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Tantalus

(Encyclopedia)Tantalus tănˈtələs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Sipylos, son of Zeus and father of Pelops and Niobe. He was admitted to the society of the gods, but his abominable behavior aroused their ang...

Meleager

(Encyclopedia)Meleager mĕlēāˈjər [key], hero in Greek mythology. He was the son of Oeneus, king of Calydon, and Althaea. When Meleager was born, a prophecy said that he would die when a certain log in the fire...

sparrow

(Encyclopedia)sparrow, common name of various small brown-and-gray perching birds. New World birds called sparrows are members of the finch family. They were named for their resemblance to the English sparrow and t...

Persephone

(Encyclopedia)Persephone prōsûrˈpənē [key], in Greek and Roman religion and mythology, goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. When she was still a beautiful...

Electra

(Encyclopedia)Electra ĭlĕkˈtrə [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After her mother and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon, Electra, eager for revenge, longed only for the return of h...

Penelope

(Encyclopedia)Penelope pənĕlˈəpē [key], in Greek mythology, wife of Odysseus and the mother of Telemachus. In Homer's Odyssey she is pictured as a chaste and faithful wife. When Odysseus was away, she was surr...

Lucian

(Encyclopedia)Lucian lo͞oˈshən [key], b. c.120, d. after 180, Greek writer, also called Lucianus, b. Samosata, Syria. In late life he held a government position in Egypt. Lucian wrote an easy, masterly Attic pro...

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...

Sarpedon

(Encyclopedia)Sarpedon särpēˈdən [key], in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Laodamia, who was the daughter of Bellerophon. In the Iliad, as an ally of the Trojans, Sarpedon courageously led the Lycians against ...

Acastus

(Encyclopedia)Acastus əkăsˈtəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Pelias, cousin of Jason. He accompanied Jason on the Argonaut expedition, but when Jason and Medea murdered Pelias and usurped the throne of Iolc...