnos). Autochthonous, eponymous king of the Attic town of Aphidna (Steph. Byz. s. v. Aphidna). He was entrusted by Theseus with the task of guarding Aithra, Theseus' mother and also the abducted Helen (Plut. Thes. 31; 33). During the attack on Aphidna by the Dioscuri (heavenly twins), he wounded Castor in the right thigh (Polemon fr. 10). A. adopted the Dioscuri and initiated them into the Eleusinian Mysteries (Plut. Thes. 33,2). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography Kearns, 151.

[German version] The cultic worship of the emperor during his lifetime and after his death, namely as a deity and part of the municipal pantheon, was as such the Roman Imperial version of ruler cult already commonly practised amongst the Hellenistic kings. Like the ruler cult, emperor worship was seen from the perspective of the towns as an expression of political ties and political self-definition. From the ruler’s point of view, it was a means of safeguarding his power symbolically. Greek ruler cult can traced back solely to neither the Middle East nor the Greek hero cult…

[German version] Roman equivalent of the Greek ruler of the Underworld,  Hades or respectively  Pluto. According to ancient tradition, the name Dis derives from dives, ‘rich’, in the same way as Pluto derives from ploûtos, ‘wealth’ (Cic. Nat. D. 2,66; Quint. Inst. 1,6,34). Dis Pater (DP) was only worshipped in cult within the context of the ludi Tarentini, a celebration of atonement introduced by the Sibylline oracles in 249 BC, and its associated secular festival; together with  Proserpina, he was venerated at  Tarentum with the sacrifice of black an…

[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).…

[German version] (Ἶφις; Îphis). Name of a series of minor heroes (genitive Ἴφιος; Íphios) and heroines (genitive Ἴφιδος; Íphidos). The ambivalence in sex is the basis for the story in Ov. Met. 9,666-797 of the change of sex of the daughter of Lygdus and Telethusa in Phaestus, which is a poetic transformation of the aitiology related by Antoninus Liberalis 17 after  Nicander for the ritual of Ekdysia in the cult of Leto at Phaestus, where the heroine is called Leucippe [1]. In addition, several Argive heroes, an Argonaut, a comrade of the Seven Against Thebes and a female sla…

[German version] (Κερδώ, Kerdṓ, the ‘purveyor of gain’). The wife of the Argival primordial man  Phoroneus; she has a tomb (and therefore a cult) on the agora of  Argos, next to the shrine of  Asclepius (Paus. 2,21,1). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

(Ἀγλαΐα, ep. -η; Aglaía/-ē, ‘festive radiance’). [German version] [1] Youngest of the Charites Youngest of the  Charites, married to Hephaestus (Hes. Theog. 945; Pind. Ol. 14,10). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure from Greek myth: Spouse of Charopus Spouse of Charopus, mother of  Nireus of Syme, according to Achilles, he was the most handsome of the men at Troy (Hom. Il. 2,671-5; Diod. Sic. 5,53). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἠπιώνη; Ēpiṓnē). Wife of  Asclepius, with whom she had the daughters  Hygieia, Aceso, Panacea, and Aegle, and the sons  Machaon and  Podalirius (in great detail in the epigraphical paeans of Macedonius, the so-called Erythraean paean, and of Dion, CollAlex 136-139 Powell); she was reputedly a daughter of  Heracles. In contrast with the sons who in Homer are frequently referred to solely as sons of Asclepius, i.e. only indirectly linked to her, there is a close and direct link with…

[German version] (Ἔχιδνα; Échidna). Primeval female creature in the shape of a snake, introduced into Greece due to the influence of Near East narrative art and iconography (Iluyanka for the Hittites, Tiamat in Mesopotamia). In Hesiod, E. is the daughter of the sea creatures Phorcys and Ceto (Theog. 295-303) and, together with  Typhon who also often occurs in the body of a snake, mother of a series of monsters ─ of Orthrus the dog of the triple-bodied  Geryoneus, of  Cerberus, of  Hydra, of  Chimaera, of the  Sphinx (Φίξ; Phíx in Hesiod) and of the lion of  Nemea. Later authors add…

[German version] (Ἀλεξάνωρ; Alexánōr). Healing hero with suggestive name (‘Protector of Men’, cf.  Alcon), who together with the healing god Euhamerion was venerated in the Asclepieum of Sicyon (Titane). He is included in north-eastern Peloponnesian healing mythology: the local myth made him a son of  Machaon son of Asclepius, and founder of the Sicyonian sanctuary with its ancient cult image (Paus. 2,11,5-7). In Argus he was regarded as a brother of Sphyrus (founder of the Argive Asclepieum: Paus.…

(Αἰγιαλεύς; Aigialeús). [German version] [1] Figure from Greek myth, Son of Adrastus Son (or father) of   Adrastus the Argive, the only epigone at Thebes who fell in battle. Father or brother of   Aegialea. A. was venerated as a hero in Pagae in Megaris (Pind. Pyth. 8,53-55; Apollod. 1,103 and passim; Hyg. Fab. 71) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Eponymous hero of Aegialea, name of part of Sicyon. also other name for Achaia Indigenous inhabitant who founds the oldest part of Sicyon, Aegialea, and gives the name Aegialus to the entire Peloponnese (Pau…

[German version] (Κρής). Eponym of the island of  Crete. The contradictory myths mirror the island's various archaic institutions and mythologems. C. is regarded as the son of Zeus and an Idaeic nymph, but also as the protector of newborn Zeus (in this context he is addressed as Curete or as the King of the  Curetes); his son is  Talos. He is an autochthonous king and the bringer of culture, but also a lawmaker like  Minos, who influenced the late Spartan lawmaker  Lycurgus as well (Ephoros, FGrH 145; Diod. Sic. 5,64,1; Steph. Byz. s.v. Κρήτη). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] Mythical founder of  Carthage; called Elissa by Phoenicians, Theiosso by Greeks, and Deido by Africans because of her wanderings (so Timaeus in FGrH 566 F 82; but see Serv. auct. Verg. Aen. 1,340). The myth to be lastingly established by Virgil (Aen. 1 and 4) is in its outlines present already in Timaeus; a far more detailed pre-Virgilian version is to be found in Pompeius Trogus (Just. Epit. 18,4-6), but as in Timaeus without mention of  Aeneas. Her father, king of Tyre, was variously called Mutto (Ti…

[German version] (Καρκάβος, Καρνάβας [ Karkábos, Karnábas] in Eust. at Hom. Il. 4,88). Founder of Zelia at Cyzicus, son of  Triopas and father of  Pandarus. He kills his cruel father and flees to Tros, the king of the Dardani, who expiates him and gives him the land of Zelia (schol. Hom. Il. 4,88). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

(Ἀλκυόνη; Alkyónē). Name of heroines attested numerous times; for instance, the wife of Meleager (Hyg. Fab. 174,7), the mother of Elephenor (Apollod. 3,11) or the sister of Eurystheus (Apollod. 2,53). In each of these cases it is unclear to what extent Alcyone coincides with either of the two well-attested figures. [German version] [1] Daugher of Atlas Daughter of Atlas, one of the Pleiades (from Hes. fr. 169). She is seduced by Poseidon, which is depicted already on the Cypselus chest (Paus. 3,18,10). The eponyms of various cities arise from the con…

(Ἀλκιμέδων, Alkimédōn). [German version] [1] Arcadian hero Arcadian hero, after whom a plateau at Mantinea is named, father of Phealo, whom Hercules made pregnant. A. exposed her with her child Aechmagoras; through a jay ( kíssa), which imitated the whimpering of the child, Hercules was led to them both, recognized the son and named the spring nearby Kissa (‘Jay spring’; Paus. 8,12,2). Also used elsewhere as a hero-name appropriate for the hexameter: Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Figure of the Iliad: chariot-driver Son of Laerces, leader of the Myrmidons, char…

(Ἀλεκτρυών, ‘Rooster’). [German version] [1] Ares' minder during his meetings with Aphrodite Ares' minder during his meetings with Aphrodite. When A. slept late one morning, Helios discovered the lovers and betrayed them to Hephaestus. Ares turned A. into a rooster (Lucian. Gallus 3; Auson. 26,2,27) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] An Argonaut Father of Leitus (Hom. Il. 17,602), an Argonaut (Apollod. 1,113). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography 1 C. Robert, Alektryon, in: Hermes 37, 1902, 318-320.

[German version] (Ἄμπυξ, Ἄμπυκος; Ámpyx, Ámpykos). Son of Tita(e)ron, the eponym of a Thessalian city (Schol. Apoll. Rhod. 1,65). Seer, married to Chloris, the daughter of Orchomenus, father of the seer Mopsus (Hygin. fab. 14,5; Paus. 5,17,10). Titaresius (Hes. sc. 181) and Titaironeus (Tzetz. in Lycophrontem 881) are thus epithets of Mopsus. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Κλυτιάδαι, Κλυτίδαι; Klytiádai, Klytídai). Family, which together with the Iamidae ( Iamus) provided the seers in Olympia; through  Clytius [2], grandson of Amphiaraus, who is in turn the great-grandson of Melampus, the C. can be traced back to two of the central seers in Greek myth (Paus. 6,17,6). In the pre-Imperial period only Theogonus and his son Eperastus are known, by means of a statue in Olympia (Paus. loc. cit.). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

Hero cult (HC) is the cult worship of a particular group of superhuman beings whom the Greeks describe as heroes from the time of Homer (ἥρωες, hḗrōes); the etymology of the word is unclear, and the modern link with  Hera is problematical [1]. The HC uses both the form of the common Olympian sacrifice as well as more specific cult forms. In the course of the development of Greek religion, various groups have been subsumed under the category of heroes, from original gods to real deceased people [2]. [German version] A. The myths In Bronze Age Greece, heroes are perhaps presupposed by the ti-rise-r…

[German version] A. General Initiation refers a) in a perspective limited to Greek and Roman religion, to ritual inauguration into a mystery cult, b) in additional ethnological and socio-anthropological terminology, to the complex of rites with which in ancient society adolescents of both sexes are accepted into the society of adults (in German scholarship formerly referred to also as puberty ceremony). For the former function, corresponding ancient terminology exists (Greek μύησις; mýēsis, more rarely τελετή; teletḗ, Latin initia n.pl.), but not for the latter. This doe…