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Polyxena

(Encyclopedia)Polyxena pōlĭkˈsĭnə [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of Priam and Hecuba. After the death of Achilles, she was claimed by his ghost and was sacrificed at his tomb. According to later legends A...

Q, letter of the alphabet

(Encyclopedia)Q, 17th letter of the alphabet, corresponding to the koppa of western Greek alphabets. U must follow the letter in English (e.g., queen, question), and the combination properly represents a sound much...

Fortuna

(Encyclopedia)Fortuna fôrto͞oˈnə [key], in Roman religion, goddess of fortune. Worshiped under several forms, she appears to have originally been a goddess of fertility. She was later identified with Tyche, the...

Hipponax

(Encyclopedia)Hipponax hĭpōˈnăks [key], fl. 540 b.c., Greek iambic poet. Banished from Ephesus after insulting the tyrants there, he went to live in Clazomenae. He is believed to have been the inventor of the c...

hydria

(Encyclopedia)hydria hīˈdrēə [key], ancient Greek water jar with three handles—two lateral for lifting, a third vertical for pouring. In shape it was similar to the amphora, the early form having a narrower s...

Juno, in Roman religion and mythology

(Encyclopedia)Juno, in Roman religion and mythology, wife and sister of Jupiter. In early Roman times she, like the Greek Hera (with whom she was later identified), was goddess and protector of women, concerned esp...

Zoilus

(Encyclopedia)Zoilus zōˈĭləs [key], c.400–c.320 b.c., Greek rhetorician and philosopher of Amphipolis. He is called Homeromastix [scourge of Homer], because of his denunciations of Homer as a purveyor of fabl...

Tissaphernes

(Encyclopedia)Tissaphernes tĭsˌəfûrˈnēz [key], d. 395 b.c., Persian satrap of coastal Asia Minor (c.413–395 b.c.). He was encouraged by Alcibiades (412) to intervene in the Peloponnesian War in support of S...

Democritus

(Encyclopedia)Democritus dĭmŏkˈrĭtəs [key], c.460–c.370 b.c., Greek philosopher of Abdera; pupil of Leucippus. His theory of the nature of the physical world was the most radical and scientific attempted up ...

Eusebius of Caesarea

(Encyclopedia)Eusebius of Caesarea pămˈfĭlī [key], c.263–339?, Greek apologist and church historian, b. Palestine. He was bishop of Caesarea, Palestine (314?–339). In the controversy over Arianism, Eusebius...