Ovid - The Metamorphoses: Index - OP
Oceanus
Bk II:508-530. Bk XV:1-59. The Ocean, personified as a sea-god, son of Earth and Air, and husband of Tethys his sister. Oceanus and Tethys are also the Titan and Titaness ruling the planet Venus. Some say from his waters all living things originated and Tethys produced all his children. Visited by Juno for help in punishing Callisto.
Bk IX:439-516. He married his sister, Tethys.
Bk XIII:898-968. With Tethys, he purges Glaucus.
Ocyrhoë
Bk II:633-675. Daughter of Chiron the Centaur and the water-nymph Chariclo, and named after the river where she was born.
A prophetess of Apollo, she foretells Aesculapius’s fate and that of her father Chiron. She is turned into a horse by the gods for her pains.
Odrysius
Bk VI:486-548. An epithet from a tribe in Thrace, used for Thracian.
Bk XIII:481-575. Polymestor, the Thracian king.
Oeagrius, Oeagrus
Bk II:201-226. Of Oeagrus an ancient king of Thrace. Supposedly the father of Orpheus and of Linus his brother. Their mother was the Muse Calliope.
Oebalides, Oebalius
Bk X:143-219. Bk XIII:382-398. Spartan, from Oebalus, king of Sparta. See Hyacinthus.
Oechalia
A city in Euboea.
Bk IX:89-158. Ruled by King Eurytus who offered his daughter Iole to whoever won an archery contest, but he refused Hercules the prize. Hercules killed his eldest son Iphitus, and fell in love with Iole. He had to appease Jove for this breach of his role as a guest.
Bk IX:324-393. Bk IX:324-393. Iole’s city.
Oechalides
Bk IX:324-393: The women of Oechalia.
Oeclides
Amphiaraüs as the son of Oecleus.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Oedipodioniae
Bk XV:418-452. An epithet of Thebes, as the city of Oedipus.
Oeneus
King of Calydon, son of Parthaon, husband of Althaea, father of Meleager, Tydeus, and Deianira.
Bk VIII:260-328. He slights Diana, and she sends the wild boar against him.
Bk VIII:451-514. Althaea ends the life of their son, Meleager.
Bk IX:1-88. Hears the suitors for Deianira’s hand.
Oenides
A male descendant of Oeneus.
Bk VIII:376-424. Meleager, son of Oeneus, brother of Tydeus.
Bk XIV:512-526. Diomede, grandson of Oeneus, son of Tydeus.
Oenopia
Bk VII:453-500. Bk VII:453-500. An older name for the island of Aegina.
Oetaeus
Bk XI:346-409. An epithet of king Ceyx, because Trachin his city was near Mount Oeta.
Oete, Oeta
Bk I:313-347. A mountain range between Aetolia and Thessaly.
Bk IX:159-210. Bk IX:159-210. Hercules endures the torment of the shirt of Nessus there.
Bk IX:211-272. Hercules builds his own funeral pyre there.
Oïleus
Bk XII:579-628. The king of the Locrians and father of Ajax(2).
Olenides
Bk XII:429-535. Tectaphus, the son of Olenus.
Olenius(1)
Bk III:572-596. Of Olenus, whose daughter Aege is identified with Capella, the ‘she-goat’, the sixth brightest star in the sky (a binary yellow giant) in the constellation Auriga, the Charioteer. Auriga is now usually associated with Erichthonius, and Capella with Amaltheia who suckled the infant Zeus.
Olenius(2)
Bk VIII:260-328. Of Olenos, a town in Aetolia, hence Aetolian. Scene of the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Olenus
Bk X:1-85. The husband of Lethaea. She was punished for her pride in her beauty, and he chose to share her guilt. They were turned into stones on Mount Ida.
Bk XII:429-535. The father of Tectaphos?
Oliarus
An island of the Cyclades.
Bk VII:453-500. Not allied to Crete.
Olympus
Bk I:151-176. Bk XIII:738-788. A mountain in northern Thessaly supposed to be the home of the gods.
Bk VI:486-548. The heavens, themselves.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk IX:439-516. Jupiter is the ruler of Olympus.
Onchestius
Bk X:560-637. Of Onchestus, a city in Boeotia near Lake Copais, not far from Helicon. The home city of Megareus.
Onetor
Bk XI:346-409. A Phocian herdsman, servant of Peleus.
Opheltes
Bk III:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.
Ophias
Bk VII:350-403. Combe, daughter of Ophius.
Ophionides
Bk XII:245-289. Amycus, a centaur, son of Ophion.
Ophiuchus
Bk VIII:152-182. The constellation, ‘The Serpent Holder’. See Aesculapius.
Ophiusius
Bk X:220-242. Of Ophiusa, an old name for Cyprus.
Ops
Goddess of plenty, an old Italian deity, wife of Saturn and patroness of husbandry.
Bk IX:439-516. She married her brother Saturn.
Orchamus
Bk IV:190-213. King of Babylon, father of Leucothoë.
Bk IV:190-213. Ruled Achaemenian Persia in line from Belus.
A city in Boeotia.
Bk V:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.
Bk VI:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is described as fertile.
Orcus
Bk XIV:101-153. The Underworld, the house of the dead, and a name for Pluto (Dis) as the god of the Underworld.
Oreas
Bk VIII:777-842. An Oread. One of the mountain nymphs. Sent by Ceres to relay her orders to Famine.
Orestea
Bk XV:479-546. Of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, applied to Diana because Orestes took the image of Diana from Taurus to Aricia in Italy. The rites of the sanctuary there, at Nemi, are the starting point for Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’ (see Chapter I et seq.)
Orion
The mighty hunter, one of the giants, now a constellation with his two hunting dogs and his sword and glittering belt. The brightest constellation in the sky, it is an area of star formation in a nearby arm of the Galaxy centred on M42 the Orion Nebula, which marks Orion’s sword. He is depicted as brandishing a club and shield at Taurus the Bull. He was stung to death by a scorpion, and now rises when Scorpio sets and vice versa. His two dogs are Canis Major, which contains Sirius the brightest star in the sky after the sun, and Canis Minor, which contains the star Procyon, forming an equilateral triangle with Sirius and Betelgeuse the red giant in Orion.
Bk VIII:183-235. Icarus is warned not to fly too near the constellation.
Bk XIII:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles’s shield.
Bk XIII:675-704. Orion’s daughters, Menippe and Metioche, killed themselves as an offering to the gods to relieve the city of Thebes from plague.
Orios
Bk XII:245-289. One of the Lapithae. The son of Mycale, killed by Gryneus at the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs.
Orithyia
The daughter of the Athenian king Erectheus, and the sister of Procris.
Book VI:675-721. Stolen away by Boreas, and married to him. She becomes the mother of Calais and Zetes. (See Evelyn de Morgan’s painting–Boreas and Orithyia– Cragside, Northumberland)
Bk VII:661-758. Mentioned as Procris’s more famous sister.
Orneus
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Orontes
Bk II:227-271. A river in Syria.
Orpheus
The mythical musician of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope the Muse. His lyre, given to him by Apollo, and invented by Hermes-Mercury, is the constellation Lyra containing the star Vega.
(See John William Waterhouse’s painting – Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus – Private Collection, and Gustave Moreau’s painting – Orpheus – in the Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris: See Peter Vischer the Younger’s Bronze relief – Orpheus and Eurydice – Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: and the bas-relief – Hermes, Eurydice and Orpheus – a copy of a votive stele attributed to Callimachus or the school of Phidias, Naples, National Archaeological Museum: Note also Rilke’s - Sonnets to Orpheus – and his Poem - Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes.)
Bk X:1-85. He summons Hymen to his wedding with Eurydice. After she is stung by a snake and dies he travels to Hades, to ask for her life to be renewed. Granted it, on condition he does not look back at her till she reaches the upper world, he falters, and she is lost. He mourns her, and turns from the love of women to that of young men.
Bk X:106-142. He sings the stories of: Ganymede, Hyacinthus, the Cerastae, the Propoetides, Pygmalion, Myrrha, Venus and Adonis, and through Venus’s ‘tale within a tale’ Atalanta and Hippomenes.
Bk XI:1-66. He is killed by the Maenads of Thrace and dismembered, his head and lyre floating down the river Hebrus to the sea, being washed to Lesbos. (This head had powers of prophetic utterance) His ghost sinks to the fields of the Blessed where he is reunited with Eurydice.
Bk XI:85-145. He taught Midas and Eumolpus the Bacchic rites.
Orphne
Bk V:533-571. A nymph of the Underworld, mother of Ascalaphus by Acheron.
Ortygia(1)
Bk I:689-721. An ancient name for the island of Delos, originally of an islet nearby (Quail Island), and an epithet of Diana, the Delian goddess.
Bk XV:307-360. Once a floating island.
Ortygia(2)
Bk V:487-532. Part of the city of Syracuse in Sicily on an island in the harbour.
Bk V:572-641. Arethusa is pleased by its name, since it reflects that of her goddess Diana, from her birthplace on Delos.
Osiris
The Egyptian god, Ousir, identified with Dis and Bacchus-Dionysus. A nature god, the son of Geb and Nut, born in Thebes in Upper Egypt. His consort was Isis. The story is of his death initiated by his brother Set, and his resurrection thanks to Isis, Thoth, Anubis and Horus.
Bk IX:666-713. He was searched for by Isis
Ossa
Bk I:151-176. Bk II:201-227. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk XII:290-326. Aphidas is lying on the skin of a bear from Ossa.
Othrys
Bk II:201-226. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk VII:350-403. The region where Cerambus came from.
Bk XII:146-209. The region where Caeneus came from.
Bk XII:429-535. A haunt of the Centaurs.
Pachynus
Bk V:332-384. Bk XIII:705-737. The south eastern promontory of Sicily.
Pactolides
Bk VI:1-25. Nymphs of the River Pactolus.
Pactolus
BkVI:1-25. A river in northern Lydia, a tributary of the River Hermus.
Bk XI:85-145. The site of the royal capital of Lydia is at Sardis nearby, and both are near Mount Tmolus. Its waters become a gold-bearing stream at the touch of Midas.
Padus
Bk II:227-271. The River Po in northern Italy.
Paean
Bk I:553-567. Bk XV:479-546. A name for Apollo the Healer.
Bk XIV:698-771. A religious hymn in his honour.
Paeones
The Paeonians, a people of northern Macedonia.
Bk V:294-331. The native country of Euippe.
Paeonius
Of Apollo as god of healing, and of Aescalapius his son.
Paestum
Bk XV:622-745. A city of Lucania in Italy. The site is near modern Agropoli on the Bay of Salerno, a ruin in a wilderness, with Doric temples that surpassed those of Athens. Originally called Poseidonia, the city of Neptune, it was founded by Greeks from Sybaris in the 6th c. BC. It became Paestum when it passed into the hands of the Lucanians in the 4th century. It was taken by the Romans in 273BC. In antiquity it was famous for its roses, which flowered twice a year, and its violets. Malaria eventually drove away its population.
Pagasaeus
Bk VII:1-73. Bk XIII:1-122. Of Pagasae, a seaport of Thessaly, on the Pagasaean Gulf, where the Argo was built.
Bk VIII:329-375. An epithet of Jason.
Bk XII:393-428. Hylonome bathed in a mountain stream nearby.
Palaemon
Bk XIII:898-968. The sea god into whom Melicertes was changed.
Bk IV:512-542. Ino, his mother leaps with him into the waves, but Venus intercedes, and Neptune, at her request, changes him and his mother into sea-deities.
Palaestinus
Bk IV:31-54. Bk V:107-148. Of Palestine, identified as Syrian.
Palamedes
Bk XIII:1-122. The son of Nauplius, Naupliades. He revealed Ulysses pretence of madness and drew him into the expedition against Troy. Ulysses subsequently hid gold in Palamades’s tent, and claimed it was a bribe from Priam. Palamedes died dishonoured. Ulysses defends his action.
Palatium, Palatine, Palatinus
BkI: 151-176. Bk XV:552-621. The Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, the prestigious location where Augustus built his palace, the Palatia.
Bk XIV:320-396. The hill where Venilia bore Canens.
Bk XIV:609-622. The Romans.
Bk XIV:805-828. The hill where Mars lands, and where Romulus is dispensing justice.
Palici
The sons of Jupiter and the nymph Thalia, worshipped in Sicily at Palica, where a temple and two lakes were sacred to them.
Bk V:385-424. Dis passes through the sulphurous swamps there while abducting Proserpine.
Palilia
Bk XIV:772-804. The feast of Pales, the god of shepherds, celebrated on April 21st, the day on which Rome was founded. (753BC)
Palladium
Bk XIII:1-122. An image of Pallas, said to have fallen from the sky at Troy. The safety of Troy depended on its preservation according to an oracle. It was stolen by Ulysses and Diomede.
Palladius
Of Pallas.
Pallantias, Pallantis
Bk IX:418-438. Bk XV:176-198. Aurora as daughter of the Titan, Pallas.
Bk XV:622-745. The dawn.
Pallas(1), Minerva, Athene
Bk II:531-565. The goddess Athene, patron goddess of Athens. She is a representation of the Phoenician triple Goddess Astarte of Asia Minor. She was born beside lake Tritonis in Lybia and nurtured by the nymphs. She killed her playmate Pallas (‘youth’) when young and her name is a memorial to him. She carries the aegis, a magical goat-skin bag containing a snake and covered by a Gorgon mask. She is the goddess of the Mind and of women’s arts. She hides the infant Erichthonius in a box and gives it to the daughters of Cecrops to guard.
Bk III:95-114. She instructs Cadmus to sow the dragon’s teeth.
Bk III:115-137. And then ends the war of the earth-born warriors.
Bk V:30-73. She protects Perseus with her shield, the aegis.
Bk V:332-384. She asks the Muses to sing the song they sang to defeat the Emathides.
Bk V:332-384. A virgin goddess.
BkVI:1-25. The goddess of wool-working, spinning, weaving etc. who taught Arachne.
Bk VI:26-69. Pallas takes up Arachne’s foolish challenge.
Bk VI:70-103. She weaves her web. Its main feature is the Aeropagus in Athens and the court where the twelve Olympians declared her right over Neptune to the city. (see the Neptune entry)
Bk VI:129-145. She turns Arachne into a spider.
Bk VI:313-381. Latona has the help of her olive tree and a date palm, between which she gives birth at Delos to Apollo and Diana.
Bk VII:350-403. Bk VII:661-758. Athens is her city.
Bk XII:146-209. Achilles sacrifices to her.
Bk XII:290-326. She protects Theseus, according to himself.
Bk XIII:1-122. Ulysses and Diomede stole her sacred image at Troy, the Palladium.
Pallas(2)
An Athenian prince, son of Pandion.
Bk VII:453-500. His sons Clytos and Butes go on an embassy to Aegina with Cephalus.
Pallas(3)
A Titan, the father of Aurora.
Pan
Bk I:689-721. The god of woods and shepherds. He wears a wreath of pine needles. He pursues the nymph Syrinx and she is changed into marsh reeds. He makes the syrinx or pan-pipes from the reeds. He is represented by the constellation Capricorn, the sea-goat, a goat with a fish’s tail. Pan jumped into a river to escape the monster Typhon.
Bk XI:146-171. He competes with Apollo, but his reeds are inferior to the music of the lyre.
Bk XIV:512-526. He inhabits caves.
Bk XIV:623-697. Woodland deities (plural) who pursue Pomona.
Panchaeus
Of Panchaia, an island east of Arabia.
Bk X:298-355. The source of cinnamon, incense, myrrh etc.
Bk X:431-502. The country of Myrrha.
Pandion
Bk VI:401-438. Bk VI:619-652. A king of Athens, father of Procne and Philomela. He marries Procne to Tereus, king of Thrace.
Bk VI:486-548. He entrusts his daughter Philomela to Tereus, who violates her.
Book VI:675-721. The subsequent tragedy sends him to an early grave.
Pandioniae
Bk XV:418-452. An epithet of Athens from its king, Pandion.
Pandrosus
Bk II:531-565. One of the three daughters of King Cecrops.
Panomphaeus
Bk XI:194-220. An epithet of Jupiter ‘as origin of all oracles’.
Panope
Bk III:1-49. A city in Phocis passed by Cadmus as he follows the heifer on his way to found Thebes.
Panopeus
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Panthoïdes
BkXV:143-175. Euphorbus, son of Panthoüs, an incarnation of Pythagoras.
Paphius
Bk X:243-297. Of Paphos, a city on Cyprus sacred to Venus-Aphrodite. Paphius heros, Pygmalion.
Paphos(1)
A city on the island of Cyprus, scared to Venus-Aphrodite.
Bk X:243-297. Pygmalion’s home city.
Bk X:503-559. A haunt of Venus.
Paphos(2)
The son of Pygmalion, and Galatea, the ivory statue that changed into a woman.
Bk X:243-297. He gave his name (‘foam’) to the island of Cyprus, sacred to foam-born Venus-Aphrodite.
Bk X:298-355. The father of Cinyras.
Paraetonium
Bk IX:764-797. A seaport on the coast of North Africa under the protection of Isis.
Parcae, Fates, Moerae
The Three Fates. The Three Sisters, the daughters of Night. Clotho, the spinner of the thread of life, Lachesis, chance or luck, and Atropos, inescapable destiny. Clotho spins, Lachesis draws out, and Atropos shears the thread. Their unalterable decrees may be revealed to Jupiter but he cannot change the outcome.
Bk V:487-532. They have made a decree that Persephone can return to heaven so long as she has not eaten anything in the underworld, and Jupiter is subject to the decree.
Bk VIII:451-514. They prophesy the span of Meleager’s life, linking it to the burning brand of wood in the fire.
Paris
Prince of Troy, son of Priam and Hecuba, brother of Hector. His theft of Menelaüs’s wife Helen provoked the Trojan War.
Bk VII:350-403. He lies buried under a heap of sand near Mount Ida, having been shot by Philoctetes’s arrows and been refused help by the nymph Oenone whom he had deserted.
Bk XII:1-38. Absent from the mourning for Aesacus. The cause of the Trojan War because of his abduction of Helen.
Bk XII:579-628. Bk XIII:481-575. With Apollo’s help he destroys Achilles (shooting him through the vulnerable heel).
Bk XIII:123-381. Denounced by Ulysses in the senate-house of Troy.
Bk XV:745-842. He was once saved from death at the hands of Menelaüs, when Venus veiled him in cloud.
Parnasus, Parnassus, Parnasius
Bk I:313-347. A mountain in Phocis sacred to Apollo and the Muses. Delphi is at its foot where the oracle of Apollo and his temple were situated. Themis held the oracle in ancient times.
Bk IV:604-662. Site of the oracle of Themis.
Bk V:250-293. Haunt of the Muses. (See Raphael’s fresco ‘Parnassus’ in the Vatican, Stanza della Segnatura, which includes the figure of Ovid among the poets.)
Bk XI:146-171. Its laurel crowns Phoebus’s hair.
Bk XI:266-345. It is the scene of Daedalion’s transformation.
Paros
Bk III:402-436. One of the Cyclades. An island celebrated for its marble quarries.
Bk VII:453-500. Allied to Crete.
Bk VIII:183-235. Daedalus and Icarus fly past it after leaving Crete.
Parrhasis, Parrharsius
Bk II:441-465. Of the town in Arcadia, hence Arcadian.
Bk VIII:260-328. Home of Ancaeus, present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Parthaon
Bk VIII:515-546. King of Calydon, father of Oeneus. His house was destroyed through Diana, and the actions of Meleager.
Bk IX:1-88. Oeneus is his son.
Parthenius
Bk IX:159-210. A mountain in Arcadia. In the Third Labour Hercules captures the Ceryneian Hind there, sacred to Diana, that had bronze hooves and golden antlers like a stag, so that some called it a stag.
Parthenope
Bk XIV:101-153. Bk XV:622-745. An ancient name for the Italian city of Naples. Aeneas and Aesculapius pass it on their way north.
Pasiphaë
Bk VIII:81-151. Bk IX:714-763. The daughter of the Sun and the nymph Crete (Perseis). She was the wife of King Minos of Crete and mother of Phaedra and Ariadne.
She was inspired, by Poseidon, with a mad passion for a white bull from the sea, and Daedalus built for her a wooden frame in the form of a cow, to entice it. From the union she produced the Minotaur, Asterion, with a bull’s head and a man’s body.
Pasiphaëia
Bk XV:479-546. Phaedra, the daughter of Pasiphaë.
Patara, Patareüs
Bk I:504-524. A town in Lydia.
Patrae
An ancient city in Achaia.
Bk VI:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children.
Patroclus
Achilles beloved friend whose death causes him to re-enter the fight against the Trojans.
Bk XIII:123-381. He pushed the Trojans back from the Greek ships, dressed in Achilles’s armour.
Pedasus
Bk V:107-148. See Pettalus.
Pegasus
Bk IV:753-803. The winged horse, sprung from the head of Medusa when Perseus decapitated her. At the same time his brother Chrysaor the warrior was created. He is represented in the sky by the constellation Pegasus.
Bk V:250-293. The sacred fountain of Hippocrene on Mount Helicon, haunt of the Muses, springs from under his hoof.
Bk VI:103-128. Created by Neptune’s union with Medusa.
Pelagon
Bk VIII:329-375. One of the Calydonian Boar hunters. He is knocked down by the boar’s charge.
Pelasgus, Pelasgian, Pelasgi
An ancient Greek people (Pelasgi) and their king Pelasgus, son of Phoroneus the brother of Io. He is the brother of Agenor and Iasus.
Bk VII:1-73. Used of Greece as a whole.
Bk VII:100-158. Used of the Argonauts.
Bk XII:1-38. Bk XII:579-628. Bk XIII:1-122.
Bk XIII:123-381. Bk XIV:527-565. The Greeks who set sail for Troy.
Bk XIII:481-575. They are moved by Hecuba’s fate.
Bk XV:418-452. They conquered Troy, but by doing so ensured that, through Aeneas, Rome would conquer them, and the world.
Pelates(1)
Bk V:107-148. A companion of Phineus, struck by Corythus and killed by Abas.
Pelates(2)
Bk XII:245-289. One of the Lapithae. He kills Amycus.
Pelethronius
Bk XII:429-535. Of the region in Thessaly inhabited by Lapiths and Centaurs.
Peleus
Bk VII:453-500. The son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, brother of Telamon and Phocus He comes to meet Minos. As the son of Aeacus, called Aeacides. The husband of Thetis and father by her of Achilles. (See Joachim Wttewael’s – The Wedding of Peleus and Thetis - Alte Pinakothek, Munich: see W. B. Yeats poem ‘News for the Delphic Oracle, verse III)
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk VIII:376-424. He steps in to help Telamon.
Bk XI:194-220. He is married to the goddess, Thetis.
Bk XI:221-265. He wins Thetis with the help of Proteus and they conceive the hero Achilles.
Bk XI:266-345. Bk XIII:123-381. He killed his brother Phocus and fled to Trachin, where Ceyx gave him sanctuary.
Bk XI:346-409. He fights the wolf from the marshes.
Bk XII:146-209. The father of Achilles.
Bk XII:290-326. His armour bearer was Crantor, a gift from Amyntor as a peace-pledge.
Bk XIII:1-122. He is Ajax’s uncle.
Bk XV:843-870. His son Achilles surpasses him in fame.
Pelias
Bk VII:294-349. The half-brother of Aeson whom he drove from the throne of Iolchos in Thessaly. Medea pretends to rejuvenate him but instead employs his daughters to help destroy him.
Pelides
Bk XII:579-628. Achilles, the son of Peleus.
Pelion
Bk I:151-176. A mountain in Thessaly in Northern Greece.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Bk VII:350-403. Medea passes its shadowy slopes, the home of Chiron the Centaur, when fleeing.
Bk XII:64-145. Achilles’s spear is made from an ash-tree of Pelion.
Bk XII:429-535. A haunt of the Centaurs.
Pellaeus
Of Pella, a city in Macedonia.
Bk V:294-331. The native place of Pierus.
Bk XII:245-289. The native city of Pelates the Lapith.
Pelopeïas, Pelopeïus
Bk VI:401-437. Bk VIII:611-678. Of Pelops.
Peloponnese
The region of Southern Greece containing Sparta.
Bk VI:401-438. Contains Mycenae.
Pelops
Bk VI:401-438. The son of Tantalus, and brother of Niobe. He was cut in pieces and served to the gods at a banquet by his father to test their divinity. Ceres-Demeter, mourning for Persephone, did not perceive the wickedness and ate a piece of the shoulder. The gods gave him life again and an ivory shoulder. He gave his name to the Peloponnese.
Bk VIII:611-678. The father of Pittheus, king of Troezen.
Pelorus
Bk V:332-384. Bk XIII:705-737. Bk XV:622-745. A promontory on the north east coast of Sicily.
Penates
Bk III:528-571. The old Latin household gods, two in number, whose name derives from penus - a larder, or storage room for food. They were closely linked to the family and shared its joys and sorrows. Their altar was the hearth, which they shared with Vesta. Their images were placed at the back of the atrium in front of the Genius, the anonymous deity that protected and was the creative force in all groups and families, and, as the Genius of the head of the house and represented as a serpent, was placed between the Lar (Etruscan guardian of the house) and Penates. At meals they were placed between the plates and offered the first food. The Penates moved with a family and became extinct if the family did.
Bk V:149-199. Polluted by violence.
Bk V:487-532. Arethusa’s household gods have moved with her to her new home in Sicily.
Bk V:642-678. Triptolemus enters the palace: ‘regis subit ille penates’.
Bk VII:501-613. The people of Aegina afflicted with plague abandon their houses.
Bk VIII:81-151. Scylla betrays her city and her gods.
Bk VIII:611-678. Philemon and Baucis are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals, so that heavenly gods meet the humblest of household gods.
Bk IX:439-516. The just Minos cannot deny Miletus access to his home (‘est patriis arcere penatibus ausus’)
Bk IX:595-665. Byblis flees her home.
Bk XII:536-579. Nestor’s household gods overthrown by Hercules.
Bk XV:418-452. Aeneas carried his gods away from Troy.
Bk XV:843-870. Vesta is worshipped amongst Caesar’s ancestral gods.
Peneïs, Peneïa
Of the river god Peneus.
Bk I:438-473. Bk I:525-552. Bk II:496-508. Daphne his daughter.
Bk I:525-552. His waters.
Bk XII:146-209. His fields.
Penelope, Arnea, Arnacia
The wife of Ulysses, and daughter of Icarius and the Naiad Periboa.
(See J R Spencer Stanhope’s painting- Penelope – The De Morgan Foundation)
Bk VIII:260-328. Her father-in-law Laërtes is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk XIII:481-575. Hecuba imagines herself Penelope’s servant after Ulysses takes her as a prize at the fall of Troy.
Bk XIV:623-697. She is pestered by many suitors (a hundred and eight, in Homer), while she waits faithfully for Ulysses to return from Troy.
Peneus
Bk I:438-473. A river in Thessaly flowing from Mount Pindus through the valley of Tempe, and its river-god, the father of Daphne.
Bk I:553-567. Transforms his daughter Daphne into the laurel.
Bk I: 568-587. Receives condolences from the other river-gods after the loss of Daphne.
Bk II:227-271. Peneus scorched by the sun chariot when Phaethon loses control of it.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Pentheus
Bk III:511-527. The son of Echion and Agave, the grandson of Cadmus through his mother. He is King of Thebes. Tiresias foretells his fate at the hands of the Maenads.
Bk III:528-571. He rejects the worship of Bacchus-Dionysus and orders the capture of the god.
Bk III:572-596. He interrogates Acoetes the priest of Bacchus.
Bk III:692-733. He is torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.
Peparethos
An island north of Euboea in the north western Aegean.
Bk VII:453-500. Not allied to Crete. Rich in olives.
Perdix
Bk VIII:236-259. The sister of Daedalus. Her son Talus was killed by Daedalus in a fit of jealousy, thrown from the Athenian citadel, but Pallas turned him into the partridge, which takes its name from his mother, perdix perdix.
Pergamum
Bk XII:429-535. Bk XII:579-628. Bk XIII:123-381.
Bk XIV:445-482. Bk XV:418-452. Pergama, the citadel of Troy. Troy itself.
Bk XIII:481-575. Hecuba mourns its end.
Pergus
Bk V:385-424 A lake in Sicily near the city of Enna.
The son of Neleus, brother of Nestor and grandson of Neptune.
Bk XII:536-579. Neptune granted him the power to change shape, but Hercules killed him, when he was in the form of an eagle.
Perimele
Bk VIII:547-610. The daughter of Hippodamas, loved by the river god Acheloüs. Her father threw her into the Ionian Sea, but she was rescued by Acheloüs, and changed by Neptune into an island.
Periphas(1)
Bk VII:350-403. An ancient Attic king. He was held in such high esteem by his people that Jupiter would have killed him, but changed him into an eagle and his wife Phene into an osprey at Apollo’s request.
Periphas(2)
Bk XII:429-535. One of the Lapithae.
Periphetes
Bk VII:425-452. A monstrous son of Vulcan who lived at Epidaurus killing travellers with a bronze club. He was killed by Theseus.
Perrhaebus
Bk XII:146-209. Of Perrhaebia, a district in Thessaly, hence Thessalian.
Perseïs
Bk VII:74-99. Hecate, daughter of the Titan Perses.
Perseïus
Bk V:107-148. Of Perseus.
Persephone
Bk V:425-486. Proserpina, Proserpine, daughter of Ceres-Demeter.
Ceres searches for her after she is abducted by Dis.
Bk X:1-85. The co-ruler of the Underworld with Dis.
Bk X:708-739. She turned Menthe into a herb, the mint.
Perseus
The son of Jupiter and Danaë, grandson of Acrisius, King of Argos. He was conceived as a result of Jupiter’s rape of Danaë, in the form of a shower of gold. He is represented by the constellation Perseus near Cassiopeia. He is depicted holding the head of the Medusa, whose evil eye is the winking star Algol. It contains the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower. His epithets are Abantiades, Acrisioniades, Agenorides, Danaëius, Inachides, Lyncides.
(See Burne-Jones’s oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series particularly The Arming of Perseus, The Escape of Perseus, The Rock of Doom, Perseus slaying the Sea-Serpent, and The Baleful Head.)(See Benvenuto Cellini’s bronze Perseus - the Loggia, Florence)
Bk IV:604-662. His divine origin is rejected by Acrisius, his grandfather. He returns from defeating the Gorgon, Medusa, carrying her snaky head, that turns people to stone on sight.
Bk IV:604-662. He turns Atlas to stone with the Gorgon’s head. He is equipped with the wings and curved sword (scimitar) of Mercury.
Bk IV:663-705. He offers to rescue Andromeda.
Bk IV:706-752. He defeats the sea serpent, wins Andromeda and is promised a kingdom as a dowry by Cepheus.
Bk IV:753-803. At his marriage feast he relates his adventures, the theft of the Graeae’s single eye, and the taking of Medusa’s head. He tells how Medusa acquired her snaky hair. He is aided by Minerva, and equipped with her bronze shield.
Bk V:30-73. He is attacked by Phineus, who escapes him. He kills Athis and Lycabas, a pair of friends and lovers.
Bk V:74-106. Bk V:107-148. He kills many of Phineus’s followers.
Bk V:149-199. He is forced to use the Gorgon’s head.
Bk V:200-249. He petrifies Phineus, overcomes Proetus who has seized the kingdom of his grandfather Acrisius, and petrifies him, and turns Polydectes king of Seriphus to stone.
Persis
Bk I:52-67. Persian.
Petraeus
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Pettalus, correctly Pedasus
Bk V:107-148. A companion of Phineus, killed by Lycormas.
Peucetius
Bk XIV:512-526. Of Peucetia, a region in Apulia.
Phaeaces
Bk XIII:705-737The Phaeacians, the fabled inhabitants of the island of Scheria, where Ulysses lands. See Homer’s Odyssey. (Possibly identified with Corfu). Aeneas passes by.
Phaedimus
Bk VI:204-266. One of Niobe’s seven sons killed by Apollo and Diana.
Phaedra
Bk XV:479-546. The daughter of King Minos of Crete and Pasiphaë, sister of Ariadne. She loves Hippolytus her stepson, and brings him to his death. (See Racine’s play – Phaedra).
Phaeocomes
Bk XII:429-535. A centaur.
Phaestias
Bk IX:666-713. Bk IX:714-763. Phaestius, of Phaestos, a city on the southern coast of Crete.
Phaëthon
Bk I:747-764. Son of Clymene, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys whose husband was the Ethiopian king Merops. His true father is Sol, the sun-god (Phoebus). Asks his mother for proof of his divine origin.
Bk II:31-48. Goes to the courts of the Sun to see his father who grants him a favour. He asks to drive the Sun chariot.
Bk II:178-200. He loses control of the chariot.
Bk II:301-328. He is destroyed by Jupiter in order to save the earth from being consumed by fire.
Bk IV:214-255. His father remembers his death when Leucothoë dies.
Phaëthontëus
Bk IV:416-463. Of Phaethon, his fires.
Phaëthontis
Bk XII:579-628. Of Phaëthon. His bird, the swan.
Phaethüsa
Bk II:344-366. The eldest of the Heliads, the daughters of Clymene and the Sun, sisters of Phaethon, who are turned into poplar trees as they mourn for him, their tears becoming drops of amber.
Phantasos
Son of Somnus. A god of sleep.
Bk XI:573-649. He takes the shape of inanimate things.
Pharos
Bk IX:764-797. An island near Alexandria in Egypt, site of the lighthouse. Protected by Isis as goddess of the sea.
Bk XV:259-306. Subsequently silted up and linked to the mainland.
Pharsalia
Bk XV:745-842. The region around Pharsalus, a city in Thessaly, where Julius Caesar defeated Pompey the Great. (9th August 48BC)
Phasias
Bk VII:294-349. An epithet of Medea, from the Phasis, a river of her native Colchis.
Phasis
Bk II:227-271. A river in Colchis, in Asia, east of the Black Sea.
Bk VII:1-73. Reached by the Argonauts.
Phegeïus
Of Phegeus king of Psophis in Arcadia. Father of Alphesiboea, the first wife of Alcmaeon, who left her to marry Callirhoë and was killed by the brothers of Alphesiboea.
Bk IX:394-417. His sword in his son’s hands kills Alcmaeon and punishes him for the murder of Eriphyle.
Phegiacus
Bk II:227-271. Of the city of Phegia in Arcadia.
Phene
Bk VII:350-403. The wife of Periphas, changed into an osprey.
Pheneos
Bk XV:307-360. A place in Arcadia near Mount Cyllene. See Pausanias VIII 14.
Pheretiades
Admetus, son of Pheres, king of Pherae in Thessaly.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Phiale
Bk III:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.
Philammon
Bk XI:266-345. The son of Apollo and Chione, famous for his voice and lyre.
Philemon (and Baucis)
A pious old man of Phrygia.
Bk VIII:611-678. He is the husband of Baucis. They are visited by the gods, Jupiter and Mercury, disguised as mortals.
Bk VIII:679-724. They are both turned into trees, he into an oak, and she into a lime tree.
Philippi
Bk XV:745-842. A city in Macedonia where, during the Triumvirate in 42 BC, Octavian and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius after the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Philoctetes
Bk IX:211-272. The son of Poeas. He lights Hercules’s funeral pyre and receives from him the bow, quiver and arrows that will enable the Greeks to finally win at Troy, and that had been with Hercules when he rescued Hesione there.
Bk XIII:1-122. Bitten by a snake on Lemnos, he is abandoned there on Ulysses advice. Ulysses accepts that Philoctetes and his weapons are essential for the defeat of Troy.
Bk XIII:399-428. Ulysses brings Philoctetes and the weapons to Troy.
Philomela
The daughter of Pandion, sister of Procne, raped by her sister’s husband Tereus.
Bk VI:438-485. Convinces her father to allow her to visit her sister Procne, unaware of Tereus’s lust for her.
Bk VI:486-548. Tereus violates her, and she vows to tell the world of his crime.
Bk VI:549-570. He severs her tongue and tells Procne she is dead.
Bk VI:571-619. Philomela communicates with Procne by means of a woven message, and is rescued by her during the Bacchic revels.
Bk VI:619-652. She helps Procne to murder Itys, the son of Tereus and Procne.
Bk VI:653-674. Pursued by Tereus she turns into a swallow, with a red throat. (pectus is translated here as throat, to correspond with the English swallow, hirundo rustica, though in Egypt and elsewhere this bird has a chestnut red underbody as well). Having no tongue, the swallow merely screams and flies around in circles.
Philyra
Bk II:676-701. The mother of the centaur, Chiron. A nymph, the daughter of Oceanus whom Saturn loved. he changed himself into a stallion and her into a mare, and their son Chiron was half-horse, half-man, and a demi-god.
Bk VI:103-128. She is not referred to directly, but her union with Saturn is alluded to in Arachne’s weaving.
Philyreïus heros
Bk II:676-707: Chiron, the son of Philyra.
Phineus(1)
The brother of the Ethiopian king Cepheus, uncle of Andromeda.
Bk V:1-29. He complains that Perseus has stolen Andromeda his promised bride.
Bk V:30-73. He attacks Perseus and his own brother Cepheus, but escapes from Perseus by taking refuge behind the altars.
Bk V:74-106. Many of his followers are killed by Perseus. He dares not fight Perseus but kills Idas a neutral by mistake.
Bk V:107-148. He kills Broteas and Ammon, and Ampycus the priest.
Bk V:149-199. He attempts to mob Perseus with his many followers.
Bk V:200-249. He is finally turned to stone, a statue in the Palace of Cepheus.
Phineus(2)
Bk VII:1-73. King of Salmydessus in Thrace, a blind prophet, who had received the gift of prophecy from Apollo. He was blinded by the gods for prophesying the future too accurately, and was plagued by a pair of Harpies. Calais and Zetes, the sons of Boreas, rid him of their loathsome attentions, in return for advice on how to obtain the Golden Fleece. The two winged sons chased the Harpies to the Strophades islands, where some say their lives were spared.
Phlegethon
Bk V:533-571. Bk XV:479-546. One of the rivers of the Underworld.
Phlegon
Bk II:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.
Phlegraeus(1)
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Phlegraeus(2)
Of Phlegra, a region of Macedonia.
Bk X:143-219. The site of Jupiter’s overthrow of the Giants.
Phlegyae
Bk XI:410-473. A robber people of Thessaly who destroyed the temple at Delphi.
Phlegyas
Bk V:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.
Phobetor, Icelos
A son of Somnus. A god of sleep.
Bk XI:573-649. He takes the shape of creatures.
Phocis
Bk I:313-347. The land between Aetolia and Boeotia in Greece.
Bk II:566-595. Home of Corone, daughter of Coroneus.
Bk V:250-293. Seized by Pyreneus.
BkVI:1-25. A source of murex shellfish for purple dye.
Bk XI:346-409. The country of Onetor, Peleus’s herdsman.
Phocus
Bk VII:453-500. The son of Aeacus, king of Aegina. He comes to meet Minos. As the son of Aeacus by the Nereid Psamathe, he is half brother of Peleus and Telamon.
Bk VII:661-758. He is host to Cephalus.
Bk VII:759-795. He listens to Cephalus’s tale of Laelaps the hound and asks about Cephalus’s magic spear.
Bk VII:796-865. He hears the sad tale of Procris’s death.
Bk XI:266-345. He was killed by his brother Peleus.
Bk XI:346-409. His mother Psamathe pursues Peleus.
Phoebe
Bk I:1-30. The Titaness who rules the moon. Her daughter Leto bore Phoebus Apollo and Artemis (Diana) to Zeus. Phoebe is therefore another name for Artemis, and for the moon itself.
Bk I:473-503. As virgin huntress.
Bk II:401-416. Callisto is one of her followers. She has the epithet Trivia, of the crossways, as she is worshipped where three ways meet.
Bk VI:204-266. Diana helps to punish Niobe for her rejection of her mother Latona (Leto).
Bk XII:1-38. Diana.
Phoebus, Apollo
Bk I:313-347. Bk V:385-424. Bk VI:486-548. Bk VII:294-349. Bk XV:176-198. Bk XV:418-452. A familiar name for Apollo as the sun-god, and so the sun itself.
Bk I:438-473. Destroys the Python and founds the Pythian games. Falls in love with and pursues Daphne. Failing to catch her turns her into the laurel tree. Institutes the use of laurel for ceremonial crowns. (See Bernini’s sculpture – Apollo and Daphne – Galleria Borghese, Rome)
Bk II:531-565. Loves Coronis of Larissa who is unfaithful to him.
Bk II:612-632. Having killed her, he rescues their unborn son Aesculapius and entrusts him to Chiron the Centaur.
Bk III:1-49. His oracle reveals to Cadmus how he will found Thebes in Boeotia.
Bk VI:103-128. His disguises and his rape of Isse are depicted by Arachne.
Bk VI:204-266. Helps to punish Niobe for her rejection of his mother Latona.
Bk VI:382-400. Defeats Marsyas in a contest of flute-playing and flays him alive.
Bk VII:350-403. Loves Rhodes, and Rhode the nymph of the island.
Bk VIII:1-80. He built the walls of Megara, and where he rested his lyre the stones afterwards gave out a resonant, musical, note.
Bk VIII:329-375. Mopsus prays to him for help against the Calydonian wild boar.
Bk IX:439-516. Fathered Miletus on the nymph Dione.
Bk IX:595-665. Byblis, Miletus’s daughter is his grandchild.
Bk X:106-142. He turns Cyparissus into a cypress tree.
Bk X:143-219. He turns Hyacinthus into the hyacinth (blue larkspur, hyacinthos grapta) with the marks AI on the base of its petals.
Bk XI:1-66. He rescues the head of Orpheus who was his poet.
Bk XI:146-171. He competes on the lyre with Pan on his reed-pipes.
Bk XI:266-345. He loves Chione and she bears him a son Philammon. He turns Daedalion into a hawk.
Bk XIII:481-575. He aids Paris in killing Achilles.
Bk XIII:623-639. Bk XIII:640-674. Anius is his high priest on Delos.
Bk XIII:675-704. Aeneas consults the oracle, and is told to seek out his ancient mother, and ancestral shore.
Bk XIV:101-153. Phoebus grants the Sibyl of Cumae eternal life, but she forgets to ask for eternal youth, and is doomed to wither away, until she is merely a voice.
Bk XV:622-745. Bk XV:622-745. His oracle is at Delphi. Aesculapius is his son.
Bk XV:843-870. Vesta, as the Tauric Diana, is worshipped alongside himself.
Phoenissa
Bk III:1-49. Bk XV:259-306. Phoenix, of Phoenicia, hence Phoenician.
Phoenix(1)
The son of Amyntor of Thessaly, and companion of Achilles.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Phoenix(2)
The mythical bird, symbol of continually renewed existence.
Pholus
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Phorbas(1)
Bk V:74-106. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.
Phorbas(2)
Bk XI:410-473. The leader of the Phlegyae who plundered Delphi.
Phorbas(3)
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Phorcides
Bk IV:753-803. The Graeae, the daughters of Phorcys, who had one eye between them.
Phorcynis
Bk IV:706-752. Bk V:200-249. Medusa as the daughter of Phorcys.
Phoronis
Bk I:668-688. An epithet of Io, sister of Phoroneus the son of Inachus king of Argos.
Bk II:508-530. Used by Juno in reference to Io, the Argive.
Phrixea vellera
Bk VII:1-73. The Golden Fleece of the winged ram on which Phrixus son of Athamas and Nephele and brother of Helle, escaped, with his sister, from his stepmother Ino, and fled to Colchis, in order to avoid being sacrificed. Helle fell into the sea and the Hellespont is named after her. Phrixus reached Colchis where Sol stables his horses, and sacrificed the ram to Zeus, or in other versions Ares (Mars), and it hung in the temple of Mars where it was guarded by a dragon. Its return was sought by Jason and the Argonauts.
Phryges
Bk XI:85-145. The Phrygians, and more restrictedly the Trojans.
Phrygia
A region in Asia Minor, containing Dardania and Troy, and Mysia and Pergamum. Ovid uses the term for the whole of Asia Minor bordering the Aegean.
Bk VI:146-203. Used for Greek Asia Minor.
Bk VI:382-400. The river Marsyas, its clearest river, is formed there from the tears wept for him.
Bk VIII:152-182. The Maeander river runs there.
Bk VIII:611-678. The country of Baucis and Philemon.
Bk X:143-219. The country of Trojan Ganymede.
Bk XI:194-220. Bk XII:1-38. Bk XIII:576-622. The country of Laomedon and Troy.
Bk XII:64-145. Bk XII:146-209. Bk XII:579-628. The land of the Trojans.
Bk XIII:123-381. The country of Dolon, the spy.
Bk XIII:429-480. Thrace is across the Hellespont, and opposite Troy is the country of the Bistones.
Bk XIV:75-100. Bk XIV:527-565. Bk XV:418-452. The country of Aeneas.
Phthia
Bk XIII:123-381. A city in Thessaly, birthplace of Achilles, and ruled by his father Peleus.
Phyleus
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Phylleüs
Bk XII:429-535. An epithet of Caeneus from the Thessalian town of Phyllos.
Phylius
Bk VII:350-403. The friend of Cycnus(2), who brings him presents of tamed animals and birds, but when his love is spurned refuses a last gift. Cycnus attempts suicide but is turned into a swan.
Picus
The son of Saturn, and ancient king of Latium, husband of Canens.
Bk XIV:320-396. He is loved by Circe, and turned by her into a woodpecker that bears his name. (Picus viridis is the green woodpecker, distinguished by its red nape and crown, and its golden-green back.)
Bk XIV:397-434. His companions are turned into wild beasts, and Canens wastes away with grief.
Pierus
Bk V:294-331. King of Emathia. His nine daughters were the Emathides, or the Pierides, in fact the Muses, from the earliest place of their worship, in Pieria, in northern Greece (Macedonia).
Pindus
Bk II:201-226. Bk XI:474-572. A mountain in Thessaly. The Centaurs took refuge there after their battle with the Lapiths.
Bk VII:179-233. Medea gathers magic herbs there.
Piraeus
Bk VI:438-485. The harbour of Athens.
Pirene, Pirenis, Peirene
Bk II:227-271. Bk VII:350-403. The Pirenian Spring. A famous fountain on the citadel of Corinth sacred to the Muses, where Bellerephon took Pegasus to drink. Pausanias says (II:iii, Corinth) that Peirene was a human being who became a spring, through weeping for her son Cenchrias, killed by accident by Artemis, and that the water is sweet to taste. (It has Byzantine columns, and was once the private garden of the Turkish Bey.). The spring was said never to fail. It was also the name of a fountain outside the city gates, towards Lechaeum, into whose waters the Corinthian bronzes were dipped red-hot on completion.
Pirithoüs
Son of Ixion. King of the Lapithae in Thessaly and friend of Theseus.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk VIII:376-424. He is warned away from the boar by his friend Theseus.
Bk VIII:547-610. He is with Theseus when Acheloüs offers them hospitality.
Bk VIII:611-678. He is scornful of the ability of the gods to alter human forms.
Bk XII:210-244. He marries Hippodamia, and invites the centaurs to the wedding. Eurytus attempts to carry her off, and starts a fight.
Bk XII:290-326. He fights in the battle with the centaurs.
Pisa
Bk V:385-424. A city in Elis, near Olympia.
Bk V:487-532. Native city of Arethusa.
Pisces, Piscis
The constellation of the fishes, the twelfth sign of the Zodiac. An ancient constellation depicting two fishes with their tails tied together. It represents Venus and Cupid escaping from the monster Typhon. It contains the spring equinox, formerly in Aries. The vernal equinox has moved into Pisces since ancient times due to the effects of precession (the ‘wobble’ of the earth on its polar axis).
Bk X:1-85. Bk X:143-219. The last sign of the solar year, preceding the spring equinox in ancient times. A water sign.
Pisenor
Bk XII:290-326. A centaur.
Pitane
Bk VII:350-403. A city on the Aeolic coast of Asia Minor, near Lesbos.
Pithecusae
Bk XIV:75-100. An island not far from Cumae in Italy. The modern Ischia. It was called Pithecusa by its Greek colonists, then Inarime by the Romans. It is the largest island in the Bay of Naples.
Pittheus
Bk VI:401-438. Bk XV:259-306. Bk XV:479-546. King of Troezen, son of Pelops, grandfather of Theseus.
Bk VIII:611-678. He once sent Lelex to Phrygia.
Pleiades
Bk I:668-688. The Seven Sisters, the daughters, with the Hyades and the Hesperides, of Atlas the Titan. Their mother was Pleione the naiad. They were chased by Orion rousing the anger of Artemis to whom they were dedicated and changed to stars by the gods. The Pleiades are the star cluster M45 in the constellation Taurus. Their names were Maia, the mother of Mercury by Jupiter, Taÿgeta, Electra, Merope, Asterope, Alcyone (the brightest star of the cluster), and Celaeno.
Bk VI:146-203. Niobe claims one of the Pleiads as her mother, Dione; or, in an alternative reading, Ovid would make Dione a sister of the Pleiades, but not one of them. (Traditionally she is a Pleiad: an alternative name for one of the seven sisters above?)
Bk XIII:123-381. The stars are engraved on Achilles’s shield.
Pleione
Bk II:737-751. The daughter of Atlas and Oceanus, and mother of the Pleiades.
Pleuron
Bk VII:350-403. A city in Aetolia.
Bk XIV:483-511. The home of Acmon.
Plexippus
The son of Thestius, brother of Althaea, uncle of Meleager.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk VIII:425-450. He is killed by Meleager, his nephew, in an argument over the spoils.
Plough, Ursa Major, The Great Bear, The Big Dipper
Bk II:150-177. The constellation of Ursa Major. It represents Callisto turned into a bear by Jupiter. The two stars of the ‘bowl’ furthest from the ‘handle’, Merak and Dubhe, point to Polaris the pole star. The ‘handle’ points to Arcturus in Bootës, who is the Herdsman or Bear Herd (Arcturus means the Bearkeeper).
Pluto, Dis, Hades
The God of the Underworld, elder brother of Jupiter and Neptune, and like them the son of Saturn and Rhea.
Poeantiades, Poentia Proles
Bk XIII:1-122. Philoctetes, son of Poeas.
Poeas
Bk IX:211-272. Bk XIII:1-122. The father of Philoctetes.
Polites
Bk XIV:223-319. A companion of Ulysses.
Polydaemon
An incorrect reading for Polygdemon in V:85.
Polydamas
A Trojan, son of Panthoüs, a friend of Hector.
Bk XII:536-579. Cited by Nestor as an enemy.
Polydectes
Bk V:200-249. A ruler of the island of Seriphos, who rejects Perseus and is turned to stone.
Polydegmon
Bk V:74-106. A descendant of Queen Semiramis. A companion of Phineus, killed by Perseus.
Polydeuces, Pollux
The son of King Tyndareus of Sparta, and Leda, and one of the twin Dioscuri, brother of Castor.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Bk VIII:329-375. The brothers hurl their spears.
Polydorus
Bk XIII:429-480. Sent by his father to the court of Polymestor king of Thrace who had married his sister Ilione, and murdered there by Polymestor for the sake of the treasure sent with him.
Bk XIII:481-575. His body is thrown up on the beach where Hecuba is mourning Polyxena, and the event precipitates her madness.
Bk XIII:623-639. Aeneas leaves the shores drenched by his blood.
Polymestor
King of Thrace, husband of Ilione daughter of Priam.
Bk XIII:429-480. He murders his young foster child Polydorus, sent to him by Priam.
Bk XIII:481-575. Hecuba in turn murders him, and tears out his eyes.
Polypemon
Bk VII:350-403. The father of Sciron, and by some lineage, presumably maternal, a grandfather of Alcyone (neptem Polypemonis). Sometimes claimed as the father of Sinis. He himself is identified with Procrustes.
Polyphemus
One of the Cyclopes, sons of Neptune, one-eyed giants living in Sicily.
Bk XIII:738-788. He falls in love with Galatea.
Bk XIII:789-869. He complains of her rejection of him.
Bk XIII:870-897. He kills Acis with a rock.
Bk XIV:154-222. He was feared by Achaemenides, and roamed Aetna, blinded by Ulysses, seeking revenge.
Polyxena
The daughter of Priam and Hecuba.
Bk XIII:429-480. She is sacrificed to appease the ghost of Achilles.
Pomona
Bk XIV:623-697. A beautiful wood nymph (hamadryad) of Latium, devoted to horticulture. She is loved by Vertumnus who sets out to woo her, in disguise.
Bk XIV:698-771. He reveals his true form and she loves him also.
Pompeius Sextus
Bk XV:745-842. The second son of Pompey the Great conquered in the sea battles, off Sicily, between Mylae and Naulochus, by Agrippa, Augustus’s admiral, in 36BC.
Pontus
Bk XV:745-842. The Black Sea, and the kingdom in Asia Minor bordering it. Ruled by Mithridates.
Priamaeïa coniunx
Bk XIII:399-428. Bk XIII:481-575. Hecuba, the wife of Priam.
Priamides
Bk XIII:1-122. Bk XIII:705-737. Bk XV:418-452. Helenus, son of Priam.
Bk XIII:481-575. The Priamidae, the children of Priam.
Priamus, Priam
Bk XI:749-795. Bk XIV:445-482. The King of Troy at the time of the Trojan War, the son of Laomedon, husband of Hecuba, by whom he had many children. In the Metamorphoses Ovid mentions Hector, Helenus, Paris, Polydorus, Deïphobus, Cassandra and Polyxena. Aesacus was his son by Alexiroë.
Bk XII:1-38. He mourns for Aesacus, thinking him dead.
Bk XII:579-628. Achilles’s death alone brings him pleasure after the death of Hector.
Bk XIII:123-381. Heard Ulysses’s case for Helen’s return in front of the Trojan senate.
Bk XIII:399-428. He is murdered at Jupiter’s altar as Troy falls.
Bk XIII:429-480. He had sent his son Polydorus to be brought up in the court of Polymestor of Thrace who had married his daughter Ilione.
Bk XIII:481-575. Hecuba counts him lucky to have died with Troy.
Bk XIII:576-622. The uncle of Memnon, since Memnon’s father Tithonus is his brother.
Priapus
The Pan of Mysia in Asia Minor, venerated as Lampsacus. God of gardens and vineyards. His phallic image was placed in orchards and gardens. He presided over the fecundity of fields, flocks, beehives, fishing and vineyards. He became part of the retinue of Dionysus.
Bk IX:324-393. Pursues Lotis who is changed into a lotus-tree.
Bk XIV:623-697. He pursues Pomona.
Proca
Bk XIV:609-622. An Alban king, father of Numitor and Amulius.
Prochyte
Bk XIV:75-100. An island off the coast of Campania (Southern Italy).
Procne
Bk VI:401-438. The daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, married to Tereus, king of Thrace.
Bk VI:438-485. Persuades Tereus to bring her sister Philomela to stay with her.
Bk VI:549-570. Tereus rapes and mutilates her sister, and tells Procne that Philomela is dead.
Bk VI:571-619. Philomela communicates with her by means of a woven message, and she rescues her during the Bacchic rites.
Bk VI:619-652. She murders her son Itys and serves the flesh to Tereus.
Bk VI:653-674. Pursued by Tereus she turns into a nightingale. The bird’s call, mourning Itys, is said to be ‘Itu! Itu!’ which is something like the occasional ‘chooc, chooc’ among its wide range of notes.
Procris
The daughter of Erectheus king of Athens.
Book VI:675-721. Married happily to Cephalus, the grandson of Aeolus.
Bk VII:661-758. Cephalus is unfaithful and tempts her into unfaithfulness but they are reconciled. She gives him a magic hound and a magic javelin, gifts of Diana.
Bk VII:796-865. Through an error she is killed by Cephalus, with the spear that was her gift to him.
Procrustes
Bk VII:425-452. A famous robber who trimmed or stretched his guests’ bodies to the size of his bed. Theseus served him in the same way, destroying him. Possibly identical with Polpemon.
Proetides
Bk XV:307-360. The daughters of Proetus king of Tiryns, Lysippe, Iphinoë, and Iphianassa, who were maddened by the gods, and whose madness Melampus purged. (Clitor, Nonacris and the Styx are in the Mount Chelmos area, described interestingly by Pausanias, VIII 18, where he also describes the purification of the Proetides at Lousoi, in the sanctuary of Artemis.)
Proetus
Bk V:200-249. The son of Abas, twin brother of Acrisius who drove the latter from his throne of Argos. He is turned to stone by Perseus.
Prometheus
Bk I:68-88. The son of Iapetus by the nymph Cleomene, and father of Deucalion. Sometimes included among the seven Titans, he was the wisest of his race and gave human beings the useful arts and sciences. Jupiter first withheld fire and Prometheus stole it from the chariot of the Sun. Jupiter had Prometheus chained to the frozen rock in the Caucasus where a vulture tore at his liver night and day for eternity. (See Aeschylus’s ‘Prometheus Bound’, and Shelley’s ‘Prometheus Unbound’)
Promethides
Bk I:381-415. Deucalion, son of Prometheus.
Propoetides
Bk X:220-242. Girls of Amathus who denied Venus’s divinity. They became public prostitutes, and turned to stone, as they lost their sense of shame. This is a tale based on the ritual public prostitution which was a feature of the worship of Diana (at Ephesus) and Astarte, etc. and at the Temple in Jerusalem during the deviations from the worship of Jehovah, by the Jews.
Proreus
Bk III:597-637. A seaman, companion of Acoetes.
Proserpina, Proserpine, Persephone
The daughter of Ceres-Demeter and Jupiter.
Bk V:332-384. Aspires to be a virgin like Pallas and Diana, but Venus asks Cupid to make Dis fall in love with her.
Bk V:385-424. She is raped and abducted by Dis. (See Rembrandt’s painting The Rape of Proserpine – panel, Berlin-Dahlem)
Bk V:487-532. Jupiter decrees she can return to heaven subject to her not having eaten anything in the underworld.
Bk V:533-571. Having eaten seven pomegranate seeds, she is only allowed to return to the world for six months of each year, and Jupiter decrees she must spend the other six months with Dis.
Bk VI:103-128. Arachne depicts how Jupiter lay with her disguised as a spotted snake.
Bk XIV:101-153. The queen of the underworld, called ‘the Juno of Avernus’.
Protesilaüs
Bk XII:64-145. A Thessalian chief killed by Hector, the first of the Greeks to be slain in the Trojan War.
Proteus
Bk II:1-30. Bk XIII:898-968. The sea-god who can shift his form. His image is depicted on the palace of the Sun.
Bk VIII:725-776. Acheloüs, the river-god, tells of his many transformations.
Bk XI:221-265. He helps Peleus to win Thetis.
Prothoënor
Bk V:74-106. A courtier of Cepheus, killed by Hypseus a follower of Phineus.
Prytanis
Bk XIII:123-381. A Lycian, killed by Ulysses.
Psamathe
A Nereid, mother of Phocus by Aeacus, whom his half brother Peleus accidentally killed.
Bk XI:346-409. She pursues Peleus, and ultimately relents.
Psecas
Bk III:165-205. One of Diana’s nymphs.
Psophis
A city in Arcadia.
Bk V:572-641. Passed by Arethusa in her flight.
Pudor
Bk I: 601-621. Shame, opposes Amor (Love) in Jupiter’s mind, over the gift of Io to Juno.
Pygmaeus, Pygmies
A Pigmy, one of the dwarf peoples.
Bk VI:70-102. The Queen of the Pygmies turned into a crane by Juno and forced to war against her own people.
Pygmalion
A Cyprian who fashioned an ivory statue of a beautiful girl that he brought to life, calling her Galatea. (See the sequence of four paintings by Burne-Jones, ‘Pygmalion and the Image’, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England, titled: The Heart Desires, The Hand Refrains, The Godhead Fires, The Soul Attains: See also Rameau’s operatic work ‘Pygmalion’)
Bk X:243-297. Venus brings her to life, and he marries her. She gives birth to a daughter, Paphos who gives her name to the island of Cyprus, sacred to Venus.
Pylos
Bk II:676-701. The city in Elis in the western Peloponnese, the home of Nestor the wise, in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Bk VI:401-438. Its ruler goes to Thebes to show sympathy for the death of Amphion and his children. It is described as Nelean, after its founder Neleus.
Bk VIII:329-375. Nestor joins the Calydonian boar hunt.
Bk XII:536-579. The home of Nestor.
Bk XII:536-579. Hercules destroyed it and killed Nestor’s brothers.
Pyracmus
Bk XII:429-535. A centaur.
Pyraethus
Bk XII:429-535. A centaur.
Pyramus
Bk IV:55-92. A fictional Babylonian boy. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Bk IV:93-127. His death is described.
Pyreneus
King of Thrace.
Bk V:250-293. He offered the Muses shelter, and then attempted violence. They flew away: he tried to follow and was killed.
Pyroïs
Bk II:150-177. One of the four horses of the Sun.
Pyrrha
Bk I:348-380. Wife and cousin to Deucalion, and the only woman to survive the Great Flood. Daughter of the Titan Epimetheus, hence called Titania.
Pyrrhus
Bk XIII:123-381. The son of Achilles and Deïdamia, daughter of Lycomedes king of the Aegean island of Scyros.
Pythagoras
The famous Greek philosopher of Samos, the Ionian island, who took up residence at Crotona in Italy, where Numa (anachronistically in legend, since he lived over a century before Pythagoras) came to be his pupil. His school was later revived at Tarentum. He flourished in the second half of the 6th century BC.
Bk XV:60-142. He teaches the vegetarian ethic based on the sanctity of life.
BkXV:143-175. He teaches the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, metempsychosis, and was Euphorbus at the time of the Trojan War.
Bk XV:176-198. He teaches the doctrine of eternal flux. This is the panta rei (πάντα ρει), ‘all things flow’, taught by Heraclitus the Ephesian, (flourished c500BC), but not apparently original with him: he also said ‘you cannot step in the same river twice’ as attested by Plato.
Bk XV:199-236. He teaches the four ages of man.
Bk XV:237-258. He teaches here a theory of the rarefaction and condensation of the four ‘elements’ that is attributed to Anaximenes of the Milesian school of philosophers. (Founded by Thales, and ended by the fall of Miletus in 494BC) Anaximenes also taught that air was the primary Urstoff . His theory introduced the idea of changes of quantity creating changes of quality. Like other Ionian philosophers the eternity of matter, and its transformations, is assumed.
Pythia
Bk I:438-473. The Pythian games were instituted at Delphi by Apollo. They were celebrated every four years.
Python
Bk I:438-473. The huge serpent created by earth after the Flood, destroyed by Apollo, giving its name to the Pythian games.