Mythology Who's Who

WANJIRU

African myth of a maiden who was sacrificed for rain. Her lover saves her from the underworld

BUDDHA

An Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who renounced his wealth and social position. After becoming 'enlightened' (the meaning of Buddha) he enunciated the principles of Buddhism.

BEOWULF

An anonymous work of epic poetry. The protagonist, Beowulf is a Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf's boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around. In his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture. In his old age, he proves a wise and effective ruler. Set in about 500 AD.

ENKIDU

Companion and friend of Gilgamesh. Hairy-bodied and brawny, he was raised by animals and is still very animal like. Even after he joins the civilized world, he retains many of his undomesticated characteristics. He looks much like Gilgamesh and is almost his physical equal. He aspires to be Gilgamesh's rival but instead becomes his soul mate.

PERSEPHONE

Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, a goddess of springtime. Hades abducted her she and made her queen of the underworld, but her mother's grief turned the earth barren. Hades allowed Persephone to spend six months each year with him, during which time the land died (autumn and winter) and six months with her mother, during which time the earth flourished (spring and summer).

GRENDEL

Evil being in Beowulf. A demon descended from Cain (evil son of Adam and Eve who kills his brother Abel). Grendel preys on Hrothgar's warriors in the king's mead-hall, Heorot. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain's murder of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem.

HERAKLES

Father is Zeus, mother is Alchmene (mortal). Zeus came in the form of Alchmene's husband Amphitryon. Zeus stops the world for three days and nights so that he can have more time to be with her. Named to honor Hera, but she is still the jealous woman and tries to kill him with snakes in his crib (the baby strangles the snakes). Zeus tries to get Hera to breastfeed him but she is not happy and throws him away. Marries Megara and has kids, but Hera sends him into a rage and he kills his wife and kids. The oracle at Delphi sends him on his 12 labors to atone.

DIONYSUS

Fertility god and god of the vine, was the son of Zeus and Semele (a mortal). Semele tricked Zeus into showing his true self to her (instead of the invisible lover he'd been), and when she saw him, she was burnt by his divine nature. Dionysus was rescued by Hermes who stitched him into Zeus' thigh until he could be born. Hera was wicked jealous and spent lots of energy trying to get Dionysus killed. Dionysus liberates emotions and helps men to be joyful, but he has a dual nature and can also bring rage (like wine, a little makes men happy, a lot makes them idiots). Like the grape vine, he suffered death but was resurrected. He had a lot of female worshipers who were frenzied Maenads. Out of his celebration grew tragic theatre.

JOAN OF ARC

French heroine and military leader. She was inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English, and she believed that her visions meant that Charles VII should be crowned king (Charles liked that). She was tried for heresy and burned at the stake. The Catholics made her a saint.

ANTIGONE

Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. Oedipus's companion and guide after the king realizes the truth about himself and blinds himself and is exiled from Thebes; she buries her dead brother after the war of the Seven against Thebes, acting in direct violation of the orders of her uncle, Creon, who was serving as king of Thebes. She is condemned to death for burying her brother. Creon frees her, but before she learns of this, she hangs herself.

DEMETER

Greek. Zeus' sister, goddess of vegetation and fertility. She had various lovers, including Zeus, and a daughter, Persephone, who was taken by Hades. In Demeter's grief the earth grew barren, and only when her daughter returned to her for six months of each year did the earth become fruitful.

DIDO

In the Aeneid by Virgil . Queen of Carthage, married to Aeneas, and daughter of the Tyrian king Belus. She commits suicide when abandoned by Aeneas.

HIAWATHA

Indian from the Iroquois tribe who was one of two men who persuaded five nations to unite and work together as a group.

GILGAMESH

King of Uruk, the strongest of men, and the personification of human virtues. Brave warrior, fair judge, and ambitious builder. Gilgamesh surrounds the city of Uruk with magnificent walls and erects its glorious ziggurats, or temple towers. Two-thirds god and one-third mortal, Gilgamesh is undone by grief when his beloved companion Enkidu dies, and by despair at the prospect of his own extinction. He travels to the ends of the Earth in search of answers to the mysteries of life and death.

ZEUS

King of gods and men and mediator of disputes between the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is sometimes shown weighing men's fates on his scales.

DANTE

Lived from 1265-1321 in Florence. Author of the Divine Comedy, an epic poem written in Italian. It tells of Dante's journey through the Inferno, purgatory and paradise with Latin poet Virgil as his guide through the first two and Beatrice, an idealized woman, as his guide through paradise. Strong influence from classical Greek themes in his writing. (painting by Michelangelo).

HADES

Lord of the underworld. A brother of Zeus, and sometimes included as an Olympian. He was a stern, dark, inexorable god, and his kingdom was gray and lifeless. He abducted Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, and made her his queen.

MUSES

Nine sisters (daughters of Zeus and Mnemonsyne--Memory) who are the goddesses of inspiration for literature and the arts. Considered the source of the knowledge.

MOSES

Old Testament. Born into a Jewish family of slaves. His mother put him in a basket on the Nile river because the Egyptian Pharoh ordered that all Hebrew male babies be killed, and by sending him away, she was protecting him. He is found by the Pharaoh's daughrer who raises him. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on the top of Mount Sinai. Considered the Hebrew liberator because he leads the slaves to freedom by parting the Red Sea.

JONAH

Old Testament. God told Jonah to preach about him, but Jonah didn't want to so he tried to escape by boat when he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a "big fish" (whale). After three days, Jonah prayed and repented and God rescued him by having the fish spit him out onto dry land.

ABRAHAM and ISAAC

Old Testament. In Genesis, Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham was ready to obey when an angel intervened. The story is symbolic of man's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his faith and trust in God.

PARCIVAL

One of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. Known for the quest for the holy grail (the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper). After his father dies, Parcival's mother takes him to the Welsh forests where she raises him away from mankind until he is 15. A group of knights passes through his woods, and Parcival is awed. Wanting to be a knight himself, the boy travels to King Arthur's court, and after proving his worthiness as a warrior he is knighted and invited to join the Knights of the Round Table.

VIRGIL

Poet of the Golden Age, called the "Homer of Rome" because the Iliad and the Odyssey served as models for his epic, the Aeneid which took 10 years to write.

KING ARTHUR

Son of Igrayne and Uther Pendragon, kidnapped by Merlin as a newborn and raised in Avalon by Sir Ector. The true ruler of Britain because he was able to pull the sword from the stone. The fairies have him the gifts of long life and knightly and kingly ability. Endured many wounds, but was protected by carrying the sword Excalibur and its scabbard. Married to Queen Guinevere.

HERMES

Son of Zeus and Maia. Acted as the messenger of the gods. He guided dead souls to the underworld.

APOLLO

The Greek god of the sun. He's a patron of music, poetry, math, and medicine. He has gold hair and a golden bow & arrows. He pulled the sun across the sky in his golden chariot and is often seen with a harp because he was the god of music.

THE PLEIADES

The Seven Sisters in the Seven Sisters constellation. Companions to Artemis and daughters of Atlas and a sea nymph. Many of the gods bore children with the seven sisters. Orion the Hunter still pursues the seven sisters across the sky.

ODYSSEUS

The protagonist of the Odyssey. He fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and now struggles to return to his kingdom in Ithaca. He is the husband of Queen Penelope and the father of Prince Telemachus. Though a strong and courageous warrior, he is most renowned for his cunning (he came up with the idea for the Trojan horse). He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends him divine aid, but a bitter enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his journey at every turn.

SIRENS

The sea nymphs that attempted to lure Odysseus into the rocks with their song; Odysseus escapes by being tied to the mast and sealing his men's ears with beeswax so they can't hear the song.

AENEAS

The son of Venus and Anchises, a noble fighter on Troy's side during the Trojan War. He escaped from Troy as the Greeks were sacking the city and went off in search of a place to establish a new Troy. He settled in Italy, where his descendants founded the city of Rome. He is often shown carrying his old father on his back to escape safely from Troy as it burns.

OEDIPUS

Tragic figure in Greek mythology. Son of Laius and Jocasta, adoptive son of Polybus and Merope. His father left with his feet crippled because he heard an oracle that said Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus heard the same oracle, and to prevent it from coming true, fled from his parents (not realizing that they had adopted him and were not his biological parents). One the way, he killed Laius on a mountain pass and defeated the Sphinx by solving her riddle, freeing the city of Thebes. As a reward, he was allowed to marry the queen (who he did not realize was his biological mother) and they had children together. Years later, he discovered his identity and that the oracle had come true. He gouged his eyes out and Jocasta hung herself. This tragedy is the subject of Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex" and Freud's Oedipal Complex is named after it.

SAMSON and DELILAH

Treacherous love story. The lovers were from enemy tribes. Samson was strong in part because he had never cut his hair. When Delilah learned Samson's hair was the source of his legendary strength, she betrayed him by accepting a Philistine bribe to cut off his hair while he slept.The Philistines captured and blinded Samson, but Samson eventually found enough strength to destroy his enemies by pulling down the pillars of the temple they were all in, even though doing so meant that he would die too.

ORPHEUS

When his wife, Eurydice, is killed by a snake bite, he goes into the underworld and uses his lyre to get to Hades. His skill on the lyre helps him convince Hades to give Eurydice back, but only if he doesn't look back at her until they are above ground. He hears her stumble, glances back, and Hades snatches her back.

EURYDICE

Wife of Orpheus, died by snake bite. Orpheus almost rescued her from the underworld by singing a song that moved Hades emotionally, but Orpheus lost his bargain when looked back at her before they left the underworld, so she was lost to him forever (as Hades knew would happen).