| Kadmeian Fox (Teumesian Fox) |
| A savage fox that ravaged Thebes and was hunted by Amphitryon and Kephalos (Cephalus). |
| The land around the city of Thebes was called Kadmeia (Cadmeia) after the founder of the city, Kadmos (Cadmus); Amphitryon and Alkmene (Alcmene), the stepfather and mother of Herakles (Heracles), went to Thebes to seek help in avenging the deaths of Alkmene’s brothers at the hands of the Teleboans; King Kreon (Creon) of Thebes said that he would send his army against the Teleboans if Amphitryon would kill a savage fox that had been killing children and terrorizing the county around Thebes; the fox is now commonly referred to as the Kadmeian (Cadmeian) Fox but ancient writers used the name Teumesian Fox; despite Amphitryon’s best efforts, he could not kill the fox and the brutal murders of the Theban children continued. |
| The Thebans decided to appease the fox by setting out one of their children every month so that the wild beast could have its blood feast and be satisfied with only the one child instead of randomly killing many; Amphitryon was not satisfied that no one could kill the fox and also disappointed that he had lost a powerful ally in his war against the Teleboans so he enlisted the help of a banished Athenian man named Kephalos (Cephalus). |
| Kephalos had a fabled dog named Lailaps (Storm) that could catch anything he pursued; the dog had once belonged to King Minos of the island of Crete and was eventually given to an Athenian woman named Prokris (Procris) by the goddess Artemis; Prokris gave the dog to her husband Kephalos but he accidently killed Prokris while hunting and was an exile living in Thebes when Amphitryon was trying to kill the murderous fox; Amphitryon promised Kephalos a portion of the plunder from the Teleboans if he would put his unstoppable dog on the trail of the savage fox; when the dog was in hot pursuit of the fox, Zeus intervened and turned the dog and the fox into stone near a hill called Teumessus and thus the name Teumesian Fox. |
| King Kreon of Thebes was satisfied that Amphitryon had fulfilled the obligation of ridding Kadmeia of the fox and, true to his word, joined Amphitryon in his war against the Teleboans. |
| Apollodorus of Athens, Library, book 2, chapters 57-59 |
| The Epigoni, fragment 2 |
| Kadmos (Cadmus) |
 |
| The founder of the city of Thebes whose inhabitants became known as Kadmeians (Cadmeians). |
| The son of Agenor and the brother of the maiden, Europa, and the blind seer, Phineus. |
| With his wife, Harmonia, Kadmos had five children: Autonoe, Ino, Agaue, Polydoros (Polydorus) and Thyone (a.k.a. Semele). |
| When Zeus abducted Europa, Agenor sent Kadmos to retrieve her; Kadmos could find no trace of his sister, Europa, and finally, at the advice of the oracle at Delphi, gave up the search and set off to found a new city; the pythia at Delphi instructed Kadmos to follow a cow from Delphi and build his city on the spot where the cow laid down to rest; Kadmos did as he was instructed and built the Kadmea (Cadmea) as the first structure of the city that was to become Thebes. |
| Kadmos killed the dragon which guarded the spring near the site of the proposed city and, at the advice of the goddess Athene (Athena), planted the teeth of the dragon in the earth; a group of fully armed warriors sprang from the dragons teeth; Kadmos tossed a rock into their midst and started a fight amongst the warriors; only five warriors, called the Sparti, i.e. Sown-Men, survived and they became the founders of the noble families of Thebes. |
| Kadmos is also credited with the introduction of writing to the Greeks because he is reputed to be responsible for introducing the old (sixteen letter) alphabet to Greece. |
| The above image shows Kadmos receiving the blessing of the goddess Athene. |
| His name is may also be spelled Kadmus or Cadmos. |
| Theogony, line 976 |
| Kalais (Calais) |
| The winged son of Boreas (North Wind) and Oreithyia. |
| Kalais and his brother Zetes were a wonder to see with dark wings, bright with golden scales, vibrating from their temples and feet; both had long blue-black curling hair that streamed in the wind when they flew. |
| The two brothers are best remembered for their role in the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts; the voyage of the Argo with its company of heroes was one of the greatest adventures of the ancient world; in their quest for the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts encountered the blind prophet, Phineus. |
| Phineus had married the daughter of Boreas (North Wind), Kleopatra (Cleopatra), and after her death he married a cruel and vengeful woman; his new wife hated his sons which he and Kleopatra had sired; she induced Phineus to blind them; as punishment for such a horrendous act, Zeus offered him blindness or death; Phineus chose blindness; Helios (the Sun) was offended that Phineus would choose darkness rather than death so he sent the two winged-women known as the Harpies to torment Phineus by stealing his food; the Harpies did not steal all of Phineus’ food, they would always leave reeking morsels so that he could sustain himself and thus his torment could continue. |
| In order to find the location of the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts had to consult with Phineus on how to survive their passage between the treacherous Floating Islands; in order to reach the land of Kolchis (Colchis) and secure the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts had to sail through the Floating Islands which would clash together whenever any living thing passed between them; Phineus told the sailors that he would only help them if they would rid him of the curse of the Harpies; Kalais and Zetes set a trap for the Harpies but the flying women were very swift and the winged brothers could only get close enough to claw at them with their fingertips; Iris, the messenger of the Immortals, rushed into the fray and chided the brothers for trying to harm the Harpies; Iris explained that the Harpies were there to punish Phineus at the behest of Zeus and that the brothers would incur the wrath of the father of the Immortals if they interfered with his judgment; Iris swore a sacred oath on the river Styx that if Zetes and Kalais would stop their pursuit of the Harpies, Phineus would no longer be tormented; thus Phineus was freed from his curse and the Argonauts learned how to find the land where the Golden Fleece was kept. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 211-223 and 240+ |
| Kalchas (Calchas) |
| KAL khas |
| The seer who was with the Greeks at the siege Troy; he was the son of Thestor and was given the gift of divination by Apollon. |
| When the Argive fleet was about to sail for Troy from Aulis, Boreas (North Wind) would not let the ships leave the harbor; Kalchas said that unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphianassa to the goddess Artemis, the fleet would not be allowed to leave Aulis; Iphianassa was summoned from Mycenae under the pretext that she would marry Achilles; when the girl was about to be sacrificially killed, Artemis substituted a stag in he place and removed her to Tauris where she would remain until Agamemnon’s son Orestes and his companion Pylades rescued her. |
| Kalchas also prophesied that the war with Troy would last for ten years; he saw a blood-red snake eat eight baby sparrows and the mother; he reasoned that the nine birds symbolized a weakening of the Trojans and that the tenth year would bring victory for the Greeks. |
| Kalchas survived the Trojan War and after Troy was conquered, journeyed by land with several companions to Kolophon (Colophon) to bury the Theban seer, Teiresias; Kalchas and Teiresias had been the two most renowned seers in ancient Greece but Teiresias’ grandson Mopsos (Mopsus) gained a reputation which equaled that of his grandfather and Kalchas. |
| When Kalchas met Mopsos he decided to test the young man’s wisdom by asking him a question; Kalchas pointed out a fig tree and asked how many figs such a small tree might produce; Mopsos did not hesitate to answer that the tree had ten thousand figs which would be one bushel and one fig left over; the figs were counted and Mopsos was correct even to the detail that the last fig would not fit in the bushel basket; Kalchas was so annoyed at the accuracy of Mopsos’ answer that he was shrouded by death and died. |
| Text References |
| Kallinos (Callinus) |
| kah LEE nos |
| A lyric poet presumed to have lived circa 650 BCE; the only thing known about him with any certainty is that he was from Ephesus on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor; he is therefore called Kallinos of Ephesus (Callinus of Ephesus). |
| The term Lyric Poetry is quite literal and designates poetry written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; the lyric poets flourished from roughly 700 BCE until 400 BCE. |
| Only a few fragments of one of Kallinos’ poems is extant; the poem is a call to arms and bravery to the men of Ephesus against an unnamed foe; he states elegantly that men who are willing to die defending their family and fellow citizens are respected by all and the equal of the demigods. |
| Kallinos is considered to have been an elegiac poet, i.e. one who wrote sad, sorrowful poems with the first line a dactylic hexameter and the second line a pentameter. |
| There are several excellent collections of lyric poetry that I can personally recommend; if you want to read a sampling of this poetic style, I suggest 7 Greeks by Guy Davenport or Greek Lyric, an Anthology in Translation by Andrew M. Miller; however, the most complete collection is undoubtedly the three volume collection from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek Lyric, Greek Lyric II and Greek Lyric III; you can sometimes find these books at your local library or you can purchase any of these books from the Book Shop on this site; look in the Poetry section. |
| Kallisthenes (Callisthenes) |
| kalis THEN nees |
| Kallisthenes of Olynthus; a Greek philosopher, circa 360-327 BCE; the son of a niece of Aristotle, Hero. |
| Kallisthenes was a nephew and student of Aristotle and, because of those relationships, became the official biographer of Alexander the Great; Kallisthenes accompanied Alexander on his military campaigns into Asia but, because of his non-military bearing, was generally disliked and distrusted by Alexander’s Macedonian companions; Kallisthenes was a man of words and philosophy with the unfortunate habit of speaking in hypothetical and idealistic terms; he once told Alexander that without the history he (Kallisthenes) was writing, Alexander, despite his claim to divine parentage, would be utterly forgotten; when asked who was held in the highest regard by the Athenians, Kallisthenes said it was Harmodius and Aristogeition because they had killed the tyrant Hipparchus; when was asked which Greek city would dare give sanctuary to men guilty of tyrannicide, Kallisthenes replied that the Athenians had once fought for the children of Herakles (Heracles) against Eurystheus and, having stood against the absolute master of Greece at that time, the Athenians would again give sanctuary to a tyrant killer. |
| While accompanying Alexander, Kallisthenes sincerely felt that many of the Persians customs which Alexander had adopted were unbecoming to a Greek leader and degrading to his followers; on the matter of prostration in the presence of the king, Kallisthenes refused to bow and show obeisance to Alexander; one of Alexander’s advisors, Anaxarchus, expressed the belief that, after his death, Alexander would receive the honors of a god; he further reasoned that it was reasonable to demonstrate that honor while Alexander was still alive and able to appreciate their devotion; Alexander agreed with that sentiment and started requiring his men to bow to him on formal occasions; Kallisthenes refused to act in such a non-Greek manner, he cited several good reasons and pointed out the fact that even Herakles was not honored as a god while he was alive; Kallisthenes reminded Alexander that the act of prostration had been instituted by one of the most reviled Persian kings, Cambyses, and that Cambyses, and all of his successors had been defeated by free men; Kallisthenes then asked Alexander if he intended to make all the Greeks bow to him when he returned home or if that insult was reserved for the Persians and Macedonians; his arguments only served to add to the distrust that the Macedonians already held for Kallisthenes. |
| Because of his eloquence and austerity, Kallisthenes became a mentor for many of the younger Macedonians; one of the youths asked him in what way he could become famous and Kallisthenes said that, if that was his desire, he should kill a famous man; this young man, Hermolaus, was insulted by Alexander on a hunting expedition and decided to kill Alexander in revenge; Hermolaus induced other young men to join in the plot but, before they could act, their scheme was discovered; all the young men confessed under torture and were stoned to death; none of the young men implicated Kallisthenes but Alexander and the Macedonian generals suspected Kallisthenes had an unhealthy influence on the conspirators and eventually found sufficient reason to arrest him; there are several explanations as to how Kallisthenes was put to death and all of them come from men who were with Alexander but they all differ as to the details; some say that Kallisthenes was bound in chains for seven months and died of such harsh treatment; others say that Kallisthenes was hanged. |
| The biography of Alexander that Kallisthenes wrote is lost to us and the exploits of Alexander that do exist were written hundreds of years after Alexander’s death but were presumably taken from the writings of the various companions of Alexander and, although they are sometimes contradictory, generally agree on the major aspects of Alexander’s campaigns in Asia, Egypt and India; in the third century CE, a body of work appeared called Pseudo-Kallisthenes; these stories are probably more fiction and wishful thinking than actual things that Kallisthenes wrote. |
| Diodorus Siculus, book 17, III.111 |
| Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, book iv.10-12, 14 and 22; book vii.27 |
| Plutarch’s Lives, Alexander, LII-LV |
| Kallisto (Callisto) |
| A nymph who was an attendant of Artemis and became the consort of Zeus. |
| Kallisto was the daughter of Lykaon (Lycaon) and lived in Arcadia; she would occupy herself with the wild beasts of the mountains with the goddess Artemis; she was seduced by Zeus and became pregnant; when Artemis saw Kallisto bathing, she was enraged to see that her companion was pregnant and changed Kallisto into a bear; her child was born and she named him Arkas (Arcas); mother and son were eventually captured by some goatherds and returned to her father, Lykaon; Kallisto violated the law by going into the precinct of Zeus and was hunted down by Arkas and other Arcadians; Zeus saw her plight and placed her in the heavens as the constellation the Great Bear. |
| The fate of Arkas was more unpleasant than that of his mother; we are initially told that Arkas participated in the hunt for his mother in the precinct of Zeus but then we are told that after Kallisto and Arkas returned to her father’s home, Lykaon pretended not to know of his daughter’s fate (being transformed into a bear by Artemis) and, while he was entertaining Zeus at his home, Lykaon chopped up Arkas while he was still a baby and served the infant to Zeus as a meal; Zeus placed Arkas in the heavens as the star Arcturus in the constellation of Bootes and he was thereafter known as the Bear Warden and protector of his mother. |
| Her name literally means Most-Beautiful. |
| The Astronomy, fragment 3 |
| Kalydonian Hunt (Calydonian Hunt) |
| The quest for the Golden Fleece, the Trojan War and the Kalydonian Hunt are three of the most notable gatherings of heroes in the ancient world. |
| A savage boar had been released into the countryside around the city of Kalydon (Calydon) by the goddess Artemis in order to punish King Oineus for his failure to make a proper sacrifice to her. |
| The boar was in no way ordinary; it was so fierce that no single person could master it; a hunting party of the most noble and bravest fighters in all of Greece was assembled to hunt the boar; included in the hunting party was the beautiful virgin huntress, Atalanta; she was the first to wound the boar but the beast was finally killed by Meleagros (Meleager). |
| Meleagros awarded the boar-skin to Atalanta as a tribute to her bravery; his mother’s brother (or brothers) tried to take the prize away from Atalanta but Meleagros killed his uncle(s) for the insult to his authority; the murder of his uncle(s) would eventually be the undoing of Meleagros; he died during the siege of Troy when his venomous mother called upon the lords of darkness to avenge her brother’s death at the hands of her arrogant son. |
| Participants in the Kalydonian Hunt included: Meleagros, Atalanta, Akastos (Acastos), Telamon, Iphiklos (Iphiclos) and Peleus. |
| Kambyses (Cambyses) |
| The second king of the Persian Empire; the son of Cyrus the Great and Kassandane (Cassandane); he ruled the Persian Empire from 529-522 BCE (seven years and five months). |
| According to the historian Herodotus, Kambyses was so harsh and arrogant that the Persians called him The Master, whereas Cyrus was known as The Father and Kambyses’ successor, Darius, was known as The Huckster; he ruled the empire with callous contempt for his subjects and his family. |
| While Kambyses was occupied with the subjugation of Egypt, he had a dream that implied that his brother, Smerdis, was going to usurp the throne of Persia in his absence; he sent an assassin back to Persia and had Smerdis secretly murdered (this covert act would nearly cause the downfall of the Persian Empire). |
| While Kambyses was in Africa, he conducted unsuccessful military campaigns against the city of Carthage, the city of Ammon, and the nation of Ethiopia; the mercenary sailors that Kambyses hired refused to engage the Carthaginians for fear of jeopardizing their trade cartel in the Mediterranean Sea; the fifty thousand soldiers he sent to burn the oracle of Zeus in Ammon disappeared in the desert and the army he led against Ethiopia nearly starved to death before they were forced to abandon their march; the frustration of these failed campaigns combined with Kambyses’ cruel nature caused him to commit every type of blasphemy against the Egyptian gods and their temples. |
| Contrary to Persian tradition, Kambyses married two of his sisters and murdered one of them; Kambyses’ madness progressed as he stayed in Egypt and when he finally decided to return to Persia he was hated and feared by the Egyptians, the Persians and his closest advisors; Kambyses had inherited the captured Lydian king, Kroesus (Croesus), from his father and, while in Egypt, Kroesus was forced to flee for his life because he dared to contradict Kambyses and offer criticism for the mad deeds that Kambyses inflicted on all those around him. |
| The oracle at Buto had told Kambyses that he would die in the city of Agbatana and Kambyses believed that he would die of old age in the Persian city by that name but while he was traveling through Syria, he stopped at the Syrian city of Agbatana and died of a wound from his own sword; before he died Kambyses received news from his capital city, Susa, that his brother, Smerdis, had assumed the throne; Kambyses knew that his brother was dead and he correctly surmised that an imposter was on his throne; he called the highest ranking Persians of his army to his death-bed and told them that he had ordered the murder of his brother and that he could not possibly be on the throne of the Persian empire; he told them that a false-Smerdis had assumed the throne and must be deposed at all costs; the Persians, who were accustomed to Kambyses’ madness, simply refused to believe him and accepted the false-Smerdis as their new king; after a life of manipulation and indulgence, Kambyses died without heirs, respect or honor. |
| Histories, book 3.1-39 and 3.61-66 |
| Kanthos (Canthus) |
| One of the Argonauts; the son of Kanethos (Canethus) from the island of Euboea. |
| 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 obtained the Golden Fleece and were headed home, they were stranded in Libya; when they began a desperate search for water, Kanthos encountered a flock of sheep that belonged to the grandson of Apollon, Kaphauros (Caphauros); as Kanthos was leading the sheep away, Kaphauros challenged and killed him; the other Argonauts avenged their comrade’s death by killing Kaphauros. |
| His name may also be rendered as Kanthus or Canthos. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 77-85 and 1485-1501 |
| Kassandra (Cassandra) |
 |
| The daughter Priam and Hekabe (Hecabe); as a member of the royal household of Troy she was witness to the fall of her father’s city and the tragic enslavement and/or murder of the population. |
| In The Iliad, Kassandra is portrayed as the devoted daughter of the king and queen but in later tragedies, such as Agamemnon by Aeschylus, she was given a darker, more tragic countenance; she was said to have been loved by Apollon but rejected him; as a punishment, Apollon gave her the gift of prophecy with the condition that no one believe her predictions; when she tried to warn her father that Troy was going to be overrun by the Greeks, she was ignored. |
| After Troy was reduced to ashes and her parents were dead, Agamemnon took her to his home as a concubine; she tried to warm him of his impending murder but, because of the curse of Apollon, she was disbelieved and finally killed as a witch. |
| The above image shows Kassandra clutching the statue of Athene (Athena) after the Argives had breached the walls of Troy. |
| Kastor (Castor) |
| He and his brother, Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux), were called the Dioskuri (Dioscuri); they were the twin sons of Leda and Zeus and the brothers of Helen, Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and Timandra. |
| In The Iliad (book 3, line 243) Kastor and Polydeukes were merely mortals but later stories gave the brothers a more supernatural countenance; as examples: |
| 1) When Helen was a young girl, she was kidnapped by Theseus and Pirithous; Kastor and Polydeukes saved her with the help of Akademus (Academus) or perhaps Dekelus (Decelus); |
| 2) While they were with the Argonauts, the two brothers became involved with the daughters of Leukippus (Leucippus), Hilaeira and Phoibe (Phoebe), and, for one reason or another, Kastor was killed; Polydeukes was supposedly immortal and did not want to live if his brother was dead; Zeus had mercy on the devoted brothers and allowed Kastor to return from the land of the dead on the condition that Polydeukes would take his place; that meant that, alternately, one of the brothers would be condemned to the Underworld while the other would be free on the face of the earth; eventually they were introduced into the heavens as the constellation, Gemini, i.e. the Twins. |
| An elaboration of the death of Kastor survives in the fragmentary remains of The Kypria; the author (not Homer) says that the two brothers were caught stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynkeus (Lynceus); Kastor was killed by Idas and then he and his brother, Lynkeus, were killed by Polydeukes; Zeus made Kastor and Polydeukes immortal with the condition that while one of them lived on the surface of the earth, the other would reside in the Underworld. |
| Kentauroi (Centaurs) |
 |
| A race of beasts having the head, trunk and arms of a man but with the body of a horse. |
| The origin of the Centaurs is directly related to Zeus and Hera; a mortal man named Ixion fell in love with Hera and his persistent advances angered Zeus; to distract Ixion, Zeus fashioned a cloud to look exactly like Hera; Ixion could not tell the difference and made love to Nephele, i.e. the cloud-woman, and she had a son named Kentauros; Kentauros mated with the Magnesian mares and the race of Centaurs was born. |
| Centaurs are noted for a variety of noble and depraved acts but when they provoked the Lapithae they more or less ended their habitation of the slopes of Mount Pelion and were forced to dwell on the Peloponnesian Peninsula; the “most noble” of the Centaurs was Cheiron (Chiron) who was the teacher of the heroes: Asklepios (Asclepius), Jason and Achilles. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), book 1, line 268 (beast men); book 2, line 743 (beast men); book 11, line 832 |
| Iliad (Loeb), book 1, line 268; book 2, line 743; book 11, line 832 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 1, line 312; book 2, line 845; book 11, line 994 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 1, line 317; book 2, line 888; book 11, line 963 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 21, lines 295 and 303 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 21, lines 330, 333 and 340 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 21, lines 333 and 341 |
| Theogony, line 1001 |
| The Kypria, fragment 5 |
| Pindar, Pythian Ode 2, lines 21-48 |
| Kephalos (Cephalus) |
| KEH fah los |
 |
| Eos abducting Kephalos |
| Kephalos was the son of Deion (Deioneus) and became a divine spirit through a series of tragic events caused by his affiliation with the goddess Eos (Dawn). |
| Kephalos married Prokris (Procris) who was the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens; the happy marriage of Kephalos and Prokris was soon disrupted by Eos who desired the companionship of Kephalos and abducted him; Eos and Kephalos had a splendid son named Phaethon. |
| Understandably, Prokris became jealous of Kephalos’ affair with Eos so, to ease Prokris’ anger, the goddess, Artemis, gave her a dog which had once belonged to King Minos of the island of Crete; the dog was named Lailaps (Storm) and could catch anything it pursued; also, Artemis gave Prokris a spear that would strike any prey at which it was thrown; Prokris gave the hound and spear to Kephalos as an act of reconciliation but she was still unsure of Eos’ intentions; acting on her suspicions, Prokris secretly followed Kephalos when he went hunting; when Kephalos heard a noise in the bushes he hurled the spear at what he thought was an animal but hit Prokris, killing her. |
| Kephalos was forced to flee Athens and went to the city of Thebes where he was absolved of his blood guilt and allowed to became a citizen; when Herakles’ (Heracles’) stepfather, Amphitryon, was given the task of hunting down a deadly fox which had been terrorizing the people of Thebes, he enlisted the help of Kephalos and his trusty hound; just as the unstoppable dog was about to catch the fox, Zeus intervened and turned the hound and fox into stone near a hill called Teumessus and thus the fox was thereafter named the Teumesian Fox. |
| Just as Eos had succumbed to her desires, the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, became infatuated with Kephalos and seized him; she made him the keeper of her shrine, thus he became a divine spirit. |
| His name may be rendered as Kephalos, Cephalos, Kephalus and Cephalus |
| Theogony, line 986 |
| The Epigoni, fragment 2 |
| Kera (Cera) |
| One of the many children of Nix (Night); her name means Fate, i.e. inevitable death; she is referred to as Black Fate which gives her dominion a more negative connotation, as in Doom. |
| In the poem, Shield of Herakles (Heracles), she is described as almost ghoulish in nature, i.e. she is dragging dead and wounded men across the battlefield and her clothing is stained with blood. |
| Her name may also be rendered as Ker or Cer. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), (Death the destructive) book 18, line 535 |
| Iliad (Loeb), (destructive Fate) book 18, line 535 |
| Iliad (Fagles), (violent Death) book 18, line 623 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), (ghastley Fate) book 18, line 616 |
| Theogony, line 212 |
| Shield of Herakles, line 156 |
| Kerberos (Cerberus) |
 |
| An offspring of the monster Echidna and the snake-bodied Typhaon; he was the ferocious watchdog of the Underworld and was said to have fifty heads, a dragon tail and snakes writhing from his body; the artistic and written descriptions of Kerberos differ as to the number of heads but the common theme is constant in that he was a beast of untamed savagery who only obeyed the voice of Hades (lord of the Dead) or his bride, Persephone. |
| Kerberos stands at the gates of the House of Hades and fawns on the dead as they enter but will savagely eat anyone trying to pass back through the gates and return to the land of the living. |
| To complete his Twelfth Labor, Herakles (Heracles) was required to descend into the Underworld and bring Kerberos to the surface; Herakles descended into the Underworld and confronted his uncle, Hades; either through consideration for Herakles or intimidation by Zeus’ wrath, Hades agreed to let Herakles temporarily take Kerberos into the sunlight on the condition that no weapons be used to subdue the beastly hound; when Herakles presented Kerberos to his cousin and taskmaster, Eurystheus, he hid in a giant urn in the ground. |
| His name may also be rendered as Kerberus or Cerberos. |
| Theogony, lines 311 and 769 |
| Kerkopes (Cercopes) |
 |
| The Kerkopes were two Monkey-Men named Passalus and Akmon (Acmon); the story of their exploits only survives as depictions in artwork and casual references by Classical writers but their encounter with Herakles (Heracles) was a surprisingly popular theme; the name, Kerkopes, is actually an obscene reference to the way the two brothers looked because their faces had the appearance of male genitalia. |
| As Herakles was sleeping under a tree, the two mischievous characters stole his bow; Herakles caught the barbaric looking brothers and tied them upside-down to a pole which he carried over his shoulder; the Kerkopes were not only unrepentant but highly amused by their plight and, as they dangled behind Herakles, they began making disparaging comments about Herakles’ hairy posterior; Herakles, who was so accustomed to sorrow and brutality, couldn’t resist the infectious good humor of the Kerkopes and set them free. |
| Herakles’ encounter with the Kerkopes was a popular artistic theme beginning in the early sixth century BCE and continuing well into the fourth century; the story was popular from mainland Greece to the island of Sicily. |
| Several Classical and Hellenistic writers thought that Homer had written a poem about the Kerkopes as one of his “fun” poems but most writers of that time rejected the idea. |
| This story is one of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle; for the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Kleite (Cleite) |
| The daughter of King Merops of Perkote (Percote) and the wife of King Kyzikos (Cyzicos), ruler of the Doliones who dwelt on a peninsula attached to the Phrygian mainland and jutting into the Propontis (Sea of Marmara); Kleite hanged herself when Kyzikos was mistakenly killed by Jason and the Argonauts. |
| When the Argonauts chanced to encounter the Doliones, Kyzikos had just celebrated his marriage but left the bridal chamber to greet the illustrious crew of the Argo; after the formalities of hospitality had been observed, the Argonauts continued on their quest for the Golden Fleece and Kyzikos returned to his bride, Kleite. |
| After taking their leave of King Kyzikos, the Argonauts lost their way in the night and contrary winds blew them back to the peninsula; when the Doliones saw the Argo approaching in the night, they mistakenly assumed that they were being invaded by their enemies and attacked the Argonauts in the darkness; Jason killed Kyzikos in the heat of battle without realizing who he was fighting. |
| When the light of day revealed the horrible mistakes both sides had made, the Argonauts and the Doliones mourned the needless death of Kyzikos; Kleite could not endure the loss of her beloved husband and hanged herself; the nymphs of the grove cried such tears that a fountain formed and was named after Kleite. |
| Her name may also be rendered as Klite or Clite. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 1012-1076 |
| Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) |
| The wife of Agamemnon; she and Timandra were the daughters of Tyndareus and Leda; she was the half-sister of Helen and the twins, Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux); her children were: Elektra (Electra), Orestes, Iphianassa (Iphigenia) and Chrysothemis. |
| Klytemnestra was falsely portrayed as the murderess of her husband seven hundred years after her death and the label has become indelibly attached to her name; in The Iliad, Agamemnon was said to have been killed by Aegisthus (Aigisthus) when he returned from the siege of the city of Troy; in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, the story is retold with Klytemnestra as the villain and Aegisthus as simply an accomplice; Klytemnestra had many reasons to despise Agamemnon and wish him dead but her role as murderess was thrust upon her by a playwright for dramatic effect and not based on the earliest accounts. |
| Before Agamemnon sailed away to Troy, he gathered his army at Aulis but after offending the goddess, Artemis, the ships could not leave the harbor; the seer, Kalchas (Calchas), said that unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphianassa, to Artemis, the fleet would not be allowed to leave the island harbor; Agamemnon summoned Iphianassa on the pretext that she was to marry Achilles and prepared her as a human sacrifice; when the time for the sacrifice came, Artemis took Iphianassa from the altar and substituted a deer in her stead. |
| The attempted sacrifice of Iphianassa and Agamemnon’s ten year absence from home led Klytemnestra into the arms of Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus; when Agamemnon finally returned home he was murdered by Aegisthus; Klytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, were in turn murdered by her son Orestes; the murder of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra are the subject of three plays by Aeschylus known as Oresteia; the plays are compelling in their drama and tell a very complicated story which tries to differentiate the subtle distinction between “vengeance” and “justice.” |
| Her name may also be rendered as Klytaemnestra or Clytaemnestra. |
| If you wish to read Oresteia, I personally recommend Aeschylus I translated by Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0226307786); you can find Oresteia at your local library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Returns, fragment 1 |
| Klytios (Clytius) 1 |
| A brother of the last king of Troy, Priam; his name may also be rendered as Klytius or Clytius. |
| Iliad (Lattimore), book 3, line 147; book 15, lines 420 and 427; book 20, line 238 |
| Iliad, (Loeb) book 3, line 147; book 15, lines 419 and 427; book 20, line 238 |
| Iliad, (Fagles) book 3, line 176; book 15, line 490; book 20, line 275 |
| Iliad, (Fitzgerald) book 3, line 174; book 15, line 485; book 20, line 270 |
| Knights |
| A comic play by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 424 BCE at the Lenaea festival where it won first prize; this was the first play which Aristophanes produced under his own name and is nothing but an attack and belittlement of the presumed Athenian warmonger, Kleon (Cleon). |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Nikias (Nicias) |
| Demonsthenes |
| Agorakritos (Agoracritos) |
| Paphlagon |
| Demos |
| This play was produced during the early years of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) and Aristophanes clearly laid the blame for the continuing hostilities on greedy and egotistical politicians such as Kleon; as to Kleon’s true character, we can only speculate but Aristophanes seems to have truly despised the man. |
| The play is based on the attempt of two disgruntled slaves to take the power away from an undeserving lout and give the reins of the government of the city of Athens to an even lower and more rapacious lout; the two slaves debate one another and are both under the assumption that the more corrupt and dishonest they appear to the public the more they will be loved. |
| The Knights are the chorus of the play and represent the noble and courageous horsemen who actually have to fight the war the politicians are perpetuating. |
| One very comic moment of the play is when the existence of the gods is called into question and one of the slaves declares that they surely exist because they obviously hate him. |
| 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; I also recommend the Penguin Classics book Lysistrata & Other Plays: The Acharnians, the Clouds, Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Alan H. Sommerstein (Translator), ISBN: 0140448144; you can also find this book at your local library or you can purchase it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Knossos (Cnossus) |
| kah no SOOS |
| |
 |
| |
| A ruined city in the north-central area of the island of Crete; the capital of the ancient Minoan civilization. |
| The Minoan civilization was named after King Minos by the archeologist Arthur Evans; Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa; Knossos was Minos’ capital. |
| King Minos united the barbarian population of Crete and constructed a massive palace at Knossos; Minos exported the fine metalwork, pottery and fabrics of Crete to ports in Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt; the fame of Minos and the Cretans became legendary; as a son of Zeus and a powerful king, the name Minos became synonymous with autocracy and power throughout the ancient world. |
| After Minos offended Poseidon (lord of the Sea), his wife, Pasiphae, had a child which was half-bull and half-man; the creature was called Minos’ Bull, i.e. the Minotaur; Minos wanted to punish the Athenians for the murder of his son, Androgeus, so he had the master craftsman, Daedalus (Daidalos), built an intricate labyrinth in which Athenian youths could be trapped and then killed by the Minotaur; the Athenian hero, Theseus, outwitted Minos and killed the Minotaur but the image of the labyrinth continued to be a potent symbol for Knossos from approximately 1400 BCE until the present day. |
| When Apollon was seeking men to build and administrate his Temple at Delphi, he encountered merchants from Knossos and took control of their ship; he assumed the guise of a dolphin and steered their ship to shore and then led the men to Delphi where they did his bidding and his oracle was established. |
| When Agamemnon mustered his army for the siege of the city of Troy (circa 1250 BCE), Idomeneus commanded the troops from Knossos and Gortyn (Gortyna); Idomeneus sailed from Crete with eighty ships, which would be approximately 1600 men. |
| When Polykrates (Polycrates), tyrant of the island of Samos (532-515 BCE), was laying plans to make his island a formidable sea power, he was following in the footsteps of King Minos of Knossos who was the first Greek to rightfully claim the title of Master of the Seas. |
| Knossos is the best known city of the ancient Cretan civilization; the period called the Middle Minoan period (1900-1700 BCE) is also called the Proto-Palatial Period because the first palaces at Knossos and Phaistos were established; during this period, there seemed to be extensive trading with foreign cultures such as Egypt. |
| Knossos thrived until the Final Palatial Period (1450-1380 BCE); the havoc caused by the eruption of the island Thera (now called Santorini) did not completely destroy Knossos and, after extensive repairs, it became the administrative capital of Crete; all that changed circa 1380 BCE when Knossos was finally destroyed and never reoccupied; small communities continued to sustain remnants of the Minoan Greeks but the driving force of their culture had moved to Mycenae on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. |
| The name may also be rendered as Cnossos or Knossus. |
| Approximate East Longitude 35º 17' 53'' and North Latitude 25º 09' 47'' |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 646; book 18, line 591 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 741; book 18, line 691 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 766; book 18, line 679 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 19, line 178 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 19, line 202 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 19, line 209 |
| Histories, book 3.122 |
| Hymn to Pythian Apollon, lines 393 and 475 |
| Korinna (Corinna) |
| koh REE nah |
| A lyric poet from Tanagra in Boeotia; either from 500 BCE or as late as 200 BCE. |
| The term Lyric Poetry is quite literal and designates poetry written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; the lyric poets flourished from roughly 700 BCE until 400 BCE. |
| Korinna is one of the few women to gain acclaim as a lyric poet; she wrote in a simple style of the legends of her native Boeotia; she was said to have been a contemporary of Pindar but this could only be so if circa 500 BCE is the correct date for her life; she is credited with the proverbial saying, Sow by the handful and not the whole sack, which of course meant that moderation is better than extravagance. |
| There are several excellent collections of lyric poetry that I can personally recommend; if you want to read a sampling of this poetic style, I suggest 7 Greeks by Guy Davenport or Greek Lyric, an Anthology in Translation by Andrew M. Miller; however, the most complete collection is undoubtedly the three volume collection from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek Lyric, Greek Lyric II and Greek Lyric III; you can sometimes find these books at your local library or you can purchase any of these books from the Book Shop on this site; look in the Poetry section. |
| Kottos (Cottos) |
| Kottos and his brothers, Briareos and Gyes are the sons of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens); all three have fifty heads and fifty arms sprouting from their massive shoulders. |
| The brothers were trapped in Gaia’s womb by Ouranos until the Titan, Kronos (Cronos), wounded his father, Ouranos, and they were allowed to be free, but their freedom was not to last; Kronos had helped his mother, Gaia, free the monstrous brothers but he feared their strength and beauty and so he too imprisoned them under the earth where they remained until the war between the Titans and the Olympians began. |
| Zeus brought the three brothers back into the light and gave them nectar and ambrosia to renew their vitality; with their newly acquired freedom and strength, Briareos, Kottos and Gyes joined the Olympians in the war against the Titans; after ten years of war, Zeus let loose all his fury and the earth and heavens trembled under his thunderbolts; at that moment, Briareos, Kottos and Gyes bombarded the Titans with three-hundred boulders that buried the Titans and ended the war. |
| His name may also be rendered as Kottus or Cottus. |
| Theogony, lines 149, 615, 712 and 817 |
| Kreon (Creon) 1 |
| The brother of Iokaste (Jocasta) and eventually the ruler of the city of Thebes; the tragic life of Kreon is tied to the ill fate which marked the life of Oedipus and his children. |
| While Oedipus was the king of Thebes, Kreon was content to simply be a member of the royal household; he did not envy the throne because, as the brother of the queen, he had money, respect and power without having the responsibilities or burdens that came with the throne; when a blight afflicted the countryside around Thebes, Oedipus sent Kreon to the oracle at Delphi to ask what the citizens of Thebes might do to regain their prosperity; when Kreon returned to Thebes he informed Oedipus that the prosperity of the country would not be restored until the murderer of King Laius was driven from the city. |
| After a painful investigation, Oedipus was made to realize that he, as a pawn of the Immortals, had murdered his father, King Laius, and married his mother, Iokaste; this meant that the children of Oedipus were also his brothers and sisters; when they realized their role in this horrible tragedy, Iokaste hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself and left the city in disgrace. |
| Oedipus’ eldest son, Eteokles (Eteocles) assumed the throne and Oedipus’ youngest son, Polyneikes (Polyneices) was exiled to Argos; Polyneikes organized an army to retake Thebes but Kreon could see that the inevitable outcome would be a disaster for Thebes regardless of who won the war; in an attempt to consolidate popular support, he went to the exiled Oedipus and begged him to return to the borders of Thebes and help defuse the impending doom that threatened the city; when Oedipus refused to help, Kreon kidnapped Oedipus’ daughters, Ismene and Antigone; the legendary king of Athens, Theseus, intervened and saved the girls and gave Oedipus sanctuary. |
| Kreon could do nothing but return to Thebes and await the inevitable war between the sons of Oedipus; Polyneikes and his army attacked Thebes but the attack failed and both Polyneikes and Eteokles were killed on each other’s spear; with the two sons of Oedipus dead, Kreon became the ruler of Thebes; his first decree was that Eteokles would be buried as a hero for defending the city and that Polyneikes would be left to the dogs and vultures for his disgraceful attack on the city; Antigone defied Kreon and buried Polyneikes; she was punished by being entombed alive in a cave; the blind prophet, Teiresias, warned Kreon that his actions were an affront to the Immortals and that if he did not give Polyneikes a decent burial and forgive Antigone, he and his family would suffer dire consequences. |
| Kreon relented and buried Polyneikes but before he could free Antigone from the cave, she hanged herself; Kreon’s son, Haemon, was the first to open the cave where Antigone was entombed and when he saw her dead body he flew into a rage and tried, but failed, to kill his father; Haemon then stabbed himself with his sword and died clinging to the body of Antigone; when Kreon returned to his palace carrying Haemon’s dead body, he was informed that his wife, Eurydike (Eurydice) had also killed herself. |
| The tragedy, Antigone, by Sophocles tells the entire tragic story; 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. |
| I personally recommend the Penguin Classics version of The Theban Plays translated by E. F. Watling (ISBN 0140440038); the book includes the three plays dealing with Oedipus and his family: King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone; I also recommend the Richmond Lattimore translation of Hesiod (ISBN 0472439030 clothbound or ISBN 0472081616 paper bound); you can find these books at your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Shield of Herakles, line 83 |
| Kroesus (Croesus) |
| The king of Lydia from 560-546 BCE, i.e. fourteen years; he was the son of Alyattes and the father of Atys. |
| Kroesus was a barbarian, i.e. a Persian, but his kingdom controlled many areas which were occupied by Greek colonists along the Ionian coast of Asia Minor; the reign and fall of Kroesus was well documented in the Histories by Herodotus; his capital city of Sardis was situated well inside Asia Minor and the land west of Sardis was already strongly held Greek territory protected by alliances with Athens, Sparta and other militarily strong Greek cities. |
| Kroesus was a respected and feared leader whose reputation allowed him to influence friends and enemies alike; when the tyrant of the Chersonese fell victim to his own aggression, Kroesus stepped in to save him from certain death; the tyrant of the Chersonese, Miltiades, was attacked and captured by the Lampsakenes; Kroesus sent a message to the Lampsakenes saying that he would destroy them “even like a pine tree,” i.e. once a pine tree is cut down it will no longer put out shoots and therefore utterly die; the Lampsakenes took the message to heart and released Miltiades. |
| Kroesus turned his aggressive attention towards the east and the Persian Empire; when he consulted the oracle at Delphi he was told that a great empire would fall if he attacked the Persians; although his army was smaller than the Persian forces, Kroesus crossed into Persian territory and engaged the army of the Persian king, Cyrus; the initial battle was indecisive and Kroesus retreated back to Sardis assuming that Cyrus would also retreat and wait for Spring to renew the war; he disbanded the mercenary aspect of his army and asked his allies in Sparta, Egypt and Babylonia to join him five months hence and resume the war; Cyrus did not wait for the Spring but instead marched to Sardis and defeated the diminished Lydian army. |
| Kroesus was taken prisoner and was due to be executed when a strange event saved his life; as he was being burned at the stake, Kroesus remembered the words of the sage, Solon; Solon had once told Kroesus that no man can be judged as happy until after his death because sadness and misfortune can befall any man up until that final moment; Kroesus uttered the words of Solon and when Cyrus overheard him, he was intrigued and ordered his men to put out the fire that was about to consume Kroesus; the soldiers batted at the flames but they would not be stilled; when Kroesus realized that Cyrus was trying to save him but the fire could not be extinguished, he prayed aloud to Apollon to save him; out of a clear sky, rain clouds appeared and a sudden downpour doused the flames. |
| Cyrus was duly impressed by the intervention of Apollon and bade Kroesus to sit with him and say whatever he wished; Kroesus looked at his besieged city and asked Cyrus what the Persian army was doing; Cyrus said simply that they were plundering his (Kroesus’) city; Kroesus said that the city was no longer his and the army was plundering the property that rightly belonged to the Persian king; he then suggested that Cyrus should place guards at each city gate and confiscate a tenth of the plunder on the pretext that the confiscated property was a tribute to Zeus; this would make Cyrus appear pious and deprive his army of acquiring too much wealth. |
| Cyrus was pleased with Kroesus’ advice and told him that he could have anything he wished; instead of asking for his freedom or his kingdom, Kroesus asked that he might send an envoy to Delphi and demand to know why Apollon had treated him so badly and given him such an ambiguous prophecy; an envoy was dispatched and, when confronted, the pythia said that Kroesus was not ill-used by Apollon but that his demise had been the culmination of a family curse that began five generations before when his ancestor, Gyges, had killed Kandaules (Candaules) and assumed the throne of Lydia; Kroesus accepted his fate and resigned himself to be the slave of the Persian king until he died. |
| After the death of Cyrus, Kroesus was forced into service as the advisor of Cyrus’ son, Kambyses (Cambyses); Kambyses was a tyrant of the worst sort; Kroesus tried to serve him well but when none of the Persians would stand up to Kambyses, Kroesus told him that he was acting unwisely; Kambyses ordered that Kroesus be killed but the Persians knew that Kambyses would probably change his mind and so allowed Kroesus to escape. |
| Histories, book 1.6, 1.26-28, 1.34-56, 1.76-92, 1.155-156; book 3.14 and 3.36; book 8.35 |
| Kybele (Cybele) |
| kee BEH lee |
| The daughter of Dindyme and King Meion of Phrygia; Kybele became immortal because of her healing abilities and her devotion when caring for children. |
| King Meion ruled Phrygia and Lydia in ancient times but after he became the father of a baby girl, he and Dindyme were unwilling to raise the child; Meion left the infant on Mount Kybelos (Cybelus) to die from exposure; leopards and other ferocious beasts nursed the child until several shepherd women saw the strange occurrence and took the child into their keeping; they named her Kybele after the mountain on which she was found. |
| As Kybele grew older, she was unequaled in beauty, virtue and intelligence; she was the first person to devise the multi-reed musical pipes as well as introducing the use of cymbals and the kettledrum at athletic games and for accompanying dancers; when she became well known for healing animals and children, people began calling her Mother of the Mountain; one of her constant companions became the satyr Marsyas because he too was a gifted musician. |
| When she became a woman, she loved a young man named Attis who, by virtue of his association with Kybele, became known as Attis-Papas (Attis the Father); she became pregnant but before her pregnancy became obvious, her parents, King Meion and Dindyme, recognized her and took her into their palace; when Meion realized that Kybele was pregnant, her went into a rage and killed Attis and Kybele’s nurses; their bodies were disgracefully left unburied. |
| After the murder of Attis, Kybele went into a frenzy and rushed out into the countryside crying aloud and beating on a kettledrum; with her wild hair and the cacophony she was causing, she was a strange sight to behold; her old friend Marsyas followed her in her wanderings until they came to Nysa where they encountered Dionysos (god of Wine) and Apollon; Marsyas became entangled in a dispute with the god Apollon and was flayed alive; Marsyas and Apollon competed in a contest of musical skills and Marsyas became irate when Apollon won; Apollon killed Marsyas because he was argumentative and not for his lack of musical skill. |
| Apollon became attracted to Kybele and joined her in her wanderings as far as the northern lands of the Hyperboreans; at that time, a pestilence descended on the land and people of Phrygia; when the Phrygians inquired of Apollon how to end their misery, he told them to give Attis a proper burial and to honor Kybele as a goddess; a burial for Attis was impossible because his body had disappeared but an effigy was made to resemble Attis so that he could be mourned; altars were erected for Kybele and her worship spread over much of Asia Minor; King Midas of Phrygia was one of her more notable worshipers; some of her temples and altars were magnificent; they were often adorned with statues of lions and panthers to commemorate the way she had been attended by wild beasts as an infant on Mount Kybelos. |
| While sailing in the northern Aegean Sea, Queen Myrina of the Libyan Amazons was caught in a storm; she offered up prayers to Kybele as the Mother of the Gods and was carried safely to an uninhabited island; Myrina had a prophetic dream and named the island Samothrace which means Sacred Island; Kybele was pleased with the island and settled it with a group of people which included her own sons who were called Korybantes (Corybantes) after their father, whose name is not stated but might have been Korybanos (Corybanus); Kybele established her rites and mysteries on Samothrace and decreed that her sacred area would become a sanctuary; the name Korybantes became the traditional name for the priests of Kybele and they dressed in full armor at her rituals. |
| Since Kybele was a goddess of Asia Minor, she was sometimes identified by the Greeks with the goddess Rheia (Rhea), wife of Kronos (Cronos) and mother of the Olympians; there are several references to Rheia in The Argonautika which, by their context, are undoubtedly referring to Kybele. |
| Jason is told by Mopsos (Mopsus) that he must climb to Dindymon’s shrine to ask the Mother of the Gods to stop the storm which has lasted for twelve days; Mopsos was taught the augury of birds by Apollon and from the signs he received, he instructed the Argonauts to prepare a suitable tribute for Kybele; the shipbuilder Argos carved an elegant image of the goddess; the Argonauts made a gravel altar which they decorated with garlands of oak leaves; the Argonauts put on their armor and danced a war dance around the altar; after the animal sacrifices were made, several miraculous signs assured the Argonauts that their prayers had been answered; the storm abated, fruit dropped from the trees, flowers bloomed, wild animals came from their lairs wagging their tails and a spring burst forth on the parched rock which was thereafter known as Jason’s spring. |
| A shrine was established in the city of Athens during the plague of 430 BCE in hopes that the Kybele, as the Earth-Goddess, would be appeased and end the suffering of the Athenians; the Athenians had killed a priest of Kybele and thought that they were being punished for their impious actions; she was also called the Great Idaean Mother which was a reference to either her association with Mount Ida or to Kybele as the Great Kind Mother. |
| The worship of Kybele continued well into historical times; although never formally sanctioned, processions and the worship of Kybele was allowed in Rome as early as 204 BCE. |
| Diodorus Siculus, book 3.58 and 3.59 |
| Argonautika, book |
| Homeric Hymn to the Mother of the Gods |
| Kyknos (Cycnos) |
| The son of Ares (god of War) who was killed by Herakles (Heracles); the story of their combat is told in the poem Shield of Herakles; his name literally means Swan and is associated with the Swan-Song, i.e. death-song. |
| If you wish to read the Shield of Herakles, I recommend Hesiod by Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0427439030 clothbound and 0472081616 paper bound); you can find this book at you local library or you can purchase it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Shield of Herakles, lines 57, 65, 329, 331, 337, 346, 350, 368, 413, 468, 472 and 479 |
| Kyno (Cyno) |
| The wife of the cowherd, Mitradates, who raised Cyrus as her son; in Greek her name was Kyno but her Median name was Spako. |
| Her name played an important part in the legend that made Cyrus such a powerful and charismatic leader because Kyno and Spax mean female dog in Greek and Median respectively. |
| The story begins with the Median king, Astyages and his daughter, Mandane; Astyages wanted his daughter’s infant son murdered and gave the foul task to one of his trusted kinsmen, Harpagus; when Harpagus gave thought to the matter he decided to keep his hands clean and give the dirty deed to someone of lower rank; he ordered a herdsman named Mitradates to take the baby into the wilderness and leave it to the beasts and elements. |
| Mitradates took the baby back to his home and found that his wife, Kyno, had just given birth but that her baby had been born dead; Kyno persuaded Mitradates to spare the life of the king’s grandson and to present their dead baby to Harpagus and declare that the evil deed had been done; Harpagus believed Mitradates’ story and gave the matter no more thought. |
| Mitradates and Kyno raised the child as their own and all went well until the young boy had a dispute with his playmates; a group of boys were playing a game and Mandane’s son was chosen to play the role of the king; when one of the boys disobeyed a “royal” command, the “king” ordered that he be beaten; the boy who had been punished took offense at such base treatment because his family was of noble birth and a mere herdsman’s son had ordered him beaten; the boy’s father took the insulting matter to King Astyages for justice; Astyages called Mitradates and his “son” to stand trial but when Astyages saw the family resemblance of the boy to his daughter, and to himself, he realized that Mandane’s son was still alive. |
| Astyages demanded the truth from Mitradates and he soon understood the entire sequence of events; the young boy was taken from Mitradates and Kyno and given to his natural mother and father, Mandane and Kambyses; the boy was named Cyrus and as he grew to manhood he was the best and brightest of his peers; as an adult, Cyrus united the Persians and led a successful revolt against King Astyages. |
| In order to add an element of divine intervention to the life of Cyrus, his mother and father told a slightly augmented version of his early life; they claimed that he had been left in the wilderness, as Astyages had ordered, and that he had been nursed by a female dog, i.e. a Kyno, until he was old enough to take revenge on his grandfather, Astyages, and end the rule of the Medes. |
| Histories, book 1.110-122 |
| Kypria (Cypria) |
| The Kypria; one of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle which elaborates on the Trojan War and its aftermath; Kypria is another name for the goddess of Love, Aphrodite and the poem revolves around her. |
| The poem was originally in eleven books but all that remain are twenty two fragments; the author of The Kypria is alternately given as Homer, Stasinus and Hegesias; a brief narrative about the Trojan War is augmented by a series of disjointed facts and sometimes contradictory statements regarding such characters as Helen, Theseus and Nemesis. |
| The Kypria tells the story (in abbreviated form) of the so-called Judgment of Paris in which the Trojan prince, Alexandros (Paris), is summoned to the wedding of Thetis and Peleus to judge which goddess is most beautiful: Hera, Athene (Athena) or Aphrodite; he chose Aphrodite and won her favor but, at the same time, inflamed the wrath of Athene and Hera. |
| Aphrodite then suggested that Alexandros build a ship and ordered another of her sons, Aineias (Aeneas), to sail with him; the seers, Helenos and Kassandra (Cassandra) told Alexandros his future but exactly what they told him is lost to us; Alexandros and Aineias sailed to Lakedaemon (Lacedaemon) where they were entertained by Helen and, her husband Menelaos (Menelaus); after Menelaos left for the island of Cyprus, Aphrodite cast a spell on Alexandros and Helen to make them become lovers; they loaded Alexandros’ ship with treasure and sailed away; a storm blew the ship off course and they were carried to Sidon, where Alexandros sacked the city before returning to Troy to marry Helen (or, also according to The Kypria, the two sailed to Troy in three days). |
| Meanwhile, Helen’s brothers, Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux), were caught stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynkeus (Lynceus); Kastor was killed by Idas and then he and his brother, Lynkeus, were killed by Polydeukes; Zeus made Kastor and Polydeukes immortal with the condition that while one of them lived on the surface of the earth, the other would reside in the Underworld. |
| The goddess, Iris, told Menelaos of Helen’s infidelity and he gathered the Greeks to attack Troy; at this point in the remaining fragments of The Kypria, Menelaos consulted Nestor and it becomes obvious that, had The Kypria remained intact, we would have a wealth of information concerning many of the greatest heroes of Greece; as you may recall from The Iliad, Nestor was a storyteller; when he was asked a question or his opinion, he would always digress into a series of tales from his youth and never give a simple or concise answer; if you were in a hurry, I can see how this might be annoying but for someone seeking knowledge, and not just facts, Nestor would have been the perfect mentor; mentioned in The Kypria, but not elaborated upon, are: the story of King Oedipus, the foiled love of Epopeus, the madness of Herakles (Hercules) and the pretense of madness by Odysseus to avoid joining the expedition to Troy. |
| When the Greeks assembled at Aulis, the seer, Kalchas (Calchas) correctly read the omen of the serpent and the birds and predicted victory after ten years of fighting; when the fleet sailed from Aulis, they mistook Teuthrania for Troy and sacked the city; the fleet was then scattered and finally returned to Aulis. |
| The commander of the Greeks, Agamemnon, killed a deer while hunting and boasted that his skill as a bowman surpassed the goddess, Artemis; the enraged goddess sent heavy seas and prevented the fleet from sailing; the seer, Kalchas, perceived the nature of their plight and advised Agamemnon to send for his daughter, Iphigenia, so that she could be sacrificed to appease Artemis; Agamemnon sent for Iphigenia under the pretense that she was to marry Achilles; when she was about to be sacrificed, Artemis snatched her from the altar and put a stag in her place; Iphigenia was then made immortal and transported to Tauris. |
| The winds abated and the fleet left Aulis and proceeded towards Troy; when they stopped at the island of Tenedos, one of the soldiers, Philoktetes (Philoktetes), was bitten by a snake and left on the island of Lemnos; the fleet arrived at Troy and the first Greek soldier killed was Protesilaus (Protesilaos); Achilles killed Poseidon’s son, Kyenus, and stole the cattle of Aineias (Aeneas); the Greeks demand the return of Helen but the Trojans refused; the Greeks then laid waste to the surrounding cities, taking slaves and plunder; at this point of The Kypria, the Trojan War narrative abruptly ends and the remaining fragments are very abbreviated, some are only a few sentences. |
| The historian, Herodotus, mentions The Kypria in relation to the abduction of Helen by Alexandros; Herodotus reasons that the lines in The Kypria which differ from Homer’s account of the abduction, in The Iliad, prove that Homer was not the author of The Kypria but he does not state who might have been the true author of this remarkable poem. |
| 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. |
| The Kypria, fragments 1-22 |
| Histories, book 2.117 |
| Kyrene (Cyrene) 1 |
| kee REE nee |
| An ancient Greek city and colony in Kyrenaika (Cyrenaica) in Libya, i.e. northern Africa. |
| Kyrene (now Shahhat) was founded by colonists from the island of Thera (now Santorini) circa 630 BCE at the command of the Pythia (priestess of Apollon) at Delphi; the first attempt at colonization was made on the island of Platea off the coast of Libya which was followed by a settlement on the mainland at Aziris; after six years at Aziris, the Theraeans moved eight miles inland to Apollon’s Spring and established the permanent city of Kyrene. |
| Thera colonized Kyrene because of a seven year drought on their island; the leader of the colonists was a man named Battus (Battos); there is some dispute as to whether the name Battus was a proper name or simply a generic title because the word Battus meant King in the Libyan language and Stammerer in Greek; the historian, Herodotus, states that the original Battus had a speech impediment and was thus called Battus but the Pythia at Delphi called him Battus because she knew that he would someday be a king in Libya; I personally believe that the name Battus was a proper name because several other kings were also called by that name. |
| Kyrene was a prosperous city which exported grain, oil and horses to Greece and the Greek islands; they repelled several assaults from Egypt and the native Libyans but the city finally fell under the dominion of the Persian king, Kambyses (Cambyses) in 525 BCE. |
| The name Kyrene is from the nymph consort of Apollon who inhabited the spring where the city was located; the descendants of the original Battus ruled Kyrene for eight generations which was in accord with the predictions of the Pythia at Delphi. |
| Histories, book 2.32, 96, 161 and 181; book 3.90; book 4.159-165 and 199 |
| The Taking of Oechalia, fragment 2 |
| Kytissoros (Cytissorus) |
| kee TEE soh ros |
| One of the four sons of Phrixus and Chalkiope (Chalciope); Kytissoros and his brothers, Argos, Phrontis and Melas, all became Argonauts. |
| Chalkiope was the daughter of King Aietes of Kolchis (Colchis); Phrixus, and his sister, Helle, were given a flying ram with a Golden Fleece to escape their evil stepmother, Ino, and their father, King Athamas of Orchomenos (Orchomenus); during their escape from Orchomenos, Helle fell from the ram and drowned in the sea but Phrixus managed to reach Kolchis and sacrifice the ram in the Garden of Ares; King Aietes was so impressed with Phrixus and the miraculous golden ram, he allowed him to marry his daughter, Chalkiope, without the wedding gifts which were traditionally expected from a suitor. |
| Kytissoros and his brothers were raised in Kolchis but after their father died, he and his brothers left to avenge their father’s unwarranted treatment by King Athamas; Kytissoros and his brothers did not reach Orchomenos as they had planned; instead, they became stranded on the Island of Ares in the Euxine (Black Sea); they were rescued from the island by the Argonauts; the Argonauts were on their way to Kolchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece and their encounter with Kytissoros and his brothers was more than a chance occurrence; Kytissoros and his brothers joined the crew of the Argo and returned to Kolchis. |
| Later in life, Kytissoros managed to confront Athamas but he did not avenge the malevolent treatment of his father as he had intended; he came upon Athamas in Achaea (Achaia) in the town of Alus; the Achaeans (Achaians), at the command of an oracle of Zeus, were preparing to sacrifice Athamas; Kytissoros saved Athamas and, by doing so, incurred the resentment of Zeus; from that time forward, the eldest member of Athamas’ family was forbidden, on penalty of death, to enter the town hall of Alus. |
| His name may also be rendered as Kytissorus or Cytissoros. |
| Argonautika, book 2, lines 1140-1156 |
| Histories, book 7.197 |
| Kyzikos (Cyzicos) 1 |
| The son of Aineios and Ainete; ruler of the Doliones who dwelt on a peninsula attached to the Phrygian mainland and jutting into the Propontis (Sea of Marmara). |
| When Jason and the Argonauts chanced to encounter the Doliones, Kyzikos had just celebrated his marriage but left the bridal chamber to greet the illustrious crew of the Argo; after the formalities of hospitality had been observed, the Argonauts continued on their quest for the Golden Fleece and Kyzikos returned to his bride, Kleite (Cleite). |
| After taking their leave of King Kyzikos, the Argonauts lost their way in the night and contrary winds blew them back to the peninsula; when the Doliones saw the Argo approaching in the night, they mistakenly assumed that they were being invaded by their enemies and attacked the Argonauts in the darkness; Jason killed Kyzikos in the heat of battle without realizing who he was fighting. |
| When the light of day revealed the horrible mistakes both sides had made, the Argonauts and the Doliones mourned the needless death of Kyzikos; Kleite, Kyzikos’ new bride, could not endure the loss of her beloved husband and hanged herself; the nymphs of the grove cried such tears that a fountain formed and was named after Kyzikos’ devoted wife, Kleite. |
| His name may also be rendered as Kyzikus or Cyzikus. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 936-960 and 1012-1076 |
