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Marsyas

(Encyclopedia)Marsyas märˈsēəs [key], in Greek mythology, Phrygian satyr. He found the flute that Athena had invented but had thrown away. He became so skillful with the instrument that he challenged the lyre-p...

centaur

(Encyclopedia)centaur sĕnˈtôr [key], in Greek mythology, creature, half man and half horse. The centaurs were fathered by Ixion or by Centaurus, who was Ixion's son. Followers of Dionysus, they were uncouth and ...

satyr

(Encyclopedia)satyr sāˈtər, sătˈər [key], in Greek mythology, part bestial, part human creature of the forests and mountains. Satyrs were usually represented as being very hairy and having the tails and ears ...

Pygmalion

(Encyclopedia)Pygmalion pĭgmālˈyən [key]. 1 In Greek mythology, king of Cyprus. He fell in love with a beautiful statue of a woman. When he prayed to Aphrodite for a wife like it, the goddess brought the statue...

Glaucus

(Encyclopedia)Glaucus glôˈkəs [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Sea god who loved Scylla. 2 Trojan hero who, according to Homer, exchanged his golden armor for the bronze armor of Diomedes. 3 Son of Sisyphus and fath...

Ixion

(Encyclopedia)Ixion ĭkˈsēən [key], in Greek mythology, king of the Lapithes. Ixion murdered his father-in-law to avoid paying a price for his bride. When no one on earth would purify him, Zeus took Ixion to Oly...

Leto

(Encyclopedia)Leto lēˈtō [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe and mother of Artemis and Apollo. When she conceived twins by Zeus, Hera sent the serpent Python after her and forbade ...

Hermione

(Encyclopedia)Hermione hərmīˈənē [key], in Greek mythology, the only daughter of Helen and Menelaus. When Helen eloped with Paris, Hermione was abandoned to the care of Clytemnestra. She later married Neoptole...

Aeacus

(Encyclopedia)Aeacus ēˈəkəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina. He was the father of Peleus and Telamon. After a plague had nearly wiped out the inhabitants of his land, Zeus rewarded t...

Cyclops

(Encyclopedia)Cyclops sīklōˈpēz [key], in Greek mythology, immense one-eyed beings. They appear in at least two distinct traditions. According to Hesiod the Cyclopes were smiths, the sons of Uranus and Gaea. Th...