Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Erechtheus ĕrĕkˈthēəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Athens. On the advice of an oracle he sacrificed one of his daughters during the battle between the Athenians and the Eleusinians. This en...

(Encyclopedia) Hipparchus, fl. 2d cent. b.c., Greek astronomer, b. Nicaea, Bithynia. He is the first systematic astronomer of whom there are records. He made his observations chiefly on the island of Rhodes. Ptolemy...

(Encyclopedia) Antiope ăntīˈəpē [key], in Greek mythology. 1 Theban princess, daughter of Nycteus. She was seduced by Zeus and bore him twin sons, Zethus and Amphion. Fleeing to Sicyon to escape the wrath of he...

(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...

(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...

(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...

(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...

(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...

(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...

(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...