Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pirithoüs or Peirithoüs both: pīrĭthˈōəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of the Lapithae. He and Theseus swore an oath of eternal friendship. Together they went on the Calydonian hunt and invad...

(Encyclopedia) Pelias pēˈlēăs [key], in Greek mythology, usurper of the throne of Iolcus. He was the son of Tyro and Poseidon and the twin brother of Neleus. After his birth his mother married Cretheus, king of ...

(Encyclopedia) Philoctetes fĭlŏktēˈtēz [key], in Greek mythology, son of Poias. He acquired, by gift, the bow and arrow of Hercules by lighting the pyre on which the hero was consumed alive. On his way to the T...

(Encyclopedia) Ino īˈnō [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of Cadmus. She was the wife of Athamas, to whom she bore Learchus and Melicertes. She plotted to kill her stepchildren, Phrixus and Helle, but their mot...

(Encyclopedia) Bias bīˈəs [key], fl. 6th cent. b.c., Greek sage, b. Priene. He is at best semilegendary but was called one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. Many epigrams were attributed to him by ancient writers....

(Encyclopedia) Alcestis ălsĕsˈtĭs [key], in Greek mythology, daughter of Pelias. She was won in marriage by Admetus, who fulfilled her father's condition that her suitor come for her in a chariot pulled by a wil...

(Encyclopedia) phoenix, fabulous bird that periodically regenerated itself, used in literature as a symbol of death and resurrection. According to legend, the phoenix lived in Arabia; when it reached the end of its ...

(Encyclopedia) Achilles əkĭlˈēz [key], in Greek mythology, foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis. He was a formidable warrior, possessing fierce and uncontrollable anger. Thetis, knowin...

(Encyclopedia) Furies or Erinyes ērĭnˈē-ēz [key], in Greek and Roman religion and mythology, three daughters of Mother Earth, conceived from the blood of Uranus, when Kronos castrated him. They were powerful di...

(Encyclopedia) Medea mĭdēˈə [key], in Greek mythology, princess of Colchis, skilled in magic and sorcery. She fell in love with Jason and helped him, against the will of her father, Aeëtes, to obtain the Golden...