Æ′SON was father of Jason, and was restored to youth by Medea.
Æ′TA, a king of Colchis, was father of Medea.
AGAMEM′NON was the son of Plisthenes and brother of Menelaus. He was
king of the Argives. His brother’s wife was the famous Helen, daughter
of Tyndarus, king of Sparta; and when she eloped with Paris, Agamemnon
was appointed leader of the Greeks in their expedition against Troy.
AGANIP′PIDES, a name of the Muses, derived from the fountain of
Aganippe.
AGINE′US, see Apollo.
AGLA′IA was one of the Three Graces.
AG′NI. The Hindoo god of lightning.
A′JAX was one of the bravest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan war.
His father was Telamon, and his mother Eribœa. Some writers say that he
was killed by Ulysses; others aver that he was slain by Paris; while
others again assert that he went mad after being defeated by Ulysses,
and killed himself. Another Ajax, son of Oileus, also took a prominent
part in the Trojan War.
ALCES′TIS, wife of Admetus, who, to save her husband’s life, died in
his stead, and was restored to life by Hercules.
ALCI′DES, one of the names of Hercules.
ALCME′NA, the mother of Hercules, was daughter of Electrion, a king of
Argos.
ALEC′TO was one of the Furies. She is depicted as having serpents
instead of hair on her head, and was supposed to breed pestilence
wherever she went.
ALEC′TRYON, a servant of Mars, who was changed by him into a cock
because he did not warn his master of the rising of the sun.
AL′FADUR, in Scandinavian Mythology the Supreme Being--Father of all.
AL′MA MAMMO′SA, a name of Ceres.
ALPHE′US, a river god. See Arethusa.
ALTAR. A structure on which a sacrifice was offered. The earliest
altars were merely heaps of earth or turf or rough unhewn stone; but
as the mode of sacrificing became more ceremonious grander altars were
built. Some were of marble and brass, ornamented with carvings and
bas-reliefs, and the corners with models of the heads of animals. They
varied in height from two feet to four, and some were built solid;
others were made hollow to retain the blood of the victims. Some were
provided with a kind of dish, into which frankincense was thrown to
overpower the smell of burning fat. This probably was the origin of the
custom of burning incense at the altar.
AMAL’THÆ’A the goat which nourished Jupiter.
AM’AZONS were a nation of women-soldiers who lived in Scythia. Hercules
totally defeated them, and gave Hippolyte, their queen, to Theseus for
a wife. The race seems to have been exterminated after this battle.
AMBARVA’LIA were festivals in honour of Ceres, instituted by Roman
husbandmen to purge their fields. At the spring festival the head
of each family led an animal, usually a pig or ram, decked with oak
boughs, round his grounds, and offered milk and new wine. After harvest
there was another festival, at which Ceres was presented with the
first-fruits of the season. See Ceres.
AMBER, see Heliades.
AMBRO’SIA were Bacchanalian festivals.
AMI’CA, a name of Venus.
AMPHI’ON was the son of Jupiter and Antiope. He was greatly skilled
in music; and it is said that, at the sound of his lute, the stones
arranged themselves so regularly as to make the walls of the city of
Thebes.
“Amphion, too, as story goes, could call
Obedient stones to make the Theban wall.”