OrestesIn Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (ɒˈrɛstiːz; Ὀρέστης oréstɛːs) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones. The Greek name Ὀρέστης, having become "Orestēs" in Latin and its descendants, is derived from Greek ὄρος (óros, “mountain”) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), and so can be thought to have the meaning "stands on a mountain".
Alcyone and CeyxIn Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone) (ælˈsaɪəˌni,_hælˈsaɪəˌni; Alkyóne) and Ceyx (ˈsiːɪks; Κῆυξ, Kéyx) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris. Alkyóne comes from alkyón (ἀλκυών), which refers to a sea-bird with a mournful song or to a kingfisher bird in particular. The meaning(s) of the words is uncertain because alkyón is considered to be of pre-Greek, non-Indo-European origin. However, folk etymology related them to the háls (ἅλς, "brine, sea, salt") and kyéo (κυέω, "I conceive").
Pan (god)In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan (pæn; Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring.
MarsyasIn Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (ˈmɑrsiəs; Μαρσύας) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. In antiquity, literary sources often emphasize the hubris of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment.
AsclepiusAsclepius (æsˈkliːpiəs; Ἀσκληπιός Asklēpiós asklɛːpiós; Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters, the "Asclepiades", are: Hygieia ("Health, Healthiness"), Iaso (from ἴασις "healing, recovering, recuperation", the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (from ἄκεσις "healing", the goddess of the healing process), Aegle (the goddess of good health) and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy).
Asteria (mythology)In Greek mythology, Asteria (əˈstɪəriə; Ancient Greek: Ἀστερία, "of the stars, starry one") was a name attributed to several distinct individuals. Asteria, a minor goddess, daughter of Phoebe and Coeus. Asteria or Astris, daughter of Helios and Clymene or Ceto, one of the Heliades. She married the river god Hydaspes (the modern Jhelum River) and became mother of Deriades, king in India. Asteria, one of the Danaïdes, daughters of Danaus who, with one exception, murdered their husbands on their wedding nights.
MoiraiIn ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai (ˈmɔɪraɪ,_-riː)often known in English as the Fateswere the personifications of destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter) and Atropos (the unturnable, a metaphor for death). Their Roman equivalent is the Parcae. The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle.
DryadA dryad (ˈdraɪ.æd; Δρυάδες, sing.: Δρυάς) is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology. Drys (δρῦς) signifies "oak" in Greek. Dryads were originally considered the nymphs of oak trees specifically, but the term has evolved towards tree nymphs in general, or human-tree hybrids in fantasy. Often their life force was connected to the tree in which they resided and they were usually found in sacred groves of the gods. They were considered to be very shy creatures except around the goddess Artemis, who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.
History of CrimeaThe recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as Tauris, Taurica (Ταυρική or Ταυρικά), and the Tauric Chersonese (Χερσόνησος Ταυρική, "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast, the most important of which was Chersonesos near modern day Sevastopol, with Scythians and Tauri in the hinterland to the north. The southern coast gradually consolidated into the Bosporan Kingdom which was annexed by Pontus and then became a client kingdom of Rome (63 BCE – 341 AD).
PindarPindar (ˈpɪndər; Πίνδαρος Pindaros, píndaros; Pindarus; 518 BC-438 BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is by far the greatest, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence, characteristics which, as Horace rightly held, make him inimitable.
