Book IV.5:1-78. A procuress, probably an invented character.
A name for the Greek
mainland, derived from a region in the northern Peloponnese. Hence the Acheans, for the
name of the people who fought against Troy
in Homer’s Iliad.
Book II.28A:47-62. Its beautiful
women.
Book II.13:1-16.
Persian, from the Achaemenian Dynasty
A river and river god, whose waters separated Acarnania and
Book II.34:1-94. His waters shattered
by love.
A river of the underworld, the underworld itself. The god of the
river, father of Ascalaphus by the nymph Orphne. It is in the deepest pit of
the infernal regions.
Book III.5:1-48. The depths of the
underworld.
The Greek hero of the Trojan
War. The son of Peleus, king of Thessaly, and the sea-goddess Thetis (See Homer’s Iliad).
Book II.1:1-78. He loved Patroclus.
Book II.3:1-54. He died indirectly because of Helen.
Book II.8A:1-40. His anger at Briseis being taken from him. His friendship with Patroclus, and killing of Hector.
Book II.9:1-52. His dead body cared for by Briseis.
Book II.22:1-42. Lovemaking did not affect his strength.
Book III.1:1-38. He
fought with the river-gods of the rivers Simois
and Scamander (
Book III.18:1-34. Not saved from death by his courage.
Book IV.11:1-102.
Claimed as an ancestor by Perses.
A name for the Greek mainland, derived from a region in the northern Peloponnese. Hence the Acheans, for the name of the people who fought against Troy in Homer’s Iliad.
Book II.8A:1-40. Book III.18:1-34. The Greeks at
Book IV.10:1-48. The Sabine king of Caenina
who attacked
The promontory in
Book II.1:1-78. The
triumph in
Book II.15:1-54. The evils of Civil War.
Book II.16:1-56.
Book II.34:1-94. A fit subject for Virgil.
Book III.11:1-72. The
promontory of Leucas overlooking the bay contained the
The
son of Pheres, king
of Pherae in
Book II.6:1-42. Her loyalty.
The son of Myrrha by her father Cinyras, born after her transformation into a myrrh-tree. (As such he is a vegetation god born from the heart of the wood.) Venus fell in love with him. She warned him to avoid savage creatures, but he ignored her warning and was killed by a wild boar that gashed his thigh. His blood became the windflower, the anemone. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book X 503-739.
Book II.13A:1-58. Wept
over by Venus.
A king of
Book II.34:1-94. His horse Arion.
The wood-nymphs. They inhabit the oak trees in Ceres sacred grove
and dance at her festivals
Book I:20:1-52. Inhabitants of the Ausonian woods.
The son of Jupiter and
Book II.20:1-36. Book IV.11:1-102. His father Jupiter
made him a judge of the dead in the Underworld for his piety.
The
Book II.32:1-62. Telegonus was Circe’s son.
Book III.12:1-38. Propertius seems to confuse it with
Calypso’s island.
The
Book I.6:1-36. Book III.7:1-72. It is mentioned.
Book III.24:1-20. Metaphorically the sea of love, since Venus-Aphrodite was born from its waves.
The country in
Book II.1:1-78. Conquered by the Romans.
Book II.33:1-22.Home of the cult of Isis.
Book IV.11:1-102. A Vestal Virgin who cleared herself of the
charge that she had allowed the sacred fire to go out by placing part of her
dress in the ashes at which the fire flared.
Aemilius Paullus defeated
Demetrius of Pherae in 219BC.
Book III.3:1-52. A subject of epic.
A Trojan prince, the son
of Venus and Anchises, and the hero
of Virgil’s Aeneid. (See Turner’s etching and painting, The
Golden Bough- British Museum and Tate Gallery.) He leaves ruined
He visits the Sibyl, who
conducts him to the Underworld, having plucked the golden bough. He sees his
father’s shade in the fields of Elysium. (See Virgil, The Aeneid VI). He
returns from the Underworld, and sails from
Book II.34:1-94. Sung by Virgil.
Book III.4:1-22. Augustus descended (in the Imperial myth) from Aeneas.
Book IV.1:1-70. The
ancestor of the Romans.
Book II.3:1-54. The
Aeolic
The Greek Tragedian
(525-c456BC),
author of the Oresteian Trilogy.
Book II.34:1-94. His style not
suitable for love poetry.
Jason, the son of Aeson, leader of the Argonauts, and hero of the adventure of the Golden Fleece. The fleece is represented in the sky by the constellation and zodiacal sign of Aries, the Ram. In ancient times it contained the point of the vernal equinox (The First Point of Aries) that has since moved by precession into Pisces.
Book I.15:1-42. His
desertion of Hypsipyle.
A
volcanic mountain in Sicily.
Book III.2:1-26. Polyphemus tried to woo Galatea there.
Book III.17:1-42. Jupiter’s lightning bolts were forged
there.
Book III.20:1-30. The African
continent and its potential wealth.
The fountain of the Muses
on
Book II.3:1-54. Cynthia rivals the Muses.
Book III.3:1-52. The early kings of
Book IV.1:1-70. Founded there because of a favourable omen.
Book
IV.6:1-86. Augustus’s ancestral ‘home’.
Book III.22:1-42. The lake in the
Alban Hills near
Book I:20:1-52. Book IV.9:1-74. An epithet of Hercules as a descendant of Alceus.
The mythical King of the Phaeacians (Phaeacia is perhaps identified
with
Book I.14:1-24. A source
of gifts.
The son of Amphiaraus
and Eriphyle. He led the Epigoni in
the War of the Seven against Thebes.
He killed his mother who had betrayed her husband to his death through vanity,
and was pursued by the Furies.
Book I.15:1-42. He is alluded to.
Book III.5:1-48. Pursued by the Furies.
The daughter of Electryon king of
Book II.22:1-42. Loved by Jupiter.
The city of
Book III.11:1-72. Cleopatra’s northern capital.
A faithless shepherd-boy
in Virgil.
Book II.34:1-94. See Virgil’s Eclogue II.
The wife of Alcmaeon
who killed him, after he had deserted her for Callirhoe. She killed her own
brothers to cancel the blood-debt. This is part of a complicated series of
myths centring on the magic necklace and robe of Harmonia. See
Book I.15:1-42. Her
loyalty.
The mother of Meleager, and
wife of Oeneus, king of
Book III.22:1-42. The burning
brand.
One of the Amazons, a race of warlike women living by the River
Thermodon, probably based on the Scythian
warrior princesses of the
Book III.11:1-72. Penthesilea from Maeotis, near the
Book III.14:1-34. They bathed naked
in the river Thermodon.
Book I.3:1-46.
The god of Love and Sexual Desire, equated to
Cupid.
Book I.1:1-38. He is cruel in subduing lovers.
Book I.2:1-32. He dislikes artifice.
Book I.7:1-26. The god of love.
Book I.14:1-24. Wealth is irrelevant to him.
Book II.2:1-16. He ignores the desire for peace.
Book II.3:1-54. Love dressed in white sneezed a good omen at Cynthia’s birth.
Book II.6:1-42. God of free love.
Book II.8A:1-40. A powerful god.
Book II.12:1-24. Depicted as a boy armed with bow and barbed arrows, who wounds lovers.
Book II.13:1-16. The archer god of love.
Book II.29:1-22. The God of love, making sexual perfumes.
Book II.30:1-40. No escape from him.
Book II.34:1-94. Not to be trusted with beautiful girls.
Book III.1:1-38. Multiple servants.
Book III.5:1-48. A peace-loving god.
Book III.16:1-30. He carries a blazing torch for lovers.
Book III.20:1-30. He
seals lovers’ contracts.
A Greek seer, one of the heroes, the Oeclides, at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The son of Oecleus, father of Alcmaeon, and husband of Eriphyle. He foresaw his death, but was persuaded to join the war of the Seven Against Thebes by his wife, Eriphyle. Jupiter saved him by opening up a chasm where he fell, and he and his chariot and horses were swallowed up. He had a famous oracular shrine at the spot at Oropus in Boeotia.
Book II.34:1-94. Not a fit subject for love.
Book III.13:1-66.
Destroyed by his wife’s greed. She was tempted by the necklace of Harmonia to
persuade him to go to the war.
The husband of Niobe, and son
of Jupiter and Antiope.
The King of Thebes. His magical use
of the lyre, given him by Mercury,
enabled him to build the walls of
Book I.9:1-34. He is mentioned.
Book III.15:1-46.
Avenged his mother.
Book IV.9:1-74. Hercules
as the son of Amphitryon, the husband of Alcmena and son
in turn of Alceus, King of Thebes.
Book IV.5:1-78. One of Cynthia’s (?) slaves.
A daughter of Danaus. Searching for water in time of
drought, she was saved from a satyr by
Book II.26A:21-58.
Loved by
The father of Melampus.
Book II.3:1-54. He is mentioned.
The son of Minos King of Crete,
killed in Attica.
Book II.1:1-78. Propertius has Aesculapius restore him to life.
The wife of Hector,
who was taken captive after his death and the fall of Troy, to become the wife of Neoptolemus.
Book II.20:1-36. A weeping prisoner.
Book
II.22:1-42. Wife of Hector.
The daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope (Iope) who was chained to a rock and exposed to a sea-monster Cetus because of her mother’s sin. She is represented by the constellation Andromeda which contains the Andromeda galaxy M31 a spiral like our own, the most distant object visible to the naked eye. Cetus is represented by the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, between Pisces and Eridanus which contains the variable star, Mira. Perseus offered to rescue her. (See Burne-Jones’s oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series, particularly The Rock of Doom). He killed the sea serpent and claims her as his bride.
Book I.3:1-46. She is mentioned.
Book II.28:1-46. Changes
of fortune.
Book III.22:1-42. Book IV.7:1-96. Offered as a sacrifice for the sins of her mother.
A river near
Book I:20:1-52. A country pleasure area.
Book
III.16:1-30. Book
III.22:1-42.
Book
IV.7:1-96. Cynthia buried beside it.
Book III.22:1-42. A Libyan giant killed by Hercules.
The daughter of Oedipus, King of Thebes, by Jocasta. She broke the city
laws to bury her brother Polynices, and committed suicide. See Sophocles’s Antigone.
Book II.8A:1-40. She is mentioned.
The son of Nestor.
Book II.13A:1-58. Died before his
father, killed at Troy.
The poet of
Book II.34:1-94. His love for Lyde.
Book IV.5:1-78. The chief suitor to Penelope in the Odyssey.
The daughter of Nycteus of
Book I.4:1-28. Her beauty recognised.
Book III.15:1-46. Dirce’s jealousy.
Book II.16:1-56.
Defeated at
Book III.9:1-60. His
hands ‘heavy with his fate’, his fate being, in a double entendre, Cleopatra.
The jackal-headed god Anpu of Egypt,
identified with Mercury, and ‘opener
of the roads of the dead’. He accompanies Isis.
Book III.11:1-72. An emblem of Cleopatra.
Book I.2:1-32.
Part of Boetia containing
The Greek painter, of
Book I.2:1-32. Famous for his skill in portraying colour, light and surfaces.
Book III.9:1-60. Famous for his paintings of Venus/erotica.
A river in Thessaly.
Book I.3:1-46. Maenads.
Book III.9:1-60. Patron god of Troy.
Book IV.1A:71-150. God of song.
Book IV.6:1-86.
Associated with the victory at Actium. His temple on
the Palatine.
The
Book II.32:1-62. Book IV.8:1-88.The way to Lanuvium.
Book IV.5:1-78. The kalends of April were associated with courtesans who sacrificed to Venus and Fortuna virilis.
The North Wind, see Boreas.
Book II.5:1-30. Book III.7:1-72. The north wind.
Book IV.9:1-74. An altar situated in
the Forum Boarium.
The countries bordering the eastern side of the
Book I.14:1-24. Referred to.
Book II.10:1-26. Subject to Augustus.
Book I.14:1-24.
Arabian. Propertius may
be referring to Aelius Gallus
who was Prefect of Egypt, and led a failed expedition to
Book II.3:1-54. A source of traded silk.
Book II.29:1-22. A source of perfumes.
Book III.13:1-66. A
source of cinammon.
Part of the Cithaeron
mountain range on the borders of
Book III.15:1-46. Dirce killed there.
The River in
Book III.12:1-38. Book IV.3:1-72. A feature of the Parthian campaign.
A region in the centre of the
Book I.1:1-38. The
location of Milanion and Atalanta (or
Book I.18:1-32. The haunt of the great god Pan.
Book II.28:1-46. Callisto’s home.
The son of Eurydice and Lycurgus king of
Book II.34:1-94. The horse Arion wept at his funeral.
Possibly the mathematician and philosopher of
the
Book IV.1A:71-150. His ‘child’ is Orops.
The twin constellations of the Great and Little
Bear, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, individually or together.
Book II.22:1-42. The constellations
halted in the sky.
It is not known whether Arethusa is a pseudonym
or a fictional name.
Book IV.3:1-72. Her letter to her
husband Lycotas.
A mountain in Mysia.
Book I:20:1-52. Hylas was seized there by the Nymphs.
Argus was the steersman of the Argo, the first
ship, built by Jason, and sailed to Colchis through the Hellespont
and the
Book I:20:1-52. Hercules and Hylas sailed with the Argonauts.
Book II.26A:21-58. The Argo navigated the Symplegades, the clashing rocks at the entrance to the Bosphorus by releasing a dove: when the dove’s tail feathers were clipped by the rocks the Argonauts rowed through, swiftly, following.
Book III.22:1-42. The
timbers of the Argo were cut on Mount Pelion.
Of
Book I.15:1-42. Evadne of
Book I.19:1-26. Greek.
Book II.25:1-48. Greek beauty.
A creature with a thousand eyes, the son of Arestor, set to guard Io by Juno. He was killed by Mercury. After his death, Juno sets his eyes in the peacock’s tail.
Book I.3:1-46. He is
mentioned.
A youth apparently loved by Agamemnon
who was punished for some sin by drowning.
Book III.7:1-72. Mourned by
Agamemnon.
A daughter of Minos. Half-sister of the Minotaur, and sister of Phaedra, she helped Theseus on Crete.
She fled to Dia with Theseus
and was abandoned there, but rescued by Bacchus, and her
crown is set among the stars as the Corona Borealis. (See Titian’s painting –
Bacchus and Ariadne – National Gallery,
Book I.3:1-46. She is mentioned.
Book II.3:1-54. Leads the Bacchic dancers.
Book II.14:1-32. Book IV.4:1-94. Helped Theseus navigate the Labyrinth by means of a ball of thread that he unwound (the clew).
Book III.17:1-42. Set among the stars by Bacchus.
Book III.20:1-30. Her starry crown in the sky.
The winged horse of Adrastus,
one of the Seven Against Thebes,
gifted with human speech. He mourned Archemorus.
Book II.34:1-94. Not a fit subject for
love poetry.
Arion was a late seventh century
BC Greek poet, who invented the dithyramb, a wild
choric hymn, or Bacchanalian song, as a literary form.
He was thrown from a ship during a sea voyage, by the crew, but a dolphin
rescued him, and carried him to Corinth.
Book II.26:1-20. A
symbolised image of Propertius
himself, rescuing Cynthia from spiritual shipwreck.
The country situated between the
Book I.9:1-34. Tiger country.
A friend or kinswoman of Propertius. The mother of Lupercus and Gallus.
Book IV.1A:71-150. She fated her sons to die in war.
A river in Mysia, in
Book I:20:1-52 Visited by the Argonauts.
Book II.10:1-26. Book II.13:1-16. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod’s birthplace in Boeotia.
Book II.34:1-94. Hesiod.
The regions of
Book I.6:1-36. Noted for their riches.
Book
II.3:1-54. Represented by Troy.
Asisium, modern
Book IV.1:1-70 .Book IV.1A:71-150.The birthplace of Propertius.
A river in Boeotia.
Book III.15:1-46. Its course lies
near
The daughter of Iasus and Clymene beaten in the foot-race
by Milanion q.v. who decoyed her with
golden apples given him by Venus-Aphrodite.
Book I.1:1-38. She is
mentioned.
Book IV.6:1-86. The Athamanes were a
people of
The daughter of Athamas and Nephele, sister of Phrixus. Escaping
from Ino on the golden ram, she fell into the sea and was drowned, giving her
name to the Hellespont, the
straits that link the Propontis with the Aegean Sea, close to the site of Troy.
Book I:20:1-52. Passed by the Argonauts.
Book III.22:1-42. Helle as the daughter of Athamas.
The Greek city, sacred to
Minerva-Athene.
Book I.6:1-36. Book III.21:1-34. Renowned for its
learning.
The Titan who rules the
Moon with Phoebe the Titaness. Leader of the Titans in their war with the gods.
The son of Iapetus by the nymph Clymene. His brothers were Prometheus, Epimetheus and
Menoetius. Represented as
Book III.22:1-42. The far west, the
Pillars of Hercules.
Book I.8:1-26. From Atrax, a town in Thessaly, hence Thessalian.
The king of Mycenae, son of
Atreus, hence called Atrides, brother of
Menelaüs, husband of Clytaemnestra, father of Orestes, Iphigenia, and Electra. The leader of the Greek army in
the Trojan War. See Homer’s Iliad, and Aeschylus’s
Oresteian tragedies.
Book II.14:1-32. Victor at
Book III.7:1-72. Mourned for Argynnas, and sacrificed Iphigenia.
Book III.18:1-34. Perhaps a reference to Argynnas.
Book IV.1A:71-150. Doomed by the sacrifice of Iphigenia.
Book IV.6:1-86. Punished by Apollo with plague for the rape of Chryseis.
Attalus III of
Book II.13A:1-58. Book III.18:1-34. Cloth of gold.
The region of southern Greece containing Athens.
Book II.20:1-36. Haunt of the
night-owl sacred to Athene-Minerva.
Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew, whom he
adopted and declared as his heir, Octavius Caesar (Octavian). (The honorary
title Augustus was bestowed by the Senate 16th Jan 27BC).
His wife was Livia. Jupiter prophesies his future glory: his defeat of Antony, who had seized the inheritance, at Mutina: his defeat of the conspirators
Cassius and Brutus at the twin battles of Philippi: his (Agrippa’s) defeat of
Antony at Actium: and his (Agrippa’s) defeat of Pompey’s son at Mylae and Naulochus
off Sicily. (See the sculpture of Augustus, from Primaporta, in the
Book II.1:1-78. Maecenas was a close friend of the Emperor.
Book II.7:1-20. His power questioned in private matters.
Book II.10:1-26. India and Arabia subject to him.
Book II.16:1-56.Propertius wishes Augustus might live more humbly, referring to the casa Romuli preserved on the Palatine Hill.
Book II.16:1-56. Book II.34:1-94. Defeated Antony at Actium.
Book II.31:1-16. Opens the new Colonnade.
Book III.4:1-22. Plans a campaign in India. Actually the campaign to Parthia in 20BC.
Book III.9:1-60. Patron of Maecenas. Propertius hints at homosexual relations between them.
Book III.11:1-72. Eliminated Antony’s and Cleopatra’s armies and navy. In a double entendre Propertius hints that Augustus may be a worse tyrant than those eliminated.
Book III.12:1-38. His
expedition to
Book III.18:1-34. His nephew Marcellus.
Book IV.1:1-70. His arms derived from Aeneas.
Book IV.6:1-86. His
defeat of
Book IV.11:1-102.
Mourned Cornelia, half-sister to his daughter Julia.
Julia was later banished for sexual laxity.
The Boeotian harbour where the Greek fleet
massed prior to setting out for Troy
and where Iphigenia was sacrificed.
The area was a rich fishing-ground.
Book IV.1A:71-150. The harbour from
which the Greeks set out.
Goddess of the Morning, and wife of Tithonus, daughter of the Titan Pallas, hence called Pallantias
or Pallantis, who fathered Zelus (zeal), Cratus (strength), Bia (force) and
Nicë (victory) on the River Styx. Longs to renew the youth of her mortal husband Tithonus. She had
gained eternal life for him but not eternal youth. She sees her son Memnon killed by Achilles,
and begs Jupiter to grant him
honours. He creates the Memnonides, a flight of warring birds from the ashes.
Book II.18A:5-22. Not ashamed to love an older man.
Book III.13:1-66. The dawn.
A country in lower
Book I:20:1-52. Home of Dryads.
Book II.33:1-22.
Book III.4:1-22.
Book III.22:1-42. A mythological reference to an Ausonian banquet.
Book IV.4:1-94. The
girls of Ausonia, one of whom is Tarpeia.
The South Wind. Eurus is the East Wind, Zephyrus the West Wind, and Boreas is the North Wind.
Book II.26A:21-58. A
stormwind.
One of the
Book IV.1:1-70. Its fields purified by Remus.
Book
IV.8:1-88. Its
A name for the Underworld. A lake there.
Identified with a lake near Cumae north of
Book III.18:1-34. The lake, also near Baiae.
Book IV.1:1-70. The Sybil’s haunt.
Book IV.11:1-102. Entered by Hercules.
The Mesopotamian city.
Faced with glazed brick.
Book III.11:1-72. Built by Semiramis in myth.
Book IV.1A:71-150. Noted for its
priestly astronomers.
Book III.22:1-42. The Maenads.
The god Dionysus, the ‘twice-born’, the god of the vine. The son of Jupiter and Semele. His worship was celebrated with
orgiastic rites borrowed from Phrygia.
His female followers are the Maenades.
He carries the thyrsus, a wand tipped with a pine-cone, the Maenads and
Satyrs following him carrying ivy-twined fir branches as thyrsi. (See
Caravaggio’s painting –Bacchus – Uffizi,
Snatched from his mother Semele’s womb when she was destroyed by
Jupiter’s fire, he was sewn into Jupiter’s thigh, reared by Ino and hidden by the nymphs of
He is Dionysus Sabazius, the barley-god of Thrace and Phrygia, ‘formosissimus alto conspiceris caelo’ the morning and evening star, the star-son, identified by the Jews with Adonis, consort of the Great Goddess Venus Aphrodite or Astarte, and therefore manifested with her in the planet Venus. Later he is the horned Lucifer, ‘son of the morning’.
Wine at the marriage feast or banquet is his gift. (See Velázquez’s
painting – The Drinkers, or the Triumph of Bacchus –
Book I.3:1-46. Book III.2:1-26. He is mentioned, as god of wine.
Book II.30:1-40. The Maenads’ dance.
Book III.17:1-42. A hymn to Bacchus.
Book IV.1:1-70. Wreathed with ivy.
Book IV.2:1-64. He wore an Indian turban.
Book IV.6:1-86. His wine
inspires Apollo. Drink aids the Muse.
A town in
Book III.1:1-38.
Book III.11:1-72.
Book IV.3:1-72. Lycotas is posted there.
The modern Baia, opposite
Book I.11:1-30. Cynthia is there.
Book III.18:1-34. Marcellus died there in 23BC.
Book III.17:1-42. Bassareus, an
epithet of Bacchus.
A satiric poet, writer of iambi, and friend to Propertius whose work is now lost.
Book I.4:1-28. Encourages disloyalty.
The Celtic tribes of
Book II.18B:23-38. Painted their faces.
Book IV.10:1-48. Lead by Virdomarus crossed the Rhine.
Pegasus the winged horse of Bellerophon, a blow
from whose hoof created the Hippocrene spring on
Book III.3:1-52. The fountain Hippocrene.
A people of
Book II.30:1-40. The birthplace of Orpheus.
Book II.2:1-16. A lake in
Thessaly.
A
country in mid-Greece containing Thebes.
Book II.8A:1-40. Haemon’s city.
Book III.3:1-52.
Contains
The constellation of the Waggoner, or Herdsman, or Bear Herd. The nearby constellation of Ursa Major is the Waggon, or Plough, or Great Bear. He holds the leash of the constellation of the hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. He is sometimes identified with Arcas son of Jupiter and Callisto. Arcas may alternatively be the Little Bear.
He is alternatively identified with Icarius the father of Erigone. Led to
his grave by his dog Maera, she committed suicide by hanging, and was set in
the sky as the constellation Virgo.
Book III.5:1-48. A winter
constellation in northern latitudes.
The North Wind. Eurus is the
East Wind, Zephyrus is the West Wind, and Auster is the South Wind. He is
identified with Thrace and the north.
He steals Orithyia, daughter of Erectheus of
Book I:20:1-52. His
winged sons,
Book II.26A:21-58. Not cruel in his abduction of Orithyia.
Book II.27:1-16. Book III.7:1-72. A cold stormwind. Feared by the raped Orithyia.
The Borysthenes, the
modern River Dneiper.
Book II.7:1-20. Mentioned as a distant
region.
The gateway to the
Book III.11:1-72.
Mithridates King of
Book IV.9:1-74. The
cattle-market at
A small town near Rome.
Book IV.1:1-70. Later a suburb.
The leader of the Gauls who attacked
Book III.13:1-66. He committed
sacrilege.
The daughter of the Titans Perses and Asterie,
Latona’s sister. A Thracian goddess
of witches, her name is a feminine form of Apollo’s title ‘the far-darter’.
She was a lunar goddess, with shining Titans
for parents. In Hades she was Prytania of the dead, or the Invincible Queen.
She gave riches, wisdom, and victory, and presided over flocks and navigation.
She had three bodies and three heads, those of a lioness, a bitch, and a mare.
Her ancient power was to give to or withhold from mortals any gift. She was
sometimes merged with the lunar aspect of Diana-Artemis,
and presided over purifications and expiations. She was the goddess of
enchantments and magic charms, and sent demons to earth to torture mortals. At
night she appeared with her retinue of infernal dogs, haunting crossroads (as
Trivia), tombs and the scenes of crimes. At crossroads her columns or statues
had three faces – the Triple Hecates – and offerings were made at the full moon
to propitiate her.
Book II.2:1-16. Propertius refers to Hecate as
Brimo, a name for Demeter at
The daughter of Brises of Lyrnessus. The town
was sacked by Achilles, who took her captive. Agamemnon seized her to compensate for the loss of
Chryseis.
Book II.8A:1-40. Achilles is angered at her loss.
Book II.9:1-52. She cared for his corpse.
Book II.20:1-36. Wept on being led away from Achilles’s tent.
Book
II.22:1-42. Lover of Achilles.
The island
Book II.1:1-78. Book IV.3:1-72. The ancient British leaders fought from decorated and painted chariots. Maecenas has a ceremonial example.
Book II.18B:23-38. The British painted themselves with blue woad. (The dried, powdered and fermented leaves of the biennial wildflower Isatis tinctoria)
Book II.27:1-16. The
enemy in the West.
Lucius Junius Brutus drove out the king Tarquinius Superbus in 510BC and became one of
Book IV.1:1-70. His consulship.
Book IV.9:1-74. A robber
who lived on the
Of Cadmus.
Book III.13:1-66. His native city
of Tyre.
The son of the Phoenician king Agenor, who searched for his sister Europa stolen by Jupiter.
Book I.7:1-26. The founder of Thebes.
Book III.9:1-60.
Book IV.10:1-48. Caenina was a small
town in
Julius Caesar’s grand-nephew, whom he
adopted and declared as his heir, Octavius Caesar (Octavian). (The honorary
title Augustus was bestowed by the Senate 16th Jan 27BC).
His wife was Livia. He defeated Antony, who had seized
the inheritance, at Mutina: the conspirators Cassius and Brutus at the twin battles
of
Book I.21:1-10. As
Octavian he committed atrocities at Perusia in 41BC.
The Roman general and
Tribune.
Book III.11:1-72. Father in law of Pompey.
Book III.18:1-34.Deified.
Book
IV.6:1-86. Augustus his adopted ‘son’.
One of the winged sons of Boreas and Orithyia. One of the Argonauts.
Book I:20:1-52. He
pursues Hylas.
The Athenian sculptor of
the early fifth century BC. He was famous for his horses. He was one of the
great archaic sculptors of the last pre-classical generation. See Pausanias
Book V on Eleia.
Book III.9:1-60. Famous for horses.
A seer and priest, the son of Thestor, who accompanied the Greeks to
Troy. He foresaw the long duration of
the war and the ultimate Greek victory, and that the sacrifice of Iphigenia to Diana at Aulis would
bring the Greeks favourable winds.
Book IV.1A:71-150. Set loose the
fate of the Greeks and Trojans.
The Hellenistic poet of
Book II.1:1-78. A lyric voice.
Book II.34:1-94. A poet to imitate when in love.
Book III.1:1-38. An invocation to his spirit.
Book III.9:1-60. The poet’s slim volumes.
Book IV.1:1-70. Propertius
considers himself the Roman
Callimachus.
The Muse
of epic poetry. The mother of Orpheus
and originally the sole Muse. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses V 339 and X 148.
Book I.2:1-32. She is a supreme artist on the lyre and grants inspiration in song.
Book II.1:1-78. Book IV.6:1-86. Muse who inspires song.
Book II.30:1-40. Lay with Oeagrus, or with Apollo disguised as Oeagrus, to conceive Orpheus.
Book III.2:1-26. A patroness of Propertius’s verse.
Book III.3:1-52. In his dream of Helicon.
A nymph of Nonacris in Arcadia, a favourite
of Phoebe-Diana. The daughter of
Lycaon. Jupiter raped her. Pregnant
by Jupiter she was expelled from the band of Diana’s virgin followers by Diana
as Cynthia, in her Moon goddess mode. Gave birth to a son Arcas. She was turned
into a bear by Juno, and ultimately into
the constellation of the Great Bear, Ursa Major. Arcas became Ursa Minor.
Book II.28:1-46. Changes of fortune.
Book III.12:1-38. Visited by Ulysses.
Gaius Licinius Calvus, the poet friend of Catullus and Propertius,
and a member of the Alexandrian School. His works are lost. He wrote poems
addressed to a girl he called Quintilia.
Book II.25:1-48. A fellow poet.
Book
II.34:1-94. Wrote of Quintilia’s death.
The daughter of Atlas,
living on Ogygia a remote island, where she held Odysseus as her lover for seven years,
until Jupiter (Zeus) ordered her to
send him on his way home to Ithaca, and his wife Penelope.
Book I.15:1-42. Mourned his loss faithfully.
Book II.21:1-20. Book III.12:1-38. He finally escaped her.
Cambyses II, son of Cyrus II, and King of
Persia (529-522BC). He
married the daughter of the king of Medes. He conquered Egypt,
was aflicted with madness, killed his brother, Bardiya, and sister, and tried
to kill Croesus king of Lydia.
The Magi revolted against his rule, and he was accidentally wounded to death at
Agbatana in
Book II.26A:21-58. A symbol of wealth.
Marcus Furius Camillus pursued and defeated the
Gauls who sacked
Book III.9:1-60. Maecenas to be compared with him.
Book III.11:1-72. A Roman hero.
The Italian coastal and inland region
south-east of
Book III.5:1-48. Rich farming
country.
The Plain of Mars
in Rome, just outside the city where
military and athletic skills were practised.
Book II.23:1-24. Cynthia there, up to no good?
The constellation of the Crab, and the zodiacal sun sign. It
represents the crab that attacked Hercules
while he was fighting the multi-headed Hydra and was crushed underfoot but
subsequently raised to the stars. The sun in ancient times was in this
constellation when furthest north of the equator at the summer solstice (June
21st). Hence the latitude where the sun appeared overhead at
Book IV.1A:71-150. Associated with
greed and avariciousness.
Sirius (=searing, or scorching), the Dog-star, alpha
Canis Majoris, in the constellation Canis Major, the brightest star in
the sky. The ancient Egyptians based their calendar on
its motion, and the hottest part of July and August was the Dog-days, variously
dated by the heliacal and cosmical rising of Sirius.
Book II.28:1-46. The dry parched days.
The Roman army was destroyed at
Book III.3:1-52. An ironic subject
for epic poetry.
The town in Egypt twelve miles from Alexandria.
Book III.11:1-72. Associated with Cleopatra.
An Argive leader, one of the Seven against Thebes. He boasted he would take the city against the will of Jupiter-Zeus, and was killed for his hubris by Jupiter’s lightning bolt.
He was a synonym for pride in the
Middle Ages.
Book II.34:1-94. Not a fit subject for
poetry.
Book IV.3:1-72. The
Capene Gate, through which the Via Appia entered
A headland of Euboea on which Nauplius lit a false beacon causing the Greek fleet returning from Troy to be wrecked. He did this to
avenge the death of his son Palamedes, falsely done to death by the Greeks.
Book III.7:1-72. The Greek fleet
destroyed.
The south-west summit of
the Capitoline Hill.
Book IV.4:1-94. It’s
The Zodiacal constellation of the Goat.
Depicted with a fish’s tail it represents the goat-Pan his lower half
transformed to a fish when he jumped into a river to escape the monster Typhon.
The winter solstice was formerly in Capricorn and the latitude where the Sun
appeared overhead at
Book IV.1A:71-150. The Zodiacal sign
of the Goat.
The southern region of the Aegean
Sea. Carpathus is an island between Crete and
Book II.5:1-30. Subject to storms.
Book III.7:1-72. Scene
of Paetus’s death by drowning.
The Phoenician city in
Book II.1:1-78. It is mentioned.
Book II.31:1-16. A
source of Punic marble, giallo antico, yellow marble stained with red.
The daughter of Priam
and Hecuba, gifted with prophecy by Apollo,
but cursed to tell the truth and not be believed. Taken back to
Book III.13:1-66. Her
prophecy not believed. There may be a double entendre here, an allusion
to
Book IV.1:1-70. She
prophesied the rebirth of
Book IV.1A:71-150.
Raped by
A port in the north of
Book I.17:1-28. Propertius travels there.
Book III.3:1-52. The
Castalian spring and grove of Apollo
and the Muses on
Phoebe, a priestess of Athene-Minerva, and Hilaira a priestess of Diana-Artemis, daughters of Leucippus, the Messenian co-king were
abducted and raped by Castor and Pollux
(Polydeuces) known as the Dioscuri, the sons of Jupiter by Leda. The two sisters had been betrothed to
Lynceus and Idas the sons of Aphareus
king in
Book I.2:1-32. He is mentioned.
Book II.7:1-20. The Dioscuri were famous horsemen.
Book II.26:1-20. Gods to whom sailors prayed for safety at sea, since the Twins, Gemini, were stars to navigate by, and their visibility in autumn signified calm weather.
Book III.14:1-34.
Castor was famous for his boxing.
Gaius Valerius Catullus (c84-c54AD), the Roman lyric poet, friend of Calvus and Propertius.
He wrote poems addressed to a girl he called Lesbia
(most probably Clodia Metelli).
Book II.25:1-48. A fellow poet.
Book
II.34:1-94. Lustful (lascivus) Catullus, writing of Lesbia.
The mountain range in Asia. Prometheus was chained there.
Book I.14:1-24. Thickly wooded.
Book II.1:1-78. Prometheus is mentioned.
Book II.25:1-48. The
vultures of
A river famous for its swans in Lydia
in
Book III.22:1-42.
The mythical founder of Athens. He was a son
of mother Earth like Erechthonius
(who some think was his father). He was part man and part serpent. His three
daughters were Aglauros, Herse and Pandrosus who were goddesses of the
Acropolis in
Book II.20:1-36. Book II.33A:23-44. Athenian.
Creatures, half-man and half-horse living in
the mountains of Thessaly, hence
called biformes, duplex natura, semihomines, bimembres. They were the sons of Ixion, and a cloud, in the form of Juno.
Book II.2:1-16. Their battle with the Lapiths mentioned.
Book
II.6:1-42. Fought with Pirithous
and the Lapiths.
Book II.33A:23-44. Eurytion the Centaur.
Book IV.6:1-86. Decorative rams on vessels?
The king of
Book I.3:1-46. He is mentioned.
Book IV.6:1-86. His capital city was Meroe.
A long promontory on the coast of
Book I.8:1-26. Dangerous waters.
Book II.16:1-56. On the
route from Illyria.
The
three-headed watchdog of the Underworld
Book III.5:1-48. Book III.18:1-34. Book IV.5:1-78.
Book IV.7:1-96. Book IV.11:1-102. Guards Hell’s gate.
The sacred oak grove of Chaonia at Dodona in
Book I.9:1-34. Divination
mentioned.
The ferryman who carries the dead across the River Styx in the underworld, whose
tributary is the Acheron. (See Dante’s Inferno).
Book III.18:1-34. Book IV.11:1-102. The ferryman.
The whirlpool between Italy
and Sicily in the Messenian
straits. Charybdis was the voracious daughter of Mother Earth and Neptune, hurled into the sea, and thrice,
daily, drawing in and spewing out a huge volume of water.
Book II.26A:21-58. A danger to ships.
Book III.12:1-38. A threat to Ulysses.
One of the Centaurs, half-man and
half-horse. He was the son of Philyra
and Saturn. Phoebus Apollo took his new born son Aesculapius to his cave for
protection. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Centaurus, which
contains the nearest star to the sun, Alpha Centauri. Father of Ocyroë, by
Chariclo the water-nymph. Begot by Saturn disguised as a horse. His home is on
Mount Pelion. He was the tutor of Achilles, wise and skilled in medicine and archery.
Book II.1:1-78. He cured Phoenix’s blindness.
The Ionian
Book III.7:1-72. Famous for its
marble.
Book IV.7:1-96. Propertius’s mistress after Cynthia.
A Thracian tribe defeated by Ulysses. See Odyssey IX 40.
Book III.12:1-38. An adventure of
Ulysses.
Book IV.6:1-86. Of
A Germanic tribe defeated
by Gaius Marius in 101BC.
Book II.1:1-78. They are mentioned.
An unknown mother.
Book IV.1A:71-150. In labour.
The sea-nymph, daughter of Sol and Perse, and the granddaughter of Oceanus. (Kirke or Circe means a small falcon)She was famed for her beauty and magic arts and lived on the ‘island’ of Aeaea, which is the promontory of Circeii. (Cape Circeo between Anzio and Gaeta, on the west coast of Italy, now part of the magnificent Parco Nazionale del Circeo extending to Capo Portiere in the north, and providing a reminder of the ancient Pontine Marshes before they were drained, rich in wildfowl and varied tree species.) Cicero mentions that Circe was worshipped religiously by the colonists at Circei. (‘On the Nature of the Gods’, Bk III 47)
(See John Melhuish Strudwick’s painting – Circe and Scylla –
She transforms Ulysses’s
men into beasts. Mercury gives him
the plant moly to enable him to approach her. He marries her and frees
his men, staying for a year on her island. (Moly has been variously
identified as ‘wild rue’, wild cyclamen, and a sort of garlic, allium moly.
John Gerard’s Herbal of 1633 Ch.100 gives seven plants under this heading, of
which the third, Moly Homericum, is he suggests the Moly of
Theophrastus, Pliny and Homer – Odyssey
XX- and he describes it as a wild garlic.) See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XIV
223.
Book II.1:1-78. Famed for her magic herbs.
Book III.12:1-38. Bewitched
Ulysses’s men.
Mount
Book III.2:1-26. Its rocks moved to
Book III.15:1-46. Antiope took
refuge there.
Book IV.11:1-102.
Claudia dragged free the grounded ship carrying Cybele’s
image when the mysteries were introduced into
He killed Virdomarus king of the Insubres at
Clastidium in 222BC,
conquered
Book III.18:1-34. Deified.
Book IV.10:1-48. His killing of
Virdomarus.
Queen of Egypt, mistress of Julius Caesar and Antony. She
fell from power and committed suicide when she and
Book III.11:1-72. Vilified by Propertius.
Book IV.6:1-86. Her
fleet fought alongside
An Umbrian river.
Book II.19:1-32. Book III.22:1-42. It is mentioned.
The wife of Agamemnon,
and daughter of Tyndareus. She
murdered Agamemnon and married her lover Aegisthus, his cousin. She was killed
in revenge by her son Orestes, spurred
on by his sister Electra. See
Aeschylus The Agamemnon.
Book III.19:1-28. Book IV.7:1-96.An example of female
adulterous lust.
A Giant.
Book III.9:1-60. A reference to their war with the Gods.
A country in
Book II.1:1-78. Book II.21:1-20. Medea is Colchian.
Book III.22:1-42. The River Phasis in
Book IV.5:1-78. The
Colline Gate.Nearby on the campus sceleratus the Vestal Virgins who broke their vows were
buried alive.
The festival of the Lares Compitalia, the Lares of the crossroads,
took place at the end of December.
Book IV.1:1-70. Sacrifices made and
the crossroads sprinkled.
A Greek astrologer of
Book IV.1A:71-150. An ancestor of Horos.
Book IV.10:1-48. An ancient town of
the Volsii, south-east of
Book II.3:1-54.
The lyric poetess of Boeotia
(6th Century
BC). A
contemporary of Pindar, her work is lost apart from a few fragments.
The city north of Mycenae,
on the Isthmus between
Book III.5:1-48. The
Romans ‘mined’ the ruins for the famed Corinthian bronzes.
Book II.6:1-42. Lais lived there.
Book IV.11:1-102. The
wife of Lucius Aemilius Paullus.
The daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio
and Scribonia Libo who later became Augustus’s
wife.
A shepherd in love with
the faithless shepherd-boy Alexis in Virgil.
Book II.34:1-94. See Virgil’s Eclogue II.
Book IV.10:1-48. Consul
in 428BC.
His defeat of Tolumnius.
The
Book I.2:1-32. Book IV.5:1-78. Its silk is mentioned.
Book II.1:1-78. Book IV.2:1-64. Coan silk.
Book III.1:1-38.
Birthplace of Philetas.
Marcus Licinius Crassus (c112-53BC)
was the third member of the First Triumvirate
with Julius Caesar and Pompey. He and his son invaded
Book II.10:1-26. He is mentioned.
Book III.4:1-22. The disaster is mentioned. Propertius mocking ironically at Imperial ambitions and effectiveness.
Book III.5:1-48. Propertius again taunting.
Book IV.6:1-86. His
grave accessible following the truce with
Book IV.3:1-72. Arethusa’s dog. The Greek word for baying is κραυγή.
The island in the
Book II.1:1-78. Famous for healing herbs.
Book III.19:1-28. The Cretan bull that mounted Pasiphae. Also a reference here to Minos and his fleet that commanded the Cretan waters.
Book IV.7:1-96. The
Cretan bull.
The daughter of King Creon of Corinth. Jason
married her, after deserting Medea. Medea
sent Creusa a gift of a poisoned robe which burned both her and Creon to
death.
Book II.16:1-56. The danger of gifts.
Book
II.21:1-20. Replaced Medea in Jason’s palace.
King of Lydia
and Ionia, defeated by Cyrus II of
Book II.26A:21-58. A symbol of great wealth.
Book III.5:1-48. In the underworld.
Book III.18:1-34. Not saved from
death by his wealth.
The priestess of Apollo
in the temple at
She guided Aeneas through the underworld and shows him the golden bough that he must pluck from the tree. She told him how she was offered immortality by Phoebus, but forgot to ask also for lasting youth, dooming her to wither away until she was merely a voice. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XIV 104.
Book II.2:1-16. Propertius wishes Cynthia
youth and beauty as well as eternal life.
The god of love, son of Venus
(Aphrodite). He is portrayed as a blind winged child armed with a bow and
arrows, and he carries a flaming torch. His arrows bring love’s wounds.
Book I.6:1-36. He brings love’s pain, as well as joy.
Book I.7:1-26. He can strike at any time.
Book I.9:1-34. He helps love and hinders it. His arrows bring pain.
Book I.19:1-26. He is associated with love’s blindness.
Book II.9:1-52. He is served by young Cupids.
Book II.18A:5-22. Often is cruel to those he once was kind to.
Book III.10:1-32. He strikes lovers with his wings.
The ancient capital of
the Sabines.
Book IV.4:1-94. Of the Sabines.
Book
IV.9:1-74. The Sabines.
The Senate House, and Senate, the meeting place
of a curia, the earliest division of the Roman people.
Book IV.1:1-70. Book IV.4:1-94. The Senate.
Two sets of three brothers the Alban Curiatii
and the Roman Horatii fought each
other in the wars between Rome and Alba Longa. Two Horatii were killed, the third killed all the
three Curatii.
Book III.3:1-52. A subject for epic.
A myth was invented to explain the presence of
a deep pit in the Forum. A chasm opened
which could only be closed by the sacrifice of
Book III.11:1-72. Roman hero.
The Phrygian great goddess, personifying the earth in its savage
state, worshipped in caves and on mountaintops. Merged with Rhea, the mother of
the gods. Her consort was Attis, slain by a wild boar like Adonis.
His festival was celebrated by the followers of Cybele, the Galli, or
Corybantes, who were noted for convulsive dances to the music of flutes, drums
and cymbals, and self-mutilation in an orgiastic fury.
Book III.17:1-42. Book IV.7:1-96. She wore a turretted crown, and was worshipped to the clashing of cymbals. Her worship was ecstatic like that of Bacchus.
Book III.22:1-42.
Worshipped at Dindymus, a mountain
on the shore of the
Book IV.11:1-102. Her
image freed by Claudia.
Cydonia, the modern Canea
in Crete.
Book III.13:1-66. Famous for its
quinces.
Propertius’s
unknown mistress: probably a courtesan, possibly a ‘liberated’ married woman.
Apuleius in his Apology (ch 10) suggests that she was named Hostia, and
III.20:8 suggests that Propertius is connecting her with Hostius a minor epic
poet of the second century
BC.
Book I.1:1-38. She captured his heart.
Book I.3:1-46. She berates him for his absences.
Book I.4:1-28. She prizes loyalty.
Book I.5:1-32. Loving her brings pain.
Book I.6:1-36. She demands his presence continually.
Book I.8:1-26. She intends a sea voyage.
Book I.8A:27-46. She abandons the journey and the bribe.
Book I.10:1-30. His ‘teacher’ in matters of love.
Book I.11:1-30. She is on the loose at Baiae.
Book I.12:1-20. She is hundreds of miles distant.
Book I.15:1-42. Her infidelity.
Book I.17:1-28. He has travelled away from her.
Book I.18:1-32. He suffers her disdain.
Book I.19:1-26. He fears she will not mourn him.
Book II.5:1-30. Her flagrant wantonness.
Book II.7:1-20. Her delight at repeal of the law compelling bachelors to marry.
Book II.13:1-16. He wishes her appreciation of his verse.
Book II.13A:1-58. He addresses her concerning his funeral.
Book II.14:1-32. He is reconciled to her.
Book II.16:1-56. She is mercenary.
Book II.19:1-32. She’s leaving Rome for the country.
Book II.24:1-16. Notorious because of his book.
Book II.30:1-40. The forerunner of Marlowe’s ‘Come live with me and be my love’.
Book II.32:1-62. Her loose behaviour.
Book II.33:1-22. Performs the rites of Isis.
Book II.34:1-94. Celebrated and famous through Propertius’s poetry.
Book III.21:1-34. She is making his life miserable.
Book III.24:1-20. He is weary of this love.
Book IV.7:1-96. Cynthia from beyond the grave.
Book IV.8:1-88. She travels to Lanuvium.
Book II.34:1-94. An
epithet for Phoebus-Apollo who was
born by
Book IV.6:1-86. Callimachus’s birthplace in
Book I.1:1-38. A source of magic charms and incantations.
Book II.4:1-22. The country of witchcraft.
Book III.22:1-42.
Ancient Kyzikos, a town on the eastern side of the southern coast of the Propontic Isthmus. (