that of the Gods. Deprived his father Uranus of his virility and of his
government. Fearing dethronement from his own sons, he devoured them as
soon as born: his wife Rhea, however, concealed from him Zeus, Posidon,
and Pluto, the first of whom deposed him. The time of his reign was
looked back to as the Golden Age of plenty, equality, and virtue.
The Saturnalia, or feast of the Latin God Saturn, who was commonly
identified with Cronus, was a symbolic revival of that golden age.
CTESIAS. Author of (1) a long history of Persia, probably a really
valuable work, and (2) a treatise on India, the fables mixed up in
which caused him to be looked upon as an author who deserved no credit.
He was a Greek physician at the court of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Flourished
about 401 B.C.
CYBELE. _See_ RHEA.
CYCLOPES. A one-eyed race of shepherds, or, according to another
account, of smiths in the service of Hephaestus, in Etna. Polyphemus,
the chief of them, was son of Posidon.
CYLLARABIS. A gymnasium in or near Argos, which would be unsuitable for
cultivation.
CYNAEGIRUS. Brother of Aeschylus. At Marathon, pursuing the defeated
Persians, laid hold of one of their ships. His hand being cut off,
substituted the other; that cut off, gripped it with his teeth.
CYNICS. A school of philosophers, so called either because Antisthenes
the Athenian, their founder (born 444 B.C.), and a pupil of Socrates,
taught in the gymnasium called the Cynosarges, or else because their
mode of life was regarded as no better than that of a dog (cyn-).
Diogenes, Crates, Menippus, and (in his own time) Demonax, are
mentioned by Lucian as favourable specimens of the school. Their ideal
may be said to have been plain living and high thinking; virtue is
the only good; the essence of virtue is self-control; pleasure is an
evil if sought for itself. The dialogue called _The Cynic_ gives a not
unfair view of their asceticism. The _Peregrine_ and _The Runaways_
illustrate the abuses to which this philosophy was liable, owing to
the small intellectual demand it made, and the pride it generated.
The Cynics were cosmopolitan, individualist, and outspoken; their
repulsive personal negligence, and their free use of their philosophic
staves as offensive weapons, are often alluded to.
CYNURIA. _See_ OTHRYADES.
CYRENAICS. Aristippus, the founder of this school, was a disciple
of Socrates, but developed only the practical side of his master's
philosophy. Since the only things of which we can be absolutely certain
are our sensations of pleasure and pain, all our actions should be
calculated with a view to securing the one and avoiding the other. The
principle is not so debased as it sounds, since there are higher and
lower pleasures, present and future gratifications. Epicureanism and
modern Utilitarianism are developments.
CYRUS. The Great. King of Persia, 559-529 B.C.
DAEDALUS. A famous artificer. He, with his son Icarus, fled from Minos,
king of Crete, by means of wings fastened on with wax. He himself
arrived safely in Italy; but Icarus flying too high, the wax melted,
his wings dropped off, and he fell into the sea that was afterwards
called after him.
DANAE. Daughter of Acrisius (upon whose name there is a jest in the
_Demonax_), king of Argos. Her father, anxious that she should not have
a child, confined her in a brazen tower: but, Zeus visiting her in a
shower of gold, she gave birth to Perseus. Mother and child were thrown
into the sea in a chest, but were saved.
DANAÏDS. When the fifty sons of Aegyptus followed the daughters of
Danaus to Greece, and demanded them in marriage, Danaus consented, but
supplied each of them with a dagger to kill her husband on the bridal
night. Their punishment was to pour water perpetually into a leaky cask.
DAPHNE. _See_ APOLLO.
DAVUS. Stock name for a slave in Greek comedies.
DELPHI. On the Gulf of Corinth, below Mount Parnassus; an oracle of
Apollo, the most famous in Greece.
DEMADES. An Athenian orator, in the Macedonian interest; but put to
death by Antipater, 318 B.C.
DEME. An Athenian citizen was officially described by the addition of
the names of his father, his deme, and his tribe, to his own. The demes
were local divisions of Attica, like our parishes; the tribes were
groupings, independent of locality, of these demes into ten divisions
for administrative purposes.
DEMETER. Sister of Zeus, mother of Persephone, Goddess of the fruits of
the earth (Earth-mother).
DEMETRIUS (1). Poliorcetes. King of Macedonia, 294-287 B.C.
DEMETRIUS (2). A Platonic philosopher about 85 B.C.
DEMETRIUS (3). A distinguished cynic philosopher, of Sunium, teacher of
Demonax, and probably the hero of the story in the _Toxaris_.
DEMOCRITUS. A philosopher of Abdera, 460-361 B.C., famous as the author
of the atomic theory, as the laughing philosopher, and for the wide
extent of his knowledge.
DEMONAX. A cynic and eclectic philosopher, senior contemporary of
Lucian, from whose 'Life' all that is known of him is gathered.
DEMOSTHENES (1). One of the most distinguished Athenian generals in the
Peloponnesian war. _See_ BRASIDAS. Put to death by the Syracusans on
the failure of the Sicilian expedition.
DEMOSTHENES (2). The Athenian orator. His father was a rich
manufacturer of arms. Being defrauded by his guardians, took to oratory
first for the purpose of suing them. His self-training is famous;
the allusions in the _Demosthenes_ are thus explained: he lived in a
cave to study undisturbed, shaving half his head to keep him there,
studied his gestures in a mirror and corrected a shrug by hanging a
naked sword over his shoulders improved his articulation and voice by
holding pebbles in his mouth and shouting at the waves, took lessons
from Satyrus the actor, copied out Thucydides eight times. The great
object of his life was to keep Greece and especially Athens free from
subjection to Macedon.
DEUCALION and PYRRHA. The two who survived, according to the Greek
flood-legend, to repeople the earth.
DIASIA. Festival of Zeus at Athens.
DIOGENES. 412-323 B.C. His father was a banker of Sinope. He went to
Athens and became a philosopher of the Cynic school, which see, as a
disciple of Antisthenes. He is said to have lived in a tub.
DIOMEDE. One of the chief Greek heroes at the siege of Troy.
DION. A citizen of Syracuse under the two Dionysii; when Plato visited
Dionysius I, Dion became his disciple; being afterwards banished by
Dionysius II, he returned and expelled the tyrant.
DIONYSIA. There were four annual festivals in honour of Dionysus at
Athens. The Great Dionysia was the chief occasion for the production of
new tragedies and comedies.
DIONYSIUS I and II. Father and son, tyrants of Syracuse, 405-343 B.C.
The elder was a great patron of literature, and himself wrote verses
and tragedies.
DIONYSUS, or BACCHUS. Son of Zeus and the Theban Semele. For his birth
see SEMELE. Travelled through Egypt, Asia, &c., introducing the vine
and punishing all who slighted his power. His female worshippers were
known as Bacchantes, who roamed the country with dishevelled locks,
carrying the thyrsus and crying _evoe_.
DIOPITHES. An Athenian commander frequently employed against Philip of
Macedon.
DIOSCURI. _See_ CASTOR.
DIOTIMA. A priestess at Mantinea, called by Socrates (in Plato's
_Symposium_) his instructress in the art of love.
DODONA. Ancient oracle of Zeus in Epirus, where responses were given by
the rustling leaves of the sacred trees.
DOSIADAS. Author of two enigmatic poems whose verses are so arranged as
to present the profile of an altar.
DRACHMA. Greek coin worth tenpence.
DRACO. Ancient Athenian lawgiver, 621 B.C.
DROMO. Stock name for a slave.
ELECTRA. _See_ AGAMEMNON.
ELEUSIS. A town a few miles from Athens, where the Mysteries were
celebrated.
ELEVEN, THE. The board at Athens in charge of prisons and executions.
EMPEDOCLES. A Pythagorean philosopher, 444 B.C. His skill in medicine
and natural knowledge caused him to be credited with supernatural
powers. He fell or threw himself into the crater of Etna, as some say
that by his sudden disappearance he might be believed to be a God; but
his brazen sandal was thrown up and betrayed him.
EMPUSA. A monstrous spectre believed to devour human beings, and
capable of assuming different forms.
ENDYMION. A beautiful Carian youth with whom Selene fell in love.
ENIPEUS. A river and river-god in Thessaly.
EPHIALTES and OTUS. The two giants who piled Ossa upon Olympus and
Pelion upon Ossa to scale heaven.
EPICTETUS. A celebrated Stoic philosopher of the first century A.D.
Expelled from Rome with the other philosophers by Domitian. His
_Discourses_ and _Enchiridion_, still much read, are the notes of his
teaching collected by his pupil Arrian.
EPICUREANS. The school of philosophy instituted by Epicurus (342-270
B.C.). He combined the physics of Democritus with the ethics of
Aristippus; adopting the atomic theory of the former, he deduced
from it the indifference or non-existence of Gods; and he qualified
Aristippus's exaltation of pleasure by preferring mental and permanent
to bodily and immediate gratification. Their religious attitude caused
them to be held in abhorrence by other schools.
EPIMENIDES. Poet and prophet of Crete. The _Rip van Winkle_ of
antiquity, but a historical character.
EPIMETHEUS, 'after-thought,' was the brother of Prometheus,
'forethought.'
ERECHTHEUS II. Ancient king of Athens. Posidon, offended by the slaying
of his son Eumolpus, demanded the sacrifice of one of Erechtheus's
daughters; one being drawn by lot, the other three would not survive
her.
ERICHTHONIUS, or ERECHTHEUS I. King of Athens, and son of Hephaestus;
his mother was not Athene, but Ge.
ERIDANUS. Greek name of the Po.
ERIGONE. _See_ Icarus.
ERINYES. Also called Furies, Eumenides, and Dread Goddesses, employed
in punishing the wicked, whether in Hades or on earth, where they
represent the pangs of conscience.
ERIS. The Goddess of discord; for her story, see _Dialogues of
Sea-Gods_, v.
EROS. God of love, the Latin Cupid. Lucian plays with the two accounts
of his birth and age. According to one, he was older than all the
Olympian Gods; according to the other, son of Zeus and Aphrodite.
ETHIOPIANS. The Gods were in the habit of visiting the 'blameless
Ethiopians' and being feasted by them, according to Homer.
EUBULUS. The most influential statesman of the Athenian party opposed
to Demosthenes and in favour of peace with Philip.
EUCTEMON. An Athenian suborned by Demosthenes's enemy Midias to bring
against Demosthenes a charge of deserting while on military service.
EUMOLPUS. A Thracian bard who joined the Eleusinians in an expedition
against Athens, but was defeated and slain. He was regarded as the
founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and his family, the Eumolpidae,
continued to be the priests of Demeter there.
EUPHORBUS. _See_ PYTHAGORAS.
EUPHORION. Epic poet of Chalcis, 276 B.C.
EUPOLIS. Among the most famous poets of the Old Comedy, with
Aristophanes and Cratinus.
EURIPIDES. The most philosophic of the Greek tragedians. Born 480 B.C.,
died 406 B.C. at the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, whither he
had retired from Athens about 408 B.C.
EUROPA. Daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor, and sister of Cadmus;
carried away by Zeus, who assumed the form of a white bull.
EURYBATUS. An Ephesian who betrayed Croesus to Cyrus, and became a
byword for treachery.
EURYDICE. _See_ ORPHEUS.
EURYSTHEUS. King of Tiryns. _See_ HERACLES.
EURYTUS. King of Oechalia; challenged Apollo to a match with the bow,
and was killed for his presumption.
EUXINE. 'The hospitable' (#euxenos#); a euphemism for 'the
inhospitable,' #axenos#. The Black Sea.
EXADIUS. One of the Lapithae, who were assisted by Nestor in their
fight against the Centaurs.
FATES. The Three Sisters to whose power even the Gods must submit, and
who regulate every human life. Clotho holds the distaff, Lachesis
spins, and Atropus cuts the thread of life. Lucian also gives them
other functions.
FAVORINUS. A famous sophist, contemporary with Demonax, whose jests
against him depend on the fact that he was supposed to be a eunuch.
GALATEA. The 'milk-white,' a Nereid, loved by Polyphemus.
GALLI. _See_ ATTIS.
GANYMEDE. A beautiful Trojan youth, beloved by Zeus, and carried off by
him to be the Gods' cupbearer.
GE. 'Earth,' wife of Uranus ('Heaven'), mother of Cronus, Rhea, and the
other Titans.
GERYON. A three-bodied Spanish giant. _See_ HERACLES.
GIANTS. The brood that sprang from the blood of Uranus when mutilated.
They made war on Heaven, armed with rocks and trees; but the Gods
destroyed them and buried them under volcanoes.
GLAUCUS. A famous boxer.
GLYCERA. Stock name for a courtesan.
GODS. The XII were Zeus, Posidon, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes,
Hera, Athene, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter.
GORGIAS. Orator and sophist, of Leontini in Sicily, fifth century B.C.
He is a character in one of Plato's dialogues.
GORGONS. Three sisters with snaky hair, brazen claws, wings, scales,
&c. Medusa, the only mortal one, was slain by Perseus with Athene's
help, to whom he gave the head (which had the power of petrifying all
who looked upon it) after using it against the sea-monster.
GYGES. A Lydian who found a ring that being turned rendered him
invisible. By its means he usurped the Lydian throne, which he held
716-678 B.C. His wealth was proverbial.
GYLIPPUS. The Spartan chiefly instrumental in defeating the Sicilian
expedition of the Athenians.
HARMONIA. Daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, wife of Cadmus.
HARPIES. Monstrous birds with women's faces, sent by Zeus to torment
Phineus by defiling and carrying off all food placed on his table.
HECATE. A deity attendant on Persephone in Hades. Goddess of
cross-roads and much invoked by witches. For Hecate's supper, and
'dining with Hecate,' see note on _Dialogues of the Dead_, i.
HECUBA. Wife of Priam; a character in many Greek tragedies.
HEGESIAS. Sculptor. _See_ CRITIUS, the description of whom applies to
him also.
HELEN. Most of her history will be found in _Dialogues of the Gods_,
xx. Her abduction by Paris caused the Trojan war, after which she
returned to Menelaus.
HELIUS. God of the sun; one of the Titans.
HELLE. _See_ ATHAMAS.
HELLEBORE. _See_ CHRYSIPPUS.
HELLESPONT. _See_ XERXES.
HEPHAESTION. A Macedonian, the special friend of Alexander, who caused
divine honours to be paid him after his death, 325 B.C.
HEPHAESTUS. Son of Zeus and Hera; god of fire and of metal-working,
having his forge in Etna.
HERA. Daughter of Cronus and Rhea, wife and sister of Zeus, queen of
Heaven.
HERACLES. Son of Alcmena, who bore twins, the divine Heracles son of
Zeus, and the mortal Iphicles son of her husband Amphitryon. Married
Megara, but, driven mad by the jealous Hera, killed their children.
To expiate the crime entered the service of Eurystheus for twelve
years, and performed for him twelve labours, among which were: Slaying
of Hydra (as two heads sprang for each cut off, Iolaus assisted
him by searing the stumps); Shooting of Stymphalian birds; Capture
of Diomede's man-eating horses; Cleansing of the stables of Augeas;
Slaying of Nemean lion (whose skin he always afterwards wore); Driving
away of Geryon's oxen (on which expedition he erected the Pillars of
Hercules at the straits of Gibraltar). Other incidents: He went down to
Hades to rescue Alcestis; founded and presided at the Olympic games;
held up the heavens for Atlas; served with Omphale in woman's dress to
atone for the murder, in a fit of madness, of his friend Iphitus; while
drinking wine with Pholus, was attacked by the other centaurs and slew
them. His last wife, Deianira, being jealous gave him a poisoned shirt;
and in the resulting agony he caused Philoctetes to build a pyre and
burn him on Mount Oeta, leaving his bow and arrows to the boy.
HERACLITUS. A physical philosopher of Ephesus, about 500 B.C. Conceived
fire as the origin of all things, and continual movement as the
necessary condition of existence. Known as the weeping philosopher, in
opposition to Democritus, the laughing.
HERMAGORAS. 'Hermes of the Market'; a statue of Hermes in the Athenian
market-place.
HERMAPHRODITUS. _See_ APHRODITE.
HERMES. Son of Zeus and Maia. Messenger, cupbearer, porter, crier, &c.,
of the Gods. God of windfalls, trade, thievery, music, and speech.
He is represented with wings on his sandals and hat, and with the
caduceus, a staff entwined with serpents. For his slaying of Argus,
see _Dialogues of the Gods_, iii. He is charged with the conducting of
the dead to Hades. Said to have been born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia.
Identified with the dog-headed Egyptian God Anubis.
HERMOCRATES. The Syracusan most energetic in resisting the Sicilian
expedition.
HERODES ATTICUS. Born about 104 A.D. The most famous rhetorician of his
time. Used his great wealth in conferring benefits on the Greek towns,
especially Athens; the aqueduct at Olympia is an instance. Mourned his
wife Regilla and his favourite Pollux in the manner described in the
_Demonax_.
HERODOTUS. Of Halicarnassus, born 484 B.C. Wrote in the Ionic dialect a
history of the Graeco-Persian War, in nine books, to which the names of
the Muses were given in recognition of their excellence.
HEROES. Used in two senses: (1) of demi-gods, born of a mortal and an
immortal parent; (2) of the chiefs of the Trojan war period.
HESIOD. Of Ascra in Boeotia, about 850 B.C. According to his own
account he was originally a shepherd, who, tending his flocks on
Helicon, received from the Muses a laurel-branch, and with it the
gift of poetry. His chief poems are the _Works and Days_, a didactic
agricultural poem, and the _Theogony_, a work on the genealogies of
Gods and heroes. The passage on Virtue so often alluded to by Lucian
runs as follows: 'Vice you may have in abundance with ease; smooth is
the road to it, and very near it dwells. But this side of Virtue the
immortal Gods have set much toil; long and steep is the track to it,
and rough at its setting out: but when a man has reached the top, then
is its hardness turned to ease.'
HIMERAEUS. An Athenian orator, who opposed Macedonia after the death
of Alexander, and fled to escape being surrendered to Antipater. Being
caught by Archias, he was put to death.
HIPPIAS. A sophist of Elis, able but vain, contemporary of Socrates; a
character in two of Plato's dialogues.
HIPPOCLIDES. An Athenian of the sixth century B.C.; lost his chance of
marrying the daughter of Clisthenes tyrant of Sicyon by dancing on his
head, and remarked that 'Hippoclides did not care.'
HIPPOCRATES. A famous physician of Cos, 469-357 B.C.
HIPPOCRENE and OLMEUM. Fountains on Mount Helicon sacred to the Muses.
HIPPOLYTA. _See_ THESEUS.
HIPPOLYTUS. Son of Theseus and Hippolyta. His step-mother Phaedra
fell in love with him, and being rejected accused him to his father.
Theseus believed and asked Posidon to destroy him; he was thrown from
his chariot and dragged to death by his horses, frightened at a monster
sent by Posidon.
HIPPONAX. Greek iambic poet, 546-520 B.C.
HOMER. His poems formed the basis of Greek education and religion;
Lucian perpetually quotes him, and refers to the questions of his
birthplace and blindness. Famous ancient Homeric critics were Zoïlus
(called Homeromastix), Zenodotus, and Aristarchus.
HYACINTH. _See_ APOLLO.
HYDRA. _See_ HERACLES.
HYLAS. Beautiful youth, beloved by Heracles, and carried off by the
water-nymphs.
HYMENAEUS. The God of marriage.
HYMETTUS. Mountain of Attica, famous for marble and bees.
HYPERBOLUS. A disreputable Athenian demagogue, murdered 411 B.C.
HYPERBOREANS. A mythical people dwelling beyond the North wind in
perpetual sunshine and happiness. Magical powers were attributed to
them.
HYPERIDES. Athenian orator, generally acting with Demosthenes, though
he accused him on one occasion. His tongue was cut out and he was
executed by Antipater.
IAMBULUS. A Greek writer on India, sufficiently characterized in _The
True History_(3). 'Oceanica' is not an actual title.
IAPETUS. A Titan, brother of Cronus, and father of Prometheus.
ICARIUS. An Athenian who received Dionysus in Attica and learned from
him the cultivation of the vine. Some peasants to whom he gave wine
slew him in drunkenness. His daughter Erigone was led to his grave
by his dog Maera, and hanged herself on the tree under which he lay.
Dionysus placed the three in heaven as Arcturus, The Virgin, and
Procyon (the lesser dog-star).
ICARUS. _See_ DAEDALUS.
IDA. Mountain close to Troy.
ILISSUS. A small river at Athens.
ILITHYIA. Goddess of child-birth, generally identified with Artemis.
INO. _See_ ATHAMAS.
IO. Daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. Zeus in love with her and
changed her to a heifer for concealment; Hera discovering it placed
her under the care of Argus, who however was slain by Hermes at Zeus's
command. Io swam to Egypt, conducted by Hermes, and there bore a son to
Zeus.
IOLAUS. Nephew of Heracles, and helped him against the hydra. Restored
to youthful vigour by Hebe.
IPHIGENIA. Daughter of Agamemnon, was to be sacrificed to Artemis to
secure the passage of the Greek fleet to Troy; but Artemis substituted
a hart, and transported her to Tauri in Scythia, where as priestess she
had to sacrifice all strangers. She saved her brother Orestes, on the
point of being thus immolated, and fled with him to Greece.
IRIS. Goddess of the rainbow, sometimes charged with messages from
heaven to earth.
IRUS. The beggar in the _Odyssey_ who boxes with Odysseus.
ISIS. Egyptian Goddess, sometimes identified with Io.
ISMENUS. The river of Thebes.
ISOCRATES. 436-338 B.C. The greatest of Greek oratorical writers and
teachers, but debarred from speaking by timidity and a weak voice.
IXION. King of the Lapithae, admitted by Zeus to the table of the Gods;
his story will be found in _Dialogues of the Gods_, vi.
LABDACIDS. Laïus, Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, Antigone and Ismene,
the subjects of many Greek tragedies, were descended from Labdacus the
Theban.
LAERTES. Father of Odysseus and king of Ithaca.
LAÏS. A famous courtesan of Corinth.
LAÏUS. King of Thebes and father of Oedipus, who slew him in ignorance
of his identity, and so fulfilled an oracle.
LAOMEDON. _See_ APOLLO.
LAPITHAE. A Thessalian people. When they invited the centaurs to
the marriage feast of Pirithoüs, who was one of them, a quarrel and
bloodshed arose.
LEDA. Wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, loved by Zeus, who took
the form of a swan. She produced two eggs, from one of which came
Pollux and Helen, children of Zeus, and from the other Castor and
Clytemnestra, of Tyndareus.
LEMNIAN WOMEN. Having offended Aphrodite, were abandoned by their
husbands, and in revenge murdered all their male relations.
LEONIDAS. The king of Sparta who held Thermopylae with a small force
against all the host of Xerxes till nearly all his men were slain, 480
B.C.
LEOSTHENES. Commander of the Greeks in the Lamian war, for emancipation
after Alexander's death.
LETHE. One of the rivers of Hades, of which all must drink and forget
their lives on earth. Lucian, however, like other writers, does not
trouble himself about this forgetfulness when it is inconvenient. There
is also a river of the name in Spain, to which perhaps Charon refers
in the _Voyage to the Lower World_.
LETO. A Goddess loved by Zeus, and regarded with jealousy by Hera, who
set the serpent Pytho to watch her, and induced the earth to refuse her
a place in which to be delivered of her children. Posidon solved the
difficulty by bringing up Delos from the depths of the sea and fixing
it. Here Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. Apollo afterwards slew
Pytho. Leto was insulted by Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, proud of her
seven sons and seven daughters; she was avenged by Apollo and Artemis,
who shot all Niobe's children, and Niobe wept till she turned to stone.
LEUCOTHEA. _See_ ATHAMAS.
LOTUS. The plant of which he who ate lost all wish of returning home.
LYCEUM. _See_ PERIPATETICS.
LYCOPHRON. Poet and grammarian 270 B.C. His poem _Alexandra_ or
_Cassandra_ consists of supposed oracles of Cassandra, 'of no poetic
value, but forms an inexhaustible mine of grammatical, historical, and
mythological erudition.'
LYCURGUS (1). Ancient lawgiver at Sparta, who established the
constitution and training that gave Sparta its military pre-eminence,
884 B.C.
LYCURGUS (2). Attic orator, a warm supporter of Demosthenes.