| Earth-Born 1 |
| The warriors who grew from the teeth of the dragon that Kadmos (Cadmus) killed when he founded the city of Thebes. |
| After Kadmos killed the dragon, Athene (Athena) knocked the teeth from the dead dragon’s head and gave half to Kadmos and the other half to King Aietes (Aeetes) of Kolchis (Colchis); Kadmos planted the teeth and, when the Earth-Born warriors arose from the ground, he threw a stone in their midst and let them fight amongst themselves; the five warriors who survived the fight were called the Sparti and became the founding families of the city of Thebes. |
| When the Argonauts went to Kolchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece, Jason was required to plant the dragon’s teeth that Aietes possessed and fight the Earth-Born warriors as they emerged from the ground; Jason used the same trick as Kadmos and tossed a stone into the group of Earth-Born warriors and let them fight amongst themselves until their numbers were sufficiently reduced so that he could kill the remainder. |
| Argonautika, book 3, lines 413-15, 1052-1060 and 1278-1407 |
| Echekles (Echecles) |
| A son of Aktor (Actor) and the husband of Polymele. |
| When the maiden, Polymele, became the mother of Eudoros by Hermes, Echekles recognized the fact that Eudoros was the child of an Immortal; he married Polymele and raised the boy as if he were his own. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 16, line 189 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 16, line 224 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 16, line 222 |
| Echidna |
| The daughter of Kallirhoe (Callirhoe). |
| Echidna is “like nothing human,” half nymph with a fair face and the body of an enormous serpent; she lives apart from the other Immortals underground; Echis means Viper. |
| Echidna was joined in love with Typhaon and their hard-tempered children were: Orthos (the watchdog of Geryon (Geryones)), Kerberos (Cerberus) (the savage dog of Hades) and the Hydra of Lerna; all three of which Herakles (Heracles) faced as part of his Labors. |
| Also, near the city of Corinth, the hero, Theseus, killed a fierce sow that was the offspring of Echidna and Typhaon; the sow was named after her keeper, Phaia, and it appears that Theseus killed the beast for sport rather than necessity. |
| Theogony, lines 295-316 |
| Eetion 1 |
| A king of the city of Thebes and the father of Andromache. |
| When Andromache married the Trojan hero, Hector, she was an orphan because Achilles had killed her father, Eetion, and her seven brothers; Achilles honored Eetion by burning his body without stripping his armor and then piling a burial mound over his remains; the nymphs of the mountains planted elm trees over the mound; Eetion’s wife was captured by Achilles and returned for ransom but Artemis killed her with a shower of arrows. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 1, line 366; book 6, lines 395, 396 and 416; book 8, line 187; book 9, line 188; book 16, line 153; book 22, lines 472 and 480; book 23, line 827 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 1, line 433; book 6, lines 467 and 494; book 8, line 212; book 9, line 226; book 16, line 183; book 22, line 564; book 23, line 918 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 1, line 424; book 6, line 460; book 9, line 227; book 16, line 179; book 22, line 565; book 23, line 951 |
| Eidothea |
| The daughter of the Old Man of the Sea, Proteus. |
| When Menelaos (Menelaus) and his companions were stranded on the island of Pharos, Eidothea appeared and told Menelaos that he must capture and question her father, Proteus, in order to find out which of the Immortals was responsible for his forced wanderings and what he must do to gain appeasement. |
| Eidothea skinned four seals and gave the reeking skins to Menelaos and three of his shipmates to use as disguises so that they could ambush Proteus; she then put ambrosia under their noses so that they could endure the terrible stench of the dead seals and showed Menelaos the cave where Proteus came out of the water to sleep; Menelaos and the three men waited until Proteus was asleep and attacked him; Proteus assumed the guise of a lion, a serpent, a leopard, a boar, fluid water and, finally, a tree but Menelaos would not release his grip; Proteus finally gave up the struggle and agreed to answer Menelaos’ questions. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore), book 4, line 365 |
| Odyssey (Loeb), book 4, line 366 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 4, line 408 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 4, line 392 |
| Eidyia (Idyia) |
| An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys. |
| Eidyia was the youngest Okeanid; she became the queen of Kolchis (Colchis) and the wife of King Aietes (Aeetes); she was the mother of Chalkiope (Chalciope) and the sorceress, Medeia (Medea). |
| In Argonautika Eidyia and Aietes (Aeetes) were the parents of Medeia (Medea) but in Theogony the name of Medeia’s mother is given as Idyia. |
| Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping. |
| Argonautika, book 3, lines 243 and 268 |
| Theogony, lines 352 and 961 |
| Eileithyia (Eilithyia) |
| The goddess of Childbirth; the daughter of Zeus and Hera; the sister of Ares (god of War) and Hebe (goddess of Youth). |
| There are two dramatic instances where Eileithyia played a major role in the history of the Immortals: |
| 1) The birth of Apollon: the goddess, Leto, was in labor for nine days and nights; she was attended by Rheia (Rhea), Dione, Themis and Aphrodite but Eileithyia, was deliberately distracted by Hera so that she could not know of Leto’s needs; finally, the goddesses in attendance sent Iris to Mount Olympos to fetch Eileithyia; Iris drew Eileithyia aside so that Hera would not interfere and told her Leto’s plight; Eileithyia immediately went to Leto and Apollon was born without further delay. |
| 2) The birth of Herakles (Heracles): since Herakles was not the son of Hera but the result of another one of Zeus’ romantic escapades with a mortal woman named Alkmene (Alcmene); he was subject to her rage; from the very beginning, his life was affected by Hera’s vengeance and hostility; when Alkmene was pregnant with Herakles, Hera cleverly made Zeus swear a solemn oath that the next son born in the bloodline of Perseus would become the ruler of Argos; Zeus was sure that Herakles would be that ruler but Hera delayed Eileithyia from attending Alkmene and allowed Eurystheus to be born before Herakles; Herakles was later bound to Eurystheus and required to perform the labors which have become known as the Twelve Labors of Herakles. |
| Theogony, line 923 |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 16, line 187; book 19, line 103 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 16, line 222 (Lady of Labor); book 19, line 119 (goddess of birth pangs and labor) |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 16, line 220; book 19, line 116 |
| Eirene (Peace) 1 |
| The goddess of Peace; a daughter of Zeus and Themis; Eirene is one of the Horae (The Hours), i.e. the goddesses of the Seasons; the keepers of Heaven’s Gate; her sisters are Eunomia (Harmony) and Dike (Justice). |
| The Horae assist the Olympians by organizing the Seasons and adding balance to Nature; the Horae guard Mount Olympos (Olympus) with a dark veil and open and close the gates of the sky for the other Immortals as they travel to and from their earthly domains. |
| In The Iliad, we see the Horae personally attending Hera and her horses; they open the sky and Hera zooms from her home on Mount Olympos to Mount Ida to distract Zeus from the battle for Troy. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), book 5, (Hours) lines 749 and 750; book 8, (Hours) lines 393 and 433 |
| Iliad (Loeb), book 5, (Hours) line 749; book 8, (Hours) lines 393 and 433 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 5, (Seasons) line 859; book 8, (Seasons) lines 449 and 498 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 5, (Hours) line 856; book 8, (Hours) lines 444 and 488 |
| Theogony, line 902 |
| Eirene (Peace) 2 |
| A comic play by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 421 BCE at the Great Dionysia where it won second prize. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Trygaios |
| Hermes |
| Ares |
| Eirene (Peace) |
| Hierokles (Hierocles) |
| Son of Lamachos |
| Son of Kleonymos (Cleonymos) |
| Tumult (Omados or Homados) |
| When this play was presented, the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) had been going on for ten years and the need for peace was becoming urgent; shortly after the production of Peace, Athens and Sparta managed to negotiate a treaty that gave the war ravaged Greeks a five year reprieve from the brutal and unrelenting war. |
| The story revolves around a common man named Trygaios who has had enough of the war and decides to take his complaint directly to Zeus; he does not intend to pray or sacrifice in order to get Zeus’ attention, he intends to go to Mount Olympos (Olympus) and confront Zeus face to face. |
| Mounting a flying dung-beetle named Pegasos (Pegasus), Trygaios flies to Mount Olympos and is greeted by Hermes; the majority of the gods and goddesses have fled the sacred mountain; Ares (god of War) seems to be in charge of the mountain and he’s urgently looking for a pestle for his mortar so he can grind more Greek cities into dust; he is dismayed to find that the Athenian Kleon (Cleon) and the Spartan Brasides have been killed in the war because they were the best pestles he had. |
| The goddess Eirene (Peace) has been buried in a pit and Trygaios urges the chorus (who represent the various people of Greece) to help him dig her out; the city-folk in the chorus work at cross purposes but the country-folk work together and free Eirene from captivity; there follows a very interesting and highly symbolic scene where Eirene will not speak directly to the chorus but whispers to Hermes and he relates her messages; it seems that the Greeks have called upon Eirene too often with false promises and betrayed her trust; she does not feel that they will give her true homage and therefore will not favor them with her life sustaining voice. |
| Trygaios persuades Eirene to allow her handmaiden to return to Athens with him so that he can show the Council that Eirene will help them if they will give up their hateful ways; when Trygaios is once again on the earth’s surface he faces the audience and tells them that they looked very small and wicked when he flew above them on his dung-beetle and, now that he’s closer, they seem even more so. |
| A sacrifice is made to Eirene and the Athenian tradesmen start to approach Trygaios; the sickle-maker is jubilant because business is booming with the farmers working in their fields again; the craftsmen who made war implements are distraught because their products are now worthless; Trygaios suggests that shields be used as commodes and that helmets have handles attached so they can be used as wine pitchers; in the end, all seems to be as it should be with all the people of Greece reclaiming their peaceful traditions. |
| Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy; when trying to find a readable translator, I suggest Patric Dickinson; you may find his books at your local library in the 882 section but his books are out of print and sometimes difficult to find. |
| Ekklesiazusae (Ecclesiazusae) |
| The Women’s Assembly; a comic play by Aristophanes produced in 392 BCE. |
| This is one of Aristophanes’ more ribald plays and might not be suitable for younger readers. |
| It seems that the women of the city of Athens have decided to kill the poet Euripides because of the demeaning way in which he portrays women in his plays; the women put Euripides in the same category as the accursed Persians and declare him an enemy of the state; Euripides persuades his father-in-law Mnesilochos (Mnesilochus) to dress like a woman and attend the Women’s Assembly in order to speak out on Euripides’ behalf; at first, Mnesilochos speaks well for Euripides and seems to be generating some sympathy for the doomed poet but an informant arrives and tells the women that a male spy has invaded their assembly; it doesn’t take long for the women to deduce that the only woman to speak out for Euripides is the intruder. |
| At this point the play takes a unique turn; I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised when Mnesilochos snatched up a baby from a woman in the assembly and threatened to kill it unless he was allowed to leave the hall unharmed; I won’t tell you how the situation is resolved but I will say that it’s scenes like this which demonstrate Aristophanes’ true comic genius. |
| After Mnesilochos is taken prisoner and restrained, Euripides enters the scene to save his father-in-law from the wrath of the women; the comic banter between Mnesilochos and Euripides is dialogue taken from Euripides’ tragedies and turned into farcical parodies. |
| Although the play mocks Euripides, there is an element of respect for his work laced throughout the puns and jokes; the net result of reading this play is that I wanted to read more plays by Euripides and Aristophanes. |
| Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy; you may find this play at your local library in the 882 section or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Elaphebolion |
| Elaphebolion was the ninth month of the year in Attica and approximately corresponds to the third week of February to the third week of March of our calendar; since this month marked the closing month of winter, there were several important festivals: |
| A festival dedicated to Artemis (goddess of the Hunt) was held in the first week of Elaphebolion which was followed by a day honoring the greatest healer in ancient Greece, Asklepios (Asclepius); |
| The City Dionysia was one to the most grand festivals of the year; beginning on the ninth of Elaphebolion, the City Dionysia was the venue of the best dramatic performances in all of Greece; this was an Athenian festival in honor of Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) and was notable for the performance of dithyrambs (a wild and irregular choral song or chant), tragedies, comedies and satyr plays (ribald dramas with a chorus of satyrs); |
| After the City Dionysia, there was the festival of Zeus Pandion which celebrated Zeus as the father of the Immortals and the progenitor of the first kings of Athens. |
| Elektra (Electra) 5 |
| A tragedy by Euripides which was produced circa 413 BCE. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Elektra (Electra) |
| Orestes |
| Pylades |
| Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) |
| This play sheds more light on the tragedy that surrounded the murder of the Argive hero, Agamemnon, and the terrible deeds committed by his family. |
| When Agamemnon returned as the victor of the Trojan War his wife, Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra), and her lover, Aegisthus, killed him as he was taking a bath; he was without a weapon, guards or armor when Klytemnestra attacked him and he died an ignoble death not suitable for a man of such honor and courage. |
| With Agamemnon out of the way, Aegisthus forced Klytemnestra to disown her children, Orestes and Elektra; Orestes was sent into exile and Elektra, when she was old enough, was given in marriage to a man with no influence or resources; Aegisthus was afraid that if Elektra married a man of noble birth or wealth she would eventually persuade him to take revenge for the murder of her father and try to claim Elektra’s rightful inheritance. |
| Although she was doomed to a life of poverty and disgrace, Elektra was fortunate in that her pauper husband was a man of honor and understanding; he knew that Elektra was his wife only because of the greed and fears of Aegisthus and that, being of noble birth, she should have been allowed to marry a man of equal social station; he took Elektra as his wife in name only and refused to consummate their marriage; he somehow knew that she would eventually be freed from the oppression of Aegisthus and, at that time, she would want to be pure and therefore worthy of a suitable husband. |
| In this play, Euripides gives Elektra a noble spirit and portrays her as a young woman of impeccable morals; she is understandably disappointed in her circumstances but she bravely accepts her miserable existence and insists on helping her husband with the menial household chores; while she is getting water from the well, two strangers approach her and ask about her long lost brother, Orestes; the strangers are Orestes and his companion, Pylades, but since Elektra was only a child when he had been exiled, she did not recognize Orestes; at first she was fearful but the strangers seemed like men of honor and they said that they had news of her brother and she is anxious to hear anything about him; Orestes continues the charade so that he can get a clear picture of the situation in Argos; Elektra tells Orestes that the situation is very sad indeed; the people despise Aegisthus and Klytemnestra but are afraid to rise up against them; Agamemnon’s pyre is neglected and there are no sacrifices or libations offered in his honor; Aegisthus lives in constant fear that Orestes will return to exact justice so he is always wary and well guarded. |
| Elektra’s husband invites Orestes and Pylades into his hovel even though he knows that he does not have enough food or drink to offer them adequate hospitality; Elektra suggests that her husband (who is not named in the play) fetch an old man who was once a servant of her father to see if he would give them one of the animals from his flock to serve to the strangers; the old man came to the hovel and immediately recognized Orestes; the joyful reunion was cut short when brother and sister began to plot the murder of Aegisthus and their mother, Klytemnestra; they decided to act at once and kill Aegisthus as he prepared a sacrifice outside the protective city walls and then lure Klytemnestra to Elektra’s house and kill her before she can realize her danger. |
| Orestes found Aegisthus in the fields and killed him without mercy; Aegisthus’ guards raised their weapons but backed down when Orestes identified himself and he and Pylades stood ready and able to defend themselves; Elektra sent a messenger to her mother to falsely claim that she had just given birth to a child and asked that her mother come to offer a proper sacrifice for the health of the baby; when Klytemnestra arrived and saw that she had been deceived, she quickly realized her situation and, instead of begging for compassion, boldly claimed that killing Agamemnon was justified and within her rights as a wronged woman. |
| Klytemnestra said that she had loved her husband and had been a faithful wife until he had taken her daughter, Iphigenia, and killed her like a sacrificial animal; Agamemnon had sent word that he wanted to marry Iphigenia to the greatest warrior in Greece, Achilles, but he actually wanted a human sacrifice to guarantee favorable winds for his fleet and bless his efforts to destroy the city of Troy. |
| Klytemnestra called her sister Helen a wanton woman and blamed her for all the woes that the Trojan War engendered; she also said that if she had killed Orestes as a human sacrifice, Agamemnon would have murdered her without the slightest hesitation and that the people of Argos would have praised his actions as justifiable; her final excuse for killing Agamemnon was that he brought Kassandra (Cassandra) back from Troy as his concubine; Klytemnestra called Kassandra a madwoman and was infuriated that Agamemnon would take such a woman to his bed and expect his wife to approve. |
| Elektra would not accept any excuses or justifications for the cold blooded murder of her father; she blamed her mother for allowing Aegisthus to force Orestes into exile even though he was only a child; Elektra was also inconsolably bitter for being punished with poverty for the crimes and cowardice of her mother and her mother’s contemptible lover; she blamed her mother for being an unfaithful wife long before there were any noble justifications for murder; Elektra had seen her mother spend countless hours in front of a mirror so that she could appear beautiful for other men and furthermore, she said that for a woman to try to make herself attractive for anyone other than her husband was disgraceful; after she had said her piece, Elektra and Orestes killed their mother; this murder was not as easy as killing Aegisthus; both children were wracked with guilt and doubt, especially Orestes. |
| At this point in the play, the image of Kastor (Castor) appears; Kastor is the brother of Klytemnestra and Helen; he is now immortal and has come to ease the guilt of his niece and nephew; Kastor says that killing their mother was justified but still worthy of shame and consequence; he decrees that Elektra should marry Orestes’ companion, Pylades, and be blessed with a long and full life but that she must flee Argos and never return; Kastor says that Orestes must go to Athens and embrace the statue of the goddess Athene (Athena) before the Furies can find him and exact their brutal punishment. |
| This play provokes thought and asks questions that are not easily answered in any moral framework; there are several diversions from the plotline that, as is typical with Euripides’ plays, give insight into other myths; his diversion to describe the shield that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made for Herakles (Heracles), his discussion of Pan and the description of a blood sacrifice to the Nymphs of the rocks are all informative as well as interesting. |
| I personally recommend the translations compiled by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene or the Bantam Classic Ten Plays by Euripides translated by Moses Hadas and John McLean (ISBN 0553213636); you can find this and other plays by Euripides in the 882 section of your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Eleusinian Mysteries |
| The Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated the return of Persephone after she had been abducted by her uncle, Hades (lord of the Underworld); the festival of the Greater Mysteries was celebrated at the city of Eleusis which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Athens; the ceremonies and procession for the sacred event began in Athens on the fifteenth day of Boedromion (approximately the second week of September by our calendar) and lasted from seven to nine days. |
| The Eleusinian Mysteries included the worship of Demeter, Persephone and Iakchos (Iacchos) as Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine); most of the ceremonies were public but only initiates were allowed to participate in the final rituals; the rites are called Mysteries because the Greek word Mystes means One Initiated; there were several stages of initiation; the rites of the Lesser Mysteries were held in the spring and dedicated to Persephone; the Lesser Mysteries involved the ritual purification of the candidates for initiation; the Greater Mysteries were held in the fall and dedicated to Demeter; the initiates were called Epoptes, i.e. One Who Has Seen; the only Greek citizens who were excluded from the ceremonies were people with Blood Guilt, i.e. those who had killed; men, women and slaves were allowed to take part in the ceremonies; all Greek cities honored the sanctity of the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries by instituting a truce which would halt war and conflicts; this would allow participants to travel to and from Athens and Eleusis without worrying about local and national disputes. |
| The rituals of the Greater Mysteries were scrupulously guarded and ancient writers who dared to expound on the subject were probably just guessing as to the actual rites performed at Eleusis; the rites performed in Athens were more public and conducted at the City Eleusinion which was a temple for Demeter and Persephone located between the Acropolis and the Agora; in preparation for the procession to Eleusis, sacred ritual objects were brought from the temple at Eleusis and stored in the Eleusinion. |
| After a ritual cleansing and purification, participants would gather at the Sacred Gates near the Kerameikos cemetery and then walk from Athens to Eleusis on what was called the Sacred Way; the priests and priestesses of Demeter would lead the procession carrying a wooden statue of Iakchos and other sacred objects hidden in wooden boxes destined for the Telesterion in Eleusis where the final and most secret rites were performed; the members of the procession chanted the name of Iakchos as they walked and would stop briefly at shrines of Apollon and Aphrodite along the road; masked men were stationed along the Sacred Way to insult the participants and humble them before they reached Eleusis. |
| Upon reaching Eleusis, the participants would fast until the following morning; the initiates were then permitted to enter the Telesterion where the sacred objects were revealed; all that the initiates were permitted to say about the ceremonies was that things were spoken, seen and performed; once the final rites were complete, a night of feasting and revelry began; a bull was sacrificed and libations were poured honoring the dead. |
| Elgin (Lord Elgin) |
 |
| (1766-1841) Thomas Bruce was the seventh Earl of Elgin and earned his place in history as the man responsible for the removal of a good number of the marble decorations from the Parthenon in Athens; the many statues and reliefs he secured were finally placed on display in a special gallery of the British Museum. |
| Lord Elgin was the British Ambassador in Constantinople for only four years (1799-1803) but his brief tour of duty resulted in saving many of the ancient marble reliefs which decorated the Parthenon; in 1801 Lord Elgin organized a team to record the ancient Greek buildings and sculptures; at that time, Greece had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for over 350 years; when Lord Elgin learned of the alarming rate at which the Parthenon was being defaced, he petitioned Mehemmed Raschid Aga, the highest ranking Ottoman official in Athens, and received permission to remove the Parthenon marbles; in 1802 Lord Elgin began making overtures to the British Museum but it wasn’t until 1816 that the British Parliament voted special funds for the purchase of the marbles so that they could be placed in the British Museum. |
| The so called Elgin Marbles are now on display in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum; the construction of the new gallery for the Parthenon sculptures was funded by Sir Joseph (later Lord) Duveen in 1931; the architect was the American, John Russell Pope, who also designed the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. |
| Elpenor |
| The companion of Odysseus on his voyage home to the island of Ithaka (Ithaca). |
| Elpenor fell from the roof of Kirke’s (Circe’s) palace and was never given a proper burial; when Odysseus went to the entrance of the Underworld to seek the advice of the seer, Teiresias, he encountered Elpenor’s “shade” and was moved to promise “the barrow and the burial” for his fallen companion. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 10, line 552; book 11, lines 51 and 57; book 12, line 10 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 10, line 608; book 11, lines 57 and 62; book 12, line 10 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 10, line 610; book 11, lines 54 and 60; book 12, line 11 |
| Enareis |
| In the Scythian homeland, an Enareis is a hermaphrodite. |
| When the Scythians invaded what we call the Middle East, they marched through Syria; most of the soldiers did not plunder or harm the Syrians but some of them looted the ancient temple of Aphrodite Orania in the city of Askalon (Ascalon). |
| The looters and their descendants were afflicted by the goddess of Love with a disease which is generally called the "female sickness" and caused loss of virility; the Scythians call the victims of this illness, Enareis, which is equated to a hermaphrodite. |
| These stricken Scythian men-women assumed the role of soothsayers in their native land; they would split the bark of a lime tree and foretell the future as they braid the strips of bark. |
| Histories, book 1.105; book 4.67 |
| Enkelados (Enceladus) |
| Enkelados was one of the huge monsters collectively known as the Giants; the Giants were the children of Gaia (Earth) engendered by the blood of Ouranos (the Heavens). |
| The Giants waged an unsuccessful war on the Olympians and were severely punished after their defeat; the poet Hesiod states that the Giants were banished to the Underworld but Apollodorus of Athens clearly describes the brutal death of the Giants. |
| The Giants were mostly human in form but their bodies were massive and they were invincible in their might; they had long drooping locks on their heads and chins; their feet had scales like a dragon or serpent; whether they actually had the feet of dragons or whether they were simply scaled was a point of contention among several of the ancient authors; the traveler and historian, Pausanias, disputed the fact that the Giants literally had dragon feet but ancient artwork generally represented the Giants with serpent-like feet. |
| The origin of the Giants was either Phlegrae or Pallene but it has been suggested that the two names represent the same place; the Immortals were given an oracle which stated that the Giants could not be killed by a god or goddess so they decided to enlist the aid of Herakles (Heracles) to do the actual killing; when Gaia learned of the oracle, she began the preparation of a drug that would protect her awful children but Zeus culled a cunning brew of his own that would make the Giants vulnerable to the wrath of the Immortals; in order to have the time necessary for the creation of the drug, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine until his task was complete. |
| The goddess Athene (Athena) summoned Herakles and the war against the Giants began: |
| Enkelados tried to run away but Athene dropped the island of Sicily on him; his brothers all met a similar fate: |
| Alkyoneos (Alcyoneus) - Alkyoneos was one of the two most powerful of the Giants; he was brazen in his contempt for the Olympian Gods and even stole the cattle of Helios from Erythia; he was immortal as long as he remained on his home soil, i.e. he could not be killed by man, god or beast as long as he remained in the land of his birth; he was, however, the first of the Giants to die; Herakles shot Alkyoneos with an arrow and the mighty Giant fell to the ground where he was revitalized by the earth and began to recover from the wound; at the advice of Athene, Herakles dragged Alkyoneos out of Pallene where he was no longer protected by his native soil and he died. |
| Porphyrion - Alkyoneos and Porphyrion were the two most powerful Giants; while Alkyoneos and Herakles were fighting, Porphyrion joined the battle but was immediately distracted by an intervention from Zeus; an irresistible longing for the goddess Hera overcame Porphyrion and he began to tear at the goddesses’ garments; Herakles killed Alkyoneos while Porphyrion was lustfully distracted and Zeus struck the unsuspecting Giant with a thunderbolt and rendered him helpless but not dead; Herakles shot Porphyrion with an arrow and killed him. |
| Ephialtes was shot with an arrow in the left eye by Apollon and then in the right eye by Herakles. |
| Eurytos (Eurytus) was killed by Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) with a thyrsus, i.e. a wand wreathed in ivy and vine leaves with a pine cone at the top. |
| Klytios (Clytius) was killed by the goddess Hekate (Hecate) with torches; presumably he was burned to death. |
| Mimas was killed when Hephaistos (Hephaestus) showered him with missiles of hot metal. |
| Polybotes was chased by Poseidon to the island of Kos (Cos) where the god broke off a piece of the island (called Nisyrum) and hurled it at the desperate Giant. |
| Hippolytus (Hippolytos) was killed by Hermes who was wearing the Helm of Hades which made him invisible. |
| Gration was killed by Artemis; Agrios (Agrius) and Thoas were beaten with brazen clubs by the Fates; the other (unnamed) Giants were struck by thunderbolts from Zeus; Herakles shot and killed each of the Giants with arrows as they lay suffering. |
| Pausanaus, book vii, chapter 29 |
| Library, book I, chapter VI |
| Theogony, line 185 |
| Battle of Frogs and Mice, line 283 |
| Eoiae (Great Eoiae) |
| The Eoiae, or Great Eoiae, is usually referred to as the Catalogue of Women which is attributed to the poet Hesiod; the Catalogue was widely quoted in the ancient world and many fragments survive. |
| Each chapter of the Catalogue began with the English equivalent of the word “Eoiae” which can be translated as "Or like her ... ,” the poem would then go on to name a particular woman and then tell the story of her ancestors and descendants, for example: from the beginning of the Shield of Herakles which tells the story of Alkmene (Alcmene), “Or like her who left the home of her fathers and came to Thebes with warlike Amphitryon, even Alkmene, daughter of the leader of men, Elektryon ... etc.” |
| The Catalogue of Women was an attempt by Hesiod to trace the Greek families as they descended through the mothers rather than the fathers because, it is assumed, the Immortals would seed the mortal race through the women they seduced; the only complete poem from The Catalogue of Women to survive is The Shield of Herakles. |
| For the complete translations of the Catalogue of Women, 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. |
| Epeios (Epeius) |
| eh pee OHS |
| The man who designed the Wooden Horse which is also called the Trojan Horse; the Wooden Horse was used to gain entrance to the city of Troy and end the Trojan War. |
| At the suggestion of Odysseus and with the inspiration of the goddess Athene (Athena), Epeios designed a large wooden troop carrier in the form of a horse; the idea was to leave the Wooden Horse in front of the gates of Troy to entice the Trojans to accept it as a peace offering declaring the end of the Trojan War. |
| After ten years of an unsuccessful siege on the walls of Troy, the Achaean Greeks needed a new plan to gain entrance to Troy; by all accounts, Odysseus was a clever man and it should not be surprising that he would conceive such a novel idea as constructing the Wooden Horse; Athene was clearly on the side of the Achaean Greeks in the Trojan War and her inspiration helped Epeios build a large, hollow horse which could conceal a small group of warriors; the Wooden Horse was left outside the gates of Troy with the warriors inside. |
| Some of the Trojans thought that the Wooden Horse was a symbol of peace and a tribute to the goddess Athene; others thought that the Wooden Horse was a trick and should be burned where it stood; the Trojan seer Laokoon (Laocoon) tried to warn King Priam that the Wooden Horse was a trick and not a peace offering but Poseidon (lord of the Sea) sent one of his giant sea-serpents to kill Laokoon and one (or both) of his sons; Priam assumed that Laokoon was killed because he was giving false prophecy and ordered the Wooden Horse to be brought inside the walls of the city. |
| The Trojan War was not simply a dispute between nations or a feud over territory; the war was started and perpetuated by the Immortals with the intention of ridding the earth of a good portion of the human population; a beautiful young woman from Sparta was used as the bait to lure a handsome prince of Troy; the love affair between Helen and Alexandros (Paris) was all that was needed to set the mainland Greeks against the Trojans; the Trojans were actually Greeks even though they lived on the coast of Asia Minor but their common heritage did not prevent the war. |
| 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; the construction of the Wooden Horse was the signal that the war was coming to an end; with the Achaean Greeks apparently gone and the Wooden Horse inside the city walls, the Trojans were ecstatic; they believed that they had survived ten years of fierce fighting and that their city would become prosperous again. |
| Helen had been living with the Trojans for ten years and was sympathetic to their survival even though her Spartan husband, Menelaos (Menelaus), was in the Greek army fighting to free her from her supposed captivity; Helen knew the Greeks well and suspected a trick when she saw the Wooden Horse; when the horse was brought into the city, Helen walked around it 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; with one exception, all the men hiding inside the horse remained silent; Odysseus forcefully restrained a man named Antiklos (Anticlus) when he tried to answer Helen’s convincing imitation of his wife. |
| After a day and night of celebration, the Trojans collapsed into a state of exhaustion; the soldiers inside the Wooden Horse emerged from hiding and opened the gates of the city; the entire invading army entered the city, leveled the walls of Troy and killed or enslaved every Trojan citizen. |
| The first mention of the Wooden Horse is in The Odyssey and there are very few details as to the size of the horse or exactly how many men were concealed inside; we are simply told that the best of the Achaean warriors were inside the horse; Menelaos, Odysseus, Diomedes and Antiklos were listed as being inside the horse but the other warriors are not named; however, later authors seem to have had no trouble in filling in the blanks; the number of warriors inside the horse began to vary from thirty to fifty and then seemed to stabilize at forty; also, the names of the men inside the Wooden Horse were finally revealed by authors writing fifteen hundred years after the Trojan War and seven hundred years after Homer. |
| Modern authors have proposed that the Trojan Horse was not a hollow troop carrier in the shape of a horse but instead a battering ram, i.e. a long wooden pole with a horse head on the end; others have speculated that the Trojan Horse was an earthquake brought on by Poseidon who is credited with giving mankind the horse; Poseidon, a.k.a. the Earth Shaker, wanted Troy to fall and he created the horse, therefore the Trojan Horse was an earthquake; the correlation is strained at best; another far reaching explanation of the Trojan Horse is that it was not a wooden structure but simply the Achaean Greeks disguised as a Trojan cavalry unit which gained access to the city by just riding through the gates; the problem with all these explanations is that Homer did not use the term Trojan Horse, he consistently called it a Wooden Horse and said that there were men concealed inside. |
| I mention these alternate explanations because it seems that some of us have not yet learned the lesson so clearly demonstrated by Heinrich Schliemann; Mr. Schliemann (1822-1890 CE) proposed that there had been a real city named Troy in antiquity; he was promptly ridiculed by contemporary scholars who were convinced that Troy was a mythical city in a fictional story; since Homer and other ancient authors spoke of Troy as a real place and Alexander the Great and Julius Cesar both claimed to have visited the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann reasoned that Troy actually existed and that the ruins could be found by following the clues found in The Iliad and The Odyssey; Mr. Schliemann found Troy and history had to be rewritten; let’s apply the same logic to the Wooden Horse and assume that the Greeks actually built a huge Wooden Horse and that Trojans unwittingly took the horse into their doomed city. |
| The Little Iliad, fragment 1, line 19 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 4, lines 271-280; book 8, lines 492-520; book 11, lines 522-532 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 4, lines 304-324; book 8, lines 552-576; book 11, lines 596-609 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 4, lines 289-311; book 8, lines 526-550; book 11, lines 621-639 |
| Ephialtes 1 |
| eff ee AHL tees |
| Ephialtes and his brother, Otos, were the Giant sons of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Iphimedeia; Iphimedeia was married to a man named Aloeus but she was seduced by Poseidon and the terrible brothers were the result of that union; only second to the mighty hunter Orion, Otos and Ephialtes were the most handsome demigods to ever exist; the two brothers were also the tallest men ever to reside on the earth; when they were nine years old, they were nine cubits across and nine fathoms tall (the units of measurement (yards, cubits and fathoms) varies with each translator but the number nine is used consistently). |
| In The Iliad a story is recounted where Ephialtes and Otos bound Ares (god of War) in chains and imprisoned him in a cauldron for thirteen months until their stepmother, Eeriboia, told Hermes of Ares’ plight and he was freed. |
| Before the two brothers had reached adulthood, they brought about their own doom by challenging Zeus and the other Olympians; the two rebellious Giants tried unsuccessfully to climb to the top Mount Olympos (Olympus) by piling Mount Ossa and Mount Pelion atop one another so that they might reach the abode of the Olympians; at the command of Zeus, Ephialates and Otos were killed by Apollon in a rain of arrows. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 11, lines 305-320 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 11, lines 348-363 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 11, lines 352-371 |
| Ephialtes 2 |
| eff ee AHL tees |
| Ephialtes was one of the huge monsters collectively known as the Giants; the Giants were the children of Gaia (Earth) engendered by the blood of Ouranos (the Heavens). |
| The Giants waged an unsuccessful war on the Olympians and were severely punished after their defeat; the poet Hesiod states that the Giants were banished to the Underworld but Apollodorus of Athens clearly describes the brutal death of the Giants. |
| The Giants were mostly human in form but their bodies were massive and they were invincible in their might; they had long drooping locks on their heads and chins; their feet had scales like a dragon or serpent; whether they actually had the feet of dragons or whether they were simply scaled was a point of contention among several of the ancient authors; the traveler and historian, Pausanias, disputed the fact that the Giants literally had dragon feet but ancient artwork generally represented the Giants with serpent-like feet. |
| The origin of the Giants was either Phlegrae or Pallene but it has been suggested that the two names represent the same place; the Immortals were given an oracle which stated that the Giants could not be killed by a god or goddess so they decided to enlist the aid of Herakles (Heracles) to do the actual killing; when Gaia learned of the oracle, she began the preparation of a drug that would protect her awful children but Zeus culled a cunning brew of his own that would make the Giants vulnerable to the wrath of the Immortals; in order to have the time necessary for the creation of the drug, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine until his task was complete. |
| The goddess Athene (Athena) summoned Herakles and the war against the Giants began: |
| Ephialtes was shot with an arrow in the left eye by Apollon and then in the right eye by Herakles; his brothers all met a similar fate: |
| Alkyoneos (Alcyoneus) - Alkyoneos was one of the two most powerful of the Giants; he was brazen in his contempt for the Olympian Gods and even stole the cattle of Helios from Erythia; he was immortal as long as he remained on his home soil, i.e. he could not be killed by man, god or beast as long as he remained in the land of his birth; he was, however, the first of the Giants to die; Herakles shot Alkyoneos with an arrow and the mighty Giant fell to the ground where he was revitalized by the earth and began to recover from the wound; at the advice of Athene, Herakles dragged Alkyoneos out of Pallene where he was no longer protected by his native soil and he died. |
| Porphyrion - Alkyoneos and Porphyrion were the two most powerful Giants; while Alkyoneos and Herakles were fighting, Porphyrion joined the battle but was immediately distracted by an intervention from Zeus; an irresistible longing for the goddess Hera overcame Porphyrion and he began to tear at the goddesses’ garments; Herakles killed Alkyoneos while Porphyrion was lustfully distracted and Zeus struck the unsuspecting Giant with a thunderbolt and rendered him helpless but not dead; Herakles shot Porphyrion with an arrow and killed him. |
| Eurytos (Eurytus) was killed by Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) with a thyrsus, i.e. a wand wreathed in ivy and vine leaves with a pine cone at the top. |
| Klytios (Clytius) was killed by the goddess Hekate (Hecate) with torches; presumably he was burned to death. |
| Mimas was killed when Hephaistos (Hephaestus) showered him with missiles of hot metal. |
| Enkelados (Enceladus) tried to run away but Athene dropped the island of Sicily on him. |
| Polybotes was chased by Poseidon to the island of Kos (Cos) where the god broke off a piece of the island (called Nisyrum) and hurled it at the desperate Giant. |
| Hippolytus (Hippolytos) was killed by Hermes who was wearing the Helm of Hades which made him invisible. |
| Gration was killed by Artemis; Agrios (Agrius) and Thoas were beaten with brazen clubs by the Fates; the other (unnamed) Giants were struck by thunderbolts from Zeus; Herakles shot and killed each of the Giants with arrows as they lay suffering. |
| Pausanaus, book vii, chapter 29 |
| Library, book I, chapter VI |
| Theogony, line 185 |
| Epic Cycle |
| The Iliad and The Odyssey are what we consider to be the story of the Trojan War; The Epic Cycle also dealt with this momentous event in the form of poetic epics and lays that filled in certain details on which The Iliad and The Odyssey neglected to elaborate; usually referred to as The Trojan Cycle. |
| Also included in The Epic Cycle is the Theban Cycle and other fragmented references such as: The War of the Titans, The Story of Oedipus, The Thebais, The Epigoni, The Kypria (Cypria), The Aethiopis (Aithiopis), The Little Iliad, The Sack of Ilion (Troy), The Returns and Theogony. |
| The Epic Cycle has come down to us in fragments but it still captures the spirit and drama of the interaction of the heroes and the Immortals in shaping the Greek culture. |
| 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. |
| Epikaste (Iokaste) |
| More commonly called Jocasta but her name is more properly rendered as Iokaste. |
| Iokaste and her husband, Laius, the king of the city of Thebes, were warned by the oracle at Delphi that if they had a son, he would kill Laius and take his throne; when the son was born, Iokaste and Laius gave the infant to a shepherd with instructions to kill the child; the shepherd pierced the child’s ankles and intended to leave him in the wilderness to die but instead, the would-be killer gave the boy to another shepherd with the assumption that the boy would never be seen again and that Laius and Iokaste would never find out that he had disobeyed them. |
| The infant was taken to the city of Corinth where he was adopted by the king, Polybos; the orphaned child with the injured ankles was named Oedipus (which means “swollen ankles”); upon reaching manhood, Oedipus was told by the Delphic oracle that he would be the murderer of his father; Oedipus loved Polybos, who he assumed to be his natural father, and fled Corinth so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled. |
| While traveling, Oedipus met a nobleman on the road and after suffering insults and blows, Oedipus killed the nobleman and all but one of his guards and then proceeded to Thebes; he had no idea that the man he had just killed was his father, Laius. |
| Before he reached Thebes, Oedipus was stopped by a creature called the Sphinx which menaced and killed travelers on the road to Thebes; the Sphinx would ask riddles and if the travelers could not give the correct answers, she killed them; Oedipus was stopped and asked to answer a riddle before he could pass; Oedipus answered the riddle correctly and the Sphinx killed herself. |
| When Oedipus reached Thebes he was welcomed as a hero and, since King Laius was now dead, Oedipus was made the king of Thebes and allowed to unwittingly marry his mother, Iokaste. |
| Many years and four children later, she and Oedipus learned the truth of their unholy relationship; she hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself and spent the rest of his life as a wanderer. |
| Oedipus and Iokaste had four children: Ismene, Antigone, Eteokles (Eteocles) and Polyneikes (Polyneices); the children suffered the curse of their parents and lived lives of sorrow and rejection. |
| Erechtheus |
| eh reh hee THEE ohs |
| Erechtheus was the first king of Athens and was nurtured by the goddess Athene (Athena); his name literally means The Render. |
| Erechtheus was the son of Pandion and the father of Sikyon (Sicyon) and Orithyia; his daughter, Orithyia, was abducted by Boreas (North Wind) and eventually became his wife. |
| Before Erechtheus ruled Athens, the people of that area were called the Kekropidae (Cecropidae) after King Kekrops (Cecrops); before that, the people of Attica and Athens were descendants of the Pelasgians and called themselves the Kranai (Cranai) which might be interpreted to mean Those Who Rule; Erechtheus called his people Athenians after the goddess Athene because she had given the olive tree to Athens and was thus honored as the initiator of the city’s success; the name Athenians was thereafter used as the designation for the people of Athens but they also called themselves Ionians after Ion became their ruler; it wasn’t until the time of Theseus (circa 1290 BCE) that the rule of Athens was irrevocably extended to the surrounding region of Attica. |
| There was a shrine on the Acropolis of Athens dedicated to Erechtheus Earth Born; the shrine housed the sacred gifts given to the city by Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Athene; during the time of King Kekrops a contest was held between these two Immortals for possession of Athens; Poseidon created a salt pool and Athene created an olive tree; King Kekrops judged that the olive tree was the most remarkable of the two creations and made Athene the patron goddess of the city; when the Persians burned Athens in 480 BCE, they destroyed the shrine of Erechtheus and burned the scared olive tree; on the following day, the tree put forth a live shoot which proved that the blessings of the goddess were still upon the city. |
| The Athenians were not the only Greeks to honor Erechtheus; the Epidaurians were in desperate straits because their land would not yield crops and when they consulted the oracle at Delphi, the Pythia (priestess of Apollon) instructed then to make images of Damia (Increase) and Auxesia (Fertility) and assured the Epidaurians that things would change for the better; the Epidaurians then asked if they should make the effigies of stone or bronze; the Pythia told them to make the statues of olive wood; the Epidaurians went immediately to Athens for the olive tree wood they needed; there are two possible reasons why the Epidaurians went to the Athenians: 1) the olive trees of Athens were the most holy because the goddess Athene had given the Athenians the first olive tree, or 2) the only place in Greece that had olive trees was the countryside around Athens; regardless, the Athenians agreed to give the Epidaurians the wood they needed with the stipulation that the Epidaurians make yearly offerings to Athene Polias (Athene, Guardian of the City) and to Erechtheus; the Epidaurians kept their agreement and their crops began to grow again. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 547 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 638 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 645 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 7, line 81 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 7, line 93 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 7, line 85 |
| Histories, book 5.82; book 7.189; book 8.44 and 8.55 |
| Catalogues of Women, fragment 73 |
| Eretheis |
| According to Apollonius of Rhodes, Eretheis was one of the daughters of Nix (Night), known collectively as the Hesperides. |
| Eretheis and her sisters lived in the mythical West and guarded the Golden Apples which were a wedding gift to Hera from Gaia (Earth) upon her wedding to Zeus; the Eleventh Labor of Herakles (Heracles) was to retrieve the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. |
| The Hesperides are: Eretheis, Hespere and Aegle; when the Argonauts were stranded in the Libyan desert, they encountered the Hesperides; Aegle appeared as the trunk of a willow tree, Eretheis as an elm tree and Hespere as a poplar tree; Aegle told the story of how Herakles (Heracles) had killed the dragon that guarded the Golden Apples and had created a spring of fresh water by kicking a rock; she showed the Argonauts the spring that Herakles had created and the Argonauts drank their fill before they continued through the inhospitable desert. |
| Argonautika, book 4, lines 1422-1449 |
| Theogony, line 215 |
| Erichthonios (Erichthonius) 1 |
| King Erichthonios; the son of Dardanos (Dardanus) and one of the early rulers of the country that was to become known as Troy. |
| Zeus and Elektra (Electra) (daughter of Atlas) had two sons, Dardanos and Iasion; when Iasion was a young man he lusted after the goddess Demeter and was killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt for his impudence; Dardanos fled his island home on Samothrake (Samothrace) and settled on the mainland westward of the island; the area was ruled by Teucros (Teucer) and the inhabitants called themselves Teucrians; Dardanos married Teucros’ daughter, Bateia; he was given some land and founded a city which he named after himself; after the death of Teucros, Dardanos inherited the entire kingdom and called it Dardania. |
| Dardanos and Bateia had two sons: Ilos and Erichthonios; Ilos died without producing children; Erichthonios married Astyoche (a daughter of Simoeis) and had a son named Tros; when Tros inherited the kingdom, he renamed it after himself, i.e. Troy. |
| Library, book III, chapter 139 |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 547 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 638 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 645 |
| Litle Iliad, fragment 2 |
| Erigone |
| The daughter of Ikarius (Icarius). |
| When Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) was traveling in Attica, he was entertained by a kindly man named Ikarios (Icarius); as a reward for his hospitality, Dionysos gave Ikarios the gift of wine which was unknown to mortal men at that time; when Ikarios shared the wine with his neighbors, they became drunk, murdered Ikarios and hid his body; knowing something was wrong, Ikarios’ daughter, Erigone, used her faithful dog, Maira (Maera), to search for her father; when Erigone found Ikarios’ dead body she was so overwhelmed with sadness that she committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree; with Erigone and Ikarios both dead, the faithful dog, Maira (Maera), was placed in the sky as the brightest star and thereafter called the Dog Star. |
| In ancient Attica her suicide was celebrated at a festival called The Aiora; during the festival, dolls were swung from trees to commemorate Erigone’s suicide; (aiora means swing). |
| Eriopis |
| The wife of Oileus, king of Lokris (Locris), and mother of Lesser Aias and step-mother of Medon. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 13, line 697; book 15, line 336 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 13, line 806; book 15, line 390 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 13, line 799; book 15, line 390 |
| Erybotes |
| He and his brother, Boutes, were the sons of Teleon and both brothers became Argonauts. |
| The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE. |
| After the Argonauts had successfully captured the Golden Fleece, and were making their perilous voyage home, Erybotes and Boutes could not resist the call of the Sirens as the Argo sailed past the island of Anthemoessa; the two heroes jumped overboard and would have died on the rocky shore if Aphrodite (goddess of Love) had not plucked them from the sea and transported them safely to Libya. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 71-76 and 885-921 |
| Eryx 1 |
| eh REEKS |
 |
| A mountain in the northwestern part of the island of Sicily; now called Mount Erice. |
| The mountain was named after Eryx who was the son of King Butas and Aphrodite (goddess of Love). |
| King Eryx challenged Herakles (Heracles) to a wrestling match and wagered his land against the cattle Herakles had stolen from Geryon (Geryones) as part of his Tenth Labor; Herakles won the wrestling match and put Eryx’s land in the keeping of the local inhabitants on the condition that if one of his descendants wanted to reclaim the land it would be given to him; many generations later, Dorieus of Sparta came to Sicily and reclaimed the land. |
| The area around Mount Eryx was the site of an important sect devoted to the worship of Aphrodite and remained in the Greek sphere of influence for hundreds of years but the region was forcibly taken over by the Carthaginians when Dorieus built the city of Herakleia (Heracleia); a Greek city on the western coast of Sicily would have violated the traditional boundaries the Greeks and Carthaginians had made on the island with the Greeks on the east and the Carthaginians on the west. |
| Mount Erice is 2,461 feet (750 meters) above sea level at East Longitude 12º 31' and North Latitude 38º 02'. |
| Diodorus Siculus, book 4.23.1 and 4.23.2 |
| Histories, book 5.43 |
| Eryx 2 |
| eh REEKS |
| The son of Aphrodite (goddess of Love) and King Butas of the island of Sicily. |
| When King Butas died, he gave his land and wealth to Eryx; the country King Eryx ruled was in northwestern Sicily and gave his name to the mountain which dominated the region; Mount Eryx is now called Mount Erice. |
| When Herakles (Heracles) came to Sicily after securing the cattle of Geryon (Geryones), he made a circuit of the island and encountered the proud and strong Eryx who challenged Herakles to a wrestling match; Herakles wagered the cattle he possessed and insisted that Eryx surrender his land if he lost; at first Eryx was not satisfied with the wager but Herakles explained that if he lost the cattle he was required to deliver to his cousin Eurystheus as part of his Tenth Labor, he would lose his chance to become immortal and therefore had more to lose than just the herd of cattle; Eryx accepted the wager and the two began to fight. |
| Eryx lost the fight and passed into obscurity; Herakles took Eryx’s land and divided it amongst the local inhabitants of the region under the condition that they were to surrender the land to one of his descendants if and when they demanded it back; many generations later, Dorieus of Sparta came to Sicily to reclaim the land; he built the city of Herakleia (Heracleia) but the Carthaginians, fearful of the Greek intrusion on the western portion of the island, completely destroyed it so that it would not be rebuilt. |
| Diodorus Siculus, book 4.23 |
| Eteokles (Eteocles) |
| The eldest son of King Oedipus and Iokaste (Jocasta) of the city of Thebes. |
| Before Oedipus was born, the oracle at Delphi predicted that he would kill his father and marry his mother; the prophecy came true and the children of this profane union between mother and son were also cursed; Eteokles was the son and brother of Oedipus. |
| After his father blinded himself and went into exile, Eteokles took control of the government of Thebes; he exiled his brother, Polyneikes (Polyneices), but when Polyneikes returned with seven armies to depose Eteokles they both died on each other’s spear and the rule of Thebes fell to Eteokles’ uncle, Kreon (Creon). |
| Kreon decreed that Eteokles would receive a hero’s funeral because he was defending Thebes but that Polyneikes’ body was to be left to the dogs and vultures because he had come to plunder and destroy Thebes. |
| Eteokles’ sisters were Ismene and Antigone. |
| Ethiopia (Aithiopas) |
| Ethiopia is mentioned several times in The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Histories; the primary city of Ethiopia was Meroe which was, according to the historian, Herodotus, forty days on foot and twelve days by boat south of the city of Elephantine on the Nile River; in another part of his narrative, Herodotus says that the Ethiopians lived in Libya towards the southern sea. |
| The exact location of Ethiopia was, at best, nebulous to the Greeks of Herodotus’ time; there seems to have been two conceptions of Ethiopia: one was the historical land coveted by the Persian Empire and the other was a mythical Ethiopia that Poseidon (lord of the Sea) favored with personal visits. |
| Homer says that the Ethiopians were the most distant of men and lived in two separate lands that were identified as where the Titan, Hyperion, rose and sat; when the Greek hero, Menelaos (Menelaus), was making his meandering way back to Sparta after the sack of the city of Troy, he said that he traveled to Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya which only implies that Ethiopia was somewhere in Africa. |
| Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) was born on Mount Nysos (Nysa) which, according to Herodotus, was in Ethiopia. |
| Histories, book 2.29 and 2.146; book 3.17 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 1, lines 22 and 23; book 4, line 84 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 1, lines 25 and 26; book 4, line 94 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 1, lines 36 (sunburnt races) and 38 (sunset lands); book 4, line 90 (sun-burnt races) |
| Ethiopians (Aithiopians) |
| The “long lived” race who lived to the south of Egypt; they are mentioned several times by the historian, Herodotus, and the poet, Homer, but the exact location of their homeland is not made clear. |
| Herodotus comments that the Ethiopians became more like the Egyptians after the two hundred and forty thousand Egyptian soldiers garrisoned at Elephantine deserted their posts and were given asylum by an Ethiopian king and were assimilated into the native population; Herodotus also reports that of the three hundred and thirty kings of Egypt, one was a woman and eighteen were Ethiopians, the rest were Egyptian men. |
| During the reign of the blind Egyptian king, Anysis, an Ethiopian named Sabakos (Sabacos) invaded Egypt and ruled for fifty years; Sabakos left Egypt of his own free will because of an oracle and a dream; the oracle said he would rule Egypt for only fifty years and his dream implied that if he did not leave Egypt on the fiftieth year, he would be punished by gods and men; the legacy of Sabakos was that, while king of Egypt, he sentenced criminals to work on civic improvement projects, primarily the building of embankments around cities to protect them from the flooding Nile River. |
| In the Histories, Herodotus tells how the Persian ruler, Kambyses (Cambyses) sent spies to Ethiopia to see if the Table of the Sun actually existed; the Table of the Sun was a meadow where the Ethiopians in authority would nightly bring food and leave it for anyone who wanted it; the spies that Kambyses sent were Egyptians called Fish-Eaters from Elephantine, a city on the Upper Nile, i.e. the southern portion of the river. |
| The Ethiopians were reputed to be some of the tallest and most beautiful people in the world and Kambyses was aware that the Ethiopian kings were chosen only from the tallest and proportionally strongest men of their race; he sent beautiful gifts because he wanted to impress them with his generosity and lull them into thinking he was potentially their friend; when the Fish-Eaters gave the Ethiopian King Kambyses’ gifts, the king rejected the cloth, the myrrh and the gold but pronounced the wine to be good; he explained that the Ethiopians only ate boiled meat and drank only milk and that they lived at least one hundred and twenty years; they also bathed in a spring whose water smelled of violets and was so light that nothing would float on the water. |
| Seeing through Kambyses’ feigned friendship, the Ethiopian king gave the Fish-Eaters an enormous bow and told them that the Persians should not consider attacking them until they could string the bow and to be thankful that the Ethiopians were not greedy and aggressive because, if that was so, the Persians would lose their lives and land to the superior men of Ethiopia. |
| Herodotus also mentions another aspect of the Ethiopians which would make it seem that he regarded most of the non-Egyptian Africans to be “Ethiopians;” in describing the geography of Libya, Herodotus tells of the cave-dwelling Ethiopians; they ate snakes, lizards and other reptiles; they were fleet of foot and had voices like the squeaking of bats; another tribe of Libyans, the Garamantes, hunted the Ethiopians with four-horse teams but whether the Garamantes hunted the cave-dwellers for sport or food is not clear. |
| Herodotus also mentions Ethiopians from Asia and their tribute to the Persian Empire; the Asian Ethiopians who fought in the army of Xerxes had straight hair and were teamed with the Indians whereas the Ethiopians who were teamed with the Arabians were from Africa and had wooly hair; other than their hair and speech, the Asian and African Ethiopians seemed to be of the same race; the nation of Cyprus had Ethiopians in its population. |
| Histories, book 2.11, 2.29, 2.30, 2.100, 2.104, 2.110, 2.137, 2.139 and 2.161; book 3.17-26 and 3.94; book 4.183; book 7.70 and 7.90 |
| Euboea (Euboia) |
 |
| 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; Euboea is the second largest island in the Aegean Sea (Crete is the largest); approximately 106 miles (170.5 kilometers) long and a width varying between 4 and 30 miles (6.4 and 48 kilometers). |
| 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. |
| The Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 535-545 |
| The Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 625-636 |
| The Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 632-643 |
| Eubulus (Euboulos) |
| (405?-circa 330 BCE) An Athenian statesman and activist; he rose from a minor financial official to a position where he assumed control of all of the city’s finances. |
| Athens was in a state of economic crisis after a decade of failed military excursions into the upper Aegean, in particular: the city of Amphipolis and the Chersonese; circa 355 BCE, Eubulus came to prominence; his skilled economic policies propelled Athens to levels of prosperity which the city had not enjoyed for over 150 years. |
| The public disgust with recent military expenditures allowed Eubulus to institute an innovative policy where the city’s revenue would only be directed towards military missions if the security of Athens was threatened; Eubulus encouraged a policy which would create a Common Peace with like minded Greek cities and reduce the need for military expeditions in order to protect Athens’ colonial properties. |
| The most aggressive Greek nation of the time was led by Philip of Macedon and Eubulus unwillingly accepted the treaties negotiated with Philip by another Athenian, Demosthenes, in 346 BCE; Philip ignored the treaties and as he began to expand his dominion, the cry for war was soon heard again in Athens; by 342 BCE, Eubulus lost all political clout and the war-party was in full control of the city and the city’s money; resistance to Philip proved futile; Eubulus disappeared from public life and by circa 330 BCE he was dead. |
| Eumaios (Eumaeus) |
| The faithful swineherd of Odysseus. |
| When Odysseus returned home to Ithaka (Ithaca) in disguise, Eumaios welcomed “the stranger” and later fought by Odysseus’ side to reclaim his wife and home; Eumaios was from the island of Syria where he was kidnapped by traders when he was a young boy and eventually sold into slavery to Odysseus’ father, Laertes. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 14, lines 55, 165, 360, 440, 442, 462 and 507; book 15, lines 307, 325, 341, 381 and 486; book 16, lines 7, 8, 60, 69, 135, 156, 461 and 464; book 17, passim; book 20, lines 169 and 238; book 21, lines 80, 82, 203 and 234; book 22, lines 157, 194 and 279 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 14, lines 63, 142, 408, 499, 502, 525 and 574; book 15, lines 341, 362, 378, 428 and 543; book 16, lines 9, 10, 68, 77, 153, 175, 507 and 515; book 17, passim; book 20, lines 185 and 265; book 21, lines 92, 230 and 261; book 22, lines 165, 203 and 298 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 14, lines 62, 147, 504, 519, 521 and 601; book 15, lines 381, 400 and 419; book 16, lines 10, 71, 80, 159, 565 and 570; book 17, passim; book 20, line 261; book 21, lines 84, 229 and 262; book 22, lines 174 and 309 |
| Eumenides 2 |
| One of the seven surviving tragedies by the Athenian playwright Aeschylus. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Pythia |
| Apollon |
| Ghost of Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) |
| Orestes |
| Athene (Athena) |
| The Eumenides (The Furies) |
| This play is the third in the Oresteia trilogy dealing with the murder of Agamemnon by his wife, Klytemnestra, and the revenge meted out by his son, Orestes. |
| The play opens at the oracle ofApollon at Delphi as the Pythia invokes the gods and goddesses of prophecy to guide her in her sacred task; as she enters the sanctuary, she is appalled to see the Eumenides asleep inside; Apollon has enchanted them so that Hermes can take Orestes to Athens where he can beg for the assistance of Athene and be absolved of the crime of matricide. |
| After Orestes makes his escape, the ghost of Klytemnestra appears in the sanctuary and tries to arouse the sleeping Furies; she cries out for justice and insists that she might have committed a crime by murdering her husband but Orestes had done the unthinkable, killing his mother, which in this case is her (Klytemnestra); the Furies are roused and Apollon demands that they leave his shrine because they are despicable and blood soaked; they defend themselves and say that they are a necessary part of the family of Immortals because sins must be punished and evildoers should not escape revenge. |
| The Furies depart Delphi and find Orestes in Athens under the protection of Athene; the Furies explain to Athene that their divine mission is to chase and torment men who shed other men’s blood and make sure that they never find happiness; Athene questions Orestes and he insists that he acted on the command of Apollon when he killed his mother and that he has been absolved of all sin be being forgiven by other men and by making proper sacrifices to the gods. |
| The Eumenides want Orestes to be found guilty of murder but Athene demands mercy, saying that Orestes acted in the name of “justice” and not “revenge;” Athene placated the Eumenides by offering them a shrine on the Acropolis. |
| The first two plays of the Oresteia trilogy are: 1) Agamemnon and 2) The Libation Bearers (Choephore). |
| This is a fine play and well worth reading; if you wish to read this play I suggest The Complete Greek Tragedies, Aeschylus I, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, ISBN 0226307786; you can find this book at your library in the 800 section or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Euneos |
| The son of Jason and Hypsipyle; during the siege of Troy, Euneos brought provisions from the island of Lemnos for the Greek army. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), book 7, line 468; book 23, line 746 |
| Iliad (Loeb), book 7, line 468; book 23, line 747 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 7, line 541; book 23, line 830 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 7, line 559; book 23, line 857 |
| Eunomia (Harmony) |
| The goddess of Order; a daughter of Zeus and Themis; Eunomia is one of the Horae (The Hours), i.e. the goddesses of the Seasons; the keepers of Heaven’s Gate; her sisters are Eirene (Peace) and Dike (Justice). |
| The Horae assist the Olympians by organizing the Seasons and adding balance to Nature; the Horae guard Mount Olympos (Olympus) with a dark veil and open and close the gates of the sky for the other Immortals as they travel to and from their earthly domains. |
| In The Iliad, we see the Horae personally attending Hera and her horses; they open the sky and Hera zooms from her home on Mount Olympos to Mount Ida to distract Zeus from the battle for Troy. |
| In The Iliad, we see the Horae personally attending Hera and her horses; they open the sky and Hera zooms from her home on Mount Olympos to Mount Ida to distract Zeus from the battle for Troy. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), book 5, (Hours) lines 749 and 750; book 8, (Hours) lines 393 and 433 |
| Iliad (Loeb), book 5, (Hours) line 749; book 8, (Hours) lines 393 and 433 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 5, (Seasons) line 859; book 8, (Seasons) lines 449 and 498 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 5, (Hours) line 856; book 8, (Hours) lines 444 and 488 |
| Theogony, line 902 |
| Euphemos (Euphemus) |
| The son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) who could run across the sea with only his toes touching the waves; he was one of the Argonauts. |
| The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE. |
| After obtaining the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts were stranded in Libya and were forced to carry their ship, the Argo, across the desert; when they came to lake Trito, they set up a tripod as a tribute to Apollon and prayed for guidance; from the waters of the lake arose another son of Poseidon, Triton; the half-man, half-fish shaped god, Triton, gave Euphemos a clod of earth as a gift and showed the Argonauts the passage that would take them back to the sea. |
| Several nights later, Euphemos had a divinely inspired dream about the clod of earth that Triton had given him; he took the clod and threw it into the sea and an island emerged from the depths of the sea. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 179-184 and 1755-1764 |
| Euripides |
| A Greek dramatist; he was born at the close of the second Persian invasion of Greece (480 BCE) and lived through the majority of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). |
| His plays were not “historical” but used historical themes to place his characters in situations of high drama and noble sacrifice. |
| His plays (in chronological order of their assumed production dates) include: |
| Rhesus circa 455 BCE; |
| Alkestis (Alcestis), 438; |
| Medeia (Medea), 431; |
| The Herakleidae, i.e. The Children of Herakles (Heracles), 429?; |
| Hippolytus, 428; |
| Andromache, 426?; |
| Hekabe (Hecabe), 425?; |
| The Cyclops 425?; |
| Suppliants (The Suppliant Women), 423?; |
| Herakles, 420?; Trojan Women, 415; |
| Iphigenia in Tauris, 414?; |
| Elektra (Electra), 413; |
| Helen, 412; Ion, 412?; |
| Phoenissae (The Phoenician Women), 410?; |
| Orestes, 408; |
| Iphigenia at Aulis, 405; |
| Bacchae, 406; and |
| Madness of Herakles, date unknown. |
| Euryalos (Euryalus) |
| The son of Mekisteus (Mecisteus); one of the co-commanders of the Greeks from Argos during the siege of Troy; Diomedes was the commander and Sthenelos was the other co-commander. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 565; book 6, line 20; book 23, line 677 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 656; book 6, line 23; book 23, line 754 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 667; book 6, line 21; book 23, line 773 |
| Eurybates |
| The herald of Odysseus. |
| When Odysseus came home in disguise, he gave his wife, Penelope, a detailed description of Eurybates in order to convince her that he had personal knowledge of Odysseus’, i.e. his own, travels. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 19, line 247 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 19, line 283 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 19, line 292 |
| Eurydike (Eurydice) 1 |
| The wife of Kreon (Creon) who, according to the poet Sophocles, killed herself because of the suicide death of her son, Haemon. |
| Kreon became king of the city of Thebes after the two sons of Oedipus, Polyneikes (Polyneices) and Eteokles (Eteocles), were killed in battle; Kreon refused to give Polyneikes a proper burial and imprisoned Oedipus’ daughter, Antigone, in a cave when she disobeyed his command and gave Polyneikes a proper burial. |
| Kreon then decided to free Antigone but before he could free her, she had already killed herself; Kreon’s son, Haemon, tried unsuccessfully to kill his father and then, in desperation, killed himself; when Eurydike heard of her son’s death, she too committed suicide. |
| In the poem, Shield of Herakles (Heracles) by Hesiod, Kreon’s wife is said to be Enioche; since Hesiod predates Sophocles we should assume that Enioche was, in fact, the name of King Kreon’s wife. |
| Shield of Herakles, line 83 |
| Eurydike (Eurydice) 4 |
| The eldest daughter of Klymenos (Clymenos) and the wife of Nestor; the mother of: Antilochos (Antilochus), Aretos, Polykaste (Polycaste), Echephron, Stratios, Perseus, Thrasymedes and Peisistratos. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore), book 3, line 451 |
| Odyssey (Loeb), book 3, line 452 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 3, line 508 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald, book 3, line 490 |
| Eurytos (Eurytus) 1 |
| He and Kteatos (Cteatus) are believed to be the sons of Aktor (Actor) and Molione. |
| Eurytos was the king of Oichalia and father of the maiden, Iole; he and his sons were slain by Herakles (Heracles); Eurytos offered his daughter, Iole, in marriage to the winner of an archery competition and refused to honor his promise when Herakles won; Herakles killed Eurytos and his sons and took Iole as his concubine. |
| It’s not clear as to the chronology of some of the events in Herakles’ life but two of Eurytos’ sons, Iphitos and Klytios, were with Herakles as crew members of the Argo; Herakles was forced to leave the crew of the Argo and return to his Labors; after he had completed his labors, Herakles embarked on a series of adventures known as the praxeis or Deeds; the incident with Iole took place after the voyage of the Argonauts and would be considered as one of his Deeds. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 86-89 |
| Eurytos (Eurytus) 3 |
| Eurytos was one of the huge monsters collectively known as the Giants; the Giants were the children of Gaia (Earth) engendered by the blood of Ouranos (the Heavens). |
| The Giants waged an unsuccessful war on the Olympians and were severely punished after their defeat; the poet Hesiod states that the Giants were banished to the Underworld but Apollodorus of Athens clearly describes the brutal death of the Giants. |
| The Giants were mostly human in form but their bodies were massive and they were invincible in their might; they had long drooping locks on their heads and chins; their feet had scales like a dragon or serpent; whether they actually had the feet of dragons or whether they were simply scaled was a point of contention among several of the ancient authors; the traveler and historian, Pausanias, disputed the fact that the Giants literally had dragon feet but ancient artwork generally represented the Giants with serpent-like feet. |
| The origin of the Giants was either Phlegrae or Pallene but it has been suggested that the two names represent the same place; the Immortals were given an oracle which stated that the Giants could not be killed by a god or goddess so they decided to enlist the aid of Herakles (Heracles) to do the actual killing; when Gaia learned of the oracle, she began the preparation of a drug that would protect her awful children but Zeus culled a cunning brew of his own that would make the Giants vulnerable to the wrath of the Immortals; in order to have the time necessary for the creation of the drug, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine until his task was complete. |
| The goddess Athene (Athena) summoned Herakles and the war against the Giants began: |
| Eurytos was killed by Dionysos with a thyrsus, i.e. a wand wreathed in ivy and vine leaves with a pine cone at the top; his brothers all met a similar fate: |
| Alkyoneos (Alcyoneus) - Alkyoneos was one of the two most powerful of the Giants; he was brazen in his contempt for the Olympian Gods and even stole the cattle of Helios from Erythia; he was immortal as long as he remained on his home soil, i.e. he could not be killed by man, god or beast as long as he remained in the land of his birth; he was, however, the first of the Giants to die; Herakles shot Alkyoneos with an arrow and the mighty Giant fell to the ground where he was revitalized by the earth and began to recover from the wound; at the advice of Athene, Herakles dragged Alkyoneos out of Pallene where he was no longer protected by his native soil and he died. |
| Porphyrion - Alkyoneos and Porphyrion were the two most powerful Giants; while Alkyoneos and Herakles were fighting, Porphyrion joined the battle but was immediately distracted by an intervention from Zeus; an irresistible longing for the goddess Hera overcame Porphyrion and he began to tear at the goddesses’ garments; Herakles killed Alkyoneos while Porphyrion was lustfully distracted and Zeus struck the unsuspecting Giant with a thunderbolt and rendered him helpless but not dead; Herakles shot Porphyrion with an arrow and killed him. |
| Ephialtes was shot with an arrow in the left eye by Apollon and then in the right eye by Herakles. |
| Klytios (Clytius) was killed by the goddess Hekate (Hecate) with torches; presumably he was burned to death. |
| Mimas was killed when Hephaistos (Hephaestus) showered him with missiles of hot metal. |
| Enkelados (Enceladus) tried to run away but Athene dropped the island of Sicily on him. |
| Polybotes was chased by Poseidon to the island of Kos (Cos) where the god broke off a piece of the island (called Nisyrum) and hurled it at the desperate Giant. |
| Hippolytus (Hippolytos) was killed by Hermes who was wearing the Helm of Hades which made him invisible. |
| Gration was killed by Artemis; Agrios (Agrius) and Thoas were beaten with brazen clubs by the Fates; the other (unnamed) Giants were struck by thunderbolts from Zeus; Herakles shot and killed each of the Giants with arrows as they lay suffering. |
| Pausanaus, book vii, chapter 29 |
| Library, book I, chapter VI |
| Theogony, line 185 |
| Euxine |
 |
| The large inland sea which lies between Europe and Asia; the Euxine is now called the Black Sea and is bounded by the Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania; it is connected to the Aegean Sea by the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) and the Hellespont (Dardanelles Straits); numerous rivers flow into the Euxine including: the Ister (Danube) and the Borysthenes (Dnieper); the shoreline and depth of the Euxine have changed since the time of Jason and the Argonauts (circa 1285 BCE) but we can approximate its former size by noting that the modern day Black Sea has a surface area of approximately 178,000 square miles (461,018 square kilometers) and a maximum depth of approximately 7,300 feet (2,225 meters). |
| At the eastern edge of the Euxine was the land of the Golden Fleece, Kolchis (Colchis); Jason and the Argonauts sailed along the southern edge of the Euxine to reach Kolchis but on their return voyage, after they had secured the Golden Fleece, they chose to enter the Ister in order to escape the pursuers who were sent by King Aietes (Aeetes) of Kolchis. |
| The Black Sea was originally called Axenos (or Axine) by the ancient Greeks and then later called Euxine or Pontos Euxinus or simply Pontos; the word Axenos literally means, “an inhospitable place” but the name Euxine means, “kind to strangers”; the modern name, Black Sea, harkens back to the “inhospitable place” connotation; if it had been named the Blue Sea or the Green Sea it might sound like a more hospitable and inviting body of water. |
