Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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Planet name "Neptunus" | Italic / Roman | God of irrigation. Identified with the planet Neptune, but thought to have originated as an agricultural deity concerned with watering. He was celebrated in the festival of Neptunalia on July 23. Also the patron deity of horseracing. He became syncretized with the Greek god POSEIDON, but Neptune's modern åśśociation with the sea is a misrepresentation.... |
Goddess name "Nortia" | Etruscan | Goddess of fate. She enjoyed an important sanctuary at Volsini, where her presence was symbolized by a large nail. In a New Year rite, the nail was hammered into a block of wood, probably derived from an old fertility ritual symbolizing the impregnation of life into the new year. She has been identified with the Greek goddess TYCHE.... |
King name "Oebalus" | Greek | 1. A son of Cynortes, and husband of Gorgophone, by whom he became the father of Tyndareus, Peirene, and Arene, was king of Sparta. According to others he was a son of Perieres and a grandson of Cynortas, and was married to the nymph Bateia, by whom he had several children (Apollodorus iii). The patronymic Oebalides is not only applied to his descendants, but to the Spartans generally, and hence it occurs as an epithet or surname of Hyacinthus, Castor, Pollux and Helena. 2. A son of Telon by a nymph of the stream Sebethus, near Naples. Telon, originally a king of the Teleboans, had come from the island of Taphos to Capreae, in Italy and Oebalus settled in Campania. (The Aeneid Book VII) Greek |
God name "Ogdoad" | Egypt | Primordial forces. The elements of chaos, eight in number, which existed before the creation of the Sun god and which are known from Khemnu in Middle Egypt (Greek Heliopolis). The Ogdoad also had a sanctuary at Medinet Habu. They created, out of themselves rather than by sexual coupling, the mound which emerged from the primeval waters and upon which rested the egg from which the young Sun god emerged. They are usually depicted as baboons heralding the Sun as it rises. They are grouped in pairs and include NUN and NAUNET representing the primordial abyss, KEK and KAUKET representing darkness, HEH and HAUHET representing infinity, and AMUN and AMAUNET representing hidden power.... |
"Olen" | Greek | A mythical personage, who is represented as the earliest Greek lyric poet, and the first author of sacred hymns in hexameter verse. He is closely connected with the worship of Apollo, of whom, in one legend, he was made the prophet. Greek |
"Ophion" | Greek | A Titan, was married to Eurynome, with whom he shared the supremacy previous to the reign of Cronos and Rhea; but being conquered by the latter, he and Eurynome were thrown into Oceåñuś or Tartarus. Greek |
God name "Palici" | Greek | Twin gods, originating in Sicily. They were sometimes said to have been the sons of Zeus by Thaleia the daughter of Hephaestus, sometimes the sons of Zeus by Aetna. While she was pregnant with the twins, Thaleia, fearing Hera's jealousy hid in the earth and when the time came the twin boys emerged from the ground, which explains their name 'the Returners'. Greek |
"Pandora's Box" | Greek | A present which seems valuable, but which is in reality a curse; as when Midas was permitted, according to his request, to turn whatever he touched into gold, and found his very food became gold, and therefore uneatable. Prometheus made an image and stole fire from heaven to endow it with life. In revenge, Jupiter told Vulcan to make a female statue, and gave her a box which she was to present to the man who married her. Prometheus distrusted Jove and his gifts, but Epimetheus, his brother, married the beautiful Pandora, and received the box. Immediately the bridegroom opened the box all the evils that flesh is heir to flew forth, and have ever since continued to afflict the world. The last thing that flew from the box was Hope. Greek |
"Paris" | Greek | Also called Alexander, was the second son of Priam and Hecabe. Previous to his birth Hecabe dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand, the flames of which spread over the whole city. This dream was interpreted to her by Aesacus, or according to others by Cåśśandra, by Apollo, or by a Sibyl, and was said to indicate that Hecabe should give birth to a son, who should bring about the ruin of his native city, and she was accordingly advised to expose the child. Greek |
Deities name "Penates" | Roman | Hearth deities. These gods are a peculiarly Roman innovation, unknown to the Greeks. The penates, chosen individually by the head of the household, oversaw the domestic affairs of most Roman families. They were considered sufficiently important that, if a move was anticipated, they were taken to and established in the new residence a priori. They are represented in the form of small statues made of anything from clay to gold according to the wealth of the owner, and were provided with regular offerings of scraps of food.... |
"Phobos" | Greek | The personification of fear, is described as a son of Ares and Cythereia, a brother of Deimos, and is one of the ordinary companions of Ares. Phobus was represented on the shield of Agamemnon, on the chest of Cypselus, with the head of a lion. Greek |
Monster name "Pistris" | Greek | Pistrix, Pristis or Pristrix. The sea-monster sent to devour Andromeda. In ancient art it is represented with a dragon's head, the neck and head of a beast, fins for the forelegs and the body and tail of a fish. In Christian art the pistris was usually employed to represent the whale which swallowed Jonah. Greek |
God name "Posis Das" | Greek | sky god. In pre-Hellenic times the consort of the earth mother GAIA. One of the primordial partnership identified in Theogony (Hesiod). He later becomes syncretized with ZEUS.... |
"Pothos" | Greek | A personification of love or desire, was represented along with Eros and Himeros, in the temple of Aphrodite at Megara, by the hand of Scopas. Greek |
"Procris" | Greek | Unerring as the dart of Procris. When Procris fled from Cephalus out of shame, Diana gave her a dog that never failed to secure its prey, and a dart which not only never missed aim, but which always returned of its own accord to the shooter. Greek |
God name "Sadrapa" | Western Semitic / Syrian / / Pontic | God of healing. He is depicted on reliefs as a youth holding a scorpion or snake. Known originally from Palmyra, his popularity spread to Carthage and, during the Hellenic period, to the Greek coast. Also Satrapis (Greek).... |
Goddess name "Salus" | Greek | The personification of health, prosperity, and the public welfare, among the Romans. In the first of these three senses she answers very closely to the Greek Hygieia, and was accordingly represented in works of art with the same attributes as the Greek goddess. In the second sense she represents prosperity in general and was invoked by the husbandmen at seed-time. In the third sense Salus is the goddess of the public welfare. |
God name "Sarapis" | Late Egypt | God. Known only from the Greco-Roman period of the early Ptolemies (fourth century BC) but persisting in Europe until second or third century AD. In Egyptian religion Sarapis is a hybridization of certain aspects of OSIRIS, the underworld god, and APIS, the bull god, who symbolizes the earthly presence of PTAH. Sarapis is perceived to epitomize both the fertility of the land and the life of the sacred bull after death. In Greek mythology he takes on aspects of ZEUS, HELIOS, ASKLEPIOS and DIONYSOS. He was worshiped extensively in the Roman Empire period. A sanctuary at York in England was dedicated by a soldier of the sixth legion, and magnificent statues were discovered in the Walbrook Mithraeum in London, and at Merida in Spain. Also Seraphis (Greek).... |