Mythological Dictionary Page #1

Cerberus

Cerberus, the hound of the underworld, stood guard at the gates of Hades and prevented those not per...

Cereal

Ceres (the Roman counterpart of Demeter) was goddess of grain and the fertility of the earth. From h...

Chaos or chaotic

Whether Chaos is to be understood as a void or a primordial, formless, undifferentiated, and seethin...

Chimera or chimerical or chimeric

A wild, hybrid creature, the Chimera had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a s...

Cornucopia

The Latin cornucopia means "horn of plenty." There are two stories about this horn, which bestows up...

Cosmos

Cosmos or cosmic or cosmology or cosmetic or cosmetician. Cosmos refers to the universe, and all th...

Cupidity

The Latin word cupidus (desirous or greedy) gave rise to Cupido, Cupid, the Roman equivalent of the ...

Cyclopean

Here were two distinct groups of giants called the Cyclopes, whose name means circle-eyed and indica...

Cynosure

The constellation Ursa Minor ("little bear") was called Kunosoura ("the dog's tail") by the astronom...

Demon

Demon or demoniac or demonic or demonology. In Greek daimon was a word of rather fluid definition. ...

Dionysian

The dionysiac or dionysian experience is the antithesis of the apollonian, characterized by moderati...

Echo

There are two major myths which tell how the acoustic phenomenon of the echo arose. According to one...

Electra complex

Comparable in the development of the female is the electra complex, a psychotic attachment to the fa...

Elysian Fields

Elysian Fields or Elysian or Elysium. In Vergil's conception of the Underworld there is a place in ...

Enthusiasm

In cultic ritual, particularly Dionysiac, the initiate was often thought to become possessed by the ...

Eristic

Eris was the goddess of "strife" or "discord," responsible for all the dissension arising from the A...

Erotic

Erotic or erotica or eratomania. To the Greeks Eros was one of the first generation of divinities b...

Europe

Europa was the daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre in Phoenicia. Zeus, disguised as a white bull, entic...

Faunus

Faunus or faun or fauna or flora. Faunus, whose name means one who shows favor, was a Roman woodlan...

Furies

Furies or furious or furioso. The Erinyes (Furies) were avenging spirits. They sprang from the seve...

Gaia Hypothesis

Gaia (or Ge), sprung from Chaos, is the personification of the earth. Her name has been employed in ...

Genius

The Latin word Genius designated the creative power of an individual which was worshipped as a mytho...

Gorgon

Gorgon or gorgoneion or gorgonian or gorgonize. The Gorgons were three sisters who had snakes for h...

Halcyon

Halcyon or halcyon days. The mythical bird, the halcyon, is identified with the kingfisher. Ceyx an...

Harpy

The Harpies ("snatchers"), daughters of Thaumas and Electra, were originally conceived of as winds, ...