Mythological Dictionary Page #3

Nectar

Nectar is the special drink of the gods, usually paired with their food, ambrosia. Nectar has come t...

Nemesis

Nemesis is the goddess of vengeance who brings retribution on those who have sinned, especially thro...

Nestor

Nestor, the oldest and wisest of the Greek kings at Troy, lived to see three generations of heroes. ...

Nymph

Nymph or nymphomania or nympholepsy. Nymphs are beautiful, idyllic goddesses of wood and stream and...

Ocean

In mythology the world is a disc circled by a stream of water, the god Oceanus, who is the father of...

Odyssey

Homer's Odyssey recounts the return of Odysseus to Ithaca, his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemach...

Oedipus

Oedipus or oedipal complex. King Laius of Thebes was given a prophecy that his wife, Jocasta, would...

Olympic Games

Olympic Games or olympian. The Greek gods had their homes on the heights of Mt. Olympus in northern...

Paean

Paean was an epithet of the god Apollo, invoked in a cry for victory in battle or for deliverance fr...

Palladium

As a child Athena had a special girl friend named Pallas, with whom she used to play at war. During ...

Pandora s box

Pandora was the first woman, given to men as punishment for Prometheus' theft of fire. Sent with her...

Panic

Panic describes a state of great fear and anxiety with an attendent desire for flight, which was con...

Pha?»ton

Helius, the sun-god, assured Phaethon that he was truly his father and swore an oath that his son co...

Priapism

Priapism or priapic. Priapus was the ithyphallic son of Aphrodite. He is most often depicted with a...

Procrustean

Procrustean or procrustean bed. Procrustes (the "one who stretches") was encountered by Theseus. He...

Prometheus

Prometheus or promethean. The god Prometheus ("forethought"), son of the titan Iapetus, was the cre...

Protean

Proteus was a sea god who could change shape and who possessed knowledge of the future. To obtain in...

Psyche

Psyche or psychology, etc. The Greek word for the soul was psyche. The myth of Cupid and Psyche can...

Python

Apollo established the major sanctuary for his worship and his oracle at Delphi, but to do so he had...

Rhadamanthus

Rhadamanthus or Rhadamanthine or Rhadamantine. Rhadmanthus, along with Minos and Aeacus, is one of ...

Rich as Croesus

Croesus was the king of Lydia who possessed great wealth that became legendary. Thus to emphasize th...

Saturnalia

Saturnalia or saturnian or saturnine or saturnism. The titan Saturn (equated with the Greek Cronus)...

Satyr

Satyr or satyriasis. Satyrs were male woodland deities with the ears and legs of a goat, who worshi...

Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla was once a beautiful maiden, who was transformed into a hideous creature, with the heads of y...

Siren

Siren or siren song. The Sirens were nymphs (encountered by Odysseus) often depicted with bird-like...