Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Deucalion

(Encyclopedia)Deucalion dyo͞okāˈlēən [key], in Greek mythology, son of Prometheus and father of Hellen. When Zeus, angered by humanity's irreverence, flooded the earth, Deucalion, warned by Prometheus, survive...

Merope

(Encyclopedia)Merope mĕrˈəpē [key], in Greek mythology. 1 One of the Pleiades. She was the wife of Sisyphus, king of Corinth, and the mother of Glaucus. According to one legend she became the lost Pleiad becaus...

Sisyphus

(Encyclopedia)Sisyphus sĭsˈĭfəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Aeolus and founder and king of Corinth. Renowned for his cunning, he was said to have outwitted even Death. For his disrespect to Zeus, he was c...

Psyche

(Encyclopedia)Psyche sīˈkē [key], in Greek mythology, personification of the human soul. She was so lovely that Eros (Cupid), the god of love, fell in love with her. He swept her off to a beautiful, isolated cas...

Amphitryon

(Encyclopedia)Amphitryon ămfĭˈtrēən, –ŏnˌ [key], in Greek mythology, son of Alcaeus. While betrothed to Alcmene, he accidentally killed her father, Electryon. Alcmene and Amphitryon fled to Thebes, but she...

Typhon

(Encyclopedia)Typhon tīfēˈəs [key], in Greek mythology, fierce and monstrous son of Gaea. He was the father of Echidna—a monster half woman and half dragon—and of Cerberus, Hydra, the Sphinx, and the Chimer...

Helenus

(Encyclopedia)Helenus hĕlˈənəs [key], in Greek mythology, Trojan who was gifted with prophetic powers; son of Priam and Hecuba. When Helen was given to Deiphobus after the death of Paris, Helenus in anger betra...

Aegisthus

(Encyclopedia)Aegisthus ējĭsˈthəs [key], in Greek mythology, according to most legends the incestuous offspring of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopia. At Thyestes' behest Aegisthus revenged the murder of his bro...

Polyphemus

(Encyclopedia)Polyphemus pŏlĭfēˈməs [key], in Greek mythology, a Cyclops. He was a shepherd and the son of Poseidon. In the Odyssey, Polyphemus imprisoned Odysseus and his men in his cave. They gave him wine a...

Euclid, Greek mathematician

(Encyclopedia)Euclid yo͞oˈklĭd [key], fl. 300 b.c., Greek mathematician. Little is known of his life other than the fact that he taught at Alexandria, being associated with the school that grew up there in the l...