PAEAN - Greek Greek god of healing and physician to the other gods. This may originally have been merely an epithet of Apollo, however he did emerge as an independent deity in later Greek literature. PALAEMON - Greek Minor Greek sea god. The deified form of Melicertes after his death. Melicertes was the son of Athamas and Ino. Both were driven mad, and Ino leapt to her death in the sea carrying Melicertes with her. PAN - Greek Greek shepherd god. Depicted in human form with the legs, horns and ears of a goat. Son of Hermes and the nymph Penelope. He was said to have been born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia. He originated as an Arcadian deity and that region remained the most important centre of his cult. Although Hermes took him to Olympus, his haunts were generally the forests and fields of the country, and he was believed to live in caves. Pan was the patron deity of fishermen and hunters as well as of shepherds. On the other hand, he was believed to take delight in frightening unsuspecting travellers. A god of fertility and unbridled male sexuality, he was known for pursuing nymphs in the form of a goat. One of the nymphs he pursued, Syrinx, changed herself into a reed to escape him. Pan then cut several reeds and devised what are known as the pan-pipes (syrinx). He later used these pipes to defeat Apollo in a music contest. In addition to having goat's horns, legs and ears, he was depicted as being coarse in appearance, bearded, and bearing the syrinx pipes or a shepherd's crook. The Romans equated him with their Faunus. PANACEA - Greek "All-Healing". Minor Greek goddess of health. PANDORA ('Gift of All') - Greek The Greek Eve, fashioned in clay by Hephaestus on Zeus' orders to punish Prometheus for having stolen fire from heaven. Her name means that each God or Goddess gave her an appropriate gift. Zeus gave her a box which she must not open. She did open it, and all the evils that plague humankind came out of it. All that was left at the bottom was Hope. PASITHEA - Greek One of the Greek Muses in some versions. Daughter of Zeus and Eurynome. May simply be another name for Aegle (Aeglaia). PEITHO - Greek "Persuasion". Greek goddess of persuasion. Daughter of Hermes and Aphrodite, although Hesiod makes her the daughter of Okeanos. An attendant of Aphrodite. PENEIOS (Peneius, Peneus) - Greek Thessalian river god. Possibly the father of Daphne and the nymphs of Thessaly. PEPHREDO - Greek One of the Graiae in Greek mythology. Daughter of Phorkys and Ceto. Sister of the other Graiae, Deino and Enyo. PERSE (Perseis) - Greek Greek underworld goddess. Conosrt of the sun god Helios. Mother of Circe and Pasiphae. Perse embodied the underworld aspects of the moon. She was also known as Neaira, "the new one", or the new moon. PERSEPHONE (Roman Proserpina) - Greek Greek goddess of the underworld. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Once, while picking flowers in the Vale of Nysa (reputedly in Sicily), she was abducted by Hades, who forced her to become his wife in the underworld. The gods, concerned that her mother's grief was causing the earth's vegetation to shrivel and die, sent Hermes to negotiate for her return. He succeeded in gaining Hades permission but, because Persephone had eaten a single pomegranate seed while in the underworld, she was only allowed to return to her mother for two thirds of the year. The earth's vegetation was believed to prosper during the two thirds of the year that Persephone was with her mother and waste away during the third spent in the underworld. This paralleled the cycle of the seasons in the Mediterranean, where late summer is a period of drought. This celebration of this story became the central part of the Eleusinian mysteries. She was referred to as Kore ("girl" or "maiden") in her association with Demeter, and some scholars believe she was only an aspect of Demeter and not a deity in her own right. Certainly the story of Persephone was inseparable from that of Demeter, as was her worship. In Orphism, a mystery religion centering around the similar legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, Persephone was the mother of Zagreus by Zeus. PHANES - Greek "Light". Primordial Greek sun god. In Orphism, he was the first god to emerge from the primeval egg engendered by Kronos. In another tradition, he was the father of Nyx (night). PHEME (Roman Fama) - Greek Greek goddess of popular rumour. She had an altar at Athens. PHOBOS - Greek "Panic". Greek god of fear and terror. Son of Ares and Aphrodite. He accompanied Ares into battle. PHORKYS (Phorcys, Phorkos) - Greek Greek sea god. According to Hesiod, the son of Pontos (Okeanos) and Gaia. Consort of the sea-monster Ceto (Keto). Father of the Gorgons and the Graii. PHOSPHOROS (Phosphorus, Heosphoros) - Greek Greek god of the morning star. Son of Eos (dawn) and either Astraios or Cephalus. He was depicted as a naked youth running ahead of his mother, bearing a torch. PLUTON (Pluto) - Greek An epithet of the Greek god of the underworld, Hades. PLUTOS (Plutus) - Greek "Riches." Greek god of wealth and abundance. Primarily a god of agricultural wealth. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Demeter and the Titan Iasion, and was born in Crete. Plutos was said to have been blinded by Zeus so that he might dispense his riches indiscriminately, although this seems to have been derived from a comedy by Aristophanes. He had a temple at Eleusis, and was worshipped in the Eleusinian Mysteries along with Demeter and Persephone. Depicted as a boy with a cornucopia. PODALEIRIOS - Greek Minor Greek god of healing. Son of Asklepios. He was a doctor in the Greek army which besieged Troy. He was known as the "Great Healer" in Greek Anatolia and Thessaly. POLHYMNIA - Greek See Polyhymnia. POLYHYMNIA (Polhymnia, Polymnia) - Greek Greek Muse of song. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. According to some traditions, she was the mother of Orpheus by Oeagrus. PONTOS (Pontus) - Greek "Sea". Greek sea god. Son of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). He may be identical with Okeanos (qv). His mother Gaia became his consort for a time, producing the sea gods Nereus and Phorkys. POSEIDON - Greek Greek god of the sea. Son of Kronos and Rhea. He and his siblings were swallowed by Kronos, but they were later rescued by their brother Zeus. The brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades later divided the world among themselves, with Poseidon receiving dominion over the sea. His chief consort was Amphitrite. Father of Antaios, Orion and Polyphemos. Poseidon was secondarily a god of mariners (to whom he may send storms or a fair voyage), of waters in general, and of earthquakes. In the latter capacity he was known as Enosigaios or Enosichthon, meaning "earth-shaker". Athena defeated Poseidon in their famous contest for the allegiance of Athens. While Poseidon offered humanity the boon of the horse, Athena offered the olive. Elsewhere, he helped Apollo build the walls of Troy. However, he became an implacable enemy of Troy after Laomedon refused to pay him, and he sided with the Greeks in the Trojan War. Poseidon was closely associated with horses as Hippios ("of horses"), and the horse was sacred to him. He fathered many famous horses, including the winged Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa, and another winged horse, Areon, by Erinys. In Corinth, horse-races were held in his honour. On Argos horses were sacrificed to him by drowning in a whirlpool. Poseidon was generally depicted as an older, bearded man carrying a trident (the three-pronged fisherman's spear). There were temples at Cape Sunium, the southern-most tip of Greece, at Pylos in Crete, and Mount Mykale in Greek Anatolia. Freshwater springs were often consecrated to Poseidon as well. As an oracular deity, he had an oracle at Cape Tainairon and, according to one tradition, he was the first keeper of the oracle at Delphi. Regattas were held in his honour off Cape Sunium. Poseidon's chief festival was the Isthmia, scene of the Isthmian Games, celebrated near the Isthmus of Corinth. PRIAPOS (Priapus) - Greek Greek god of fertility. Son of Dionysos and Aphrodite. His cult originated in Phrygia and did not enter Greece proper until the rise of Macedonia under Phillip and Alexander. The cult remained most popular in Greek Anatolia, particularly at Lampsacus on the Hellespont, which was said to have been his birthplace. He was more popular in the country than in the cities. Priapos was depicted as an ugly, satyr-like man with an enormous phallus. His fertility aspect evidenced itself in an indiscriminate sexual appetite, as well as in his role as a god of fruitfulness, notably of gardens, flocks of sheep and goats, and of vines. Ithyphallic statues of Priapos were often placed in gardens. The donkey was his sacred animal, from its presumed sexual appetite. He was also a patron of seafarers and fishermen. PROMETHEUS - Greek "Forethought". Greek god and culture hero. Son of the Titan Iapetos and Klymene. Prometheus is best known for the story of his conflict with Zeus. This began when Prometheus tricked Zeus into accepting the bones and fat of a sacrifice instead of the meat. Zeus retaliated by hiding fire from humanity, but Prometheus stole the fire and gave it to mankind. As punishment for this rebellion, Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, where an eagle fed on his liver, which continually restored itself. Zeus also sent Pandora and her jar of evils to even the score with humanity. As for Prometheus, Herakles eventually killed the eagle and released him. As a culture hero, Prometheus was also given credit for teaching humanity various handicrafts and arts, and he was considered a patron of craftsmen and artisans. According to another tradition, Prometheus actually created humanity, shaping the first man and woman out of clay and water. PROTEUS - Greek Greek sea god. Commonly known as the "Old Man of the Sea". Son of Okeanos and Tethys. He was a shepherd of sea creatures , which were his particular concern as a god of the sea. Proteus had the ability to change shape at will, a common trait of Greek sea deities. He was also known for his oracular powers and vast knowledge, but had to be forced to divulge any of his knowledge. In such circumstances, he would use all his skills as a shape- shifter to escape. Proteus was said to live either on the island of Pharos near the mouth of the Nile, or on the island of Carpathus between Crete and Rhodes. PTAH - Egyptian God of Craftsmen. PYTHIA -('Pythoness') Greek. Serpent Goddess, daughter of Gaia. RA - Egyptian Sun God. RHADAMANTHYS (Rhadamanthos, Rhadamanthus) - Greek Greek underworld god. Son of Zeus and Europa. Ruler of Crete who was succeeded as king by his brother Minos. After death he became one of the three judges of the dead in the underworld, along with Aiakos and Minos. RHEA (Rheia) - Greek Greek mother of the gods. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of Kronos. Mother of Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon and Zeus. When Kronos swallowed his children, Rhea spirited Zeus away to a cave on the island of Crete, substituting a stone wrapped in swaddling cloths for the infant. Rhea was later equated with the Anatolian mother goddess Kybele. RHIANNON ('Great, or Divine, Queen') - Welsh Fertility and Otherworld Goddess. Also, Goddess of Horses, Birds, and the Underworld. Great Mother Goddess. SABAZIOS (Sabazius, Sabos) - Greek A Phrygian or Thracian god identified with Dionysos. Perhaps only an epithet of Dionysos. His worship was associated with that of Kybele and Attis, and his cult entered Greece proper in the 5th century BC. SABA or SADB - Celtic Wife of Fionn MacCumhal who was lured away from her house by forrest faeries when she was pregnant. After she got lost in the wind, the faeries turned her into a deer. Seek her to aid in magic for animals, or to help you find a familiar. SATYRS - Greek Greek woodland gods or spirits. They had a human upper body and the lower body of a goat. They were generally depicted as having dishevelled hair with goat horns and ears, and with an erect penis (ithyphallic). In early Greek art they were portrayed as grotesque in appearance, but Praxiteles began a later tradition in which they were shown as being handsome. The Satyrs were closely associated with Dionysos, and were related to the Silenes. SCATHACH - Sgathach or Skadi. Irish/Scottish. "She Who Strikes Fear". The Irish/Scottish Goddess of martial arts. The Destroyer aspect of the Dark Goddess. A great sword warrior and instructor. Native to the Isle of Skye. Teacher of Cuchulain. Patroness of martial arts, prophecy, blacksmiths and magic. Direction: East. SCENA - Celtic Wife of Amergin who once had a shrine at the mouth of a River Kenmare. Experiment with her energies as a Goddess of mergers and subtle changes. SCOTA - Celtic A Mother Goddess. She died in the war of the Milesians and is said to be buried in a doleman in County Kerry. The Scottish people are said to be named after her. SEHKMET - Egyptian Lion Headed Goddess of War and Hunting Cats. SELENE - Greek Greek goddess of the moon. Daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Sister of Helios (sun) and Eos (dawn). Mother of Pandia by Zeus, and of fifty daughters by Endymion. She rode across the sky in a chariot drawn by two white horses. Also a tutelary deity of magicians. Selene was sometimes identified with Artemis as a moon goddess. She became syncretized with Hekate in later Greek mythology. The Romans equated her with Luna. Selene is a Moon Goddess, known for aid in Magick and Solutions. SEMELE - Greek Minor Greek goddess. She may have originated as a Phrygian or Thracian earth goddess. Daughter of Cadmus (Kadmos) and Harmonia. According to some traditions, she was the mother of Dionysos by Zeus. The story goes that the jealous Hera tricked her into asking Zeus to prove his divinity to her. When Zeus revealed himself to her in his divine form, Semele, then a mortal, was burned to death by the intensity of his appearance. Zeus later deified her and she took her place among the gods under the name of Thyone. SEMNAI THEAI - Greek Greek earth-goddesses. SEQUANA - Celtic River Goddess. SETH - (Also known as Set) Egyptian God of pestilence; Keeper of the pathways of the negative tree of life. SHIVA - Hindu Kali's Consort. God of Birth, Death and Re-birth. SILENI - Greek Greek woodland gods or spirits. Similar to the Satyrs (qv), except that they were sometimes said to be half horse, whereas the Satyrs were half goat. The Sileni tended to be depicted as lechers and drunkards, often bald-headed and pot-bellied. SILENOS (Silenus) - Greek Minor Greek woodland god. Son of Hermes and Gaia, or of Pan. King of Nysa, and the teacher of Dionysos. One of the Sileni, half-man and either half-horse or half-goat. He was a talented musician. SIRENS - Greek Hybrid creatures in Greek mythology who were half bird and half woman. In Homer, there were two Sirens on an island in the western Mediterranean. Their number later increased to three or more. The names most commonly given are Parthenope, Ligeia and Leucosia. They were said to be the daughters either of the sea god Phorkys or of the river god Acheloos. They were depicted in Greek art either as birds with the heads of women, or as winged women with bird legs. They were known for luring sailors to their island with their bewitching song, where their victims starved to death. Odysseus managed to escape them by having his men stop up their ears and tie him to the mast of his boat. When the Argonauts had to pass them, Orpheus sang a song that was even more enchanting than theirs, so that the sailors paid no attention to them. SOPHIA - ('Wisdom') Ancient Hebrew Wisdom personified as female; also characteristic of Hebrew and Greek-Hebrew ideology. STHENO - Greek One of the Greek Gorgons. Daughter of Phorkys and Ceto. Her sisters were the Graii and her fellow Gorgons, Medusa and Euryale. STYX - Greek "Hateful". Greek goddess of the underworld river of the same name. According to Hesiod, she is the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys. Mother of Nike, Bia, Kratos and Zelos by the Titan Hyperion. When the gods swore their most solemn oaths, they drank water drawn from the Styx. SYRINX - Greek An Arcadian nymph or Hamadryad who turned herself into a reed to escape the advances of Pan. TAILLTE (TAWL-tay) - Celtic A Goddess of Lughnasadh associated with the harvest of the first grains, a feminine fertility symbol. She was the daughter of thh Fir Bolg, Magh Mor and wife of Duach the Dark, one of the Tuatha De Danaan. TEISIPHONE (Tisiphone) - Greek One of the Erinyes, the Greek avenging goddesses. Daughter of Gaia, impregnated with the blood of the castrated Ouranos. Her sisters and fellow Erinyes were Megaira and Alekto. TERPSICHORE - Greek Greek Muse of dancing. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. She was depicted with a lyre. According to some traditions, she was also the mother of the Sirens by the river god Acheloos. TETHYS - Greek Greek demi-goddess of the sea. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of Okeanos. Mother of the Okeanides. THALIA (Thaleia) - Greek Greek Muse of comedy. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Hesiod also made her one of the three Charites (Graces), although this may have been a separate individual. As the Muse of comedy, her attributes were the comic mask and a shepherd's staff. THALLO - Greek One of the Athenian Horai (Seasons). Thallo was associated with the spring. Daughter of Zeus and Themis. Her sister was Karpo (autumn). THANATOS - Greek Greek god of death. More usually Thanatos was merely the abstract principle of death. According to Hesiod, he was the son of Nyx (night) and had no father. Twin brother of Hypnos (sleep). THEIA (Thea, Euryphaessa) - Greek Minor Greek goddess. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of her brother Hyperion. Mother of Helios (sun), Eos (dawn) and Selene (moon). THEMIS - Greek Greek goddess of justice and order. One of the Titans. Daughter of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). She was the second consort of Zeus, after Metis. Mother of the Horai (Seasons) and the Moirai (Fates). She had oracular powers, and was said to have started the oracle at Delphi, which she later gave to Apollo. Her cult was popular throughout Greece, and she shared a temple at Rhamnus in Attica with the goddess Nemesis. She was often represented holding a pair of scales. THETIS - Greek Minor Greek goddess or nymph. Daughter of the sea god Nereus. Wife of the mortal Peleus. Mother of Achilles. Thetis attempted to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the waters of the river Styx. It was at her wedding that the goddess Eris rolled the Golden Apple that began the dispute among the gods which eventually led to the Trojan War, in which Achilles died. She lived in the ocean depths attended by a retinue of Nereids. THOTH - Egyptian Moon God. God of Reincarnation. TISIPHONE - Greek See Teisiphone. TITANS - Greek Secondary race of Greek gods. The children of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). They formed six married pairs: Kronos and Rhea, Okeanos and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Coeus and Phoebe, Iapetos and Clymene, Crius and Eurybia. The Titans were also siblings of the Cyclops and Hekatoncheiroi. Led by Kronos, the Titans overthrew their father Ouranos. In turn, however, they were themselves were overthrown by Zeus and the Cyclops. Zeus then hurled them into the underworld, where he kept them imprisoned. TRITON - Greek Minor Greek sea god. He was depicted as a merman, with the upper body of a man and the tail of a dolphin or a fish. Son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. According to Hesiod, he lived with his parents in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. The Greeks often thought of there being many Tritons rather than just one. His attribute was the conch shell, which he blew as a horn. TYCHE - Greek Greek goddess of fate and fortune. According to Hesiod, she was the daughter of Okeanos and Tethys. In Pindar, Zeus is given as her father. She was often associated with Agathos Daimon, the "Good Spirit", and with Nemesis, the goddess of justice and vengeance. Tyche was depicted with a rudder or a cornucopia, and often with wheel as a symbol of the transitory nature of fortune and of the fickle character of the goddess herself. She had a temple at Argos, where the first set of dice were said to have been invented. Her temple at Antioch remained intact at least until the reign of the Roman Emperor Theodosius (AD 379-95). TYPHON (Typhaon, Typhoeus) - Greek "Whirlwind". A monster in Greek mythology. Son of Gaia (earth) and Tartaros (underworld). He had a hundred dragon-heads and either snake's feet or a body covered in snakes. His sister and wife was the monster Echidna, by whom he was the father of Cerberus, the Chimaera, the Lernean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, and the Sphinx. At one point, he attacked and imprisoned Zeus, who had to be rescued by Hermes and Pan. Zeus then imprisoned Typhon either in the underworld or under Mt. Aetna. He was believed to cause dangerous winds and earthquakes. Typhon later came to be identified with the Egyptian god Seth. www.tryskelion.com |
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