The mythical Athenian architect who built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete.
(See Michael Ayrton’s extended series of sculptures, bronzes, and artefacts celebrating Daedalus, Icarus and the Minotaur.)
He made wings of bee’s-wax and feathers to escape from
Book II.14:1-32. Architect of the Labyrinth.
The daughter of Acrisius, king of
Book II.20:1-36. The tower.
Book
II.32:1-62. Seduced rather than raped by Jupiter?
The fifty daughters of Danaüs, granddaughters of Belus, king of
Book II.1:1-78. Water carriers in a Propertian double-entendre!
Book II.26A:21-58. Book III.8:1-34. Book III.9:1-60.
Book III.22:1-42. Book IV.1:1-70. Book IV.1A:71-150. The Danaans=the Greeks at Troy. Book III.22 mentions the killing of Iphigenia and her substitution by a roe sent by Diana.
Book II.31:1-16. Statues
in the new Colonnade.
A Virgilian
shepherd. (A Sicilian shepherd in other poetry, said to have invented the pastoral genre)
Book II.34:1-94. See Virgil’s Eclogues
V and VII.
An epithet applied to the descendants of Dardanus, the son of Jupiter and the Pleiad Electra, who came from
Decius Mus, the hero of the Samnite Wars of the
fourth century
BC
dreamed that one army would have to sacrifice its leader, the other its entire
power, so he charged the enemy alone and was killed in order to guarantee the
victory.
Book III.11:1-72. A Roman hero.
Book IV.1:1-70. Three
Decii, Roman generals, gave their lives for their country, father, son and
grandson in 336, 296 and 279
BC.
The daughter of Lycomedes, king of
Book II.9:1-52. Bereaved at his death.
Son of Priam of Troy. A Trojan prince who fought in the
war.
Book III.1:1-38. Attempted with Hector to kill Paris.
The Greek island in the
Book IV.6:1-86. Apollo’s island.
A pseudonym for a friend
of Propertius.
Book II.22:1-42. His friend.
Book II.24A:17-52. A
son of Theseus who loved Phyllis, daughter of Sithon
king of Thrace. he deserted her. She
killed herself but was turned into an almond tree, which flowered when he
returned, remorsefully, to find her. (See Burne-Jones’s marvellous painting:
The Tree of Forgiveness,
The Greek orator and Athenian Statesman of the fourth century
BC who attacked the growing power of Macedon under Philip II, seeing it as a threat to
the Greek world.
Book III.21:1-34. A master of oratory.
King of Phthia.
He and his wife Pyrrha, his cousin, and daughter of Epimetheus, were survivors
of the flood. He was he son of Prometheus.
(See Michelangelo’s scenes from the Great Flood, Sistine Chapel,
Book II.32:1-62. Ancient times.
An old name for Naxos.
Book III.17:1-42. Wine flowed there
for Bacchus.
The goddess
Diana,
Phoebe, or Artemis the daughter of Jupiter and Latona
(hence her epithet Latonia) and twin sister of Phoebus-Apollo. She was born on the
Book II.15:1-54, She loved Endymion.
Book II.19:1-32. The recipient of vows of chastity, and prayers for luck in hunting.
Book II.28A:47-62. The recipient of vows from women in time of illness.
Book IV.8:1-88. Her temple on the Aventine.
Book III.22:1-42. A
mountain near Cyzicus on the southeast
of the
Book III.17:1-42. The Dircean
spring was at Thebes.
Antiope
was the daughter of Nycteus of
Book III.15:1-46. Her jealousy of
Antiope.
A name for Pluto, king of the Underworld, brother of Neptune and Jupiter.
His kingdom in the Underworld described. At Venus’s instigation Cupid struck him with an arrow to make him
fall in love with Persephone.He
raped and abducted her, re-entering Hades through the pool of Cyane. Jupiter
decreeed that she could only spend half the year with him and must spend the
other half with Ceres.
Book II.28A:47-62. Husband of Persephone.
Book III.22:1-42. His
rape of Persephone is sited at various places, here Propertius suggests the
The town in
Book II.21:1-20. Regarded as
unreliable?
Book II.8A:1-40. Book IV.6:1-86. A synonym for Greek.
The daughter of Oceanus and
Tethys, wife of Nereus the old man of
the sea who is a shape-changer, and mother of the fifty Nereids, the attendants on Thetis. The Nereids are mermaids.
Book I.17:1-28. The Nereids are mentioned as her daughters.
Book IV.5:1-78. A fictitious or
otherwise unknown people.
Greek.
Book III.9:1-60. Philetas, the Dorian poet.
Book I:20:1-52. The wood nymphs.
An island off the west coast of
Book II.2:1-16. Athene-Minerva worshipped.
Book
II.14:1-32. Book II.21:1-20.
Book III.5:1-48. Home of the beggar Irus.
The country bordering the
Book I.3:1-46. Maenads.
The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sister of Iphigenia and Orestes.
She aided her brother Orestes on his return, when he avenged Agamemnon’s death.
(See Aeschylus, the Oresteia)
Book II.14:1-32. Her joy at Orestes
return,
A city and country in the western
Site of the quinquennial games at
Book I.8A:27-46. Famous for its horses. See Hippodamia.
Book III.2:1-26. The
shrine of Jupiter with its famous statue, by Phidias, at
Book III.9:1-60. The
palms awarded at the Olympic Games at
Book IV.7:1-96. A region
of the underworld for spirits in bliss, rewarding virtue in life.
One of the Giants who fought with the Gods.
Book II.1:1-78. The fight is mentioned.
Diana, as the moon
goddess, loved Endymion the King of Elis (or a Carian
shepherd) while he slept on
Book II.15:1-54. Propertius suggests their intimacy.
The God of the River Enipus in Thessaly. Neptune disguised himself as the
river-god and raped Tyro in a dark
wave of the river at its confluence with the Alpheius.
Book I.13:1-36. The disguise mentioned.
Book III.19:1-28.
Tyro desired him.
Quintus Ennius (239-169BC), the ‘father of Roman poetry’ .He wrote an epic on Roman
history, Annals, of which part survives.
Book III.3:1-52. Propertius imagines himself writing epic.
Book
IV.1:1-70. An epic poet.
From the Eastern
countries. Eastern. The Dawn.
Book I.15:1-42. Eastern.
Book I.16:1-48. The Dawn.
Book II.3:1-54. The East.
Book II.18A:5-22. Dawn from the East.
Book III.13:1-66. The Eastern custom of suttee.
Book III.24:1-20. Rosy faced.
Book IV.6:1-86.
Book II.6:1-42. Ephyra was an ancient
name for
The Greek Philosopher (341-271BC) and founder of the
Book III.21:1-34. A source of
knowledge.
Asclepius (Aesculapius) was the son of Coronis and Apollo. He was saved by Apollo from his mother’s body and given to Chiron the Centaur to rear. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Ophiucus near Scorpius, depicting a man entwined in the coils of a serpent, consisting of the split constellation, Serpens Cauda and Serpens Caput, which contains Barnard’s star, having the greatest proper motion of any star and being the second nearest to the sun.
He saved
Book II.1:1-78. He restored Androgeon to life.
Of Erechtheus an early
king of Athens, Athenian.
Book II.34:1-94. A reference to Aeschylus’s works.
A son of Vulcan (Hephaestus), born without a mother (or born from
the Earth after Hephaestus the victim of a deception had been repulsed by
Athene). Legendary king of Athens and a
skilled charioteer. He is represented by the constellation Auriga the
charioteer, containing the star Capella. (Alternatively the constellation
represents the she-goat Amaltheia that suckled the infant Jupiter, and the
stars ζ (zeta) and η (eta) Aurigae are her Kids. It is a
constellation visible in the winter months.)
Book II.6:1-42. =Athenian.
Book I.12:1-20.
The River Po in
Book II.3:1-54. A poetess of Lesbos, contemporary with Sappho.
A Fury. The Furies, The Three Sisters, were Alecto, Tisiphone and
Megaera, the daughters of Night and Uranus. They were the personified pangs of
cruel conscience that pursued the guilty. (See Aeschylus – The Eumenides). Their
abode is in Hades by the Styx. They
were called, ironically, the Eumenides, or Kindly Ones.
Book II.20:1-36. Conscience.
Book III.5:1-48.They pursued Alcmaeon.
She was bribed by Polynices with the gift of
the famous necklace of Aphrodite
given to her ancestress Harmonia, Cadmus’s
wife. She induced her husband, the seer, Amphiaraus
to join the Seven against Thebes
leading to his death. He agreed though he foresaw that he would not return.
Their son Alcmaeon killed her in
retribution.
Book II.16:1-56. The danger of gifts.
Book III.13:1-66. Her greed.
There was a famous shrine of Venus-Aphrodite, at Eryx on the western
extremity of Sicily, for which Daedalus made the golden honeycomb.
Book III.13:1-66. The nautilus
shell is described as Venus’s conch.
Book IV.9:1-74.
An
A mythical King of the
East.
Book II.13:1-16. A Persian archer.
Book III.23:1-24. Book IV.8:1-88. Propertius lives on the Esquiline
Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome.
A country in
Book I.21:1-10. Perusia (modern
Book I.22:1-10. Perusia
again.
Book II.1:1-78. A further reference to civil bloodshed. Propertius makes clear his anti-war stance.
Book III.9:1-60. Maecenas is described as of Etruscan
descent.
The large island close to eastern
Book II.26A:21-58. Book IV.1A:71-150. The Greek ships were landlocked at Aulis opposite waiting for a favourable wind
for Troy.
A Fury. The Furies, The Three Sisters, were Alecto, Tisiphone and
Megaera, the daughters of Night and Uranus. They were the personified pangs of
cruel conscience that pursued the guilty. (See Aeschylus – The Eumenides).
Their abode is in Hades by the Styx.
Book IV.11:1-102. The Furies.
One of the great rivers
of
Book II.10:1-26. Book IV.6:1-86.
Book
II.23:1-24. Girls from
Book III.4:1-22. On campaign the soldiers will have the country and by double entendre the river’s waters flow to their tune (as they relieve themselves in it!)
Book III.11:1-72. Its
waters diverted to pass through Babylon.
The European Continent.
Book II.3:1-54.
Represented by the Greeks at Troy.
Daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, abducted by Jupiter disguised as a white bull. (See Paolo Veronese’s
painting – The Rape of Europa – Palazzo Ducale,
Book II.28A:47-62. A beauty.
The
Book III.14:1-34. Helen
exercised there.
The East Wind. Auster is the South Wind, Zephyrus the West Wind, and Boreas is the North Wind.
Book II.26A:21-58. Book III.5:1-48. Book III.15:1-46. A stormwind.
A Giant.
Book III.9:1-60. A reference to their war with the Gods.
Book IV.5:1-78. King of Cos.
He was killed at the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs, at the marriage of Pirithous and Hippodamia.
Book II.33A:23-44. A victim of
drunkenness.
The wife of Capaneus,
one of the Seven against Thebes. She
threw herself onto her husband’s funeral pyre rather than live on after his
death.
Book I.15:1-42. Book III.13:1-66. A type of
loyalty.
An exiled Greek king of Arcadia who settled on the site of ancient
Book IV.1:1-70. His cattle.
A son of Mars.
Marpessa
was the daughter of Evenus, the son of Mars, by his wife Alcippe. Her father
wished her to remain virgin, and her suitors were forced to compete in a
chariot race with him, the losers forfeiting their lives. Apollo vowed to win her and end the custom,
but Idas borrowing his father Neptune’s chariot pre-empted
him. Idas snatched her: Evenus gave chase, but killed his horses and drowned
himself in the Lycormas, then renamed the Evenus, in disgust at failing to
overtake Idas. Apollo and Idas fought over Marpessa, but Jupiter
parted them and she chose Idas fearing that Apollo would be faithless to her.
Book I.2:1-32. He is mentioned.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosos, Cunctator (‘The
Delayer’) (?275-203BC).
He was appointed Dictator of Rome
after Hannibal’s victory at
Book III.3:1-52. An ironic subject
for epic.
A district in Campania producing a strong, highly-prized
wine, Falernian.
Book II.33A:23-44. Cynthia drinking.
Book
IV.6:1-86. A prized wine.
Book II.34:1-94. Fame personified. (But fama also means public opinion, rumour and tradition, a little gentle irony here?)
Book III.1:1-38. Propertius already famous?
The Fates, The Three Goddesses, The Parcae, The Three Sisters.
The three Fates were born of Erebus and Night. Clothed in white, they spin, measure out, and sever the thread of each human life. Clotho spins the thread. Lachesis measures it. Atropos wields the shears.
Book II.13A:1-58. Book II.28:1-46. The Fates determine life span.
Book IV.7:1-96. Cynthia swears an oath by them.
Book IV.10:1-48. A
title of Jupiter. His
A town near
Book IV.1:1-70. Once regarded as
distant from Alba Longa.
The Roman Forum. The main
thoroughfare.
Book II.24:1-16. Book IV.1A:71-150. The marketplace.
Book III.9:1-60. Maecenas as a magistrate has the right to set up a court of justice there.
Book III.11:1-72. Curtius’s sacrifice there.
Book IV.2:1-64. The Vicus Tuscus lead to it.
Book IV.4:1-94. The
centre of early
Book IV.8:1-88. A licentious area.
Book IV.9:1-74. Its
origins.
A town not far from Rome in
Book IV.1:1-70. Overshadowed later by
A river near Tarentum.Tarentum
was a city on the ‘heel’ of
Book II.34:1-94. Probably a reference
to Virgil’s Georgics IV 125.
A sea nymph, daughter of Nereus
and Doris. ( See the fresco ‘Galatea’ by Raphael,
See Ovid’s Metamorphoses XIII 738 onwards.
Book I.8:1-26. Sicilian
coasts are intended, since her story is set on
Book III.2:1-26. Listened to the Song of
Polyphemus.
Aelia Galla, the wife of Postumus. Possibly the sister of
Aelius Gallus, successor to Cornelius Gallus as
prefect of
Book III.12:1-38. Her faithfulness.
The Gauls of the region
of modern
Book II.31:1-16. Book III.13:1-66. Under Brennus they sacked Apollo’s oracle at
Phrygian from Gallus a
Book II.13A:1-58. The region (Dardania) containing Troy.
A friend of Propertius.
Book I.5:1-32. He is warned off.
Book I.10:1-30. Advice to him.
Book I.13:1-36. Gallus in love.
Book
I:20:1-52. Has a male lover, a handsome boy.
Book I.21:1-10. A soldier, perhaps a kinsman of Propertius.
The son of Arria, possibly a friend or kinsman of Propertius.
Book IV.1A:71-150. He died in war.
Gaius Cornelius Gallus (c69-26BC). The first notable Roman elegiac poet who
wrote of his mistress Lycoris. He was
First Prefect of Egypt, but lost Augustus’s favour perhaps through ambition
and was obliged to commit suicide.
Book II.34:1-94.
Recently dead, dating Book II to around 26BC.
Book III.22:1-42. The
monster with three bodies, killed by Hercules. In the
Tenth Labour, Hercules brought back Geryon’s famous herd of cattle after
shooting three arrows through the three bodies. Geryon was the son of Chrysaor
and Callirhoë, and King of Tartessus in
Book IV.3:1-72. The Getae. A Scythian tribe.
Book
IV.5:1-78. Scythian slaves appeared in a play by Menander.
The sons of Heaven and Earth, Uranus and Ge.
They rebelled against Jupiter but were defeated and
buried beneath mountains and volcanos.
Book III.5:1-48. Tormented
underground.
The ora Gigantea is the volcanic Phlegrean plain, north of
Book I:20:1-52. A country pleasure area.
A fisherman of Anthedon in Boeotia.
He was transformed into a sea god by the chance eating of a magic herb, and
told the story of his transformation to Scylla
who rejected him. He asked Circe for help
and she in turn fell in love with him. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XII 906.
Book II.26:1-20. A sea-god.
The royal city of Crete, ruled by Minos, hence the Minoan period.
Book I.3:1-46. Ariadne comes from there.
Book II.12:1-24. Cretan.
Medusa was the best
known of the Three Gorgons, the daughters of Phorcys. A winged monster with
snake locks, glaring eyes and brazen claws whose gaze turns men to stone. Her
sisters were Stheino and Euryale. Perseus
was helped by Athene-Minerva and Hermes-Mercury to overcome Medusa. He
was not to look at her head directly but only in a brightly-polished shield. He
cut off her head with an adamantine sickle, at which Pegasus
the winged horse and the warrior Chrysaor sprang from her body. He used her
head to petrify Atlas. Minerva had placed
snakes on her head because Medusa was violated, by Neptune, in Minerva’s temple.
Book II.2:1-16. Book IV.9:1-74. Minerva wears a breastplate depicting her.
Book II.25:1-48. Turned men to stone with her gaze.
Book III.22:1-42. Her
head severed by Perseus. The Gorgons lived in the lands of the Hyperboreans to
the far north-west.
The fountain that was created by a blow from Pegasus’s hoof. He was a child
sprung from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa. Medusa was one of the three
Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys the
wise old man of the sea. She is represented in the sky by part of the
constellation Perseus, who holds
her decapitated head. Perseus turned Atlas and others to stone with her severed
head. Neptune lay with her in the form
of a bird, and she produced Pegasus. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses IV 743 and VI
119.
Book III.3:1-52. The Hippocrene
fountain on Helicon.
The country in southern Europe, bordering on
the Ionian (West of Greece), Cretan (South of
Book II.6:1-42. Corinth, a Greek city.
Book II.9:1-52.
Book II.32:1-62. Greek women.
Book II.34:1-94. Greek authors.
Book III.1:1-38. Greek metres/rhythms.
Book III.7:1-72. The Greek fleet.
Book III.8:1-34. The Greeks at Troy.
Book III.22:1-42. Book IV.1A:71-150. The fleet wrecked on Caphareus.
Book IV.8:1-88. Greek
wine.
A lake near
Book III.11:1-72. Omphale bathed there.
The
Book I.6:1-36. It is
mentioned.
The
Book III.21:1-34. On the way to Athens from
A binary star (zeta Aurigae) in the
constellation Auriga, the Charioteer (of which the brightest star is Capella).
Book II.26A:21-58. A harbinger of
good weather if seen clearly.
The son of Creon, king of Thebes (brother to Jocasta and
successor to Oedipus) who was to have married Antigone, but committed suicide when she
was entombed. See Sophocles’s Antigone.
Book II.8A:1-40. His death for love is
mentioned.
The ancient name for Thessaly.
Book I.13:1-36. The River Enipeus is located there.
Book I.15:1-42. Jason came from there.
Book II.1:1-78. Achilles’s spear, which belonged to his father Peleus, came from there.
Book II.8A:1-40. Achilles’s Thessalian horses.
Book II.10:1-26. A Thessalian horse the metaphor for epic poetry.
Nymphs of the woods.
Book I:20:1-52. They are mentioned.
Book II.32:1-62. Saw Paris and Oenone.
Book II.34:1-94. Wanton or loose. (facilis)
The Carthaginian
general, son of Hamilcar, who campaigned in
Book III.3:1-52. Subject of epic.
Book III.11:1-72. His spoils.
The daughter of Iuno, born without a father. She
married Hercules after his deification. See Ovid’s
Metamorphoses Book IX 394.
Book I.13:1-36. She is mentioned.
The Trojan hero, son of Priam and Hecuba. His wife was Andromache. He torched the Greek ships, and terrified the Greeks in battle, bringing the gods with him to the battlefield. He was killed by Achilles.
Book II.8A:1-40. Book III.1:1-38. His body dragged behind Achilles’s chariot.
Book II.22:1-42. His fierceness unaffected by lovemaking.
Book III.8:1-34. The main champion of the Trojans.
Book IV.6:1-86. Trojans.
People of Hector.
The daughter of Leda and Jupiter (Tyndareus was her putative father), sister of Clytemnaestra, and the Dioscuri. The wife of Menelaüs. She was taken, by Paris, to Troy, instigating the Trojan War.
Book II.1:1-78. Noted for her many lovers and suitors.
Book II.3:1-54. A standard for feminine beauty.
Book
II.15:1-54. Desired by
Book II.32:1-62. Went with a foreign stranger.
Book II.34:1-94. A loose woman. Lesbia compared with her.
Book III.8:1-34. The lover of
Book III.14:1-34. Helen exercised
bare-breasted with her brothers.
A son of Priam
of Troy. He fought in the War, and
was gifted with powers of prophecy.
Book III.1:1-38. A famous name.
The mountain in Boeotia near
the Gulf of Corinth where the Muses lived. The sacred springs of
Book II.10:1-26. The place of poetic inspiration.
Book III.3:1-52. Propertius dreams he is there.
Book III.5:1-48. Symbol of the
poetic life.
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
Book II.26:1-20. Drowned, giving her name to the waters.
Book III.22:1-42. Her cities of the
region.
The Hero, son of Jupiter. He was set in the sky as the constellation Hercules between Lyra and Corona Borealis.
The son of Jupiter and Alcmena,
the wife of Amphitryon. Called Alcides from Amphitryon’s father Alceus.
Called also Amphitryoniades. Called also Tyrinthius from
Book I.11:1-30. Book III.18:1-34. The causeway at Baiae attributed to him. It was a narrow
strip of land, the via Herculea, dividing the
Book I.13:1-36. He married Hebe after his deification, she the daughter of Iuno, born without a father. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book IX 394.
Book I:20:1-52.He loved Hylas.
Book II.23:1-24. Jupiter predicted at his birth that a scion of Perseus would be born, greater than all other descendants. Juno delayed Hercules birth and hastened that of Eurystheus, grandson of Perseus, making Hercules subservient to him. Hercules was set twelve labours by Eurystheus at Juno’s instigation:
1. The killing of the Nemean lion.
2. The destruction of the Lernean Hydra. He used the poison from the Hydra for his arrows.
3. The capture of the stag with golden antlers.
4. The capture of the Erymanthian Boar.
5. The cleansing of the stables of Augeas king of Elis.
6.
The killing of the birds of the
7. The capture of the Cretan wild bull.
8. The capture of the mares of Diomede of Thrace, that ate human flesh.
9. The taking of the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons.
10. The killing of Geryon and the capture of his oxen.
11. The securing of the apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. He held up the sky for Atlas in order to deceive him and obtain them.
12.
The bringing of the dog Cerberus
from Hades to the upper world.
Book II.24A:17-52. His Twelve Labours are referred to.
Book II.32:1-62. Tibur described as Herculean.
Book III.1:1-38 He
captured Troy and rescued Hesione, with the help of Telamon,
and gave her to Telamon in marriage. Philoctetes
received his bow and arrows after his death, destined to be needed at
Book III.11:1-72. His love for Omphale unmanned him.
Book III.22:1-42. He fought with Antaeus and overcame him.
Book IV.7:1-96. The air of Tibur supposedly preserved ivory, Hercules being specially worshiped there.
Book IV.9:1-74. The Palatine Hill. Hercules and the Sacred Grove. Note that there was a Sabine cult of Hercules Sancus, with a possible realtionship to the verb sancio, to make sacred.
Book IV.10:1-48. An ancestor of Acron.
Book IV.11:1-102.
Claimed as an ancestor by Perses.
The daughter of Helen and
Menelaus. Orestes and Neoptolemus (=Pyrrhus, the son
of Achilles) were rivals for her love.
Book I.4:1-28. Famed for
her beauty.
The three nymphs who tended the garden with the
golden apples on a western island beyond
Book II.24A:17-52. A demanding task.
Book III.22:1-42. Their dances in
the far west.
The evening star (the planet Venus). It sets after the sun and
remains close to the sun being an inner planet. Hence the meaning of Western or
Italian.
Book II.3:1-54. Western.
The Roman province in south-western
Book II.3:1-54. Vermilion
dye came from there.
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. She is
mentioned as a woman who relied on her natural charms.
The daughter of Oenomaus, the Arcadian ruler of
Book I.2:1-32. She is mentioned as a woman who relied on her natural beauty only.
Book I.8A:27-46. Her
dowry was the
Queen of the Amazons,
warrior maidens living near the Rivers Tanaïs and Thermodon in Scythia, based on Greek knowledge of
the Scythian princesses of the Sarmatian people of the
Book IV.3:1-72. Able to go to war.
The son of Theseus and
the Amazon Hippolyte.
He was admired by Phaedra, his
step-mother, and was killed at Troezen, after meeting ‘a bull from the sea’. He
was brought to life again by Aesculapius, and hidden by Diana
(Cynthia, the moon-goddess) who set him down in the sacred grove at Arician Nemi, where he became Virbius, the
consort of the goddess (as Adonis was of Venus, and Attis of Cybele), and the King of the Wood (Rex
Nemorensis). All this is retold and developed in Frazer’s monumental work
on magic and religion, ‘The Golden Bough’ (see Chapter I et seq.). (See also
Euripides’s play ‘Hippolytos’, and
Book II.1:1-78. Phaedra’s stepson.
Book
IV.5:1-78. Resisted Phaedra’s advances.
The possibly mythical Greek epic poet who wrote
the Iliad and Odyssey.
Book I.7:1-26. The greatest of poets.
Book I.9:1-34. Not too useful when in love.
Book II.1:1-78. He sang of Troy.
Book II.34:1-94. Is supposed to have loved Penelope, as recorded by Hermesianax.
Book III.1:1-38. His
Iliad.
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.
Book III.11:1-72.
Horatius, who kept the bridge against Lars Porsena’s army. (see Macaulay’s poem
from Lays of Ancient Rome)
An unknown astrologer.
Perhaps fictitious.
Book IV.1A:71-150. The son of Orops.
A region on the northern
borders of Scythia.
Book I.8:1-26. Distant,
beyond
A Centaur who attacked and tried to rape Atalanta at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. He
wounded her lover Milanion (or
Meleager) as he protected her, and was shot down by her. (Many variants of this
myth exist).
Book I.1:1-38. He is mentioned.
The beautiful son of Theodamas, loved by Hercules, who sailed with the hero on the Argos. Propertius tells how Hylas was
pursued by Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, escaped
them, but was taken by the Nymphs.
Book I:20:1-52. The story of Hylas.
Book IV.4:1-94. The god
of marriage. His blessing was asked at the marriage-feast.
A river in southern
Book I.12:1-20.
Mentioned.
A daughter of Danaus. She refused to obey her
father and would not murder her husband on his wedding night. Her forty-nine
sisters obeyed.
Book IV.7:1-96. The virtuous
exception.
The
daughter of Thoas, king of
Thoas was king there when the Lemnian women murdered their menfolk
because of their adultery with Thracian
girls. His life was spared because his daughter Hypsipyle set him adrift in an
oarless boat. As Queen of Lemnos she welcomed Jason and the Argonauts. He deserted her
to continue the quest for the Golden Fleece.
Book I.15:1-42. She
mourned for him.
The region around the
Book II.30:1-40.
Cynthia is headed there.
Book II.3:1-54. A name for Bacchus from the ecstatic shouts of his followers the Maenads.
Atalanta,
the daughter of Iasus of Calydon. He exposed her on the Parthenian hill near
Book I.1:1-38. She is mentioned.
The son of Aeson, and leader of the Argonauts: 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. He reached Colchis and the court
of King Aeetes. He accepted Medea’s help
and promised her marriage. He completed the tasks set and won the Golden Fleece,
and married Medea, before returning to Iolchos.He
asked Medea to lengthen his father’s life.He acquired the throne of Corinth, and married a new bride Glauce (Creusa). Medea in revenge for his disloyalty
to her sent Glauce a wedding gift of a golden crown and white robe, which burst
into flames when she put them on, and consumed her and the palace. Medea then
killed her own sons by Jason, and fled his wrath.
Book II.24A:17-52. He abandons Medea.
Book II.34:1-94. The
hero of Apollonius Rhodius’s Argonautica translated by Varro.
Penelope,
the daughter of Icarius brother of Tyndareus,
and the Naiad Periboea.
Book III.13:1-66. Disdainful of the
suitors’ gifts.
The daughter of Icarius the Athenian, Erigone was loved by Bacchus. Her country was Panchaia. She was
set in the sky as the constellation Virgo, after her suicide, by hanging, in
despair at finding her father Icarius’s body. He had learned the art of
winemaking and gave the wine to some peasants who thinking they were poisoned
murdered him. Icarius is identified with the constellation Boötes.
Book II.33A:23-44. The constellation.
Idaeus, Ida, Idalius,
One
Book II.2:1-16. Paris and the Goddesses on the Trojan Ida.
Book II.13A:1-58. Adonis killed on the Cretan Ida. He was
identified with Tammuz of the
Book II.32:1-62. Oenone loved Paris on the Trojan Ida.
Book III.1:1-38.
Source of the river Simois at
Book III.17:1-42. Cybele worshipped on Trojan Ida.
A son of Neptune, putative son of Aphareus king
of
Marpessa
was the daughter of Evenus, the son of Mars, by his wife Alcippe. Her father wished
her to remain virgin, and her suitors were forced to compete in a chariot race
with him, the losers forfeiting their lives. Apollo
vowed to win her and end the custom, but Idas borrowing his father Neptune’s chariot pre-empted him. Idas
snatched her: Evenus gave chase, but killed his horses and drowned himself in
the Lycormas then renamed the Evenus in disgust at failing to overtake Idas.
Apollo and Idas fought over Marpessa, but Jupiter
parted them and she chose Idas fearing that Apollo would be faithless to her.
Book I.2:1-32. He is mentioned.
Iliacus,
A name for Troy.
Book II.13A:1-58. Book III.1:1-38. Book III.13:1-66.
Book
IV.4:1-94. The embers of fallen
Homer’s epic verse story
of the Trojan War, specifically the
Anger of Achilles and its aftermath.
Book II.1:1-78. Mentioned for its length and greatness.
Book II.34:1-94. The
standard of highest poetic achievement.
The North-Eastern seaboard of the
Book I.8:1-26. Cold climate.
Book II.16:1-56. A Roman
province. A praetor arrives from there.
Io, daughter of Inachus.
Book II.33:1-22. Worshipped as Isis.
Book I.13:1-36. Inachus was King of Argos, hence Argive=Greek.
Book II.13:1-16. Greek Linus.
The Indian sub-continent, part of Asia.
Book I.8A:27-46. Pearls were imported from there.
Book II.9:1-52. A military outposting.
Book
II.10:1-26. Subject to
Book II.22:1-42. A source of gemstones.
Book III.4:1-22. Augustus planning a campaign there.
Book III.13:1-66. Herodotus and Pliny say that ants brought gold dust from the Indian mines in winter, which was gathered by the Indians in summer when the ants sheltered from the heat. See Herodotus Book III Chs. 102-105.
Book III.17:1-42.
Indian warriors routed by the Bacchic
dancers.
The daughter of Cadmus, wife
of Athamas, and sister of Semele and
Agave. She fosters the infant Bacchus.
She participated in the killing of Pentheus.
She incurred the hatred of Juno. Maddened by Tisiphone, and the death of her son
Learchus, at the hand of his father, she leapt into the sea, and was changed to
the sea-goddess Leucothoë by Neptune, at Venus’s request.
Book II.28:1-46. Became
a goddess. Changes of fortune.
The daughter of Inachus a river-god of
Book I.3:1-46. She is mentioned.
Book II.28:1-46. Changes of fortune.
Book II.30:1-40. Loved by Jupiter.
Book II.33:1-22.
Worshipped as
Book III.22:1-42.
Transformed by Juno.
A seaport town in Thessaly from which the Argonauts sailed.
They return there with Medea
and the Golden Fleece.
Book II.1:1-78. Medea in
Iolcus.
Book IV.5:1-78. One of Cynthia’s (?) slaves.
The
Book I.6:1-36.
Book II.26:1-20. The
Book III.11:1-72. Augustus-Octavian’s naval battleground. Propertius hints at homosexual proclivities again.
Book III.21:1-34. On the route to Athens.
Book IV.6:1-86. Off the
site of Actium.
(1). The daughter of Iphiclus and wife of Theseus.
(2). The daughter of Aeolus, wife of Cepheus, and mother of Andromeda, more commonly called Cassiope.
Book II.28A:47-62. A
beauty.
Melampus
the son of Amythaon, undertook to
steal the cattle of Iphiclus for Neleus, so that Bias his brother or he himself
could win Pero, Neleus’s daughter. He
was captured and chained but escaped and succeeded in marrying her.
Book II.3:1-54. Iphiclus
is mentioned.
The daughter of Agamemnon,
king of Mycenae, and Clytaemnestra. She is called Mycenis.
She was sacrificed by her father at Aulis,
to gain favourable winds for the passage to Troy but snatched away by Diana. (to Tauris)
Book III.7:1-72. Book IV.1A:71-150. Her sacrifice.
A beggar on Ithaca, in
the
Book III.5:1-48. In
the underworld.
The daughter of Adrastus,
and wife of Pirithoüs. Eurytus the Centaur attempted to carry her off at her
wedding and precipitated the battle between Lapiths and Centaurs.
Book II.2:1-16. Her
beauty. A daughter of the Lapithae.
Book IV.5:1-78. The
Egyptian Goddess. See Io. Worshipped throughout the Empire,
women remained celibate while performing her rites and vigils.
Book II.13:1-16. Book III.12:1-38. The home of the Cicones in Thrace. Thracian.
Book II.33A:23-44. Ulysses gives Polyphemus neat wine from there.
Isthmos, The Isthmus
The Isthmus of Corinth
between the
Book III.21:1-34. On
the route to Athens.
Book I.22:1-10. The country and people.
Book III.7:1-72. Italian shores.
Book III.1:1-38. Italian mysteries. (Itala orgia)
Book III.22:1-42. Italian waters.
Odysseus, the hero from
(See Francesco Primaticcio’s painting – Ulysses and Penelope – The Toledo Museum of Art)
Book I.15:1-42. He is mentioned. Calypso delayed him.
Book III.12:1-38. Of
The son of Tereus and Procne. He was murdered by his mother in
revenge for Tereus’s rape of Philomela, and his flesh was served to his father
at a banquet. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book VI 437.
Book III.10:1-32. His
mother’s grief.
King of Numidia, in
Book III.5:1-48. In the underworld.
Book
IV.6:1-86. Led in defeat through the streets of Rome.
Of the Julian dynasty.
Book IV.6:1-86. Used of Augustus’s fleet
The son of Aeneas, Ascanius, who built Alba Longa and was its first king.
Book IV.1:1-70. Trojan lineage.
The daughter of Rhea and Saturn,
wife of Jupiter, and the queen of the gods. A
representation of the pre-Hellenic Great Goddess. (See the Metope of
Book II.2:1-16. The sister, and wife, of Jupiter.
Book II.5:1-30. The goddess of women’s arts, and domestic order.
Book II.28:1-46. Called Pelasgian. Moved by the deaths of young girls.
Book II.33:1-22. Book III.22:1-42. Changed Io into a heifer.
Book IV.1A:71-150. Presides over childbirth.
Book IV.8:1-88. Her temple at Lanuvium.
Book IV.9:1-74. She
persecuted Hercules. See the entry for Hercules for
further detail.
The sky-god, son of Saturn
and Rhea, born on
Book I.13:1-36. He raped Leda in the form of a swan.
Book II.1:1-78. He fought the Giants.
Book II.2:1-16. Responsible for a long list of rapes of desirable girls, and many resultant offspring. His adulteries resented by Juno.
Book II.3:1-54. Notorious adulterer.
Book II.7:1-20. Powerless to separate loyal lovers.
Book II.13:1-16. A synonym for Augustus. Propertius was probably in trouble with the authorities for the seditious nature of his verse.
Book II.16:1-56. Punishes faithless girls.
Book II.22:1-42. Fathered Hercules on Alcmene.
Book II.26A:21-58, Sends the lightning.
Book II.28:1-46. A God who protects lovely girls.
Book II.30:1-40. He raped Semele, Io, and flying as an eagle to Troy carried off Ganymede, the son of king Tros (a dig at Augustus, imputing homosexual practices to him?)
Book II.32:1-62. He raped Danae.
Book II.33:1-22. He loved Io.
Book II.34:1-94. A potential rival where lovely women are concerned.
Book II.34:1-94. He struck down Capaneus.
Book III.1:1-38.
Father of the river-god
Book III.2:1-26.
His shrine at Elis.
Book III.3:1-52. The Capitol with its
Book III.4:1-22. The Roman Jupiter=Augustus. Propertius suggests Augustus might be unduly interested in the Persian trophies=catamites, an innuendo about Augustus’s sexual proclivities.
Book III.9:1-60. The
god portrayed at his temple at
Book III.11:1-72. The gods behaviour reprehensible, by analogy Augustus’s also.
Book III.11:1-72. Augustus, challenged by Cleopatra.
Book III.15:1-46. The god raped Antiope, taking the form of a satyr.
Book III.24:1-20. Not a god of commonsense.
Book IV.1:1-70. Book IV.4:1-94. His temple on the Tarpeian Hill, the Capitoline. He aided the founding of Rome as a rebirth of Troy.
Book IV.1A:71-150. Prophecies bought for gold. Jupiter the planet astrologically connected with good fortune (Fortuna Maior). Ammon, an Egyptian and Libyan god, worshipped in the form of a Ram-headed deity, was identified by the Romans and Greeks with Jupiter and Zeus.
Book IV.6:1-86. His supposed support for Augustus at Actium.
Book IV.9:1-74. Outraged by Cacus’s thieving.
Book IV.10:1-48. His temple as Feretrian Jupiter.
King of the Lapithae, father of Pirithoüs, and of the Centaurs.
The father of Nessus and the other centaurs. He attempted to seduce Juno, but Jupiter created a false
image of her, caught Ixion in the act with this simulacrum, and bound him to a
fiery wheel that rolls through the sky (or turns in the Underworld).
Book II.1:1-78.His son is Pirithous.
Book IV.11:1-102. Tormented in Hades.
Book II.1:1-78.
Pirithous, son of Ixion.