Part 2

ATLAS, was King of Mauritania, now Morocco, in Africa. He was also a great astronomer. He is depicted with the globe on his back, his name signifying great toil or labour. For his inhospitality to Perseus that king changed him into the mountain which bears his name of Atlas. A chain of mountains in Africa is called after him, and so is the Atlantic Ocean. He had seven daughters by his wife Pleione, they were called by one common name, Pleiades; and by his wife Æthra he had seven more, who were, in the same manner, called Hyades. Both the Pleiades and the Hyades are celestial constellations.

AT′REUS, the type of fraternal hatred. His dislike of his brother Thyestes went to the extent of killing and roasting his nephews, and inviting their father to a feast, which Thyestes thought was a sign of reconciliation, but he was the victim of his brother’s detestable cruelty.

“Medea must not draw her murdering knife, Nor Atreus there his horrid feast prepare.”

LORD ROSCOMMON.

AT′ROPOS, one of the three sisters called _The Fates_, who held the shears ready to cut the thread of life.

A′TYS, son of Crœsus, was born dumb, but when in a fight he saw a soldier about to kill the king, he gained speech, and cried out, “Save the king!” and the string that held his tongue was broken.

A′TYS was a youth beloved by Aurora, and was slain by her father, but, according to Ovid, was afterwards turned into a pine-tree.

AUG′ÆAS, a king of Elis, the owner of the stable which Hercules cleansed after three thousand oxen had been kept in it for thirty years. It was cleansed by turning the river Alpheus through it. Augæas promised to give Hercules a tenth part of his cattle for his trouble, but, for neglecting to keep his promise, Hercules shot him.

AU′GURY. This was a means adopted by the Romans of forming a judgment of futurity by the flight of birds, and the officiating priest was called an augur.

AURO′RA, the goddess of the morning,

“Whose rosy fingers ope the gates of day.”

She was daughter of Sol, the sun, and was the mother of the stars and winds. She is represented as riding in a splendid golden chariot drawn by white horses. The goddess loved Tithonus, and begged the gods to grant him immortality, but forgot to ask at the same time that he should not get old and decrepit. See Tithonus.

“... So soon as the all-cheering sun Should, in the farthest east, begin to draw The shady curtains of Aurora’s bed.”

SHAKESPEARE.

AUS′TER, the south wind, a son of Jupiter.

AVER′NUS, a poisonous lake, referred to by poets as being at the entrance of the infernal regions, but it was really a lake in Campania in Italy.

AVERRUN′CUS DEUS, a Roman god, who could divert people from evil doing.

AXE, see Dædalus.

BA′AL, a god of the Phœnicians.

BA′AL-PE′OR, a Moabitish god, associated with licentiousness and obscenity. The modern name is Belphegor.

BABES, see Rumina Dea.

BAC′CHANTES. The priestesses of Bacchus.

BAC′CHUS, the god of wine, was the son of Jupiter and Semele. He is said to have married Ariadne, daughter of Minos, King of Crete, after she was deserted by Theseus. The most distinguished of his children is Hymen, the god of marriage. Bacchus is sometimes referred to under the names of Dionysius, Biformis, Brisœus, Iacchus, Lenæus, Lyceus, Liber, and Liber Pater, the symbol of liberty. The god of wine is usually represented as crowned with vine and ivy leaves. In his left hand is a thyrsus, a kind of javelin, having a fir cone for the head, and being encircled with ivy or vine. His chariot is drawn by lions, tigers, or panthers.

“Jolly Bacchus, god of pleasure, Charmed the world with drink and dances.”

T. PARNELL, 1700.

BA′LIOS. A famous horse given by Neptune to Peleus as a wedding present, and was afterwards given to Achilles.

BARKER, see Anubis.

BASSAR′IDES. The priestesses of Bacchus were sometimes so called.

BATTLE, see Valhalla.

BEAR, see Calistro.

BEAUTY, see Venus.

BEES, see Mellona.

BELISA′MA, a goddess of the Gauls. The name means the Queen of Heaven.

BELLER′OPHON, a hero who destroyed a monster called the Chimæra.

BELLO′NA, the goddess of war, and wife of Mars. The 24th March was called Bellona’s Day, when her votaries cut themselves with knives and drank the blood of the sacrifice.

“In Diræ’s and in Discord’s steps Bellona treads, And shakes her iron rod above their heads.”

BELPHE′GOR, see Baal-Peor.

BE′LUS. The Chaldean name of the sun.

BERECYN′THIA, a name of Cybele, from a mountain where she was worshipped.

BI′FORMIS, a name of Bacchus, because he was accounted both bearded and beardless.

BIRDS, see Augury.

BIRTHS, see Lucina and Levana.

BLACKSMITH, see Brontes and Vulcan.

BLIND, see Thanyris.

BLUE EYES, see Glaukopis.

BO′NA DE′A. “The bountiful goddess,” whose festival was celebrated by the Romans with much magnificence. See Ceres.

BO′NUS EVEN′TUS. The god of good success, a rural divinity.

BO′REAS, the north wind, son of Astræus and Aurora.

“... I snatched her from the rigid north, Her native bed, on which bleak Boreas blew, And bore her nearer to the sun....”

YOUNG, 1710.

BOUNDARIES, see Terminus.

BOXING, see Pollux.

BRAH′MA. The great Indian deity, represented with four heads looking to the four quarters of the globe.

BRI′AREUS, see Ægeon.

BRIS′ÆUS. A name of Bacchus, referring to the use of grapes and honey.

BRONT′ES, one of the Cyclops. He is the personification of a blacksmith.

BUBO′NA, goddess of herdsmen, one of the rural divinities.

BUD′DAH. A pagan deity, the Vishnu of the Hindoos.

BYB′LIS. A niece of Sol, mentioned by Ovid. She shed so many tears for unrequited love that she was turned into a fountain.

“Thus the Phœbeian Byblis, spent in tears, Becomes a living fountain, which yet bears Her name.”

OVID.

CAB′IRI. The mysterious rites connected with the worship of these deities were so obscene that most writers refer to them as secrets which it was unlawful to reveal.

CAC′ODÆ′MON. Greek name of an evil spirit.

CA′CUS, a three-headed monster and robber.

CAD′MUS, one of the earliest of the Greek demigods. He was the reputed inventor of letters, and his alphabet consisted of sixteen letters. It was Cadmus who slew the Bœotian dragon, and sowed its teeth in the ground, from each of which sprang up an armed man.

CADU′CEUS. The rod carried by Mercury. It has two winged serpents entwined round the top end. It was supposed to possess the power of producing sleep, and Milton refers to it in _Paradise Lost_ as the “opiate rod.”

CALIS′TRO, an Arcadian nymph, who was turned into a she-bear by Jupiter. In that form she was hunted by her son Arcas, who would have killed her had not Jupiter turned him into a he-bear. The nymph and her son form the constellations known as the Great Bear and Little Bear.

CALLI′OPE. The Muse who presided over epic poetry and rhetoric. She is generally depicted using a stylus and wax tablets, the ancient writing materials.

CAL′PE. One of the pillars of Hercules.

CALYP′SO was queen of the island of Ogygia, on which Ulysses was wrecked, and where he was persuaded to remain seven years.

CA′MA. The Indian god of love and marriage.

CAMIL′LUS, a name of Mercury, from his office of minister to the gods.

CAN′ACHE. The name of one of Actæon’s hounds.

CANO′BA. The Indian Apollo.

CANO′PUS. The Egyptian god of water, the conqueror of fire.

CAP′IS or CAP′ULA. A peculiar cup with ears, used in drinking the health of the deities.

CAPITOLI′NUS. A name of Jupiter, from the Capitoline hill, on the top of which a temple was built and dedicated to him.

CAP′RI′PEDES. Pan, the Egipans, the Satyrs, and Fauns, were so called from having goats’ feet.

CAPROTI′NA. A name of Juno.

CASSAN′DRA, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, who was granted by Apollo the power of seeing into futurity, but having offended that god he prevented people from believing her predictions.

CASSIOPE′IA. The Ethiopian queen who set her beauty in comparison with that of the Nereides, who thereupon chained her to a rock and left her to be devoured by a sea-monster, but she was delivered by Perseus.

CASTA′LIA. One of the fountains in Mount Parnassus, sacred to the Muses.

CASTA′LI′DES, a name of the Muses, from the fountain Castalia or Castalius.

CAS′TOR, son of Jupiter and Leda, twin brother of Pollux, noted for his skill in horsemanship. He went with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece.

CAU′THER, in Mohammedan mythology, is the lake of paradise, whose waters are as sweet as honey, as cold as snow, and as clear as crystal; and any believer who tastes thereof is said to thirst no more.

CEL′ENO was one of the Harpies, progenitor of Zephyrus, the west wind.

CEN′TAUR. A huntsman who had the fore-part like a man, and the remainder of the body like a horse. The Centauri lived in Thessaly.

CEP′HALUS was married to Procris, whom he accidentally slew by shooting her, while she was secretly watching him, he thinking she was a wild beast. Cephalus was the type of constancy.

CERAU′NIUS. A Greek name of Jupiter, meaning The Fulminator, from his thunderbolts.

CER′BERUS. Pluto’s famous three-headed dog, which guarded the gate of the infernal regions, preventing the living from entering, and the inhabitants from going out.

“Three-headed Cerberus, by fate Posted at Plato’s iron gate; Low crouching rolls his haggard eyes, Ecstatic, and foregoes his prize.”

CEREMONIES, see Themis.

CE′RES, daughter of Saturn, the goddess of agriculture, and of the fruits of earth. She taught Triptolemus how to grow corn, and sent him to teach the inhabitants of the earth. She was known by the names of Magna Dea, Bona Dea, Alma Mammosa, and Thesmorphonis. Ceres was the mother of Prosperine. See Ambarvalia.

“To Ceres bland, her annual rites be paid On the green turf beneath the fragrant shade.-- ... Let all the hinds bend low at Ceres’ shrine, Mix honey sweet for her with milk and mellow wine, Thrice lead the victim the new fruits around, On Ceres call, and choral hymns resound.”

“Ceres was she who first our furrows ploughed, Who gave sweet fruits and every good allowed.”

POPE.

CES′TUS, the girdle of Venus, which excited irresistible affection.

CHA′OS allegorically represented the confused mass of matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the world, and out of which the world was formed.

“... Behold the throne Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread Wide on the wasteful deep; with him enthroned Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of all things, The consort of his reign.”

MILTON.

CHAR′ON was the son of Nox and Erebus. He was the ferryman who conveyed the spirits of the dead, in a boat, over the rivers Acheron and Styx to the Elysian Fields. “Charon’s toll” was a coin put into the hands of the dead with which to pay the grim ferryman.

“From the dark mansions of the dead, Where Charon with his lazy boat Ferries o’er Lethe’s sedgy moat.”

CHARYB′DIS. A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily. Personified, it was supposed to have been a woman who plundered travellers, but was at last killed by Hercules. Scylla and Charybdis are generally spoken of together to represent alternative dangers.

“Charybdis barks, and Polyphemus roars.”

FRANCIS.

CHE′MOS. The Moabitish god of war.

CHILDREN, see Nundina.

CHIMÆ′RA. A wild illusion, personified in the monster slain by Bellerophon. It had the head and breast of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent. It used to vomit fire.

... “And on the craggy top Chimera dwells, with lion’s face and mane, A goat’s rough body and a serpent’s train.”

POPE.

“First, dire Chimera’s conquest was enjoyned, A mingled monster of no mortal kind. Behind, a dragon’s fiery tail was spread, A goat’s rough body bore a lion’s head, Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire, Her gaping throat emits infernal fire.”

MILTON.

CHI′RON, the centaur who taught Achilles hunting, music, and the use of medicinal herbs. Jupiter placed him amongst the stars, where he appears as Sagittarius the Archer.

CHLO′RIS. The Greek name of Flora, the goddess of flowers.

CHOU. An Egyptian god corresponding to the Roman Hercules.

CHRO′NOS. Time, the Grecian name of Saturn.

CIL′LAROS, see Cyllaros.

CIR′CE, daughter of the Sun. The knowledge of poisonous herbs enabled her to destroy her husband, the King of the Sarmatians, for which act she was banished. When Ulysses landed at Æcea, where she lived, she turned all his followers into swine.

CISSE′TA. The name of one of Actæon’s hounds.

CITHER′IDES. A name of the Muses, from Mount Citheron.

CLI′O. One of the Muses, daughter of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. She presided over history.

CLOACI′NA. The Roman goddess of sewers.

CLO′THO was one of the Fates. She was present at births, and held the distaff from which was spun the thread of life. See Atropos and Lachesis.

CLOWNS OF LY′CIA, THE, were changed into frogs by Latona, because they refused to allow her to drink at one of their streamlets.

CLU′ACI′NA. A name of Venus, given to her at the time of the reconciliation of the Romans and the Sabines, which was ratified near a statue of the goddess.

CLY′TEMNES′TRA, wife of Agamemnon, slew her husband and married Ægisthus. She attempted to kill her son Orestes, but he was delivered by his sister Electra, who sent him away to Strophius. He afterwards returned and slew both Clytemnestra and Ægisthus.

CLYT′IE. A nymph who got herself changed into a sunflower because her love of Apollo was unrequited. In the form of this flower she is still supposed to be turning towards Sol, a name of Apollo.

CNEPH. In Egyptian mythology the creator of the universe.

COCY′TUS, the river of Lamentation. One of the five rivers of the infernal regions.

“Infernal rivers that disgorge Into the burning lake their baleful streams. ... Cocytus, named of lamentation loud, Heard on the rueful stream.”

MILTON.

CŒ’CULUS, a violent robber, was a son of Vulcan.

CŒ’LUS, also called Uranus (or Heaven), was the most ancient of the gods.

CŒ′NA SALIA′RIS, see Ancilia.

COLLI′NA was one of the rural deities, the goddess of hills.

COMEDY, see Thalia.

CO′MUS was the god of revelry. He presided over entertainments and feasts.

CON′CORD. The symbol of Concord was two right hands joined, and a pomegranate.

CONCOR′DIA. The goddess of peace. One of the oldest Roman goddesses. She is represented as holding a horn of plenty in one hand, and in the other a sceptre, from which fruit is sprouting forth.

CONSTANCY, see Cephalus.

CONSU′ALIA. Games sacred to Neptune.

CON′SUS. A name given to Neptune as being the god of counsel.

COPHE′TUA. A legendary king of Africa, who disliked women, but ultimately fell in love with a “beggar-maid,” as mentioned in _Romeo and Juliet_.

“... Cupid, he that shot so trim When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid.”

SHAKESPEARE.

CO′PIA, the goddess of plenty.

CO′RAN. One of Actæon’s hounds was so named.

CORN, see Ceres.

COR′ONIS, was a consort of Apollo and mother of Æsculapius. Another Coronis was daughter of a king of Phocis, and was changed by Athena into a crow.

CORYBAN′TES were priests of Cybele. They obtained the name because they were in the habit of striking themselves in their dances.

CORY′DON. A silly love-sick swain mentioned by Virgil.

CORY′THAIX. A name given to Mars, meaning Shaker of the Helmet.

COTYT′TO. The Athenian goddess of immodesty.

“Hail! goddess of nocturnal sport, Dark-veiled Cotytto, to whom the secret flame Of midnight torches burns; mysterious dame.”

MILTON.

COUNSEL, see Consus.

CREDITORS, see Jani.

CROW, see Coronis.

CULTIVATED LAND, see Sylvester.

CUP-BEARER, see Ganymede.

CU′PID, the god of love, was the son of Jupiter and Venus. He is represented as a naked, winged boy, with a bow and arrows, and a torch. When he grew up to be a man he married Psyche.

“For Venus did but boast one only son, And rosy Cupid was that boasted one; He, uncontroll’d, thro’ heaven extends his sway, And gods and goddesses by turns obey.

EUSDEN, 1713.

CUVE′RA. The Indian god of wealth, corresponding to the Greek Plutus.

CY′BELE. The mother of the gods, and hence called Magna Mater. She was wife of Saturn. She is sometimes referred to under the names of Ceres, Rhea, Ops, and Vesta. She is represented as riding in a chariot drawn by lions. In one hand she holds a sceptre, and in the other a key. On her head is a castellated crown, to notify that she was the first to protect castles and walls with towers.

“Nor Cybele with half so kind an eye Surveyed her sons and daughters of the sky.”

DRYDEN.

“Might she the wise Latona be, Or the towered Cybele, Mother of a hundred gods, Juno dares not give her odds.”

MILTON.

CY′CLOPS or CY′CLOPES were the gigantic, one-eyed workmen of Vulcan, who made Jove’s thunderbolts. Hesiod gives their names as Arges, Brontes, and Steropes.

“Meantime, the Cyclop raging with his wound, Spreads his wide arms, and searches round and round.”

POPE.

CYG′NUS, the bosom friend of Phaëton. He died of grief on the death of his friend, and was turned into a swan.

CYLL′AROS, one of Castor’s horses. The colour is mentioned as being coal-black, with white legs and tail. See Cillaros.

CYL′LO. The name of one of Actæon’s hounds, which was lame.

CYLLOP′OTES. A name given to one of Actæon’s hounds which limped.

CYN′OSURE. One of the nurses of Jupiter, turned by the god into a conspicuous constellation.

“Towers and battlements it sees Bosomed high in tufted trees, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The Cynosure of neighbouring eyes.”

MILTON.

CYPARIS′SUS. A boy of whom Apollo was very fond; and when he died he was changed, at Apollo’s intercession, into a cypress tree, the branches of which typify mourning.

CY′PRESS, see Cyparissus.

CY′PRIA. A name of Venus, because she was worshipped in the island of Cyprus.

CYTH′ERA. A name of Venus, from the island to which she was wafted in the shell.

DACTY′LI were priests of Cybele. They were given the name, because, like the fingers, they were ten in number.

DÆD′ALUS was a great architect and sculptor. He invented the wedge, the axe, the level, and the gimlet, and was the first to use sails. Dædalus also constructed the famous labyrinth for Minos, King of Crete. See Icarus.

“Now Dædalus, behold, by fate assigned, A task proportioned to thy mighty mind.”

POPE.

DA′GON. A god of the Philistines, half man half fish, like the mermaid. Milton describes him as “Upward man and downward fish.”

DA′HAK. The Persian devil.

DAI′TYAS. In Hindoo mythology the devils or evil gods.

DAN′Æ was a daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice. She had a son by Jupiter, who was drifted out to sea in a boat, but was saved by Polydectes and educated.

DANA′IDES, see Danaus.

DANA′US, King of Argos, was the father of fifty daughters, who, all but one, at the command of their father, slew their husbands directly after marriage. For this crime they were condemned to the task of for ever trying to draw water with vessels without any bottoms. See Hypermnestra.

DANCING, see Terpsichore.

DANGERS, see Scylla.

DAPH′NE. The goddess of the earth. Apollo courted her, but she fled from him, and was, at her own request, turned into a laurel tree.

“... As Daphne was Root-bound, that fled Apollo.”

MILTON.

DAR′DANUS, a son of Jupiter, who built the city of Dardania, and by some writers was accounted the founder of Troy.

DEAD-TOLL, see Charon.

DEATH, see Nox.

DECEIVER, THE, see Apaturia.

DEIANI′RA, daughter of Œneus, was wife of Hercules. See Hercules.

DE′LOS, a name of Apollo, from the island in which he was born.

DEL′PHI. A town on Mount Parnassus, famous for its oracle, and for a temple of Apollo. See Delphos.

DEL′PHICUS. A name of Apollo, from Delphi.

DEL′PHOS, the place where the temple was built from which the oracle of Apollo was given.

DE′MARUS. The Phœnician name of Jupiter.

DE′MOGOR′GON was the tyrant genius of the soil or earth, the life and support of plants. He was depicted as an old man covered with moss, and was said to live underground. He is sometimes called the king of the elves and fays.

“Which wast begot in Demogorgon’s hall And saw’st the secrets of the world unmade.”

SPENCER.

DEUCHA′LION, one of the demigods, son of Prometheus and Pyrra. He and his wife, by making a ship, survived the deluge which Jupiter sent on the earth, circa 1503 B.C.

DEVIL, see Dahak, Daityas, and Obambou.

DI′ANA, goddess of hunting and of chastity. She was the sister of Apollo, and daughter of Jupiter and Latona. She was known amongst the Greeks as Diana or Phœbe, and was honoured as a triform goddess. As a celestial divinity she was called Luna; as a terrestrial Diana or Dictynna; and in the infernal regions Hecate.

DICTYN′NA, a Greek name of Diana as a terrestrial goddess.

DI′DO. A daughter of Belus, King of Tyre. It was this princess who bought a piece of land in Africa as large as could be encompassed by a bullock’s hide, and when the purchase was completed, cut the hide into strips, and so secured a large tract of land. Here she built Carthage; and Virgil tells that when Æneas was shipwrecked on the neighbouring coast, she received him with every kindness, and at last fell in love with him. But Æneas did not reciprocate her affections, and this so grieved her that she stabbed herself. A tale is told in _Facetiæ Cantabrigienses_ of Professor Porson, who being one of a set party, the conversation turned on the subject of punning, when Porson observing that he could pun on any subject, a person present defied him to do so on the Latin gerunds, _di_, _do_, _dum_, which, however, he immediately did in the following admirable couplet:--

“When Dido found Æneas would not come, She mourned in silence, and was _Dido dumb_.”

DI′ES PA′TER, or Father of the Day, a name of Jupiter.

DII SELEC′TI composed the second class of gods. They were Cœlus, Saturn, Genius, Oreus, Sol, Bacchus, Terra, and Luna.

DIN′DYME′NE. A name of Cybele, from a mountain where she was worshipped.

“Nor Dindymene, nor her priest possest, Can with their sounding cymbals shake the breast Like furious anger.”

FRANCIS.

DIOME′DES, the cruel tyrant of Thrace, who fed his mares on the flesh of his guests, was overcome by Hercules, and was given to the same horses as food.

DIO′NE. A poetic name of Venus.

DIONY′SIA were festivals in honour of Bacchus.

DIONY′SIUS. A name of Bacchus, either from his father Jupiter (Dios), or from his nurses, the nymphs called Nyseæ.

DI′OS, a name of Jupiter.

DIOS′CURI. Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter.

DI′RÆN. A name of the Furies.

DIS. A name of Pluto, god of hell, signifying riches.

“... That fair field Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis Was gathered.”

MILTON.

DISCORD, see Ate.

DISCOR′DIA, sister of Nemesis, the Furies, and Death, was driven from heaven for having sown discord amongst the gods.

DISEASES, see Pandora.

DISTAFF, see Pallas.

DODO′NA was a celebrated oracle of Jupiter.

“O where, Dodona, is thine aged grove, Prophetic fount, and oracle divine?”

BYRON.

DODONÆ′US. A name of Jupiter, from the city of Dodona.

DOG, see Lares.

DOLA′BRA. The knife used by the priests to cut up the sacrifices.

DOL′PHIN, see Arion.

DOOR′GA. A Hindoo goddess.

DO′RIS was daughter of Oceanus, and sister of Nereus, two of the marine deities. From these two sisters sprang the several tribes of water nymphs.

DO′TO. One of the Nereids or sea nymphs.

DRA′CO. One of Actæon’s hounds.

DRAGON, seven-headed, see Geryon.

DREAMS, see Morpheus.

DRY′ADS were rural deities, the nymphs of the forests, to whom their votaries offered oil, milk, and honey.