PHOR′CUS. A son of Neptune, father of the Gorgons.
PHRYX′US, see Golden Fleece.
PICUM′NUS. A rural divinity, who presided over the manuring of lands,
called also Sterentius.
PI′CUS. A son of Saturn, father of Faunus, was turned into a woodpecker
by Circe, whose love he had not requited.
PIER′IDES. A name of the Muses, derived from Pieria, a fountain near
Mount Olympus, where they were supposed to have been born. Also, the
daughters of Pierus, a king of Macedonia, who settled in Bœotia. They
challenged the Muses to sing, and were changed into magpies.
PILLAR, see Calpe.
PILUM′NUS. A rural divinity, which presided over the corn while it was
being ground.
PINE-TREE, see Atys.
PIRITH′OUS. A son of Ixion and great friend of Theseus, King of Athens.
The marriage of Pirithous and Hippodamia became famous for the quarrel
between the drunken Centaurs and the Lapithæ, who, with the help of
Theseus, Pirithous, and Hercules, attacked and overcame the Centaurs,
many of whom were killed, and the rest took to flight.
PI′THO, the goddess of Persuasion, daughter of Mercury and Venus. She
is sometimes referred to under the name of Suada.
PLANTS, see Demogorgon.
PLEASURE, see Rembha.
PLEI′ADES, THE. Seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Their names were
Electra, Alcyone, Celæno, Maia, Sterope, Taygete, and Merope. They were
made a constellation, but as there are only six stars to be seen, the
ancients believed that one of the sisters, Merope, married a mortal,
and was ashamed to show herself amongst her sisters, who had all been
married to gods.
“... The gray
Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced,
Shedding sweet influence.”