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peri

(Encyclopedia)peri pērˈē [key], in Persian mythology, supernatural being. Peris were said to be fallen angels who were denied paradise until they did penance. Originally agents of evil, in later mythology they w...

Dionysus

(Encyclopedia)Dionysus dīənīˈsəs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, god of fertility and wine. Legends concerning him are profuse and contradictory. However, he was one of the most important gods of the G...

monsters and imaginary beasts

(Encyclopedia)monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...

Hel

(Encyclopedia)Hel hĕl [key], in Norse mythology, the underworld (sometimes called Niflheim) and the goddess who ruled there. In early Germanic mythology, Hel was the goddess who ruled the majestic abode for the de...

Orpheus

(Encyclopedia)Orpheus ôrˈfēəs, ôrˈfyo͞os [key], in Greek mythology, celebrated Thracian musician. He was the son of Calliope by Apollo or, according to another legend, by Oeagrus, a king of Thrace. Supposedl...

Aphrodite

(Encyclopedia)Aphrodite ăfrədīˈtē [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of fertility, love, and beauty. Homer designated her the child of Zeus and Dione. Hesiod's account of her birth is more popular...

Ajax

(Encyclopedia)Ajax āˈjăks [key], Gr. Aias, in Greek mythology. 1 Hero of the Trojan War, son of Telamon, thus called the Telamonian Ajax, also called Ajax the Greater. In the Iliad he is represented as a giganti...

march, in music

(Encyclopedia)march, in music, composition intended to accompany marching. The only constant characteristics of a march are duple meter and a fairly simple rhythmic design. In mood, marches range from the moving de...

Cassiopeia, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Cassiopeia, in astronomy, prominent northern constellation located almost directly opposite the Big Dipper across the north celestial pole. Five bright stars in the constellation form a rough W (or M)...

impressionism, in music

(Encyclopedia)impressionism, in music, a French movement in the late 19th and early 20th cent. It was begun by Debussy in reaction to the dramatic and dynamic emotionalism of romantic music, especially that of Wagn...