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| "Nodder(s)"; spirits in early Roman religion that inhabit and control the operation of individual things or processes; could be summoned to work for human beings through the correct observation of ritual (the sacrificium). |
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| Well-known Roman numen (q.v.) of passageways; represented as a man with two faces, one looking forward, the other back. |
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| Original Roman numen (q.v.) of the sky; equated by the Romans with Zeus |
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| Original Roman numen of the women and the family; equated with the Greek Hera. |
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| Original Roman numen of wheat; equated with the Greek Demeter. |
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| Roman numen of the wood, women and childbirth; equated with the Greek Artemis. |
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| Roman name given to Hermes; name comes from the Latin word for "merchandise." |
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| Original god of volcanic fire; equated by the Romans with the Greek Hephaestus. |
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| Original Roman numen of water; came to be identified with the Greek Poseidon, the god of the sea. |
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| Original protector god of the flocks; Roman Ares. |
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| Etruscan numen of handicrafts; identified with Athena. |
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| "Kindly one"; the numen of terror produced by isolated places. |
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| Roman numen of freshwater springs, gardening, and thereby fertility; the Roman Aphrodite. |
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| Roman numina that protect the people in a household. |
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| Roman numina of the cupboard in a Roman house; protect food and implements of the household. |
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| The Roman Hestia; protectress of the house and hearth, becomes a national cult, which reflects the centrality of the family in Roman social and political order, in which the state was conceived of as a very large family. |
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| "Loyalty, duty"; critical concept in Roman social and political order; embodied by Aeneas in Vergil's Aeneid. |
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| Queen of Carthage; helps and is then abandoned by Aeneas. |
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| Local king in Italy who opposes allowing Aeneas and his people to settle. |
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| Daughter of Agenor, taken away by Zeus who disguised himself as a bull; becomes queen of Crete. |
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| Son of Europa and Zeus; king of Crete during its mythic zenith; leads his forces successfully against Athens. |
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| Wife of Minos, afflicted with a lust for the bull sent by Poseidon. |
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| Craftsman from Athens who built the Labyrinth, among other things. |
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| Half-man, half-bull monster born from the union between Pasiphaë and Poseidon's bull; locked in the Labyrinth and eventually killed by Theseus. |
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| Inescapable underground maze on Crete built by Daedalus to house the Minotaur. |
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| King of Megara betrayed by his daughter to Minos, who was attacking his city. |
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| Daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, who betrayed him to Minos who was attacking the city; when betrayed by Minos in turn, she became the clipper bird (Ciris). |
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| Rash son of Daedalus who died when the wax that held his wings together melted. |
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| "Cowland"; area in Greece to the northwest of Attic; its principal city of Thebes is richly productive in myth. |
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| "Sown-men"; so-called because they sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus; reputed ancestors of important aristocratic clans in Thebes. |
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| Mother by Zeus of Amphion and Sethus; pursued by Nycteus her father, Lycus, her uncle. |
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| One of Antiopê's twin sons; ruled in Thebes with his brother, Zethus; unlike Zethus, he was devoted to music |
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| One of Antiopê's twin sons; ruled in Thebes with his brother, Amphion; unlike Amphion, he was a man of ranching and practical affairs. |
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| Wife of Lycus; tormented Antiopê, mother of Amphion and Zethus, until she herself was put to death by the twins. |
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| Son of Labdacus and father of Oedipus; tried to avert the prophecy that he would be killed by his son, but in so trying, fulfilled it. |
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| Wife of Laius and mother/wife of Oedipus; kills herself when she learns truth of what has happened; called Epicastê by Homer |
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| "Swollen-foot"; son of Laius and Jocasta; raised in Corinth, he returns to Thebes where he unknowingly fulfills the prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. |
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| King of Argos, and sole survivor of an Argive expedition against Thebes to put Polynices on the throne. |
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| Exile from Calydon and one of the seven leaders against Thebes; was nearly made immortal by Athena, but Amphiaraüs thwarted it. |
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| Brother of Eteocles and son of Oedipus; died during the Argive expedition against Thebes to force his brother out. |
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| Prophet and one of the Argive leaders against Thebes; took part even though he knew he would die. |
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| Son of Creon; supported Antigonê's case against his father; killed himself when he realized she was dead. |
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| The sons of the seven Argive "Seven Against Thebes"; successfully attacked Thebes and ousted the king Laodamas. |
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| A daughter of Oedipus; defied Creon's order that the body of her brother Polynices remain unburied. |
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| Wife of Amphiaraüs, who orders him to participate in the Seven Against Thebes campaign. |
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| One of Oedipus's sons; defended Thebes against a coalition of kings led by his brother, Polynices. |
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| Daughter of Oedipus; is reluctant to help her sister, Antigonê, to defy Creon's order and bury their brother, Polynices |
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| Area of northern Greece; source of the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. |
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| Port city in Thessaly; home of Jason. |
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| Third century B.C. author of the Argonautica; his poetry reflects the Hellenistic aesthetic of minute descriptions and complicated characters. |
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| Son of Aeson, hero of the Argonautica. Lives in Corinth, tries to marry Glauce |
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| King of Orchomenus,; nearly tricked by his wife Nephelê into sacrificing his son Phrixus. |
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| Son of Athamas nearly sacrificed by his father; taken to Colchis on the Black Sea by a golden ram that appeared at the last moment |
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| Daughter of Athamas; taken away on the back of a golden ram; she fell off into a sea which thereafter is called the "Hellespont." |
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| "Sea of Hellê"; so called because Hellê, the daughter of Athamas, fell into this body of water after having been taken away by a golden ram. |
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| Distant town on the Black Sea; kingdom of Aeëtes, who had the golden fleece Jason seeks in the Argonautica. |
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| Mother of Pelias and Neleus by Poseidon and Aeson, the father of Jason, by Cretheus |
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| King in Iolcus who imprisons his half-brother Aeson and arranges to send Jason on the supposedly hopeless quest for the golden fleece; killed by his daughters who were tricked by Medea into cutting him up into pieces. |
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| Centaur on Mount Pelion who raised Jason. |
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| Sons of the North Wind (Zetes and Calaïs); able to fly and liberate Phineus from the Harpies. |
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| King of Salmydessus and prophet; offended Zeus by being too generous with his prophecies; his torment by the Harpies was ended by Jason and his crew. |
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| "Clashing Rocks" that barred access to the Black Sea; cleared by the Argonauts with the help of Athena. |
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| Daughter of King Aeëtes who helps Jason get the fleece. |
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| Son of Aeëtes and brother of Medea; joined in the pursuit of Jason and Medea after the fleece had been filched; he was either killed by Jason, or chopped by into bits which were thrown overboard piece by piece to delay the pursuit of Aeëtes. |
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| Bronze giant filled with ichor that guarded the island of Crete; overcome by Jason who drained him of the ichor. |
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| Area in Greece to the north of the western opening of the Corinthian gulf; main city is Calydon. |
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| Main city in the area of Aetolia, home of King Oeneus and location of the famous boar hunt. |
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| Mother of Meleager; in a rage over his murder of her brothers, she threw the magic log that protected him into the fire, thus killing him. |
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| Son of Oeneus and Althaea of Calydon; killed the boar that was ravaging his land, but violated the code of the hunt by giving its skin to Atalanta, whom he wished to seduce; eventually this brought about his death. |
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| Speedy athlete who took part in the boar hunt at Calydon; eventually married to Melanion who overcame her in a foot race; punished for their lusty consummation of the marriage in the precinct of Zeus by being turned into lions. |
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| Son of Tantalus, and victor of Oenomaüs in the chariot race; father of Atreus and Thyestes. |
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| King of Pisa and father of Hippodamia; defeated and killed in chariot race against Pelops. |
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| Daughter of Oenomaüs of Pisa; prize of the famed chariot race won by Pelops with the help of Myrtilus, Oenomaüs's aid. |
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| A son of Pelops; quarrels with brother Atreus over the kingship in Mycenae; tricked into eating his own sons by Atreus at the Banquet of Thyestes. |
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| Avenger son of Thyestes by his daughter Pelopia. |
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| Son of Pelops and father of Agamemnon and Menulaüs; quarrels with brother Thyestes over who rules in Mycenae. |
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| Son of Atreus and brother of Agamemnon; rules in Sparta after being awarded Helen by Tyndareüs; one of the generals in the Trojan War. |
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| Son of Atreus and brother of Menelaüs; rules in Mycenae; leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. |
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| Mother by Zeus and Tyndareüs of Helen, Clytemnestra, and Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux). |
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| Son of Leda and Zeus; brother of Castor, the other Dioscuri. |
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| Daughter of Zeus and Leda; married to Menelaüs and taken to Troy by Paris. |
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| Son of Leda and Tyndareüs; brother of Polydeuces; the other Dioscuri. |
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| Daughter of Tyndareüs and Leda; married to Agamemnon. |
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| Taken by the Greek kings to protect the one king who would finally marry Helen. |
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King of Phthia and father of Achilles.
Ajax Son of Telamon of Salamis (unless qualified by "the Lesser," "Ajax" always refers to Ajax the Greater); one of the most formidable Greek warriors in the Trojan War. |
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| Wife of Priam, King of Troy. |
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| Bay in Thessaly where the Greek forces mustered for the Trojan War; they were pinned down by contrary winds sent by Artemis there until Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter. |
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| Son of Odysseus of Ithaca; used by Palamedes to expose Odysseus's feigned insanity. |
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| Greek warrior noted for cleverness; credited with having created the alphabet among other things; exposed Odysseus's feigned madness to avoid the Trojan War. |
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| Prophet of the Greeks during the Trojan War |
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| Warrior abandoned by the Greeks on Lemnos. |
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| Achilles's war prize demanded by Agamemnon to compensate for his loss of Chryseïs; this is the prozimate cause of Achilles's wrath. |
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| Wife of Hector; her pathos-filled speech in which she tried to persuade Hector to remain in the city wall is one of the most famous passages in all literature. |
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| Leader of a force of Amazons on behalf of the Trojans; killed by Achilles. |
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| Son of Achilles; kills a son of Priam in front of his father's eyes. |
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| Trojan priest of Poseidon who tries to warn the Trojans against the Trojan Horse |
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| Youngest daughter of Priam; sacrificed after the war to the ghost of Achilles. |
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| Avenging son of Agamemnon; tried and acquitted of the murder of his mother in Athens before the first Court of the Areopagus. |
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| Faithful daughter of Agamemnon; assists her brother Orestes to exact revenge in Mycenae. |
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| Ancient pursuer of those who spill familial blood; chase Orestes to Athens, where they are finally disabled. |
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| "Kindly Ones"; new name for the Furies after being tamed by Athena. |
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| People encountered by Odysseus; the plant they eat induces a forgetful bliss that nearly costs Odysseus his men. |
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| Race of one-eyed, barbaric giants. |
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| Cyclops encountered and overcome by Odysseus. |
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| King of the winds; gives Odysseus a bag that contains the evil winds that will delay his return home; his men, thinking the bag contains treasures, foolishly open it |
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| Race of cannibals, the encounter with whom anticipates and contrasts with Odysseus's reception on Phaeacia. |
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| Witch who changes Odysseus's men to swine. |
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| Harpy-like beasts whose song lures sailors to their deaths on the shores; Odysseus has his men bind him to the mast so that he can hear their song. |
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| Enormous whirlpool just opposite the perch of the monster Scylla; Odysseus must navigate through the two. |
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| Man-eating monster whose perch is just opposite the great whirlpool, the Charybdis; Odysseus must navigate through the two. |
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| Beautiful nymph on the island of Ogygia with whom Odysseus stays for seven years; she offers Odysseus immortality if he will stay. |
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| Mythical sea-faring people, on whose island Odysseus is washed ashore after Calypso; Odysseus recounts his earlier adventures in their court |
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| Daughter of the king of Phaeacia; she is induced by Athena to go to the shore where Odysseus has washed up; she brings him to the palace. |
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| The faithful swineherd on Ithaca with whom Odysseus stays when first arriving home. |
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| Odysseus's former nursemaid on Ithaca; she recognizes Odysseus by his scar. |
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| Son of Odysseus; helps his father defeat the suitors. |
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| Historian of Rome (Ab urbe condita): his early history of Rome glorifies the selfless devotion of its legendary heroes. |
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| Son of Rhea Silvia and twin of Remus; kills his brother Remus to protect the walls of his new city, Rome. |
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| Son of Rhea Silvia and twin of Romulus; killed by his brother Romulus while ridiculing the walls of Romulus's new city: Rome. |
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| Vestal Virgin and mother by Mars of Romulus and Remus |
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| Neighboring people of the Romans whose daughters were abducted during a festival in Rome. |
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| Daughter of a Roman commander bribed by their enemies, the Sabines; name given to a cliff in Rome where traitors were thrown to their deaths. |
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| "Becoming a god"; Romulus's apotheosis is the mythic paradigm for later Roman emperors. |
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| Two sets of the tree brothers, who fought against each other to settle a war between the Romans and the Albans; Horatii were Roman, the Curiatii were Alban. Horatii are victorious. |
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| Last of the Etruscan kings in Rome; brought down because of the violence of his son Sextus Tarquin |
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| Dutiful and chaste wife of Tarquin Collatinus; her rape by Sextus Tarquin, a son of Tarquin the Proud, brought down Etruscan rule in Rome, after which Rome was a Republic. |
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| A leader in the revolt against Tarquin the Proud and hero of the Republic |
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| Early mythic hero of the Republic; defended a bridge against the advancing enemy single-handedly until it could be burned by the Romans in retreat. |
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| "Lefty"; Early mythic hero of the Roman Republic; so called because when captured and threatened with torture by the enemy, he thrust his right hand in a fire to show his pietas to Rome. |
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| Hero of Rome, who was exiled for his arrogance to men of common origins; withdrew an army he was leading against Rome when his wife begged him to spare her city and their children. |
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| Mythic hero of the Roman Republic; called to assume a dictatorship to meet a threat against Rome, he defeated the army and returned to his little farm within sixteen days. |
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| Structured, stylized celebratory parade given in Rome for a distinguished military achievement. |
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| Agamemnon's war prize demanded back by Apollo for Chryses, his priest and father of the girl. |
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| Son of Aeneas; founds Alba Long and is the ancestor of the Julian line of Roman Emperors. |
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