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(Encyclopedia) Aratus, d. 213 b.c., Greek statesman and general of Sicyon, prime mover and principal leader of the Second Achaean League. His objective at first was to free the Peloponnesus from Macedonian dominatio...
(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...
(Encyclopedia) chorus, in the drama of ancient Greece. Originally the chorus seems to have arisen from the singing of the dithyramb, and the dithyrambic chorus allegedly became a true dramatic chorus when Thespis in...
(Encyclopedia) Mercury, in Roman religion, god of commerce and messenger of the gods; identified with the Greek Hermes. He was honored at the Mercuralia, a festival held in May and attended primarily by traders and ...
(Encyclopedia) Gloria in excelsis ĕksĕlˈsĭs [key] [Lat.,=glory in the highest], the Angelic Hymn or greater doxology, ancient Christian hymn beginning, according to the Authorized Version, “Glory be to God on ...
(Encyclopedia) peri pērˈē [key], in Persian mythology, supernatural being. Peris were said to be fallen angels who were denied paradise until they did penance. Originally agents of evil, in later mythology they w...
(Encyclopedia) Poseidon pōsīˈdən [key], in Greek religion and mythology, god of the sea, protector of all waters. After the fall of the Titans, Poseidon was allotted the sea. He was worshiped especially in conne...
(Encyclopedia) Hades hāˈdēz [key], in Greek and Roman religion and mythology. 1 The ruler of the underworld: see Pluto. 2 The world of the dead, ruled by Pluto and Persephone, located either underground or in the...
(Encyclopedia) Dionysus dīənīˈsəs [key], in Greek religion and mythology, god of fertility and wine. Legends concerning him are profuse and contradictory. However, he was one of the most important gods of the G...
(Encyclopedia) monsters and imaginary beasts. The mythologies and legends of ancient and modern cultures teem with an enormous variety of monsters and imaginary beasts. A great number of these are composites of diff...