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[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)

(Αἰθαλίδης; Aithalídēs). [German version] [1] Herald during the Argonauts' campaign Son of Hermes and Eupolemea, daughter of Myrmidon, born near the Thessalian stream Amphryssus. Herald during the Argonauts' campaign (Apoll. Rhod. 1,51-55, 640-47). Hermes allowed him to continue to remember after his death and thus to move between the Underworld and the Upperworld (Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 109; Apoll. Rhod. 1,644-7). His soul is said to have entered the body of Pythagoras, as first recounted by Heraclides Ponticus (fr. 89 W. = Diog. Laert. 8,1,4) [1]. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) …

[German version] (Αἰνεύς; Aineús). Son of Apollo and Stilbe the daughter of Peneius; husband of the Aenete (Αἰνήτη), father of   Cyzicus (Apoll. Rhod. 1,948). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (Ἰάλεμος; Iálemos). Son of  Apollo and the Muse  Calliope, thus the brother of several mythical singers:  Hymenaus,  Linus,  Orpheus (schol. Eur. Rhes. 985). Just as Hymenaus is a personification of the wedding song and Linus of the dirge, so I. is the personification of those dirges that, poetically, are called iálemoi. The myth explains this either with I.'s early death which gives cause for lament (as for Linus) (Pind. fr. 139,8), or with I.'s invention of the dirge. He is occasionally identified with Linus (Schol. Eur. Or. 1390). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)

[German version] (ἄλσος/ álsos, Latin lucus). In Greece and Italy a sacred area characterized by its stand of trees (cf. Str. 9,2,33); although lucus originally meant ‘glade’. A grove had at least one altar, often also votive offerings; often a grove could also be part of a larger sacred area with a temple: as in the Apollo sanctuary of  Didyma (Str. 14,1,5), the Samian Heraeum (LSCG, Suppl. 18) or in the Roman grove of the  Dea Dia. The grove was sacred because it was considered to be the place where a deity resided;…

[German version] (μυσταγωγός/ mustagōgós). An Athenian cult functionary in the Eleusinian mysteries ( Mystḗria ) who accompanied the mystae in the annual procession to Eleusis [1] , kept order and probably helped the mystae during the rites (inscriptions from the 1st cent. BC: LSCG, Suppl 15; Plut. Alcibiades 34,6). There is also evidence for this function outside Athens (Andania: IG V 1, 1390 l. 149; 92 BC); the verb derived from it, μυσταγωγεῖν/ mystagōgeín), denotes an initiation (e.g. of a priest in Panamara, Caria, Syll.3 900; 4th cent. AD). Figuratively, a mystagogos is a person…

[German version] Literally ‘Procession around agricultural land’, an agrarian lustration ritual, the corresponding ritual for lustration of urban areas being the amburbia (SHA Aurelian. 20,3 cf. Fest. s. v. Amburbiales hostiae). The Roman cult is familiar with a series of such cleansing processions around agricultural land, which for the most part are the responsibility of individual landowners ( lustratio agri, Cato agr. 141; sacrificium ambarvale, Serv. Ecl. 3,77; cf. also Tib. 2,1 [1]). The animal carried in the procession, which is killed at its conclusi…

(Ἄνθης or Ἄνθας; Ánthēs, Ánthas). [German version] [1] Son of Poseidon and Alcyone [1] Son of Poseidon and  Alcyone [1], the daughter of Atlas. As a child he became lost, but was found by his sister Hypera as cup-bearer in Acastus in Pherae and thus saved (Plut. qu. Gr. 19,295 f.). He founds Anthea, his brother Hyperes ( sic) Hyperea; A.'s son Aetius ruled both locations, which were then united under Pelopidas with Troezen (Paus. 2,30,8 f.). In another tradition Anthedonia and Hyperea are the old names of Troezen (Aristot. fr. 597). He was also regard…

[German version] (Λαιρβηνός; Lairbēnós) is the epiclesis of Apollo in Phrygia, as attested to in numerous inscriptions. The missing Greek etymology as well as the variants point to the fact that this is the Greek interpretatio of an indigenous name. Many confession inscriptions stem from his shrine in the region of modern Ortaköy. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography K. M. Miller, Apollo L., in: Numen 32, 1985, 46-70 G. Petzl, Die Beichtinschr. Westkleinasiens, 1994, 122-143.

(Ἄρχανδρος [ Árchandros], Ἀρχιτέλης [ Architélēs]). [German version] [1] Sons or Grandsons of Achaeus Sons or grandsons of Achaeus. They move from Phthia to Argus, where Danaus gives them two of his daughters in marriage, whereby they become rulers of Argus and Lacedaemon and the inhabitants there become known as the Achaeans (Paus. 7,1,6 f.). The city in Lower Egypt known as Archandroupolis is supposed to have been named after Archander (Hdt. 2,98). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) [German version] [2] Sons of Acastus  Sons of Acastus, who together with them drives Peleus out of P…

[German version] (Ἀκάδημος). Attic hero, who was venerated in the grove  ‘Akademeia’, 1.6 km west of Athenian Dipylon (a cultic building is presumed). Hecademus is probably an older form of the name (a vase inscription reads hεκα[δεμος] Beazley, ABV 27,36). He revealed to Castor and Polydeuces that Theseus was holding their sister Helena, abducted from Sparta, in Aphidna (Plut. Theseus 32,3-5), and founded the gymnasium (Hesych. s. v. akadḗmia). In gratitude the Spartans spared the academy during their invasions of Attica. The myth competes with another, in whic…

[German version] (Ἀμυμώνη; Amymṓnē). Daughter of Danaus and Europa. By Poseidon she is the mother of Nauplius (Nostoi fr. 1; Hes. fr. 297; Paus. 2,38,2); a river in Lerna is named after her, and the spring of Lerna is ascribed to her (Str. 8,6,8; Paus. 2,37,1. 4). Hyg. Fab. 169 and Apollod. 2,14 recount her myth in the form which goes back to a satyr game, which is probably Aeschylus' A. Sent out by Danaus in order to find a spring in arid Argus, she accidentally startles a sleeping satyr; Poseidon…

[German version] (Ὑάκινθος; Hyákinthos).Hero whose tomb and cult are located in  Amyclae [1] near Sparta, but whose festival, the Hyacinthia, and the name of the month connected to it (hyakínthios, Cretan bakínthios/wakínthios [1]) is known in many Doric cities. The widespread familiarity with H. indicates the hero's ancient, supra-regional significance. The name must be pre-Greek due to the suffix -nth-. Although the Amyclaean sanctuary is pre-Doric, it can be traced only from the late Mycenaean …

[German version] Son of Hermes or Poseidon (Pind. Paean 2), Opuntic Locrian, favourite of Hercules and eponymous hero of the Thracian city Abdera. For Hercules he guarded the human-flesh-eating mares, stolen from the Bistonian king Diomedes, and in so doing, he was himself eaten by them. Hercules founded Abdera on his grave site (Apollod. 2,97) and instigated annually an agone, which was conducted without horse races (Philostr. Imag. 2,25). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography J. Boardman, s. v. A., LIMC 1.1, 1.

[German version] (Βαυβώ; Baubṓ). According to a version of the Eleusinic myth attributed to Orpheus, she was an original inhabitant of Eulisis with the heroes Triptolemus, Eumolpus, Eubuleus and her husband Dysaules, who are visited by  Demeter on her search for his daughter. Like  Iambe in the version of the myth in the Homeric hymn, B. entertains the goddess with food and drink and then obscenely exposes her lower body in order to cheer her up (Clem. Protrepticus 20f.; Arnob. 5,25, who describes …

[German version] (Ἐφέσια γράμματα; Ephésia grámmata, ‘Ephesian letters of the alphabet’). Designation for a series of words devoid of meaning ─ ( askion kataskion lix tetrax damnameneus aision or aisia) that was used orally and in writing for apotropaic and salvation-bringing purposes. Their name comes from the fact that they were engraved on the statue of Artemis of Ephesus (Paus. ap. Eust. Od. 19,247). They were spoken in  exorcism (Plut. Mor. 706 de) for the protection of a bridal couple which was ritually encircled (Men…

[German version] (Ἀλλογενής; Allogenḗs, the ‘different’). Name of  Seth as son of Adam and Eve in Sethian  Gnosticism (Epiphanius, Panarii libri 40,7,2). His seven sons are the Allogeneis (40,7,5). Books are also ascribed to him, which are likewise called Allogeneis (39,5,1; 40,2,2). Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH)