Automedon
A charioteer and comrade of Achilles. Eventually his name, like that of Jehu, referred to any charioteer.
Autonoe
The daughter of Cadmos and Harmonia and sister to Ino, Semele, Agave, Polydorus, and Illyrius. A bacchant, Autonoe, along with sisters Ino and Agave, was involved in the killing of Pentheus, Agave’s son, who resisted the worship of Dionysos, as depicted in Bacchae by Euripides.
Aventine Hill
Roman
The southernmost of the hills on which Rome is built. When the city was first founded a legend says that Romulus and Remus could not agree which of them should give his name to the new city, so they consulted the auguries. Romulus stood on the Palatine Hill while Remus stood on the Aventine. Soon Remus saw six vultures, but no sooner had this been reported than Romulus saw 12. Each was acclaimed king by the augur, but a fight ensued and Remus was killed. The Aventine Hill is close to the River Tiber, outside the pomerium, and was associated with the plebians.
Avernus, Lake
Roman
The lake in Campania, Italy (modern Lago di Averno, near Naples), nearby where Aeneas was told to arm himself with the Golden Bough by the Sibyl of Cumae before she led him to the Underworld to consult his dead father, Anchises. The ancients regarded it as the entrance to the infernal regions on account of the noxious fumes it once exhaled.
Bacch~ae, ~antes
Greco-Roman Also: Maenads, Thyiads
Name used to refer to the female votaries of the god of wine, Dionysos, that is taken from his alternative name, Bacchus, the name by which the god was later absorbed into the Roman pantheon. The male followers of the god were known as Bacchoi.
Bacchae
Greek
Play by Euripides depicting how Pentheus, king of Thebes, resisted the cult of Dionysos and as a result was torn to pieces by the Bacchae, who spotted him spying on their celebrations. Among those that killed the hapless king were his own mother, Agave, and her two sisters, who believed him to be a wild beast come to kill them.
Bacchanal Greco-Roman Technically bacchanal is used to refer to topics relating to or about Bacchus. However, as a noun, the word can also be applied to the worshippers of Bacchus irrespective of gender, or to the priest who would conduct the frenzied worship.
Bacchanalia Greco-Roman The orgiastic rites of the god of wine, Dionysos or Bacchus. During these rites his followers would whip themselves into an intoxicated frenzy when they believed themselves to be at one with the god. The cult was particularly popular with women and was indicative that among the recently civilized Greeks there was a longing for a far more instinctive and impulsive life.
In his play Bacchae, Euripides relates the legend of Pentheus, the king of Thebes who in resisting the spread of the Dionysos cult spied on the Bacchae. However, he was spotted, and the Bacchae—in their drunken frenzy mistaking him for a wild beast come to kill them— tore him to pieces. Among the Bacchae were Agave, the hapless king’s mother, and her two sisters.
Bacchoi
Greco-Roman The name given to male worshippers of the god of wine, Dionysos, later known as Bacchus. His female followers were known as Bacchae, Bacchantes, Maenads, or Thyiads.
Bacchus
Greco-Roman
Also: Liber(a)
A name for the god of wine, Dionysos. While the name Bacchus is usually considered Roman in origin, it was used first by the ancient Greeks and later absorbed into the Roman pantheon. His male votaries were known as Bacchoi; female worshippers were variously known as Bacchae, Bacchantes, Maenads, or Thyiads.
Bassareus
An epithet of Dionysos used almost exclusively in Thrace. It derives from the Bassaris, a fox skin worn by the god and his worshippers.
Bassarid
Female votary of Dionysos, the male variant being Bassaroi. The term was almost exclusively used in the region of Mount Pangaeum in Thrace; elsewhere the worshippers of Dionysos/Bacchus were known as Bacchae, Bacchantes, Maenads, Thyiads, and Bacchoi.
Both male and female votaries in this region of Thrace reveled in human sacrifice and, in a delirium of drunken cannibalism, devoured each other. In one famous incident, Orpheus scorned them for their worship of Dionysos, preferring to give his praise to Apollo. In a fit of pique Dionysos drove his votaries into a wild frenzy and made them tear Orpheus to pieces. Whether or not they consumed the carcass is not clear, but by displaying dual characteristics of human sacrifice followed by cannibalism the two groups instantiate the tension of favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward human sacrifice.
Bassaris
A fox skin said to have been worn by the god Dionysos. This attribute of the god is to be found only in Thrace, where the fox skin was also said to have been worn by the Bacchae or Maenads, the god’s worshippers.
Bathos
Reputed sight of one of the battles between the Olympian deities and the 24 giants with serpents’ tails, the sons of Ge, intent on taking their revenge for the imprisonment of their brothers, the Titans. The stories surrounding this epic struggle have been used to explain the volcanic fires at both Bathos and Cumae, the huge bones found at Trapezus, and the volcanic nature of Etna, supposed burial place of Enceladus, and Nisyrus, the final resting place for Polybutes.
Battus
The nickname given to Aristoteles due to his stammer. A descendant of Euphemus, one of the Argonauts, he created Thera with a clod of Libyan soil given to him by Triton. Wanting to rid himself of his terrible stammer, Aristoteles visited the Delphic Oracle and was told that a cure could be had if he were to found a colony in Libya. For seven years he ignored what seemed an impossible condition, but during that time Thera suffered a terrible drought. Finally, mindful of the oracle, he set off on his mission, first founding a colony on the island of Platea. However, the drought on Thera persisted, so he and his colonists moved to the Libyan mainland, first settling near Aziris but finally deciding on Cyrene. Still afflicted by his stammer, Battus was cured when he met a lion in the Libyan desert and screamed in terror.
Battus’s descendants, as kings of Cyrene, were alternatively called Arcesilaus and Battus, all of who have some historicity attached to them. Arcesilaus IV was honored in two odes by Pindar.
Baubo
The wife of Dysaules of Eleusis and mother of Iacchus, an honorific title afforded the god Dionysos. Baubo is perhaps most famous for an incident at Eleusis when the grief-stricken Demeter visited while searching for her daughter, Persephone. Realizing that the goddess needed nourishment, Baubo offered her some soup. Too grief-stricken to even contemplate the food, Demeter politely refused. However, Baubo then lifted her skirts and displayed her pudenda in an attempt to cheer up the grieving goddess and make her laugh.
The trick worked, and Demeter drank the soup offered to her. The story of Baubo is almost identical to that told of Iambe. Baubo’s crude trick has a historical analogue in the vulgar abuse that was traditionally hurled at the participants in the procession along the Sacred Way to Eleusis, from Athens.
Baucis
Greek
The aged wife of Philemon. The couple was uniquely hospitable to Zeus and Hermes when they visited their region of Phrygia. In return the gods saved them from a river inundation, gave them a shrine in which to serve, and, upon their deaths, turned them both into trees.
Bebrycos
The island realm of Amycus, son of Poseidon. A renowned boxer, he had the habit of challenging all strangers to a boxing contest and, having never been beaten, killed many who strayed onto his island. His bullying reign came to an end when the Argonauts landed on the island and put forward Polydeuces as their champion; he killed the bully.
Begoe Romano-Etruscan
Also: Vegoia
Thought by some to be the derivative of Egeria, this nymph was said to have advised the king of Clusium, Arruns Veltumnus.
Bellatrix
The name of an Amazon warrior.
Astronomical: The gamma star of the constellation Orion (6 Ori) is named after this warrior-maiden. Of magnitude 1.63, spectral type B2III, it is 303 light-years away. It may be located at approximate celestial coordinates right ascension 5h20m, declination +8°.
Bellerophon(tes)
Greek
Son of King Glaucus of Ephyra (Corinth) and grandson of Sisyphus; some sources name him as a son of Poseidon. It would appear as if Bellerophon was not his original name but rather a nickname earned after he had accidentally killed Bellerus, an act for which he fled to Proetus, king of Tiryns, to seek purification. However, Anteia (also called Stheneboea), the wife of Proetus, fell in love with the young man, and when he repulsed her advances she treacherously accused him of trying to seduce her.
Reluctant to kill a guest, Proetus sent Bellerophon to Iobates, his father-in-law and the king of Lycia, carrying with him a letter requesting that the bearer be put to death. The letter said to have been carried by Bellerophon is the earliest reference in Greek literature to writing. Iobates likewise shrank from killing a guest and decided that he would let fate take a hand by sending Bellerophon to kill the Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head, goat’s body, and serpent’s tail, said to be the offspring of Echidne and Typhon; at that time, the Chimaera was ravaging the countryside of Lycia.
Seeking advice from the gods, Bellerophon succeeded in trapping the winged horse Pegasus beside the fountain of Pirene on the Acropolis at Athens. Harnessing the wondrous steed with a golden bridle given to him by the goddess Athene, Bellerophon flew above the Chimaera and shot it in the mouth with an arrow tipped with lead. This leaden point melted in the beast’s mouth and burned out its insides.
Next Iobates sent Bellerophon to fight the Solymi, which he did with equal success, and then against the Amazons. Again Bellerophon succeeded. Iobates then set up an ambush for Bellerophon by his own soldiers, but when they too were soundly defeated Iobates finally realized that he was not up against only Bellerophon but the gods as well. Producing the letter sent to him by Proetus, Iobates finally learned the truth and gave Bellerophon half his kingdom and the hand of his daughter, Philonoe.
The fate of Anteia, the cause of Bellero-phon’s troubles, is somewhat confused. Some accounts say that she took her own life, whereas others, including Euripides, say that she was taken for a ride on Pegasus and that Bellerophon pushed her off from a great height.
Later tradition records that Bellerophon, greatly bolstered by his resounding successes and realizing that he had been aided by the gods, presumptuously tried to ride up to Heaven upon Pegasus, thinking he must himself have a godly status. Zeus sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, who reared and threw his rider to earth. Mortally wounded—some accounts say lame, others blind—Bellerophon drifted sadly across the Plains of Wandering until he died. Pegasus continued his upward flight and safely reached the godly confines of Olympus.
Bellerus
The character, about whom nothing else is known, that the son of Glaucus, king of Corinth, accidentally killed, thus earning the nickname Bellerophon.
Bellona
Roman
The goddess of war. Possibly the sister, wife, or daughter of Mars, she may have been, in origin, an Asian goddess of war who was worshipped in Cappadocia and Phrygia, her adoption into the Roman pantheon being made under the patronage of the dictator Sulla.
Belus
One of the countless sons of Poseidon and father of Aegyptus, Danaus, and Cepheus. Through confusion with the Phoenician god Baal, Belus was reputed by some to have been the founder of Babylon.
Bendis
Greek
Goddess of Thracian origin associated with the moon and with hunting.
Bias
The brother of Melampus.
Biton
Brother of Cleobis; both were sons of a priestess of the goddess Hera at Argos. Once, in an act of filial devotion, they dragged their mother’s chariot to the temple. In return she prayed that Hera should grant them the best boon possible for mortals; both died while they slept within the confines of the temple.
Boeotia
An ancient country of central Greece, formed in the seventh century B.C.; its inhabitants were renowned for their slow-wittedness. Now a department in central Greece, on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth, its capital is Levadhia. The Boeotian League of ancient Greek cities was dominated by the Boetian city of Thebes, founded in legend by Cadmos, until the league was disbanded sometime after 479 B.C. In more recent times, during the nineteenth century, the site of Thebes was excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, who uncovered the Treasure of the Minyas.
The region has many legends attached to it. Thebes, the most powerful city within the country, was said to have been founded by Cadmos, whereas the country itself was said to have been the home and hunting ground of the giant Orion.
On its coast lies the port of Aulis, where the Greek fleet was becalmed en route for the Trojan War and where Iphigeneia was offered in sacrifice to the goddess Artemis by her father, Agamemnon, the Greek commander. Within its boundaries lies Mount Helicon, sacred to the Muses, upon which rose the fountains of Aganippe and Hippocrene.
Bona Dea
An oracular goddess who would reveal her oracles only to women.
Bootes
The son of Zeus and Callisto and the reputed inventor of the plough; translated, his name means "ox driver" or "herdsman." The ancient Greeks sometimes identified the constellation of Bootes with Callisto’s son, Arcas, or Arctophylax. Confusion exists over the actual identity of the person said to be represented by the constellation, as some also sought to connect it with a wolf named Lycaon, an association many think answers the question whether Zeus killed Lycaon or turned him into a wolf.
Astronomical: A large constellation of the northern celestial hemisphere that contains the star Arcturus, the fourth brightest in the night sky. It is located within the night sky at approximate celestial coordinates right ascension 13h00m to 16h00m, declination +10° to +55°.
Boreas
The north wind; son of the Titan Astraeus by Eos, goddess of dawn, and brother to the other kindly winds—Notus (south), Eurus (east), and Zephyrus (west), as well as the evening star, Hesperus. Boreas was kept, along with his three brother-winds, in a cave on the floating island of Aeolia. They were released by the god of the winds, Aeolus, either when he felt like it or when the gods so requested. He was considered to be more beneficent than his brother Zephyrus, though on an equal footing with both Eurus and Notus.
He carried off the nymph Oreithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, while she played on the banks of the Ilissus in Athens. They had four children: two daughters, Chione and Cleopatra (the wife of Phineus); and two sons, Zetes and Calais, who took part in the expedition of the Argonauts and distinguished themselves as the heroes who chased away the ravenous Harpies from the dinner table of the blind Phineus, their brother-in-law.
Although not a popular deity, Boreas was particularly worshipped in Athens and was always well disposed toward the city and its inhabitants. During the fifth century B.C. the Athenians attributed the destruction of the fleet of the Persian Xerxes to Boreas.
Bosp(h)orus
The strait of water joining the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. It was so named, literally translated as "Ox-Ford," because it was said that Io had crossed it while still in the form of a heifer.
This particular stretch of water, which cuts off the Thracian Peninsula of Turkey, including Istanbul, from the remainder of the country, also features in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. At the entrance to the waterway were said to be the perilous Symplegades, rocks that clashed together to crush any vessel that tried to slip between them. Upon the advice of Phineus, Jason released a dove between the so-called Clashing Rocks, which came together, clipping the fleeing bird’s tail feathers. As the rocks recoiled Jason urged his oarsmen on and, with a helping push from Athene, the Argo Navis passed safely through. From that time forward the rocks remained fixed. Some sources move the location of these events away from the Bosphorus to the opposite end of the Sea of Marmara, saying that the Symplegades were located at the entrance to the Hellespont instead.
Branchidae
The site of an oracle of Apollo to the south of Miletus that contains important relics of Ionian sculpture. Today the site is on the western seaboard of Asiatic Turkey.
Brauron
A major shrine in Attica to the goddess Artemis, Brauron was particularly frequented by pregnant women. The worship of Artemis at Brauron was said to have been initiated by Iphigeneia and her brother, Orestes. Iphi-geneia, the daughter of Agamemnon, had once been a priestess to Artemis at Tauris until rescued by Orestes. When they left Tauris they took with them the image of Artemis, which they brought to Brauron, hence the goddess becoming known as Brauronia. This Brau-ronian Artemis was not worshipped solely at Brauron but in Athens as well and especially in Sparta, where youths were scourged at her altar until they sprinkled it with their blood.
One particular feature of the sanctuary at Brauron was the presence of girls aged between five and ten known as arktoi—"bear virgins" or "bears for Artemis." Each would spend a period in the service of the goddess before taking part in a procession at Athens to mark their arrival at maturity.
Extensive remains still exist at Brauron, dating back to the Mycenaean period, and include the tomb of Iphigeneia. The most impressive remains today are those of a Doric temple complex dating from c. 420 B.C., complete with the quarters that would have been occupied by the arktoi.
Brennus
A Gaul who was said to have been besieging Rome at the time when Camillus, returned from exile, attacked the Gauls from the rear, decimated their forces, and thus saved Rome from almost certain destruction.
Briareus
Also: Aegaeon
One of the Hecatoncheires or Centimani, the 100-handed, 50-headed giant sons of Ge and Uranos, the other two being Cottus and Gyas or Gyges. They were in turn the brothers of the one-eyed Cyclopes and the 12 Titans. When Hera, in cahoots with Poseidon and Apollo, succeeded in leading a conspiracy against Zeus and put him in chains, Briareus and Thetis freed the great god.
His variant name of Aegaeon suggests that he was a god of the Aegean Sea, a supposition supported by the fact that he is sometimes regarded as the son or son-in-law of Poseidon. This watery association is further supported by the fact that he was said to have awarded the Isthmus to Poseidon during his dispute with Helios, giving the latter the Acrocorinthos.
Having once appeared to help Zeus, he later appears to have taken part in a rebellion against all of Olympus. Foretold by an oracle that the roasted viscera of a monstrous bull that lived in the River Styx would enable whoever ate them to overthrow Zeus and rule in his stead, Briareus caught the beast and was about to roast the viscera as he had been instructed when a kite flew down, snatched the entrails, and took them to Zeus.
With the giant’s revolt finally put down, Zeus punished those who had plotted against him, Briareus being confined beneath Mount Etna in Sicily along with some of the other giants. He is considered to be venting his anger at his continued imprisonment, along with the other confined giants, each time Etna erupts.
Briseis
The daughter of Brises, a priest from Lyrnessus. She was carried off by Achilles during the Trojan War to be his concubine and later was the object of a notorious quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. Iliad in fact opens with this quarrel. Agamemnon had been assigned Chryseis, the daughter of the Trojan priest Chryses, as his concubine. However, when Chryses came to ransom her he was roughly repulsed. In revenge, Apollo sent a plague to afflict the Greek hordes until finally, on Calchas’s advice, Agamemnon returned Chryseis to her father.
To recompense himself for his loss, Agamemnon took Briseis, an act that led Achilles to sulk in his tent and resolutely refuse any further part in the Trojan War. Some sources, however, attribute this behavior to the simple fact that Achilles had fallen in love with Polyxena, the daughter of Priam, king of Troy, and was, by refusing to participate further in the war, simply trying to curry favor with Polyxena’s father.
With Achilles no longer fighting with the Greeks, the Trojans soon began to get the upper hand. Alarmed, Agamemnon offered to return Briseis, an offer that Achilles politely but firmly refused. Instead, Patroclus, Achilles’ inseparable companion, donned the great warrior’s armor and attempted to turn the tide back in favor of the Greeks. He failed, being killed by Hector. It was this that led Achilles to rejoin the battle, and Agamemnon finally to return Briseis.
Brises
A priest from Lyrnessus whose daughter, Briseis, was taken captive by Achilles, who made her his favorite concubine while the Greek forces were laying siege to Troy.
Britomartis
Also: Dictynna
A goddess of Cretan origin identified with Aphaia, whose temple is on Aegina. She was relentlessly pursued by Minos for nine months before leaping into the sea, there to be rescued by the goddess Artemis, who deified her and gave her the epithet Dictynna, which she herself shares. The epithet Dictynna, which is sometimes used as a variant name, is certainly Cretan in origin, possibly being connected with Mount Dicte on Crete, though it is also said that she derived the name from having fallen into a fisherman’s net (diktys) after falling off a cliff in her flight from Minos, or because she was once caught in a hunting net, or that she actually invented these nets. See also: Dictynna
Brom~ios, ~ius
An alternative name for the god of fertility and wine, Dionysos or Bacchus, used by his votaries, who referred to him as Bromios "the Boisterous."
Brontes
One of the one-eyed Cyclopes, sons of Ge and Uranos. His brothers were Steropes and Arges, along with the three Hecatoncheires, or Centimani, named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon), and Gyas (or Gyges), and the 12 Titans.
Broteas
One of the children of Agamemnon, along with Pelops and Niobe. Broteas could trace his line of descent back to Zeus and the nymph Pluto, as legend said that Agamemnon was the son of Tantalus and thus the grandson of Zeus and Pluto.
Brutus
Greco-Romano-British The legendary founder of the British people and the great-grandson of the Trojan Aeneas. Exiled from Italy for accidentally killing his father, Silvius, he traveled to Greece, where he found a group of Trojan exiles who had been enslaved by the Greek King Pandrasus. Brutus challenged the king and defeated him. Claiming the hand of the king’s reluctant daughter, Ignoge, he compelled Pandrasus not only to release his Trojan slaves but also to supply them with ships, provisions, and bullion to leave the country.
Traveling west he landed on an island beyond the Pillars of Heracles (Hercules) where he found another group of Trojan exiles led by Corineus. They joined forces and finally landed in Britain at Totnes, in Devon. There they were attacked by and defeated a group of giants. Brutus established his capital, Troia Nova or Troynovant, on the banks of the River Thames, and it was there that Brutus was subsequently buried. His capital has now become known as London.
Brutus, Lucius Junius
Roman
In the company of the sons of Tarquinius Superbus, Lucius Junius Brutus traveled to the Delphic Oracle, where the sons of Tarquinius Superbus asked which one of them would succeed their father. The oracle replied that it would be the first of them that kissed their mother; pretending to stumble, Brutus fell and kissed the earth, thus immediately alienating himself from the Tarquins. Returning to Rome he witnessed the suicide of Lucretia, who had been raped by Sextus, the son of Tarquinius Superbus, who had told her story to her father, Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus, and husband, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, before stabbing herself to death in front of their eyes and those of Brutus and Publius Valerius Poplicola.
Brutus then led the people of Collatia, the city from which Lucretia’s husband originated, against Rome, roused the city, and persuaded its people to shut the gates against
Tarquinius Superbus, who was absent besieging Ardea. Realizing that their reign was at an end, Tarquinius Superbus and his sons fled into exile.
Having freed itself of the monarchy, Rome became in 500 B.C. a republic governed by consuls, Brutus being the most renowned during this early period. Three abortive attempts were made to restore the hated monarchy. In the first of these, Brutus’s own sons were implicated, so he had them executed. Finally Brutus was killed in single combat with Arruns Tarquinius.
