Minos and Scylla

Wishing to hide the Minotaur from the eyes of the world, Minos asked the renowned inventor, DAEDALUS, to construct a prison that no one could penetrate. The ingenious Daedalus designed the LABYRINTH, a tortu-ous maze. Once inside the labyrinth, no one could find a way out. Only Daedalus knew how to escape.

Minos made war on ATHENS, where his son, Andro-geus, was killed. The people of Athens were made to pay for this crime by sending an annual tribute of seven men and seven maids to Crete. It would fall to the hero THESEUS, with help from Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, to put an end to the Minotaur and the yearly sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Daedalus made his escape from Crete, where Minos had wished to hold him prisoner. Minos pursued him and eventually found him at the court of King Cocalus of Sicily, an island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy. Here the great King Minos died an undignified death in a bathtub of boiling water.

Minos and Scylla Scylla was the daughter of Nisus, the king of MEGARA (1) (southeastern Greek mainland). Nisus had a lock of hair that made him invulnerable and thus protected him and his city from enemies. Scylla fell in love with Minos, who was laying siege to the city. She cut off the magic lock of Nisus while he slept, thus enabling Minos to capture Megara. Minos had promised Scylla love in return for her deed but he despised her for her treachery to her father and reneged on his promise. He allowed Scylla to drown as she swam after his ship.

MINOTAUR Greek A mythical monster, half-human, half-BULL, the offspring of PASIPHAË and a bull. Pasiphaë was the wife of King MINOS of CRETE. Minos wanted to keep the Minotaur hidden from the world. He asked DAEDALUS, the great inventor, to design a hiding place that would remain forever secret. Daedalus designed the LABYRINTH, a maze so full of tortuous passages that no one who entered could find a way out. Here the Minotaur lived, feed-ing on the flesh of young men and girls sent to him as sacrifices from ATHENS. At last, the hero THESEUS, with the help of ARIADNE, found his way into the center of the labyrinth, where he slew the Minotaur and emerged to tell the tale.

MINTHE (MENTHE) Greek A NAIAD, or river NYMPH of the Cocytus, a river that flowed to the UNDERWORLD. She was beloved by HADES (or PLUTO). In jealous rage, the wife of Hades, PERSEPHONE (or perhaps her mother, DEMETER), stamped the nymph into the ground. Hades then transformed her into a fragrant herb, mint.

The legend of Minthe was probably the result of the use of herbs, especially mint, rosemary, and myrtle, to sweeten the air during funeral rites in ancient times.

MNEMOSYNE (Memory) Greek A TITAN, daughter of GAIA and URANUS; with ZEUS, mother of the MUSES.

MOIRAE (MOIRAI) Greek Greek spirits; personi-fication of fate and destiny in an individual’s life. Each person had his or her own Moirae. The spirits repre-sented a law of nature, a sense of determination. No mortal human could overcome their power. Even the gods could not break the ruling of the Moirae without seriously jeopardizing all of existence. In Roman mythology, these spirits were known as the PARcAE.

Eventually, the concept of a spirit ruling over life evolved from individual fate to influence all of humanity. After the time of HOMER in the ninth century B.c., the Moirae took on personalities and were seen as three daughters of ZEUS and THEMIS who regulated birth, life, and death.

MORIA (Folly) Greek The heroine of a story of overcoming death. Moria was a woman from LYDIA, a kingdom in ASIA MINOR. One day, as her brother, Tylus, was walking along a river bank, a snake bit him. Tylus died instantly. Moria, seeing the tragedy, called upon the powers of the giant Danasen, a son of GAIA, an ancient Greek EARTH MOTHER. The giant answered Moria’s plea. He pulled up a huge tree and crushed the snake with this club. The snake’s mate had been nearby and, seeing her mate dead, hurried away but quickly returned carrying an herb in her mouth. She put the herb in the dead snake’s mouth, he revived immediately, and both slithered away to safety. Moria hurried to where the female snake had plucked the herb, took some herself, and put it in the mouth of her dead brother. Tylus, too, revived immediately. The herb, some experts say, was known as balis.

MORS (Death) Roman The goddess or personi-fication of death. Little is known about this goddess, and scholars suspect that she was more an idea than a personality. The Greek equivalent was the god THANATOS.

MUSES Greek Originally deities of springs, later designated as goddesses of various human inspirations. In later mythologies, the Muses were the daughters of the god ZEUS and MNEMOSYNE (Memory).

The Muses sang and danced, led by the god APOLLO, at celebrations given by the gods and heroes. They were the personifications of the highest aspirations and intellectual minds and represented a remarkable and attractive conception in Greek mythology. Their separation into fields of inspiration was a Roman fancy of a later date. The word museum denotes a place of education and research, named after them.

The Muses and their various attributes are listed below.

CALLIOPE: Muse of epic poetry. She carried a sty‑

lus and tablet and sometimes a trumpet.

Clio: Muse of history. She carried a trumpet and

scrolls.

Erato: Muse of lyric poetry, or love poetry, and

hymns. She carried a lyre.

Euterpe: Muse of flute-playing.

Melpomene: Muse of tragedy. She carried the

mask of tragedy.

Polyhymnia: Muse of mime. She had a pensive

attitude.

Terpsichore: Muse of dance. She carried a lyre

and plectrum.

Thalia: Muse of comedy. She carried the smiling

mask and a shepherd’s crook.

Urania: Muse of astronomy. She carried a globe

and compass.

nAiAds AcheLous In (nAiAdes) Grek Greek mythogy, Nymphs of fresh bodies of water, such as springs, wells, brooks, streams, lakes, and marshes. One of the three clas-sifications of water nymphs. The others were the Oceanids, nymphs of the oceans, and the Nereids,

nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea. The Naiads were daughters of the Greek river gods.

Each Naiad presided over her own body of water and was worshiped for her ability to help and protect people with her water. The Naiads had the power of

prophecy, to be able to see into the future. Because of this, the Naiads were said to inspire people who drank from their fountains or streams. They were also the protectors of young girls as they became women.

Naiads were very popular with both gods and humans. Many had affairs with the Olympians. Many

Narcissus stares at his reflection in a pool of water in this painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). The painting hangs in the Palazzo Barberini in the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome.

NARCISSUS Greek The son of the river god Cephissus and Liriope. He was a beautiful man. When he rejected the love of ECHO, a NYMPH, NEMESIS, the goddess of vegeance, condemned Narcissus to reject all love except that of his own image reflected in a pool. Narcissus pined away and changed into a beautiful flower that bears his name. The story of Echo and Narcissus is told by OvID in Metamorphoses. It belongs to later Greek mythology.

NAUSICAA Greek Daughter of ALCINOUS, king of the Phaecians. It was she who discovered ODYSSEUS when he was shipwrecked on the island of Scheria on his way back to Ithaca after the TROJAN WAR. She took him as a guest to her father’s court, a place of peace and luxury. The location of Scheria and the Phaecian kingdom is unknown.

NAXOS Greek An island in the Aegean Sea south-east of GREECE. It is famous in Greek mythology as the place where THESEUS abandoned ARIADNE, daughter of King MINOS, after she helped him find his way out of the LABYRINTH. Naxos was a center for the worship of DIONYSUS.

NECESSITAS Roman A goddess of destiny or fate, of that which is necessary; or perhaps merely the personification of necessity. With the goddess FORTUNA, Necessitas ruled over or influenced the future of men and women. The two are often pictured together, with Necessitas, carrying nails and wedges, walking before Fortuna. Necessitas was equated with ANANxE, the Greek personification of absolute destiny.

NEDA Greek One of the oldest of the OCEANIDS, sea NYMPH daughters of the TITAN gods, OCEANUS and TETHYS; considered by many Greek writers to be a second-generation Titan. With help from her younger sisters, Theisoa and Hagno, Neda nursed the infant ZEUS.

According to ancient stories, the Titan goddess RHEA found no water with which to cleanse herself and her son after giving birth to her youngest child, ZEUS. In frustration, she struck her scepter against a boulder, or a mountain, and called on her mother, GAIA, to bring forth water. A spring gushed forth and Rhea named the spring Neda, after the nymph, her niece, who would soon help keep this son safe from the anger of his father, the Titan god CRONUS.

NEREIDS Greek The NYMPHS of the sea, specifi-cally the Mediterranean Sea; the daughters of NEREuS, an ancient sea god, and DORIS, a daughter of OCEANuS. The Nereids lived in their father’s palace at the bottom of the sea and came up often to play in the waves. They rode dolphins and other sea creatures and gathered on shore to play games and dry their long hair. Greek legends consistently report that there were 50 of these lesser goddesses and name all of them. These sisters had the power to change their shape, and some of them could see into the future. They aided sailors in distress and were generally friendly to mortals.

The Nereids take the role of observers in many Greek legends and myths, but several of them played

and there is disagreement among Roman historians and modern scholars of how to spell her name.

The fragments of her stories that remain suggest Nerio was a goddess connected with war and with taking prisoners and confiscating their weapons. This was the feature that survived into the Roman Empire, when the goddess took on many of the traits of MINERVA, who was a prominent goddess of war.

NESSUS Greek The CENTAUR who caused the death of the hero HERACLEs. Nessus carried DEIANIRA, the wife of Heracles, across the river Evenus when the couple were escaping from CALYDON. Nessus tried to force his attentions on Deianira, and Heracles shot him with an arrow. As he was dying, the centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood and use it as a love potion if Heracles ever seemed to be straying from her. Deianira used the potion when Heracles became interested in IOLE, not knowing that the centaur’s blood would poison and kill Heracles.

NESTOR Greek King of Pylos (on the west coast of Messenia, in the PELOPONNEsUs) and, at 60 years old, the oldest and most experienced of the chieftains who fought in the TROJAN WAR. Nestor was greatly respected for his strength and wisdom. He was also famous for being garrulous. He was one of the few heroes of TROY who returned safely to his kingdom in GREECE. In HOMER’s ODYSSEY, Nestor tells TELEMA-CHUs, son of ODYssEUs, of some of the adventures of the Greek leaders.

NIKE (NICE; Victory) Greek The spirit of vic-tory; a demigod or lesser goddess; daughter of the TITAN PALLAs and the water NYMPH STYX; sister of BIA (Force), CRATUs (Strength), and ZELUs (Zeal). Nike had wings and flew very quickly.

When Styx sided with ZEUs in his great battle with his father, CRONUs, and the Titans, she brought her children into service with her, though their father was a Titan. After that war, as a reward for their loy-alty, Nike, Bia, Cratus, and Zelus lived with Zeus and stood beside his throne, carrying out his commands.

When Zeus granted victory to a warrior, he sent Nike to deliver the message and bestow the honor. She also awarded victory to winning athletes. Nike is often portrayed on Greek pottery holding a wreath over the victor’s head.

Nike’s Roman counterpart was VICTORIA. The most celebrated statue of Nike is called The Nike (or Vic-tory) of Samothrace and is in the Louvre in Paris.

The influence of these powers and his role in establishing formalized religion itself eventually led to Romans regarding Numa Pompillius as even greater than a king. They came to regard and worship him as the foundation of their society, the primary guiding principle of all they stood for.

NyMpHs (young maidens) Greek Minor female spirits who were supposed to inhabit various places in the natural world. They were beautiful, and while not immortal, they lived for a few thousand years and thus were supposed to have certain magical and oracular powers. Among them were

DRYADS (tree nymphs and forest nymphs); NAIADS (nymphs of freshwater springs and lakes); Napaeae (nymphs of glens and valleys);

NEREIDS (nymphs of the Mediterranean, or inner sea);

AcheLouoceAnids In Greek (OCeanides) mythology, Greek The many daughters of the two TITAN deities, OCEANUS, the ancient god of water, and his wife and sister, TETHYS. The Oceanids were the female personalities given to the rivers and streams of the lands of ancient GREECE. They were also known as NYMPHS or lesser goddesses. HESIOD, the Greek poet whose works date to about 800 s.C., wrote that there were more than 3,000 Oceanids, but he named only 41, among them STYX, ELECTRA, and CALYPSO. The Oceanids were very closely related to the NEREIDS, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea. They were also sisters to the lesser gods of the rivers, after whom many rivers themselves were named: the Nile, the Eridanus, and the Sangarius.

oceAnus Greek The TITAN son of GAIA and URANUS and the brother and husband of the Titan TETHYS; father of all the OCEANIDS and all the rivers and seas of the world. Like many ancient peoples, the Greeks believed that water encircled the world. They called this water Oceanus. Oceanus was represented sometimes as a serpent encircling the Earth, its tail in its mouth, or as an old man with a long beard and with a BULL’s horns upon his head. With the ascen-dancy of worship of the OLYMPIAN GODS, POSEIDON became the lord of the seas and rivers while Oceanus retired into oblivion, though his name was still used to denote the vast waters that stretched beyond the known world of the ancients.

odysseus Greek Son of LAERTES, king of ITHACA, and ANTICLEA. Husband of PENELOPE; father of TELEMACHUS. The Romans knew him as ULYSSES. Odysseus is one of the most famous characters in literature. His adventures on his homeward journey to Ithaca after the TROJAN WAR are recounted in HOMER’s ODYSSEY.

ODYSSEY Greek The epic poem by HOMER that describes the adventures of ODYSSEUS on his home-ward voyage to Ithaca after the TROJAN WAR. The action of the Odyssey occurs in no more than six weeks, but 20 years’ adventures are related by means of flashback episodes told by Odysseus to the people he encounters.

Scholars see the Odyssey, divided into 24 books, as a collection of folktales to which Homer gave con-tinuity and coherence by attributing the adventures to a single hero (Odysseus) and by reworking each incident so that it contributes to a consistent picture of the hero.

Some scholars say that the Odyssey is the first novel, a fictional story with fictional characters, to be read and enjoyed. Homer wrote the Odyssey in about the eighth century s.C. after he wrote the ILIAD, according to most modern scholars.

Odysseus and Polyphemus On his way home from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew landed on an island that had rich pastures and great flocks of sheep. The shepherd turned out to be POLYPHEMUS, one of the CYCLOPES, one-eyed giants. When he discovered Odysseus’s men in his cave, Polyphemus immediately killed and ate two of them, then closed off the entrance to the cave with a huge rock. While the giant slept after his meal, Odysseus and his men devised a plan. They made a sharp spear from olive wood. After the giant awoke, they gave him some very sweet and potent wine that they had brought with them from Ismarus. After the giant had killed and eaten another two crewmen and fallen into a drunken stupor, Odysseus gouged out his one eye, leaving the Cyclops blind. The men knew that they could never move the rock that closed the entrance. They waited anxiously for the giant to awaken. Meanwhile the cunning Odysseus helped his men to tie themselves under the bellies of the sheep. When the giant awoke,

Odysseus (helmet) and his men are discovered by the giant cyclops Polyphemus who is driving his sheep into his cave for the night. Flemish artist Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) captured the moment in this painting, which now hangs in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

he moved the rock to let out the sheep to their pasture. He never suspected that Odysseus’s men were leaving at the same time. It was not until the men were safe aboard their ship that they learned that POLYPHEMUS was the name of the monster. Polyphemus hurled rocks after the ship and vowed that his protector, POSEIDON, the sea god, would avenge him, and that the sea would always be Odysseus’s enemy.

Odysseus and Circe On their way back to Ithaca after the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew made landfall on the island of Aeaea, on which dwelled the witch-goddess CIRCE. Circe turned all the men into swine, except for Odysseus and EURY-LOCHUS. Eventually Odysseus persuaded Circe to turn his men back into their human forms. Under her spell, he dallied for a year on the island of the sorceress, who gave him warnings about the perils he would encounter on his way home.

Odysseus in the Underworld After suffering under the spell of the witch-goddess Circe for a year,

Odysseus and his crew grew restless and wanted to leave. On the advice of Circe, Odysseus and his crew visited the UNDERWORLD (1) to consult the ghost of the blind seer TIRESIAS. Tiresias had many warnings for Odysseus and his men, particularly about the danger of offending the gods on Thrinacie, the Island of the Sun.

Terrified by the ghosts and the gloom of the Underworld, Odysseus and his crew fled.

Odysseus and the Sirens Circe had warned Odysseus about the SIRENS, beautiful NYMPHS who lured sailors to their destruction by singing so sweetly that the men would be driven mad and would be shipwrecked on the rocky coast where the Sirens lived. Always resourceful, Odysseus plugged the ears of his men with wax so that they would not hear the singing. Then, because he himself wanted to hear the songs, Odysseus had himself tied to the mast of the ship while the men rowed on. They could hear neither the singing nor the pleas of their captain to be released so that he might join the Sirens.

Odysseus and Scylla and Charybdis One of the many dangers Odysseus encountered on his way home after the Trojan War was the narrow strait guarded by the monsters SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS. Odysseus steered his ship close to Scylla to avoid being sucked into the boiling whirlpool of Charybdis. He lost six men to Scylla, the many-headed monster who lived high up on a cliff and sent down six long necks armed with ferocious teeth to devour any who came close.

Odysseus on the Island of the Sun Both Circe, the witch-goddess, and Tiresias, the blind seer, had warned Odysseus about the Island of the Sun, which belonged to the sun god, HYPERION; but in a state of despair and exhaustion, Odysseus and his crew went there. While Odysseus rested, his crew disobeyed his orders and killed and ate the cattle of Hyperion. Odysseus was horrified when he awoke to the smell of roasting meat, but it was too late. Hyperion was furious and asked ZEUS to punish the men. This Zeus did, by causing the wreck of Odysseus’s ship in a ter-rifying storm. Only Odysseus escaped alive. He was cast up on the island of the nymph CALYPSO, where the hero stayed for seven years.

Odysseus Returns to Ithaca Odysseus and his men struggled for 10 years and through many adven-tures before they got back to their kingdom of Ithaca. By this time Odysseus, who had been shipwrecked many times, looked like a poor old man rather than a king. Only his old dog, ARGUS (3), and his loving old nurse, Eurycleia, recognized him. Odysseus chose to remain silent as he observed what was happening at his court. His wife, Penelope, who had waited for him faithfully for 20 years (10 years for the war, and 10 years for the return), was besieged by a host of aggressive suitors who wanted to rule Odysseus’s kingdom. The son of Odysseus and Penelope, Telemachus, guided by the goddess ATHENE, had gone off in search of his father and come back to Ithaca convinced that he was still alive and was nearby. At last Penelope, in despera-tion, put her suitors to the test by asking them to string the magnificent bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow straight through a double row of axes. The suitors failed. The old man took up the challenge. He strung the bow with ease and shot it straight and true. After that, with the help of his son, Odysseus slew all the greedy suitors and reclaimed his wife and his throne.

OEDIPUS (Swollen Foot) Greek Son of Laius, king of THEBES, and of Jocasta. Father of Polynices, Eteocles, ANTIGONE, and Ismene.

An ORACLE had warned King Laius that Oedipus would kill him, so Laius abandoned his infant son on

HELEN. Oenone prophesied that this voyage to GREECE to claim Helen would only bring ruin for him and his country, TROY. Her prophecy came true.

OLyMpiAN GODS Greek The 12 (sometimes 13) major deities who lived atop Mount OLYMPUS; the pri-mary gods of the Greek PANTHEON of classical GREECE. Here they are listed in alphabetical order, with their attributes, and their Roman names opposite.

Greek names                      Roman names

APHRODITE (love and beauty) VENUS

APOLLO (music; poetry)             APOLLO

ARES (war)                                    MARS

ARTEMIS (Moon and                                  DIANA hunting)

ATHENE (wisdom)                       MINERVA

DEMETER (fertility;                                        CERES corn goddess)

HADES* (underworld)                                   PLUTO HEPHAESTUS (fire; blacksmith) VULCAN

HERA (marriage; women)          JUNO

HERMES (messenger;                 MERCURY

commerce; travelers;

rogues)

HESTIA (hearth)                           VESTA

POSEIDON (ocean;                      NEPTUNE earthquakes)

ZEUS (light; the heavens)            JUPITER

* Since Hades did not live on Mount Olympus, he is not always counted as an Olympian.

OLyMpiC GAMES Greek The principal athletic meeting of the ancient Greeks held every four years. In mythology, it is said to have been instituted by PELOPS to honor the god ZEUS. According to tradi­tion, the first games were held in 776 B.C.

Only Greek men were allowed to compete and the rivalry was ferocious, for while no gold medals were awarded, the winners received great honor and prestige.

The site of the games, on a flat plain at the meet­ing of two rivers, is in northwest PELOPONNESUS, part of the territory of Elis.

OLyMpuS Greek A mountain range in northern Greece. Its highest peak is Mount Olympus (about 9,600 feet high). The Olympic range stretches along the border between THESSALY and Macedonia, near the Aegean coast. The range overlooks the Vale of TEMPE, a valley in northern Thessaly famous for its beauty.

In mythology, Mount Olympus was regarded as the home of the OLYMPIAN LODS. Within its mysteri-ous heights, higher even than the visible mountain, were the abodes of the gods; there lived ZEUS, HERA, and all members of the Greek PANTHEON. They feasted on ambrosia and nectar and listened to sweet music. No harsh winds, rain, or snow disturbed their heavenly peace.

OMpHALE Greek The queen of LYDIA who took the hero HERACLES as her slave after he had des-ecrated the temple of APOLLO. Heracles performed many services for the queen, including ridding her kingdom of the two mischievous CERCOPES.

OMpHALOS (NAVEL) Greek The stone swal-lowed by CRONUS, one of the TITANS, thinking that it was his son ZEUS. The stone was set up at DELPHI and people came to worship it as the center, or navel, of the Earth.

OpS (Opis: Abundance) Roman Goddess of plenty, of the harvest, and of wealth. Her name refers to the bounty of the Earth and the riches of a plenti-ful harvest.

Surviving evidence suggests to scholars that the people of ROME worshiped Ops as the consort or wife of CONSUS, the god of storage, or as the cult partner of SATURN, the Roman god of agriculture. Ops was, perhaps, the mother of JUNO, Roman goddess of childbirth and queen of the heavens.

Ops was honored with Consus in the harvest festivals of August 21 and 25 and in a celebration on December 19. Eventually, Ops took on the character-istics and stories of the Greek goddess RHEA.

ORACLE Greek The spokesperson of the ruling deity of a shrine. The oracle answered people’s ques­tions about the future or the past. These utterances were regarded as profoundly wise and authoritative, since they were supposed to come from the gods. The answers of the oracles were often obscure, ambiguous, and misleading, yet kings and peasants alike eagerly sought their advice. Priests, who were paid for their services, tended the shrine. It was in their interests to make sure that the words of the oracle were vague. In this way, the priests would not be blamed for disastrous events that occurred from following the advice of the oracles.

There were many oracles in ancient GREECE. The most famous was the oracle at DELPHI, who spoke the words of the god APOLLO through the mouth of

PYTHON. The ORACLE at DODONA spoke the words of ZEUS.

Other oracles include those of ARTEMIS at Colchis, ASCLEPIUS at EPIDAURUS, HERACLES at ATHENS, ARES in Thrace, ATHENE at MYCENAE, PAN in ARCADIA, and APHRODITE at Paphos, in CRETE.

ORCUS Roman Either an ancient Roman god of the UNDERWORLD (2) or an alternative name for DIS, the primary Roman god of this land of the dead.

Some scholars believe that Orcus had no indi-vidual identity. Others argue from existing evidence that Orcus was the bringer of death, rather than a king of the dead, as was Dis. Orcus was sometimes shown as a reaper, cutting down the corn with his scythe, in sculptures and paintings on pottery.

PLUTO was a euphemism, or name that was safe to speak, that was sometimes used to refer to Orcus and Dis in ROME and to HADES in GREECE.

OREADS (OREiADEs) Greek Mountain NYMPHS; like most nymphs, daughters of ZEUS.

Some sources say the Oreads were, specifically, the nymphs of mountain conifers, since nymphs were often associated with specific trees. The Oreads were the special companions of the goddess ARTEMIS, who liked to go hunting in mountains. Other sources, however, associate them with specific mountains: for example, the Idae were nymphs of Mount IDA.

The most famous Oread was ECHO, who was punished by the goddess HERA for helping her sister nymphs, who were dallying with Zeus, to escape from the great god’s wife. Hera made Echo fade away, except for her voice.

Cynosure, an Oread of Mount Ida, nursed the infant Zeus when his mother, RHEA, hid him from his father CRONUS. Pitys, an Oread who vowed never to marry, was loved by PAN, who pursued her relentlessly though she discouraged him. The gods turned her into a pine tree to help her escape. BRITOMARTIS, a guardian of fishermen, was also said to be an Oread, but only in later Greek stories; in earlier stories, she was a Cretan goddess.

ORESTES Greek The only son of AGAMEMNON and CLYTEMNESTRA; brother of ELECTRA, IPHIGENIA, and Chrysothemis. Orestes killed his mother, who had killed her husband, Agamemnon. According to some accounts, the FURIES drove Orestes mad for the unforgivable crime of matricide. He took refuge in ATHENS. He was tried and acquitted at the court of Areopagus, a tribunal of Athenian judges. He then

took possession of his dead father’s kingdom and married Hermione, the daughter of MENELAUS and HELEN.

Matricide had always been regarded as a terrible crime, but in this myth, a court finds the son, Orestes, innocent. ZEUS, APOLLO, and ATHENE had championed his cause in this trial. Orestes absolution represents the final triumph of patriarchy over the old pre-Hellenic religions and customs.

ORION Greek Best known as a mighty hunter and as a constellation of stars. Orion was the son of POSEIDON and EURYALE. He was a Boeotian giant, with the power to walk on the seas. Orion loved MEROPE, daughter of King Oenopion of Chios, an island off the coast of ASIA MINOR. In a fit of anger, the king made Orion blind and left him to die on the seashore. Orion met a boy, Cedalion, who guided him east toward the Sun, where he found Eos, goddess of the dawn. She restored Orion’s sight. Many women and goddesses loved Orion, including the goddess of the hunt, ARTEMIS, and Eos.

In one story, APOLLO, brother of Artemis, was jeal-ous of his sister’s affection for Orion. He sent a giant scorpion to sting Orion to death. In another story, Apollo had a fight with Orion and flung him into the sea. Orion swam away. Apollo asked Artemis to shoot the object in the sea with her arrow. This Artemis did and unknowingly killed her lover. She set the constellation Orion in the heavens, with the scorpion (Scorpio) at its feet. His faithful hunting dog, Sirius, is part of the constellation, seen high in the winter sky in the Northern Hemisphere.

ORPHEUS Greek A famous poet and singer; son of Oeagrus, king of Thrace, and of CALLIOPE, the MUSE; husband of EURYDICE.

The god APOLLO (some say he was the father of Orpheus) gave Orpheus a lyre, which he played so beautifully that even the rocks were moved to tears, trees bent to listen, flowers bloomed, and rivers changed their courses.

As an ARGONAUT, Orpheus distracted the crew-men from the sweet singing of the SIRENS (see Jason and the Argonauts, under JASON).

When Eurydice died from a serpent bite, Orpheus charmed his way into the UNDERWORLD and per-suaded HADES to release her. Hades did so, on the condition that Orpheus would not look back until he had reached Earth. Orpheus failed in his promise and Eurydice disappeared instantly.