Part 4
I′O was a daughter of Inachus, and a priestess of Juno at Argus. Jupiter courted her, and was detected by Juno, when the god turned Io into a beautiful heifer. Juno demanded the beast of Jupiter, and set the hundred-eyed Argus to watch her. Jupiter persuaded Mercury to destroy Argus, and Io was set at liberty, and restored to human shape. Juno continued her persecutions, and Io had to wander from place to place till she came to Egypt, where she became wife of King Osiris, and won such good opinions from the Egyptians that after her death she was worshipped as the goddess Isis.
IOLA′US, son of Iphicles, assisted Hercules in conquering the Hydra, by burning with hot irons the place where the heads were cut off; and for his assistance he was restored to youth by Hebe. Lovers used to go to his monument at Phosis and ratify their vows of fidelity.
IO′THUN. Celtic mythological monsters, or giants.
IPH′ICLUS was twin brother of Hercules, and father of Iolaus.
IPHIGENI′A was a daughter of Agamemnon. He made a vow to Diana, which involved the sacrifice of Iphigenia, but just at the critical moment she was carried to heaven, and a beautiful goat was found on the altar in her place.
I′RIS, daughter of Thaumas and Electra, was the attendant of Juno, and one of the messengers of the gods. Her duty was to cut the thread which detained expiring souls. She is the personification of the rainbow.
IRON, see Vulcan.
I′SIS, wife of Osiris, see Io.
I′TYS was killed by his mother Progne when six years old, and given to his father Tereus as food. The gods were so enraged at this that they turned Itys into a pheasant, Progne into a swallow, and Tereus into an owl.
IXI′ON was son of Phlegyas, King of the Lapithæ. For attempting to produce thunder, Jupiter cast him into hell, and had him bound to a wheel, surrounded with serpents, which is for ever turning over a river of fire.
“The powers of vengeance, while they hear, Touched with compassion, drop a tear; Ixion’s rapid wheel is bound, Fixed in attention to the sound.”
F. LEWIS.
“Or, as Ixion fix’d, the wretch shall feel The giddy motion of the whirling wheel.”
POPE.
J′ANI was a place in Rome where there were three statues of Janus, and it was a meeting-place for usurers and creditors.
JA′NITOR. A title of Janus, from the gates before the doors of private houses being called Januæ.
JA′NUS. A king of Italy, said to have been the son of Cœlus, others say of Apollo; he sheltered Saturn when he was driven from heaven by Jupiter. Janus presided over highways, gates, and locks, and is usually represented with two faces. A brazen temple was erected to him in Rome, which was always open in time of war, and closed during peace.
“Old Janus, if you please, Grave two-faced father.”
“In two-faced Janus we this moral find,-- While we look forward, we should glance behind.”
COLMAN.
JAP′ETUS, son of Cœlus and Terra, husband of Clymene. He was looked upon by the Greeks as the father of mankind. See Iapetos.
JA′SON was son of Æson, king of Iolcos; he was brought up by the centaur Chiron. His uncle Æta sent him to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis (see Argonauts). He went in the ship Argo with forty-nine companions, the flower of Greek youth. With the help of Juno they got safe to Colchis, but the King Ætes promised to restore the Golden Fleece only on condition that the Argonauts performed certain services. Jason was to tame the wild fiery bulls, and to make them plough the field of Mars; to sow in the ground the teeth of a serpent, from which would spring armed men who would fight against him who ploughed the field of Mars; to kill the fiery dragon which guarded the tree on which the Golden Fleece was hung. The fate of Jason and the rest of the Argonauts seemed certain; but Medea, the king’s daughter, fell in love with Jason, and with the help of charms which she gave him he overcame all the difficulties which the king had put in his way. He took away the Golden Fleece and Medea also. The king sent his son Absyrtus to overtake the fugitives, but Medea killed him, and strewed his limbs in his father’s path, so that he might be delayed in collecting them, and this enabled Jason and Medea to escape. After a time Jason got tired of Medea, and married Glauce, which cruelty Medea revenged by killing her children before their father’s eyes. Jason was accidentally killed by a beam of the ship Argo falling on him.
JOCAS′TA (otherwise Epicasta), wife of Laius, King of Thebes, who in after life married her own son, Œdipus, not knowing who he was, and, on discovering the fatal mistake, hanged herself.
JOVE. A very general name of Jupiter.
“From the great father of the gods above My muse begins, for all is full of Jove.”
VIRGIL.
JUDGES IN HELL, THE, were Rhadamanthus for Asiatics; Æacus for Europeans; Minos was the presiding judge. See Triptolemus.
JUGATIN′US was one of the nuptial deities.
JU′NO was the daughter of Saturn and Ops, _alias_ Cybele. She was married to Jupiter, and became queen of all the gods and goddesses, and mistress of heaven and earth. Juno was the mother of Mars, Vulcan, Hebe, and Lucina. She prompted the gods to conspire against Jupiter, but the attempt was frustrated, and Apollo and Neptune were banished from heaven by Jupiter. Juno is the goddess of marriage, and the protectress of married women; and she had special regard for virtuous women. In the competition for the celebrated Golden Apple, which Juno, Venus, and Minerva each claimed as the fairest amongst the goddesses, Juno was much displeased when Paris gave the apple to Venus. The goddess is generally represented riding in a chariot drawn by peacocks, with a diadem on her head, and a sceptre in her hand.
JU′PITER, son of Saturn and Cybele (or Ops), was born on Mount Ida, in Crete, and nourished by the goat Amalthæa. When quite young Jupiter rescued his father from the Titans; and afterwards, with the help of Hercules, defeated the giants, the sons of earth, when they made war against heaven. Jupiter was worshipped with great solemnity under various names by most of the heathen nations. The Africans called him Ammon; the Babylonians, Belus; and the Egyptians, Osiris (see Jove). He was represented as a majestic personage seated on a throne, holding in his hands a sceptre and a thunderbolt; at his feet stood a spread eagle.
“By Jupiter, this shall not be revoked.”
SHAKESPEARE.
JUSTICE, see Astrea, Nemesis.
KALI. A Hindoo goddess, after whom Calcutta is named.
KA′LOC. One of the chief of the Mexican gods.
KAM′A. The Hindoo god of love.
KEB′LA. The point of the compass which worshippers look to during their invocations. Thus the Sol or Sun worshippers turn to the east, where the sun rises, and the Mohammedans turn towards Mecca.
KE′DERLI, in Mohammedan mythology, is a god corresponding to the English St. George, and is still invoked by the Turks when they go to war.
KI′UN. The Egyptian Venus.
KNEPH. An Egyptian god, having a ram’s head and a man’s body.
KRISH′NA. An Indian god, the revenger of wrongs; also called the Indian Apollo.
KRO′DO. The Saxon Saturn.
KU′MA′RA. The war-god of the Hindoos.
KU′VERA. The Hindoo god of riches.
LA′BE. The Arabian Circe, who had unlimited power of metamorphosis.
LA′BOUR, see Atlas, Hercules.
LABYRINTH, see Theseus.
LACH′ESIS. One of the three Fates or Parcæ. She spun the thread of life.
LACIN′IA. A name of Juno.
LACTURA. One of the goddesses of growing corn.
LA′DON. The dragon which guarded the apples in the garden of the Hesperides. Also the name of one of Actæon’s hounds. Also the river to which Syrinx fled when pursued by Pan, where she was changed into a reed, and where Pan made his first pipe.
LÆ′LAPS. One of Diana’s hunting dogs, which, while pursuing a wild boar, was petrified. Also the name of one of Actæon’s hounds.
LAKS′MI. Hindoo goddess of wealth and pleasure. One of the husbands of Vishnu.
LAMENTATION, see Cocytus.
LAM′IA. An evil deity amongst the Greeks and Romans, and the great dread of their children, whom she had the credit of constantly enticing away and destroying.
LAMP, see Lares and Penates.
LAM′POS. One of Aurora’s chariot horses, the other being Phæton.
LAOC′OON. One of the priests of Apollo, who was, with his two sons, crushed to death by serpents, because he opposed the admission of the wooden horse to Troy.
LAOM′EDON, son of Ilus, a Trojan king. He was famous for having, with the assistance of Apollo and Neptune, built the walls of Troy.
LAP′IS. The oath stone. The Romans used to swear by Jupiter Lapis.
LAP′ITHUS, son of Apollo. His numerous children were called Lapithæ, and they are notorious for their fight with the centaurs at the nuptial feast of Perithous and Hippodamia.
LA′RES and PEN′ATES were sons of Mercury and Lara, or, as other mythologists say, of Jupiter and Lamida. They belonged to the lower order of Roman gods, and presided over homes and families. Their statues were generally fixed within the doors of houses, or near the hearths. Lamps were sacred to them, as symbols of vigilance, and the dog was their sacrifice.
LARK, see Scylla and Nysus.
LATO′NA, daughter of Cœus and Phœbus, mother of Apollo and Diana. Being admired so much by Jupiter, Juno was jealous, and Latona was the object of the goddess’s constant persecution.
LAUGHTER, see Momus and Venus.
LAU′REL, see Daphne.
LAVER′NA. The goddess of thieves.
LAW, see Menu.
LAWGIVER, see Nomius.
LAWS, see Themis.
LEAN′DER, see Hero.
LEATHER BOTTLE, see Ascolia.
LE′DA was the mother of Castor and Pollux, their father being Jupiter, in the shape of a swan. After her death she received the name of Nemesis.
LEM′NIUS. One of the names of Vulcan.
LEM′URES. The spectres of departed souls. Milton, in his “Ode to the Nativity,” says--
“Lemures moan with midnight plaint.”
They are sometimes referred to as the Manes of the dead.
LENÆ′US. One of the names of Bacchus.
LER′NA. The lake near Argos where Hercules conquered the Hydra.
LE′THE. One of the rivers of the infernal regions, of which the souls of the departed are obliged to drink to produce oblivion or forgetfulness of everything they did or knew while alive on the earth.
“A slow and silent stream, Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks Forthwith his former state and being forgets, Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain.”
MILTON.
LEUCOTH′EA. The name of Ino after she was transformed into a sea-nymph.
LEVA′NA. The deity who presided over new-born infants.
LEVEL, THE, see Dædalus.
LIAK′URA. Mount Parnassus.
LIBERAL ARTS, see Minerva.
LIB′ER PAT′ER. A name of Bacchus.
LIBERTY, see Bacchus.
LIB′ISSA. Queen of fays and fairies.
LIBITI′NA. The chief of the funeral deities.
LICENTIOUSNESS, see Belphegor.
LIGE′A. A Greek syren or sea-nymph.
LIGHTNING, see Agni.
LI′LITH. A Jewish myth who is a great enemy to new-born children. She was said to have been Adam’s first wife, but, refusing to submit to him, was turned from Paradise and made a spectre.
LI′NA. The goddess of the art of weaving.
LIN′DOR. A lover in the shape of a shepherd, like Corydon; a love-sick swain.
LION, see Atalanta, Chimæra.
LIVER, see Tityus and Prometheus.
LOCKS, see Janus.
LO′FEN. The Scandinavian god who guards friendship.
LOF′UA. The Scandinavian goddess who reconciles lovers.
LOKE. The Scandinavian Satan, the god of strife, the spirit of evil.
LO′TIS. A daughter of Neptune, who fled from Priapus, and only escaped from him by being transformed into a lotus-plant.
LO′TUS-PLANT, see Lotis.
LOVE, see Cupid, Eros, Venus.
LU′CIAN. The impersonation of folly, changed into an ass.
LU′CIFER. The morning star.
LUCI′NA. The goddess who presides at the birth of children. She was a daughter of Jupiter and Juno.
“Lucina, hail! So named from thine own grove, Or from the light thou giv’st us from above.”
OVID.
LUD. In ancient British mythology the king of the Britons.
LU′NA. The name of Diana as a celestial divinity. See Diana and Hecate.
LU′PERCUS, or Pan. The Roman god of fertility; his festival day was 15th February, and the festivals were called Lupercalia.
LYCAON′IAN FOOD. Execrable viands, such as were supplied to Jupiter by Lycaon. To test the divine knowledge of the god he served up human flesh, which Jove discovered, and punished Lycaon by turning him into a wolf.
LYCIAN CLOWNS were turned into frogs by Latona or Ceres.
LYMNI′ADES. Nymphs who resided in marshes.
LYN′CEUS. One of the Argonauts. The personification of sharpsightedness.
LYRE. This musical instrument is constantly associated with the doings of the ancient deities. Amphion built the walls of Thebes by the music of his lyre. Arion charmed the dolphins in a similar way. Hercules broke the head of Linus, his music master, with the lyre he was learning to use; and Orpheus charmed the most savage beasts, and even the Harpies and gods of the infernal regions, with the enchanting music of the lyre. See Mercury.
MÆN′ADES. Priestesses of Bacchus.
MAGICIANS, see Telchines.
MAG′NA DE’A, a name of Ceres.
MAGPIES, see Pierides.
MA′HA′SOOR. The Hindoo god of evil.
MA′IA. The mother of the Grecian Mercury.
MAM′MON. The money-god.
MA′NES. The souls of the departed. The god of funerals and tombs.
“All have their Manes, and their Manes bear. The few who’re cleansed to those abodes repair, And breathe in ample fields the soft Elysian air.”
MANURING LAND, see Picumnus.
MARCH 24, Bellona’s Day. See Bellona.
MARI′NA. A name of Venus, meaning sea-foam, from her having been formed from the froth of the sea. See Aphrodite.
MARRIAGE, see Cama, Hymen, Juno, Jugatinus.
MARS, the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. Venus was his favourite goddess, and amongst their children were Cupid, Anteros, and Harmonia. In the Trojan War Mars took the part of the Trojans, but was defeated by Diomedes.
MARSHES, see Lymniades.
MAR′SYAS. The name of the piper who challenged Apollo to a musical contest, and, being defeated, was flayed to death by the god. He was the supposed inventor of the flute.
MA′RUT. The Hindoo god of tempestuous winds.
MATU′RA. One of the rural deities who protected the growing corn at time of ripening.
MAX′IMUS. One of the appellations of Jupiter, being the greatest of the gods.
MEASURES and WEIGHTS, see Mercury.
MEDE′A. Wife of Jason, chief of the Argonauts. See Jason.
“Now to Medæa’s dragons fix my reins.”
F. LEWIS.
“Let not Medea draw her murdering knife, And spill her children’s blood upon the stage.”
LORD ROSCOMMON.
MEDICINE, see Apollo.
MEDITATION, see Harpocrates.
MEDU′SA. One of the Gorgons. Minerva changed her beautiful hair into serpents. She was conquered by Perseus, who cut off her head, and placed it on Minerva’s shield. Every one who looked at the head was turned into stone.
Ulysses, in the Odyssey, says he wished to see more of the inhabitants of Hades, but was afraid, as he says--
“Lest Gorgon, rising from the infernal lakes, With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes, Should fix me, stiffened at the monstrous sight, A stony image in eternal night.”
POPE.
“Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards The ford.”
MILTON.
“Remove that horrid monster, and take hence Medusa’s petrifying countenance.”
ADDISON.
MEG′ÆRA. One of the three Furies.
MEG′ALE. A Greek name of Juno, meaning great.
MELICER′TA, see Palæmon.
MELLO′NA. One of the rural divinities, the goddess of bees.
MELPOM′ENE. One of the Muses, the goddess of tragedy.
MEMORY, see Mnemosyne.
MEN′DES. An Egyptian god like Pan. He was worshipped in the form of a goat.
MENELA′US. A Spartan king. The elopement of his wife Helen with Paris was the origin of the siege of Troy. See Helena.
ME′NU. The Hindoo god of law. See Satyavrata.
MERCHANTS, see Mercury.
MER′CURY, the son of Jupiter and Maia, was the messenger of the gods, and the conductor of the souls of the dead to Hades. He was the supposed inventor of weights and measures, and presided over orators and merchants. Mercury was accounted a most cunning thief, for he stole the bow and quiver of Apollo, the girdle of Venus, the trident of Neptune, the tools of Vulcan, and the sword of Mars, and he was therefore called the god of thieves. He is the supposed inventor of the lyre, which he exchanged with Apollo for the Caduceus. There was also an Egyptian Mercury, under the name of Thot, who is credited with having taught the Egyptians geometry and hieroglyphics.
“And there, without the power to fly, Stands fix’d a tip-toe Mercury.”
LLOYD, 1750.
“Then fiery expedition be my wing, Jove’s Mercury, and herald for a king.”
“Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels And fly, like thought, from them to me again.”
SHAKESPEARE.
ME′RU. The abode of the Hindoo god Vishnu. It is at the top of a mountain 80,000 leagues high. The Olympus of the Indians.
MI′DAS. A king of Phrygia, who begged of Bacchus the special gift that everything that he touched might be turned into gold. The request was granted, and as soon as he touched his food it also was turned to gold, and for fear of being starved he was compelled to ask the god to withdraw the power he had bestowed upon him. He was told to bathe in the river Pactolus. He did so, and the sands which he stood on were golden for ever after. It was this same king who, being appointed to be judge in a musical contest between Apollo and Pan, gave the Satyr the palm; whereupon Apollo, to show his contempt, bestowed on him a pair of asses’ ears. This gave rise to the term “Midas-eared,” as a synonym for ill-judged, or indiscriminate.
“He dug a hole, and in it whispering said, What monstrous ears sprout from King Midas’ head.”
OVID.
MI′LO, a celebrated Cretan athlete, who is said to have felled an ox with his fist, and to have eaten the beast in one day. His statue is often seen with one hand in the rift of a tree trunk, out of which he is vainly trying to withdraw it. The fable is, that when he got an old man he attempted to split an oak tree, but having lost his youthful vigour, the tree closed on his hand and he was held a prisoner till the wolves came and devoured him.
MIMALLO′NES. The “wild women” who accompanied Bacchus, so called because they mimicked his actions.
MI′MIR. In Scandinavian mythology the god of wisdom.
MIND, see Erinnys.
MINER′VA, the goddess of wisdom, war, and the liberal arts, is said to have sprung from the head of Jupiter fully armed for battle. She was a great benefactress of mankind, and patroness of the fine arts. She was the tutelar deity of the city of Athens. She is also known by the names of Pallas, Parthenos, Tritonia, and Glaukopis. She was very generally worshipped by the ancients, and her temple at Athens, the Parthenon, still remains. She is represented in statues and pictures as wearing a golden helmet encircled with an olive branch, and a breastplate. In her right hand she carries a lance, and by her side is the famous Ægis or shield, covered with the skin of Amalthæa, the goat which nourished Jupiter; and for the boss of the shield is the head of Medusa. An owl, the emblem of meditation, is on the left; and a cock, the emblem of courage, on the right. The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum were brought from the Parthenon, her temple at Athens.
MI′NOS. The principal of the three judges of hell, before whom the spirits of the departed appeared and heard their doom.
MI′NOTAUR. The monster, half man, half bull, which Theseus slew.
MIRTH, see Momus.
MISERY, see Genii.
MITH′RA. A Persian divinity, the ruler of the universe, corresponding with the Roman Sol.
MNEMOS′YNE. Mother of the Muses and goddess of memory. Jupiter courted the goddess in the guise of a shepherd.
MOAK′IBAT. The recording angel of the Mohammedans.
MO′LOCH. A god of the Phœnicians to whom human victims, principally children, were sacrificed. Moloch is figurative of the influence which impels us to sacrifice that which we ought to cherish most dearly.
“First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, Their children’s cries unheard, that poured through fire To this grim idol.”
MILTON.
MO′MUS. The god of sarcasm. The god who blamed Jove for not having made a window in man’s breast, so that his thoughts could be seen. His bitter jests occasioned his being driven from heaven in disgrace. He is represented as holding an image of Folly in one hand, and raising a mask from his face with the other. He is also described as the god of mirth or laughter.
MONE′TA. A name given to Juno by those writers who considered her the goddess of money.
MONEY, see Moneta.
MONEY-GOD, see Mammon.
MOON. The moon was, by the ancients, called _Hecate_ before and after setting; _Astarte_ when in crescent form; _Diana_ when in full. See Luna.
“Soon as the evening shades prevail The moon takes up her wondrous tale, And nightly to the list’ning earth Repeats the story of her birth.”
ADDISON.
MOR′PHEUS. The god of sleep and dreams, the minister of Somnus.
“Morpheus, the humble god that dwells In cottages and smoky cells; Hates gilded roofs and beds of down, And though he fears no prince’s frown, Flies from the circle of a crown.”
Sir JOHN DENMAN.
MORS. Death, a daughter of Nox.
MOUNTAIN, see Atlas, Nymph.
MUL′CIBER. A name of Vulcan, sometimes spelled Mulcifer. See Vulcan.
MUN′IN. The Scandinavian god of memory, represented by the raven that was perched on Odin’s shoulder.
MUSCA′RIUS. A name given to Jupiter because he kept off the flies from the sacrifices.
MU′SES, THE, were nine daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne. They presided over the arts and sciences, music and poetry. Their names were, Calliope, Clio, Erato, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, and Urania. They principally resided in Mount Parnassus, at Helicon.
“Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth, Than those old nine which rhymers advocate.”
SHAKESPEARE.
MUSIC, see Apollo, Muses.
MY′THRAS. The Egyptian name of Apollo.
NAI′ADS, THE, were beautiful nymphs of human form who presided over springs, fountains, and wells. They resided in the meadows by the sides of rivers. Virgil mentions Ægle as being the fairest of them.
NAN′DI. The Hindoo goddess of joy.
NAR′AE. The name of the infernal regions amongst the Hindoos.
NA′RA′YAN. The mover of the waters. The Hindoo god of tides.
NARCIS′SUS, son of Cephisus and the Naiad Liriope, was a beautiful youth, who was so pleased with the reflection of himself which he saw in the placid water of a fountain that he could not help loving it, imagining that it must be some beautiful nymph. His fruitless endeavours to possess himself of the supposed nymph drove him to despair, and he killed himself. There sprang from his blood a flower, which was named after him, Narcissus.
“Narcissus so himself forsook, And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.”
“Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me Thou would’st appear most ugly.”
SHAKESPEARE.
NASTR′OND. The Scandinavian place of eternal punishment, corresponding with Hades.
NA′TIO. A Roman goddess who took care of young infants.
NEMÆ′AN LION, see Hercules.