ARGOS SAGA

Agamemnon
Mycenaean king who, jointly with his brother Menelaus, lead the Greek army against Troy. Having sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis, he had fueled the hatred of his wife Clytemestra, who later killed him on his return from Troy.

Clytemestra
Daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, the queen of Mycenae killed her husband Agamemnon on his triumphant return from the Trojan War. She was later killed by their son Orestes.

Orestes
The son of Agamemnon and Clytemestra avenged the death of his father by murdering his mother. He was pursued by the maternal Furies and acquitted by the court Areopagus in Athens.

Electra
Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemestra helped Orestes to avenge their father by the act of matricide.

Iphigenia
Daughter of Agamemnon, sacrificed at the altar of Artemis as the overture to the Trojan War. 

Aegisthus
Surviving son of Thyestes became the lover of Clytemestra. They murdered Agamemnon and took over the Mycenaean throne. Years later they died together by the hand of Orestes.

Thyestes
Son of Pelops, brother of Atreus and his rival for the wife's affections and for the throne of Mycenae. Atreus slaughtered his brother's small children and fed him with their flesh, thus enacting the curse of the family of Tantalus.

Atreus
Son of Pelops, brother of Thyestes and his rival for the wife's affections and for the throne of Mycenae. He killed his brother's little sons and fed him with their flesh, thus enacting the curse of the family of Tantalus.

Pelops
Son of Tantalus, cooked by the father and offered to the Olympian gods for dinner. Revived by gods, he later won his bride Hippodamea by a nasty trick in the chariot race, ruled over Peloponnesus and sired Atreus and Thyestes.

Hippodamea
Wife of Pelops, won by treachery in the chariot race.

Oenomaus
Son of Ares, father of Hippodamea, whose suitors he challenged for an unfair chariot race. Pelops beat him by treachery and thus won the bride. (The event gave rise to the Olympic Games.)

Tantalus
Admitted to the divine assemblies, he tried the gods by offering them his son Pelops for dinner and was punished in Hades by eternal thirst and hunger in view of splendid food and drinks.

Niobe
Daughter of Tantalus, the grieving mother of the seven sons and seven daughters, all killed by Apollo and Artemis. She was turned into a crying stone.

Menelaus
Son of Atreus, king of Sparta through the hand of his wife Helen, whom he had lost to the Trojan Paris and pursued with the military expedition, which resulted in the ten years of the Trojan War; the sack of Troy and his reunion with Helen.

Helen
Daughter of Leda by Zeus-swan, most beautiful woman ever, left her husband and the baby-daughter and fled with Paris to Troy.

Leda
Queen of Sparta, the wife of Tyndareus, loved by Zeus-swan; the mother of the Dioscuri, Helen and Clytemestra.

Tyndareus
King  of Sparta, the husband of Leda, the earthly father of the twin Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux); Clytemestra and Helen.

Pollux (Polydeuces)
One of the Dioscuri, son of Leda from Zeus the swan and the twin brother of Castor, with whom he shared his immortality: both transformed into the constellation of Gemini.

Castor
One of the Dioscuri, son of Leda and Tyndareus and the twin brother of Pollux (Polydeuces). The twin riders of white horses were transformed into the constellation of Gemini.

Hermione
Daughter of Helen and Menelaus, betrothed to Orestes and married to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus). Soon left a widow, she married Orestes.



TROJAN WAR

Thetis
Sea goddess, whose son was destined to be greater than his father. Zeus was dissuaded by Prometheus from chasing her at the risk of begetting his own doom, and gave her in wedlock to the mortal Peleus, from whom she bore Achilles. She had tried and failed to make the baby immortal.

Peleus
Mortal hero honored with the marriage to the sea goddess Thetis, who bore his son Achilles.

Achilles
Son of Peleus and the goddess Thetis. His mother dipped him in the river Styx in order to render him immortal, holding the baby by the heel, which thus remained his only vulnerable spot. He chose to live a short, but glorious life and was killed in the Trojan War.

Patroclus
Best friend of Achilles who took his place in battle as the latter had withdrawn from fighting because of the conflict with Agamemnon. His death caused Achilles' remorse and passion for revenge.

Deidamia
Mother of Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus) by Achilles, who was hiding in girl's clothes among her sisters on the island Skyros, as a part of the plot by his divine mother to save him from his doom in the Trojan War.

Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus)
The son of Achilles from his adolescent adventure joined the Greek army at Troy after his father's death, proving himself a ruthless and formidable warrior. Having aroused the animosity of Apollo, he was killed and buried at Delphi.

Priam
The king of Troy, husband of Hecuba and the father of twenty children, nearly all of whom died in the Trojan War. The night of the fall of Troy, the old king was slain at the altar amidst the fire.

Hecuba
Trojan queen survived her husband Priam, her children and her city, but not for long.

Paris (Alexander)
Trojan prince, the judge of the divine beauty contest between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite for the golden apple. Rewarded by Aphrodite with the love of Helen, he brought her from Sparta, thus causing the Trojan War.

Hector
Son of Priam and Hecuba, the best defender of Troy, slain by Achilles. His baby Astyanax was hurled from the city wall by the Greeks; his wife Andromache taken to slavery.

Andromache
The wife of Hector survived her husband's death, the ruin of Troy and the murder of her baby son.

Astyanax
Little son of Hector and Andromache was hurled from the city wall by the Greeks, who were afraid to let Hector's progeny stay alive.

Cassandra (Alexandra)
Trojan princess chosen by Apollo, who bestowed upon her the gift of prophecy, but caused no one ever to believe her warnings.

Polyxena
Trojan princess, sacrificed on the grave of Achilles.

Briseis
A prize of war, slave girl who won Achilles' affection. Agamemnon took her away, thus causing the wrath of Achilles and the subsequent events of the Iliad.

Nestor
Oldest warrior among the Greeks at Troy lost his both sons, but returned home after ten years of war.  

Penthesilea
Amazon queen, slain by Achilles at Troy, who fell in love with her a moment too late.

Memnon
Young son of Eos, the mighty king of Ethiopians came to aid the Trojans and was slain by Achilles. The grief of Eos over her son's death caused the bloody dew over Earth.



ODYSSEY

Odysseus (Ulixes)
The smartest of all Greeks, son of Laertes and Anticlea, spent twenty years in war and sea wanderings, longing for home and his good wife Penelope.

Anticlea
Mother of Odysseus pined away with grief for her missing son, who then met her in his travel to Hades.

Laertes
Father of Odysseus from Anticlea lived to a ripe age, tending to his garden and waiting for his funeral shroud, wrought by Penelope, till he saw his son's return home after twenty years of wanderings.

Penelope
Faithful wife of Odysseus procrastinated remarrying by endless weaving and undoing the shroud for her father-in-law.

Telemachus
Son of Odysseus and Penelope helped his long missing father to take a revenge on the mother's suitors.

Circe
Daughter of the Sun, a powerful sorceress, the Lady of the Beasts holds Odysseus in the bonds of her love on her far-away island.

Calypso
Goddess in love with Odysseus was detaining him in her cave for seven years and offering him immortality, yet he chose his mortal wife and home.

Sirens
Women-headed birds with luring voices no man can resist. Odysseus plugged the ears of his crew and tied himself to the mast just to hear them singing.

Polyphemus
The Cyclops, son of Poseidon, trapped Odysseus and his men in the cave and kept devouring them one by one, till he was tricked and blinded by Odysseus.

Nausicaa
Young Phaeacian princess, fascinated with Odysseus, helps him return home.



HERACLES

Heracles
Son of Zeus and Alcmene; the strongest of men; brave, loyal and long-suffering hero famous for his Twelve Labors. After death he joined the Olympians.

Amphitryon
Husband of Alcmene, father of Iphicles and the earthly father of Heracles, whom Alcmene conceived from Zeus under her husband's guise.

Alcmene
Mother of Heracles by Zeus, who visited her assuming the shape of her husband Amphitryon.

Iphicles
Son of Amphitryon and Alcmene, twin half-brother of Heracles.

Iolaus
Nephew and companion of Heracles.

Hylas
Heracles left the expedition of the Argonauts and went to search for this young friend, abducted by the Naiads.

Hillas
Son of Heracles and Deianeira, ancestor of the Heraclids.

Megara
First wife of Heracles. In a fit of frenzy he killed their children, and had to atone for the crime with the Twelve Labors.

Deianeira
Second wife of Heracles involuntarily caused his death by trying to secure his love with a poisonous garment.

Nessus
Centaur who had attempted to abduct Deianeira and was shot by Heracles. Before dying, he told Deianeira that his blood would secure her husband's love. (The blood proved poisonous.)

Omphale
Queen of Lydia, who at one time had  Heracles as a slave. She dressed him in feminine clothes and made him do women's work.

Eurystheus
Heracles was a slave to this inefficient king of Mycenae.

Admetus
Rich and hospitable king of Thessaly was allowed to find a substitute to die instead of him. His wife Alcestis chose to die in her husband's stead, yet their guest Heracles won her back from Death.

Alcestis
Wife of Admetus chose to die instead of him; his visiting friend Heracles won her back from Death.



PERSEUS

Perseus
Son of Danae and Zeus the golden shower became a great hero who flew through the air, slew Medusa, killed the sea monster and saved the maiden Andromeda.

Danae
Mother of Perseus from Zeus the golden shower was locked in a chest with her baby and thrown into the sea by her father Acrisius, who had feared a prophecy - all in vain.

Acrisius
Fearing the prophecy of death by the hand of his grandson, he locked is daughter Danae in a cell, where Zeus penetrated as golden shower. Even throwing the daughter and her baby into the sea could not have averted the prophecy.

Andromeda
Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopea, she was offered as a sacrifice to the sea monster, when Perseus saved and married her.

Cassiopea
Mother of Andromeda was too proud of her own beauty. As a punishment, gods demanded to sacrifice her daughter to a sea monster. She was later made a constellation.

Cepheus
king of Ethiopia, father of Andromeda, whom he would have sacrificed to the monster, had Perseus not come to her rescue. Later made into a constellation.



DANAIDS

Danaus
King of Libya, fleeing with his fifty daughters from their suitors and finally forced to surrender them for marriage, ordered the girls to kill the husbands on the first night. Only one of the girls disobeyed.

Danaids
Fifty maiden, forced into wedlock with their cousins, killed the husbands on the first night. Only one of the girls, Hypermestra, spared the life of her new husband Lynceus.

Aegyptus
Twin brother of Danaus, ruler of Egypt, father of fifty sons who pursued the daughters of Danaus for wedlock.

Pelasgus
Ancestor of Pelasgians, king of Argos, gave refuge to the Danaids and tried to protect them from the pursuit by the sons of Aegyptus in an unequal battle: "Better be called unfortunate than ignoble.'



ARGONAUTS

Phryxus and Hella
Children of the cloud-goddess Nephele fled from the stepmother on the back of the flying ram with golden fleece, sent by their mother. The girl fell in the sea (named Hellespont), but the boy arrived safely to Colchis (Caucasus).
 
Jason
The leader of the Argonauts retrieved the golden fleece from Colchis with the help of the local princess Medea, whom he had married and later abandoned, thus sealing his own doom.

Medea
Barbaric sorceress helped the Argonauts to seize the Golden Fleece. When her husband Jason left her, she killed their children.

Aeetes
The king of Colchis, father of Medea, lost his daughter and the Golden Fleece to Jason and the Argonauts.

Apsyrtus
Little son of Aeetes, taken hostage, dismembered and thrown into  the sea by his sister Medea in order to delay the father's pursuit of Argo.



CRETE

Europa
Phoenician princess abducted by Zeus the bull, who brought her to the island Crete, where she gave birth to king Minos and Radamanthus.

Minos
Son of Europa from Zeus the bull, the king and eponym of the first European civilization.

Pasiphae
Daughter of the Sun (Helius), the queen of Crete married to Minos was consumed by passion for a bull and gave birth to Minotaur.

Minotaur
Half man, half bull, son of the Cretan queen Pasiphae, killing his victims in the Labyrinth, was slain by Theseus.

Daedalus
Athenian craftsman, builder of the Labyrinth, escaped from Crete on artificial wings, yet his little son Icarus, flying too close to the Sun, damaged the wings and fell in the sea.

Icarus
Little son of Daedalus rose too close to the Sun on the wings crafted by his father. The wings were burned; the boy fell in the sea, which is called by his name.

Aegeus
King of Athens, father of Theseus was waiting by the shore for the white sail of his son's safe return. Seeing the black sail, he jumped in the sea, which is called by his name. 

Theseus
Son of Aegeus (or Poseidon), heroic king of Athens. He chose to enter the Cretan Labyrinth and slew Minotaur.

Ariadne
Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, helped Theseus with her thread to find the way through the Labyrinth, fled with him, but was abandoned on a solitary island, where Dionysus appeared to claim her as his wife.

Phaedra
Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, sister of Minotaur and Ariadne, the second wife of Theseus fell in love with her stepson Hippolytus. Rejected, she ruined him and took her own life.

Hippolytus
The chaste hunter, companion of Artemis, son of Theseus from the Amazon queen Hippolyta, fell victim to the fatal passion of his stepmother Phaedra.

Hippolyta
Amazon queen, first wife of Theseus, mother of Hippolytus.



THEBAN SAGA

Cadmus
Brother of Europa came to Greece in search for his abducted sister; slew a dragon, founded the city of Thebes and married Harmonia. In death they were turned into serpents.

Harmonia
Daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, wife of Cadmus. Her famous necklace was a treasure fateful to his future owners.

Semele
Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, mother of Dionysus by Zeus. She wished to see her lover in full splendor of his divinity and thus was incinerated with thunderbolts. Zeus saved their baby Dionysus, who later raised his mother from her grave and took her to Olympus.

Pentheus
Grandson of Cadmus, young Theban king, resisting the ecstatic cult of Dionysus, was torn into pieces by the crowd of Bacchant women, lead by his own mother Agave.

Agave
Leader of the crowd of Bacchant women, she dismembered her own son Pentheus in a fit of Dionysiac frenzy.

Actaeon
Huntsman, grandson of Cadmus, caught a sight of Artemis bathing with her nymphs. The angry goddess turned him into a stag, and he was torn into pieces by his own dogs. 

Laius
King of Thebes, warned by the oracle of the death by the hand of his son, got rid of the baby Oedipus, yet the oracle came true.

Iocasta
Theban queen, wife of Laius, fearing prophecies, had her baby son left in the wilderness. He later unknowingly killed his father and married the mother.

Oedipus
Son of Laius and Iocasta of Thebes solved the riddle of Sphinx. Searching for truth and trying to avert the dark prophecies, he found himself guilty of killing his father and marrying his mother.

Eteocles and Polynices
Sons of Oedipus from the unholy marriage to Iocasta quarreled over the throne and killed each other in the war of the Seven against Thebes.

Antigone
Devout daughter of Oedipus followed him in exile; later, in spite of the new king's injunction, she performed the funeral rites over her rebel brother Polynices and was buried alive.

Haemon
Son of the new Theban king Creon committed suicide before his father's eyes after Antigone, locked in the cave by Creon's order, was found dead.

Creon
Brother of Iocasta succeeded to the throne of Thebes after the death of Oedipus' sons. When Antigone spurned his orders and performed funeral rites to her rebel brother, the new king had her buried alive in a cave, yet paid too dear price of his hybris.



AENEID & ROME

Aeneas
Son of Venus and Anchises, father of Ascanius (Iulus) lead the Trojan refugees from the fires of Troy through many adventures to establish a colony in the promised land of Italy.

Anchises
Father of Aeneas from Aphrodite was carried on his son's back from the ruins of Troy to seek the new land for his offsprings to settle in.

Ascanius (Iulus)
Son of Aeneas and Creusa escaped with his father from the fires of Troy and became the ancestor of the Roman family of Iulii, whose scions were Caesar and Augustus.

Creusa
Daughter of Priam, the first wife of Aeneas and the mother of Ascanius (Iulus), perished in fire on the last night of Troy.

Dido (Elissa)
The founder and queen of Carthage, Phoenician colony in North Africa, gave refuge to Aeneas and the Trojan refugees. Her love for Aeneas prompted her suicide when he had left for Italy.

Anna 
Sister of Dido later found refuge with Aeneas in Italy, yet fearing Lavinia's jealousy she threw herself in river and, under the surname Perenna, became a figure of the folk farce of the Roman New Year festival.

Lavinia
Daughter of king Latinus, the Italic wife of Aeneas, who had to fight for her with Turnus.

Latinus
Old Italic king, ancestor of the Latins, received the Trojan exiles and gave to Aeneas his daughter Lavinia in marriage.

Amata
Wife of king Latinus, mother of Lavinia, vehemently opposed her daughter's marriage with Aeneas and preferred the local suitor Turnus, whose death prompted her suicide.

Daunus
Old Italic king, father of Turnus and the nymph Juturna, was worshipped by the Romans as an ancestral deity.

Turnus
Son of Daunus, king of Rutulians was slain by Aeneas in a combat for Lavinia and the land of Latium.

Juturna
Sister of Turnus, Italic nymph, beloved of Jupiter. She supported her brother in his war with Aeneas.

Camilla
Italic Amazon, an ally of Turnus in the war against Aeneas. 

Rhea Silvia (Ilia)
Princess of Alba Longa, a Vestal Virgin, mother of the twins Romulus and Remus by Mars. Her twin babies were thrown in Tiber and nurtured by a wolf.

Romulus
One of the twin sons of Mars from a Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia. The babies had been thrown in the river Tiber and nurtured by the wolf. He founded the city of Rome, but killed his brother in a quarrel.

Remus
One of the twin founders of Rome, nurtured by the wolf. He was killed by his brother.

Sabinae
Abducted wives of the first Romans, the matriarchs of the Roman people.

Tarpeia
Treacherous maiden of early Roman legends, buried by the enemy's shields or thrown from the rock to which she gave her name.



DIVINE AFFAIRS

Uranus
Primeval Sky, husband of Gaea, father of Cronus and the Titans.

Gaea (Themis)
Goddess of Earth and law, wife of Uranus, mother of Titans.

Cronus (Saturn)
The king of Titans of the Golden Age, husband of Rhea kept swallowing his children till Rhea had fed him with a swaddled stone instead of her new baby Zeus, who in time deposed his father and established the Olympian rule.

Rhea (Cybele)
Wife of Cronus, the Great Mother of the Olympians.

Zeus (Jupiter)
The king of the Olympians, son of Cronus and Rhea, the lord of thunderstorm dethroned the father and made him regurgitate all the children he had swallowed.

Hera (Juno)
Sister-wife of Zeus, the goddess of honors and marriage.

Poseidon (Neptune)
Brother of Zeus, the lord of earthquake and sea.

Hades (Pluto)
Brother of Zeus, the Underworld lord of unlimited hospitality and wealth, husband of Persephone.

Charon
The ferryman of death.

Helius (Sol)
The all-seeing Titan daily rounds the world in his chariot driven by the fiery horses of Sun.

Eos (Aurora)
The goddess of dawn, sister of Helius, taking care of his horses. The dew is said to come from her tears over her son Memnon, killed at Troy.

Leto (Latona)
A Titaness beloved by Zeus had to flee from the jealousy of Hera before giving birth to the twins Apollo and Artemis.

Hestia (Vesta)
Sister of Zeus, the virgin goddess of the domestic hearth.

Demeter (Ceres)
Sister of Zeus, the goddess of grain fields, searching for her abducted daughter Persephone, introduced the mysteries of agriculture.

Hecate (Trivia)
Dreadful three-headed goddess of sorcery, moon, tombs, ghosts and crossroads, sister of Circe and Pasiphae, aunt and patroness of Medea, whom she lends her flying chariot of dragons.

Aphrodite (Venus)
Goddess of love and beauty, unfaithful wife of Hephaestus, lover of Ares, Adonis, etc.; mother of Aeneas from Anchises.

Maia
Solitary nymph beloved by Zeus gave birth to Hermes in her cave.

Hermes (Mercury)
Son of Zeus and Maia, messenger of gods, traveler between worlds, guide of souls, inventor of lyre, patron of trade and communications.

Pallas-Athena (Minerva)
Virgin goddess of crafts, wisdom and war, born in full armor from the head of Zeus after he had swallowed her pregnant mother Metis.

Moirae (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos)
The goddesses of fate whom even gods obey.

Muses
Nine goddesses of arts and sciences, attendants of Apollo

Apollo
Son of Zeus and Leto, the prophet, poet, musician, physician and archer; the god of individual perfection, attended by the nine Muses.

Artemis (Diana)
Virgin huntress, daughter of Zeus and Leto, sister of Apollo, goddess of wilderness, animal kingdom, moon and childbirth.

Ares (Mars)
Son of Zeus and Hera, war lord, lover of Aphrodite.

Hephaestus (Vulcan)
Son of Hera, lame god of fire, divine craftsman, married to Aphrodite.

Pan (Faunus)
Goat-footed god of nature.

Iambe
Daughter of Pan and Echo succeeded to make the mournful Demeter laugh at her jokes at jests. She became the first priestess of Demeter in Eleusinian Mysteries.

Asclepius
God of medicine, son of Apollo found the secret of reviving the dead, which angered Zeus, who struck him down with a thunderbolt.

Prometheus
Wise Titan, supporter of mankind, stole the fire from the Olympians and gave it to humans. As a punishment, he had been chained to the highest rock in Caucasus, where an eagle was daily pecking on his liver, till Heracles shot the bird and set the Titan free.

Epimetheus
Titan, the husband of Pandora and brother of Prometheus, less foresighted than the latter.

Pandora
The first woman to open the box of evils.

Deucalion and Pyrrha
The son of Prometheus and his wife, the only survivors of the flood, had landed on the mount Parnassus and were told by the oracle to "throw the bones of the mother.' They threw stones - the bones of the mother Earth, which turned into people, repopulating the Earth.

Daphne
Pursued by Apollo, the nymph turned into a laurel tree, thence sacred to the Delphic god.

Coronis
Mother of Asclepius by Apollo, who turned her into a raven in a fit of jealousy. Then he made raven his sacred bird.

Phaeton
Son of Helius drove his father's chariot and, unable to control the fiery horses of the Titan, nearly burned the Earth and died in conflagration.

Tithonus
Mortal husband of Eos, who had secured his immortality, but forgot to add the eternal youth. Aging with no time limit, he shrank into a grasshopper.

Endymion
Beloved of Artemis, for whom she had obtained the gift of eternal youth; yet he was put into an everlasting sleep on the top of the mount, where the goddess visits  him to give a good night kiss.

Adonis
Beloved youth of Aphrodite was killed by the wild boar while hunting, but returns to life every spring. His death and resurrection was celebrated in ritual laments followed by joy.
 
Attis
Beloved youth of Rhea-Cybele emasculated himself in a fit of ecstatic frenzy, to achieve the total communion with his goddess, typical of orgiastic religion of the Great Mother of Asia Minor.

Osiris
Egyptian god of the grain, death and rebirth; husband and brother of Isis.

Isis
Egyptian goddess of wisdom and motherhood, sister-wife of Osiris. She gathers the pieces of his dismembered body, laments and buries him, and mystically conceives their son Horus.

Io
Maiden beloved by Zeus had been transformed into a cow and had to flee through many lands from a gadfly, sent by the jealous Hera, till she reached Egypt and gave birth to Zeus' son.

Orpheus
The great musician, able to tame wild beasts and move stones with his song, had almost succeeded to return his dead wife from the Underworld, yet he looked back and lost her forever.

Eurydice
Orpheus' wife whom he failed to return from the dead.

Atalanta
Swift-footed huntress challenged her suitors to a foot race and lost to Hippomenes, who threw the golden apples under her feet, causing her delay, and thus won her in marriage.

Narcissus
Self-admirer changed into a flower.

Silenus
Ever-drunken teacher and companion of Dionysus.

Midas
Phrygian king had entertained the drunk Silenus and was granted a wish that everything he touched turned into gold. Needless to say, it was not easy to get rid of this divine favor.