There is no J in the Greek alphabet but the following entries are included because of the Latin rendering of some common names.
A group of islands mentioned in The Odyssey; the exact location of the islands is not known but they are probably the islands in the Ionian Sea known as the Echinades; I have included this entry because it provides a fascinating glimpse into the sometimes confusing process of translating and transliterating ancient Greek into English.
When Telemachos (Telemachus) was returning to his island home of Ithaka (Ithaca) after searching for news of his long overdue father Odysseus, his ship was propelled by a favorable wind from the goddess Athene (Athena); as the sun was setting, Telemachos sailed past Pheai (Pheae) and lovely Elis, and then steered for the Jagged Islands wondering whether he would be killed or taken prisoner by his mother's contemptible suitors.
Different translators render the description of the islands in a variety of ways; the following list will demonstrate that point:
Lattimore - the Pointed Islands;
Loeb - the swift islands;
Fagles - the Jagged Islands;
Fitzgerald - the running pack of islets.
The debate as to what those mysterious islands should be called began with the Greek geographer Strabo (fl. 30 BCE); Strabo had doubts as to why Homer would use the word swift (θοαι) as an adjective for an island; Strabo finally decided that the word that Homer meant to use was sharp (οξειαι) because it would be a better adjective and also fit the rhyme scheme; Strabo's assumptions had to do with certain poetic formulas which were used by Homer to describe swift ships; the use of the word swift in conjunction with islands did not really make literal sense so Strabo replaced swift with sharp which still didn't make literal sense but seemed better than swift; two of the translators listed above chose to side with Strabo and use variations on the sharp theme by calling the islands Jagged and Pointed; I personally believe that if they were going to take liberties with Homer's text, they should have simply called the islands the Sharp Islands; the Loeb translation uses the literal translation and calls the islands the swift islands which seems to me to be more correct than the other translations; Fitzgerald seems to have gone a little too far by calling the islands the running pack of islets.
Translators in the nineteenth century seemed to be equally confused as to what to call the islands; Samuel Butler called them the flying islands and William Cowper called them the sharp Echinades; the Echinades are a group islands off the western coast of Greece in the Ionian Sea but were not actually mentioned in the Greek text referring to the islands which Telemachos saw.
Iliad, Lattimore and Loeb, book 15, line 299
Iliad, Fagles, book 15, line 332
Iliad, Fitzgerald, book 15, line 370
The son of Aison and Alkimede (Alcimede) and the great-grandson of Minyas.
The life of Jason was defined by two major and interconnected events: the Quest for the Golden Fleece and the love of the sorceress, Medeia (Medea).
Jason has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.
A mountain in northwestern Morocco opposite Gibraltar.
Jebel Musa was one of the two Pillars of Herakles (Heracles); 2,775 feet (846 meters) in height; Gibraltar was the second of the two Pillars of Herakles; Gibraltar was known as Kalpe (Calpe) and Jebel Musa was known as Abyla.
Approximate West Longitude 5º 26' 44'' and North Latitude 35º 54' 51''
The wife of Laius and wife/mother of Oedipus.
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; 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 proceeded to Thebes; he had no idea that the man he had just killed was his father, Laius.
Before he reached the city, Oedipus was stopped by 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; 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 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 as outcasts.
She is also referred to as Epikaste or Epicaste.
The goddess Dike; a daughter of Zeus and Themis; Dike 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 Eirene (Peace).
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 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