Names and Places

Achilles

foremost warrior in Greek mythology; hero in the war between the Greeks and the Trojans

Aeneas

Trojan hero who founded Rome; son of Aphrodite (Venus) and the Trojan Anchises

Aeneid

epic by the Roman poet Virgil about the legendary hero Aeneas and the founding of Rome

Agamemnon

Greek king and commander of Greek forces in the Trojan War; later killed by his wife, Clytemnestra

Ajax

Greek hero of the Trojan War

Amazons

female warriors in Greek mythology

Aphrodite

Greek goddess of love and beauty (identified with the Roman goddess Venus)

Apollo

Greek god of the sun, the arts, medicine, and herdsmen; son of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Artemis

Ares

Greek god of war; son of Zeus and Hera (identified with the Roman god Mars)

Artemis

in Greek mythology, virgin goddess of the hunt; daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo (identified with the Roman goddess Diana)

Arthurian legends

stories about the life and court of King Arthur of Britain

Asia Minor

ancient term for modern-day Turkey, the part of Asia closest to Greece

Assyria

kingdom of the ancient Near East located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Athena

in Greek mythology, goddess of wisdom and war; the daughter of Zeus (Roman goddess Minerva)

Atlas

Titan in Greek mythology who held the world on his shoulders

Baal

god of the ancient Near East associated with fertility and rain

Babylonia

ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia; Babylon city in Babylonia; Babylonians (noun) people of Babylonia; Babylonian (adj) referring to kingdom or people

Brahma

Hindu creator god

Canaan

name given to Palestine and Syria in ancient times; Canaanites people of Canaan

Celtic

referring to the Celts, early inhabitants of Britain whose culture survived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany

Ceres

Roman goddess of vegetation and fertility; mother of Proserpina (Greek goddess Demeter)

Cronus

Greek deity, king of the Titans; son of Uranus and Gaia

Cyclopes

one-eyed giants in Greek mythology

Delphi

town on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in Greece that was the site of Apollo's temple and the Delphic oracle

Demeter

Greek goddess of vegetation; sister of Zeus and mother of Persephone (Roman goddess Ceres)

Devi

Hindu goddess; wife of the god Shiva

Diana

Roman goddess of hunting and childbirth (Greek goddess Artemis)

Dionysus

Greek god of wine and fertility; son of Zeus by Theban princess Semele (Roman god Bacchus)

Druids

priests and political leaders of an ancient Celtic religious order

Euripides

(ca. 480-406 B.C.) Greek playwright who wrote many tragedies

Franks

early Germanic people who invaded and eventually ruled Gaul (present-day France) between the A.D. 200s and the mid-800s

Golden Fleece

hide of a magic ram that hung in a sacred grove guarded by a serpent

Hades

Greek god of the underworld; brother of Zeus and husband of Persephone (Roman god Pluto)

Hector

in Greek mythology, a Trojan prince and hero in the Trojan War

Helen of Troy

in Greek mythology, a beautiful woman and the wife of the king of Sparta; her kidnapping by a Trojan prince led to the Trojan War

Hephaestus

Greek god of fire and crafts; son of Zeus and Hera and husband of Aphrodite (Roman god Vulcan)

Hera

Greek goddess, wife and sister of Zeus; queen of heaven (Roman goddess Juno)

Hercules (Heracles)

Greek hero who had 12 labors to perform; Roman god of strength

Hermes

in Greek mythology, the messenger of the gods; escorted the dead to the underworld (Roman god Mercury)

Hesiod

(ca. 700 B.C.) Greek poet who wrote the Theogony

Homer

(ca. 700s B.C.) Greek poet thought to be the author of the great epics the Iliad and the Odyssey

Iliad

Greek epic poem about the Trojan War composed by Homer

Indo-Iranian

having to do with the peoples and cultures of northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran

Isis

Egyptian goddess of rebirth and resurrection; mother of Horus

Jason

Greek hero and leader of the Argonauts who went on a quest for the Golden Fleece

Jupiter

Roman god of the sky and ruler of the other gods (Greek god Zeus)

Mars

Roman god of war (Greek god Ares)

Medusa

in Greek mythology, a monster whose hair was made of snakes and whose face turned humans to stone

Mercury

Roman messenger god (Greek god Hermes)

Mesopotamia

area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, most of present-day Iraq

Metamorphoses

narrative poem by the Roman author Ovid

Mongol

referring to an empire in southeastern Asia that existed from about 1200 to the 1700s

Neptune

in Roman mythology, god of the sea (the Greeks called him Poseidon)

Norse

referring to the people and culture of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland

Odin

in Norse mythology, one-eyed deity and ruler of the gods

Odysseus

Greek hero who journeyed for ten years to return home after the Trojan War

Odyssey

epic by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the journey of the hero Odysseus

Oedipus

in Greek mythology, king of Thebes

Olympus

in Greek mythology, home of the gods

Orpheus

Greek hero known for his musical skills; son of Apollo and Calliope

Osiris

in Egyptian mythology, the chief god of death

Ovid

(ca. 43 B.C.-A.D. 17) Roman poet who wrote the Metamorphoses

Palestine

ancient land located on the site of modern Israel and part of Jordan

Pegasus

in Greek mythology, a winged horse

Perseus

Greek hero, son of Danaë and Zeus, who cut off the head of Medusa

Persia

ancient land in southwestern Asia, including much of present-day Iran and Afghanistan

Philistines

ancient people who lived along the coast of Canaan (present-day Palestine and Syria)

Phoenicia

ancient maritime country located in an area that is now part of Lebanon

Phrygia

ancient country located in present-day Turkey

Pindar

(ca. 522-438 B.C.) Greek poet

Plutarch

(ca. A.D. 46-120) Greek author who wrote biographies of important Greeks and Romans

Poseidon

Greek god, ruler of the sea, and brother of Zeus (Roman god Neptune)

Prometheus

in Greek mythology, Titan said to have created the human race

Pueblos

Native American groups of the southwestern United States, including the Hopi, Keresan, Tewa, Tiwa, and Zuni

Quetzalcoatl

Feathered Serpent god of Central America; Aztec god of learning and creation

Ra (Re)

in Egyptian mythology, the sun god

Saturn

Roman god of the harvest

Semitic

relating to people of the ancient Near East, including Jews, Arabs, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians

Set

in Egyptian mythology, god of the sun and sky; brother of Osiris

Sophocles

(ca. 496-406 B.C.) Greek playwright who wrote many tragedies

Sparta

ancient Greek city-state

Sumer

part of ancient Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia; Sumerians people of Sumer

Thebes

ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River

Theogony

epic written by the Greek poet Hesiod explaining the creation of the world and the birth of the gods

Theseus

Greek hero who killed the Minotaur of Crete with Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete

Thor

in Norse mythology, the thunder god

Titan

one of a family of giants who ruled the earth until overthrown by the Greek gods of Olympus

Trojan War

legendary war between the Greeks and the people of Troy that was set off by the kidnapping of Helen, wife of the king of Sparta; inspiration for Homer's epics the Iliad and the Odyssey

Troy

ancient city that was the site of the Trojan War; present-day Turkey near the Dardanelles

Valhalla

in Norse mythology, the home of the dead heroes

Valkyrie

in Norse mythology, one of the handmaidens to the god Odin

Virgil

(ca. 70-19 B.C.) Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid explaining the founding of Rome

Vishnu

Hindu god, preserver and restorer

Vulcan

Roman god of fire (Greek god Hephaestus)

Zeus

in Greek mythology, king of the gods and husband of Hera (Roman god Jupiter)