foremost warrior in Greek mythology; hero in the war between the Greeks
and the Trojans
Aeneas
Trojan hero who founded Rome; son of Aphrodite (Venus) and the Trojan
Anchises
Aeneid
epic by the Roman poet Virgil about the legendary hero Aeneas and the
founding of Rome Agamemnon Greek king and commander of Greek forces in
the Trojan War; later killed by his wife, Clytemnestra
Ajax
Greek hero of the Trojan War
Amazons
female warriors in Greek mythology
Aphrodite
Greek goddess of love and beauty (identified with the Roman goddess
Venus)
Apollo
Greek god of the sun, the arts, medicine, and herdsmen; son of Zeus and
Leto and twin brother of Artemis
Ares
Greek god of war; son of Zeus and Hera (identified with the Roman god
Mars)
Artemis
in Greek mythology, virgin goddess of the hunt; daughter of Zeus and
Leto and twin sister of Apollo (identified with the Roman goddess Diana)
Arthurian legends
stories about the life and court of King Arthur of Britain
Asia Minor
ancient term for modern-day Turkey, the part of Asia closest to Greece
Assyria
kingdom of the ancient Near East located between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
Athena
in Greek mythology, goddess of wisdom and war; the daughter of Zeus
(Roman goddess Minerva)
Atlas
Titan in Greek mythology who held the world on his shoulders
Baal
god of the ancient Near East associated with fertility and rain
Babylonia
ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia;
Babylon
city in Babylonia;
Babylonians
(noun) people of Babylonia;
Babylonian
(adj) referring to kingdom or people
Brahma
Hindu creator god
Canaan
name given to Palestine and Syria in ancient times;
Canaanites
people of Canaan
Celtic
referring to the
Celts,
early inhabitants of Britain whose culture survived in Ireland,
Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany
Ceres
Roman goddess of vegetation and fertility; mother of Proserpina (Greek
goddess Demeter)
Cronus
Greek deity, king of the Titans; son of Uranus and Gaia
Cyclopes
one-eyed giants in Greek mythology
Delphi
town on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in Greece that was the site of
Apollo's temple and the Delphic oracle
Demeter
Greek goddess of vegetation; sister of Zeus and mother of Persephone
(Roman goddess Ceres)
Devi
Hindu goddess; wife of the god Shiva
Diana
Roman goddess of hunting and childbirth (Greek goddess Artemis)
Dionysus
Greek god of wine and fertility; son of Zeus by Theban princess Semele
(Roman god Bacchus)
Druids
priests and political leaders of an ancient Celtic religious order
Euripides
(ca. 480-406 B.C.) Greek playwright who wrote many tragedies
Franks
early Germanic people who invaded and eventually ruled Gaul (present-day
France) between the
A.D.
200s and the mid-800s
Golden Fleece
hide of a magic ram that hung in a sacred grove guarded by a serpent
Hades
Greek god of the underworld; brother of Zeus and husband of Persephone
(Roman god Pluto)
Hector
in Greek mythology, a Trojan prince and hero in the Trojan War
Helen of Troy
in Greek mythology, a beautiful woman and the wife of the king of
Sparta; her kidnapping by a Trojan prince led to the Trojan War
Hephaestus
Greek god of fire and crafts; son of Zeus and Hera and husband of
Aphrodite (Roman god Vulcan)
Hera
Greek goddess, wife and sister of Zeus; queen of heaven (Roman goddess
Juno)
Hercules (Heracles)
Greek hero who had 12 labors to perform; Roman god of strength
Hermes
in Greek mythology, the messenger of the gods; escorted the dead to the
underworld (Roman god Mercury)
Hesiod
(ca. 700 B.C.) Greek poet who wrote the
Theogony
Homer (ca. 700s B.C.) Greek poet thought to be the author of the great
epics the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
Iliad
Greek epic poem about the Trojan War composed by Homer
Indo-Iranian
having to do with the peoples and cultures of northern India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, and Iran
Isis
Egyptian goddess of rebirth and resurrection; mother of Horus
Jason
Greek hero and leader of the Argonauts who went on a quest for the
Golden Fleece
Jupiter
Roman god of the sky and ruler of the other gods (Greek god Zeus)
Mars
Roman god of war (Greek god Ares)
Medusa
in Greek mythology, a monster whose hair was made of snakes and whose
face turned humans to stone
Mercury
Roman messenger god (Greek god Hermes)
Mesopotamia
area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, most of present-day Iraq
Metamorphoses
narrative poem by the Roman author Ovid
Mongol
referring to an empire in southeastern Asia that existed from about 1200
to the 1700s
Neptune
in Roman mythology, god of the sea (the Greeks called him Poseidon)
Norse
referring to the people and culture of Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, and Iceland
Odin
in Norse mythology, one-eyed deity and ruler of the gods
Odysseus
Greek hero who journeyed for ten years to return home after the Trojan
War
Odyssey
epic by the Greek poet Homer that tells the story of the journey of the
hero Odysseus
Oedipus
in Greek mythology, king of Thebes
Olympus
in Greek mythology, home of the gods
Orpheus
Greek hero known for his musical skills; son of Apollo and Calliope
Osiris
in Egyptian mythology, the chief god of death
Ovid
(ca. 43 B.C.-A.D. 17) Roman poet who wrote the
Metamorphoses
Palestine
ancient land located on the site of modern Israel and part of Jordan
Pegasus
in Greek mythology, a winged horse
Perseus
Greek hero, son of Danaë and Zeus, who cut off the head of Medusa
Persia
ancient land in southwestern Asia, including much of present-day Iran
and Afghanistan
Philistines
ancient people who lived along the coast of Canaan (present-day
Palestine and Syria)
Phoenicia
ancient maritime country located in an area that is now part of Lebanon
Phrygia
ancient country located in present-day Turkey
Pindar
(ca. 522-438 B.C.) Greek poet
Plutarch
(ca.
A.D.
46-120) Greek author who wrote biographies of important Greeks and
Romans
Poseidon
Greek god, ruler of the sea, and brother of Zeus (Roman god Neptune)
Prometheus
in Greek mythology, Titan said to have created the human race
Pueblos
Native American groups of the southwestern United States, including the
Hopi, Keresan, Tewa, Tiwa, and Zuni
Quetzalcoatl
Feathered Serpent god of Central America; Aztec god of learning and
creation
Ra (Re)
in Egyptian mythology, the sun god
Saturn
Roman god of the harvest
Semitic
relating to people of the ancient Near East, including Jews, Arabs,
Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians
Set
in Egyptian mythology, god of the sun and sky; brother of Osiris
Sophocles
(ca. 496-406 B.C.) Greek playwright who wrote many tragedies
Sparta
ancient Greek city-state
Sumer
part of ancient Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia;
Sumerians
people of Sumer
Thebes
ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River
Theogony
epic written by the Greek poet Hesiod explaining the creation of the
world and the birth of the gods
Theseus
Greek hero who killed the Minotaur of Crete with Ariadne, the daughter
of King Minos of Crete
Thor
in Norse mythology, the thunder god
Titan
one of a family of giants who ruled the earth until overthrown by the
Greek gods of Olympus
Trojan War
legendary war between the Greeks and the people of Troy that was set off
by the kidnapping of Helen, wife of the king of Sparta; inspiration for
Homer's epics the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
Troy
ancient city that was the site of the Trojan War; present-day Turkey
near the Dardanelles
Valhalla
in Norse mythology, the home of the dead heroes
Valkyrie
in Norse mythology, one of the handmaidens to the god Odin
Virgil
(ca. 70-19 B.C.) Roman poet who wrote the
Aeneid
explaining the founding of Rome
Vishnu
Hindu god, preserver and restorer
Vulcan
Roman god of fire (Greek god Hephaestus)
Zeus
in Greek mythology, king of the gods and husband of Hera (Roman god
Jupiter)
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