Bacon: Reference - Mythological Index

Æneas: A son of Venus and an important warrior on the Trojan side in Homer's Illiad. The story of his leading a remnant of the Trojans to Italy to become the ancestors of the Romans is told in Virgil's Æneid. The difficulties of his journey were increased by the emnity of Juno towards the Trojans. It was claimed that the Julian house to which Augustus and successors belonged by adoption were descended from his son Iulus.
Æsclepius: The god of healing, son of Apollo and Coronis. Snakes were sacred to him, and he was thought to be incarnate in their shape.
Achelous: The god of a river in north-western Greece, a son of Oceanus and Tethys. He wrestled with Hercules for the hand of Deianira, but in spite of his ability to change shape was defeated. He was the father of several nymphs.
Achilles: The chief of the Greek heros in Homer's Illiad, in which his anger with Agamemnon and his duel with Hector are dominant themes. He was the son of the mortal Peleus, king of Phthia, Thessaly, and of the sea-nymph Thetis and was reputedly raised by the centaur Chiron. Despite the attempts by his mother to secure his immortality, he was killed when Apollo guided an arrow shot by Paris.
Adonis: A god of Asiatic origin who was inserted into the Greek mythology as a god of vegetation and nature; he was worshipped in many places, invariably in conjunction with Aphrodite/Venus.
Agamemnon: According to Greek legend, king of Mycenae or of Argus, son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus, king of Sparta. He was commander-in-chief of the combined Greek forces in the Trojan war, fought to avenge the abduction of Menelaus' wife Helen by Paris, son of the king of Troy. At the beginning of the war he sacrificed his eldest child Iphigenia to gain a favourable wind.
Apollo: One of the greatest gods of both the Greeks and the Romans: the principal god of prophecy and divination, and of the arts (especially music), and of archery. He was a bringer of plagues, which he could also dispel; and he also protected herdsmen. His identification as a sun god, when he is known as Phoebus, is relatively late.
Argus: An enormous and powerful monster with many eyes. He was killed by Mercury.
Ariadne: Daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who helped Theseus to kill the Minotaur. Theseus abandoned her on Naxos and, according to one version of the myth, she was rescued by the god Dionysus, who married her.
Atalanta: A mythical huntress. In an attempt to remain a virgin, she refused to marry a man who could not outrun her. With Aphrodite's gift of three golden apples Hippomenes was able to distract Atalanta's attention and win the race.
Atlas: A Titan, believed to hold the sky up.
Aurora: Goddess of the Dawn, known to the Greeks as Eos. She fell in love with a number of handsome mortals, including Tithonus by whom she gave birth to Memnon.
Bacchus: The god of wine and of ecstatic liberation, also known as Dionysus. He was the greatest deity of the later Greek world.
Berecynthia: A surname for Cybele, who symbolised Mother Earth and was worshipped on Mount Berecynthus in Phyrgia.
Briareos: A monstrous creature with 100 arms, the offspring of Tellus and Coelum. When the other gods rebelled against Jupiter, Thetis summoned Briareos to save him. Hs normal duty was to guard the Titans confined in Tartarus.
Ceres: The Italian grain-goddess, often identified with the Greek earth-goddess Demeter. As the mother of Proserpine she opposed her daughter's marriage to Pluto and attempted to rescue her from his clutches. The periods of the year when the earth was barren were interpreted as representing her sorrow at being deprived of her daughter's company.
Charon: Ferryman of the dead across the river Styx to their final abode in Hades' realm, he demanded the fee of an obol from his passengers.
Charybdis: A mythical whirlpool placed at the northern end of the Straits of Messina in Sicily. It was seen as a female monster who sucked the seawater in and cast it out three times a day, in such a way as to wreck any ship that passed nearby. Those sailors who escaped the Scylla were liable to come to grief in Charybdis.
Chiron: A centaur, a race of creatures with the body and legs of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man. The centaurs were creatures of lascivious habits, except Chiron who was gentle and wise and acted as tutor to many of the Greek heros.
Circe: A powerful witch, the daughter of Helios the Sun-god and Perse, an Oceanid, Circe lived on the island of Aeaea and would turn her enemies into animals.
Coelum: Latin name of the Greek god Uranus ('sky'), produced by Tellus (Mother Earth) after she was born out of Chaos. He then mated with his mother to produce the Titans and Titanesses. His power was usurped by his son Saturn with the aid of Tellus.
Cupid: The Roman god of Love (cupido = lust, desire), equivalent to the Greek Eros.
Dædalus: A mythical Athenian craftsman; the name means 'the ingenious' and he was famous for many crafts and inventions. He made the thread which Ariadne gave to Theseus to enable him to escape the Labyrinth. As a result of this he was imprisoned by king Minos, leading to his invention of wings like those of birds to enable himself and his son Icarus to attempt their escape.
Daunus: An Illyrian who was believed to have conquered southern Italy with his brothers Iapyx and Peucetius and divided it between them. He became king of Apulia and gave his daughter Evippe to Diomedes, who took refuge with him after his expulsion from Argos following the Trojan war.
Deianira: Daughter of Oceanus, king of Calydon and of Althaea, daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia. Hercules learnt of her beauty from the ghost of her brother Meleager, who he met in the Underworld and who begged him to marry her. She married Hercules after he had defeated Achelous and bore him several children. When Hercules shot Nessus, the centaur told Deianira that his blood would restore Hercules' love for her should it ever wane. When Hercules took Iole as his mistress Deianira sent him a tunic smeared with this 'love philtre', which burned him to death. In her sorrow she killed herself.
Deucalion: The son of the Titan Prometheus who was warned by his father to build an ark, enabling he and his wife Pyrrha to survive when Jupiter sent the great flood to wipe out mankind. The story is told by Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphoses.
Diana: An ancient Italian woodland goddess, a patroness of wild things and of women. She was identified with the Greek Artemis, one of the twelve great Olympians, a goddess of hunting and archery. She punished many mortals who offended her or failed to observe her rites, including Actaeon, Admetus and Agamemnon.
Diomedes: King of Argos, in the Iliad he is a great warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan war, and the friend and companion of Odysseus. Helped by Athena, he was one of the few Greeks to enjoy a speedy return home after the war, but Aphrodite wreaked her revenge for a wound inflicted by his spear by making his wife unfaithful and causing him to be ousted from his throne. He escaped to Italy, where he married Evippe, the daughter of Daunus and settled on islands off Apulia.
Dionysus: See Bacchus
Dis: The Roman name of the god of the Underworld, a contraction of dives, literally 'the Rich'.
Echo: A nymph of Mount Helicon. When Juno wished to spy on Jupiter, she was thwarted by Echo's continual chatter and ordained that she should be unable to speak unless spoken to and then only able to repeat the final syllables of speech uttered by others. Echo later fell in love with Narcissus, who spurned her; consequently she wasted away with only her echoing voice remaining. Another story makes Echo struck dumb by Pan save for the power of repetition because she rejected him. The shepherd people were so infuriated by her repetition that they tore her to pieces. Tellus(Earth) hid the pieces in herself and they remained as echoes.
Epimetheus: A Titan, brother of Prometheus. His name means 'afterthought'. Although warned by his brother not to accept presents from the gods, he took Pandora as his wife.
Ericthonius: When Minerva asked Vulcan to make her some armour, he embraced and attempted to possess the warrior-maiden, but she spurned him and his seed was spilt. Ericthonius was the child produced by the spilt seed and was raised by Minerva.
Furies: Female spirits of justice and vengeance, personifying very ancient retributive ideas. Their effect on their victims was madness.
Gorgons: Three female creatures of frightening aspect, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Their names were Stheno('strength'), Euryale ('wide-leaping') and Medusa ('ruler'). Only Medusa, slain by Perseus, was mortal. Traditions vary about their appearance; they are sometimes descrbed as beautiful, but ancient art depicts them as hideous. A glimpse of them or at any rate of Medusa, would turn a man to stone.
Graiae: The three weird sisters of the Gorgons whose names were Enyo ('warlike'), Pemphredo ('waspish') and Deino ('dreadful'). Their name means old women and according to tradition they were old hags from birth, grey- haired and wrinkled; they were also blind and toothless, except for a single eye and a single tooth which they shared between them.
Hecuba: Wife of Priam, king of Troy, who she bore 19 children includng Paris, Hector and Cassandra. She abandoned Paris at birth, because she dreamed she bore a firebrand (prefiguring the destruction of Troy), but he was rescued. Virgil has her preventing Priam from attacking Pyrrhus when he sacked the palace and sitting at the altar as her husband and son were butchered. She was given as a slave to Odysseus. Euripides has her blinding the Thracian king Polymestor and killing his children in revenge for his failure to protect her youngest son Polydorus.
Helen of Troy: The daughter of Jupiter and Leda, she was uniquely beautiful. She was wooed by Theseus, but subsequently became the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. By eloping with Paris, son of the king of Troy, she was the cause of the Trojan War. After the death of Paris she married his brother Deiphobus. Her sympathies during the war are portrayed as ambiguous, as she provided assistance to both sides. After the sack of Troy, when Deiphobus was killed by Menelaus, she returned with her husband to Sparta.
Hercules: The most famous and popular Greek hero, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. He was persecuted by Juno because of Jupiter's liaison with his mother. In the usual version of the myth Hercules embarked on his 12 Labours to expiate his blood-guilt for the murder of his wife Megara and their children, which he had been tricked into by Juno.
The Pillars of Hercules were the rocks on either side of the strait of Gibraltar, thought in ancient times to be the supports of the western boundary of the world erected by Hercules.
Hydra: The many-headed monster, a water-serpent with a hound's body, which Hercules was required to kill as his second Labour. In the legend of the Argonauts the Hyadra's teeth sown in a field gave rise to fully grown warriors.
Ixion: In Greek mythology the first man to stain his hands with a kinsman's blood: the equivalent of Cain. During the rites of purification on Olympus for the expiation of his crime, Ixion attempted to seduce Juno, but was fooled into mistaking a cloud in her form for the goddess. For his impiety his was bound for eternity to a fiery wheel. From his congress with the cloud were descended the centaurs.
Janus: The Roman god of beginnings, doors, gates, and passageways; portrayed in art as having two faces looking in opposite directions.
Juno: A Roman goddess of women and marriage and the wife of Jupiter; identified from the earliest times with the Greek Hera. In Homer's Illiad Hera/Juno persecuted the Trojans with implacable fury because Paris failed to award her the prize for beauty. In the Æneid this enmity on the part of Juno extends to Æneas until Jupiter prevails on her to allow a union between Italians and Trojans since the Italians would have the major part.
Jupiter: The principal Roman god, originally a deity of the sky. His name has the same origin as the Greek Zeus, with whom he was indentified. While married to Juno, Jupiter was the progenitor of innumerable progeny on assorted goddesses, nymphs and women.
Luna: Roman goddess of the moon, identified with the Greek Selene. When Artemis/Diana came to be associated with the moon, Luna receded from the attention of mythological writers.
Mars: The Roman god of war, associated with the Greek Ares.
Memnon: King of Ethiopia who fought for his uncle Priam in the Trojan Wars.
Mercury: A Roman god, presiding over trade. He was identified with the Greek god Hermes, who was Jupiter's messenger, the guide of shades in the Underworld, protector of travellers, bringer of luck and patron saint of thieves and merchants. In art he was depicted as a young man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and winged sandals and carrying a herald's staff.
Metis: Daughter of Oceans and Thetys and first consort of Jupiter. When Tellus prophesied that if Metis bore a daughter she would be the equal to Jupiter in wisdom and a son would be mightier than his father and overthrow him. Jupiter therefore swallowed Metis when she was pregnant and brought forth the child, Athena, full-grown from his own head. He also gained Metis' wisdom which was now within him and helped prevent his overthrow.
Midas: King of Phrygia, of whom several myths are told. In one the Lydians captured Silenius when drunk and brought him before Midas, who recognising him, treated him kindly and restored him to Dionysus. Dionysus offered Midas whatever he wished and Midas chose that all that he touched might be turned to gold. He was at first delighted with the results, and then horrified when he discovered that the gift extended to his food and drink. He eventually removed the unwanted gift by washing in the river Pactolus, the sands of which were henceforth filled with gold dust. The myth referred to by Bacon concerns a music contest between Apollo and Pan. When the judge awarded the prize to Apollo, Midas demurred and was given the ears of an ass for his folly by Apollo. He hid his humiliation by making everyone wear a Phrygian cap, but his barber had to know the truth. Forbidden to tell anyone, the barber whispered the news into the depths of a hole in the ground, whereupon reeds grew that whispered the truth when rustled by the wind.
Minerva: An Italian goddess of household arts, possibly of Etruscan origin. She was early identified with the Greek warrior goddess Pallas Athena. Rome was depicted in the guise of Minerva.
Minos: Son of Jupiter and Europa, he and his two brothers were adopted by the king of Crete Asterius, who had married Europa. Minos won the throne of Crete from his brothers when he prayed to Poseidon for a worthy sacrificial victim and a magnificent bull was sent by the god from the sea. Minos failed to sacrifice the beast and his wife, Pasiphae, fell in love with it. Dædalus made her the hollow image of a cow in whch she hid and was impregnated by the bull. The result was the Minotaur, with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Dædalus was then commissioned by Minos to build the Labyrinth in which the Minotaur was shut away. After Dædalus helped Theseus to escape from the Labyrinth, he was imprisoned by Minos and, escaping by making himself and his son wings of wax and feathers, he was pursued to Cocalus where he killed Minos by scalding him in a bath of his own invention.
Momus: Son of Nox, Momus personified the spirit of grumbling.
Muses: Daughters of Jupiter and the Titaness Mnemosyne ('memory'), they were the goddesses of fine arts, music and literature, and in later ages of a wider range of intellectual pursuits such as history, philosophy and astronomy.
Narcissus: Son of the River Cephissus in Boeotia and the nymph Liriope. A lover rejected by him prayed to Nemesis, who condemned Narcissus to the contemplation of his own beauty in a pool on Mount Helicon. This futile passion held him in its grip until he faded away.
Nemesis: A goddess, the daughter of Nox, who came to personify the power of retribution for evil deeds and was a punisher of heartless lovers.
Neptune: An old Italian water-deity, invested with the mythology of the Greek god of the seas and waters Poseidon, the brother of Jupiter. Poseidon was important in Homer, being hostile to the Trojans and willing to intervene on the side of the Greeks.
Nox: The goddess of night, known by the Greeks as Nyx and considered to be among the first deities to exist, having originated from primeval Chaos at the same time as Erebus, Tellus, Tartarus, and Cupid. From Nox were born some of the most powerful and portentous of the personnified forces: Thanatos(death), Hypnos(sleep), Moros(fate), Ker(doom), Oneiroi(dreams), Nemesis(revenge) etc.
Nymphs: Female spirits of divine or semi-divine origin - often daughters of Jupiter - whom the Greeks believed to reside in particular natural phenomena.
OEdipus: A king of Thebes, son of Laius and his wife Jocasta and the subject of 3 plays by Sophocles. His father was warned by an oracle that his son would kill him, so when a son was born he pierced his foot and abandoned him on Mount Cithaeron. He was rescued and taken to the Corinthian king Polybus who christened him OEdipus ('swollen foot'). Brought up by Polybus as his son, OEdipus learnt from the oracle of Delphi that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. He resolved not to return to Corinth and travelled to Boeotia. Encountering Laius he killed him in a dispute and proceeded to Thebes, where he saved the city from the Sphinx. He married Jocasta and became king. When the truth was discovered, Jocasta committed suicide and OEdipus blinded himself.
Oceanus: A Titan, the son of Tellus and Coelum - though Homer calls him the parent of all the gods. He ruled the Ocean, the wide mythical stream which was believed to wind its way in a circle round the edge of the earth.
Orpheus: The supreme minstrel of Greek mythology: his loss of his wife Eurydice forms the most famous of romantic myths.
Pallas Athena: The daughter of Jupiter, from whose head she sprang adult and fully armed. She was the patron deity of war and of many arts and crafts (see also Minerva). The original meaning of title Pallas is lost, and various myths were invented in ancient times to explain it.
Pan: The god of the pastures, especially of the sheep and the goats. Being a rustic god, he was lustful and constantly chased the nymphs. He was sometimes a frightening god (hence the word 'panic'), especially if his sleep was disturbed.
Pandora: The first mortal woman who was made by Vulcan on the orders of Jupiter and given life by Athena and beauty by Venus. She was intended as a scourge to mankind to discredit Prometheus and was accordingly presented to his brother Epimetheus as a wife. Pandora had been given a box full of troubles, which curiosity led her to open releasing mankind's troubles into the world.
Paris: Son of Priam, king of Troy and his wife Hecuba. He was chosen to judge between Juno, Athena and Venus who was entitled to the golden apple thrown down by Eris (Strife) at the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis inscribed 'for the fairest'. He was promised the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife by the goddess Venus for choosing her. The woman was Helen and their elopement was the cause of the Trojan War.
Pegasus: Immortal winged horse which fell from Medusa's severed neck when Perseus killed her. As she was pregnant by Poseidon at the time, he was said to be the father of Pegasus.
Penelope: 1) Daughter of the Spartan king Icarius and the nymph Periboea and the wife of Odysseus. She waited for more than 20 years for her husband's return from Troy, keeping her suitors at bay for three years by pretending to weave a shroud for her father-in-law and unravelling it each evening. 2) Daughter of Dryops and mother by Hermes of Pan.
Pentheus: A king of Thebes who fell foul of Dionysus by refusing to accept his divinity.
Perseus: Son of Zeus, who impregnated his mother Danae as a shower of golden rain. King Polydectes wished to marry Danae and set Perseus the seemingly impossible task of fetching him the head of the Gorgon Medusa to rid himself of an impediment to the marriage. Helped by Athena, Perseus achieved his task and subsequently rescued Andromeda from a sea monster by using Medusa's head to turn it to stone.
Phaeton: Son of Helios, the Sun-god, and the Oceanid Clymene. He was granted the wish of being able to ride his father's sun-chariot across the sky for a day, but lost control and had to be stopped by a thunderbolt thrown by Jupiter, which threw his blazing corpse to the earth.
`: King of the Thessalian kingdom of Lapiths and greatest friend of Theseus. He attempted to gain Proserpine as his wife, but was outwitted by Pluto and compelled to remain forever in the Underworld.
Pluto: A name for Hades, the god of the dead and ruler of the Underworld, in which the shades of dead human beings and certain mythological creatures such as the Titans were confined. He was a son of Cronos and Rhea and hence the brother of Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Hestia and Demeter. His consort was Demeter's daughter Persephone. The name Hades was considered unlucky and used as little as possible, leading to the use of euphemistic titles such as Pluto ('the Rich' - Dis in Latin). He was thought to make the crops grow and produce wealth. The Underworld was a prison, but it was not a hell and Hades was a grim god but not evil.
Polyphemus: A Cyclops who imprisoned Odysseus and his men in the cave where he lived and stabled his flocks. The Greeks could not kill him, as the stone at the entrance to the cave was too great for them to move. Odysseus got Polyphemus drunk and blinded him; the Greeks then escaped strapped to the undersides of his sheep.
Prometheus: A Titan, the son of Iapetus and of Themis (or of Clymene, daughter of Oceanus). He was the mythical arch-rebel and champion of mankind against the hostility of the gods; his name, meaning 'forethought', illustrates his character. In the early myths he was probably no more than a clever trickster who outwitted Jupiter, but writers such as Hesiod and Aeschylus developed him into man's creator and saviour.
Proserpine: Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, called Persephone by the Greeks, who Pluto obtained as his wife by force. When she was taken to the Underworld, her mother obtained a concession that Proserpine would be returned to her provided she had eaten nothing in her wooer's house. As she had consumed a few pomegranate seeds a compromise was arranged, whereby Proserpine spent several months of the year as Pluto's consort, but might return to her mother for the remainder of the year.
Proteus: An ancient sea-god, occasionally described as a son of Poseidon but probably a more ancient deity. He herded the flocks of sea-creatures for Poseidon and possessed the gift of prophecy, but was unwilling to disclose what he knew and would adopt a variety of shapes to evade questioners.
Pygmalion: A king of Cyprus, who according to Ovid had a lifelike ivory statue of his ideal woman made for him, since no real woman came up to his standards. He fell in love with the statue and Aphrodite out of pity brought it to life.
Pyrrha: The daughter of the Epimetheus and Pandora, she married Deucalion, alongside whom she survived Jupiter's flood to refound the human race.
Romulus: The mythical founder of Rome in the year 753BC. He and his brother Remus were descended from the Trojan Æneas. The various forms assumed by his story have their roots in Greek mythology.
Saturn: An ancient Italian rustic god, usually equated with the Greek Cronos, the son of Coelum(Sky) and Tellus (Earth) and king of the Titans and Titanesses. With the aid of Tellus he usurped the power of his father. Saturn as distinct from Cronos was regarded as an early king of Latium, whose reign was a Golden Age when life was easy and happy. His festival, the Saturnalia, in late December was the merriest of the year.
Satyrs: Woodland creatures who accompanied the Maenads in Dionysus' revels. They were renowned for their lascivious appetites and mischievous behaviour. They seem to represent the unrestrained fertility of Nature.
Scylla: A sea-monster which infested the Straits of Messina. Originally a beautiful nymph, Circe out of jealousy turned her into a monster with 6 heads and 12 feet and according to one account a waist encircled by dogs' heads, baying for prey. She was immortal and the only defence against her was to invoke the aid of her mother, the sea-nymph Cratais. She was finally turned into a rock.
Semele: Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and the mother of the god Dionysus, whose father was Jupiter who on this occasion assumed human form. Her name is not of Greek origin and seems to be a corruption of the Thracian Zemelo (earth).
Sibylla: The name of a mythical female who lived at Marpessus near Troy. She devoted herself to the service of Apollo and was in return given by him the gift of prophecy. Her name came to be used as a generic appellation. The Sibyl referred to by Bacon is that of Cumae, who came to Tarquinius Superbus, last king of Rome, with 9 books of prophecies, and demanded a huge price for them. He mocked her and sent her away, upon which she burnt 3 of the books and offered him the remainder at the same price. When he still refused to pay, she burnt 3 more and offered him the last 3 at the original price. When Tarquin consulted a board of priests, they deplored the loss of 6 books and urged him to buy those that remained. These books were traditionally identified with collections of oracles preserved in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter for consultation at times of national emergency until destroyed by fire in 83BC.
Silenus: Silenus was an elderly companion of the Maenads in the revels of Dionysus, the son of Pan or Hermes and a nymph. Silenius was portrayed as being bald with a snub nose, the tail and ears of a horse and a pot-belly. By origin a water- spirit, he had a reputation for practical wisdom, and the power of prophecy. His sons by the nymphs, the Sileni, resembled him and were characterized as drunken, cowardly fellows, always wanting to be on the winning side.
Sirens: Bird-like women, the number varying, who lived on an island near the straits where Scylla and Charybdis lurked. Their beautiful song lured sailors to their deaths, either by being so enchanted that they were compelled to listen forever or by shipwreck. According to one myth they were the companions of Persephone, punished for their failure to prevent her being dragged off to the Underworld.
Sisyphus: Son of Aeolus and Enarete and founder of the city of Corinth, Sisyphus was proverbial for his cunning and craft. Because of his tricking of Thanatos, his shade was condemned to perpetually roll a great stone up a hill and watch it roll down again.
Sphinx: A winged monster with a woman's head and a lion's body. There are a variety of myths concerning the offence to the gods that led to her being sent to Thebes as a punishment. She challenged young Thebans to answer her riddle and when they failed, devoured them. After the death of King Laius the regent Creon, who had himself lost a son to the Sphinx, offered the kingdom to whoever could rid Thebes of this scourge. OEdipus was accosted by the Sphinx on his way to the city, correctly answered the riddle and gained the kingdom. The Sphinx hurled herself to her death.
Syrinx: Also called Nonacris, an Arcadian nymph who hunted in the company of Artemis. In order to preserve her chastity when pursued by Pan, she begged the nymphs of the River Ladon, which she could not cross, to help her and they turned her into a bed of reeds. Pan subsequently made his pipes from the reeds.
Tantalus: Son of Jupiter and the Titaness Pluto (wealth), Tantalus ruled the region of Mount Sipylus in Lydia. Various myths describe how he offended the gods, for which his punishment was to be kept perpetually famished and parched with water and fruit just beyond his reach.
Tellus: Mother Earth or Gaia, according to Hesiod the mother of the Cyclops with Coelum.
Terpsichore: The muse of lyric poetry or dance, whose name means 'joy in the dance'.
Theseus: The greatest Athenian hero, the son of either Aegeus, king of Attica, or Poseidon, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus. His symbol was the club, which he wrestled from Periphetes. Many myths relate his exploits and he was reputed, as king of Attica after the death of Aegeus, to have founded the greatness of Athens.
Titans: The race of gods begotten by the union of Coelum (sky) and Tellus (earth). They included Sol (sun) who is sometimes referred to as 'The Titan'. The Greeks thought of them as gigantic beings who had ruled the world in a primitive age.
Tithonus: Son of Laomedon, king of Troy, who was beloved of Aurora, the goddess of the dawn. She obtained the grant of eternal life for him from Jupiter, but forgot to ask also for eternal youth.
Typhon: A terrible monster, son of Gaia and Tartarus, brought forth after the gods had defeated the Titans. He made war on Jupiter, but was eventually defeated and chased into the sea off Italy, where the island of Sicily was thrown on top of him. The fiery breath of this immortal creature became Mount Etna. Before his defeat Typhon mated with Echidna and brought forth various offspring, including the Chimaera, the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion.
Ulysses: An alternative name for Odysseus, king of Ithaca, one of the leading characters in the Iliad and the central figure in the Odyssey. In the former he is prominent as a speaker and schemer rather than as a fighter and he was responsible the Trojan horse. The latter work tells of his adventures on his journey home from Troy and on his return to Ithaca.
Venus: An Italian goddess who presided over ploughland and gardens. She was identified from very early times with the Greek Aphrodite, goddess of love. Her promise of Helen to Paris led to the Trojan War.
Vulcan: An ancient Italian god of fire identified with the Greek god of metalwork and craftmanship Hephaestus.