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Abacus
ah BACK us
A portion of a column of the Doric order; the uppermost member of a capital beneath the architrave; simply stated, the abacus is a slab forming the top of the capital of a column.

Abantian
The name, Abantian, was used for the island of Euboea in ancient times and was derived from one of the early tribes of that island, the Abantes; Aristotle states that the Abantes were Thracians from Abae in Phokis (Phocis); the Abantes provided forty ships for the siege of Troy and were commanded by Elephenor; Homer said that the Abantes were furious spearmen with their hair grown long in the back.
Euboea is the long, narrow island located close to the eastern coast of mainland Greece in the western Aegean Sea; the island borders the coast of Greece from Athens, in the south, to Thermopylae in the north.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 535-545
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 625-636
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 632-643

Abdera
AB dee rah
A Greek city on the coast of Thrace, east of the river Nestos (Nestus).
The city of Abdera was first settled by a man named Timesias of Klazomenae (Clazomenae) in the mid-seventh century BCE; this attempt at colonization was not successful and Timesias and his followers were driven from Thrace by the native inhabitants.
As a result of the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, the Great King’s general, Harpagus, assaulted the land of the Teians who lived in Ionia; the Teians fled to Thrace and re-established Abdera as a Greek city; of all the Ionians who were besieged by the Persians, the Teians were the only ones to flee the Great King’s wrath; the other Ionians were reduced to slavery.
The city prospered and, by 545 BCE, had a protective wall, holy sanctuaries and a well equipped harbor; the city continued to grow and prosper until the Romans conquered the area; from that time on, the city declined into obscurity and finally became nothing more than a cemetery.
Histories, book 1.168, book 6.46, book 7.109, 7.120 and 7.126, book 8.120

Abyla
The ancient name for Jebel Musa; a mountain in northwestern Morocco opposite the Rock of Gibraltar; assumed to be one of the Pillars of Herakles (Heracles); 2,775 feet (846 meters) in height.
Also called Gebel Musa.
Approximate West Longitude 5º 24' 29'' and North Latitude 35º 53' 20''

Achilles (Achilleus)
The son of King Peleus and the Nereid, Thetis; Achilles was the most beautiful and bravest warrior in the Greek army at the siege of the city of Troy.
Achilles has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.

Acropolis 1
ah KROW po lis
The citadel of Athens and site of the Parthenon.
The Acropolis is a rocky plateau rising 200 feet (61 meters) above the city; it measures 300 feet (91 meters) by 150 feet (46 meters) forming the flat rectangular plateau which overlooks the city and the sea.
In prehistoric times the Acropolis served as the site of at least three distinct cultures known as:
1) The Early Helladic (2500-1900 BCE);
2) The Middle Helladic (1900-1580 BCE); and
3) The Late Helladic (1580-1100 BCE); the Late Helladic period was the setting for the mythical kings of Attica such as Kekrops (Cecrops), Erechtheus and Akteus (Acteus).
The historic accounts of the Acropolis begin after the Persian army sacked Athens in 480 BCE; the ruins of the burned and demolished temples atop the Acropolis were used by Themistokles (Themistocles) and Kimon (Cimon) as the foundation for the reconstruction of the walls and temples; the Parthenon and the Propylaea were added by Pericles in 431 BCE.

Acropolis 2
ah KROW po lis
A citadel or high fortified area of any ancient Greek city.

Acroterion (Akroterion)
In the Doric Order of architecture, an ornament placed on a stele or pediment.

Aegean Sea (Aigean Sea)
Aigaios Pontos; an arm of the Mediterranean Sea between the east coast of Greece and the west coast of Asia Minor and bounded on the south by the island of Crete.
Approximately 80,000 square miles (207,199 square kilometers) in area, i.e. 400 miles (644 kilometers) by 200 miles (322 kilometers).

Aegeus (Aigeus)
King Aegeus with Medeia and Theseus
A king of Athens; the father of Theseus; Aegeus was the son of Pandion and the consort of Aethra (the mother of Theseus) and Medeia (the ex-wife of Jason).
Aegeus forced his brother, Lykus (Lycus), to flee Athens and settle in southern Asia Minor; Lykus and Aegeus lived one generation before Herakles (Heracles), circe 1300 BCE).
Aegeus is most noted as the father of Theseus; Aegeus left Aethra before Theseus was born and instructed her to place a sword and a pair of sandals under a boulder so that if and when Theseus was strong enough to move the boulder and remove the sword and sandals he would be manly enough to join his father in Athens and claim his royal inheritance.
When Theseus arrived in Athens as a young man bearing the sword and sandals Aegeus did not immediately recognize him; in the intervening years, Aegeus had married the sorceress, Medeia (Medea), and she knew exactly who Theseus was and began devising plans to dispose of him.
Medeia persuaded Aegeus to send Theseus to the plains of Marathon to capture a fierce bull that had been ravaging the countryside; Theseus successfully captured the bull and sacrificed it to Apollon.
Medeia then tried to poison Theseus but Aegeus finally recognized the sword that Theseus carried and saved him from Medeia’s plotting.
When Androgeus, the son of King Minos of the island of Crete, attended the first Panathenaea in Athens he attracted the ire of Aegeus by winning all the prizes; Aegeus had Androgeus killed and King Minos waged war on Athens to avenge the death of his son; peace was won only with the promise that Athens would send seven young men and seven young women every year to Minos to be slain by the ungodly bull-monster known as the Minotaur; the tradition continued until Theseus successfully killed the Minotaur.
Theseus and his father had devised a signal by which Aegeus would be able to tell, by the color of the ship’s sails, whether Theseus had defeated the Minotaur and was returning safely to Athens; Aegeus saw the ship in the distance and incorrectly interpreted the signal; thinking that Theseus was dead, he threw himself into the sea and drowned; this is perhaps the way the Aegean Sea got its name.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 1, line 265
Iliad (Fagles), book 1, line 309
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 1, line 313
Histories, book 1.173
Shield of Herakles, line 182

Aegis (Aigis)
The shield of Zeus and Athene (Athena) with the severed head of the snake-headed Medusa as the dominate image and surrounded by scenes of warfare and carnage; the overall effect was to strike fear and panic into any foe.
The above image is a fragment of a marble replica of Athene’s shield which was once displayed in the Parthenon with the statue of Athene Parthenos; during the Roman period, many small replicas of Athene’s statue were made and this shield is the only surviving part of such a replica; this piece was found in Athens and dated to the third century BCE.

Aello
ah ell LOH
One of the two winged-women known as the Harpies.
Aello and her sister Okypete (Ocypete) are the daughters of Thaumas and Elektra (Electra).
Hesiod refers to them as “Harpies of the lovely hair, winged women soaring aloft like birds”; they are the sisters of the rainbow goddess, Iris, and are not described as the filthy monsters that we have come to imagine.
Their primary role in Greek mythology was to punish the blind seer, Phineus, on the island of Thynias; Phineus had been blinded by Zeus and, as a double punishment, Helios (the Sun) had the Harpies steal his food; the winged sons of Boreas (North Wind), Kalais (Calais) and Zetes, chased away the Harpies and freed Phineus from his curse but Zeus would not allow the brothers to harm the Harpies.
Aello’s name literally means Storm.
Theogony, line 267
Argonautika, book 2, lines 188, 252, 264, 276, 289, 298, 432 and 461

Aeolus (Aiolos) 2
EE oh los
Aeolus is the son Hippotas and resides on a floating island named Aeolia; Zeus gave Aeolus the powers to command the winds and, as Lord of the Winds, Aeolus could make the winds as mild or as fierce as he desired.
Aeolus lives on Aeolia with his wife and twelve children, six sons and six daughters; the sons became the consorts of the daughters and they all live peacefully on the seemingly magical island; the island of Aeolia is enclosed in bronze and has sheer cliffs to protect it from the waves.
Odysseus and his crew stayed with Aeolus and his family for a month; Aeolus graciously entertained Odysseus and, in return, Odysseus told Aeolus tales of the Trojan War, the ships of the Argives and the homecoming of the Achaeans (Achaians).
When Odysseus asked Aeolus for assistance in finding his way back to Ithaka, Aeolus agreed to help; he put the winds he commanded into a bag which was made from the skin of a nine-year ox and secured it in the hull of Odysseus’ ship with a silver string; Aeolus instructed Odysseus not to open the bag of winds; his instructions were clear, Odysseus was not to open the bag even a little; Aeolus then set Zephyros (West Wind) to speed Odysseus on his way home; Odysseus’ crew only knew that Aeolus had given Odysseus a bag but they did not know what was in the bag or of Aeolus’ instructions; after ten days at sea, the island of Ithaka was sighted; Odysseus was so close to the island that he could see people on the shore tending their fires; at the sight of his home, Odysseus fell into an exhausted sleep because he had been personally tending the sails so that they would arrive home as quickly as possible; as Odysseus slept, members of the crew began to speculate as to the riches Aeolus might have put in the mysterious bag; the crew finally opened the bag but, instead of finding treasure, they unleashed the winds which drove them back to the island of Aeolia; this time, Aeolus refused to help Odysseus and he was forced to venture back out on the sea without guidance or a favorable wind.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 10, lines 1, 36, 43 and 60; book 11, line 237
Odyssey (Loeb), book 10, lines 2, 36, 44 and 60; book 11, line 237
Odyssey (Fagles), book 10, lines 1, 41, 48 and 66; book 11, line 270
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 10, lines 2, 41, 48 and 66; book 11, line 270
Argonautika, book 4, lines 764-5

Aetna (Etna)
Mount Aetna (Mount Etna); an active volcano on the eastern side of the island of Sicily.
With a height of 10,902 feet (3,323 meters), Mount Aetna is the highest active volcano in Europe.
Approximate East Longitude 14º 59' 42.5'' and North Latitude 37º 44' 58''

Agamemnon 1
agah MEM non
Agamemnon was the most famous king of the city of Mycenae and the leader of the expedition against Troy; he was the son of Atreus and brother of Menelaos (Menelaus) and Anaxibia; his name literally means Very Steadfast.
When Menelaos’ wife Helen was enchanted by Aphrodite (goddess of Love) and taken to the city of Troy by Alexandros (Paris), Agamemnon formed an army and sailed to Troy to retrieve Helen and her dowry.
There were two major incidents which tested Agamemnon’s leadership:
1) When the Argive fleet had gathered at Aulis and was preparing to sail to Troy, Agamemnon offended the goddess, Artemis, and Boreas (North Wind) would not let the ships leave the harbor; the seer, Kalchas (Calchas), said that unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphianassa, to Artemis, the fleet would not be allowed to leave Aulis; Agamemnon had Iphianassa brought to Aulis on the pretext that she was to marry Achilles; when the time for the sacrifice came, Artemis took Iphianassa from the altar and substituted a deer in her stead; Iphianassa was saved from the cruel sacrifice but the deed would later come back to haunt Agamemnon and cost him the love of his wife and, consequently, his life.
2) The second incident to test Agamemnon’s leadership was when a young girl named Briseis was taken as a slave by the Greeks during the ninth year of the siege of Troy.
Briseis was awarded to Achilles as a “prize” but when Agamemnon took her from Achilles, the two men began a long and bitter feud; Achilles swore that he and his troops would not fight for Agamemnon and that no apology or act of contrition could end the dispute.
Finally, the Greeks were being overwhelmed by the Trojans and Agamemnon offered to return Briseis to Achilles with many other gifts including one of his daughters and a part of his kingdom; Achilles refused these offers until his life-long friend, Patroklos (Patroclos), was killed by the Trojans; at that point, he accepted Briseis and the other gifts that Agamemnon offered, although they meant nothing to him, donned his armor and entered the battle.
In the tenth year of the siege Agamemnon was finally able to trick the Trojans and gain entrance to the city; after his triumphant return from Troy he was murdered by his cousin, Aegisthus, who was the lover of his wife Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and the instrument of her revenge for his long absence and the attempted sacrifice of their daughter.
Returns, fragment 1

Aglaophonus
Aglaophonus is one of the Sirens; her name means Lovely-Sounding
The Sirens are part woman and part bird; they inhabit the island of Anthemoessa; they are children of the Muse, Terpsichore and the river, Achelous; her sisters names are Thelxiope (or Thelxinoe) and Molpe; their names also reflect their vocally seductive prowess: Thelxiope means Charming-With-Her-Voice (Thelxinoe means Charming-The-Mind) and Molpe means Song.
The Sirens lure mariners with their seductive singing to the rocky shore and the memorized sailors die in their wrecked ships; the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe) warned Odysseus about the irresistible lure of the Sirens so that when he came near their island, he had his sailors put wax in their ears so that they could not hear the enchanted singing but he had himself lashed to the mast so he could hear the Siren’s song without flinging himself into the sea and swimming to his doom.
The Argonauts passed the island of the Sirens several generations before Odysseus; the master musician, Orpheus, played his lyre for the sailors and all but one was able to resist the Siren’s song; the Argonaut, Boutes, jumped into the water and swam towards Anthemoessa but before he could reach the deadly shore he was plucked from the water by Aphrodite (goddess of Love) and deposited safely in the Libyan desert.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 12, lines 39+
Odyssey (Fagles), book 12, lines 44+
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 12, lines 46+
Argonautika, book 4, lines 885-921
Catalogues of Women, fragment 47

Aias (Ajax) 1
EH ahs
One of the Greek heroes at the siege of the city of Troy; also known as Telamonian Aias, i.e. Aias, the son of Telamon; the Romans rendered his name as Ajax.
Aias was the son of King Telamon and Eriboea of the island of Salamis; before Aias was born, Herakles (Heracles) was a guest of Telamon and prayed that Telamon would have a manly son; at that moment, Zeus sent an omen in the form of an eagle to signify his blessing; Telamon and Herakles both realized the import of the omen and when Telamon’s son was born, he was given the name Aias as a variation on the Greek word for eagle, i.e. aetos.
When Helen was taken from her home and husband in Sparta, Aias was one of the many notable men who went to her rescue; at the siege of Troy, Aias was the commander of the twelve ship contingent from Salamis, which would have been approximately fourteen hundred men.
Aias took his troops to Troy to fulfill the oath he had made to Helen’s father, King Tyndareus of Sparta; when Helen was a young girl she was kidnapped and after her brothers safely returned her to her home, she was still the focus of attention from every man who met her; Helen was the daughter of Zeus and therefore semi-divine.
When Helen was old enough to marry, her father’s household was besieged with anxious young men from every part of Greece; Aias was one of Helen’s suitors; Tyndareus quickly realized that no matter which man he chose to be Helen’s husband, there would always be the possibility of her being kidnapped again; Tyndareus very wisely made all the suitors swear a solemn and scared oath that they would come to Helen’s rescue if she was ever taken from her chosen husband; Aias took the oath but Helen was finally married to Prince Menelaos (Menelaus) of Mycenae.
When Helen deserted Menelaos for Prince Alexandros (Paris) of Troy, an armada was assembled and over one thousand ships with over sixty thousand men sailed to Troy to rescue Helen.
The war became known as the Trojan War and lasted for ten brutal years; the Trojan War took place circa 1250 BCE and we might assume that Aias was in his early or mid-twenties when the war began.
The supreme commander of the Greek forces against the Trojans was King Agamemnon of Mycenae; Agamemnon knew that, second only to Achilles, Aias was the best warrior in his army; Aias was a very large man and never shirked from the most intense fighting on the battlefield; Aias had a companion who was also named Aias and was often referred to as Lesser Aias because he was somewhat smaller than Telamonian Aias; when the two fought together they were called the Aiantes which is the plural form of the name Aias.
Aias carried a shield that was almost as tall as he was; when not fighting hand-to-hand with the Trojans, he would effectively use the shield to hide an archer so that the archer could shoot an arrow and then duck behind the massive shield for protection before the Trojans could retaliate; when Patroklos (Patroclus) was killed by Prince Hector, Aias fought so fiercely that the Trojans were forced to retreat.
After the death of Patroklos, Achilles held athletic games for his fallen companion; when the wrestling competition was announced, Aias immediately stepped forward assuming that no one would dare stand to fight him; to everyone’s surprise, Odysseus rose to the challenge; Odysseus was not a large man but his fighting abilities were never questioned; Odysseus was able to throw Aias to the ground but could not pin him; Achilles let the fight continue until he was sure that there could be no winner without one of the men getting seriously hurt.
Zeus decreed that the walls of Troy would eventually be toppled but he was also intent that it would be a slow and bloody process; in the tenth year of the war, the Greeks devised a clever plan whereby the Trojans would open their gates and unwittingly allow the Greeks to enter the city; a large Wooden Horse was constructed with enough room in the belly of the beast to hide some Greek warriors; the Greeks then sailed their ships to a nearby island out of sight of Troy; the Trojans assumed that the Wooden Horse was a peace offering and that the war was over; once the Wooden Horse was inside the walls of Troy, Helen became suspicious of the horse and the intentions of the Greeks; she walked around the Wooden Horse imitating the voices of different men’s wives to see if any of the men she suspected to be hiding in the horse would answer; all the men hiding inside the horse remained silent; when the Trojans relaxed their guard, the Greeks emerged from the horse and the real slaughter began; in The Odyssey, we are simply told that the best Greek warriors were inside the Wooden Horse so we can assume that Aias was included in that category.
Aias’ final act of supreme valor was when Achilles was killed; the Trojans wanted Achilles’ armor and to mutilate his body but Aias and Odysseus successfully repelled all Trojan advances; finally, Odysseus held off the Trojans while Aias picked up Achilles’ body and carried it to safety; when Odysseus and Aias argued over who deserved Achilles’ armor, the wise and somewhat older King Nestor of Pylos suggested that a spy be sent to the walls of Troy to see which of the two fighters the Trojans most respected; the conclusion seemed to be that any woman could have carried the body of Achilles out of the fighting but only a real man could have held back the Trojan assault; Odysseus was awarded Achilles’ armor; when Odysseus encountered the “shade” of Aias in the Underworld, Aias would not acknowledge him because he was still angry.
There is a popular story in which Aias is said to have killed himself out of jealously when Odysseus was awarded the armor of Achilles but in The Odyssey (book 4, lines 499-511), Aias is said to have drowned because he mocked the Immortals and Poseidon (lord of the Sea) shattered the island where Aias committed the blasphemy, sending the hero to the bottom of the sea.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 3, line 109; book 4, lines 499, 502, 509 and 511; book 11, lines 469, 543, 550 and 553; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Fagles), book 3, line 121; book 4, lines 560 and 570; book 11, lines 531, 620, 627, 628, 632, 643; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Loeb), book 3, line 109; book 4, lines 499 and 509; book 11, lines 469, 543, 550 and 553; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 3, line 117; book 4, lines 534 and 545; book 11, lines 550, 643, 646, 654 and 658; book 24, line 17
Catalogues of Women and Eoiae, fragment 68, line 55
The Great Eoiae, fragment 3
The Little Iliad, fragments 1, 3 and 4

Akanthus (Acanthus)
The ornamental leaf design used to decorate the capitals of Corinthian columns; the leaf design was copied from the plant Acanthus spinosa.

Akmon (Acmon)
One of the Monkey-Men known as the Kerkopes (Cercopes).
Akmon and his brother, Passalus, were the only two beings to make Herakles (Heracles) laugh; as Herakles was sleeping under a tree, the two brothers stole his bow; Herakles caught them and tied them upside-down to a pole which he carried over his shoulder; the Kerkopes were not only unrepentant but highly amused by their plight and, as they dangled behind Herakles, they began making disparaging comments about Herakles’ hairy posterior.
Herakles, who was so accustomed to sorrow and brutality, couldn’t resist the infectious good humor of the Kerkopes and set them free.
This story is one of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle; for the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.

Akte (Acte)
There are three finger-like peninsulas jutting south into the Aegean Sea from Macedonia and Akte is the eastern-most peninsula; Akte is approximately thirty miles long and varies from less than two miles to over six miles in width; the spine of the peninsula rises as it goes south and culminates at Mount Athos which rises to a height of 6,670 feet (2,033 meters).
In 492 BCE, the Persian king, Darius, ordered his brother-in-law, Mardonius, to take a portion of the Persian army and fleet into Greece; when the fleet attempted to sail around the tip of Akte, it was caught in a severe northerly storm; they lost three hundred ships and twenty thousand crewmen died of exposure, drowning or were eaten by sharks.
When the Persians invaded Greece twelve years later under the leadership of King Xerxes, he sought to avoid sailing around Akte and decided to dig a cannel through the narrowest part of the peninsula; three years prior to his planned invasion of Greece, King Xerxes sent slaves from Asia to begin digging the channel and also forced the local Greek inhabitants to share in the work; the channel was completed in the winter of 481 BCE but Xerxes did not proceed into Greece until the following spring.
Histories, book 6.43-45, book 7.22, 7.37 and 7.122

Alabastron
A jar for oils, ointments or perfumes with a flattened lip, a narrow neck and an elongated body rounded at the bottom.

Alexander the Great
(356-323 BCE) King of Macedon from 336-323 BCE; conqueror of the Greek city-states, Asia Minor, the Persian Empire, Egypt and India; when Alexander died he ruled the largest empire ever to exist on earth.
In the thousands of years that have passed since Alexander’s death, it is almost impossible to sort out the man from the myth but it is undeniable that he was a man of remarkable self determination and courage; he wore a double-plumed helmet in battle which probably served two important functions: 1) it made him conspicuous to his own troops so that they could see and find him in the midst of the battles and 2) it clearly proclaimed his presence to his enemies; he never held back in battles and he was usually at the forefront of the most fierce fighting; he was generous to brave men and repelled by cowardice; he would graciously accept the surrender of an enemy and devastate any nation that dared to deal falsely with him; when he gave authority to his senior officers he expected them to conduct themselves ethically and justly, those who betrayed that trust were executed without the slightest hesitation; Alexander slept with a copy of The Iliad under his pillow and behaved with quiet dignity while, at the same time, indulged the pomp and aloofness of an all powerful king; this man of many faces was loved by his army and feared by any sensible enemy; his life was brief but glorious.
Although the renown of Alexander the Great is common knowledge throughout the Western world, his fame and exploits have come to us in a very piecemeal and undocumented way; there are three primary historical sources for Alexander and all of them were written well after the death of Alexander but presumably based on documents and manuscripts which are lost to modern researchers; Diodorus Sikulus (Diodorus of Sicily) wrote in the first century BCE and gave a compelling account of Alexander’s life and times; Plutarch wrote a series of essays between 105 and 115 CE, called Lives, in which he tried to provide insights into Alexander’s character through events rather than conquests; Arrian was a first century CE author who has provided us with the most detailed and well documented history of Alexander’s life but we must remember that Alexander died in 323 BCE and, therefore, all of these histories were written hundreds of years after the fact; with that in mind, we must try to recapture the primary events of Alexander’s life without the benefit of any first hand sources.
Alexander was born in the city of Pella in Macedon early in the month of Hecatombaeon in 356 BCE (Hecatombaeon approximately corresponds to the third week of June to the third week of July of our calendar); he was officially the son of King Philip II and Queen Olympias of Macedon but many, including Alexander, believed that he was actually the son of the Egyptian god, Ammon, who the Greeks recognized as Zeus; the glorious destiny of Alexander was predicted by omens well before his birth; Olympias dreamed that her womb was struck by lightening and a fire traveled all about but then was extinguished; after Olympias became pregnant with Alexander, Phillip dreamed that a seal was placed on Olympias’ womb in the form of a lion; the seer, Aristander of Telmessus, told Philip that it was a good omen indicating that his son would be bold and have the character of a lion; on the day that Alexander was born, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was burned and destroyed; the priests said that Artemis was not there to prevent the destruction because she was overseeing the birth of Alexander.
To further complicate knowing the true father of Alexander, Phillip once saw Olympias sleeping on a couch with a serpent beside her; an oracle from Delphi informed Phillip that he had actually seen the god Ammon with Olympias and that he would be punished by losing one of his eyes for having seen an Immortal in such a compromising position; if we ignore the divine implications of Alexander’s parentage, he was unquestionably descended from Achilles and Herakles (Heracles) through Olympias and Phillip respectively; from Phillip’s perspective, the birth of Alexander was synergistically connected with several other important occurrences; 1) he had just captured the northern Macedonian city of Potidaea, 2) his general, Parmenio, had won a decisive victory against the Illyrians and 3) his racehorse won a victory in the Olympic Games; all of these events prompted great expectations for the future of Alexander.
Alexander was given a classical education under the tutelage of Aristotle and was familiar with all the important Greek poets and philosophers; he grew up in a household fraught with intrigue and luxury but he seemed to shy away from personal indulgences; there were several instances where he demonstrated a maturity far beyond his years; when a delegation of Persian ambassadors visited Macedon, his father was absent so Alexander assumed the role of host and impressed the Persians with his astute questions concerning the prowess of the Persian army, the roads and geography of Persia and the courage of the king; when his father was presented with a gift of an untamed horse from Thessaly, Alexander watched the trainers try and fail to mount the savage beast and made a remark to Phillip about the lack of courage and skill of the trainers; Alexander turned the horse so that it would not be frightened by its own shadow, mounted and rode it easily; he named it Bukephalus (Bucephalas), i.e. Bull Headed; Alexander fought in his first military campaign at the age of eighteen.
When Philip married his second wife, Kleopatra (Cleopatra), Alexander’s direct ascension to the throne was jeopardized; it is assumed that Alexander and his mother, Olympias, were responsible for the deaths of Kleopatra, her son and her father.
Phillip was a man of determination and action; he successfully subdued most of the Greek cities (with the notable exception of the Sparta) and was preparing to invade Asia Minor and, ultimately, fight the Persian Empire for complete control of Asia; Alexander was raised and educated with the assumption that he would inherit an empire that spanned two continents (Europe and Asia) but before Phillip could complete his dreams of conquest, he was publicly assassinated.
After his father’s death, Alexander assumed the throne of Macedon and proceeded to prove to the Greek cities that his ambitions were as grand as his father’s had been; with the exception of the Sparta, the Greek cities accepted Alexander’s authority but they also held the unspoken belief that Alexander would not be a successful leader and that they would eventually regain their autonomy.
The most notable Greek city to proclaim allegiance to Alexander and then revolt at the first opportunity was Thebes; the leaders of Thebes unwillingly submitted to Alexander’s authority but as soon as Alexander became preoccupied with his military conquests directed at the rebellious nations in northern Greece, the Thebans began to talk openly about regaining their liberty and autonomy; Alexander had left at contingent of soldiers at Thebes in the Kadmeia (Cadmeia), i.e. the citadel of Thebes, to assure its continued submission but when the Thebans allowed exiled leaders to return to the city, the rebellious atmosphere became openly hostile towards Alexander; the Thebans barricaded the Macedonian troops in the Kadmeia and rumors began to circulate that Alexander had been killed; when Alexander heard the news from Thebes, he immediately marched his army to the city and camped within sight of the city walls; Alexander sent envoys to reason with the leaders of Thebes but they were determined to fight for their independence regardless of any threats or promises that Alexander made; Alexander held a meeting of his officers and asked their advice; since the Thebans had surrendered to the Persians without a fight when they invaded Greece in 480 BCE, Alexander’s commanders wanted revenge; the battle lines were drawn and the siege of the city began; after hours of fierce fighting, Alexander called up his reserves; the Thebans had no reserves and began to taunt the Macedonians and their allies for their lack of courage and stamina; the taunting enraged Alexander’s army and, when the walls were finally breached, no mercy was shown to the defenders; the Macedonians who had been barricaded in the Kadmeia fought their way free and the Theban army was literally crushed between the two pincers of Alexander’s army; nearly all the Theban men were killed and the women and children who hadn’t been killed in the attack were sold into slavery; the historian, Arrian, reports that Alexander allowed the descendants of the poet, Pindar, to keep their lives and possessions because he held the poet in such high regard; the city was reduced to rubble (335 BCE) and when word of the slaughter reached the other Greek cities, panic and dread consumed the populations except for the Spartans, who remained opposed to Alexander and even sided with the Persians to defeat him.
Before Alexander ventured out of Greece he went to the oracle at Delphi; the priestess would not see Alexander because he had arrived on a Holy day but Alexander would not be dismissed so easily; he manhandled the Pythia and she reluctantly proclaimed that he would be undefeated.
Alexander then moved into Asia Minor and began his campaign against the Persian Empire; although the Persians had superior numbers, he out maneuvered the badly led Persian forces and, at the river Granikus (Granicus), gave the Persian king, Darius III, his first humiliating defeat.
Alexander’s entry into Persia was tied to the legend of the Gordian Knot; the king of ancient Phrygia, Gordius, tied a very complicated knot and, according to popular belief, the knot could only be undone by the man who would eventually rule Asia; there are several explanations as to how Alexander loosed the knot but the most dramatic and theatrical version states that Alexander examined the knot and, instead of trying to untie it, drew his sword and simply cut it open; the story may be as much myth as fact but the implications were clear, i.e. whatever Alexander could not conquer by subtlety, would fall under his sword.
Although Persia was still not completely under his control, Alexander marched south along the eastern Mediterranean coast into Syria and to the city of Tyre; Tyre was an island city and was the most difficult obstacle in Syria but in 332 BCE, after a difficult six month siege, the city fell; Alexander then turned his attention to Egypt and, since the Persians had been ruthless and cruel to the Egyptians, the population welcomed Alexander and surrendered without a fight; Alexander had wanted to go to Egypt for several reasons: 1) the sheer wealth of the nation and 2) to go to the oracle of Ammon and pay tribute to his immortal father; the oasis where the oracle of Ammon was located deep in the desert and proved to be a difficult journey; when Alexander became lost in the desert, he was magically guided by crows to the remote oasis; when he inquired if he had been successful in capturing all the conspirators who had assassinated his father, the oracle replied that his father was immortal thus implying that the god, Ammon, was his true father; Alexander returned to the Nile Delta and laid the foundations for the Greek commercial city of Alexandria.
Alexander then turned his full attention to the complete subjugation of Persia; the king of Persia, Darius III, made a stand near the city of Gaugamela and, once again, fled in utter defeat; Darius made Alexander several offers of conditional surrender but Alexander refused each offer because he wanted complete control with no limitations to his authority or domination.
After occupying and plundering Babylon, Alexander pursued Darius into eastern Persia and, in 331 BCE, found that Darius had been murdered by the Persian generals; the generals fled but Alexander hunted them down and punished them with death for such a brazen act of cowardice and disrespect for their king.
For the next several years (330-327 BCE) Alexander marched north to the Caucasus Mountains and then southward towards India conquering and subduing each country he passed through; he finally arrived in India and proceeded to systematically defeat and subjugate each tribe and district; his intentions to march farther eastward were doused by the growing impatience of his troops to return home; Alexander relented and, in 325 BCE, turned his army westward towards Greece.
When Alexander was near the city of Babylon, he was told that the Caldian priests had predicted his certain death if he entered Babylon; at first, Alexander camped near the city and would not enter the gates but his trusted companions convinced him that his fears were groundless and that there was no place on earth that could be denied to him; Alexander entered Babylon and enjoyed the luxury of the prosperous city; he tried to consolidate his power and encouraged his soldiers to mix with the Persians through marriage and shared authority; to demonstrate his intentions, he married Darius’ sister, Stateira.
Alexander had many unfinished plans for the commercialization of Persia and India but, in 323 BCE, he died in Babylon of fever; dead at 32 years of age, Alexander had built the largest consolidated empire on the face of the earth.
Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander
Plutarch’s Lives, Alexander
Diodorus Siculus, book 17

Alexandros (Paris)
One of the primary characters in The Iliad where he is generally called Alexandros and occasionally Paris.
The Latin form of his name is Alexander; he was a descendant of the royal family of the city of Troy and one of the fifty sons of the last rulers of Troy, King Priam and Queen Hekabe (Hecabe).
When Alexandros was a guest of King Menelaos (Menelaus) of Sparta, he became infatuated with Menelaos’ wife, Helen; the attraction Alexandros and Helen felt for each other was a spell of enchantment cast upon them by Aphrodite, goddess of Love; when Menelaos left Sparta on business, Alexandros and Helen took her dowry and fled to Troy; Alexandros’ refusal to surrender Helen to her husband was the cause of the Trojan War and the eventual destruction of Troy.
Prior to his infatuation with Helen, Paris was placed in the unfortunate position of being the judge in what is commonly called The Judgment of Paris; at the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis, the goddess Eris (Discord) threw down a golden apple which was inscribed “for the most beautiful one”; Athene (Athena), Hera and Aphrodite all assumed that the Apple of Discord was for them; as judge, Paris was forced to choose one of the three goddesses; he chose Aphrodite and thus earned her affection and likewise the wrath of Athene and Hera.
During the last battle of the Trojan War, Alexandros was killed by the legendary archer, Philoktetes (Philoctetes), who possessed the bow of Herakles (Hercules).
The name Alexandros literally means Defending Men.

Alkmene (Alcmene)
The daughter of Elektryon (Electryon) and the mother of Herakles (Heracles) and Iphikles (Iphicles).
Alkmene’s father was accidentally killed in a dispute over some cattle by a young warrior named Amphitryon; in order to repay Alkmene for this cruel accident Amphitryon promised to avenge the murder of her brothers at the hands of the Teleboans.
Amphitryon was to consummate his marriage to Alkmene when he completed his promise but before he could return, Zeus came to Alkmene in the guise of Amphitryon and seduced her; from Zeus she conceived Herakles and from Amphitryon she conceived Iphikles.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 14, line 323; book 19, lines 98 and 119
Iliad (Fagles), book 14, line 387; book 19, lines 115 and 138
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 14, line 363; book 19, lines 111 and 134
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 120; book 11, line 266
Odyssey (Fagles), book 2, line 133; book 11, line 302
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 128; book 11, line 304
Theogony, lines 526 and 943
Shield of Herakles, lines 15, 89+ and 467
Eoiae, fragment 99 ii, line 20
Great Eoiae, fragment 2
Hymn to Herakles the Lion-Hearted
Histories, book 2.43 and 2.145

Amazons 1
ama ZONS
The Amazons were a society of female warriors reputed to be the daughters of the war god, Ares and the nymph, Harmonia.
The Amazons lived at the fringe of the civilized world beyond the shores of the Black Sea in the land of Scythia.
The Greek word, Amazon, comes from the combination of A (meaning Without) and Mazos (meaning Breast); the Amazons were said to have cut off their right breast so that it would not interfere with their use of the bow in battle.
The historian, Herodotus, said that the Scythians called the Amazons oeorpata which is the equivalent of Man Killers (orer being the Scythian word for Man and pata meaning Kill).
Early artwork representing the Amazons showed them as fierce warriors but later renderings showed them as comely women dressed in Persian garb.
There are several accounts of Greek heroes encountering the Amazons:
1) When Jason and the Argonauts were sailing to Kolchis (Colchis) to retrieve the Golden Fleece, the blind seer, Phineus told Jason that he would pass the Cape of Zeus, Lord of Hospitality, and see a stone temple which was built by the Amazon queens, Otrere and Antiope, in honor of Ares; Phineus said that if the Argonauts stopped at the temple, they would receive advantageous help from the sea; Phineus was refused to divulge the exact nature of the help the Argonauts would receive but his prophecy proved to be true; also, the Argonauts sailed past the Amazon’s homeland which was near the mouth of the river Thermodon where it flows from the Amazonian mountains into the Black Sea; the Amazons did not live in a city but were divided into three tribes: 1) the Themiskyreians (Themiscyreians) who had Hippolyte as their queen, 2) the Lykastians (Lycastians) and 3) the dart-throwing Chadesians;
2) The Ninth Labor of Herakles (Heracles) involved retrieving the belt of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte; the belt that Herakles was supposed to retrieve was not magical or valuable but simply described as a glistening or gaudily woven girdle; Herakles ambushed one of the Amazons, a daughter of Ares named Melanippe, and held her for ransom; Hippolyte surrendered the girdle and Herakles released Melanippe unharmed;
3) When Theseus, king of Athens, encountered the Amazons, he married their queen, Antiope; the subjects of Antiope declared an unsuccessful war on the Athenians;
4) Bellerophontes was sent to Lykia (Lycia) by the jealous king of Argos, Proetus, so that he could be killed; Bellerophontes was given a series of suicidal tasks and one of them was to go to the land of the Amazons and slaughter them; true to his heroic nature, Bellerophontes survived and the Amazons suffered under his sword; and
5) During the siege of the city of Troy, Helen and King Priam had a conversation in which Priam told of the time when he had fought with the Amazons; he said that they were the equal of men and the only reason the Greek men won the battle was because they outnumbered the Amazon women.
The legendary ferocity and uniqueness of the Amazons endures into our modern age; when the Spanish conquistadors were exploring South America (circa 1500 CE) they came across a tribe of women warriors and named the river where the warrior women lived the Amazon.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 3, lines 189; book 6, line 186
Iliad (Fagles), book 3, line 229; book 6, line 219
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 3, line 224; book 6, line 219
Histories, book 4.110-117; book 9.27
Argonautica, book 2, lines 386, 983 and 1174

Amphora (Amphoras) 1
am for AH
A two handled storage container made of fired clay which date to the eighth century BCE; the sizes of the amphorae can vary from large to small and, depending on their intended use, amphorae were either decorated or not, i.e. when used for commercial transport, the amphorae were quite plain and unadorned but those used in a household or temple tended to be painted so elaborately that they could be considered to be works of art.
The word Amphora (amphi-phoreus) can be literally translated to mean “carried from both sides,” thus the handle on each side of the container.

Andromeda 2
The daughter of the King Kepheus (Cepheus) and Queen Kassiopeia (Cassiopeia) of Ethiopia.
Kassiopeia offended the Nereids and, as punishment, Poseidon (lord of the Sea) sent a sea monster to ravage the kingdom; in order to stop the monster’s rampage, it was necessary for Kepheus and Kassiopeia to offer Andromeda as a sacrifice to the monster but before the monster could devour Andromeda, Perseus arrived on the scene and, using the severed head of Medusa, turned the monster to stone.
Now that Andromeda was safe from harm, a man named Phineus and his henchmen tried to kidnap Andromeda; Perseus also used Medusa’s head to turn Phineus and his men to stone; after these dramatic events, Perseus and Andromeda were married.

Annulet
The ring-like molding around the capital of a column.

Aphrodite
The goddess of Love; Aphrodite was born of the mixture of ocean foam and the blood of the deposed god, Ouranos (the Heavens).
Aphrodite has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on her photo to view that page.

Apis 2
Apis Bull; an Egyptian deity with the physical characteristics of a bull; associated with the Greek bull-man, Epaphos (Epaphus).
Apis was sometimes depicted in the shape of a man with the head of a bull and as a bull with the disk of the Sun in his horns but his common shape was simply that of a bull; worshiped in Egypt as early as 3000 BCE as a symbol of fertility, then as Apis-Atum in relation to the Sun and finally becoming associated with the god Osiris as Osiris-Apis, guardian of the dead.
When the historian Herodotus (484?-425? BCE) was in Egypt, he encountered the priests of Apis examining and sacrificing an Apis Bull; the bull representing Apis had to be perfect in all ways and any imperfection would disqualify the sacrificial victim; an Apis Bull would be born at random intervals and the birth of a perfect bull was an occasion for celebration and sacrifice; the bull as doused in wine and the throat was cut; the body of the beast was flayed and eaten but the head was either thrown onto to Nile river or sold to any Greeks who happened to be nearby; the ritual of the sacrifice as intended to infuse the head of the bull with the evil of the worshipers and therefore could not be eaten; female cattle were never sacrificed because they were the Egyptian equivalent of the maiden Io, and thus sacred.
When the Persian King Kambyses (Cambyses) was in Egypt (circa 524 BCE), an Apis Bull was born and the Egyptians donned their best attire for the celebration; Kambyses assumed that the celebration was because of his recent military humiliations and accused the priests of mocking him; he had the sacred animal brought before him and stabbed it in the thigh with a dagger and ridiculed the priests for worshiping a frail and mortal deity; when the Apis Bull died, Kambyses proclaimed that anyone who continued the celebration would be killed.
The Apis Bull that Kambyses killed was actually just a calf; the animal was considered to be divine because it was born to an infertile cow which had been struck by lightening and then became pregnant; the calf was black with a white triangle on its forehead, a white eagle mark on its back, double hair on its tail and a knot under its tongue; the combination of these signs made it indisputable that the animal was sacred.
Histories, book 2.38-39, 2.41 and 2.153; book 3.27-29

Apollon (Apollo)
The son of Zeus and Leto; brother of Artemis; Apollon was the patron of the oracle at the city of Delphi.
Apollon has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.

Architrave
arc ih TRAVE
The undecorated lintel resting directly on the columns, i.e. lowermost member of a classical entablature; generally speaking, an entablature is any raised architectural member and consists of 1) an Architrave, 2) Frieze and 3) Cornice.

Ares
The god of War.
Ares has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.

• Admetos
• Aithalides
• Akastos (Acastus)
• Amphidamas
• Amphion
• Ankaios (Ancaios) (son of Lykurgos)
• Ankaios (Ancaios) (son of Poseidon)
• Areios
• Argos (Argus)
• Asterion
• Asterios
• Augeias
• Boutes
• Echion
• Erginos
• Erybotes
• Erytos
• Euphemos
• Eurydamas
• Eurytion
• Herakles
• Hylas
• Idas
• Idmon
• Iphiklos (Iphiclus)
• Iphitus (son of Eurytos)
• Iphitus (son of Klytoneos)
• Kalais (Calais)
• Kanthos (Canthus)
• Kastor (Castor)
• Kepheus (Cepheus)
• Klytios (Clytius)
• Koronus (Coronus)
• Laokoon (Laocoon)
• Leodokos (Leodocus)
• Lynkeus (Lynceus)
• Meleagros
• Menoitios
• Mopsos
• Nauplios
• Oileus
• Orpheus
• Palaemonius
• Peleus
• Periklymenos (Periclymenos)
• Phaleros
• Phleias
• Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux)
• Polyphemos (Polyphemus) (son of Eilatos)
• Talaos
• Telamon
• Tiphys
• Zetes
•  
• Before they reached Kolchis (Colchis) the Argonauts were joined by the sons of Phrixus:
• Argos
• Kytissoros (Cytissorus)
• Melas
• Phrontis

Ariadne
aree AD nee
Ariadne was the consort of Theseus before he became king of Athens; she was the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae of the island of Crete; Ariadne was the sister of Deukalion (Deucalion) and Euryale.
Ariadne met Theseus when he went to Crete to end a deadly feud which had developed between King Aegeus of Athens and King Minos of Crete; when King Minos’ son Androgeus went to the first Panathenaic Games in Athens he attracted the ire of Theseus’ father, King Aegeus, by winning all the prizes; Aegeus had Androgeus killed and Minos waged war on Athens to avenge his son; peace was won only with the promise that Athens would send seven young men and seven young women every year to Crete in order to be slain by the ungodly bull-man known as the Minotaur.
The Athenian youths were placed in a labyrinth and the Minotaur would hunt them down and savagely kill them; the tradition continued for three years until Theseus voluntarily entered the labyrinth and killed the Minotaur; Theseus was given a spool of thread by Ariadne which he unwound as he entered the labyrinth and was thus able to retrace his steps and escape the intricate maze; after the ordeal with the Minotaur, Theseus and Ariadne fled Crete.
According to The Odyssey, Odysseus encountered the “shade” of Ariadne when he evoked the spirits of the Underworld; Theseus was taking her to Athens after he had escaped the labyrinth but abandoned her on the island of Dia; after Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) “bore witness against her,” the goddess Artemis killed Ariadne.
That is the oldest mention of Ariadne but, according to Plutarch, the stories relating to Theseus, Ariadne and the labyrinth were not as clear-cut as we might imagine; the idea that Ariadne was in love with Theseus is a common thread that winds through all the stories but her ultimate fate is by no means clear; she either:
1) Was abandoned on the island of Dia and killed by Artemis;
2) Inherited the throne of Crete after the deaths of her father, Minos, and her brother, Deukalion, and she made a pact of truce with Athens;
3) She committed suicide after Theseus abandoned her;
4) She was taken to the island of Naxos after Theseus abandoned her for a woman named Aigle and she married a priest of Dionysos named Oenarus;
5) Theseus put the pregnant Ariadne ashore on the island of Cyprus and was not able to return before she died in childbirth;
6) After Dionysos made Ariadne his wife, Zeus made her immortal and un-ageing; or
7) There were two women named Ariadne stranded on the island of Naxos: one was married to Dionysos and her passing was celebrated with gaiety; the other Ariadne was abandoned by Theseus and her passing was commemorated with sorrow and lamentation.
Regardless of the fate of beautiful Ariadne, Plutarch reminds us that it was never wise to offend the eloquent and dramatic Athenians because they would exaggerate and immortalize any insult or transgression against them; King Minos earned the hatred of the Athenians and he and his family are forever condemned to suffer the jibes and taunts of pre-historical innuendo.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 18, line 592
Iliad (Fagles), book 18, line 692
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 18, line 680
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 11, line 321
Odyssey (Fagles), book 11, line 364
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 11, line 373
Plutarch’s Lives, Theseus, chapters 16, 19-21
Theogony, line 947

Aristotle
The preeminent Greek philosopher circa 384-322 BCE.
Aristotle was a pupil of Plato and the tutor of Alexander the Great; as a historical figure, quite a bit is known of his life but I will only touch on the more notable aspects of his distinguished career as a natural scientist.
Aristotle was born in Stageira, Chalkidike (Chalcidice) in northern Greece; his father, Nikomachus (Nicomachus), was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon; Amynas was the father of Philip II who was, in turn, the father of Alexander the Great.
Aristotle went to Athens in 367 BCE and studied under Plato until Plato’s death in 347; circa 343 he returned to Macedon to tutor young Alexander; in 335, as Alexander marched into Persia, Aristotle returned to Athens and became a popular and affluent lecturer at the gymnasium in the grove sacred to Apollon Lykeios, known as the Lykeum (Lyceum).
After the death of Alexander in 323, Aristotle left Athens and died the following year at Chalkis (Chalcis) on the island of Euboea.
His works have been divided into three divisions relating to 1) his early philosophical works (now lost), 2) his scientific and historical writing (mostly lost) and 3) his later scientific and philosophical works which are the major source of our knowledge of his thoughts.
This is simply a short description of the life and works of Aristotle because literally thousands of detailed books have been written about him and I suggest that any serious inquiry of Aristotle should begin at your favorite library or you can use the Book Shop on this site to order the books you need.