Mythology & Beliefs

Phaethon in Wikipedia

In Greek mythology, Phaetōn or Phaethōn (pronounced / ˈfeɪ.ətən/ or /ˈfeɪ.əθən/; Greek: Φαέθων "shining") was the son of Helios (Phoebus). Perhaps the most famous version of the myth is given us through Ovid in his Metamorphoses (Book II). Phaeton seeks assurance that his mother, Clymenē, is telling the truth that his father is the sun god Heli...

Read More

Palinurus in Wikipedia

Palinurus, in Roman mythology, is the helmsman of a ship of the Trojan hero Aeneas, whose descendants would one day found the city of Rome. As the price for the safe passage of Aeneas and his people from Sicily to Italy, Palinurus loses his life, one on behalf of many ('unum pro multis dabitur caput' according to Vergil's "Neptune" (Aeneid 5.8...

Read More

Paris in Wikipedia

Paris (Greek: Πάρις; also known as Alexander or Alexandros, c.f. Alaksandu of Wilusa), the son of Priam, king of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War. Later in the war, he fatally wounds Achilles in the heel wi...

Read More

Pelops in Wikipedia

In Greek mythology, Pelops (Greek Πέλοψ, from pelios: dark; and ops: face, eye), was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. He was the founder of the House of Atreus through his son of that name. He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for th...

Read More

Periphetes in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

(Περιφήτης). 1. A son of Hephaestus and Anticleia, was surnamed Corynetes, that is, Club-bearer, and was a robber at Epidaurus, who slew the travellers he met with an iron club. Theseus at last slew him and took his club for his own use. (Apollod. 3.16.1; Plut. Thes 38; Paus 2.1.4; Ov. Met. 7.437.) 2. A son of Copreus of Mycenae, was slain at ...

Read More

Paris in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

(*Pa/ris), also called Alexander , was the second son of Priam and Hecabe. Previous to his birth Hecabe dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand, the flames of which spread over the whole city. This dream was interpreted to her by Aesacus, or according to others by Cassandra (Eur. Andr. 298), by Apollo (Cic. De Divin. 1.21), or by a Sib...

Read More

Pelops in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

(Πέλοψ.) 1. A grandson of Zeus and son of Tantalus and Dione, the daughter of Atlas. (Hyg. Fab. 83; Eurip. Orest. init.) As he was thus a great-grandson of Crones, he is called by Pindar Κρόνιος (Ol. 3.41), though it may also contain an allusion to Pluto, the mother of Tantalus, who was a daughter of Cronos. [PLUTO.] Some writers call the moth...

Read More

Phaethon in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

(Φαέθων), that is, the shining. 1. This name occurs in Homer (ll. 11.735, Od. 5.479) as an epithet or surname of Helios, and is used by later writers as a real proper name for Helios (Apollon, Rhod. 4.1236; Virg. Acn. 5.105); but it is more commonly known as the name of son of Helios by the Oceanid Clymene, the wife of Merops. The genealogy of ...

Read More

Palinurus in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

(*Palinou=ros), the son of Jasus, and helmsman of Aeneas. The god of Sleep in the disguise of Phorbas approached him, sent him to sleep at the helm, and then threw him down into the sea. (Verg. A. 5.833, &c.) In the lower world he saw Aeneas again, and related to him that on the fourth day after his fall, he was thrown by the waves on the ...

Read More

Persephone in Wikipedia

In Greek mythology, Persephone (usually pronounced /pər ˈsɛfəniː/ in modern English; also called Kore[1]) was the Queen of the Underworld, the korē (or young maiden), and a daughter of Demeter and Zeus. In the Olympian version, she also becomes the consort of Hades when he becomes the deity that governs the underworld. The figure of Persephone ...

Read More