Mythology Terms

June

a. 6th month of the Grogorian calendar, b.named after the Roman goddess of childbirth and fertility, Juno.

Atlas

a. A bound collection of maps b. Atlas was the name of a titan in Greek mythology. (He was the one who held up the world.)

ambrosia/nectar

a. A delicious drink (nectar) or food (ambrosia) b. Comes from greek mythology - food of the gods, a life giving drink of the gods

Oracle

a. A person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential pronouncements. b. From the Greek god Apollo of Delphi who asked a oracle for help on his journey.

laureate

a. A person who has been honored for receiving award, b. In mythology, Apollo was represented with a laurel wreath.

Echo

a. A repetition of sound produced by the reflection of sound waves from a wall, mountain, or other obstructing surface. b. In Greek mythology Echo was an nymph who loved her own voice (she did it over and over like an echo.)

Jovial

a. A spirit of good fellowship b. Of or pertaining to the god Jove, or Jupiter, they were Roman.

Herculean task

a. A task requiring tremendous effort strength. b. The god is Hercules who is a Greek hero who becomes a god and he his know for his 12 impossible labors

Olympic

a. Also called Olympian Games . the greatest of the games or festivals of ancient Greece, held every four years in the plain of Olympia in Elis, in honor of Zeus. b. Originating, from Olympus, the home of the Greek Gods.

Music

a. An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm,melody, harmony, and color. b. Music comes from the 9 Greek goddesses, the Muses who inspire people about the arts, literature, and science.

Nemesis

a. An opponent or rival who you cannot beat b. The Greek goddess of revenge to those who sinned against the gods

Cereal

a. Any plant of the grass family yielding an edible grain, such as-wheat, rye, oats, rice, or corn. b. From Ceres, older Greek goddess for grain

Arachnid

a. Any wingless, carnivorous arthropod of the class arachnid,including spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, and daddy-long legs, having a body divided into two parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen, and having eight appendages and no antennae. b. It came from a girl named Arachne, who was turned into a spider by Athena.

Elysian

a. Blissful or delightful. b. Elysium is a conception of the after life from Greece (the good after life).

Hyacinth

a. Blue larkspur, a flower and also a gem of blue color. b. A divine hero from Sparta and a lover of the God Apollo. Hyacinth and Apollo where throwing the discus when Apollo threw the discus really far. Hyacinth ran to catch it but was struck by the discus and died.

halycon

a. Calm, peaceful, or tranquil. b. The goddess was the daughter of the God Aeolus who was the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology.

Plutocrat

a. Comes from the Greek philosopher Pluto. b. a member of a plutocracy; the rule or power of wealth or of the wealthy.

Labyrinthine

a. Complicated ; torturous, b. A building made by Daedalus to imprison the Minotaur.

Lethal

a. Dangerous, deadly b. Lethe - river of forgetfulness; one of the rivers one crossed to reach Hades.

Lethargic

a. Drowsy, sluggish b. Lethe - river of forgetfulness; one of the rivers one crossed to reach Hades

Fauna

a. Fauna is the animals of a specific region or area. b. Fauna was the goddess of fertility.

Flora

a. Flora is the plants of a specific region or area. b. Flora was the goddess of flowers ROMAN/Latin both

volcano

a. From the mythological Roman god Vulcan, Who was the god of the fire. b. A mountain that has or used to have lava shooting out of it

Cyclopean

a. Gigantic or vast or the characteristics of a Cyclops. b. Cyclops in Greek mythology was a member of a race of giants each with one eye in the middle of their forehead.

Zephyr

a. Greek and Latin word b. Means a gentle, mild breeze.

Pandora's Box

a. Hidden troubles b. A box that Zeus gave to Pandora, a woman in Greek mythology with all the evils in the world inside of it. He also gave Pandora extreme curiosity and told her not to open the box. She eventually opened it and all the evils in the world escaped (death, sickness, greed, robbery,etc.)

Hermetic

a. It is something that is airtight and isolated. b. Hermes was an alchemist and in the medieval times they worshipped him and they made airtight containers.

Titanic

a. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Greek creatures, titans. Also of enormous size and power. b. From the Greek Mythological creature Titan. Like a giant.

Siren

a. One of several Greek sea nymphs, part woman part bird, who would put sailors in a trance with their seductive songs. b. An implement of this kind used as a whistle, fog signal, or warning device.

Aegis

a. Protection and support. b. In Greek mythology, it means a shield or breast plate that belongs to Zeus and Athena, that has the head of a gorgon in the center of it.

hypnotic

a. Sleep inducing, or narcotic. b. Hypnos is the Greek god of sleep which he induces with Opium blown through a horn.

Fate

a. Something that unavoidably befalls on a person b. The Fates were three mythological goddess who were Clotho the spinner who spins the thread of life, Elachesis the measured who chose the lot and life one will have and measures off how long it will be, and Atropos is she who cuts the thread of life which her scissors.

aurora

a. The ancient roman goddess of the dawn. b. Means the dawn or rising of something.

January

a. The first month of the year. b. In Roman mythology the God Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions.

chronology

a. The sequential order in which past events occur. b. Khronos was the Titan god of time and ages.

Hector (verb)

a. To bully b. The eldest son of Priam and husband of Andromache who was the greatest Trojan hero in the Trojan War. He was killed by Achilles

narcissistic

a. Vain, fascinated with yourself b. Narcissus, a man in Greek mythology who fell in love with his reflection in a pond, and he fell in and drowned (or starved...).

Martial

a. Warlike b. comes from the name of the Roman god of war, Mars. Such activities were deemed to be within his purview, and therefore were described by his name, Mars.

Odyssey

a. a long series of wandering or adventures b. Odysseus, a man in Greek mythology, fought in the Trojan War (a war between the city of Troy and Greece about a woman named Helen) and it took him ten years to get back home after the end of the war, and the rest of his shipmates died.

Panic

a. a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals. b. From the Greek god Pan, who is the God of the wild, who caused fear when disrupting his animals.

Achilles heel

a. a weakness or vulnerable point b. It comes from the mythological Greek hero Achilles, whose mother plunged him into the River Styx when he was a baby, thus making his body invulnerable except for the heel

mentor

a. a wise and trusted counselor or teacher b. (In the Odyssey ) a loyal adviser of Odysseus entrusted with the care and education of Telemachus.

mercurial

a. animated; lively; sightly; quick-witted. b. It comes from the Roman god Mercury who was a messenger.

chaos

a. any confused or disorderly mass b. It comes from the Typhon monster, Chaos, who was from Greece.

Tantalize

a. from the punishment of the Greek god Tantalus b. means to torment with, or as if with, the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed.

Promethean

a. is to be creative, original, or life-enhancing b. Promethean comes from Prometheus, a character from Greek mythology, who was punished by the gods for stealing fire from the heavens to give to humans.

psychic

a. of or pertaining to the human mind or soul; mental. b. From Psyche, Greek goddess of the soul

Boreal

a. of or related to the north or the north wind. b. from Boreas , the Greek God of the North Wind.

Satire

a. satire comes from the Latin word satur b. it means the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

Chimerical

a. unreal; imaginary; visionary b. It comes from the Greek word chimera, who was a mythical creature who's body was a bunch of different animals put together.

Bacchanalian

a.Characterized by or given to drunken revelry. b. It comes from the god Bacchus.