| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Achilles | born of mortal and Zeus; mother dipped him in the river Styx to give him immortality but neglected to include the heel she held him by. Eventually, during the Trojan War, he was shot in that spot and killed. An Achilles heel is the one vulnerable spot in an otherwise invulnerable thing or person. |
| Adonis | a mortal youthwho was loved by Aphrodite for his great beauty and later killed by a wild boar. |
| Aphrodite/Venus | goddess of love and beauty (and spring and bloom). |
| Apollo/Sol | god of the sun; patron of healing; drove a chariot that pulled the sun across the sky each day. |
| Ares/Mars | god of warfare. |
| Artemis/Diana | sister of Apollo; drives a chariot that carries the moon; goddess of the hunt (often seen as a huntress) and patron of virgins. |
| Athena/Minverva | goddess of wisdom and warfare; was "born" full-grown and wearing armor by springing from the head of Zeus. Her symbol is the owl. She was a great weaver and spinner; in charge of arts and crafts. |
| Centaur | a race of beings of half man (front) and half horse (back), known for fighting and lustiness (but sometimes for great wisdom!). |
| Cerberus | a three headed watchdog who guards the entrance to Hades. |
| Chaos | the void (or, according to some ppl, a rough, unordered mass of things) which came into being before anything else. |
| Cronos | the wily, youngest, and most terrible of the children of Uranus, whom he hated. He castrated his father and became ruler of the universe, but was later overthrown by his own son, Zeus. |
| Cycolps | a race of one-eyed giants of whom the most famous is Polyphemus, who was blinded by Odysseus. |
| Daedalus and Icarus | Daedalus wa an inventor who killed a rival in jealousy and fled to Crete. Icarus was his son, imprisoned in a labyrinth. |
| Dionysus/Bacchus | god of wine and revelry. Wild feasts were held in his honor, which usually turned into drunken orgies, since that was what he was in charge of. |
| Eros/Cupid | god of love; often pictured as a winged boy. |
| Hades/Pluto | god of the underworld; the place itself is called Hades. Also, god of wealth (gold and silver came from the earth, which he ruled.) |
| Hephaestus/Vulcan | god of fire; a blacksmith; the only god who is deformed - rejected son of Zeus and Hera. |
| Herculues | a son of Zeus and a mortal, he was famous for his great strength and endurance; he performed twelve amazing feats of strength, called the "labors of Hercules". |
| Mercury | the messenger of the gods; wears shoes and hat with wings so he can fly very quickly; known for living by his wits and cleverness. |
| Midas | was given his wish that everything that he touched would turn to gold but rethought this idea when he killed his daughter by touching her and was near starvation because all the food he touched turned to gold. He had the spell removed eventually. |
| Minotaur | monster that is half man and half bull. Imprisoned in the labyrinth and slain by theseus with the help of the king's daughter, who gives him a ball of string so he can find his way out of the Labyrinth. |
| Mount Olympus | home of the gods. |
| Narcissus and Echo | Narcisuss - gorgeous male, admired himself. Echo loved him but he ignored her. |
| Odysseus/Ulysseus | "man of wrath", a guide. Known as Ulysses in Roman myth, hero of Homer's Odyssey - major character in Iliad. Masterminds Trojan hose. |
| Oedipus | abandoned at bith by his parents. Met and killed father. solved riddle of the sphinx, thebes to marry mother whom he had three children with. learned truth then blinded himself and went into exile. |
| Pan/Satyr | half man, half goat, goat legs, a tail, pointy ears, wanton nature, live in woods. god of forests, flocks, and shepherds. Usually plays a pipe (flute). |
| Pandora | first mortal woman sent to Earth as punishment to man for Prometheus's theft of fire. |
| Paris | son of last king of Troy. |
| Persephone and Demeter/Ceres | goddess of agriculture and fruitfulness (fertility) and guardian of marriage. Daughter = Persephone. Taken to Hades by marrying Hades. She must compromise by spending six months and earth and six months below. WHY WE HAVE SEASONS. |
| Phoenix | a bird that is immortal, but dies in a self-built pyre every 500 or 600 years and is then reborn from the ashes; a symbol of rebirth and/or immortality. |
| Poseidon/Neptune | god of the sea; often pictured with his 3-pronged scepter, the trident; has a son named Triton. |
| Prometheus | a Titan who created man from clay. Later, stole fire from the gods and gave it to man against the will of Zeus. As a punishment, chained to a rock and had his liver eaten out every day by an eagle. The liver grew back each night, only to be eaten out the next. Eventually, released by Hercules. |
| Sisyphus | a wealthy man who cheated the living and, later, the gods. He was sentenced by Zeus to forever push a boulder up hill, only to fail before it reaches the top. |
| Styx (river) | the river that divides the land of the living from HAdes, the land of the dead. |
| Tantalus | a son of Zeus and a mortal; invented to eat at the god's table at Olympus; stole ambrosia to give to mortals. |
| The sirens | a group of nymphs who lived on an island and lured men to their destruction with their sweet singing. |
| Zeus | king of the gods. married to his sister HEra. Some say he caused the Trojan war so that hte load of death might empty the world. Got the thunderbold, his ultimate weapon, from the Cyclopes, and an eagle brings back the thunderbolds which he has flung. |
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