Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Polyphemus

(Encyclopedia)Polyphemus pŏlĭfēˈməs [key], in Greek mythology, a Cyclops. He was a shepherd and the son of Poseidon. In the Odyssey, Polyphemus imprisoned Odysseus and his men in his cave. They gave him wine a...

Aegisthus

(Encyclopedia)Aegisthus ējĭsˈthəs [key], in Greek mythology, according to most legends the incestuous offspring of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopia. At Thyestes' behest Aegisthus revenged the murder of his bro...

Semele

(Encyclopedia)Semele sĕmˈĭlē [key], in Greek mythology, mother of Dionysus, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Zeus, who loved her, appeared to her as a man. Semele asked him to come to her in his divine form, bu...

Erichthonius

(Encyclopedia)Erichthonius ĕrĕkthōˈnēəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Hephaestus and Athena, half man and half serpent. After his birth Athena concealed him in a chest that she gave to the daughters of Ce...

Hestia

(Encyclopedia)Hestia hĕsˈtēə [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of the hearth; daughter of Kronos and Rhea. Both public and private worship of Hestia were widespread; she represented personal and c...

Hippolytus

(Encyclopedia)Hippolytus, in Greek mythology, son of Theseus and Antiope (or Hippolyte). After the death of Antiope, Theseus married Phaedra, daughter of Minos. Because Hippolytus worshiped only Artemis, the jealou...

Andromache

(Encyclopedia)Andromache ăndrŏˈməkē [key], in Greek mythology, Trojan princess, wife of Hector and mother of Astyanax. After the Trojan War she was carried away by Neoptolemus, whose father, Achilles, had slai...

Agamemnon

(Encyclopedia)Agamemnon ăˌgəmĕmˈnŏn [key], in Greek mythology, leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War; king of Mycenae (or Argos). He and Menelaus were sons of Atreus and suffered the curse laid upon Pe...

Norns

(Encyclopedia)Norns, the Norse Fates. Like the Fates of Greek religion and mythology, the Norns spun and wove the web of life. Belief in the Norns was of great importance in Germanic religion and life. It was said ...

Atreus

(Encyclopedia)Atreus āˈtrēəs [key], in Greek mythology, the son of Pelops and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He vied with his brother Thyestes for the throne of Mycenae. When Thyestes seduced Atreus' wif...