Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

120 results found

Midas

(Encyclopedia)Midas mīˈdəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia. Because he befriended Silenus, the oldest of the satyrs, Dionysus granted him the power to turn everything into gold by touch. But when even...

Hyperboreans

(Encyclopedia)Hyperboreans hīˌpərbôrˈēənz, –bôrēˈənz [key], in Greek mythology, people dwelling in a state of perfect bliss in the Far North who were Apollo worshipers. ...

Asclepius

(Encyclopedia)Asclepius ĕsˌkəlāˈpēəs [key], legendary Greek physician; son of Apollo and Coronis. His first teacher was the wise centaur Chiron. When he became so skillful in healing that he could revive the...

Parnassós

(Encyclopedia)Parnassós pärnăˈsəs [key], mountain, c.8,060 ft (2,460 m) high, Phocis, central Greece. In ancient Greece it was sacred to Apollo, Dionysus, and the Muses. The fountain of Castalia was on its slo...

Carruthers, George Richard

(Encyclopedia) Carruthers, George Richard, 1939-2020, African-American astrophysicist, b. Cincinnati, OH, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (BS, 1961; MS, nuclear...

snake worship

(Encyclopedia)snake worship. The snake has been variously adored as a regenerative power, as a god of evil, as a god of good, as Christ (by the Gnostics), as a phallic deity, as a solar deity, and as a god of death...

Delium

(Encyclopedia)Delium dēˈlēəm [key], town of ancient Greece, a port in E Boeotia, named for its temple of Apollo similar to the one at Delos. In the Peloponnesian War the Athenians were defeated (424 b.c.) by th...

Soracte

(Encyclopedia)Soracte sōrăkˈtē [key], isolated mountain, 2,267 ft (691 m) high, in Latium, central Italy, N of Rome. It was celebrated in the poetry of Vergil and Horace. In ancient times it was crowned with a ...

Artemis

(Encyclopedia)Artemis ärˈtəmĭs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, Olympian goddess, daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo. Artemis' early worship, especially at Ephesus, identified her as an ...

Trophonius

(Encyclopedia)Trophonius trəfōˈnēəs [key], in Greek mythology, famous architect. He and his brother Agamedes built the temple of Apollo at Delphi and the treasury of King Hyrieus. According to one legend, Trop...