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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...

Religion, Wars of

(Encyclopedia)Religion, Wars of, 1562–98, series of civil wars in France, also known as the Huguenot Wars. The immediate issue was the French Protestants' struggle for freedom of worship and the right of establis...

maenads

(Encyclopedia)maenads mēˈnădz [key], in Greek and Roman religion and mythology, female devotees of Dionysus. They roamed mountains and forests, adorned with ivy and skins of animals, waving the thyrsus. When the...

Chaos

(Encyclopedia)Chaos kāˈōs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, vacant, unfathomable space. From it arose all things, earthly and divine. There are various legends explaining it. In one version, Eurynome rose ...

Gaea

(Encyclopedia)Gaea jēˈə [key], in Greek religion and mythology, the earth, daughter of Chaos, both mother and wife of Uranus (the sky) and Pontus (the sea). Among Gaea's offspring by Uranus were the Cyclopes, th...

Aratus, Greek poet

(Encyclopedia)Aratus ərāˈtəs [key], fl. 3d cent. b.c., Greek court poet, from Soli in Cilicia. He wrote an astronomical treatise, Phenomena, which was quoted by Paul at Athens. ...

Antenor, Greek sculptor

(Encyclopedia)Antenor ăntēˈnôr [key], fl. last half of 6th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor who executed the bronze statues of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton. In 480 b.c., Xerxes carried these statues awa...

Muses

(Encyclopedia)Muses, in Greek religion and mythology, patron goddesses of the arts, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Originally only three, they were later considered as nine. Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry a...

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