ENCYCLOPEDIA A

ABA A Thracian nymph loved by Poseidon.

ABARBAREE A Mysian nymph loved by the Trojan prince Bucolion.

ACESO (Akeso) The goddess of curing illness and healing wounds.

ACHELOIDES (Akheloides) The Naiad daughters of the river Achelous who attended the god in his river-bed palace.

ACHELOUS (Akheloios) A river of Aetolia in Greece and its god who wrestled Heracles for the hand of Deianeira but lost the contest with his horn.

ACHERON (Akheron) The underworld river of pain and its god.

ACHLYS (Akhlys) The ugly hag who personified the death-mist, the clouding of the eyes of the dead.

ACIS (Akis) A boy loved by the Nereid Galatea who was crushed beneath a rock by the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus and on his death transformed into a Sicilian river-god.

ACMON (1) (Akmon) One of the Dactyls.

ACMON (2) (Akmon) One of the monkey-like Cercopes.

ACRAEA (Akraia) A Naiad daughter of the river Asterion who with hher sisters Euboea and Prosymna nursed the infant goddess Hera.

ACRATUS (Akratos) The daemon of unmixed wine and incontinence.

ACTE (Akte) The ninth of the twelve Horai (Hours) and goddess of an hour of the afternoon.

ADEPHAGIA The goddess of gluttony.

ADICIA (Adikia) The female personification of injustice.

ADRASTEIA One of the nurses of Zeus in Crete.

AEA (Aia) A Nymph loved by the Colchian river-god Phasis.

AEACUS (Aiakos) One of the three Judges of the Underworld who was a king of Aegina appointed to the position after death.

AEDOS (Aidos) The goddess of modesty and respect. She and Nemesis were the last of the good spirits to depart from the earth in the final, corrupt age of mankind.

AEGAEON (1) (Aigaios) An ancient sea-god allied with theTitans.

AEGAEON (2) (Aigaion) One of the Gigantes who made war on the gods.

AEGAEUS (Aigaios) A river of Scheria, island of the Phaeacians, and its god.

AEGEIRUS (Aigeros) The Hamadryad nymph of the poplar tree.

AEGINA (Aigina) A Naiad daughter of the river Asopus who was abducted by Zeus to the island of Aegina. When her father pursued them Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt.

AEGIPAN (Aigipan) The fish-goat god. When Typhon attacked Olympus Aegipan suggested the gods flee to Egypt and hide there in the form of animals. In the exodus he took the form of a goat with the tail of a fish. Later he helped to free the captive Zeus and was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Capricorn.

AEGLE (1) (Aigle) Goddess of the splendour of good health.

AEGLE (2) (Aigle) The nymph mother of the Charites (Graces) by Helius the sun.

AELLO One of the Harpies.

AEOLUS (Aiolos) The god of the winds. He kept the storm-winds locked inside the floating island of Aeolia releasing them at the request of the gods.

AEON (Aion) The primordial god of time.

AERGIA The female personification of sloth.

AETHER (Aither) The primordial deity of the brightly shining, blue upper air.

AETNA (Aitna) Goddess of the volcanic Mount Etna in Sicily. She was one of the Ourea (mountain-gods).

AEX (1) (Aix) The goat-nymph wife of the god Pan.

AEX (2) (Aix) An elder Gorgon slain by Zeus who made his aegis arm-guard from its skin.

AGANIPPE A Naiad daughter of the river Termessus. She was the nymph of the sacred spring of the Muses on Mount Helicon whose waters possessed the power of inspiration.

AGDISTIS An hermraphroditic deity conceived when Zeus impregnated Earth with a nocturnal emission. The gods were alarmed by its form and castrated it to create the goddess Cybele.

AGLAEA (Aglaia) Goddess of beauty and one of the three Charites. She was married to Hephaestus after his divorce from Aphrodite.

AGON The male personification of contest.

AGREUS The marine god of fishing.

AGRIUS (1) (Agrios) One of the Gigantes (Giants) who was clubbed to death by the Moirae in the Giant-War.

AGRIUS (2) (Agrios) One of a pair of half-man, half-bear, Thracian giants who fed on the flesh of men.

AGROS The male personification of the produce of the fields.

ALALA The female personification of the war-cry "alala."

ALASTOR The daemon or spirit of the curse of the blood feud which avenged the sins of the father on a younger generation.

ALCE (Alke) The female personification of battle-strength and prowess.

ALCON (Alkon) One of the Cabeiri.

ALCYONE (Alkyone) One of the Pleiad star-nymphs who was loved by the god Poseidon.

ALCYONEUS (Alkyoneus) The strongest of the Gigantes (Giants). He was immortal but only within the boundaries of his homeland Pallene, so Heracles shot him and dragged him away from his home to die.

ALCYONIDES (Alkyonides) Seven nymph daughters of the giant Alcyoneus who leapt into the sea after their father's death and were transformed into kingfishers.

ALECTO (Alekto) One of the three Erinyes.

ALETHEIA The female personification of truth.

ALEXIARES An immortal son of Heracles and Hebe. He was the demi-god who wards off war.

ALEXIROE (Alexirhoe) A Naiad daughter of the river Grenicus of Troy.

ALGEA The female personifications of sorrow.

ALOADAE (Aloadai) Two gigantic sons of Poseidon who tried to storm the heavens by piling three mountains one upon the other. They were slain by Apollon and Artemis.

ALPHEUS (Alpheios) A river of Elis in Greece and its god. He fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and pursued her all the way to the island Ortygia in Sicily where Artemis transformed her into a spring to escape him.

ALPOS A monstrous Sicilian giant slain by Dionysos.

ALSEIDES Dryad-nymphs of the groves.

AMALTHEIA The she-goat nurse of the infant Zeus. She was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Capra and her horn transformed into the cornucopia (horn of plenty).

AMECHANIA (Amekhania) The female personification of helplessness.

AMNISIADES Naiad-nymph daughters of the river Amnisus who attended the goddess Artemis and tended her sacred, golden-horned deer.

AMNISUS (Amnisos) A river of Crete and its watery god.

AMPELUS (Ampelos) The satyr loved by Dionysus in his youth. When he was killed by a wild bull the god transformed him into a grape-vine.

AMPHIARAUS A hero who was swallowed up alive by the earth and transformed into an oracular daemon.

AMPHILOGIAE (Amphilogiai) The personifications of disputes.

AMPHITRITE The goddess-queen of the sea. She was one of the fifty Nereides and the wife of Poseidon.

AMYMONE A Danaid or Naiad-nymph of an Argive spring loved by the god Poseidon.

ANAIDEIA The female personification of ruthlessness.

ANANKE The primordial goddess of necessity and compulsion whose serpentine coils encircled the cosmos. Her consort was Chronos the god of time.

ANARESINEUS One of the fish-tailed sea gods.

ANATOLE The second of the twelve Horai (Hours). She was the goddess of the hour of dawn.

ANAX A Lydian giant.

ANCHIALE (Ankhiale) The Titan-goddess of the warmth of fire. She was the wife of Hecaterus, the Titan-god of the hands, and the mother of the metal-working Dactyls (the Fingers).

ANCHINOE (Ankhinoe) An Egyptian Naiad.

ANCHIROE (1) (Ankhiroe) An Arcadian Naiad-nymph.

ANCHIROE (2) (Ankhiroe) A Naiad daughter of the Libyan river Chrementes.

ANCHIROE (3) (Ankhiroe) A Naiad daughter of the river Erasinus in Greece who was an attendant of the vigin goddess Britomartis.

ANDROCTASIAE (Androktasiai) The personifications of manslaughter.

ANEMOI (1) The gods of the north, south, east and west winds. They lived together in a cave in Thrace or at the four corners of the earth. Boreas was the wintry god of the north-wind, Notus the stormy south, Zephryus the gentle west, and Eurus the blustery east-wind.

ANEMOI (2) Daemons of the storm winds born of the monster Typhoeus. They were locked inside the floating island of Aeolus and released at the command of Zeus to wreak havoc upon the earth.

ANGELIA The goddess of messages.

ANIA The female personification of trouble.

ANICETUS (Aniketos) An immortal son of Heracles and Hebe. He was the demi-god of unconquerable might.

ANIGRIDES Naiad daughters of the river-god Angrus whose sacred springs could cure those inflicted with skin diseases.

ANIGRUS (Anigros) A river of Elis in southern Greece and its god.

ANIPPE A Naiad daughter of the River Nile loved by Poseidon.

ANTAEUS (Antaios) A Libyan giant who drew his strength directly from his mother Gaia (the Earth). He was slain by Heracles in a wrestling match.

ANTEROS The Greek god of unrequited love who was armed with a bow and arrows of lead.

ANTHEIA The goddess of flowers and floral wreaths. She was an attendant of the goddess Aphrodite.

ANTHEDON A nymph of Boeotia in Greece.

ANTHRACIA (Anthrakia) One of the Arcadian nymphs who nursed the infant Zeus.

ANTIPHATES The king of the man-eating Laestrygon giants who was encountered by Odysseus on his travels.

ANYTUS (Anytos) An Arcadian Titan who fostered Demeter's daughter Despoena.

APATE The female personification of deceit.

APELIOTES The demi-god of the east-wind.

APHRODITE The goddess of love, beauty and intercourse, and one of the twelve, supreme Olympian gods. She was born of the sea-foam generated by the castrated genitals of the sky-god Uranus.

APHROS An Ichthyocentaur, or fish-tailed sea centaur, who brought the goddess Aphrodite ashore after her birth in the sea's foam.

APOLLO (Apollon) The god of prophecy, music and healing and one of the twelve great Olympians. His deadly arrows were the bringers of plague.

APORIA The personification of powerlessness and difficulty.

APOTHEOTHENAI Men and women granted immortality in the company of the gods.

ARAE (Arai) The female personifications of curses.

ARCE (Arke) A sister of the rainbow-goddess Iris. She was the messenger of the Titan-gods who was stripped of her wings and cast into Tartarus by Zeus.

ARES The god of war and bloodshed, one of the twelve supreme Olympians.

ARETE The goddesss of virtue and excellence.

ARETHUSA (Arethousa) The Naiad-nymph of a Sicilian spring who was chased across the sea by the lustful river-god Alpheus.

ARGES One of the three metal-working Cyclops.

ARGIOPE (1) A Nymph of Mount Parnassus who was abandoned by the poet Philammon.

ARGIOPE (2) An Eleusinian nymph.

ARGUS PANOPTES (Argos Panoptes) A giant whose body was covered with a hundred eyes. He was set by Hera to guard the maiden Io--a lover of Zeus who the god had disguised as a cow. After he was slain by Hermes, Hera placed his eyes on the tail of the peacock.

ARGYRA A sea-nymph of Achaea loved by the hero Selemnus.

ARIADNE A Cretan princess who helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur. During the voyage to Athens she was carried off by the god Dionysus to be his immortal wife.

ARIMASPIANS (Arimaspoi) A tribe of one-eyed Scythians who waged a continual war with the Griffins for mountain gold.

ARION (Areion) An immortal horse born of the goddess Demeter after Poseidon had violated her in the guise of a horse. Arion was owned first by Heracles and later by the hero Adrastus.

ARISTAEUS (1) (Aristaios) The rustic god of bee-keeping, cheese-making, olive-growing and hunting. He was a companion of his divine cousin Dionysus.

ARISTAEUS (2) (Aristaios) A Gigante (Giant) who fled the battle with the gods and was transformed into a dung-beetle.

ARTEMIS The goddess of hunting, wild animals, childbirth and children, and one of the twelve great Olympian gods. Her deadly arrows brought sudden death to women and girls.

ASBETON The daemon "Charr" which plagued the craftsman-potter.

ASCALAPHUS (Askalaphos) An underworld spirit who tended the orchards of Hades. When he told his master that Persephone had tasted the seeds of the pomegranate Demeter transformed him into an accursed screech-owl.

ASCANIUS (Askanios) A river of Mysia and its liquid god.

ASCLEPIUS (Asklepios) The god of medicine. He was a student of the centaur Chiron who became so skilled in the art of healing that he could bring the dead back to life. Zeus struck him dead with a lightning-bolt for defying the natural order.

ASCRA (Askre) A Boeotian nymph loved by the god Poseidon.

ASIA (1) (Asie) The Oceanid wife of the Titan Iapetus who gave her name to a continent.

ASIA (2) (Asie) The Oceanid wife of the Titan Prometheus who gave her name to the continent of Asia.

ASOPIS A Naiad daughter of the river Asopus in southern Greece.

ASOPUS (Asopos) A river of Boeotia and Argos in southern Greece and its watery-god. He had twenty beautiful daughters who were all abducted by the gods. When he tried to recover his daughter Aegina from Zeus, the god scorched him with a lightning-bolt.

ASTERIA The Titan-goddess of nocturnal rites and mother of the witch Hecate. When Zeus pursued her, she transformed herself into a quail and leaping from heaven into the sea became the island of Delos.

ASTERION A river of Argos in the southern Greece and its god.

ASTERIUS (Asterios) A Lydian giant.

ASTERODEIA A nymph of the Caucasus mountains loved by King Aeetes of Colchis.

ASTEROPE An Oceanid-nymph loved by Zeus.

ASTRA PLANETA The gods of the five wandering stars or planets. Hesperus was the spirit of the star Venus and Pyroeis of Mars.

ASTRAEA (Astraia) The Titan-goddess of justice. She left the earth at the end of the Golden Age to become the constellation Virgo.

ASTRAEUS (1) (Astraios) The Titan-god of the stars and the arts of astronomy and astrology. He was the father of the four winds and the wandering stars (planets) by the dawn-goddess Eos.

ASTRAEUS (2) (Astraios) One of the Sileni--elderly satyrs in the retinue of Dionysus.

ASTRAPE The goddess of lightning, a handmaiden of the storm-god Zeus.

ASTRIS A nymph daughter of Helius the sun and wife of the Indian river-god Hydaspes.

ASTROTHESIAI The spirits of constellations. They mostly mortal men and creatures granted a place of honour amongst the stars of heaven

ASTYOCHE (Astyokhe) A Naiad-nymph daughter of the Trojan river Simoeis who married a king of Troy.

ATE The personification of error, delusion and blind folly who led men and gods alike to rash and inconsiderate action. Zeus grabbed her by the hair and tossed her out of heaven.

ATHENA (Athene) The goddess of wisdom, war and crafts, and one of the twelve supreme Olympians. She sprang fully grown and ready-armed from the head of Zeus.

ATLANTEIA A Dryad-nymph loved by King Danaus of Libya.

ATLANTIS (Atlantis) A lost island which was sunk beneath the sea by the gods as punishment for its people's wanton immorality.

ATLAS The Titan-god of daring who led the Titans in their war against the gods. He was condemned to bear the solid-dome of heaven upon his shoulders.

ATROPUS (Atropos) One of the three Fates.

ATTIS A eunuch attendant of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and the charioteer of her lion-drawn car. The goddess caused him to castrate himself when she discovered him in the arms of a nymph.

AUGE One of the Horae of the hours. She presided over the dawn-hour of first light.

AULONIADES Dryad-nymphs of the glens.

AURA The Titan-goddess of the breeze who was violated by Dionysus in the mountains of Phrygia.

AURAE (Aurai) Nymphs of the breezes.

AUTOMATONES Animated metal statues of animals and men crafted by the divine smith Hephaestus.

AUXESIA The Hora of spring growth.

AXIUS (Axios) A river of Paeonia and its watery god.