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| Achilles, war hero | Achilles was the hero of Homer's Iliad. A brave and handsome soldier, and to some a heroic ideal, his undoing was his anger, which made him ruthless in battle. He died soon after killing Hector, who predicted his death. | ||||
| Actaeon | A famous hunter, trained by Chiron the centaur. According to Ovid, one day while hunting, Actaeon accidentally came across Artemis while she was bathing. She turned him into a stag, and he was then torn to pieces by his own hunting dogs. | ||||
| Adonis | Adonis was an extremely handsome mortal who was loved by Aphrodite. When he was killed by a beast while hunting, Aphrodite pleaded to Zeus for Adonis' life. As a result, Adonis spent half the year in Hades, and the other half on Earth with Aphrodite. | ||||
| Aeneas, war hero | A Trojan demigod, the son of Anchises and Venus and the hero of Virgil's Aeneid. In the Aeneid, Aeneas recounts his adventures in the Trojan War to Dido, they have a love affair, and then he beats a rival king. | ||||
| Aeolus, god of winds | The wind king, whose six children were all incestuously married. Odysseus and his men visited Aeolus' island and were given a bag containing all the world's bad winds. Disobeying Aeolus' orders, the ship's crew opened the bag and unleashed a fierce storm. | ||||
| Agave | This woman was one of the killers of Dionysus, god of revelry and abundance. Agave's son Pentheus had opposed Dionysian worship, so Dionysus turned him into an animal. In retaliation, Agave and her sisters slew him. | ||||
| Ajax, war hero | A Greek leader in the Trojan War, who led the Salamians to victory. When Ajax saw that Odysseus, instead of he, was awarded Achilles' armor for showing the most prowess in battle, he went mad and killed himself. | ||||
| Alexander the Great | Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), tutored by Aristotle, inherited the kingdom of Macedon from his father, then expanded his territories throughout Persia and Egypt (he ruled them as Great King and pharaoh, respectively), and as far east as India. | ||||
| Amazons, women warriors | The Amazons were an all-female tribe of warriors that lived on the Black Sea's south coast. In various legends, they fought Herakles, Theseus, and in the Trojan War. | ||||
| Antigone | Antigone, a princess of Thebes, was immortalized in Sophocles' play named after her. In the play, she is punished with exile for burying the body of her outlaw brother, and out of despondency kills herself. | ||||
| Anu | A chief Mesopotamian deity, Anu was the lord of the heaven and sky. Anu has several incarnations, male and female, in various cultures. | ||||
| Aphrodite, goddess of love | Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had two aspects: spiritual and carnal love. She was married to Hephaestus, but had several children with Ares, including (according to some accounts) her later consort, Eros. | ||||
| Apollo, sun god | The sun god, son of Zeus and leader of the Muses, Apollo sided with Troy during the Trojan War. He was also the god of prophecy, healing, archery, agriculture, poetry, and song. | ||||
| Ares, god of war | Ares was the god of war, and his Roman counterpart was Mars. He was the son of Zeus and Hera, and fathered about four of Aphrodite's children. | ||||
| Argonauts | These were 50 Greek demigods and heroes that accompanied Jason on the Argo to Colchis. Jason was in search of the Golden Fleece. | ||||
| Ariadne | Ariadne helped Theseus find his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth by giving him a long string, then left her family for him. He then callously abandoned her on the isle of Naxos, but she was found by Dionysus, who married her. | ||||
| Artemis, goddess of hunting | The virgin goddess of the hunt, Artemis, twin of the sun god Apollo, was associated with the moon. Among Ephesians, she was portrayed as a fertility goddess. | ||||
| Arthur, British King | Arthur was a British leader who, if he existed, did so around 600 AD. He led battles, and in medieval legends was a chivalric king that presided over Knights of the Round Table. | ||||
| Astarte, Semitic Goddess | Astarte was the Semitic goddess of love, sex, and fertility. She is identified with Aphrodite. | ||||
| Atalanta | A famous hunter and sprinter, Atalanta sailed with the Argonauts and won the Calydonian Boar Hunt. After refusing many suitors, she married Melanion, but the two were turned to lions by Zeus as punishment for consorting in one of his shrines. | ||||
| Athena, goddess of wisdom | Athena was the goddess of wisdom and practical arts, such as weaving. Her mascot was an owl, and she is always shown in battle armor. She was also the protector of the city of Athens, after which she was named. | ||||
| Augustus | Augustus (63-14 BC) was the first emperor of Rome's constitutional monarchy. He appears in Virgil's Aeneid. | ||||
| Bacchus, god of wine | Also known as Dionysus, Bacchus was the god of wine and winemaking, as well as the male god of fertility and abundance. | ||||
| Brutus, assassin of Caesar | Marcus Junius Brutus (85-42 BC) was a Roman statesman and a friend of rhetorician Cicero. He is best known for being one of the assassins of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. | ||||
| Cadmus | Cadmus searched for his sister Europa after Zeus abducted her, but was instructed by the Oracle of Delphi to quit his search and found a city. He founded Thebes. | ||||
| Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome | Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was Rome's most famous dictator. He was a great leader in war but a tyrant during peacetime, and this led to his assassination in 44 BC. | ||||
| Calypso | A Nereid that fell in love with Odysseus, Calypso persuaded him to stay with her for seven years. He fathered a son with her, but finally convinced her to let him return to his family. | ||||
| Cassandra | The daughter of Priam and Hecuba, Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo. When she refused his advances, he cursed her so that nobody would listen to her prophecies. As a result, she could see the future but do nothing about it. | ||||
| Castor | Castor was the mortal friend of the immortal Pollux, and together the two symbolized brotherly love. One of their adventures was the rescue of Helen from Theseus. | ||||
| Centaurs | The centaurs were a race that had the head, arms, and torso of a man, while the rest of their body was shaped like a horse's. The most well-known centaur was Chiron, the tutor. | ||||
| Ceres, Roman fertility goddess | The Roman equivalent of Demeter, Ceres was the goddess of agriculture and fertility. She was a sister of Jupiter and the mother of Proserpina. | ||||
| Chaos | Chaos was the state from which all beings and nature sprung. It contained the seeds of heaven, Earth, the gods, and humankind. | ||||
| Charon | Charon was the ferryman of Hades. He ferried the dead across the river Styx into the underworld. The living could board his ferry only if they possessed a golden bough from the Cumaean Sibyl. | ||||
| Chimera | A female monster that was one-third lion, goat, and dragon, the Chimera tormented the people of Lycia until she was killed with Bellerophon, who rode Pegasus. | ||||
| Chiron | The tutor of Achilles, Actaeon, Jason, and Herakles, Chiron was the most well-known and beloved of the centaurs. | ||||
| Circe | Circe, the daughter of Helios and a sorceress living on the Isle of Aeaea, turned some of Odysseus' men into swine. Odysseus, aided by an herb that prevented Circe from doing the same to him, learned from her who could help him return home. | ||||
| Clytemnestra | Clytemnestra and her love killed her husband Agamemnon after he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to help win the Trojan War. | ||||
| Coriolanus | Gaius Marcius Coriolanus was a legendary Roman military leader, so named for his conquest of Corioli. He is the subject of Shakespeare's last tragedy, Coriolanus. | ||||
| Creon | There are two Creons in Greek mythology: one who ruled Thebes and appears in Euripides' Antigone for refusing to let Antigone bury her brother honorably, and one who married his daughter to Jason, provoking Jason's first wife Medea to murder. | ||||
| Cronus, father of the Olympians | Cronus was the youngest of the Titans. His mother Gaea persuaded him to castrate and dethrone his father Uranus. Cronus was in turn overthrown by his son, Zeus, and imprisoned beneath the earth. | ||||
| Cybele | The magna mater, or earth goddess, of Anatolia, Cybele was worshipped throughout Persia and, to some extent, Greece. | ||||
| Cyclopes | The Cyclopes were a race of one-eyed giants that ate human flesh. They gave Zeus his thunderbolt and Poseidon his trident. Odysseus was punished with ten years' wandering for blinding a cyclopes, Polyphemus. | ||||
| Daedalus | Daedalus was the architect of the Minotaur's Labyrinth. He was imprisoned there with his son Icarus, but managed to escape by fashioning wings from feathers and wax. Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax on his wings melted, and he fell to his death. | ||||
| Deianira | Deianira was the wife of Hercules, who unwittingly killed him when she gave him a robe smeared with what she thought was love potion, but turned out to be poison. After his death, she committed suicide. | ||||
| Demeter | A goddess of fertility, for people and crops, Demeter is the female counterpart of Dionysus, and also lacks the male god's emphasis on revelry. | ||||
| Deucalion | Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, was with his wife Pyrrha the only survivor of a flood sent by Zeus to wipe out the human race. After the flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha raised a new race of people. | ||||
| Diana, moon goddess | The Roman version of Artemis, Diana was identified with the moon, and was the goddess of hunting, wildlife, and maidens (she herself was a virgin). | ||||
| Diomedes | Diomedes was a king of Argos who helped Odysseus during the siege of Troy. He wounded Aeneas, Aphrodite, and Ares, and was one of the men inside the Trojan Horse. | ||||
| Dionysus | Dionysus was the god of wine and revelry, as well as the male god of fertility and abundance. He was worshipped by frenzied female devotees known as Bacchae. | ||||
| Enki, Mesopotamian god | Also called Ea, Enki was a chief Mesopotamian deity. He was god of, among other things, Earth, the waterways, and wisdom. | ||||
| Erechtheus | Erechtheus was a legendary king of Athens. The Oracle of Delphi told him to sacrifice one of his daughters, but this led to the group suicide of his other daughters. He was then killed by Zeus or Poseidon. | ||||
| Europa | Europa was seduced by Zeus, who disguised himself as a bull. | ||||
| Eurydice | Eurydice was a dryad that married the musician Orpheus. When she died, Orpheus persuaded the gods to let him take her from the underworld. He was not supposed to look at her until he led her back to earth; however, he did, and lost her forever. | ||||
| Furies | The Furies, or Erinyes, avenged crime and punished criminals even after they died. They were daughters of Gaea and were older than the Olympians. They haunted Orestes for killing Clytemnestra. | ||||
| Gaea, earth goddess | An earth goddess, Gaea was the mother and wife of Uranus, god of heaven. An advisor and the original protectress of the Oracles of Delphi and Olympia, she was also the mother of the Titans, Cyclopes, and others. | ||||
| Ganymede | Ganymede, a handsome adolescent boy, was the cupbearer of the gods and the lover of Zeus. Zeus had become smitten with the mortal boy's beauty, and carried him to heaven with him. | ||||
| Gilgamesh, epic hero | A legendary Mesopotamian leader and the hero of the Gilgamesh epic, Gilgamesh spurned the goddess Ishtar, lost his best friend Enkidu, then searched unsuccessfully for eternal life. | ||||
| Graces | The Graces, or Charites, were personifications of grace and beauty, and were the daughters of Zeus. The poet Hesiod named three Graces: Joy, Bloom, and Splendor. | ||||
| Great Goddess | The great goddess, or magna mater, is any culture's primary female goddess of creation and fertility. In Greek mythology she is best personified by Gaea, in Sumeria by Inanna, and elsewhere in the Middle East by Ishtar. | ||||
| Hades, god of death | The son of Rhea and Cronus, Hades was the god of the underworld and the abductor (later husband) of Persephone. He was also called Pluto. | ||||
| Harpies | Monsters with the heads of beautiful women and the bodies of huge birds, the Harpies lived together on an island where they tormented people. Once, they attacked Aeneas and his men. | ||||
| Hebe | Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera, and the goddess of eternal youth. She poured the gods' nectar and sometimes consorted with her half-brother Herakles. She was sought by those wishing to restore lost youth. | ||||
| Hecate, earth and sky goddess | Hecate was a goddess of the sky, earth, sea, and sometimes moon. She could grant any wish and reigned over the supernatural, including ghosts and witchcraft. | ||||
| Hector | Hector was a Trojan war leader in Homer's Iliad. He killed Achilles' friend Patroclus, then was in turn slain by Achilles. In the moments before Hector died, he correctly predicted Achilles' own death in the near future. | ||||
| Helen of Troy | The most beautiful woman in the world, Helen married Menelaus, then was abducted and raped by Paris, which sparked the Trojan War. After the war, she was abducted by Theseus, then rescued by Pollux and Castor. | ||||
| Helius | Helios was god of the sun's physical aspects, as opposed to Phoebus Apollo, who figuratively symbolized the sun by presiding over enlightenment. Every day, Helios drove his chariot across the sky, from east to west, creating daylight. | ||||
| Hephaestus | The god of fire and craftsmen (especially smiths), Hephaestus was lame at birth and was cast from Olympus by his mother Hera. He later married Hera, though she frequently consorted with others. | ||||
| Hera, goddess of women | The goddess of women, marriage, and childbirth, Hera was Zeus' sister and wife. She was noted for her vindictive jealousy, and frequently tormented the many women with which her husband had affairs. | ||||
| Herakles | Herakles was a demigod, the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. After Hera caused him to go mad and kill his own children, Herakles successfully performed 12 extremely difficult labors as penance. | ||||
| Hermes, god of commerce | Originally the god of cattle and pastures, Hermes later became the messenger of Zeus and the god of commerce and profit. He is portrayed as a slender young man wearing a round cap and winged shoes. | ||||
| Hesperides | The Hesperides were three daughters of Atlas, whose job was to guard Hera's tree of golden apples. One of Herakles' 12 labors was to find and take these apples, which he did successfully. | ||||
| Hestia, hearth goddess | Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and family life. She appears in almost no legends, and took part in no wars or major conflicts. | ||||
| Horus | Horus was an Egyptian deity associated with the sky and portrayed as a man with a falcon's head. He avenges the murder of his father Osiris by killing his guilty uncle, Seth, then ascends his father's throne. | ||||
| Hydra | The Hydra was a nine-headed monster who, if someone tried cutting off one head, two grew back in its place. Herakles succeeded in slaying it by cauterizing each head after he cut it off. | ||||
| Hyperion | A Titan and the father of Helios, Hyperion was later associated with his son and Phoebus Apollo, both sun gods. | ||||
| Icarus | Icarus was the son of Daedalus the architect. When they escaped imprisonment with wings made of feathers and wax, Icarus flew too close to the sun. The wax melted, and he fell to his death in the ocean. | ||||
| Inanna, Sumerian earth goddess | The Sumerian name of Ishtar, Inanna was one incarnation of the great goddess, or magna mater, of the Middle East. | ||||
| Iphigenia | Iphigenia was the ill-fated daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Artemis demanded that Agamemnon sacrifice Iphigenia. In various versions, Iphigenia was either killed or exiled to Taurus. | ||||
| Ishtar, earth goddess | The magna mater of the ancient Middle East, including Babylon, Assyria, and Sumeria (where she was called Inanna), Ishtar was the goddess of love and fertility. | ||||
| Isis, Egyptian mother goddess | Isis was Egypt's most enduring deity. She was the sister and wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus, and a protectress of children. She had especially potent magic, and was able to revive her dead husband after his murder by his brother Seth. | ||||
| Jason | The leader of the Argonauts, Jason stole the Golden Fleece with the help of his enemy's daughter, Medea, whom he later married. | ||||
| Jove, chief Roman deity | Jove was a variation of the name Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Zeus. Jove married his sister Juno and ruled as Supreme God, with specific dominion over the weather. | ||||
| Juno, chief goddess of Rome | The Roman equivalent of Hera, Juno was the goddess of women throughout their lives. Each woman was believed to have her own guardian spirit, called her "juno." | ||||
| Jupiter, chief Roman deity | Jupiter was the Roman equivalent of Zeus. He married his sister Juno and ruled as Supreme God, with specific dominion over the weather. | ||||
| Kore | Kore, or Persephone, was the daughter of fertility goddess Demeter. She was abducted by Hades, who made her Queen of the Underworld, but Demeter got her to return to earth for six months every year. Her arrival and departure symbolize the seasons. | ||||
| Laocoon | A Trojan priest, Laocoon warned Troy against letting in the Trojan Horse. Shortly after, he and his sons were strangled by sea serpents. The Trojans mistook this as an omen against Laocoon's' advice and let in the horse, then later regretted their choice. | ||||
| Lucretia, Roman heroine | A beautiful Roman matron, Lucretia was raped by the son of Tarquin the Proud. After, she told her husband what happened, then killed herself. This supposedly led to a war in which the Tarquins were expelled from Rome and the Republic was founded. | ||||
| Magna Mater | The magna mater, or great goddess, is any culture's primary female goddess of creation and fertility. In Greek mythology she is best personified by Gaea, in Sumeria by Inanna, and elsewhere in the Middle East by Ishtar. | ||||
| Maia | The daughter of Atlas and, in some stories, the mother of Herakles, Maia was one of the Pleiades, who were chased by Orion the Hunter and were made into a constellation. | ||||
| Mars, god of war | Mars was the Roman god of war, equivalent to the Greek Ares. Since he fathered Romulus and Remus, he is considered the forefather of all Romans. | ||||
| Medea | The sorceress wife of Jason, Medea helped him steal the Golden Fleece from her father, King Aetes of Colchis. Later, when Jason attempted to leave her for a younger woman, Medea retaliated by killing the woman and her own children by Jason. | ||||
| Medusa | Medusa was one of three once-beautiful sisters that were transformed into Gorgons. They all had snake-strewn hair and skin like scales. Medusa, the most famous, was decapitated by Perseus, who gave her head to Athena. | ||||
| Meleager | Meleager led the Calydonian Boar Hunt, and though he and his people slew the boar, they fought afterward about what to do with the head and carcass. Enraged, Meleager killed his uncle. He was then cursed by his mother and tormented by the Furies. | ||||
| Menelaus | Best known as the husband of Helen of Troy, Menelaus was a king of Sparta. His wife's abduction sparked the Trojan War, and Menelaus was one of the Greeks inside the famous Trojan Horse. | ||||
| Mercury, god of commerce | Mercury was the Roman god of commerce and profit, roughly equivalent to the Greek Hermes. He wore a winged cap and winged shoes, and carried a winged cadaceus. | ||||
| Midas | Midas was the mistake-prone legendary king of Phrygia. He asked that everything he touched would turn to gold, then realized that he couldn't eat or drink anything because it became gold, too. He once disparaged Apollo's lyre and was given donkey's ears. | ||||
| Minerva, goddess of wisdom | Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, identified with the Greek goddess Athena. She was worshipped by those in arts and crafts as well as by soldiers. | ||||
| Minotaur | The Minotaur was half-man, half-bull, and was conceived when King Minos' wife mated with a bull. He was kept in a labyrinth until Theseus slew him, which he did with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne. | ||||
| Muses | The Muses were 9 goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who patronized the arts and sciences. They were known for their ability to inspire artists. | ||||
| Narcissus | A beautiful but vain youth, Narcissus cruelly spurned Echo, who loved him. The goddess Nemesis punished him by having him fall in love with his own reflection in a river, which he stared at until he starved to death. | ||||
| Neptune, sea god | Originally a god of streams, Neptune, the Roman counterpart to Poseidon, eventually ruled the sea. However, he never achieved the same cult following among Roman sailors as Poseidon did among Greek ones. | ||||
| Nereus | Nereus was a sea god specific to the Aegean Sea. He was the son of Gaea and the father of the Nereids. He was also a shapeshifter, who possessed the gift of prophecy. | ||||
| Nero, Roman emperor | Nero Claudius Caesar (37-68 AD) was the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors. He ruled tyrannically, putting to death his mother Agrippina and the great orator Seneca. He was believed to have set Rome afire so that he could rebuild it to his liking. | ||||
| Nymphs | Nymphs were a large variety of divine creatures that were not immortal, but lived much longer than humans. There were about 11 types of nymphs, among them Nereids (sea nymphs), naiads (water nymphs) and dryads (wood nymphs). | ||||
| Odysseus, war hero and adventurer | The king of Ithaca, Odysseus was also the hero of Homer's Odyssey, which chronicled his adventures after the Trojan War. He was portrayed as wise and brave by Homer, but others, such as Sophocles, showed him as more crafty. | ||||
| Orestes | The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Orestes avenged his father's murder by killing, with the help of his sister Electra, Clytemnestra and her lover. For this, he was tormented incessantly by the Furies. | ||||
| Orpheus | Orpheus was a renowned musician that married the dryad Eurydice. When she died, Orpheus persuaded the gods to let him take her from the underworld. He was not supposed to look at her until he led her back to earth; however, he did, and lost her forever. | ||||
| Osiris, Egyptian sun god | The Egyptian sun god, Osiris also represents resurrection and rebirth. He was killed by his brother Seth, but revived by his wife and sister Isis. His murder was avenged by his son Horus. | ||||
| Pan, fertility god | A god of pastures, livestock, and fertility, Pan is portrayed as either a satyr or as a handsome youth. He is often shown playing his famous pipes. | ||||
| Pandora | Pandora was a mortal who was given a box containing all the world's sorrow and problems, and was strictly warned by the gods to not open it. Curiosity compelled her to open it anyway, and by doing so she brought strife into the world. | ||||
| Paris | A handsome youth, Paris was asked at Peleus' wedding to choose which Olympian goddess was the most beautiful. He chose Aphrodite when she offered him Helen of Troy in reward, then, with Aphrodite's help, Paris abducted Helen. | ||||
| Pegasus | Pegasus was a winged horse born by Poseidon and Medusa. Bellerophon caught and mastered him for a while, during which time he slew the Chimera, but Pegasus eventually broke free again. | ||||
| Persephone | Persephone, or Kore, was the daughter of fertility goddess Demeter. She was abducted by Hades, who made her Queen of the Underworld, but Demeter got her to return to earth for six months every year. Her arrival and departure symbolize the seasons. | ||||
| Perseus | The son of Zeus and Danae, Perseus was best known for slaying the Medusa, whose head he then presented to the goddess Aphrodite. | ||||
| Phoebus Apollo | Phoebus Apollo was the sun god as he represented wisdom and enlightenment. | ||||
| Pluto, god of death | The son of Rhea and Cronus, Pluto was the god of the underworld and the abductor (later husband) of Persephone. Though Pluto was a name used by both Greeks and Romans, the Greeks more frequently called him Hades. | ||||
| Poseidon, sea god | Lord of the sea, shown holding a trident, Poseidon was an Olympian and the brother of Zeus, Hera, Hades, and Demeter. He was heavily worshipped in Greek seaports. | ||||
| Priam | Priam was the last king of Troy and the father of Paris. He defended his son's abduction of the married Helen of Troy, which led to the siege and fall of Troy and to Priam's own death at the hands of Pyrrhus. | ||||
| Prometheus | Prometheus was a Titan who, out of generosity toward humankind, disobeyed Zeus and gave fire to mortals. His eternal punishment was to be bound to a mountain and have an eagle tear at his liver, but Herakles saved him. | ||||
| Proserpina | Proserpina, Roman for Persephone, was the daughter of fertility goddess Ceres. She was abducted by Pluto, who made her Queen of the Underworld, but Ceres got her to return to earth for six months every year. Her arrival and departure symbolize seasons. | ||||
| Proteus, shapeshifter | Proteus was a sea dweller that had the gift of prophecy and could shift shape at will. To compel him to give a prophecy, one had to hold him tightly, and he often turned into fire or water to escape. | ||||
| Psyche, the soul | Psyche was the personification of the soul. She was loved by Eros, who was then tricked into abandoning her. Psyche searched for him until they were reunited, then was made immortal. | ||||
| Remus, founder of Rome | Remus was the twin brother of Romulus, and they were Rome's co-founders. They were born to a mortal woman, and Mars was their father. Abandoned in a basket, they were rescued and raised by a she-wolf. | ||||
| Rhea, earth goddess | Rhea was an earth goddess originally worshipped in Crete, then co-opted by the Greek pantheon as one of the Titans. She married her brother Cronus and was the mother of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, and others. | ||||
| Romulus, founder of Rome | Romulus was the twin brother of Remus, and they were Rome's co-founders. They were born to a mortal woman, and Mars was their father. Abandoned in a basket, they were rescued and raised by a she-wolf. | ||||
| Satyrs | Satyrs are spirits of the woods, like the dryads only more lascivious and drunken and far less graceful. They are male, and are often portrayed with a goat's horns, tail, and legs. Among them, Pan is the most famous. | ||||
| Scylla the monster | Scylla was a sea monster that personified a real-life navigational hazard, a promontory at the mouth of the Straits of Messina. Though this promontory is no longer considered a danger to ships, in ancient times it was considered very hazardous. | ||||
| Scylla, daughter of Nisus | Daughter of Nesus, king of Megara, Scylla cut her father's lock of purple hair to deprive him of his strength so that her beloved, King Minos, could slay him. After, she was punished by being changed into a fish or a seabird. | ||||
| Sibyls, or Oracles | The sibyls, or oracles, were female prophets inspired by the gods who uttered unintelligible words that were translated by priests. The most famous were the Cumaean and Delphic sibyls, but there were ones as far as Troy, Persia, and Libya. | ||||
| Sisyphus | Sisyphus was a trickster that angered Zeus and was condemned for life to continuously roll a stone up a hill. When he was done, it rolled down and he started again. After he died, he was given the same punishment in Hades. | ||||
| Tantalus | Tantalus, whose name is the origin for the word "tantalize," was punished with an eternal torment for angering the gods: food and water were always kept just beyond his reach. | ||||
| Telemachus | The son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus was a baby when his father left to fight in the Trojan War. He escaped an ambush by Penelope's suitors, then reunited with his father and helped him rout all the unwanted suitors. | ||||
| Themis | Themis was the guardian of divine law and order. She was a Titan, a prophet, then became Zeus' consort and mothered the Horae and Moirae. | ||||
| Theseus | Theseus was the legendary founder of Athens as a city-state and the son of Poseidon. He abducted Helen (she was rescued), killed the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, then abandoned Ariadne on the isle of Naxos. | ||||
| Tiresias | Tiresias was a blind seer that became a woman for several years, then reverted back to a man. He was given long life and the gift of prophecy by Zeus, and in the Odyssey gave directions home to the wandering Odysseus. | ||||
| Titans | 12 children born to Uranus and Gaea, the Titans were older then even the Olympians. One of the Titans, Cronus, castrated and overthrew Uranus, then ruled the universe until overpowered by his own son Zeus. Another, Prometheus, gave fire to humans. | ||||
| Triton | A son of Poseidon and the mortal Amphitrite, Triton gave his name to other sea monsters like himself. They are generally shown holding conch horns, and have green hair and eyes. | ||||
| Ulysses | Ulysses was the Roman named for Odysseus, king of Ithaca and hero of Homer's Odyssey, which chronicled his adventures after the Trojan War. He was portrayed as wise and brave by Homer, but others, such as Sophocles, showed him as more crafty. | ||||
| Uranus, Roman father of gods | The first god of the heavens, Uranus was married to Gaea and together they had the Titans, Cyclopes, and others. He was castrated by his son Cronus, who was in turn overthrown by his son Zeus. | ||||
| Venus, Roman god of love | Venus was the Roman goddess of love, fertility, and beauty, equivalent to the Greek Aphrodite. In most legends, she was born out of the commingling of seafoam and blood from Uranus' severed genitals, and is portrayed as emerging from the sea. | ||||
| Vesta, Roman hearth goddess | Vesta was the Roman virgin goddess of the fire and hearth, and had a much larger following than her Greek counterpart Hestia. Vestal temples, maintained by priestesses called vestal virgins, existed throughout Rome. | ||||
| Vulcan, Roman fire god | The Roman version of Hephaestus, god of fire and craftsmen (especially smiths), Vulcan also was lame, was once cast from heaven, and married the goddess of love. | ||||
| Zeus, chief deity | Zeus was the chief deity, and was originally an Indo-European weather god (his name means "sky"). He controlled all aspects of the day and night sky, and is shown holding a thunderbolt. He married Hera, but had 140 children by over 100 mistresses. |
Also see the Literary Figures Database
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