AcheLouspALAmedes

 In Greek Grk Son of mythology, Nauplius, a king of Euboea, and his wife CLYMENE, a granddaughter of King MINOS of CRETE. One of the Greek heroes who fought against TROY in the TROJAN WAR. When ODYSSEUS feigned idiocy, in his attempt to avoid joining the Greek army on its way to Troy, Palamedes put TELEMACHUS, son of Odysseus, in the path of his father’s plow. Odysseus avoided running down his infant son, showing that he was sane, and was forced to join the army. In revenge, Odysseus concocted a plot against Palamedes, accusing him of treachery against the Greeks. The army stoned Palamedes to death.

Palamedes is described as a sage, and he is credited with inventing certain letters of the Greek alphabet and for inventing dice, measures and scales, lighthouses, and the discus.

pALes Roman An ancient spirit of agriculture and of flocks and herds. Pales is sometimes referred to as a god, sometimes as a goddess. Belief in this spirit existed in central Italy even before 752 s.C., when ROMULUS is said to have founded the city of ROME. The festival of Parilia on April 21 honors Pales. This celebration by shepherds exists in the oldest records of Roman religious festivals. It fell on the same day in later years when people celebrated the founding of Rome.

pALLAdium Greek The sacred statue of PALLAS ATHENE that was said to have fallen from heaven. It stood in the temple of ATHENE in TROY. According to legend, ZEUS sent the statue to DARDANUS, the founder of Troy. Trojans believed that the preserva-tion of the city depended on possession of the Palladium. During the TROJAN WAR, two Greeks, DIOMEDES (1) and ODYSSEUS, stole it, and Troy fell to the Greeks. In another legend, AJAx (2) the Lesser carried it off. The Romans said that AENEAS took the statue to Italy. In fact, many cities claimed to own the statue, among them ATHENS, ARGOS, and Luceria.

A rare metallic element is called palladium. It was named after an asteroid, Pallas, discovered in 1803 at about the same time the element was found.

pALLAs (Warrior) Greek A second generation TITAN; considered by some to be the god of warfare and of the springtime battle season.

Pallas was the son of CRIUS and EURYSIA and the brother of ASTRAEUS and PERSES; He married STYx, a daughter of OCEANUS; and with her had four children, ZELUS, NIKE, CRATUS, and BIA, whose names meant, respectively, zeal, victory, strength, and force, all terms of warfare.

His children and wife fought against him when they joined the great OLYMPIAN GOD ZEUS in his battle against the Titans.

pALLAs Athene Greek One of the many names of the goddess ATHENE. In some traditions, Pallas was the name of a youthful playmate of the goddess.

pAn Greek An ancient deity from the mountain-ous region of ARCADIA, in GREECE. Pan was a deity of herds and flocks, fertility, forests, and wildlife. He is usually depicted as half man, half goat. The Romans called him FAUNUS.

Pan was a notable musician, playing the SYRINx (panpipes, or Pipes of Pan), a seven-reed flute still played by Arcadian shepherds. In one myth, Pan chal-lenged the god APOLLO to a musical contest (see Midas and the Donkey’s Ears, under MIDAS). Some sources say Pan is the son of the god HERMES and of the NYMPH PENELOPE. People worshiped Pan as a fertility symbol and thought of him as lusty and playful, though at times a little sinister. They believed Pan was the cause of a sudden, terrifying, unreasoning fear in humans and beasts, a feeling given the name panic, from Pan.

Almost every region in Greece had its own Pan, a primitive, ancient deity. (See ARISTAEUS and PRIAPUS.)

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PANAcEA (PANACHA; All-healing) Greek A daughter of the god of medicine, ASCLEPIUS. Panacea symbolizes universal healing, particularly through the power of HERBS. A temple to her stood at Oropus, in the region of Oropia, north of ATTICA. Panacea’s sisters were HYGIEA and Iaso, and her brothers, both doctors, were Machaon and Podalirius.

PANDoRA (All-giving) Greek The first woman to appear on Earth, according to Greek mythology. The gods created her and sent her down to release upon the world all the misfortunes that could occur. At the command of the great god ZEUS, the smith-god HEP-HAESTUS crafted her out of clay and the other gods and goddesses breathed into her surpassing beauty, charm, graciousness, and cunning. They also gave her a vase to take with her to Earth and told her never to open it.

PROMETHEUS (Forethought) resisted the beauty of Pandora, but his brother, EPIMETHEUS (Afterthought) at once took the beautiful creature to be his bride. After the wedding, Pandora opened the sacred vase, sometimes called Pandora’s Box, and released upon the world all the ailments that it contained. Only Hope remained inside the vase, and it was Hope who enabled humankind to go on living despite all adversity.

Some legends say that Zeus released Pandora upon the Earth because he was angry with Pro-metheus, champion of humankind. Pandora was to be humankind’s punishment for having learned the use of fire from Prometheus.

“Pandora’s Box” has come to mean a gift or opportunity that at first seems valuable but turns out to be a source of troubles.

PANTHEoN Greek and Roman In mythology, pantheon refers to all the gods of a people, particularly those considered to be the most prominent or most powerful. The Romans used different names for many of the Greek OLYMPIAN GODS whose cults they brought to Italy, but the stories of the gods and goddesses, as told by the poets and historians, are very similar.

Greek gods/                Roman gods/

goddesses                  goddesses

ZEUS                                                        JUPITER

HERA                                                      JUNO

APOLLO                                                APOLLO

ARES                                                       MARS

ARTEMIS                           DIANA

APHRODITE                                     VENUS

POSEIDON                         NEPTUNE

HERMES                                              MERCURY

that day, Hera and Artemis became enemies of Paris and of Troy.

PARNAssus Greek A mountain in south-central GREECE, a few miles north of the Gulf of CORINTH which separates mainland Greece from the PELOPON-NESUS. At the foot of the mountain stands DELPHI, the shrine sacred to APOLLO, whose seer, the PYTHON, was renowned throughout the ancient world. Mount Par-nassus was sacred to Apollo, DIONYSUS, and the nine MUSES. Bacchanalian rites took place in its caves and gorges, where, it was said, people could hear the pipes of PAN. On the slopes of Mount Parnassus the Ark landed after the flood in the myth of DEUCALION.

PAsiPHAË Greek Daughter of HELIOS (the Sun); wife of MINOS, king of CRETE; mother with Minos of ARIADNE, ANDROGEUS, and PHAEDRA. From her strange union with a BULL, Pasiphaë brought forth the MINOTAUR, a monster that was half human half bull.

PATRocLus Greek The close friend of the hero ACHILLES. When Achilles withdrew from the TROJAN WAR, Patroclus assumed command of the MYRMI-DONS, the troops of Achilles. HECTOR killed Patroclus in battle. Determined to avenge the death of his

friend, Achilles went back into the war, killed Hector, and dragged his body around the tomb of Patroclus.

PAX (Peace) Roman The divinity who repre-sented peace. Her feast day was January 3. While Pax was often called upon during civil wars, historical evidence suggests that people worshiped her far more after Augustus became the first emperor of ROME in 27 B.C. He built a temple to Pax in 13 B.C. on the Campus Martius, a large, flat open space between the Capitoline and Quirinal hills in the center of Rome. In A.D. 75, Emperor Vespasian dedicated a temple to her in the Roman Forum. Pax was shown carrying a CADUCEUS or wing-topped staff, a horn of plenty, or an olive branch. The Greeks knew her as EIRENE.

PEGAsus Greek The famous winged horse of Greek mythology. He was born from the blood of the GORGON MEDUSA, when the hero PERSEUS cut off her head. Pegasus carried Perseus to the rescue of ANDROMEDA. He carried BELLEROPHON to the triumphant fight with the monster CHIMERA. When Bellerophon decided to ride his magical steed up to the home of the gods, OLYMPUS, the god ZEUS sent down a gadfly to annoy Pegasus, who threw off his master. Bellerophon fell to Earth. Pegasus went

Mercury rides the great horse Pegasus (left) and the Fame of France’s King Louis XIV (right) rides the mythi-cal winged horse in this pair of marble statues carved by sculptor Antoine Coysevox in 1701-02. The pair was designed for the king’s stables and then moved to the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. Replicas of the statues replaced them in the Tuileries in 1986 when the originals were moved to the Louvre. (Photographs by Marie-Lan Nguyen)

on to Olympus, where he helped Zeus launch his thunderbolts.

Legend said that Pegasus brought forth the fountain of Hippocrene on Mount HELIcON with a stroke of his hoof.

Winged animals were common in Near Eastern mythology.

PELEUS Greek Son of King Aecus; brother of TELAMON; husband of THETIS; father, with Thetis, of the hero AcHILLES.

Peleus and Telamon murdered their younger half-brother, Phocus, the king’s favorite. Peleus fled from the kingdom of AEGINA to Phthia. There, he acciden-tally killed the king’s son in the CALYDONIAN BOAR HuNT and had to flee once again. He came to IOLcuS in THESSALY, but bad luck followed him. There, the wife of King Acatus, Astydameia, fell in love with Peleus. When Peleus spurned her love, she accused him before the king of molesting her. King Acatus took Peleus hunting on Mount PELION. He stole Peleus’s sword while the young man slept and left him to die on the mountain, which was famous for its savage CENTAuRS. However, CHIRON, their wise leader, took pity on Peleus. Chiron found his sword for him and sent Peleus back to Iolcus, where Peleus killed the treacherous Astydameia.

Eventually Peleus married Thetis, a sea NYMPH. All the gods attended their wedding, for Thetis was a favorite of ZEuS. However, the couple neglected to invite ERIS, the goddess of strife, and this oversight was one of the causes of the TROJAN WAR, in which Achilles, son of Thetis and Peleus, was a leading figure and hero. (See also The Judgment of Paris, under PARIS.)

PELIAS Greek Son of Tyro, a half brother of AESON, from whom Pelias stole the throne of IOLcuS, in THES-SALY. When his nephew, JASON, son of Aeson, reached manhood and demanded his share of the kingdom, Pelias sent him on what was thought to be a hopeless quest—to find and bring back the GOLDEN FLEEcE. Jason returned, triumphant, bringing with him MEDEA, the sorceress-queen. Meanwhile, Pelias had put Aeson to death. To avenge his father, Jason urged Medea to use her magic powers. Medea persuaded the daughters of the aging Pelias to slay their father and cook him in a stew, promising that he would arise, rejuvenated. Of course, Pelias did not survive. Acastus succeeded his father as king.

PELION Greek A mountain in the north of THES-SALY, connected with Mount Ossa on the northwest.

In Greek mythology, the giant brothers Ephialtes and Otus, known as the ALOEIDS, “piled Pelion upon Ossa” in an attempt to reach the heavens (OLYMPuS). The phrase has come to mean adding difficulty upon difficulty. Mount Pelion was the home of CHIRON, the gentle CENTAuR.

PELOPONNESUS (pElOpONNEsE) Greek The peninsula that lies south of the Greek mainland, con-nected to the mainland by the Isthmus of CORINTH. It is named after PELOPS, in Greek mythology the son of TANTALuS and the founder of the Atreid dynasty. In the ancient world, the chief divisions of the Peloponnesus were Elis, Achaea, ARGOS, and Corinth in the north; and LAcONIA and Messenia in the south. SPARTA, Corinth, Argos, and Megalopolis were the chief cities.

PELOPS Greek Son of DIONE and TANTALuS; brother of NIOSE. He married HIPPODAMEIA and became the father of ATREuS AND THYESTES.

Pelops’s first appearance in mythology was an unfortunate one. He was served up in a stew made by his wicked father to test the gods. All the gods and goddesses realized what was happening, except for DEMETER, who was distracted with grief from losing her daughter, PERSEPHONE. Demeter ate a shoulder of the infant, but it was later restored when the gods brought the child back to life. The gods had to remake the missing shoulder from ivory.

Though Pelops became the rich and successful king of Pisa in Elis, he and his descendants were forever followed by the dreadful curse of the chari-oteer MYRTILuS. Pelops’s descendants were called the ATREIDS after his son, Atreus.

Pelops and the Charioteer When Pelops, son of the wicked Tantalus, grew up, he set off to look for a kingdom of his own. On his way he met the sea god, POSEIDON, who befriended the youth and presented him with a fine chariot and a marvelous team of horses. These gifts led Pelops to challenge OENOMAuS, king of Pisa in Elis, in a chariot race.

King Oenomaus had a passion not only for fine horses, but for his daughter, Hippodameia. Whenever a suitor asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage, Oenomaus challenged him to a chariot race, which the suitor invariably lost. The penalty for losing the race was death. By the time Pelops arrived on the scene, 13 suitors of Hippodameia had died. Their heads were hung around the gates of the palace of Oenomaus.

Pelops bribed the king’s charioteer, Myrtilus, asking him to loosen the wheels of Oenomaus’s chariot. (The king always drove his own chariot in the competitions for his daughter’s hand.) This Myrtilus did, on the condition that Pelops would allow him to spend one night with Hippodaemia, whom he loved.

Pelops won the race, Oenomaus was killed, and then Pelops killed Myrtilus. With his dying breath, the charioteer cursed Pelops and all his descendants. The curse took hold, for Myrtilus was the son of the god HERMES, and the gods knew how to make curses work. (See also AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS, the descendants of Atreus and grandchildren of Pelops.)

PENATES Roman Each household had two Pena-tes, spirits or gods who protected the family storeroom. These were family gods, honored at dinnertime when people gave part of every meal to them, pushing part of the dinner—not merely the leftovers—into the family fire. Guarding the pantry was a critical job in the early Roman agricultural society, and people worshiped their Penates in private, often around the hearth where they cooked their food. While the Penates watched over the food supply, the LARES watched over the general well-being of the house.

PENELOPE Greek The daughter of ICARIUS and Periboea; the wife of the hero ODYSSEUS; mother of TELEMACHUS. During the long absence of Odysseus during the TROJAN WAR and his long voyage home to Ithaca (see oDyssEy) many men saw Penelope as a wealthy and desirable widow. Suitors overwhelmed the palace and Penelope was obliged to entertain them at great cost. Penelope held them off by claiming that she had to finish weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, LAERTES, before she could choose a husband. She wove all day and secretly undid her work by night. Her secret was disclosed by one of her servants, but Odys-seus arrived in time to kill the suitors and reclaim his bride. Penelope’s name has come to personify wifely virtues such as patience and faithfulness.

PENTHESILEA Greek AMAzON queen who led her female warriors to TROY to help the Trojans in the TROJAN WAR. Penthesilea fought bravely against ACHILLES, the Greek hero. It is said that she was so brave and beautiful that Achilles fell in love with her even as he killed her. King PRIAM of Troy gave her a magnificent funeral.

In some accounts Penthesilea inadvertently killed her sister, HIPPOLYTA, and was forever after pursued by the FURIES.

PERSEPHONE (KOBE) Greek Daughter of DEME-TER and ZEUS; called PROSERPINA by the Romans.

Persephone was stolen from her mother by HADES, god of the UNDERwORLD (1). Demeter went mad with grief and caused drought and famine on Earth while she searched in vain for her daughter. At last, Zeus sent HERMES to bring Persephone back to her mother, but Persephone was obliged to spend one-third of the year underground. Persephone personified the corn seed that lies underground in winter and springs up in the warm months.

Persephone is considered by many scholars to be the same person as Demeter. Ancient Greek artists pictured them as being identical.

PERSES (Destroyer) Greek A little-known second-generation TITAN, the son of CRIUS and EURYSIA. He married the Titaness ASTERIA, and together they were the parents of the goddess HECATE.

Perses was considered by some ancient Greek writers to be a god of wisdom and by others a god of war, as was his brother PALLAS. Perses was credited with laying waste to battlefields. A different Perses was the son of PERSEUS.

PERSEUS Greek Son of the god ZEUS and DANAE; husband of ANDROMEDA; father of PERSES; slayer of the GORGON MEDUSA. After many exploits, Perseus may have become king of ARGOS, but legends differ about what actually happened. Some say that Perseus, Andromeda, and their son, Perses, went to Asia and founded the land of Persia; others say that Perseus accepted the throne of TIRYNS and founded the city of MYCENAE.

The Childhood of Perseus Danae, daughter of King Acrisius of Argos was mother of Perseus. An ORACLE had predicted that Acrisius would die at the hands of a son of Danae. Acrisius locked Danae in a bronze tower or chamber. The great god Zeus entered the tower and covered Danae with a shower of gold, after which she bore the son that she named Perseus. Acrisius put mother and son into a wooden chest and cast them upon the sea, hoping thus to avoid the fate the oracle had foreseen.

The fisherman DICTYS spotted the chest and rescued the pair. He took them to the court of King POLYDECTES on the island of SERIPHOS.

Some years later Polydectes fell in love with Danae and wanted to marry her. Perseus, now a robust young warrior, knew that his mother did not want the attentions of the king. To get the young man out of the way, Polydectes contrived to send him on a dangerous and impossible quest. Polydectes asked Perseus to bring back the head of Medusa.

Perseus and Medusa Perseus and his mother had been cast away from Argos by King Acrisius, the father of Danae. They found shelter at the court of King Polydectes on the island of Seriphos. When Perseus became a young man, Polydectes sent him on a quest: to bring back the head of Medusa, the sight of whom turned men to stone.

Fortunately, Perseus had allies among the gods. ATHENE, who had turned Medusa from a beautiful maiden into a hideous monster with snakes for hair, still hated Medusa for defiling one of her temples. Athene warned Perseus never to look directly at Medusa lest he be turned to stone, and gave him a burnished shield to use as a mirror. HERMES gave him a sickle, a leather bag in which to carry the severed head, and a pair of winged sandals so that he could fly. Hermes also told Perseus where to find the GRAEA and how to borrow the helmet of HADES, which would allow him to become invisible.

The Graea (Gray Women) were the sisters of the Gorgons. They had only one eye and one tooth among the three of them, which they used in turn. Perseus snatched away the eye and gave it back only when the Graea told him where to find Medusa.

Now well protected by the weapons of the gods, Perseus slew Medusa and cut off her head, which he carefully stowed in his leather bag. From the blood of Medusa sprang Chrysaor and the winged horse, PEGASUS, children of Medusa and the sea god, POSEIDON.

Perseus and Andromeda With Medusa’s head in his leather bag, Perseus set off on his winged san-dals to take the head to King Polydectes of Seriphos.

As he flew along the coast, he saw a beautiful woman chained to a rock, weeping. She was Andromeda, daughter of King CEPHEUS of ETHIOPIA, in northeast Africa, and of CASSIOPEIA. Perseus saved Andromeda from being devoured by a sea monster. He uncovered the head of Medusa and turned the monster to stone.

Perseus and Andromeda fell in love and decided to marry. At the wedding feast, Perseus defeated another suitor of Andromeda, PHINEUS, by using the Gorgon’s head to turn Phineus and his soldiers into an army of stone.

God/Goddess              Gender                  Area of influence

Domiducus                                   M                              Bringer of the bride to the husband’s household

Cinxia                                            F                               Marriage; bride’s attire

CONCORDIA                              F                               Marital harmony

Viriplaca                                        F                               Restored harmony between married people

Mena                                             F                               Menstruation

Alemonia                                      F                               Children in the womb

Vitumnus                                      M                              Gave life to the child in the womb

Pilumnus                                       M                              Proper growth of child in the womb

Partula                                           F                               Length of pregnancy

Candelifera                                   F                               Childbirth

CARMENTA                                F                               Childbirth and midwives

Deverra                                          F                               Women in labor and midwives

LUCINA                                        F                               Childbirth, particularly easing pain

Porrima                                          F                               Birth of children who came from the womb head first

Postverta                                       F                               Birth of children who came from the womb feet first

Orbona                                          F                               Orphans; brought children to childless couples

Cuba                                              F                               Infants, particularly in cribs and as they fall asleep

Levana                                          F                               Infants, particularly the father’s acceptance of the child

Cunina                                           F                               Guarded the cradle

Nundina                                        F                               Naming of children, which took place on ninth day of life

Rumina (Rumilla)                       F                               Breastfeeding mothers and infants

Volumna                                       F                               Nursery

Statanus (Statinus)                      F                               Child’s first attempt to stand

Fabulinus                                      M                              Taught children to speak

Sentia                                             F                               Child’s mental development

Edusa (Edula)                              F                               Children learning to eat solids

Potina                                            F                               Children’s drinks

CARDEA                                      F                               Protected children from vampires and witches

Abeona                                          F                               Children leaving home

Domiduca                                     F                               Children on their way to their parents’ home

ANGERONA                                F                               Keeping secrets

Angita                                            F                               Healing through magic

FEBRIS                                         F                               Protection from fevers and malaria

Viduus                                           M                              Separated the soul from the body after death

LIBITINA                                     F                               Corpses and funerals

Naenia                                           F                               Songs of lamentation, particularly at funerals

Many of these personal gods had only one function in protecting the person. Some, such as CONCORDIA, developed broader roles and took on functions across Roman culture. Below is a partial list of some of these gods and goddesses who reigned over the stages of life, including illness.

Another group of divine beings influences the emotions and the thought process, keeping them in balance and helping those whose lives were in turmoil. Among the gods and goddess of the emotions and the abstrac­tions of life were:

God/Goddess              Gender                  Area of influence

Abundantia                                  F                               Good luck, fortune

Clementia                                     F                               Forgiveness, mercy

Disciplina                                      F                               Discipline

HONOS                                         M                              Honor, chivalry

The belief in gods and goddesses with distinct functions in life permeated all aspects of the lives of early Roman citizens. In addition to personal gods, there were HOUSEHOLD GODS who cared for the hearth and the threshold, AGRIcULTURAL GODS, who watched over the details of the crops, and STATE GODS, who influenced a person’s relationship to Rome itself.

See also INDIGETES.

pHAEDRA Greek Daughter of MINOS of CRETE and of PASIPHAË; sister of ARIADNE and ANDROGEUS;

wife of THESEUS, king of ATHENS. The love goddess APHRODITE caused Phaedra to fall in love with her chaste young stepson, HIPPOLYTUS. The youth fled from her in horror and Phaedra killed herself, leaving a letter to her husband accusing Hippolytus of trying to violate her. Theseus then caused the death of his son. This episode, where Theseus lost both his wife and his son, seemed to mark the end of his heroic life.

pHAEToN Greek Son of HELIOS, the sun god, and the NYMPH CLYMENE. The companions of Pha‑

Phaeton (in blue) asks his father Helios, god of the Sun, if he may drive the Sun’s chariot across the sky. Saturn (wings) is in attendance, as are the four seasons. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) painted this scene. It is now in the National Museum of Berlin.

eton would not believe that he was the son of Helios. Phaeton went to his father and demanded that he be allowed to drive the Sun’s chariot across the skies. With great misgivings, Helios agreed. Young Phaeton could not control the high-spirited horses and plunged the chariot to Earth, causing the devastation of the land now called LIBYA, in North Africa. ZEUS hurled a thunderbolt at Phaeton to stop the destruction. Phaeton instantly turned into a swan and lived out his life on the legendary river Eridanus, surrounded by his sisters, the Heliades, who had been transformed into weeping willow trees forever mourning the death of their brother.

The most complete version of this story is told by the Roman poet OvID in Metamorphoses.

PHILOCTETES Greek The most famous archer in the TROJAN WAR. The hero HERACLES had bequeathed his poisoned arrows to the archer. On the voyage to TROY, Philoctetes was bitten by a venomous snake or, some say, wounded by one of the poisoned arrows and left on the island of Lemnos to die. But it had been prophesied by an ORACLE that Troy could not be taken without Philoctetes. In the 10th year of the siege of Troy, ODYSSEUS sent for Philoctetes. Philoctetes was brought to Troy, where his arrows slew PARIS, and Troy thereafter fell to the Greeks.

PHINEUS Greek Brother of CEPHEUS, the king of ETHIOPIA; uncle of ANDROMEDA, whom he wished to marry. The hero PERSEUS rescued Andromeda and claimed her as his bride. Phineus and his soldiers appeared at the wedding feast but were transformed into stone by the sight of the head of the GORGON MEDUSA, wielded by Perseus.

PHOEBE (Bright) Greek A TITAN, one of the daughters of URANUS and GAIA. Phoebe was the wife of COEUS, also a Titan, and the mother of LETO and ASTERIA. Her name, which means “bright” or “shining,” was sometimes given to the Moon and was associated with ARTEMIS and DIANA.

PHOENICIA (Purple) Greek An ancient kingdom on the eastern Mediterranean, in the region of modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. Phoenicia was a major trade center of the ancient world. In HOMER and in the Old Testament, its people were known as Canaanites. In the ninth century B.C., the Greeks gave the name Phoenician to those Canaanites who lived on the seacoast and traded with the Greeks. It is said that

the name came from PHOENIX, brother of CADMUS, CILIX and EUROPA.

The Phoenicians were famous as traders, naviga-tors, and artisans. They obtained a purple dye, “Tyre purple,” from shellfish. However, their greatest contribution to Western civilization is thought to be the alphabet, an idea later adopted by the Greeks. The use of symbols for sounds in place of more cumbersome cuneiform and hieroglyphic images was a tremendous advance to learning.

Tyre was the best-known seaport of Phoenicia, lying between Sidon to the north and Acre to the south.

PHOENIX Greek Son of AGENOR brother of CAD-MUS, CILIX, and EUROPA. After ZEUS stole Europa, King Agenor sent his three sons to search for her. The brothers could not find her, and not daring to return to the king, they settled down elsewhere. Some accounts say that Phoenix traveled westward, beyond LIBYA, to what is now CARTHAGE, in North Africa. After Agenor’s death Phoenix returned to Canaan, since renamed PHOENICIA in his honor.

PHORCYS (pHORCus; Old man of the sea) Greek An ancient sea god; son of GAIA and PONTUS; husband to his sister CETO.

Phorcys and Ceto lived together in the sea, most likely the distant western sea at the edge of the world. They were the parents of the following: the GORGONS, three monstrous women; the GRAEA, two or three sisters who were the gray foam of the sea; and, some sources say, the three sisters known as the HESPERIDES and the dragon LADON, all of whom guarded the golden apples of HERA.

Phorcys was also the father of the NYMPH Thoosa, one of the NEREIDS, and of Scylla, a monster with the body of a woman but with six long necks growing from her waist each ending in the head of a dog. (See SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS.)

Some sources say the Phorcys and NEREUS were brothers, while others say they were different names for the same god.

PHRIXUS Greek Son of ATHAMAS and NEPHELE; brother of HELLE. His stepmother, INO, demanded that Phrixus be sacrificed to the corn goddess to ensure good crops. Phrixus and his sister, Helle, escaped on the back of the winged ram that had a fleece of gold. When Phrixus reached Colchis, he sacrificed the ram to the god ZEUS and gave the fleece to AEETES, king of Colchis. The flight of Phrixus and Helle on the

winged ram was important in the myth of the GOLDEN FLEECE (see Jason and the Argonauts, under JASON).

PHRYGIA Greek An ancient region of central ASIA MINOR (now central Turkey). The goddess CYBELE was worshiped there (as well as, later, in GREECE and ROME). With Gordius, legendary king of Phrygia, Cybele bore a son, MIDAS, who became king of Phrygia after Gordius.

PICUS (Woodpecker) Roman An ancient Ital-ian god of the wild country, perhaps a SATYR. In this very early mythology, Picus was said to be the son of a laborer whose name meant “dung heap.” He had the power to see into the future and to change his shape. He often chose to be a wood-pecker, an animal sacred to the god MARS. Picus, the woodpecker, was believed to have helped the she-wolf protect the infants ROMULUS AND REMUS, who would start the city of ROME, after they were abandoned in the wild.

Over time, the myths surrounding Picus changed. Eventually, he evolved into an early legendary king of LATIUM. In this role he was the son of King Saturnus, who would be deified as the god SATURN; father of the FAUNUS, another ancient god whose story evolved in a way to give him human ancestry; and grandfather of LATINUS, king of Latium when AENEAS arrived from TROY.

In this version of his story, Picus was a great warrior with the power to see into the future, a gift that helped him in battle. He used his skills to his advantage. He kept as a pet a green woodpecker, for woodpeckers also had the gift of prophecy. Eventually, the king fell victim to jealousy. Though Picus was married to the NYMPH Canens, he loved the goddess POMONA, but the goddess CIRCE also fell in love with Picus. When he did not return her love, Circe, in a fit of rage, turned Picus into a woodpecker.

PINDAR (518–438 b.c.) Greek The great lyric poet of ancient GREECE. He was born near THEBES into a dis-tinguished family. When he was 20 years old, another noble family commissioned Pindar to write a poem in honor of one of their sons, who won the footrace at the PYTHIAN GAMES held at DELPHI. Pindar’s fame dates from then. He was asked to write more poems to cel-ebrate similar events. In all of them, he alluded to the mythology of Greece and is therefore a most valuable source of knowledge of the ancient religion.

PIRITHOÜS Greek Son of ZEUS and Dia, the wife of IXION; king of the LAPITHS, a mythical people inhabiting the mountains of THESSALY; friend of the hero THESEUS. Pirithoüs married HIPPODAMEIA. At the wedding feast, to which the CENTAURS had been invited, a great fight broke out between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, wild creatures that were half man and half horse. The Lapiths and Theseus, who was among the guests, defeated the centaurs and drove them from their home on Mount PELION.

Theseus accompanied Pirithoüs to the UNDER-WORLD (1), where the two attempted to steal away PERSEPHONE, the reluctant bride of HADES, god of the underworld. Hades trapped both Theseus and Pirithoüs in deep chairs from which they could not arise. HERACLES rescued Theseus, but Pirithoüs was trapped in his chair for all eternity.

PLEIADES (Sailing Ones) Greek Seven daughters of ATLAS and PLEIONE, one of the OCEANIDS; sisters of the Hyades. Their names were Alcyone, Asterope, Celaene, ELECTRA, MAIA (1), MEROPE, and TAYGETE. They were placed among the stars to save them from being pursued by ORION. They are sometimes called “the Seven Sisters.”

Astronomically, the Pleiades is a cluster of stars easily seen in the Taurus constellation. One of the stars is invisible to the naked eye. Some say that the “Lost Pleiad” is Merope, who married a mortal and hides herself in shame. Others say that the lost star is Electra, who fades away from grief at the fall of TROY.

The ancients believed that when they could see the cluster of stars (“the Sailing Ones”) the weather was auspicious for sailing.

PLEIONE Greek Daughter of the TITANS OCEANUS and TETHYS; a NYMPH, one of the eldest among the thousands of daughters born of this union who were themselves considered by many writers to be Titans. Pleione and her sisters were guardians of bodies of water. She was the consort of ATLAS and with him the mother of the PLEIADES.

Pleione means “to increase in number.” Some scholars think she may have been a nymph of flocks and herds. Her grandson, HERMES, one of the OLYM-PIAN GODS, was the god of animal husbandry.

PLUTO Greek and Roman A name used to refer to the god of the UNDERWORLD. Pluto was a euphe-mism, a substitute name, for this much-feared god. In GREECE, Pluto referred to HADES. In ROME, after Greek mythology came to strongly influence its

religions, people used Pluto to refer to DIS or ORCUS. People developed this alternative name to protect themselves from this dangerous god who was not eas-ily influenced by the actions or offerings of humans.

In Roman mythology, Pluto was the son of SATURN and brother to JUPITER, JUNO, NEPTUNE, and VESTA.

PLUTUS Greek Son of DEMETER and IASION, son of ZEUS and ELECTRA (2); god of wealth and of the Earth’s abundant harvests. (He is not to be confused with PLUTO, god of the UNDERWORLD.) Plutus was believed to be blind because he distributed wealth to good and bad alike. Plutus appears in HESIOD’s Theogony, Aristophanes’ Plutus, and the Divine Comedy of Italian poet Dante (1265–1321).

POLYDECTES Greek King of the island of SERI-PHOS, protector of DANAE and her son, PERSEUS. Polydectes sent Perseus on a dangerous mission, asking him to bring back the head of the GORGON MEDUSA, which turned men to stone. While Perseus was away, Polydectes pursued Danae, trying to win her love. Danae was protected by DICTYS, who was possibly the brother of Polydectes. Perseus returned with the head of Medusa and turned Polydectes into stone. Dictys then became king of Seriphos.

POLYPHEMUS Greek The savage, one-eyed giant of HOMER’s ODYSSEY. Polyphemus entraps the hero, ODYSSEUS, and his companions, and devours six of them. Odysseus blinds Polyphemus’s one eye and with great cunning escapes. Homer’s Polyphemus is identified with the CYCLOPES, who were supposed to have one eye in the middle of their foreheads and live on the island of Sicily. Polyphemus appears also in VIRGIL’s AENEID as a threat to the hero AENEAS and his crew.

POMONA Roman The young, beautiful Roman goddess of fruit trees and fruit. Her Latin name means “fruit” or “apple.” Little is known of Pomona. She is considered one of the lesser goddesses, but she did have her own priests who were responsible only for her care and worship. Romans also dedicated to her a sacred grove that lay 12 miles outside of the city.

In Metamorphoses, the Roman poet OVID told the story of how VERTUMNUS, the ancient Roman god of fruit and fruit trees, fell in love with Pomona. Though she resisted his courting, Vertumnus disguised himself as a harvester and then as an old woman and finally won this goddess’s love.

of AmPHITRITE. The Romans identified Poseidon with NEPTuNE, an Italian water god.

Although Poseidon is best known as a sea god, in ancient times among migrating people he had been a god of fertility and of herdsmen. His emblem, the trident, was a symbol for the thunderbolt, which would make Poseidon a sky god of very ancient times. Some legends say that Poseidon could cause earthquakes.

Like all of his siblings except Zeus, Poseidon was swallowed by his father, Cronus, and then, thanks to Zeus, later disgorged unharmed. In other legends, to save Poseidon, Rhea hid him in a flock of lambs near Mantinea, in ARcADIA, in the care of a nurse named Arne. In yet another story, Rhea put Poseidon in the care of Capheira, a daughter of OcEANus, who brought up the child in RHODEs.

Poseidon and Amphitrite Amphitrite, a NEREID (sea NymPH), was wooed and won for Poseidon, god of the sea, by Delphinus. In gratitude, Poseidon set the image of Delphinus among the stars as the Dolphin.

Amphitrite bore Poseidon three children: TRI­TON, Rhode, and Benthescyme. They lived in an underwater cave in Eubol, off Aegae. In its spacious stables, Poseidon kept white chariot horses with golden manes. Some people call large, white-capped waves “white horses” in memory of Poseidon’s horses.

Poseidon and Athene Poseidon was greedy for earthly kingdoms. He tried to claim the city of ATHENs from the goddess ATHENE, saying that he could do more good for the city than she could. The two appeared before a court of gods and goddesses. Poseidon struck his trident into a rock, and water immediately gushed forth, but it was seawater, salty and therefore not very useful. Athene planted the first olive tree, which gave fruit, oil, and wood. The court decreed that Athene’s gift was the more beneficial and that she thus had more right to the land. The olive branch became a symbol of peace.

Poseidon and Horses Poseidon created the horse, according to some ancient writers, with a blow of his trident. He also invented the bridle, which

The ruins of the temple to Poseidon, built around 440 B.C., still stand overlooking the sea on the Cape of Sounion, 67 kilometers (about 42 miles) south-southeast of Athens. (Photograph by Frank van Mierlo. Used under a Creative Commons License.)

controls a horse. He probably started horse racing too. The horse was sacred to Poseidon. One myth has it that Poseidon changed himself into a horse to capture the love of the goddess Demeter, who had at one time transformed herself into a mare.

PRIAM Greek King of TROY during the TROJAN WAR, though too old to take an active part in the war. He was the son of LAOMEDON and, some say, the father of 50 children, some of them with his second wife, HECUSA. Among them were the Trojan heroes HECTOR and PARIS and the prophetess CASSANDRA.

The death of Hector and the lack of respect paid to his body were severe blows to King Priam. Alone, he went to the Achaean (Greek) camp to bargain with the hero ACHILLES for his son’s body. There, NEOPTOLEMUS, one of Achilles’ sons, killed Priam.

PRIAPUS Greek An ancient god of fertility, pro-tector of herds, bees, fish, and the vine. Priapus was a latecomer to Greek mythology. In most accounts, Priapus was the son of DIONYSUS and APHRODITE. In others, his mother was CHIONE and his father Diony-sus, ADONIS, HERMES, or PAN. Though his parentage may be in doubt, it is certain that Priapus was associ-ated with the ancient Greek worship of Dionysus, the wine god. Many scholars think that Priapus was another name for Pan, an ancient pastoral deity.

PROMETHEUS (Forethought) Greek One of the TITANS, descended from the EARTH MOTHER (GAIA) and the Sky Father (URANUS); son of IAPETUS and one of the daughters of OCEANUS, possibly CLYMENE; brother of ATLAS and EPIMETHEUS; father of DEUC-ALION.

Prometheus was a remarkable figure in Greek mythology. Some stories say that he was the creator of man. He was certainly the main champion of human-kind, bringing the gift of fire and teaching people how to use it. He also taught humans astronomy, medicine, navigation, metalworking, architecture, and writing.

ZEUS grew angry with Prometheus for stealing fire and giving it to people. He had Prometheus chained to a rock on Mount Caucasus, where an eagle or a vulture plucked at his liver all day. Prometheus healed every night, so that his suffering seemed destined to go on for all eternity. HERACLES eventually rescued Prometheus, and CHIRON, the CENTAUR gave his own immortality to Prometheus.

To revenge himself on humankind, Zeus sent PANDORA into the world and with her all the troubles and sicknesses of humankind.

then conferred his own immortality upon Prometheus, so that he would die but Prometheus would live.

As well as being punished for bringing fire to men, Zeus held Prometheus captive because he knew a secret to which Zeus wanted an answer: The sea nymph THETIS was soon to bear a child that would be greater than its father. The father could be either Zeus or POSEIDON; the child could cause chaos among the Olympian Gods. Prometheus would not reveal his secret as long as he was held captive.

Prometheus and Pandora Prometheus was a cause of great anger to Zeus. Prometheus had tricked Zeus in the matter of sacrifices made by humans and he had eventually escaped from the terrible torture inflicted by Zeus as punishment. Zeus decided that humankind must be punished for having received the forbidden gift of fire.

Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the smith-god, to make a woman out of clay. The gods breathed life into her and made her irresistibly beautiful. She was named Pandora (All-giving) and sent to Earth, bearing a sealed vase, of which she was forbidden to know the contents. In spite of warnings from Prometheus, Epimetheus, his brother, immediately took Pandora to be his wife. Then Pandora opened the vase, sometimes called Pandora’s Box, and every disaster that humans were ever to know was released upon the world. Only Hope remained in the vase, giving humankind the will to go on living.

PROSERPINA Roman Queen of the UNDER-wORLD (2) and the consort or wife of Dis, the Roman god of the underworld. The Romans believed Proserpina had power over growing plants and hon-ored her as a springtime goddess. Proserpina was an ancient goddess of Italian origins. The people of ROME honored her and Dis in games held about every 100 years.

Some scholars see Proserpina as the simple trans­lation of the name PERSEPHONE, a Greek goddess, daughter of DEMETER and ZEUS, whom HADES, the Greek god of the underworld, abducted to become his wife. Other scholars identify Proserpina with the ancient Greek goddess HECATE, who, in some stories, becomes Persephone’s companion in the underworld.

PROTESILAUS Greek A hero from Thessaly, son of IPHICLES; husband of Laodamia. Protesilaus was the first of the Greeks to spring ashore at Troy (see TROJAN WAR) and the first to die. Laodamia begged

the gods to allow Protesilaus to return to Earth so that they might spend three more hours together. The gods granted her wish and the lovers were reunited. Then Laodamia committed suicide and went to the UNDERwORLD with her husband.

PROTEUS Greek A minor but ancient sea god who served POSEIDON. Proteus had enormous knowledge and the ability to change his shape at will if he did not want to stay around to answer questions. When finally cornered, he advised MENELAUS, whose ship was becalmed off the coast of Egypt, that to escape he should pay proper honor to the god ZEUS. Menelaus listened to the advice of the sea god and was eventu-ally able to sail home to SPARTA.

In another story, ARISTAEUS, the son of APOLLO, sought the advice of Proteus, who advised him to sacrifice cattle to the gods. Aristaeus did, and was rewarded by seeing swarms of bees emerging from the corpses of the slain cattle. (Aristaeus was an expert in the art of beekeeping.)

PSYCHE (Soul) Greek A mortal woman so beauti-ful that the goddess APHRODITE was jealous of her and ordered EROS to punish her.

PYGMAEI (pyGMiEs) Greek A mythological race of very short people, only 13.5 inches tall, found mostly in ancient Greek folklore but also mentioned often in the stories of the great gods. The pygmaei lived by a stream which most sources say was in Egypt, though others say it was in Thrace or India. They wore their hair very long and did not wear clothes. These farmers waged war against the cranes, sometimes called storks, that came each year in the late summer to eat the crops.

A beautiful woman was born among the pygmaei. Her name was Gerana or Oenoe. As she grew, Gerana became very vain and believed she was even more beautiful than HERA, queen of the OLYMPIAN GODS and the wife and sister of ZEUS. Hera finally realized that the only way to correct Gerana’s vanity was to punish her, and Hera turned the pygmaei woman into a crane. By that time, Gerana had a son and wanted desperately to be reunited with him. As a crane, she flew back to the pygmaeis but they rejected her and beat her off with sticks. In some versions, Gerana was a human woman who married a pygmaei.

The pygmaei also tried to capture HERACLES after he fell asleep in their lands while on his famous jour‑

neys. He awoke and laughed at their efforts, scooped up several pygmaei, and carried them off.

PYDMALiON Greek Son of Belus, a sculptor from Cyprus who despised women but adored the goddess APHRODITE. He made an ivory statue of her of such extraordinary beauty that he fell in love with it. As he embraced the statue, Aphrodite answered his prayers and made the statue come to life, giving it the name GALATEA (3). This story, from OvID’s Metamorphoses, enhances the legendary power of Aphrodite over all creation. It has been told many times, most famously in the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), the source of the musical My Fair Lady by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.

PYRRHA Greek Daughter of EPIMETHEUS; wife of DEUCALION. Together Pyrrha and Deucalion repeo-pled the Earth after the great rain sent by ZEUS.

PYTHiAN DAMES Greek A sacred rite enacted in ancient GREECE to honor the ancient serpent-monster, PYTHON, slain by the god APOLLO. It was one of the great Hellenic festivals celebrated in DELPHI, second only to the OLYMPIC GAMES in importance.

PYTHON Greek A female serpent born of the Earth. The goddess HERA sent Python to torment her rival LETO, one of the many loves of ZEUS, and the mother of APOLLO. The young Apollo slew the Python and bid the serpent to rot where it had fallen. The spot where this encounter took place was called Pytho, from the Greek word pytho, “to rot.” The name was later changed to DELPHI. The site became the most venerated shrine in ancient GREECE, sacred to Apollo. The Pythian Games were held every four years in honor of the ancient Python and were next in importance to the famous OLYMPIC GAMES.

AcheLoQUirinUS In Greek (QuiriniuS) myhology, Roman An ancient god, perhaps of warfare or of citizenship. The surviving information on Quirinus is confusing and sketchy. Roman historians and poets and modern scholars disagree over just what role he played in Roman society.

Quirinus was the third most important god in the PANTHEoN of early RoME, behind JUPITER and MARS. These three were honored together as a trio of the most powerful deities, though JUNo and MINERVA eventually replaced Quirinus and Mars. Much informa­tion remains about Jupiter and Mars, including their connection to Greek mythology, but Quirinus was not associated with a Greek counterpart. The details of his origin faded from popularity, and much has been lost.

AcheLous rhAdAmAnthus In Grek mythology, (RHADAMANTHys) Greek Son of EUROPA and the god ZEUS; brother of MINOS and SARPEDON. According to HOMER in the ODYSSEY, Rhadamanthus was the ruler of the Elysian Fields, where fortunate shades, or spirits, of mortals went after death. Later legends say that he was one of the judges of the UNDERWORLD (1).

rheA (Earth) Greek A TITAN, the mother of the great ruling gods of OLYMPUS. She was the daughter of GAIA and URANUS (Heaven); the sister-wife of CRONUS; and the mother of DEMETER, HADES, HERA, HESTIA, POSEIDON, and ZEUS.

The story of Rhea is a near-repetition of that of her mother Gaia. Her father, Uranus, jealous of Gaia’s children, had them confined under the Earth, but with Gaia’s help the bravest son, Cro-nus, overcame his father and banished him. When Cronus became the husband of his sister Rhea, they had many children, of whom Cronus was so jealous that he swallowed them. Rhea managed to save Zeus, who rescued his siblings and went to war with Cronus.

Rhea was identified with the EARTH MOTHER and goddess of fertility. Her cult was strongest in CRETE, which some say was the birthplace of Zeus. She was identified with CYSELE and also known as AGDISTIS. In Roman mythology she was identified with OPS, goddess of the harvest. Rhea, though a shadowy figure herself, was widely worshiped under various names as an Earth goddess.

rheA siLviA (iliA) Roman A VESTAL VIRGIN. Rhea Silvia was raped or loved by the god MARS, which resulted in her becoming the mother of ROMULUS AND REMUS, twin brothers who became the legendary founders of ROME. She was the daughter of King Numitor of ALSA LONGA a city in LATIUM, or according to some legends, the daughter of the hero

AENEAS, who was honored by people of Rome as the founder of their race.

Not knowing who had fathered the twins, Rhea Silvia’s uncle, King Amulius, who had taken the throne from his brother, Numitor, ordered that the children be taken from their mother at their birth and thrown in the Tiber River and left to die. One legend has it that Amulius imprisoned Rhea Silvia before the birth and kept her there after the birth. Another says that he tried to kill her by throwing her into the Tiber, too, but the god of that body of water rescued her and made her his wife. Meanwhile, a she-wolf found the babies and nursed them until a shepherd, FAUSTULUS, found them and raised them with his wife, AccA LARENTIA (1).

rhodes Greek The easternmost island of the Aegean Sea. In Greek mythology, it was the favored abode of the sun god HELIOS, whose wife was the NYMPH Rhodos. Their children were the first inhab-itants of Rhodes.

robigo And robigus Roman Two deities, a goddess and god, who watched over growing fields of wheat and grain and who, if not treated well, brought rust or mildew to crops. Robigo, which means blight or mildew in Latin, was female, and Robigus was male.

Each year, on April 25, the time when mildew most commonly attacked young plants, the Romans held the festival of the Robigalia. Worshipers, led by their priest, sacrificed a dog to Robigo and Robigus, preferably a rust red dog to symbolize the color of mildew on plants. Their ceremony was held five miles north of ROME, next to the city’s fields. Races and games followed the ceremony.

romA Roman A legendary figure who came to be worshiped as a goddess, Roma was the personification of the city of ROME. According to modern historians

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and archaeologists, she was first worshiped as a deity in about 195 B.C. when a popular cult to her devel-oped outside of the city and in GREECE, which was, by then, a part of the Roman Republic. Rome had become an important city in the lives of the people in these outlying areas, and they developed a worship of this goddess as an expression of that importance. Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, became associ-ated with Roma. After Augustus died in A.D. 14, people believed he became a god and worshiped him with Roma. In A.D. 118, Emperor Hadrian built a temple to Roma within the city.

The legends of Roma are much older than her worship as a goddess. According to some ancient sources, she was a Trojan prisoner of AENEAs who took her and other captives with him when he left TROY. After years of wandering the seas, Aeneas’s ship finally reached the western shores of Italy. The cap­tives were tired of the journey and Roma convinced them to set fire to the ship so Aeneas could not leave. Eventually, the community they created became so prosperous they named the city after her in thanks for her courage.

In other legends, Roma was sometimes named as the granddaughter of Aeneas, as the wife of his son, and even as his wife. She was also said to be the daughter of HERACLEs. Some say she was also the sister of LATINus, legendary king and founder of the Latin people.

Still another tradition says that Roma was the daughter of EvANDER, the legendary king who fled Greece and formed a community on the Palatine Hill before Romulus founded Rome. Evander, stories say, named the city that grew up around that hill and its six neighbors after his daughter.

ROME Roman A city on the Tiber River in west central Italy, which by the first millennium B.C., had grown into a major urban center and the seat of an empire that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea and reached as far north as the British Isles. Rome’s beginnings are hidden behind many myths and legends. According to the most common myth, Rome was founded by ROmuLus on April 21, an event cel-ebrated in ancient times by the festival of Parilia, the festival of PALEs. The year of that event is reported by some ancient sources as between 772 and 754 B.C. Other legends tell of the founding of the city by the descendants of AENEAs, the Greek hero who settled in central Italy after the end of the TROJAN WAR.

Archaeological evidence shows very early settle-ments built by farming people on or near the seven

Ruins of an ancient temple to Saturn (foreground) remain today in the Roman Forum, which stood between the Capitoline and Palatine hills. (Photograph by Marcok. Used under a Creative Commons License.)

Rome became a world power in the third and second centuries s.c., expanding its rule to North Africa, Spain, and the eastern Mediterranean. Rome’s conquests included Greece. In the Macedonian Wars of the third century s.c., Roman armies defeated the ruler of the northern portion of the Greek peninsula and then took over rule of the southern portion, home to the great Greek myths and the philosophical and cultural center of that part of the world.

Rome became an empire after the reign of Julius Caesar in the first century s.c. As the Romans spread their influence, they colonized many lands and built temples to their gods, as well as civic and cultural buildings, across the region. Temples to Jupiter, MINERvA, JUNO, and MARS stood on hills across the lands of the Mediterranean and western Europe. The ruins of many still stand today and provide evidence of the widespread influence of the Roman empire.

Today, Rome is the economic, cultural, and politi-cal center of Italy. Monuments to the ancient societ-ies stand amid modern buildings. Archaeologists