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[German version] Roman goddess whose temple was vowed and founded on the Caelius mons by the first  Brutus immediately after the expulsion of the  Tarquinii; (Macrob. Sat. 1,12,31). Its foundation day is 1 June, the festival of the Carnaria (CIL III 3893). C. received offerings of bacon and bean gruel (Macrob. Sat. 1,12,32; cf. Ov. Fast. 6,169-182: Kalendae fabariae…

[German version] A. General Points, Definition Mysteries or rather mystery cults (in order to avoid the misleading term ‘mystery religions’) are cults of the Greek and Roman world which, for classical and modern observers alike, constitute a circumscribed category of cults within Greek and Roman religion.  Their name derives from the Attic celebration of the Mysteria, the festival of Demeter and Kore/Persephone, celebrated annually over a period of days at the shrine of Eleusis, and known since the Ho…

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[German version] Hermetic writings (HW; the terminus is modern) are Graeco-Egyptian texts, whose author is supposed to have been the Egyptian god Thot, Greekified as Hermes Trismegistus. His epithet (‘the thrice great H.’), which has only existed since the Imperial period, derives from the thrice repeated call to Hermes-Thot as ‘the greatest’ (which is already documented in Hellenistic Demotic and Greek sources). Clemens [3] of Alexandria (Strom. 6,4,35) describes a procession, in which 42 fundame…

[German version] (Ἀστραῖος; Astraîos). Titan, son of the Titans Creius (Crius) and Eurybia. With Eos he begot the winds ( Astraei fratres,…

[German version] (Καύκων; Kaúkōn). Eponymous hero of the Peloponnesian people of the  Caucones [1]; his genealogy is dependent on the ancient localization of the people first named in Hom. Od. 3. 366. His grave…

[German version] (Ἀδράστεια; Adrásteia). Goddess related to the mountain mother of Asia Minor,   Cybele. She had a cult at Cyzicus (actually on the Adrásteia óros outside the city, Str. 12,8,11; 13,1,13) and on the Trojan Mount Ida (Aesch. fr. 158 TGF). A. was compared to Artemis (Demetrius of Scepsis…

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(Αἴπυτος; Aípytos). [German version] [1] Arcadian hero Arcadian hero, son of Elatus, father of Peirithous (Hes. fr. 166). His grave, known already to Homer (Il. 2,604) was displayed on Mount Sepia at Cyllene, where he had been bitten by a snake. Pindar (O. 6,30) gives his residence as Phaesane at Alpheius; Pitane promises him her daughter by Poseidon, Evadne, who, by Apollo, will become mother of the seer Iamus. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] King of Arcadian Trapezus King of Arcadian Trapezus, son of Hippothous, father of Cypselus. He went blind because he…

[German version] (Ἀδμήτη; Ádmḗtē). Daughter of Eurystheus, Hera priestess in Argus, for whom Hercules secured the belt of Hippolyte, the queen of the…

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[German version] (Caca). In the mythology of the Augustan authors (Verg. Aen. 8,190-279; Liv. 1,7,3-15; Prop. 4,9; Ov. Fast. 1,543-586), the battle of Hercules with the cave-dwelling monster C. on the Palatine (where the scala Caci lies [1]) or Aventine (according to Verg.) is important: it had stolen Hercules' cattle and was punished accordingly. The myth provides the aetiology for …

[German version] (Ἀλήθεια), ‘Truth’. Personified as daughter of Zeus (Pind. Ol. 10,4 and fr. 205) and wet nurse of Apollo (Plut. Symp. 3,9 657e); her throne is made of iron (Them. Or. 22,281c Hercher). To the Romans, daughter of Kronos (Saturnus) (Plut. qu. R.11,267e) or Tempus, ‘Time’, which presupposes the Greek understanding of Kronos as Chronos (Gell. NA 12,11,7, after a …

[German version] (Δελφίνιος; Delphínios, in Crete also Delphidios). Epiclesis of Apollo, attested in both Ionic and Doric (Crete) territory and often linked in antiquity, after the Homeric hymn to Apollo, to Delphi and the  dolphin: he is said to have led his priests to Delphi as a dolphin. Many academics adopted this etymology, even though the cults could not confirm it; there the god is thoroughly bound up in the concerns of the young citizens of the polis. In Miletus (then in  Olbia) he is the g…

[German version] (Ἵμερος; Hímeros, ‘desire’). The personification of affectionate longing. Together with  Eros [1], he accompanies Aphrodite (since Hes. Theog. 201); with the  Charites (the goddesses of ‘grace’), he lives close to the Muses (Hes. Theog. 64, a poetological statement). Later he was firmly associated with Aphrodite and Eros, pictorially also with  Dionysus and  Pothos; he is indistinguishable iconographically from Eros and Pothos. A statue of H. by  Scopas used to stand in the temple of Aphrodite at Megara (Paus. 1,43,6). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography A. Hermary, s.v. H., LIMC 5, 425f. H. A. Shapiro, Personifications in Greek Art, 1993, 110-120.

(Ἀμαρυγκεύς; Amarynkeús). [German version] [1] King of the Epeians King of the Epeians, for whom his sons organize splendid commemorative games after his death. In all competitions, except in chariot racing, Nestor wins (Hom. Il. 23,629 ff.). His son Di…

(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). …

[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 …

[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. …