Carmentia
Said to have been the mother of Evander; a goddess of water, childbirth, and prophecy, she is sometimes credited with having taught the Romans how to write.
Carna
A goddess of physical fitness.
Carthage
Greco-Romano-Phoenician Ancient Phoenician port in northern Africa, 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of modern Tunis, Tunisia, lying on a peninsula in the Bay of Tunis. Said to have been founded in c. 814 B.C. by Phoenician emigrants under the leadership of the legendary Princess Dido. It developed extensive commercial interests throughout the Mediterranean, including trade with the Tin Islands, believed by some to be identifiable with Cornwall but more likely to have been southwest Spain.
After the capture of Tyre by the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C., Carthage became the natural leader of the Phoenician colonies in northern Africa and Spain. A prolonged struggle, mainly centered in Sicily, now ensued between Carthage and the Greeks, the former occupying most of the eastern side of the island, the latter the western. About 540 B.C. the Carthaginian forces defeated a Greek attempt to land in Corsice, whereas in 480 B.C. a Carthaginian attempt to conquer the whole of Sicily was put down by Greek forces at Himera. The city itself finally fell to the Romans in 146 B.C. at the end of the Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.).
Prior to its destruction, and subsequent recolonization by the Romans c. 45 B.C., the city had a population of approximately 700,000, governed by the constitution of an aristocratic republic having two chief magistrates who were elected annually and a senate of 300 life members. Its religion was typically Phoenician, including worship of the great sun god Baal-Hammon, the moon goddess Tanit, and the Tyrian Melkarth. Human sacrifices were not unknown.
Following recolonization of the city, it was rebuilt under the auspices of Augustus c. 29 B.C. and rose to be the wealthy and important capital of the African province. Captured by the Vandals in 439, it was reduced to little more than a pirate stronghold. From 533 it formed a part of the Byzantine Empire until it was finally destroyed by the Arabs in 698.
Cassandra
Daughter of Priam (king of Troy) and Hecuba. Having fallen in love with Cassandra, Apollo taught her the art of prophecy, but when she continued to refuse his advances he ordained that her prophecies, including the foretelling of the fall of Troy, should not be believed. However, it would appear as if this order from Apollo was not made until after some of her prophecies had been believed, and acted upon, for she foretold that Paris would one day bring about the fall of Troy, and for this reason he was exposed at birth.
During the Trojan War Cassandra made several important prophecies, but none were believed. When the Wooden Horse was found outside the walls of the city, Cassandra declared that it hid Greek warriors, a statement supported by Laocoon, but both were disbelieved, even though Laocoon flung a spear at the horse and caused a clatter of arms from within.
When Troy finally fell to the Greek hordes, Cassandra was raped by Ajax the Lesser at the altar in the temple to Athene, after which she was taken as part of Agamemnon’s booty. Upon their return to Mycenae, Cassandra refused to enter the city with her master because, in a visionary trance, she had been horrified to smell the ancient shedding of blood and the curse of Thyestes. Following the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and her weak-willed lover, Aegisthus, Cassandra suffered the same fate.
Cassiope(ia)
Wife of Cepheus (king of Aethiopia) and mother of the beautiful Andromeda. Rashly boasting that either she or her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereides, she incurred the displeasure of Poseidon, who demanded that Andromeda be chained to a sea cliff as a sacrifice to Cetus, a terrible sea monster. Some sources vary this by saying that Cetus was originally sent by Poseidon to ravage the countryside and that the Oracle of Ammon said that only the sacrifice of Andromeda could save the land.
While Andromeda was chained naked to the sea cliff, Perseus flew overhead on the winged-horse Pegasus, having successfully defeated and beheaded the Gorgon Medusa.
Learning of the reasons behind Andromeda’s plight, Perseus promptly offered to rescue the maiden on the proviso that she should become his wife. Her parents were only too happy to comply; flying over the monstrous Cetus, Perseus exposed the head of Medusa and turned the monster to stone. After their daughter was rescued, Cepheus and Cassiopeia now reneged on their agreement, for they said that Andromeda was already betrothed to another. Perseus, however, was not put off, and the wedding went ahead, only to be interrupted by Andromeda’s betrothed and his followers, who attempted to carry off the bride. Perseus once again exposed the head of Medusa, and the interlopers were all turned to stone.
Following her death Cassiopeia was placed in the heavens by Poseidon, hanging upside down in a chair for half the time as final and eternal punishment for her boasting.
Astronomical: An easily recognized constellation within the northern celestial hemisphere, shaped like an "M" or "W" depending on one’s viewing aspect, it lies between approximate right ascensions 22h55m and 3h10m, declination from +46° to +77°. The constellation remains circumpolar as far south as latitude 50°N.
Castalia
The spring on Mount Parnassus, near Delphi, that is sacred to Apollo and the Muses.
Castalides
Name applied to the Muses through their association with Castalia, the sacred spring on Mount Parnassus.
Castor Greco-Roman One of the Dioscuri, a heroic son of Zeus with his twin, Polydeuces (Pollux to the Romans), yet not in reality the son of Zeus. He was the offspring of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, by his daughter, Leda, who was almost simultaneously impregnated by Zeus and accordingly bore the mortal Castor at the same time as the immortal Polydeuces. It would appear as if this elaborate myth was an attempt to rationalize the primitive institution of a sacred king reigning as a lay king. He and his brother were either full or half-brothers to Helen and Clytemnestra.
Demigods who were particularly beneficent to sailors who invoked them to gain favorable winds, the pair was inseparable. A renowned fighter, Castor taught the young Heracles how to fight. When their sister, Helen, was abducted by Theseus they raided Attica and, discovering the whereabouts of Helen from Academus, they rescued her, taking Aethra, Theseus’s mother, with them to act as Helen’s slave. Later they joined Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece.
It was on this epic voyage that Polydeuces outboxed and killed Amycus, but then the twins went up against Idas and Lynceus, a fight that cost the mortal Castor his life. Heartbroken, Polydeuces prayed that, even though immortal, he should not be allowed to live one day longer than his brother. Zeus, in mercy, at first let them live on alternate days until he later placed them in the heavens as the constellation Gemini, the Heavenly Twins.
The Dioscuri were particularly worshipped in Sparta and later among the Romans, having a temple dedicated to them in Rome. Castor is one of the few Greek gods or heroes whose name was retained after Greek religion was absorbed into the Roman culture.
Astronomical: The third sign of the Zodiac (May 22-June 21), the constellation Gemini lies in the northern celestial hemisphere between approximate right ascensions 6h00m and 8h00m, declination from +10° to +35°. The primary or alpha star (a Gem) is designated Castor. A close double (separation 2") of magnitudes 1.97 and 2.95, the stars have spectral types A1V and A5 respectively. Each is a spectroscopic binary. A third binary, 9th magnitude, 73" away completes a system of six stars at a distance of 46 light-years. This system may be found at approximate celestial coordinates right ascension 7h40m, declination +32°.
Catulus, Q. Lutatius
A historical person, consul in 102 B.C., who in his Origin of the Roman Nation recorded a much earlier tradition that said that Aeneas had betrayed Troy to the Greeks out of hatred for Paris and was, as a result of his help, later given safe conduct away from the fallen city.
Cecrops
The chthonic, mythical first king of Attica, the gift of Athene, and founder of Athens who, being earth-born, had the hindquarters of a snake. He had three daughters, Aglauros (sparkling water), Herse (dew) and Pandrosos (all-dewy) who acted as the nurses of Cecrops’s successor, Erichthonius, who was also chthonic.
During his reign a spring and an olive tree suddenly appeared on the Acropolis and, upon consulting the Delphic Oracle, Cecrops was told that Athens must choose as patron one of the deities whose respective symbols these were (Athene and Poseidon). Cecrops acted as the arbiter in the ensuing contest between the gods for the patronage of Athens, the role in which he and Pandrosos are portrayed on the west pediment of the Parthenon.
A simple election was held, the women voting for Athene and the men for Poseidon. As the women far outnumbered the men, Athene easily won the contest, but the women were punished for their choice by being deprived of the right to vote in Athens thereafter.
Cecrops also acknowledged Zeus as the supreme god and successfully brought 12 other Greek cities under the control of Athens. He was also said to have introduced the institution of monogamous marriage to the city, a fact that strengthens the political position of Athenian women as shown in the story of the choosing of Athene as the patron deity. He also instituted religious worship without blood sacrifice.
Cela(e)no
One of the three Harpies or Harpyiae.
Celeus
King of Eleusis who received the goddess Demeter hospitably during her grief-stricken wanderings on earth in search of her daughter, Persephone. In return Demeter taught Celeus and his son, Triptolemus, the art of agriculture, but his other son, Abas, she turned into a lizard for ridiculing her. The goddess further attempted to make Celeus’s other son, Demophoon, immortal, but she fumbled the operation and he died. In return for her kindness, Celeus became the first priest of Demeter at Eleusis and was said by some to have instigated the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Centaur
Mythical creature that is half-man, half-horse. Said to live on Mount Pelion in Thessaly, a region famous for hunting the bull on horseback, and other mountainous regions, centaurs were, in the main, wild and lawless. One notable exception to this general rule was Cheiron, the mentor of Heracles.
Due to their sensual nature they were sometimes associated with both Dionysos and Eros, the former making a gift of a potent wine to the centaur Pholus. Early art portrayed centaurs as having the head, arms, torso, and forelegs of a man and the hindquarters of a horse, but later the forelegs also became those of a horse. Homer referred to them as Pheres— "beasts." The word centaur is, in fact, a general designation for many sorts of composite creatures, the horse-men normally referred to as centaurs strictly being Hippocentaurs.
One explanation of their origin has offered that they were the result of a misunderstanding by the Greeks of their first encounter with mounted warriors from the east. However, this seems highly unlikely, as horses and horsemanship were well known among the ancient Greeks; therefore the image of the centaur must surely derive from the repertoire of Near Eastern man-beast combinations that are common figures on sixth century B.C. pottery. The centaurs or wild man-beasts of legend were then given the iconography of these creatures.
Mythology places the origin of the centaurs with Ixion’s attempted rape of Hera. She substituted a cloud in her form, which later gave birth to Kentauros, which can be etymologized as "prick-air." This character, sometimes called Centauros, then mated with the mares of Magnesium on the slopes of Mount Pelion to produce the horse-centaurs known throughout Greek myth. Arming themselves with clubs or branches torn from trees, centaurs were brutal and wild. An interesting opposition to this general concept of the centaurs is brought about through Cheiron, a teacher of medicine, mentor of Heracles, Achilles, and Jason, and immortal.
Centaurs had an altar, known as Ara, at which Zeus burned incense to celebrate his victory over the Titans. Featuring in many fights against Greek heroes, notably Heracles, their most famous battle was against the Lapithae, another Thessalanian race. The centaurs had been invited to the wedding feast of Peirithous, king of the Lapithae, and Hippodameia. There a drunken centaur tried to carry off the bride, and a ferocious battle ensued in which Theseus, a guest at the wedding, took part.
The centaur Nessus once tried to carry off Deianeira, the wife of Heracles. Heracles shot him; dying, the centaur gave Deianeira his blood-stained tunic as a charm that would reclaim an unfaithful husband. This tunic would become the eventual cause of Heracles’ death.
Astronomical: There are two constellations that are said to have been centaurs. One is aptly named Centaurus, lying in the southern celestial hemisphere between approximate right ascensions 11h00m and 15h00m, declination from -30° to -63°. The other is Sagittarius, also in the southern celestial hemisphere between approximate right ascensions 17h30m and 20h30m, declination from -10° to -50°. Both are said to represent Cheiron.
Centaur~os, ~us
Alternative spelling of Kentauros, the result of the union between Ixion and the cloud in the form of Hera, whom he thought he was raping. This hero, said by some to have a serpent’s hindquarters, then mated with the mares of Magnesium on the slopes of Mount Pelion, the result being the centaurs. This spelling of his name has been applied to one of the two centaur constellations in the night sky.
Centimani
Alternative collective name for the 100-handed, 50-headed sons of Ge and Uranos who are more commonly referred to as the He-catoncheires. They were Cottus, Briareus (also called Aegaeon), and Gyas (or Gyges).
Cephalonia
Greek Kefallima, an island off the west coast of Greece in the Ionian Sea; said to have been named after Cephalos.
Cephal~os, ~us
A son of Herse, the daughter of Cecrops, by Hermes. Married to Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus, he was beloved by Eos, goddess of the dawn, who took him to her home in the east. Procris became jealous of her husband’s infidelity and hid in the bushes to spy on him while he was out hunting. There she heard him call out the name of Aura and became very agitated, not realizing that Aura was the name of the breeze he called upon to cool his limbs. Her angry movements within the bushes caused Cephalos to think that a wild beast was readying to spring upon him and, throwing his spear into the bushes, he killed his jealous wife.
An alternative version of these events is told. Eos, having fallen in love with Cephalos and having her advances refused, revealed to him that Procris was easily seduced by gold. To prove this point Eos changed Cephalos’s appearance and gave him a gold crown to offer to Procris provided she would sleep with the offerer. Procris readily complied. Afterwards she fled in shame to Crete, where she was seduced by Minos. Later she returned to Athens in the guise of a youth with hound, named Laelaps, and spear, gifts from Artemis that never missed their mark. Cephalos so coveted these that husband and wife were reconciled. However, Procris still suspected Cephalos of loving Eos and so spied upon him while he was hunting; during one such occasion Cephalos accidentally killed his wife with the spear of Artemis.
For the involuntary murder of his wife Cephalos was banished. Traveling to the kingdom of Amphitryon, he was asked to rid the country of an uncatchable vixen by using Laelaps, his inescapable hound. As the vixen could not be caught and Laelaps would never have given up the chase, Zeus solved the impasse by turning both animals to stone. Cephalos then joined Amphitryon’s expedition against the Taphians, finally settling in their country, where he gave his name to the island of Cephalonia.
Cepheus
1. Son of Aleus the king of Tegea in Arcadia. He accompanied Jason as one of the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece and had 20 sons. All but three of these were killed, along with Cepheus himself, when they helped Heracles in his fight against Hippocoon. His sister, Auge, became the mother of Telephus by Heracles.
2. King of Aethiopia, husband of Cassiopeia, and father of Andromeda. Following his wife’s impudent boast to the Nereides, he jointly promised the hand of his daughter to Perseus should he rescue her from Cetus, then attempted to back out of the deal. Following his death he was placed in the heavens as the constellation that bears his name, along with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law.
Astronomical: A constellation of the northern celestial hemisphere between approximate right ascensions 8h05m and 20h00m, declination from +52° to +90°. Like the constellation Draco it covers almost 180° and wraps itself around the northern celestial pole.
Cerberus
The three-headed dog, said by some to be another of the monstrous offspring of Echidne and Typhon, brother of the Chi-maera, the Hydra, and the Sphinx, that guarded the entrance to the Underworld, the realm of Hades, though Hesiod maintained that Cerberus had 50 heads. His three heads were said to represent the past, the present, and the future. He was also said by some to have had a serpent for a tail. As it was his job to actively discourage those who tried to leave the Underworld—by tearing them to pieces—he sat forever facing inwards or downwards, his serpent’s tail welcoming newcomers.
To complete his eleventh labor, Heracles entered the Underworld through a cave at Taenarum in Laconia to bring back Cerberus. Guided by Athene and Hermes, Heracles crossed the River Styx and freed his friends Theseus and Ascalaphus before obtaining Hades’ permission to carry away Cerberus, provided he could do so without use of any weapon. Heracles seized Cerberus by the throat and dragged the monstrous animal back to Eurystheus, who was so afraid at the sight of it that he made Heracles return it to Tartarus immediately.
Visitors to Hades were supposed to take honey cakes (possibly baklava) to placate the dog as they entered, for he had a spiteful tendency to bite newcomers. Where his saliva fell the aconite, later to become sacred to the Roman god Saturn, was said to have grown.
Cercopes Greco-Roman The two dwarfish ruffians (some say more) who lived in Lydia and robbed and killed passers-by. They were finally defeated by Heracles while he was a slave of Queen Omphale. Tying their feet to a pole, Heracles carried them off slung over his shoulders. From their position the Cercopes were given a good view of the hero’s hairy bottom, and they made such ludicrous jokes about it that Heracles in his amusement relented and set them free. They were finally turned into either stone or monkeys by Zeus.
The Romans embellished this story by saying that the Pithecussae, the Monkey Islands off Naples, were named after them, seeming to suggest that their transformation into monkeys was the more popular fate to have befallen them.
Cercyon
A son of either Poseidon or Hephaistos. Living near Eleusis, he challenged all travelers to a wrestling match and then killed them. He was finally overcome and killed by Theseus.
Ceres
The patron goddess of Sicily, goddess of growing vegetation and agriculture whom the Romans later came to identify with Demeter, giving her many of the same attributes. In this later cult she was worshipped as the goddess of earth and corn.
Astronomical: Name applied to a large asteroid, approximately 1,000 kilometers in diameter, discovered in 1800 by Guiseppe Piazzi and catalogued as 1Ceres.
Ceryneian Hind
A fabulous creature having brazen hooves and golden antlers, the latter often causing it to be mistakenly called a stag. Heracles was set the task of capturing it as the third of his Great Labors, a task he accomplished after tirelessly pursuing it for a year. He shot it with an arrow that pinned its forelegs together without loss of blood, then carried it back to Eurystheus over his shoulders.
Ceto
A sea goddess, wife of the sea god Phorcys and mother by him of Stheno and Euryale, the immortal Gorgons, and their sister, Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, once beautiful but turned into a hideous monster by Athene for having laid with Poseidon in one of the temples sacred to the goddess.
Cetus
The sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Aethiopia after Cassiopeia had boasted that either she or her daughter, Andromeda, was more beautiful than the Nereides. The oracle of Ammon said that only the sacrifice of Andromeda to Cetus could save the land, and so the hapless princess was chained naked to a sea cliff. There Perseus spotted her; having struck a deal with Andromeda’s parents for her hand if he saved her, he flew over Cetus riding on the winged horse Pegasus. Using the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa he turned Cetus to stone.
Cetus is identified with Tiamat, the serpent of ancient Assyrian and Babylonian mythology.
Astronomical: An extremely large constellation lying across the celestial equator between approximate right ascensions 23h50m and 3h20m, declination from -25° to +10°. It is sometimes confused with the constellation Hydra due to the connection made between Cetus and the serpent Tiamat.
Ceuta
Greco-Roman The African of the Pillars of Heracles (Hercules), ancient name Abyla, situated at the very northern tip of Morocco and sometimes identified with Mount Acho. The European of the Pillars of Heracles was Calpe, and beyond these—the markers of the western boundary of the known world—was supposed to lie the fabled lost city of Atlantis.
Ceyx
Husband of Alcyone. Perishing in a shipwreck, his wife threw herself into the sea upon finding his body. In pity for the unfortunate couple the gods turned them into a pair of birds, usually identified as kingfishers, said to breed during the "halcyon days" of the winter solstice when Aeolus forbids the winds to blow.
