A HANDY
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LONDON : WH ITTAKER CO .
By R . 8: R. CLARK ,
PRE FA CE
THIS H andyDictionary of Mythology is intended to
supply the everyday reader with concise accounts of
the gods and goddesses of the ancients in an acces
sible form .
Besides confronting us at every turn in the museums and picture galleries, these deities and heroesare constantly mentioned by poets and portrayed
by painters and sculptors, and they are used for the
purpose pf il lustration in the literature of the day.
Nothing is more common than to find the comic
newspapers resorting to Mythology for subjects fortheir pictures ; and quite recently Punch has givenus some delightful cartoons by Tenniel, which, apart
from the admirable drawing, are intensely amus
ing to people who know enough ofMythology to seethe drift of the artist. For example, there is a car
toon representing E acus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus
sitting in judgment on the unlucky electioneeringbribers, and underneath is the word
“ Nemesis .Again, there was a capital cartoon representing the
7“ Judgment of Paris
,
” in which the Duke of Rich
vi FEBEAOE.
mond, Earl Cairns, and Lord Salisbury figure as
Juno, Minerva, and Venus. This had reference to
the selection of a Conservative Leader for the House
of Lords, and was very popular . In order fully toenjoy similar works, and to appreciate the allusions,it is necessary that we should be able to find out
readily something about these mythological beings.But to ascertain this “ something ” we do not want
to waste time in wading through such a number ofvolumes as the compiler has u sed in making this
D ictionary, even if it were possible to get access tothem.
It has been a matter of astonishment to him to findhow many different versions there are of the same
fable,and to see how often various writers attribute
the same actions to different gods or heroes. In fact,
it has frequently been a difficult task to decidewhich version should be adopted,—which authorityaccepted. It may therefore be desirable to statethat where doubts have arisen, either the various
versions are given, or else Lempriere’
s Classica l Di c
tionary has been referred to, to decide the questions.Besides Lempriere, the following works, with manyothers of less authority, have been consulted in com
pil ing thi s Dictionary
POETICAL HISTORIES. Written originally inFrench by the learned Jesuit, P. GALTRUOHIUS .
”
Translated into English by MARIUS D’
ASSIGNY,
B.D. Second edition, 1672.
PREFACE. vii
THE PANTHEON. Representing the fabulous his
tories of the Heathen Gods in a plain and fami
liar method. By ANDREW TOOKE, A.M. 1713.
A NEW PANTHEON ; or, Fabulous History of
Heathen Gods, Heroes, and Goddesses. BySAMUEL BOYSE, A M. 1753.
MYTHOLOGICAL, ETYMOLOGICAL, and HISTORICALDICTIONARY. By W. HOWELL, B.D. 1793.
BowDEN’
s PAGAN DEITIES. 1820.
Now,supposing that all these books were acces
sible to the general reader,it would still be in many
instances impossible for him, without considerable
labour,to find therein much of the information con
tained in this Dictionary, for some of the best of
them have no index,but this book is an index to
them all.The proper pronunciation of the names being important, the accent is always marked and the illus
trative quotations from the poets have been specially
selected with the intention of assisting the reader in
finding out the number of syllables in a name,and
by this means fixing the pronunciation.
It will be seen that the compiler has not confinedhimself to Greek and Roman Mythology, but has
included the more important of the Egyptian,
Scandinavian, and Hindoo deities, references to whi choften occur in modern literature.The limited space at command has made it neces«
sary to be as concise as possible,but every name con
PREFAOE .
nected with Mythology, of any note at all, has, it is
hoped, been included, and care has been taken to
avoid repetitions as much as possible . Where two
or three names occur in connection with one fable,
the tale is told once,and reference is made to it under
the name of the other deities concerned therein.
There are a few names inserted which, though not
strictly mythological,are mentioned because it fre
quently happens that in the history of ancient heroes
th ere is something fabulous in the tales told concern
ing them.
As to some of the gods and heroes, the HandyClassical D ictionary and Plu tarch
’
s Lives (part of
this Series of Handy Books ) may be consulted withadvantage for fuller information and it is hoped that
the popularity of those two books will be at least
equalled by the Dictionary of Mythology.
A HANDY
DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY.
A.
’BAS, a son ofMeganira, was turned into a newt,or water-lizard, for deriding the ceremonies of theSacrifice.
ABSY’RTUS, brother ofMedea.
ACHELO’US was a son of Oceanus and Terra. Hehad the power of assuming all shapes
,and in a
confli ct with Hercules h e turned himself into aserpent, and then into a bull, but he was finallydefeated
,and he then turned himself into a river
,
which has since been called Achelous.
ACH'ERON. One of the rivers of the infernal regionsto which the spirits of the dead resorted, andwaited there till Charon the ferryman took themover.
Infernal rivers that disgorgeInto the burning lake their baleful streams.
Sad Acheron, of sorrow black and deep.
MILTON.
ACHIL'LES was the most valiant of the Greek heroesin the Troj an War. He was the son of Peleus
,
B
2 A HANDY DICTIONARY
King of Thessaly. His mother,Thetis, plunged
him,when an infant
,into the Stygian pool, whi ch
made him invulnerable wherever the waters hadwashed him but the heel by which he was heldwas not wetted
,and that part remained vulner
able. He was shot with an arrow in the heelby Paris
,at the siege of Troy, and died of his
wound.
ACIDA’LIA, a name given to Venus from a fountainin Boeotia.
A’cIs . A Sicilian shepherd, loved by the nymphGalatea. One of the Cyclops who was jealous ofh im crushed h im by hurling a rock on him .
Galatea turned his blood into a river—the Acis atthe foot of Mount Etna.
ACTIE'
ON was the son of Aristaeus, a famous huntsman . He intruded himself on Diana while shewas bathing
,and was changed by h er into a deer,
in which form he was hunted by his own dogs andtorn in pieces.
A’DES
,see Hades.
ADO'NIS, the beautiful attendant of Venus, who heldher train. He was killed by a boar, and turnedby Venus into an anemone.
Even as the sun with purple- coloured faceHad ta’en his last leave of the weeping morn,Rose - cheeked Adonis hied h im to the chaseHunting he loved
,but love he laughed to scorn.
SHAKESPEARE .
ADRASTIE'
A,another name of Nemesis, one of the
goddesses of j ustIce.
ADSCRIPTI’
TII DII were the gods of the second
grade.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 3
ADVERSITY, see Echidna.IE
'ACUS , one of the judges of hell
,with Minos and
Rhadamanthus . See Eacus.
IECAS'
TOR, an oath used only by women, referring tothe Temple of Castor.
IED’
EPOL, an oath used by both men and women,referring to the Temple of Pollux.
IEGE'
ON,a giant with fifty heads and one hundr ed
hands, who was imprisoned by Jupiter underMount Etna. See Briareus.
IE’
GIS, the shi eld of'Jupiter, so called because it was
made of goat skin .
“Where was thine ZEgis Pallas that appall’
d ?
BYRON.
Tremendous, Gorgon frown ed upon its field,An d circling terrors filled the expressive shield .
Ful l on the crest the Gorgon ’s head they place,
With eyes that roll in death,and with distorted
face.
” POPE .
IE’
GLE . The fairest of the Naiads.
AE L’LO, the name of one of the Harpies.
E NE’AS was th e son of Anchises and Venus. Hewas one of the few great captains who escapedthe destru ction of Troy . He behaved with greatvalour during the siege, encountering Diomed,and even Ach illes h imself. When the Grecianshad set the city on fireE neas took h is aged fath er,Anchises, on h is shoulders,whilst his son,Ascanius,and his wife
,Creusa, clung to his garments. He
saved them all from the flames . After wanderingabou t during several years, encountering numerousdifficulties, he at length arrived in Italy, where h ewas hospitably received by Latinus
,king of the
4 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
Latins. After the death of Latinus IEneas becameking
His back, or rather burth en, showedAs if it stoope
'
d with i ts loadFor as IEneas bore his sireUpon his shoulders through the fire,Our knight did bear no less a packOf his own buttocks on his back.
”
BUTLER.ZEO
’LUS was the god of the winds. Jupiter was hisreputed father, and hi s mother is said to have beena daughter of Hippotus. E olus is representedas having the power of holding the winds confinedin a cavern, and occasionally giving them libertyto blow over the world. So much command washe supposed to have over them that when Ulyssesvisited him on his return from Troy he gave him,
tied up in a bag, all the winds that could preventhis voyage from being prosperous . The compaui ons of Ulysses, fancying that the bag containedtreasure, cut it open just as they came in sight ofIthaca, the port they were making for, and thec ontrary winds rushing out drove back the shipmany leagues. The residence of IEolus was atS trongyle, now called Strombolo .
B olus from his airy throneWVith power imperial curbs the struggling windsAnd sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.
DRYDEN.
IESCULA’
PIUS, the god of physic, was a son of Apollo.He was physician to the Argonauts in their famousexpedition to Colchis. He became so noted forhis cures that Pluto became jealous of him, andh e requested Jupiter to kill him with a thunderb olt. To revenge his son ’s death Apollo slew the
OF M YTHOLOGY. 5
Cyclops who had forged the thunderbolt . By hismarriage with Epione he had two sons
,Machaon
and Podalirus, both famous physicians, and fourdaughters, of whom Hygeia, the goddess of health,is the most renowned. Many temples wereerected in honour of IEsculapius, and votivetablets were hung therein by people who had beenhealed by him ; but his most famous shrine wasat Epidaurus, where, every five years, gameswere held in his honour. This god is variouslyrepresented
,but the most famous statue shows
h im seated on a throne of gold and ivory. Hishead is crowned with rays
,and he wears a long
beard. A knotty stick is in one hand, and a staffentwined with a serpent is in the other, while adog lies at his feet.
Thou that dost IEsculapius deride,And o ’er his gall ipots in triumph ride .
FENTON.
IE’
SON was father Of Jason, and was restored toyouth by Medea.
IE'TA, a king of Colchis, was father of Medea.
AGAMEM'NON was the son of Plisthenes and brotherof Menelaus . He was king of the Argives . Hisbrother’s wife was the famous Helen, daughter ofTyndarus , king of Sparta ; and when she elopedwith Paris, Agamemnon was appointed leader ofthe Greeks in their expedi tion against Troy.
AGAN IP'
PIDES, a name of the Muses, derived fromthe fountain of Aganippe .
ACINE'US, see Apoll o.
AGLA’IA was one of the Three Graces.AG’NI . The Hindoo god of lightning.
6 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
A’
JA' was one of the bravest of the Greek warriorsin the Trojan war. H is father was Telamon
,and
his mother Eriboea. Some writers say that he waskilled by Ulysses ; oth ers aver th at he was slainby Paris wh ile others again assert that he wentmad after being defeated by Ulysses, and killedhimself. Another Ajax, son of Oileus, also tooka prominent part in the Troj an War.
ALCES'TIS, wife o f Admetus, who, to save her husband’s life, died in hi s stead, and was restored tolife by Hercules.
ALCI'DES, one of the names of Hercules.
ALCME’NA, the mother of Hercules, was daughter of
Electrion, a king of Argos .
ALEC'
TO was one of the Furies. She is depicted ashaving serpents instead of hair on her head
,and
was supposed to breed pestilence wherever shewent.
ALEC’TRYON, a servant of Mars, who was changedby him into a co*ck becau se he did not warn hismaster of the rising of the sun .
AL’FADUR, in Scandinavian Mythology the SupremeBeing—Father of all.
AL’
MA MAMMO'SA, a name of Ceres.ALPHE’US, a river god. See Arethusa.ALTAR. A structure on which a sacrifice was offered.
The earliest altars were merely heaps of earth orturf or rough unhewn stone ; but as the modeof sacrificing became more ceremonious granderaltars were built . Some were of marble andbrass, ornamented with carvings and bas - reliefs,and the corners with models of the heads of animals . They varied in height from two feet tofour, and some were built solid others were made
OF MYTHOLOGY 7
hollow to retain the blood of the victims. Somewere provided with a kind of dish, into whichfrankincense was thrown to overpower the smellof burn ing fat. This probably was the origin ofthe custom of burning incense at the altar.
AMAL’
THIE’A,the goat which nourished Jupiter.
AM'AZ ONS were a nation of women - soldiers wholived in Scythia. Hercules totally defeated them
,
and gave Hippolyte, their queen, to Theseus for awife. The race seems to have been exterminatedafter this battle.
AMBABVA'LIA were festivals in honour of Ceres, in
sti tuted by Roman husbandmen to purge theirfields. At the spring festival the head of eachfamily led an animal, usually a pig or ram,
deckedwi th oak boughs, roun d his grounds, and offeredmilk and new wine . After harvest there wasanother festival, at which Ceres was presentedwith the first-fruits of the season . See Ceres .
AMBER, see Heliades.AMBRO’SIA were Bacch analian festivals.AMI'CA
,a name of Venus .
AMPHI'ON was the son of Jupiter and Antiope. Hewas greatly skilled in music and it is said that
,
at the sound of his lute, the stones arrangedthemselves so regularly as to make the walls ofthe city of Thebes.
Amphion, too, as story goes, could callObedient stones to make the Theban wall .
HORACE .
New walls to Thebes, Amphion thus began .
”
'WILLIAM KING.
Such strains I sing as once Amphion played,When li st’n ing flocks the powerful call obeyed.
ELPHINSTON .
8 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
AMPHITRI'TE (or Salatia) , the wife of Neptune, wasa daughter of Oceanus and Terra. She was themother of Triton, a sea god.
His weary chari ot sought the bowersOfAmphitrite and her tending nymphs.
THOMSON.
AMY’CUS was king of Babrycia. He was a son ofNept une, and was killed by Pollux .
ANCIE'US. A son of Neptune, who left a cup of wine
to hunt a wild boar which killed him,and the
wine was untasted. This was the origin of theproverb—“ There’s many a slip ’twixt cup andlip.
”
ANCIL’IA, the twelve sacred shields . Thefirst Ancile
was supposed to have fallen from heaven in answerto the prayer of Numa Pompilius. It was keptwith the greatest care
,as it was prophesied that
the fate of the Roman people would depend uponits preservation. An order of priesth ood wasestablished to take care of the Ancilia
,and on l st
March eachByear the shields were carried in procession
,and in the evening there was a great feast
call ed Coena Saliaris.
ANDROM’EDA, the daughter of Cepheus, king of theEthiopians, was wife of Perseus, by whom shewas rescued when she was chamed to a rock andwas about to be devoured by a sea-monster.
ANEM’
ONE. Venus changed Adonis into this flower.
ANGERO’NIA, otherwiseVolupia, was the goddess whohad the power of dispelling anguish of mind.
ANNA PEREN’NA, one of the rural divinities.
ANTIB'US, a giant who was vanquished by Hercules .Each time that Hercules threw him the giant
10'
A HANDY DICTIONARY
Greeks called him Agineus because the streets wereunder his guardiansh ip
,and he was called Pythius
from having kill ed the serpent Python . Apollo 18usually represented as a handsome young manwithout beard, crowned with laurel, and having Inone hand a bow,
and in the other a lyre. The
favourite residence of Apollo was on Mount Parnassus
,a mountain of Phocis, in Greece, where he
presided over the Muses. Apollo was the acoredited father of several children, but the two mostrenowned were IEsculapius and Phaeton.
Apollo there with aim so clever,
Stretches his leaden bow for ever.LLOYD , 1750.
Wilt thou have music ? Hark Apollo plays,
And twenty caged nightingales do sing.
SHAKESPEARE.
ApoTHE’
OSIs. The consecration of a god . Theceremony of deification .
APPLE, see Atalanta.ARACH'NE, a Lybian Princess, who challenged Minerva to a spinning contest, butMinerva struck heron the head with a spindle, and turned her into aspider.
. So her disembowelled web,Arachne
,
.
in a hall or kitchen spreads,Obvious to vagrant fli es. ’
JOHN PHILLIPS.ARCA’DIA, a delightful country in the centre of Pelo
ponnessus, a favourite place of the gods. Apollowas reputed to have been King of Arcadi a.
AB’OAS, a son of Calistro, was turn ed into a he bearand afterwards into the constellation called UrsaMinor.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 11
ARCHER, see Chiron .
AREOP’
AGI'TIE
,the judges who sat at the Areopagus.
AREOP’AGUS, the hill at Athens where Mars was triedfor murder before twelve of the gods .
A'BE S. The same as Mars, the god of war.
ARETHU'SA was one of the nymphs of Diana. Shefled from Alpheus , a river god, and was enabled toescape by being turned by Diana into a rivul etwhich ran underground. She was as virtuous asshe was beautiful .
AR’GONAUTS. This name was given to the fifty heroeswho sailed to Colchis in the ship Argo under thecommand of Jason, to fetch the Golden Fleece.
AR’GUS was a god who had a hundred eyes whichslept and watched by turns . He was ch arged byJuno to watch Io
,but
,being slain by Mercury,
was changed by Juno into a peaco*ck.
ARIAD’NE
,daughter of Minos, King of Crete. After
enabling Theseus to get out of the Labyrinth bymeans of a clew of thread, she fl ed with h im toNaxos
,where he ungratefully deserted her ; but
Bacchus wooed her and married her,and the crown
of seven stars which he gave her was turned intoa constell ation .
ABI'ON was a famous lyric poet of Methymna, in theIsland of Lesbos
,wh ere he gained great riches by
his art. There is a pretty fable wh ich has made“
the name of Arion famous. Once when travellingfrom Lesbos his companions robbed h im, and proposed to throw him into the sea. He entreatedthe seamen to let h im play upon his harp beforethey threw him overboard
,and he played so sweetly
that the dolphins flocked round the vessel. He
12 A HANDY DICTIONARY
then threw himself into the sea,and one of the
dolphins took him up and carried him to Taenarus,near Corinth. For this act the dolphin was raisedto heaven as a constellation .
ARISTIE’
US, son of Apoll o and Cyrene, was the godof trees ; he also taught mankind the use ofhoney
,and how to get oil from olives. He was
a celebrated hun ter. His most famous son wasActaeon.
ABMA’
TA, one of the names of Venus, gi ven to her
by Spartan women.
AR'TEMIS. This was the Grecian name of Diana
,and
the festivals at Delphi were called Artemesia.
ARTS and SCIENCES, see Muses.ARUS
’PICES, sacrificial priests.ASCAL’APHUS was changed into an owl, the harbingerof misfortun e, by Ceres, because he informed Plutothat Proserpine had partaken of food in the infernal regions, and thus prevented her return toearth.
ASCA’NIUS, the son of IEneas.
ASCOL'IA
,Bacchanalian feasts, from a Greek word
meaning a leather bottle. The bottles were usedin the games to jump on .
ASO'PUS. A son of Jupiter, who was killed by one ofhis father’s thunderbolts .
ASSABI'
NUS, the Ethiopian name of Jupiter.ASSES -EARS, see Midas.
ASTAR'TE, one of the Eastern names of Venus.
ASTE'RIA, daughter of Caeus, was carried away byJupiter
,who assumed the Shape of an eagle.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 13
ASTRE’A, mother of N emesis, was the goddess ofjustice ; she returned to heaven when the earthbecame corrupt.
Chaste Astrea fled,And sought protection in her native sky.
JOHN HUGHES.ATALAN’TA was daughter of Caeneus . The oracletold her that marriage would be fatal to her
,but
,
being very beautiful,she had many suitors. She
was a very swift runner, and, to get rid of her admirers, she promised to marry any one of themwho should outstrip her in a race, but that all whowere defeated shoul d be slain . Hippomenes
,how
ever,wi th the aid of Venus, was successful. That
goddess gave him three golden apples, one ofwhich he dropped whenever Atalanta caught upto him in the race. She stopped to pick themup
,and he was victorious and married h er. They
were both afterwards turned into lions by Cybele,
for profaning her temple .
A'
TE. The goddess of revenge, also called the goddessof discord and all evil. She was banished fromheaven by her father Jupiter.With Ate by his side come hot from hell .
SHAKESPEARE .
ATHE’NA, a name obtained by Minerva as the tutelary goddess of Athens .
ATLAS, was King‘
of Mauritania, now Morocco , inAfrica. He was also a great astronomer. He isdepicted with the globe on his back, h is namesignifying great toil or labour. For h is inh ospi
tality to Perseus that king changed h im into themountain wh ich bears his name of Atlas . A ch ainof mountains in Africa is call ed after h im, and sois the Atlantic Ocean. He had seven daughters
14 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
by his wife Pleione, they were called by one common name
,Pleiades ; and by his wife IEthra he
had seven more , who were, in the same manner,called Hyades. Both th e Pleiades and the Hyadesare celestial constellations.
AT'REUS
,the type of fraternal hatred . His dislike
of h is broth er Thyestes went to the extent ofkill ing and roasting his nephews, and invitingtheir father to a feast, which Thyestes thoughtwas a sign of reconciliation
,but he was the victim
of his brother’s detestable cruelty.
Medea must not draw her murdering knife,Nor Atreus there his horrid feast prepare. ”
LORD ROSCOMMON.
AT’ROPOS, one of the three sisters called The Fates ,who held the sh ears ready to cut the thread of life .
A'TYS
,son of Croesus, was born dumb, but when in
a fight he saw a soldier about to ki ll the king,he
gained speech , and cried out,“ Save the king '”
and the string that held h is tongue was broken .
A'TYS was a youth beloved by Aurora
,and was slain
by her father, but, according to Ovid, was afterwards turned into a pine-tree.
AUG’
IEAS, a king of Elis, the owner of the stablewhich Hercules cleansed after three thousand oxenhad been kept in it for th irty years. It was cleansedby turning the river Alph eus through i t. Augaeas
promised to give Hercules a tenth part of his cattlefor his trouble, but, for neglecting to keep his promise, Hercules shot h im.
AU’GURY. This was a means adopted by the Romansof forming a judgment of futurity by the flight ofbirds, and the officiating priest was called anaugur.
OF MYTH OLOGY. 15
AURO’RA
,the goddess of the morn ing
,
“Whose rosy fingers ope the gates of day.
She was daughter of Sol, the sun, and was themother of the stars and winds. She is representedas riding in a splendid golden chariot drawn bywhi te horses. The goddess loved Tithonus
,and
begged the gods to grant him immortality,but
forgot to ask at the same time that he shoul d notgetgold and decrepit. See Tithonus.
So soon as the all -cheering sunShould, in the farthest east, begin to drawThe Shady curtains of Aurora’s bed.
”
SHAKESPEARE.
AUS’TER, the south wind, a son of Jupiter.
AVER’NUS, a poisonous lake, referred to by poets asbeing at the entrance of the infernal regions
,but
it was really a lake In Campania In Italy.
AVERRUN’
CUS DEUS, a Roman god, who could divertpeople from evil doing.
A'E, see Daedalus.
BA’AL, a god of the Phoenicians.
BA’AL -PE’OR, a Moabitish god, associated with licentiousness and obscenity. The modern name isBelphegor.
BABES, see Rumina Dea.
BAC’
CHANTES . The priestesses of Bacchus .
BAC'CHUS, the god of wine, was the son of Jupiterand Semele. He is said to have marr ied Ariadn e,daughter of Minos
,King of Crete, after She was
deserted by Th eseus. The most distinguished ofhis children is Hymen, the god of marriage.
16 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
Bacchus is sometimes referred to under the namesof Dionysius, Biformis, Brisoeus, Iacchus, Lenaeus,Lyceus, Liber, and Liber Pater, the symbol ofliberty. The god of wine is usually representedas crowned with vine and ivy leaves . In his lefthand is a thyrsus, a kind of javelin, having a fircone for the head, and being encircled with ivy orvine . His chariot is drawn by lions
,tigers
,or
panthers.Jolly Bacchus, god of pleasure,Charmed the world with drink and dances.
T. PARNELL, 1700.
BA'
LIOS. A famous horse given by Neptune toPeleus as a wedding present, and was afterwardsgiven to Achilles.
BARKER,see Anubis.
BASSAR’
IDES . The priestesses of Bacchus were sometimes so called.
BATTLE, see Valhalla.BEAR, see Calistro .
BEAUTY,see Venus .
BEES,see Mellona.
BELISA’
MA, a goddess of the Gauls. The name meansthe Queen of Heaven.
BELLER'OPHON, a hero who destroyed a monstercalled the Chimaera.
BELLO'NA, the goddess of war, and wife ofMars . The24th March was called Bellona’s Day, when hervotaries cut themselves with knives and drankthe blood of the sacrifice .In Dirae’s and in Discord’s steps Bellona treads,And shakes her iron rod above their heads. ”
18 A HANDY DICTIONARY
BUBO’NA, goddess of herdsmen, one of the rurald ivinities.
BUD'DAH . A pagan deity, the Vishnu of the Hindoos.BYB’LIS. A niece of Sol,mentioned by Ovid. She shedso many tears for unrequited love that she wasturned into a fountain .
Thu s the Phoebeian Byblis, spent in tears,Becomes a living fountain, which yet bearsHer name. OVID.
CAB’IRI . The mysterious ri tes connected with theworship of these deities were so obscene that mostwriters refer to them as secrets which it was nulawful to reveal .
CAC'ODIE
'MON . Greek name of an evil spirit.
CA'CUS,a three -headed monster and robber.
CAD'MUS,one of the earliest of the Greek demigods.
He was the reputed inventor of letters, and hisalphabet consisted of sixteen letters . It was Cadmus who slew the Boeotian dragon, and sowed itsteeth in the ground
,from each of which sprang
up an armed man.
CADU’
CEUS. The rod carried by Mercury. It hastwo winged serpents entwined round the top end .
It was supposed to possess the power of producingSleep, and Milton refers to it in Paradise Lostas the opiate rod .
”
CALIS'
TRO, an Arcadian nymph, who was turned intoa she -bear by Jupiter. In that form she washunted by her son Arcas
,who would have killed
her had not Jupiter turned him into a h e-bear.The nymph and her son form the ‘ constellationsknown as the Great Bear and Little Bear.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 19
CALLI’
OPE . The Muse who presided over epic poetryand rhetoric. She is gen erally depicted usinga stylus and wax tablets, the ancient writingmaterials .
CAL’PE . One of the pillars of Hercul es.
CALYP'SO was queen of the island of Ogygia, on
which Ulysses was wrecked, and where he waspersuaded to remain seven years.
CA’MA. The Indian god of love and marriage .CAMIL’LUS, a name of Mercury, from his office ofmInIster to the gods.
CAN’ACHE. The name of one of Actaeon’s hounds.
CANO'
BA . The Indian Apollo .
CANO’PUS. The Egyptian god of water, the conqueror of fire.
CAP’IS or CAP’ULA. A peculiar cup with ears,used
in drinking the health of the deities .
CAPITOLI'NUS . A name of Jupiter, from the Capitoline
hil l, on the top of which a temple was built anddedi cated to him.
CAP'RI
'PEDES . Pan, the Egipans, the Satyrs, and
Fauns,were so called from having goats’ feet.
CAPROTI’NA. A name of Juno.
CASSANDRA, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, whowas granted by Apollo the power of seeing intofuturity,
but having offended that god he prevented people from believing her predictions .
CASSIOPE'IA. The Ethiopian queen who set herbeauty in comparison with that of the Nereides,who thereupon chained her to a rock and left her
20 A HANDY DICTIONARY
to be devoured by a sea~monster, but she wasdelivered by Perseus.
CASTA’LIA. One of the fountains inMormt Parnassus,
sacred to the Muses .
CASTA’
LI’DES, a name of the Muses, from the fountainCastalia or Castalius.
CAS'TOR, son of Jupiter and Leda, twin brother ofPollux, noted for his skill in horsemanship . Hewent with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece.
CAU'
THER,in Mohammedan mythology, is the lake
of paradise, wh ose waters are as sweet as honey,as cold as snow, and as clear as crystal and anybeliever who tastes thereof is said to thirst nomore .
CEL’ENO was one of the Harpies, progenitor ofZephyrus, the west wind.
CEN'TAUR. A huntsman who had the fore-part likea man, and th e remainder of the body like a horse .The Centauri lived in Thessaly.
CEP’HALUS was married to Procris,whom he acci
dentally slew by shooting h er,while She was
secretly watching h im,he th inking sh e was a wild
beast. Cephalus was the type of constancy.
CERAU'NIUS . A Greek name of Jupiter,meaning The
Fulminator,from his thunderbolts.
CER’
BERUS. Pluto ’s famou s three-headed dog,whichguarded the gate of the infernal regions, preventingthe living from entering, and the inhabitants fromgoing out.
Three-headed Cerberus, by fatePosted at Plato ’s iron gateLow crouching rolls his haggard eyes,Ecstatic
,and foregoes his prize.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 21
CEREMONIES, see Themis.
CE’RES, daughter of Saturn, the goddess of agriculture, and of the fruits of earth . She taughtTriptolemus how to grow corn, and sent him toteach the inhabitants of the earth. She wasknown by the names of Magna Dea, Bona Dea,Alma Mammosa, and Thesmorphonis . Ceres wasthe mother of Prosperine . See Ambarvalie.
To Ceres bland, her annual rites be paidOn the green turf beneath the fragrant Sh
Let all the hinds bend low at Ceres’ shrine,
Mix.
honey sweet for her with milk and mellowwme,
Thrice lead the victim the new fruits around,
On Ceres call, and choral hymns resound.
”
Ceres was she who first our furrows ploughedWho gave sweet fruits and every good allowed.
POPE .
CES’TUS, the girdle of Venus, which excited irresistibleaffection .
CHA’OS all egorically represented the confused massof matter supposed to have existed before thecreation of the world, and out of which the worldwas formed.
Behold the throneOf Chaos, and his dark pavilion spreadWide on the wasteful deep with him enthronedSat sable-vested Night
,eldest of all things
,
The consort of his reign.
” MILTON.
CHAR'ON was the son of Nox and Erebus. He wasthe ferryman who conveyed the spirits of the dead,in a boat, over the rivers Acheron and Styx tothe Elysian Fields. Charon’s toll ” was a coin
22 A HANDY DICTIONARY
put into the hands of the dead with which to paythe grim ferryman.
From the dark mansions of the dead,
Where Charon with his lazy boatFerries o ’er Lethe’s sedgy moat.
CHARYB’DIS. A dangerous whirlpool on the coast ofSicily. Personified, it was supposed to have beena woman who plundered travellers, but was at lastkilled by Hercules . Scylla and Charybdis aregenerally spoken of together to represent alternative dangers.
Charybdis barks, and Polyphemus roars.FRANCIS.
CHE'MOS. The Moabitish god of war.
CHILDREN, see Nundina.
CHIMIE’
RA. A wild illusion, personified in the monster slain by Bellerophon. It had the head andbreast of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail ofa serpent. It used to vomit fire.
“And on the craggy topChimera dwells, with lion
’s face and maneA goat’s rough body and a serpent’s train .
POPE .
First, dire Chimera’s conquest was enj oyned,
A mingled monster of no mortal kind .
Behind, a dragon’s fiery tail was spread,
A goat’s rough body bore a lion ’s head,
Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire,Her gaping throat emits infernal fire. ”
MILTON.
CHI'RON, the centaur who taught Achilles hunting,music
,and the use of medicinal herbs. Jupiter
placed him amongst the stars,where he appears asSaggitarius the Archer .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 23
CHLO'RIS . The Greek name of Flora, the goddessof flowers.
CHOU. An Egyptian god corresponding to theRoman Hercules.
CHRO'NOS. Time, the Grecian name of Saturn.
CIL’
LARos, see Cyllaros.
CIR’CE, daughter of the Sun . The knowledge ofpoisonous herbs enabled her to destroy her husband
,the King of the Sarmatians
,for which act
she was banished. When Ulysses landed at IEcea,where she lived, she turned all his followers intoswme.
CISSE'
TA. The name of one of Actaeon’s hounds.
CITHER’
IDES. A name of the Muses, from MountCitheron .
CLI’
O . One of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter andMnemosyn e. She presided over history.
CLOACI'NA . The Roman goddess of sewers .
CLO'
THO was one of the Fates. She was present atbirths
,and held the distafi
’
from which was spunthe thread of life. See Atropos and Lachesis.
CLOWNS OF LY’CIA, THE, were changed into frogsby Latona, because they refused to allow her todrink at one of their streamlets .
OLE ’ACI’NA. A name of Venus,given to her at the time
of the reconciliati on of the Romans and theSabin es, which was ratified near a statue of thegoddess.
CLY’TEMNES'TRA,wife of Agamemnon, slew her hus
band and married IEgisthus. She attempted tokill her son Orestes
,bu t he was delivered by his
sister Electra,who sent him away to Strophius.
24 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
He afterwards returned and slew both Clytemnestra and IEgisthus .
CLYI’IE . A nymph who got herself changed into asunflower because her love of Apollo was unrequited. In the form of this flower She is stillsupposed to be turning towards Sol
,a name of
Apoll o .
CNEPH . In Egyptian mythology the creator of t heun iverse.
COCY’TUS, the river of Lamentation . One of the fiverivers of the infernal r .egions
Infernal rivers that disgorgeInto the buIning lake their baleful streams.
Cocytus, named of lamentation loud,Heard on the rueful stream . MILTON.
C<E’
CULUS, a violent robber, was a son of Vulcan .
CcE’LUS , also called Uranus (or Heaven),was the mostancient of the gods.
CIE’NA SALIA
’RIS, see Ancilia .
COLLI’NA was one of the rural deities
,the goddess of
hills .
COMEDY, see Thalia.
CO’MUS was the god of revelry. He presided overentertainments and feasts.
CON’
CORD . The symbol of Concord was two righthands joined, and a pomegranate.
CONCOR'DIA. The goddess of peace. One of the oldest
Roman goddesses. She is represented as holdinga horn of plenty in one hand, and in the other asceptre
,from which fruit is Sprouting forth.
CONSTANCY, see Cephalus.
CONSU'ALIA . Games sacred to Neptune.
26 A HANDY DICTIONARY
CU’PID, the god of love, was the son of Jupiter andVenus . He is represented as a naked, wingedboy, with a bow and arrows, and a torch . Whenhe grew up to be a man he married Psyche.For Venus did but boast one only son,And rosy Cupid was that boasted oneHe, uncontroll
’
d,thro ’ heaven extends hi s sway,
And gods and goddesses by turns obey.
EUSDEN,1713.
CUVE’RA . The Indian god of wealth, correspondingto the Greek Plutus.
CY’
BELE . The mother of the gods,and hence called
Magna Mater. She was wife of Saturn . She issometimes referred to under the names of Ceres,Rhea, Ops, and Vesta. She is represented asIi ding in a chariot drawn by lions . In one handshe h olds a sceptre, and in the other a key. On
her head is a castellated crown, to notify that shewas the first to protect castles and walls withtowers .Nor Cybele with half so kind an eyeSurveyed her sons and daughters of the sky .
DRYDEN.
Might she the wise Latona be,Or the towered Cybele,Mother of a hundred gods
,
Juno dares not give her odds.MILTON.
CY’CLOPS or CY’CLOPES were the gigantic, one-eyedworkmen of Vulcan
,who made Jove’s thunder
bolts. Hesiod gives their names as Arges, Brontes,and Steropes .Meantime
,the Cyclop raging with his wound,
Spreads his wide arms,and searches round and
round .
” POPE.
OF MYTHOLOGY.
CYG’NUS, the bosom friend of Phaeton . He died ofgrief on the death of hi s friend, and was turnedinto a swan .
CYLL’
AROS, one of Castor’s horses. The colour is
mentioned as being coal-black, with white legsand tail . See Cillaros.
CYL’LO . The name of one ofActaeon
’s hounds,which
was lame.
CYLLOP’
OTES. A name given to one of Actaeon’shounds which limped.
CYN’OSURE . One of the nurses of Jupiter, turned bythe god into a conspicuous constellation .
Towers and battlements it seesBosomed high in tufted trees
,
Where perhaps some beauty lies,The Cynosure of neighbouring eyes.
MILTON.
CYPARIS’SUS . A boy of whom Apollo was very fondand when he died he was changed, at Apollo
’s intercession , into a cypress tree, the branches ofwhich typify mourning.
CY’PRESS,see Cyparissus.
CY’PRIA. A name of Venus, because she was worshipped in the island of Cypms .
CYTH'ERA. A name of Venus, from the island towhich she was wafted in the shell .
DACTY'LI were priests of Cybele. They were given
the name,because
,like the fingers, th ey were
ten in number.
DIED’
ALUS was a great archi tect and sculptor. He
invented the wedge,the axe
,the level, and the
28 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
gimlet, and was the first to use sails . Daedalusalso constructed the famous labyrinth for Minos
,
King of Crete . See Icarus .Now Daedalus
,behold, by fate assigned,
A task proportioned to thymighty mind .
POPE .
DA’GON. A god of the Philistines, half man halffish
,like the mermaid. Milton describes him as
Upward man and downward fish .
”
DA’HAK. The Persian devil.
DAI’
TYAS. In Hindoo mythology the devils or evilgods.
DAN'IE was a daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice .She had a son by Jupiter, who was drifted out tosea in a boat
,but was saved by Polydectes and
educated.
DANA’IDES, see Danaus .
DANA’US, King of Argos, was the father of fiftydaughters, who, all but one, at the command oftheir fath er, Slew their husbands directly aftermarriage . For this crime they were condemnedto the task of for ever trying to draw water withvessels without any bottoms. See Hypermnestra.
DANCING, see Terpsichore .
DANGERS, see Scylla.
DAPH’NE . The goddess of the earth. Apollo courtedher
,but she fl ed from him
,and was, at her own
request,turned into a laurel tree .
As Daphne wasRoot bound, that fled Apollo.
MILTON.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 29
DAR’DANUS,a son of Jupiter, who built the city of
Dardania, and by some writers was accounted thefounder of Troy.
DEAD -TOLL, see Charon.
DEATH, see Nox.
DECEIVER, THE, see Apaturia.
DEIANI’RA, daughter of (Fnens, was wife of Hercules.S ee Hercules.
DE’LOS, a name ofApollo, from the island in whichhe was born .
DEL'PH I . A town on Mount Parnassus, famous forits oracle, and for a temple ofApollo. See Delphos.
DEL’PHICUS . A name of Apollo
,from Delphi.
DEL’PHOS, the place where the temple was built fromwhich the oracle of Apollo was given.
DE’MARUS. The Phoenician name of Jupiter.
DE’MOGOR’GON was the tyrant genius of the soil orearth, the life and support of plants. He was de
picted as an old man covered with moss, and wassaid to live underground. He is sometimes calledthe king of the elves and fays .
Which wast begot in Demogorgon’
s hallAnd saw
’
st the secrets of the world unmade.SPENCER.
DRUCHA’LION,one of the demigods, son of Pro
metheus and Pyrra. He and his wife, by makinga ship
,surv ived the deluge which Jupiter sent on
the earth, circa 1503 B.O.
DEVIL, see Dahak, Daityas, and Obambou .
30 A HANDY DICTIONARY
D I’ANA,goddess of hunting and of chastity. She
was the sister of Apollo , and daughter of Jupiterand Latona. She was known amongst the Greeksas Diana or Phoebe, and was honoured as a triformgoddess. As a celestial divinity she was calledLuna ; as a terrestrial Diana or Dictynna ; and inthe infernal regions Hecate.
D ICTYN’NA,a Greek name of Diana as a terrestrial
goddess .D I'DO. A daughter of Belus, King of Tyre. Itwas this princess who bought a piece of land inAfrica as large as could be encompassed by abullock’s hide
,and when the purchase was com
pleted, cut the hide into strips, and so secureda large tract of land. Here she built Carthage ; and Virgil tells that when IEneas wasshipwrecked on the neighbouring coast, she received him with every kindness, and at last fellin love with him. But IEneas did not reciprocate her affections, and th is so grieved herthat she stabbed h erself. A tale is told in FacetioeCantabrigienses of Professor Porson,who being oneof a setp arty, the conversation turned on the sub
j ect of punning, when Porson observing that hecould pun on any subject, a person present defiedhim to do so on the Latin gerunds
,di
,do, dam,
which, however, he immediately did in the following admirable couplet
When Dido found IEneas would not come,
She mourned in silence,and was D ido dumb.
D I’ES PA’TER, or Father of the Day, a name ofJupiter.
DII SELEC’
TI composed the second class of gods.They were Ooelus, Saturn, Geni us, Oreus, Sol,Bacchus, Terra, and Luna.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 31
D IN’DYME’NE . A name of Cybele, from a mountainwhere she was worshipped.
Nor Dindymene, nor her priest possest,Can with their sounding cymbals shake the breastLike furious anger. FRANCIS.
D IOME’DES, the cruel tyrant of Thrace, who fed hismares on the flesh of his guests, was overcome byHercules
,and was given to the same horses as food.
D IO’NE . A poetic name of Venus .
D IONY’SIA were festivals in honour of Bacchus.DIONY’SIUS . A name of Bacchus, either from hisfather Jupiter (Dios) , or from his nurses, thenymphs called Nyseae.
DI’OS,a name of Jupiter.
DIOS’CURI . Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter.DI
’
RIEN . A name of the Furies.
DIS. A name of Pluto, god of hell , signifying riches .That fair field
Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers,
Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy DisWas gathered. MILTON.
DISCORD, see Ate.
D ISCOR’DIA, sister of Nemesis, the Furies, and Death,was driven from heaven for having sown discordamongst the gods .
DISEASES, see Pandora.
DISTAFF, see Pallas.
DODO’NA was a celebrated oracle of Jupiter.0 where, Dodona, is thine aged grove,Prophetic fount
, and oracle divineBYRON.
32 A HANDY DICTIONARY
DODONIE’US . A name of Jupiter, from the city of
Dodona.
DOG,see Lares .
DOLA'BRA. The knife used by the priests to cut upthe sacrifices .
DOL'PHIN, see Arion.DOOR’GA. A Hindoo goddess .
DO’RIS was daughter of Oceanus, and sister of Nereus,two of the marine deities . From these two Sisterssprang the several tribes of water nymphs.
DO’TO. One of the Nereids or sea nymphs.DRA’
CO. One of Actaeon’s hounds.
DRAGON, seven-headed, see Geryon .
DREAMS,see Morpheus.
DRY’ADS were rural deities, the nymphs of 'theforests, to whom their votaries offered oil, milk,and honey.
Flu shed with resistless charms he fired to loveEach nymph and little Dryad of the grove.
”
TICKNELL.
DUMB’NESS, see Atys .
DWEUR'GAR. Scandinavian god of the Echo—a
131n
B’ACUS, son of Jupiter and Egina, one of the judgesof the infernal regions, wh o was appointed to judgethe Europeans . See IEacus .
EARTH, see Antaeas.
EB’LIS
,the Mohammedan evil genius.
34 A HANDY DICTIONARY
EGIP’ANS were rural deities who inhabited the forestsand mountain s, the upper half of the body beinglike that of a man, and the lower half like a goat.
E’GIS was the shield of Minerva. It obtained itsname because it was covered with the skin ofthe goat Amalthaea
,which nourished Jupiter.
See E gis.ELEUSIN’IAN MYSTERIES . Religious rites in honourof Ceres, performed at Eleusis in Attica.
ELYS'IUM, or the ELYSIAN FIELDS. The temporaryabode of the just in the infernal regions.
EMPYRE’AN, THE . The fifth heaven,the seat of the
heathen deity.
ENDYM’ION. A Shepherd,who acquired from Jupiter
the faculty of being always young. One of thelovers of Diana.
ENTERTAINMENTS,see Comus.
ENVY, see FuIi es.
ENYO was the Grecian name of Bellona, the goddessof war and cruelty.
E’
OLUS, see B olus.
E’
Os . The Grecian name of Aurora.
E’
OUS. One of the four horses which drew thech ariot of Sol
,the sun . The word is Greek
,and
means red.
EPH’IAL’TES. A giant who lost his right eye in anencounter with Hercules, a nd the left eye wasdestroyed by Apollo .
ER’ATO . One of the Muses, the patroness of lightpoetry she presided over the triumphs and complaints of lovers
,and is generally I’epresented as
OF MYTHOLOGY. 35
crown ed with roses and myrtle, and holding a lyrein her hand.
ER’EBUS, son of Chaos, one of the gods of Hades,sometimes alluded to as representing the infernalregions.
ERGA’TIS. A name given to Minerva. It means the
work -woman, and was given to the goddess because she was credited with having inventedspinn ing and weaving.
ERIC’
THEUS, fourth King of Athens, was the son ofVulcan.
ERIN’NYS . A Greek name of the Furies. It means
Disturber of the Mind.
ERISIOH’THON was punished with perpetual hunger
because he defiled the groves of Ceres,and cut
down one of the sacred oaks.
ER’OS. The Greek god of love.
EROS’TRATUS. The rascal who burnt the temple of
Diana at Ephesus, thereby hoping to make hisname immortal .
ERYC’INA. A name of Venus, from Mount Eryx inSicily.
ERYTHRE’OS. The Grecian name of one of the horses
of Sol’s chariot.
ESCULA’PIUS, see IEscul apius .
E’
TA, see IEta.
E’THON
,one of the horses who drew the chariot of
Sol—the sun . The word is Greek, and signifieshot.
ET’NA. A volcanic mountain,beneath which, ao
36 A HANDY DICTIONARY
cording to Virgil,there is buried the giant Typhon
,
who breathes forth devouring flames.
EU’DROMOS . The name of one of Actaeon’s hounds .
EU’LALON,
one of the names of Apollo.
EUMEN’IDES,a name of the Furies, meaning mild,
and referring to the time when they were approvedby Minerva.
EUPHRO’SYNE, one of the three Graces, see Graces.
Come thou goddess fair and freeIn heaven ycleped Euphrosyn e.
MILTON.
EU’RUS . The cast wind. A son of B olus .
EURY’ALE was one of the Gorgons, daughter ofPhorcus and Ceto .
EURYD ’ICE, wife of Orpheus, who was killed by aserpent on her wedding night.
Nor yet the golden verge of day begun,When Orpheu s (her unhappy lord),Eurydice to life restored,
At once beheld, and lost, and was undone .F. LEWIS.
EURYTH’ION . A seven-headed dragon . See Geryon .
EU’TERPE, one of the Muses, the patroness of instrumental music. The word means agreeable .
EU’VYHE, an expression meaning Well done, son .
Jupiter so frequently addressed his son Bacchusby those words that the phrase at last became oneof his names .
EVENING STAR, see Hesperus.EVIL, see Cacodaemon.
OF MYTHOLOGY 37
EVILS, see Pandora.
EYE, see Cyclops and Glaukopis .
FAME was a poetical deity, represented as havingwings and blowing a trumpet. A temple wasdedicated to her by the Romans.
FATE, see Nereus.
FATES, or PARC/E, were the three daughters of Necessity. Th eir names were Clotho
,who held the
distaff Lachesis, who turned the Spindle ; andAtropos, who cut the thread with the fatal shears .
FAUN. A rural divinity, half man and half goat.They were very similar to the Satyrs . The Faunsattended the god Pan
,and the Satyrs attended
Bacchus .
FAVO’NIUS . Thewind favourable to vegetation, thatis, Zephyr—the west wind.
. Time will runOn smoother, till Favonius re inspireThe frozen eaIth , and clothe In fresh attireThelily and the rose, that neither sowednor spun .
MILTON.
FAYS. The yellow- skirted FaysFly after the night steeds,Leaving their moon-loved maze .
MILTON.
FEASTS, see Comus .
FE’BRIS (fever) , one of the evil deities, was wor eshipped that she might not do harm .
FEB’RUUS. A name of Plato , from the part of thefuneral rites which consisted of purifications .
38 A HANDY DICTIONARY
FERO’NIA,the Roman goddess of orchards, was
patroness of enfranchised slaves. Some authorsthink Feronia is the same as Juno .
FERTILITY, see Lupercus .
FESTIVALS,see Thalia.
FIDELITY, see Iolaus .FI'DES, the goddess of faith and honesty, had atemple in the Capitol of Rome.
FINE ARTS, see Minerva.
FIRE, see Salamander, Vesta, and Vulcan .
FIRE INSURANCE, see Canopus .FISHERMAN, see Glaucus .FLATH'- IN’NIS
,in
'
Celtic mythology, is Paradise.FLEECE, GOLDEN, see Golden Fleece, Argonauts, andJason .
FLIES, see Muscarius.
FLOCKS, see Pales .
FLO’RA,goddess of flowers and gardens
,was wife of
Zephyrus . She enjoyed perpetual youth. Her
Grecian name was Chloris.
FLORA’LIA were licenti ous games instituted in honourof the goddess Flora.
FLOWERS,see Flora
, Chloris, Hortensis, and Zephyrus.
FLUTE, see Marsyas.
FORTU'NA , the goddess of fortune , had a templeerected to her by Servius Tulliu s . She was supposed to be able to bestow riches or poverty onmankind
,and was esteemed one of the most
potent of the ancient goddesses. She is usually re
OF 'MYTHOLOGY. 39
presented as standing on a wheel, wi th a bandageover her eyes, and holding a cornucopia.
FRAUD, one of the evil deities, was represented as agoddess with a human face and a serpent’s body
,
and in the end of her tail was a scorpion’s sting.
She lived in th e river Cocytus, and nothing buther head was ever seen .
FREY’R . The Scandinavian god of fertility and peace.
The patron god of Sweden and Iceland.
FREY’JA. The Scandinavian Venus. The goddessof love.
FRI’GA. The Saxon goddess of earthly enjoyments .The name Friday is derived from her. In Scandinavian mythology Sh e is the goddess of marriage .
FRO. The Scandinavian god of tempests and winds .FROGS, see Clowns of Lycia .
FRUITS, see Ceres and Pomona.
FUNERALS, see Libitina and Manes .
FURIES, THE, were the three daughters of Acheronand Nox. They were the punishers of evildoers.Their names were Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto,and were supposed to personify rage
,slaughter,
and envy.
FUTURITY, see Cassandra.
GA’BRIEL ,in Jewish mythology is the prince of
fire and thunder,and the angel of death to the
favoured people of God.
GALATIE’A. A sea nymph. Polyphemus, one of the
Cyclops, loved her, but she disdained his atten
40 A HANDY DICTIONARY
tions and became the lover of Acis, a Sicilianshepherd.
GALLAN’TES, madmen, from Galli (which see) .
GAL’LI were priests of Cybele who u sed to cut theirarms with knives wh en they sacrificed
,and acted
so like madmen that demented people got thename of Gall antes .
GAN ’ESA . The Indian Mercury. The god of wisdomand prudence.
GANGA . One of the three Indian river goddesses.
GANYMEDE , a beautiful Phrygian youth, son ofTros
,King of Troy. He succeeded Hebe in the
office of cup-bearer to Jupiter. He is generallyrepresented sitting on the back of a flying eagle .
GARDENS,see Pomona.
GATES,see Janus.
GAUTA’MA. The chief deity of Burmah .
GENII were domestic divinities . Every man wassupposed to have two of these genii accompanying him ; one brought him happiness, the othermisery.
GEN’ITOR. A Lycian name of Jupiter.
GEOMETRY, see Mercury.
GE’RYON was a triple-bodied monster who lived atGades
,where his numerous flocks were guarded
by Orthos, a two -headed dog, and by Eurythion,a seven-headed dragon . These guardians weredestroyed by Hercules
,and the cattle taken away.
GIMLET, see Daedalus.
GIRDLE, see Cestus.
A HANDY DICTIONARY
hands j oined, and either nude or only wearingtransparent robes
,—the idea being that kind
nesses,as personified by the Graces
,should be
done with sincerity and candour,and without
disguise . They were supposed to teach the dutiesof gratitude and friendship, and they promotedlove and harmony among mankind.
GRACES (fourth), see Pasithea.
GRAD’IVUS. A name given to Mars by the Romans .
I t meant the warrior who defended the city againstall external enemies.
GRA’GUs . The n ame by which Jup’ iter was worshipped in Lycia.
GRANARIES,see Tutelina.
GRAP’SIOS . A Lycian name of Jupiter.
GRASSHOPPER, see Tithonus.GRIEF, see Niobe.
HA’DA. The Babylonian Juno.
HA’DES . The Greek n ame of Pluto,the god of hell
,
the word signifying hidden, dark, and gloomy ; theinfernal regions sometimes WIi tten, Ades.
HAILSTORMS,see Nuriel.
HALCY’
ONE, one of the Pleiades, was a daughter ofAtlas and Pelione.
HALCY’ONS were sea-birds
,supposed to be the Greek
king-fishers . They made their nests on the waves,
and during the period of incubation the sea wasalways calm . Hence the modern term HalcyonDays .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 43
HAMADRY’ADES were wood-nymphs,who presided
over trees.
HAPPINESS,see Genn .
HAROE’RIS . The Egyptian god, whose eyes are the
sun and moon .
HAR’PIES were animals with the heads and breastsof women , the bodies of birds, and the claws oflions . Their names were Aello, Ocypete, and
Celeno. They were loathsome creatures, living infilth, and poisoning everything they came in contact with.
Such fiends to scourge mankind, so fierce, so fell,Heavennever summoned from the depth of hell.A v irgin face, with wings and hooked claws,Death in th eir eyes, and famine in their j aws,While proof tofsteel their hides andplumes remainWe strike the impenetrable fiends in vain.
”
HARPI’KRUTI. The Egyptian name of the god
Harpocrates .
HARPOC’RATES, son of Isis,was the god of silence andmeditation . He is usually represented as a youngman, holding a finger of one hand to his lips
,
while in the other hand he holds a cornucopia.
HARVEST,see Segesta.
HAWK, see Nysus .
BA’Z IS . The Syrian war-god.
HEALTH,see Hygeia and Salus.
HEA’VEN, QUEEN OF, see Belisama. God of,see Ooelus.
HE’BE was the goddess of youth. She was cup -bearerto Jupiter and the gods, until she had an awkwardat a festival , and so displeased Jupiter that
44 A HANDY DICTIONARY
she was deprived of her oflice, and Ganymede wasappointed in her stead.
Wreathed smiles,
Such as hung on Hebe’s cheek,
And love to live in dimples sleek.
MILTON.
Bright Hebe waits by Hebe ever youngThe whirling wheels are to the chariot hung.
POPE .
HEC’ATE . There were two goddesses known by thisname
,but the one generally referred to in modern
literature is Hecate,or Prosperine, the name by
which Diana was known in the infernal regions .In heaven her name was Luna, and her terrestrialname was Diana.
HEC’UBA. The mother of Paris,was allotted to
Ulysses after the destruction of Troy,and was
afterwards changed into a hound.
What’s Hecuba to him,or he to Hecuba
SHAKESPEARE.
HEIFER, see Ino .HEL’ENA when a child was so beautiful that Theseusand Perithou s stole her
,but she was restored by
Castor and Pollux. She became the wife of Menelaus
,king of Sparta
,but eloped with Paris
,and
thus caused the Trojan War. After the death ofParis she married Deiphobus, his brother, and thenbetrayed h im to Menelaus. She was strangled byorder of Polyxo
,king of Rhodes.
HE’LIADES were the daughters of Sol, and the sistersof Phaeton, at whose death th ey were so sad thatthey stood mourning till they became metamorphosed into poplar trees, and their tears wereturned into amber.
OF M YTHOLOGY. 45
HEL’ICON . A mountain in Boeotia sacred to theMuses, from which place the fountain Hippocreneflowed.
Yet still the doating rhymer dreams,
And sings of Helicon ’s bright streams ;But Helicon for all h is clatterYields onl y uninspiring water.
BROOM, 1720.
HELICO’NIDES. A name of the Muses, from Mount
Helicon .
HELIOP’OLIS, in Elysium, was the city of the sun .
HE’LIOS . The Grecian sun -god,who went home
every evening in a golden boat which had wings.HEL’IOTROPE . Clytie was turned into this flower byApollo . See Clytie.
HEL’LE was drowned in the sea, into which she fellfrom off the back of th e golden ram, on which Sheand Phryxus were escaping from the oppression oftheir stepmother Ino . Th e episode gave the nameof the Hellespont to the part of the sea whereHelle was drowned, and it is now called theDardanelles.
HELLESPONTIA’CUS. A ti tle of Priapus.
HEMPH’TA. The Egyptian god Jupiter.
HEPHIES’TOS . The Greek Vulcan.
HE'RA. The Greek name of Juno.
HER’ACLES, is the same as Hercul es.
HER’CULES was the.son of Jupiter and Alcmena.
The goddess Juno hated h im from his birth, andsent two serpents to ki ll h im
,but though only
eight months old he strangled the snakes . As he
46 A HANDY DICTIONARY
got older he was set by his master Eurystheuswhat were thought to be twelve impossible tasks
,
which have long been known as the “ TwelveLabours of Hercules. ” They were
Fi rst, To slay the Nemean Lion.
Second , To destroy the Hydra which infested themarshes of Lerna.
Third, To bring to Eurystheus the Arcadian Stagwith the golden horns and brazen hoofs.
Fourth, To bring to his master the Boar of Erymanthus.
Fifth, To cleanse the etaole of King Augeas,in
which 3000 oxen had been kept for thirty years,
but had never been cleaned out .
S ixth, To destroy the Stymphalides, terrible carn iverous birds .
Seventh, To capture the Bull which was desolatingCrete .
Eighth, To capture the mares of Diomedes, whichbreathed fire from their nostrils, and ate humanflesh.
N inth, To procure the gIrdle of Hippolyta, queenof the Amazons .
Tenth, To bring to Eurystheus the flesh -eatingoxen of Geryon, the monster king of Gades.
E leventh,To bring away some of the golden apples
from the garden of the Hesperides .Twelfth , To bring up from Hades the threeheaded dog, Cerberus.
All th ese tasks he successfully accomplished, and,besides
,he assisted the gods in their wars with the
giants . Several other wonderful feats are mentioned under other headings, as Antaeus, Cacus,etc. His death was brough t about through hisendeavours to preserve Deianira from the attacksOf Nessus, the centaur, Whom he killed. The
OF MYTHOLOGY. 47
centaur, before he expired, gave his mystic tunicto Deianira, who in turn gave it to Hercules, andhe put it on, but his doing so brought on an illnessof which he could not be cured. In a fit of desperation he cast himself into a fun eral pile on MountIEta ; but Jupiter had him taken to heaven in afour - horse chariot, and only the mortal part ofHercules was consumed.
Let Hercules himself do what he may,The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.
SHAKESPEARE.
HERDSMEN,see Bubona.
HER’MIE were statues of Hermes (Mercury), whichwere set up in Athens for boundaries
,and as
direction marks for travellers .
HER’MANU
’BIS, see Anubis.
HERMATHE’NAE were statues ofMercury andMinerva
placed together.
HER’MES. A Greek name of the“
god Mercury.
Hermes obeys. With golden pinions bindsHis flying feet
,and mounts the western winds.
VIRGIL.
HERMI’ONE,daughter of Mars and Venus, who was
turned into a serpent, and allowed to live in theElysian fields. Th ere was another Hermione,daughter of Menelaus ; she was betrothed toOrestes, but was carried away by Pyrrhus, the sonof Achilles.
HE’RO. A priestess ofVenus,with whom Leander wasso enamoured that he swam across the Hell espontevery night to vi sit her, but at last was drownedwhen Hero threw herself into the sea and wasdrowned also .
HEROES, see Valhall a.
48 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
HESPER’IDES. Three daughters of Hesperus, King ofItaly. They kept in their garden the goldenapples which Juno gave Jupiter on their weddingday. See Hercul es.
HES’PERUS,brother of Atlas, was changed into the
evening star.
To the ocean now I fly,
And those happy climes that lieWhere day never shuts his eye
,
Upon the broad fields of the skyTh ere I suck the liquid air,All amidst the gardens fairOf Hesper us and his daughters three,That Sing about the golden tree .
MILTON.
HES'TIA. The Greek name of Vesta.
HIEROGLY’PH ICS, see Mercury.
HIGHWAYS,see Janus .
HIL’DUR . The Scandanavian Mars.
HIP'PIA . A name of Minerva.
HIP’
PIUS . A name of Neptune .
HIPPOCAM'PUS. The name of Neptune’s favouritehorse .
HIPPOCRE'NIDES, a name of the Muses, from the
fountain of Hippocrene (th e horse fountain), whi chwas formed by a kick of the winged horsePegasus.
HIPPOLY’TE , queen of the Amazons, daughter ofMars.Her father gav e her a famous girdle, which Her
cules was requ ired to procure (see Hercules) . Shewas conqu ered by Hercul es, and given by him inmarriage to Theseus .
50 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
HYGE’IA, the goddess of health, was a daughter ofIEsculapius and Epione. She was represented asa young woman feeding a serpent
,which is twined
round her arm.
HY’LAS. A beautiful boy beloved by Hercules. Thenymphs were jealous of him
,and Sprited him away
while he was drawing water for Hercules.
HY’MEN,the Grecian god of marriage
,was either the
son of Bacchus and Venus,or, as some say, of
Apollo and one of the Muses. Hewas representedas a handsome youth
,holding in his hand a burn
ing torch.
Some few there are of sordid mouldWho barter youth and bloom for goldBut Hymen
, gen’
rou s, ju st, and kind,Abhors th e mercenary mindSuch rebels groan beneath his rod,For Hymen’s a vindictive god .
”
Dr. COTTON,1736.
HYMN, see Paean .
HYPE’RION. Son of Ooelus and Terra. The modelof manly beauty, synonymous with Apoll o. The
personification of the sun.
So excellent a king that was to thisHyperion to a satyr. SHAKESPEARE .
HYPERMNES'TRA. One of the fifty daughters ofDanaus, wh o were collectively called the Danaides .She was the one who refused to kill her husbandon the weddi ng night. See Danaus.
IAC’CHUS. A name of Bacchus .
IAP’ETOS. The father of Atlas. See Japetus.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 51
IB’
LEES. The Arabian Satan.
IC’ARUS, son of Daedalus, who with his father madeth emselves wings with which to fly from Crete.They were fixed to the shoulders by wax. Icarusflew too near the sun , and the h eat melting thewax
,caused the wings to drop off, and he fell
into the sea and was drowned.
ICHNOBA’TE . One of Actaeon
’s hounds ; it meanstracker.
IDIE’A. A name of Cybele, from Mount Ida, whereshe was worshipped.
IDIE’AN MOTHER. Cybele was sometimes so called.
IDA’LIA. A name of Venus,from Mount Idalus.
IMPERA’TOR was a name of Jupiter,given to him at
Praeneste .
I'NACHUS was one of the earliest of the demigods orheroes.
INCENDIARY, see Erostratus.
INCENSE, see Venus.IN’
CUBUS . A Roman name of Pan, meaning TheNightmare. See Innus .
INDIG’ETES were deified mortals, gods of the fourth
order. They were peculiar to some district.
IN’DRA. The Hindoo Jupiter his wife was Indrant,who presides over the winds and thunder.
INFANTS, see Natio.
IN'NUS. A name of Pan, the same as Incubus.I’NO
, second wife of Athamas, King of Thebes, fatherof Phryxus and Helle. Ino had two children, whocould not ascend the throne while Phryxus and
52 A HANDY DICTIONARY
Helle were alive . Ino therefore persecuted themto such a degree that they determined to escape.They did so on a ram, whose hide became theGolden Fleece (see Phryxus and Hell e) . Ino destroyed herself, and was changed by Neptune intoa sea-goddess.
INO’A were festivals in memory of Inc .
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, see Euterpe .I’
O was a daughter of Inachus, and a pri estess of Junoat Argus. Jupiter courted her, and was detectedby Juno
,when the god turned Io into a beautiful
heifer. Juno demanded the beast of Jupiter, andset the hundred-eyed Argus to watch her. Jupiter
peIsuaded Mercury to destroy Argus, and 10 wasset at liberty, and restored to human shape. Junocontinued her persecutions, and l o had to wanderfrom place to place till she came to Egypt, whereshe became wife of King Osiris, and won suchgood opinions from the Egyptians that after herdeath she was worshipped as the goddess Isis.
IOLA’US, son of Iphicles, assisted Hercu les in conquering the Hydra, by burning with hot irons theplace where the heads were cut o ff ; and for hisassistance he was restored to youth by Hebe.Lovers used to go to his monument at Phosis andratify their vows of fidelity.
IO’
THUN . Celtic mythological monsters,or giants.
IPH'ICLUS was twin brother of Hercules
,and father
of Iolaus .IPHIGENI’A was a daughter of Agamemnon. Hemade a vow to Diana, which involved the sacrifice of Iphigenia
,but just at the critical moment
She was carried to heaven,and a beautiful goat
was found on the alter In her place.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 53
I’RIS,daughter of Thaumas and Electra, was the at
tandant of Juno, and one of the messengers of thegods. Her duty was to cut the thread whichdetained expiring souls. She is the personification of the rainbow.
IRON, see Vulcan.
I’SIS,wife of Osiris, see Io .
I'TYS was kill ed by his mother Progne when six yearsold
,and given to his father Tereus as food. The
gods were so enraged at this that th ey turned Itysinto a pheasant, Progne in to a swallow, and Tereusinto an owl.
I'I’ON was son of Phlegyas, King of the Lapithae. For
attempting .t o produce thunder, Jupiter cast himinto hell
,and had him bound to a wheel, sur
rounded with serpents,which is for ever turn ing
over a river of fire.
The powers of vengeance, while they hear,Touched with compassion, drop a tearIxion ’
s rapid wheel is bound,Fixed in attention to the sound.
F. LEWIS.
Or, as Ixion fix’d,the wretch shall feel
The giddy motion of the whirling wheel
J ’ANI was a place in Rome where there were threestatues of Janus
,and it was a meeting-place for
usurers and creditors .
JA’NITOR. A title of Janus, fi omthe gat es before thedoors of private houses being called Januae.
54 A HANDY DICTIONARY
JA’NUS. A king of Italy, said to have been the son ofOoelus, others say of Apollo he sheltered Saturnwhen he was driven from heaven by Jupiter.Janus presided over highways, gates, and locks ,and is usually represented with two faces. A
brazen temple was erected to him in Rome, whichwas always open in time of war, and closed duringpeace .
Old Janus, if you please,Grave two-faced father. ”
In two - faced Janus we this moral find,While we look forward,we should glance behind .
COLMAN.
JAP’ETUS,son of Ooelus and Terra
,husband of Cly
mene. He was looked upon by the Greeks as thefather of mankind . See Iapetos .
JA’SON was son of IEs0n , king of Iolcos he wasbrought up by the centaur Chiron. His uncle IEtasent him to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis(see Argonauts) . He went in the Ship Argo withforty-nine companions, the flower of Greek youth .
With the help of Juno they got safe to Colchis,but the King ZEtes promised to restore the GoldenFleece only on condition that the Argonauts performed certain services . Jason was to tame the wildfiery bulls
,and to make them plough the field of
Mars to sow in the ground the teeth of a serpent,from which would spring armed men who wouldfight against him who ploughed the field of Marsto kill the fiery dragon which guarded the tree onwhich the Golden Fleece was hung. The fate ofJason and the rest of the Argonauts seemed certain ;but Medea
,the king’s daughter, fell in love with
Jason,and with the help of ch arms which she gave
him he overcame all the difli culties which the
OF MYTHOLOGY 55
king had put in his way. He took away theGolden Fleece and Medea also . The king senth is son Absyrtus to overtake the fugitives
,but
Medea killed h im, and strewed his limbs in hisfather
’s path,so that h e migh t be delayed in col
lecting them, and this enabled Jason and Medeato escape . After a time Jason got tired ofMedea
,
and marri ed Glance, which crueltyMedea revengedby kill ing her children before their father’s eyes .Jason was accidentally killed by a beam of the shipArgo falling on him .
JOCAS'TA (otherwise Epicasta) , wife of Laius, King ofThebes, who in after life married her own son,(Edipus, not knowing who he was, and, on discovering the fatal mistake, h anged herself.
JOVE A very general name of Jupiter.From the great father of the gods aboveMymuse begins, for all is full of Jove .
”
VIRGIL.JUDGES IN HELL, THE, were Rhadamanthus forAsiatics ; IEacus for Europeans ; Minos was thepresiding judge. See Triptolemus .
JUGATIN’US was one of the nuptial deities .
JU’NO was the daughter of Saturn and Ops,alias Cybele.She was married to Jupiter, and became queen ofall the gods and goddesses, and mistress of heavenand earth. Juno was the mother ofMars
,Vulcan,
Hebe, and Lucina. She prompted the gods toconspire against Jupiter, but the attempt wasfrustrated
,and Apollo and N eptune were banished
from heaven by Jupiter. Juno is the goddess ofmarriage, and the protectress of married women ;and she had special regard for virtuou s women.
In the competition for the celebrated Golden
56 A HANDY DICTIONARY
Apple, which Juno, Venus, and Minerva eachclaimed as the fairest amongst the goddesses, Junowas much displeased when Paris gave the appleto Venus. The goddess is generally representedriding in a chariot drawn by peaco*cks
,with a
diadem on her head, and a sceptre in her hand.
JU’PITER,son of Saturn and ‘
Cybele (or Ops), wasborn on Mount Ida, in Crete, and nourished bythe goat Amalthaea. When quite young Jupiterrescued hi s father from the Titans and afterwards,with the help of Hercules, defeated the giants, thesons of earth, when they made war against heaven . Jupiter was worshipped with great solemnityunder various names by most of the heathennations. The Africans called him Ammon ; theBabylonians, Belus and the Egyptians, Osiris(see Jove) . He was represented as a maj estic persomage seated on a throne, holding in his hands asceptre and a thunderbolt at his feet stood a Spreadeagle.
By Jupiter, this shall not be revoked.
SHAKESPEARE.
JUSTICE, see Astrea, NemesIS.
KALI . A Hindoo goddess, after whom Calcutta isnamed.
KA’LOO. One of the chief of the Mexican gods.
KAM'A. The Hindoo god of love .
KEB’LA. The point of the compass which worshippers look to during their invocations . Thusthe Sol or Sun worshippers turn to the east,where the sun rises, and the Mohammedans turntowards Mecca.
58 A HANDY DICTIONARY
LAKS'MI . Hindoo goddess of wealth and pleasure .One of the husbands Of Vishnu .
LAMENTATION, see Cocytus.
LAM’IA. An evil deity amongst the Greeks andRomans, and the great dread of their children,whom sh e had the credit of constantly enticingaway and destroying.
LAMP,see Lares and Penates.
LAM'POS . One of Aurora’s chariot horses
,the other
being Phaeton .
LAOC’OON. One of the priests of Apollo,who was
,
with his two sons, crushed to death by serpents,because he opposed the admission of the woodenhorse to Troy.
LAOM’EDON, son of Ilus, a Trojan king. He wasfamou s for having, with the assistance of Apolloand Neptune, built the wall s of Troy.
LAP’IS. The oath stone . The Romans used toswear by Jupiter Lapis .
LAP’ITHUS, son of Apollo . His numerous childrenwere called Lapithae, and they afl notoriou s fortheir fight with th e centaurs at the n uptial feastof Perithous and Hippodami a.
LA’RES and PEN’ATES were sons ofMercury and Lara,or, as other mythologists say, of Jupiter and
Lamida. They belonged to the lower order ofRoman gods, and presided over homes and families . Their statues were generally fixed withinthe doors of houses, or near the hearths . Lampswere sacred to them, as symbols of vigilance, andthe dog was their sacrifice .
OF [MYTHOLOGY 59
LARK,see Scylla and Nysus.
LATO’NA,daughter of Coeu s and Phoebus, mother of
Apollo and Diana. Being admired so much byJupiter, Juno was jealous, and Latona was theobj ect of the goddess’s constant persecution.
LAUGHTER,see Momus and Venus.
LAU’REL, see Daphne.
LAVER’NA. The goddess of thieves.
LAW, see Menu.
LAWGIVER, see Nomius.
LAWS, see Themis .
LEAN’DER, see Hero .
LEATHER BOTTLE, see Ascolia.
LE’DA was the mother of Castor and Pollux, theirfather being Jupiter, in the shape of a swan .
After her death she received the name of Nemesis .
LEM'NIUS. One of the names of Vulcan .
LEM’URES . The spectres of departed souls. Milton ,
in his Ode to the Nativity,” says
Lemures moan with midnight plaint.They are sometimes referred to as the Manes ofthe dead.
LENIE’US. One of the names of Bacchus.
LER’NA . The lake near Argos where Hercules conquered the Hydra.
LE’THE . One of the rivers of the infernal regions,of which the souls of the departed are obligedto drink to produce oblivion or forgetfulness of
60 A HANDY DICTIONARY
everything they did or knew whil e alive on theearth .
A slow and Silent stream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rollsHer watery labyrinth
,whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,Forgets both j oy and grief, pleasure and pain.
MILTON.
LEUCOTH’EA. The name of Ino after she was transformed into a sea-nymph.
LEVA’NA. The deity who presided o ver new-borninfants.
LEVEL, THE, see Daedalus.
LIAK’URA. Mount Parnassus.
LIBERAL ARTS, see Minerva.
LIB’ER PAT’ER. A name of Bacchus .
LIBERTY, see Bacchus .
LIB’ISSA. Queen of fays and fairies.
LIBITI’NA. The Chief of the funeral deities.
LICENTIOUSNESS, see Belphegor.
LIGE’A. A Greek syren or sea-nymph.
LIGHTNING, see Agni.
LI’LITH . A Jewish myth who is a great enemy tonew-born children . She was said to have beenAdam’ s first wife, but, refusing to submit to him,
was turned from Paradise and made a spectre .
LI’NA. The goddess of the art of weaving .
LIN’DOR. A lover in the shape of a shepherd, likeCorydon ; a love-sick swain .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 61
LION,see Atalanta, Chimaera.
LIVER, see Tityus and Prometheus .
LOCKS, see Janus.LO’
PEN. The Scandinavian godwhoguards friendship .
LOB’UA. The Scandinavian goddess who reconcileslovers.
LOKE . The Scandinavian Satan, the god of strife,the Spirit of evil.
LO’TIS . A daughter of Neptune, who fled fromPriapus, and only escaped from h im by beingtransformed into a lotus -plant.
LC'TUS-PLANT, see Lotis.
LOVE, see Cupid, Eros, Venus.
LU’
CIAN. The impersonation of folly, changed intoan ass.
LU’CIFER. The morning star.
LUCI’NA. The goddess who presides at the birth ofchildren. She was a daughter of Jupiter andJuno .
Lucina, hail So named from thine own grove,Or from the light thou giv
’
st us from above . ”
OVID .
LUD. In ancient British mythology the king of theBritons .
LU’NA. The name of Diana as a celestial divinity.
See Diana and Hecate .LU’PERCUS, or Pan. The Roman god of fertility ;his festival day was 15th February, and the festival s were called Lupercalia.
62 A HANDY DICTIONARY
LYCAON’IAN FOOD . Execrable viands, such as were
supplied to Jupiter by Lycaon. To test the divineknowledge of the god h e served up human flesh
,
which Jove discovered, and punished Lycaon byturning him into a wolf.
LYCIAN CLOWNS were turned into frogs by Latona orCeres.
LYMNI’ADES. Nymphs who resided in marshes.
LYN’CEUS . One of the Argonauts . The personification of sharpsigh tedness .
LYRE . This musical instrument is constantly associated with the doings of the ancient deities.Amphion built the walls of Thebes by the musicof h is lyre. Arion charmed the dolphins in asimilar way. Hercules broke the head of Linus,his mu sic master, with the lyre h ewas learning touse and Orph eu s charmed themost savage beasts,and even the Harpies and gods of the infernalregions
,with the enchanting music of the lyre.
See Mercury.
ME N’ADES . Priestesses of Bacchus.
MAGICIANS,see Telchines .
MAG’NA DE'A,a name of Ceres.
MAGPIES, see Pierides.
MA'HA’SOOR . The Hindoo god of evil.
MA’IA. The mother of the Grecian Mercury.
MAM’MON. The money-god.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 63
MA’NES. Th e souls of the departed. The god offunerals and tombs.
All have their Manes, and their Manes bear.The few who’re cleansed to those abodes repair,And breathe in ample fields the soft Elysian air.
MANURING LAND, see Picumnus .
MARCH 24, Bellona’s Day. See Bellona.
MARI’NA . A name of Venus, meaning sea-foam,from
her having been formed from the froth of the sea.See Aphrodite.
MARRIAGE, see Cama, Hymen, Juno, Jugatinus.
MARS, th e god of war, was the son of Jupiter andJuno . Venu s was his favourite goddess
,and
amongst their children were Cupid, Anteros, andHarmonia. In the Trojan War Mars took thepart of the Troj ans, but was defeated by Diomede.
MARSHES, see Lymniades .
MAR’SYAS. The name of the piper who challengedApollo to a mu sical contest, and, being defeated,was flayed to death by the god. He was the supposed inventor of the flute.
MA’RUT. The Hindoo god of tempestuous winds.
MATU’RA. One of the rural deities who protectedthe growing corn at time of Ii pening.
MAx’IMUS . One of the appellations of Jupiter, beingthe greatest of the gods.
MEASURES and WEIGHTS, see Mercury.
64 A HANDY DICTIONARY
MEDE’A. Wife of Jason, chief of theArgonauts. SeeJason.
Now to Medaea’s dragons fix my reins.
F. LEWIS .Let not Medea draw her murdering knife,And spill her children’s blood upon the stage .
LORD ROSCOMMON .
MEDICINE, see Apollo.
MEDITATION, see Harpocrates.
MEDU’SA. One of the Gorgons. Minerva changedher beautiful hair into serpents. She was conquered by Perseus
,who cut off her head, and
placed it on Minerva’s shield. Every one wholooked at the head was turned into stone.
Ulysses, in the Odyssey, says he wished to seemore of the inhabitants of Hades, but was afraid,as he says
Lest Gorgon, rising from the infernal lakes,With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes,Should fix me, stiffened at the monstrous sight,A stony image in eternal night. ” POPE .
Medusa with Gorgonian terror guardsThe ford .
”MILTON .
Remove that horrid monster,and take hence
Medu‘sa’s petrifying countenance. ”
ADDISON.
MEC’IERA. One of the three Furies.
MEG’ALE. A Greek name of Juno, meaning great.
MELICER’TA, see Palaemon .
MELLO’NA. One of the rural divinities, the goddess
of bees.
66 A HANDY DICTIONARY
ME’RU. The abode of . the Hindoo god Vishnu. Itis at the top of a mountain leagues high.The Olympus of the Indians .
MI’DAS. A king of Phrygia, who begged of Bacchusthe special gift that everything that he touchedmight be turned into gold . The request wasgranted, and as soon as he touched his food it alsowas turned to gold
,and for fear of being starved
he was compelled to ask the god to withdraw thepower he had bestowed upon him. He was toldto bathe in the river Pactolus. He did so
,and
the sands which he stood on were golden for everafter. It was thi s same king who , being appointedto be judge in a musical contest between Apolloand Pan
,gave the Satyr the palm ; whereupon
Apollo , to Show his contempt, bestowed on h im apair of asses’ ears . Th is gave rise to the term“ Midas - cared,
” as a synonym for ill -judged, orindiscriminate .He dug a hole, and in it whispering said,What monstrous ears sprout fromKing Midas’
head .
” OVID .
MI'LO, a celebrated Cretan athlete, who is said tohave felled an ox with his fist, and to have eatenthe beast in one day. His statue is often seenwith one hand in the rift of a tree trunk
,out of
which he is vainly trying to withdraw it. The
fable is, that when he got an old man he attemptedto split an oak tree, but having lost his youthf ulvigour, the tree closed on h is hand and he washeld a prisoner till the wolves came and devouredhim.
MIMALLO'NES. The “wild women who accompanied
Bacchus,so called because they mimicked his
actions.
OF MYTHOLOGY 67
MI'MIR. In Scandinavian mythology the god ofwisdom.
MIND,see Erinnys.
MINER’VA, the goddess of wisdom,war, and the
liberal arts,is said to have sprung from the head
of Jupiter fully armed for battle. She was a greatbenefactress of mankind, and patroness of the finearts. She was the tutelar deity of the city ofAth ens . She is also known by the names ofPallas
,Parthenos, Tritonia, and Glaucopis. She
was very generally worshipped by the ancients,
and her temple at Athens, the Parthenon , stillremain s. She is represented in statues and piet ures as wearing a golden h elmet encircled withan olive branch
,and a breastplate. In her right
hand she carries a lance,and by her side is the
famous IEgis or Shield, covered with the skin ofAmalthaea, the goat which nourished Jupiter andfor the boss of the Shield is the head of Medusa.An owl
,the emblem of meditation
,is on the left
and a co*ck,the emblem of courage
,on the right.
The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum werebrought from the Parthenon, her temple atAthens.
MI’NOS . The principal of the three judges of hell,before whom the spirits of the departed appearedand heard their doom.
MI’NOTAUR . Themonster, halfman, half bull,whichTheseus slew.
MIRTH, see Momus.
MISERY,see Genn .
68 A HANDY DICTIONARY
MITH’RA. A Persian divinity, the ruler of the universe, corresponding with the Roman Sol.
MNEMOS’YNE . Mother of the Muses and goddess ofmemory. Jupiter courted the goddess in theguise of a Shepherd .
MOAK’IBAT. The recording angel of the Moham
medans .
MO’LOCH. A god of the Phoenicians to whom humanvictims
,principally children
,were sacrificed.
Moloch is figurative of the influence which impelsus to sacrifice that which we ought to cherish mostdearly.
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared withblood
Of human sacrifice,and parents’ tears
,
Though for the noise of drums and timbrelsloud,
Their ch ildren’s cries unh eard,that poured
through fireTo this grim idol . MILTON.
MO’MUS. The god of sarcasm. The god who blamedJove for not having made a window in man’sbreast, so that his th oughts could be seen. His
bitter jests occasioned his being driven from heavenin disgrace . He is represented as holding animage of Folly in one hand, and raising a maskfrom his face with the other. He is also describedas the god of mirth or laughter.
MONE’TA. A name given to Juno by those writerswho considered her the goddess of money.
MONEY, see Moneta.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 69
MONEY-GOD,see Mammon.
MOON. The moon was,by the ancients
,called
Hecate before and after setting ; Astarte when increscent form D iana when in full . See Luna.Soon as the evening shades prevailThe moon takes up her wondrous tale
,
And nightly to the list’ning earthRepeats the story of her birth .
”ADDISON.
MOR’PHEUS. The god of sleep and dreams,the min
ister of Somnus.
Morpheus, the humble god that dwellsIn cottages and smoky cellsHates gilded roofs and beds of down
,
And though he fears no prince s frown,Flies from the circle of a crown .
Sir JOHN DENMAN.
MORS . Death, a daughter of Nox.
MOUNTAIN, see Atlas, Nymph.
MUL’CIBER . A name of Vulcan, sometimes spelledMulcifer. See Vulcan.
MUN’IN . The Scandin avian god of memory, represented by the raven that was p erched on Odin’sshoulder.
MUSCA'RIUS. A name given to Jupiter because hekept off the flies from the sacrifices.
MU’SES,THE
,were nine daughters of Jupiter and
Mnemosyne. They presided over the arts andsciences
,music and poetry. Their names were,
Calliope, Clio, Erato, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, and Urania. They
70 A HANDY DICTIONARY
principally resided in Mount Parnassus, at Helicon .
Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth,Than those old nine which rhymers advocate.
SHAKESPEARE .
MUSIC, see Apollo, Muses .MY’
THRAS. The Egyptian name of Apollo .
NAI'ADS, THE, were beautiful nymphs of humanform who presided over springs
,fountains, and
wells. They resided in the meadows by the sidesof rivers. Virgil mentions IEgle as being thefairest of them .
NAN ’DI . The Hindoo goddess of joy.
NAR’AE . The name of the infernal regl ons amongstthe Hindoos.
NA’RA’YAN. The mover of the waters. The Hindoogod of tides.
NARCIS’SUS, son of Ceph isus and the Naiad Liriope,
was a beautiful youth, who was so pleased withthe reflection of himself which he saw in theplacid water of a fountain that he could not helploving it, imagining that it must be some beautiful nymph. His fruitless endeavours to possesshimself of the supposed nymph drove him todespair, and he killed himself. There sprang fromhis blood a flower
,which was named after him,
Narcissus.
Narcissus so himself forsook,And died to kiss hi s shadow in the brook.
Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to meThou would’st appear most ugly.
”
SHAKESPEARE .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 71
NASTR’OND. The Scandinavian place of eternal
punishment, corresponding with Hades .
NA’TIO. A Roman goddess who took care of younginfants.
NEMIE’
AN LION, see Hercules.
NEM’ESIS,the goddess of vengeance or justice
,was
one of the infernal deities. Her mother was Nox.
She was supposed to be constantly travellingabout the earth in search of wickedness, whichshe punished with the greatest severity. She isreferred to by some writers under the name ofAdrastaea. The Romans always sacrificed to thisgoddess before they went to war, because theywished to signify that they never took up armsbut in the cause of justice.
Forbear, said Nemesis, my loss to moan,The fainting trembling hand was mine alone.
Dr. J . WHARTON.
NEPHA’LIA. Grecian festivals in honour of Mue
mosyne, the mother of the Muses.
NEP’TUNE, god of the sea, was a son of Saturn and
Cybele, and brother of Jupiter and Pluto . Hequarrelled with Jupiter because he did not considerthat the dominion of the sea was equal to Jupiter’sempire of heaven and earth and he was banishedfrom the celestial regions
,after having conspired
with Pluto to dethrone Jupiter. Neptune wasmarried to Amphitrite, daughter of Oceanus andTethys
,by whom he had a son named Triton .
He was also father of Polyphemus (one of theCyclopes) , Ph oreus, and Proteus. Neptune is represented as being seated in a shell chariot, drawnby dolphins or sea - horses, and surrounded by
72 A HANDY DICTIONARY
Tritons and sea-nymphs. He holds in his hand atrident
,with which he rules the waves. Though
a marine deity,he was reputed to have presided
over horse - training and horse - races but he isprincipally knownas the god of the ocean ; andthe two functions of the god are portrayed in thesea -horses with which his chariot is drawn
,the
fore-half of the animal being a horse,and the
h ind-half a dolphin . Ships were also under hisprotection, and whenever he appeared on theocean there was a dead calm.
NERE'IDES, THE ,were aquatic nymphs. They were
daughters of Nereus and Doris, and fifty in number. They are generally represented as beautifulgirls riding on dolphins, and carrying tridents inthe right hand.
NERE'US. A sea deity,husband of Doris. He had
the gift of prophecy, and foretold fates ; but hehad also the power of assuming various shapes
,
which enabled h im to escape from the importan ities of those who were anxious to consul t him .
NES'SUS. The name of the Centaur which wasdestroyed by Hercules for insulting Dejanira.
NES’TOR . A grandson of Neptune, his father beingNeleus, and his mother Chloris . Homer makeshim one of the greatest of the Greek heroes. He
was present at the famous battle between theLapithae and the Centaurs, and took a leadingpart in the Troj an war.
Here 3 NestorInstructed by the antiquary times,He must, he is, he cannot but be wise .
SHAKESPEARE
74 A HANDY DICTIONARY
when they were nine days old—the day on whichthe Romans named their children.
NUPTIA’LIS . A title of Juno. When the goddess
was invoked under this name, the gall of thevictim was taken out and thrown behind the altar,sign ifying that there should be no gall (bitterness)or anger between married people .
NU’RIEL. In Hebrew mythology the god of hailstorms .
NYCTE'LIUS. A name given to Bacchus, because his
festivals were celebrated by torchlight.
NYM’PHS . This was a general~
name for a class ofinferior female deities who were attendants of thegods . Some of them presided over springs
,foun
tains, wells, woods, and the sea They are spokenof as land-nymph s or Naiads, and sea~nymphs orNereides, though th e former are associated alsowith fountains and rivers . The Dryades wereforest - nymph s, and the Hama - dryades werenymphs who lived amongst the oak-trees—theoak being always specially venerated by theancients. The mountain - nymphs were calledOreades .
With fl ower-inwoven tresses torn,
The nymphs in twilight shadeOf tangled thickets mourn.
’
MILTON .
NY’SIE. The names of the nymphs bywhomBacchuswas nursed . See Dionysius.
NY’SIEUS. A name of Bacchus, because he was worshipped at Nysa .
NY’SUS. A king of Megara who was invisible byvirtue of a particular lock of hair. This lock his
OF MYTHOLOGY. 75
daughter Scylla cut off, and so betrayed her fatherto his enemies . Sh e was ch anged into a lark, andthe king into a hawk, and he still pursues hi sdaughter, intending to punish her for her treachery.
OAN’NES. An Eastern god, represented as a mon
ster, half man, half fish. He was said to havetaught men the use of letters in the day-time
,
and at night to have retired to the depth of theocean .
OATH, see Lapis.OBAM
’BOU. A devil of African mythology.
OCEAN, see Neptune .
OCEAN’IDES. Sea - nymphs,daughters of Oceanus
and Tethys . Their numbers are variously estimated by difl
'
erent poets some saying there wereas many as 3000, wh ile others say they were asfew as sixteen . The principal of them are mentioned under their respective names, as Amphitrite
,Doris, Metis, etc.
OCE’ANUS, son of Coelus and Terra, and husband ofTethys . Several mythological rivers were calledhis sons
,as Alph eu s, Peneu s, etc . ,
and his daughters were called the Oceanides . Some of theancients worshipped him as the god of the seas,and invariably invoked his aid when they wereabout to start on a voyage. He was also thoughtto personify the immense stream which it wassupposed surrounded the earth
,and into which
the sun and moon and other heavenly bodies sankevery day.
OCRID’
ION . A king of Rhodes, who was deified afterhis death.
76 A HANDY DICTIONARY
OCY’PETE. One of the Harpies, who infected everything she touched. The word means swift offlight.
OCY'ROE . A daughter of Chiron, who had the gift ofprophecy . She was metamorphosed into a mare.
O ’DIN. In Scandinavian mythology the god of theuniverse, and reputed fath er of all the Scandinavian kings. His wife’s name was Friga, and histwo sons were Thor and Balder.
(E'ACHUS. Father of Orpheus.
(E’
DIPUS . A son of Laius, King of Thebes, bestknown as the solver of the famous enigma propounded by the Sphinx.
(ENO’NE. Wife of Paris, a nymph of Mount Ida,whohad the gift of proph ecy.
OGYG’IA. An island, the abode of Calypso, in theMediterranean Sea. It was so beautiful in sylvanscenery th at even Mercury (who dwelt on Olympus) was charmed with the spot.
OINTMENT, see Phaon.
OLE’NUS . A daugh ter of Vulcan, wife of Lethaea,a woman who th ought herselfmore beautiful thanthe goddesses
,and as a punishment she and her
husband were turned into stone statues.
OLIVES, see Aristaeus.
OLYM’PIUS. A name of Jupiter, from Olympia, where
the god had a splendid temple, which was considered to be one of the seven wonders of theworld.
OLYM’PUS was themagnificent mountain on the coastof Thessaly, 6000 feet high , where the gods were
OF MYTHOLOGY. 77
supposed to reside. There were several othersmaller mountains of the same name.High
k
heaven with trembling the dreadtoo
And all Olympus to the centre shook.
POPE .
OLY'RAS . A river near Thermopylae, which, it issaid, attempted to extinguish the funeral pile onwhich Hercules was consumed.
OMOPHA’GIA. A Bacchanalian festival at which someuncooked meats were served.
OM'PHALE . The Queen of Lydia,to whom Hercules
was sold as a bondsman for three years for themurder of Iphitus. Hercules fell in love withher, and led an effeminate life in her society,wearing female apparel, while Omphale wore thelion’s skin .
ONA'RUS. A pIi est of Bacchus, said to have married
Ariadne after she had been abandoned by Th eseus.
ONU’VA. The Venus of the ancient Gauls.
OPA’LIA . Roman festivals in honour of Ops, held on14th of the calends of January.
OPIATE-ROD, see Caduceus .
Eyes more wakeful than to drowse,Charmed with Arcadian pipe—the pastoral reedOf Hermes or his opiate-rod .
”MILTON .
OPS. Mother of the gods , a daughter of Ooelusand Terra. She was known by the several namesof Bona Dea
,Rhea, Cybele, Magna Mater, Pros
erpine, Tellus, and Thya and occasionally she is
spoken of as Juno and Minerva. She personified
78 A HANDY DICTIONARY
labour,and is represented as a comely matron,
distributing gifts with her right hand, and holding in h er left hand a loaf of bread. Her festivalwas the 14th day of the January calends.
ORACLES, see Themis .
ORIE’A. Certain sacrifices offered to the goddesses of
the seasons to invoke fair weather for the ripeningof the fruits of the earth .
OBRO’NA. The goddess of orphans.
ORCHARDS, see Feronia.O ’READS were mountain nymphs, attendants onDiana.
ORGIES. Drunken revels. The riotous feasts ofBacchus were so designated.
ORI’ON . A famous handsome giant, who was blindedby (Enopion for a grievou s wrong done to Merope,and h ewas expelled from Chios . The sound of theCyclopes
’
h ammers led h im to the abode of Vulcan,who gave him a guide . He then consulted anoracle, and had his sight restored, as Longfellowsays
,by fixing
His blank eyes upon the sun .
He was afterwards slain by Diana and placedamongst the stars, where hi s constellation is oneof the most splendid.
ORI’THY’IA. A daughter of Erechtheus, whose lover,Boreas
,carried her off wh ile she was wandering by
the river Ilissus. Her ch ildren were Zetes andCalais, two winged warriors who accompanied theArgonauts .
OR’MUZD . ln Persian mythology the creator of allthings.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 79
O’ROS . The Egyptian Apollo.
ORPHANS, see Crbona.
OR’PHEUS was son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope.He was married to Eurydice but she was stungby a serpent, and died . Orpheus went down toHades to claim h er, and played so sweetly with hi slu*te that Pluto allowed Eurydice to return to theearth with Orph eus, but on condition that he didnot look behind him until he had reached theterrestrial regions . Orpheus
,however
,in his
anxiety to see if she were following him,looked
round,and Eurydice disappeared from his sight
,
instantly and for ever.
Orpheus’ lute was strung with poets’ sinews.
SHAKESPEARE.
OSI'RIS . The Egyptian god of the sun he was worshipped under the form of an ox .
After these appearedA crew who, under names of old renown,Osiris
,Isis
,Orus, and their train,
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abusedFanatic Egypt and her priests to seekTh eir wandering gods, disguised in brutish formsRather than human.
” MILTON.
OS’SA. One of the mountains which the giants piledon the top of Olympus to enable them to ascendto heaven and attack the gods.
Ox, see Apis.
OWL, see IEsculapius and Itys
80 A HANDY DICTIONARY
PACTO’
LUS. The river in Lydia where Midaswashed himself by order of Bacchus
,and the
sands were turned to gold.
PIE’AN . A name given to Apoll o, from p ecan, thehymn which was sung in his honour after he hadkilled the serpent Python.
With hymns divine the j oyous banquet ends,
The Paeans lengthened till the sun descends .”
POPE .
PALIE’MON, or Melicerta, a sea-god, son of Athamas
and Ino.
PA’LES . The goddess of shepherds and protectressflocks her festivals were called Palilia.
Pomona loves the orchard,
And Liber loves the wine,
And Pales loves the straw-built shed,Warm with the breath of kine .
MACAULAY.
Great Pales help, the pastoral rites I sing,With humole duty mentioning each thing .
POPE .
PALLA’DIUM . A famous statue of the goddess Pallas(Minerva) . She is Sitting with a Spear in herright hand
,and in her left a d istafl
'
and spindle.Various accounts are given of the origin of it.Some writers say it fell from the Skies. It wassupposed that the preservation of the statue wouldbe the preservation of Troy ; and during theTroj an War the Greeks were greatly encouragedwhen they became the possessors of it.
PAL’LAS, or Minerva. The name was given to Min
82 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
from it numberless diseases and evils which weresoon spread all over the world, and from thatmoment they have afli icted the human race. Itis said that Hope alone remained in the box.
More lovely than Pandora, whom the godsEndowed with all their gifts. MILTON.
PANTHE’ON. The temple of all the gods, built byAgrippa at Rome, in the reign of Augustus. I twas 144 feet in diameter, and 144 feet high ; andwas built in the Corinthian style of architecture
,
mostly of marble ; while its walls were coveredwith engraved brass and silver. Its magnificenceinduced Pliny to give it rank amongst the wondersof the world.
PA’
PHIA, a name of Venus.
PAP’REMIS. The Egyptian Mars .
PAR’
CIE, THE, were goddesses who presided over thedestiny of human beings. Th ey were also calledthe Fates, and were three in number, Atropos,Clotho, and Lachesis . See Fates.
PAR’IS was son of Priam , king of Troy, and hismother was Hecuba. It had been predicted thathe would be the cause of the destruction of Troy
,
and his father therefore ordered him to bestrangled as soon as he was born ; but the slavewho had been entrusted with th is mission tookthe child to Mount Ida
,and left it there. Some
sh epherds,however
,found the infant and took
care of h im. He lived amongst them till he hadgrown to man’s estate
,and he then married
(Enone, a nymph of Ida. At the famous nuptialfeast of Peleus and Thetis, Discordia, who had
OF MYTHOLOGY. 83
not been invited, attended secretly and whenall were assembled, she threw amongst thegoddesses a golden apple, on which was inscribedLet the fairest take it.” This occasioned a greatcontention, for each thought herself the fairest.Ultimately, the contestants were reduced to three,Juno
,Pallas (Minerva) , and Venus ; but Jove
himself could not make these three agree, and itwas decided that Paris should be the umpire. Hewas sent for, and each of the goddesses courtedhis favour by offering all sorts of bribes. Junooffered him power
,Pallas wisdom, and Venus
promised him the most beautiful woman in theworld. Paris gave the golden apple to Venus.Soon after this episode Priam owned Paris as hisson, and sent h im to Greece to fetch Helen, whowas renowned as being the most beautiful womanin the world. She was the wife of Menelaus
,king
of Sparta ; but during his absence Paris carriedHelen away to Troy, and this gave rise to the celebrated war between the Greeks and the Trojans,which ended in the destruction of Troy. Pariswas amongst the TIoj ans who fell duringor after the siege.
PARNAS’SIDES, a name common to the Muses, fromMount Parnassus.
PARNAS’SUS . The mountain of the Muses in Phocis,
and sacred to Apollo and Bacchus. Any one whoslept on th is mountain became a poet. It wasnamed after one of the sons of Bacchus .
PAR’THENON. The temple of Minerva (or Pallas), atAthens . It was destroyed by the Persians, andrebuilt by Pericles .
PAR’THENOS was a name of Juno, and also ofMInerva. See Pallas.
84 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
PASIPH’AE was the reputed mother of the Minotaurkilled by Theseus . She was said to be thedaughter of SO1 and Perseis
,and her husband was
Minos, king of Crete.
PASITH’EA. Sometimes there arefour Graces spokenof when this is so, the name of the fourth isPasithea.
PA’VAN, the Hindoo god of the winds.
PEACE, see Concordia.
PEAco*ck, see Argus.
PEG’ASUS. The famous winged horse which was saidto have sprung from the blood of Medusa whenher head was cut off by Perseus. His abode wason Moun t Helicon, where, by striking the groundwith his hoof, he caused water to spring forth,which formed the fountain afterwards called Hippocrene.
Thy stumbling founder’
d jade can trot as highAs any other Pegasus can fly.
”
EARL or DORSET.
To turn and wind a fi ery Pegasus,And witch the world with noble horsemanship.
SHAKESPEARE.
PE’LEUS. A king of Thessaly, who married Thetis,one of the Nereids.
PE’LIAS . A son of Neptune and Tyro. He usurpedthe throne of Cretheus, which Jason was persuaded to relinquish and take the command ofthe Argonautic expedition . On the return ofJason, Medea, the sorceress, undertook to restorePelias to youth
,but required that the body should
first be cut up and put in a c'
aldron of boiling
OF M YTHOLOGY. 85
water. When this had been done, Medea refusedto fulfil her promise . Pelias had four daughters
,
who were called the Peliades.
PE'LIAS was the name of the spear of Achilles, whichwas so large that none could wield it but the herohimself.
PE’LION . A well-wooded mountain,famous for the
wars between the giants and the gods , and as theabode of the Centaurs, who were expelled by theLapithae.
The gods they ch allenge, and affect the skies,Heaved on Olympus tottering Ossa stoodOn Ossa, Pelion nods with all his wood
PE’LOPS, son of Tantalus, king of Phrygia. Hisfather killed him, and served him up to be eatenat a feast given to the gods, who , when they foundout what the father of Pelops had done
,restored
the son to life, and he afterwards became the husband of Hippodamia.
PENA’TES . Roman domestic gods. See Lares.
PERPETUAL PUNISHMENT,see Sisyphus.
PERSEPH’
ONE . The Greek name of Proserpine .
PER’SEUS was a son of Jupiter and Danae, the daughterof Acrisius. His first famous exploit was againstthe Gorgon
,Medusa. He was assisted in this en
terprise by Pluto, who lent him a helmet whichwould make h im invisible . Pallas lent him hershield, and Mercury supplied him with wings.He made a speedy conquest of the Gorgons, andcut off Medusa’s h ead
,with which he flew through
the air, and from the blood sprang the winged
86 A HANDY DICTIONARY
horse Pegasus. As he flew along he saw Andromeda chained to the rock, and a sea-monster readyto devour her. He killed the monster, andmarriedAndromeda. When he got back
,he showed the
Gorgon’s head to King Polydectes, and the monarchwas immediately turned into stone.
Now on Daedalian waxen pinions stray,Or those which wafted Perseus on his way.
”
F. LEWISPERSUASION, goddess of, see Pitho
PHA’ETON. A son of Sol, or, according to mostmythologists, of Phoebus and Clymene . Anxiousto display his skill in horsemanship, he wasallowed to drive the chariot of the sun for oneday. The horses soon found out the incapacityof the charioteer, became unmanageable, and overturned the chariot. There was such great fear ofinjury to heaven and earth, that Jove, to stop thedestruction, killed Phaeton with a thunderbolt .
Now Phaeton, by lofty hopes possessed,The burning seat with youthful vigour pressed .
The breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair,Shot from the chariot like a falling starThat in a summer
’s evening from the topOf heaven drops down, or seems at least to drop .
ADDISON.
PHA’ON . A boatman , who received from Venus a boxof ointment
,with which
,when he anointed himself,
he grew so beautiful that Sappho became en
amoured of h im but when the ointment had allbeen used Phaon returned to his former condition,and Sappho
,in despair
,drowned herself.
PHEASANT,see Itys .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 87
PHILOCT’ETES was son of Poeas, and one of the companions of Jason on h is Argonautic expedition .
He was present at the death of Hercules,and re
ceived from him the poisoned arrows which hadbeen dipped in the blood of th e Hydra. Thesearrows, an oracle declared, were necessary to beused in the destruction of Troy, and Philocteteswas persuaded by Ulysses to go and assist at thesiege. He appears to have u sed the weapons withgreat dexterity and with wonderful efl
'
ect,for Paris
was amongst the heroes whom he killed.
PHILOME'LA was a daughter of Pandion, King ofAthens, who was transformed into a nightingale.
Forth like a fury Philomela flew,And at his face the head of Itys threw
And thou, melodious Philomel,Again thy plaintive story tell. ”
Sir THOMAS LYTTLETON.
PHLEG’ETHON . A river of fire in the infernal regions .It was the picture of desolation
,for nothing could
grow on its parched and withered banks.
Infernal riversFierce Phl egethon,
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame wi th rage.MILTON.
PHLE’GON (earth loving) , one of the four chariothorses of Sol.
PHLE’GYAS. Son of Mars and father of Ixion andCoronis. For his impiety in desecrating and
phmdering the temple of Apollo at Delphi , he wassent to Hades, and there was made to sit with a
88 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
huge stone suspended over his head,ready to be
dropped on him at any moment.
PHCE’
BUS A name ofApollo, signifying light and life.Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds
,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging.
”
SHAKESPEARE.
PHOR’
CUS. A son of Neptune, father of the Gorgons .
PHRYx’US, see Golden Fleece.
PICUM'NUS . A rural divinity, who presided over themanuring of lands, called also Sterentius .
PI'CUS . A son of Saturn,father of Faunus, was
turned into a woodpecker by Circe, whose love hehad not requited .
PIER’IDES. A name of the Muses, derived from Pieria,a fountain near Mount Olympus, where they weresupposed to have been born . Also
,the daughters
of Pierus , a king of Macedonia , who settled inBoeotia. They ch allenged the Muses to sing, andwere changed into magpies .
PILLAR, see Calpe
PILUM’NUS. A rural divinity,which presided over
the corn while it was being ground.
PINE-TREE, see Atys.
PIRITH’OUS. A son of Ixion and great friend of
Th eseus, King of Athens. Themarriage of Pirithous and Hippodamia became famous for thequarrel between the drunken Centaurs and theLapithae, who, with the help of Th eseus, Pirithous,and Hercules, attacked and overcame the Centaurs,many of whomwere killed, and the rest took toflight .
90 A HANDY DICTIONARY
PLU'VIUS . A name of Jupiter, because he had therain in his control.
PODALIR’IUS . A famous surgeon, a son of IEsculapius,who was very serviceable amongst the soldiers inthe Trojan war.
POET, see Parnassus .
POETRY, see Apollo, Calliope, The Muses.
POISONOUS HERBS, see Circe.
POISONOUS LAKE, see Avernus .
POLL'EAR. Son of S iva, the Hindoo god of wisdom.
PoL’LUx. Twin brother of Castor. Their father wasJupiter and their mother Leda. He and h isbrother form the constellation Gemini . His Greekn ame was Polydeuces . See IEdepol.
POLYBC’
TES . One of the giants who made war againstJupiter.
POLYDEC’TES was turned into stone when Perseus
showed h imMedusa’s head. See Perseus .
POLYDEU’CES . The Greek name of Pollux.
POLYHYM'NIA. Daughter of Jupiter andMnemosyne.One of the Muses who presided over singing andrhetoric .
POLYPHE’MUS, one of the most celebrated of theCyclopes
,a son of Neptune. He captured Ulysses
and twelve of his companions,and it is said that
six of them were eaten . The rest escaped by theingenuity of Ulysses, who destroyed the Cyclop
’sone eye with a firebrand.
Charybdis barks and Polyphemus roars .FRANCIS .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 91
PoLYx’ENA. Daughter of Priam, king of Troy. It
gas
l
by her treachery that Achilles was shot in theee
POMO’NA. The Roman goddess of fruits and gardens.So to the sylvan lodge
They came, that like Pomona’s arbour smiled
With flowerets decked and fragrant smells . ”
MILTON .
POPLAR-TREE,see Heliades.
PORTU’NUS (Palaemon), son of Ino,was god ofharbours .POSEI’DON. A name of Neptune.
PRAC'RITI. The Hindoo goddess Of nature.PREDICTIONS
,see Cassandra .
PRI'AM. The last king of Troy. See Paris .
PRIA’PUS,the guardian of gardens and god of natural
reproduction,was son of Venus and Bacchus .
Priapus could not half describe the grace(Though god of gardens ) of this charming place.
POPE.
PRIS’CA. Another name of Vesta.
PRO’
CRIS. Daughter of the king of Athens . SeeCephalus.
PROG’NE, wife of Tereus . See Itys and Tereus.Complaining oft gives respite to our grief,From hence the wretched Progne sought relief.
F. LEWIS .PROME’THEUS was son of Japetes and father ofDeucalion . He presumed to make clay men
, andanimate them with fire whi ch he had stolen fromheaven . This so displeased Jupiter that h e senthim a box full of evils, which Prometheus refused ;but his brother Epimetheu s,not so cautious,opened
92 A HANDY DICTIONARY
it,and the evils spread over all the earth . Jupiter
then punished Prometh eus by commanding Mer
cury to bind him to Mount Caucasus, where a vulture daily preyed upon his liver
,which grew in
the night as much as it had been reduced in theday
,so that the punishment was a prolonged
torture. Hercules at last killed the vulture andset Prometheus free.
PROPHECY, see N ereus .
PROSER'PINE . A daughter ofJupiter and Ceres. Plutocarried her off to the infernal regions and madeher his wife. She was known by the names of“ the Queen of Hell,
” Hecate, Juno Inferna, andLibitina.
He sung, and hell consentedTo hear the poet’s prayer
,
Stern Proserpine relented,And gave him back the fair.
F. LEWIS.PRO'TEUS . Amarine deity, who could foretell eventsand convert himself at will into all sorts of shapes .
The changeful Proteus, wh ose prophetic mind,The secret cause of Bacchus’ rage divined.
”
TheLusiad .
What chain can hold this varying Proteus fast i”
BUDGELL.
PSY’CHE . The wife of Cupid. The name is Greek,signifying the soul or spirit.
PYGMA'LION. A famous sculptor who had resolved
to remain unmarried, but he made such a beautifulstatue of a goddess that he begged Venus to give
94 A HANDY DICTIONARY
RACE,see Atalanta.
RADAMAN’THUS, see Rhadamanthus .
RAGE, see Furies.
RAINBOW,see Iris.
RA’MA. A Hindoo god, who was the terrestrial representative of Vishnu .
RAM’S HIDE
,see Golden Fleece .
REEDS, see Pan and Syrinx.
REM’
BHA. The Hindoo goddess of pleasure .
REPRODUCTION, see Priapus.
REST, see Quies .
REVENGE, see Ate.
RHADAMAN’THUS,a son of Jupiter and Europa, was
the judge of the Asiatics in the infernal regions.
These are the realms of unrelenting fateAnd awful Rhadamanthus rules the state.He hears and judges each committed crime
,
Inquires into the manner, place, and timeThe conscious wretch must all his acts reveal,Loth to confess, unable to concealFrom the first moment of his vital breath,To the last hour of unrepenting death.
”
DRYDEN.
RHAMNU’SIA. A name of Nemesis, from Rhamnus, a
town in Attica , where She had a temple in whichwas her statue
,made of one stone ten cubits high .
RHE’A. The Greek name of Cybele.
RHETORIC, see Calliope, Polyhymnia.
OF IIYTHOLOGY. 95
RICHES, see Plutus.RIDDLE, see Sphinx.
RIM’MON. A Phrygian god of whom Milton saysRimmon, whose delightful seatWas faiI Damascus, on the fertile banks
OfAbana and Phar ,par lucid streams.
RIOT, see Saturnalia.RIVER OF FIRE, see Phlegethon.
ROADS, see Vialis .
ROBBER, see Cacus, Cocculus .
ROM'ULUS. The traditional founder of Rome. Hewas a son of Mars and Ilia, and twin brother ofRemus. The infants were thrown into the Tiber
,
but were miraculously saved and suckled by ashe-wolf
,til l they were found by Faustulus
,a
shepherd, who brought them up. Remus waskilled in a quarrel with his brother, and Romulusbecame the famous emperor.
RUMI’A DEA. The Roman goddess of babes in arms.
BUNOI’A . The goddess of weedin g or cleansing the
ground.
SACRIFICES were ceremonious offerings made tothe gods . To every deity a distinct victim wasallotted
,and the greatest care was always taken
in the selection of them. Anything in any wayblemished was considered as an insult to the god.
At the time of the sacrifice the people were calledtogeth er by heralds led by a procession ofmusicians .The priest
,clothed in white, was crowned with a
wreath made of the leaves of the tree wh ich was
96 A HANDY DICTIONARY
sacred to the particular god to whom the sacrificewas offered . The victim had its horns gilt
,and
was adorned with a chaplet similar to that of thepriest, and was decorated with bri ght- colouredribbons . The priest th en said ,
“Who is here ?to which the spectators replied,
“ Many goodpeople. ” “ Begone all ye who are profane
,said
the priest and he then began a prayer addressedto all the gods . The sacrifice was begun by putting corn
,frankincense, flour, salt, cakes, and fruit
on the head of the victim. Th is was called theImmolation . The priest then took a cup of wine
,
tasted it, and handed it to the bystanders to tastealso ; some of it was then poured between the
horns of the victim, and a few of the saturatedhairs were pulled off and put in the fire whichwas burning on the altar. Then, turning to theeast
,the priest drew with his knife a crooked line
along the back of the beast from the head to thetail
,and told the assistants to kill the animal.
This was done directly, and the entrails of thevictim taken out and carefully examined by theAruspices to find out what was prognosticated.
The carcase was then divided, and the thighs,covered with
/
fat, were put in the fire, and the restof the animal was cut up, cooked, and eaten.
This feast was celebrated with dancing,music, andhymns, in praise of the god in whose honour thesacrifice was made . On great occasions as manyas a hundred bullocks were offered at one time ;and it is said that Pythagoras made this offeringwhen he found out the demonstration of theforty-seventh proposition of the book of Euclid.
SA’GA . The Scandinavian goddess of history.
SAGGITA’RIUS, see Chiron.
98 A HANDY DICTIONARY
SATYA’VRA
’TA. The Hindoo god of law. The same
as Menu .
SAT’YRS were the attendants of S ilenus,and were
similar in most respects to the fauns whoattended Pan. See Sil enus.
Five satyrs of the woodland sort,
Their ears prick’
d up, their noses short,
With asses’ hoofs, great goggle eyes,And double chins of monstrous size .
YALDEN.
SCYL’LA. A beautiful nymph who excited the j ealousyof Neptune’s wife, Amphitrite, and was changedby the goddess into a ‘
frightful sea-monster, whichhad six fearfully ugly heads and n ecks
,and who
,
rising unexpectedly from the deep, used to takeoff as many as six sailors from a vessel, and carrythem to the bottom of the sea. An alternativedanger with Charybdis.
There on the right her dogs foul Scylla hides,Charybdis roaring on the left presides
SCYL’LA. A daughter of Nysus, who was changedinto a lark for cutting off a charmed lock of herfather’s hair. See Nysus.
SEA, see Neptune.
SEASONS, see Vertumnus .
SEA-WEED,see Glaucus.
SEGES'TA. A rural divinity who protected cornduring harvest - time .
OF MYTHOLOGY. 99
SEM . The Egyptian Hercules .
SEM’ELE,the mother of Bacchus
,was born in a mira
culons manner after Jupiter had visited her,at
her special request, in all his terrible splendour.She was deified after her death, and namedThyone .
SEMI-DEI were the demi-gods.
SEMO’NES . Roman gods of a class between the immortal and the mortal
,
” such as the Satyrsand Fauns .
SEPTE’RION . A festival held in honour of Apollo, at
which the victory of that god over the Python wasgrandly represented .
SERA’PIS . The Egyptian Jupiter, and generally considered to be the same as Osiris. See Apis.
SERPENT. The Greeks and Romans considered theserpent as symbolical of guardian spirits
,and as
such were often engraved on their altars. SeeE sculapius, Apoll o
,Chimera, Eurydice, and
Medusa.Pleasing was his shape,
And lovely never since of serpent kind,Lovelier not those that in Illyria changedHermione and Cadmus, or the godIn Epidaurus, nor to which transformedAmmonian Jove, or Capitoline, was seen .
MILTON.
SESH’ANAG
’A . The Egyptian Pluto.
SEWERS, see Cloacina.
SHARP-SIGHTEDNESS, see Lynceus.
SHEPHERDS, see Pan .
100 A HANDY DICTIONARY
SHIELDS,see Ancilia.
SHIPS,see Neptune.
S ILENCE, see Harpocrates and Tacita.S ILE’NUS. A Bacchanalian demi-god, the chief of theSatyrs. He is generally represented as a fat,drunken old man, riding on an ass, and crownedwith flowers.
And there two Satyrs on the ground,Stretched at his ease, their sire Silenus found.
SINGING, see Polyhymnia, Thanyris.
S I’RENS, THE. Sea nymphs
,who by their music
allured mariners to destruction . To avoid thesnare when nearing their abode, Ulysses had theears of his companions stopped with wax, and hadhimself tied to the mast of his shi p . They thussailed past in safety but the S irens
,thinking that
their ch arms had lost their powers,drowned them
selves.S IS’YPHUS, son of E olus and Enaretta. He was condemned to roll a stone to the top of a hill in theinfernal regions , and as it rolled down again whenhe reached the summit
,hi s puni shment was
perpetual.I turned my eye
,and as I turned
,surveyed
A mournful vision The S isyphian shade,With many a weary step and many a groan,Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone,The huge round stone
,resulting with a bound,
Thunders impetuous down,and smokes along
the ground. POPE .
Thy stone, 0 Sisyphus, stands still,Ixion rests upon his wheel
,
And the pale spectres dance .F. LEWIS.
102 A HANDY DICTIONARY
riddle thus —Man is the animal ; for, when aninfant he crawls on his hands and feet
,in the
noontide of life he walks erect,and as the evening
of his existence sets in, he supports himself witha stick. When the sphinx found her riddlesolved she destroyed herself.
SPIDER, see Arachne.SPINDLE, see Pallas .SPINNING, see Arachne, Ergotis.
SPRING, see Vertumnus.STABLE, see Augaeas.
STARS,see Aurora.
STEREN’TIUS . The Roman god who in vented the art
of manuring lands. See also Picumnus .STER’OPES . One of the Cyclopes .
STONE, see Medusa and Phlegyas.STONE (rolling) , see Sisyphus .STREETS, see Apollo .STYM'PHALI’DES . The carnivorous birds destroyed inthe sixth labour of Hercules .
STYx. A noted river of hell, which was held in suchhigh esteemby the gods that they always swore“ By the Styx, and such an oath was neverviolated. See Achi ll es and Thetis.To seal his sacred vow by Styx he sworeThe lake with liquid pitch, -the dreary shore.
DRYDEN.
Infernal rivers that disgorgeInto the burning lake their baleful streams,Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate.
”
MILTON.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 103
SUA’DA, the goddess of Persuasion . See Pitho .SUCCESS, see Bonus Eventus.
SUN, see Aurora, Belus, SO1, and Surya.SUNFLOWER, see Clytie.
SURA’DE
’VI. The Hindoo goddess of wine.
SUR’GEON, see Podalirius.
SU’RY'A. The Hindoo god corresponding toRoman Sol, the sun .
SWALLOW, see Itys .
SWAN, see Cygnus and Leda.
SWIFTNESS,see Atalanta .
SWINE, see Circe .
SYLPHS . Genii who, according to Plato, lived inan .
The light coquettes as Sylphs aloft repair,And sport and flutter in the fields of air. ”
POPE .
SYLVES’TER. The name ofMars when he was invokedto protect cultivated land from the ravages of war.
SYRINx. The name of the nymph who, to escape fromthe importunities of Pan, was by Diana changedinto reeds
,out of which he made his celebrated
pipes,and named them “ The Syrinx.
”
TAC’ITA. The goddess of Silence. See Harpocrates
TAN’TALUS. Father of Niobe and Pelops, who, as apunishment for serving up his son Pelops as meatat a feast given to the gods, was placed in a pool
104 A HANDY DICTIONARY
of water in the infernal regions ; but the watersreceded from him whenever he attempted to quenchhis burning thirst. Hence the word tantalising.
Speaking of this god,Homer’s Ulysses says
,
I saw the severe punishment of Tantalus. Ina lake, whose waters approached to his lips, hestood burning with thirst, without the power todrink. Whenever he inclined h is head to thestream
,some deity commanded it to be dry
,and
the dark earth appeared at his feet. Around h imlofty trees spread their fruits to view ; the pear,the pomegranate, and the apple , the green olive,and the luscious fig quivered before him, which,whenever he extended his hand to seize them,
were snatched by the winds into clouds andobscurity.
”
There, Tantalus, along the Stygian bound,Pours out deep groans, -his groans through hellresound.
E’en in the circling flood refreshment craves
And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves.
And of itself the water fliesAl l taste of living Wight, as once it fledThe lip of Tantalus. ” MILTON.
TAR’TARUS . An inner region of hell,to which the
gods sent the exceptionally depraved.
TELCHI’NES. Priests of Cybele,who were famous
magicians.
TEL’LUS. A name of Cybele, wife of Saturn.
TEMPESTS,see Fro.
TEMPLE . An edifice erected to the honour of a godor goddess in which the sacrifices were offered.
106 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
THE’MIS
,a daughter of Ooelus and Terra, and wife
of Jupiter, was the Roman goddess of laws, ceremonies, and oracles.
THE’SEUS . One of the most famous of the Greekheroes. He was a son of IEgeus, King of Athens .
Breasts that with sympathi sing ardour glowed,And holy friendship such as Theseus vowed.
”
BUDGELL.
THESMONPHO’MUS . A name of Ceres .
THE’TIS. A sea goddess, daughter of Nereus andDoris. Her husband was Peleus, King of Thessaly
,and she was the mother of the famous
Achilles, whom she rendered all but invulnerableby dipping him into the River Styx. See Achill es.
THIEF, see Laverna, Mercury.
THOR . The Scandinavian war god (son of Odin), whohad rule over the aerial regions
,and
,like Jupiter,
hurled thunder against his foes.
THOR’S BELT, is a girdle which doubles his strengthwhenever the war god puts it on .
THOTH. TheMercury of the Egyptians .
THREAD OF LIFE,see Fates .
THUNDERBOLTS, see Cyclops .
THUNDERER, THE,Jupiter. See Tonitrualis.
0 king of gods and men, whose awful handDisperses thunder on th e seas and land,Disposing all with absolute command.
VIRGIL.
The eternal thunderer sat enthroned in gold .
HOMER.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 107
So when thick clouds enwrap the mountain’shead,
O’
er heaven’s expanse like one black ceilingspread
Sudden the thunderer, with a flashing ray,
Bursts through the darkness and lets down theday.
”
POPE .
THY’A, a name of Ops.
THYA’DES. Priestesses of Bacchus
,who ran wild
in the hills,wearing tiger - skins and carrying
torches.
THYR’SUS,a kind of javelin . See Bacchus .
TIDES,see Naryanan .
TIME (or Saturn ) . The husband of Virtue and fatherof Truth .
TISIPH'ONE . One of the Furies.
TI’TAN . Elder brother of Saturn , who made waragainst h im, and was ul timately vanquished byJupiter.
TI'TANS were the supporters of Titan in his waragainst Saturn and JupIter.
TI’THO’NUS. The husband ofAurora. At the requestof his wife the gods granted him immortality, butshe forgot at thes ame time to ask that he shoul dbe granted perpetual youth. The consequencewas that Tithonus grew old and decrepit, wh ileAurora remained as fresh as the morning. The
gods,however
, Changed him into a grasshopper,which is supposed to moult as it gets old, and
grows young again .
108 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
TIT’YUS . A son of Jupiter. A giant who was throwninto the innermost hell for insulting Diana. He
,
like Prometh eus, has a vulture constantly feedingon his ever-growing liver.
TOIL, see Atlas .
TOMBS, see Manes .
TONGUE, see Tereus.
TONITRUA'LIS. The Thunderer a name of Jupiter.
TOWERS, see Cybele.
TRAGEDY, see Melpomene.
TREES,see Aristaeus .
TRIBULATION, see Echidna.
TRIPOR’MIS
,see Tergemina .
TRIPTOL'EMUS. A son of Oceanus and Terra. He
was a great favourite of the goddess Ceres, who'
cured him of a dangerous illness when he wasyoung
,and afterwards taught him agriculture .
She gave h im her chariot, which was drawn bydragons, in wh ich he carried seed- corn to all theinhabitants of the earth
,and communicated the
knowledge given to him by Ceres. Cicero mentions a Triptolemus as the fourth Judge in hell .
Triptolemus, whose useful cares intendThe common good.
” POPE .
TRITERI'CA. Bacchanalian festivals.
TRI’TONS were sons of Triton, a son of Neptune andAmph itrite. They were the trumpeters of thesea-gods
,and were depicted as a sort of mermen
the upper h alf of the body being like a man, andthe lower half like dolphins.
110 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
Homer’s Odyssey. His wife’s name was Penelope,
and he was so much endeared to her that hefeigned madness to get himself excused from goingto the Trojan war but his artifice was discovered,and he was compelled to go. He was of greathelp to the Grecians, and forced Achilles from hisretreat, and obtained the charmed arrows of Her
cul es from Philoctetes, and used them against theTrojans . He enabled Paris to shoot one of themat the heel of Achill es, and so kill that charmedwarrior. During his wanderings on his homewardvoyage he was taken prisoner by the Cyclopes
,and
escaped,after blinding Polyphemus
,their chief.
At IEolia he obtained all the winds of heaven,
and put them in a bag ; but his companions,thinking that the bags contained treasure whichthey could rob him of when th ey got to Ithaca
,
cut the bags, and let out the winds, and the shi pswere immediately blown back to IEolia. AfterCirce had turned his companions into swine onan island wh ere he and th ey were shipwrecked
,he
compelled the goddess to restore th em to theirhuman shape again . As he passed the islands ofthe Sirens he escaped their allurements by stopping the ears of hi s companions with wax
,and
fastening himself to the mast of his ship . Hiswife Penelope was a pattern of constancy ; for,though Ulysses was reported to be dead, Sh ewouldnot marry any one else, and had the satisfaction offinding her husband return after an absence ofabout twenty years.
To Show what pious wisdom’s power can do,The poet sets Ulysses In our view.
FRANCIS.
UN’DINE . A water nymph, or sylph.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 111
UNKNOWN GOD, AN . With reference to this GOD,
nothing can be more appropriate than St. Paul’saddress to the Athenians
,as recorded in the 17th
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles
Yemen of Athens,I perceive that in all things
ye are too superstitious . For as I passed by,and
beheld your devotions, I found an altar with thisinscription, To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whomth ereforeye ignorantly worship, h imdeclare I unto you . God
that made the world and all things therein, seeingthat he is Lord of h eaven and earth
, dwelleth not intemples made with hands ; neither is worsh ippedwith men’s hands
,as though he needed any thing,
seeinghe giveth to all life, and breath , and all thingsand hath made of one blood all nations of men for todwell on all the face of the earth
,and hath deter
mined the times before appointed, and the bounds oftheir habitation that they should seek the Lord, ifhaply theymight feel after h im,
and find him, thoughhe be not far fromevery one ofus for in himwe l ive,and move
,and have our being as certain also of your
own poets have said,For we are also his offspring.
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, weought not to think that the Godhead is like un to
gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the
'
times of this ignorance God winkedat ; but now commandeth all men every where torepent because he hath appointed a day, in the
which he will j udge the world in righ teousness bytha tman whom he hath ordained whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raisedhimfrom the dead.
”
112 A HANDY DICTIONARY
UNx’IA. A name of Juno, relating to her protectionof newly-married people.
URA’NIA. A daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyneone of the Muses who presided over astronomy.
URA’NUS. The Greek name of Ooelus ; his descendants are sometimes called Uranids .
UR’GUS . A name of Pluto, signifying the Impeller.
UR’SA MA’J OR, see Calistro.UR’SA MI'NOR, see Areas.USUR’ERS, see Jani .UT
'GORD LO
’K I. In Scandinavian mythology theking of the giants.
VAL’HAL’LA. The Scandinavian temple of immor
tality, inhabited by the soul s of heroes slain inbattle.
VA’LI. The Scandinavian god of archery.
VALLEYS, see Vallonia.
VALLO'NIA . The goddess of valleys.
VARU’NA. The Hindoo N eptune generally represented as a white man riding on a sea-horse
,carry
ing a club in one hand and a rope in the other.
VE’
DIUS. The same as Vejovis.
VEJ O'VIS . Little Jupiter” a name given to Jupi
ter when he appeared without his thunder.
VEJU’PITER, see Vejovis.
VENGEANCE, see Nemesis.
VE'NUS. The goddess of beauty
,and mother of love.
She is said to have Sprung from the foam of the
114 A HAND Y DICTIONARY
VES’TAL VIR’GINS were the priestesses of Vesta,whose
chief duty was to see that the sacred fire in thetemple of Vesta was not extinguished. Th ey werealways selected from the best families
,and were
under a solemn vow of chastity,and compelled to
live perfectly pure lives.
YIA'LIS. A name of Mercury,because he presided
over the making of roads.
VIC’TORY. A goddess, the daughter of Styx andAcheron, generally represented as flying in the airholding out a wreath of laurel. See Nicephorus .
VI’DOR . A Scandinavian god , who could walk onthe water and in the air . The god of silence (corresponding with the classic Harpocrates) .
VIRTUE . A goddess worshipped by most of theancients under various names. The way to thetemple of honour was through the temple ofvirtue.
VIRTUOUS WOMEN, see Juno.
VISH’NU . The Preserver,the principal Hindoo
goddess.
VOLU’PIA
,see Angeronia.
VUL’CAN, the god of fire,was the son of Jupiter and
Juno . He offended Jupiter, and was by h imthrown out of heaven he was nine days falling,and at last dropped into Lemnos with such vio
lence that h e broke his leg, and was lame for everafter. Vulcan was married to Venus. He issupposed to have formed Pandora out of clay.
His servants were the Cyclops. He was thepatron deity of blacksmiths.
OF MYTHOLOGY. 115
Men call him Mulciber and how he fellFrom h eaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove,Sheer o ’er the crystal battlements.
MILTON.
VULCA’NIAwereRoman festivals in honour ofBacchus,at which the victims were thrown into the fireand burned to death.
WAR,see Bellona, Clremos, Mars.
WATER, see Canopus.
WATER-NYMPHS, see Doris
WAx TABLETS, see Calliope.WEALTH
,see Crrvera.
WEAVING, see Ergatos.
WEEDING, see Runcina.
WEIGHTS and MEASURES, see Mercury.
WELL,see Truth.
WEST WIND, see Favonius.
WINDS,see Aurora, Auster, Boreas, Zephyr.
WINE, see Bacchus, Suradevi .
WISDOM, see Pollear, Minerva.WO
'DEN, the Anglo-Saxon form of the Scandinaviangod Odin ; Wednesday is call ed after him .
WOMEN’S SAFEGUARD, see Sospita.
WOODPECKER, see Pious.WOODS, see Dryads.WORLD , see Chaos.
116 DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY
'AN’THUS, the name of the wonderful horse of
Ach il les.
YA’MA. The Hindoo devil, generally representedas a terrible monster of a green colour, wi th flaming eyes.
YG’DRA’SIL. The famous ash -tree of Scandinavianmythology, under which the gods held dailycouncil.
Y’MIR. The Scandinavian god, corresponding toChaos of the classics.
YOUTH (perpetual) , see Tithonus.
ZEPH'YR. The god of flowers, a son of IEolus and
Aurora,the west wind. See Favonius.
Wanton Zephyr, come away.
The sun,and Mira’s charming eyes,
At thy return more ch arming grow.
With double glory they appear,To warm and grace the infant year.
JOHN HUGHES, 1700.
ZE'TES,with his brother Calais
,drove the Harpies
fromThrace.ZE’THUS
,twin brother of Amphion . See Amphion .
ZEU’S . The Greek name of Jupiter.
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