Ex-libris Ernest Rudge 22500629148 CASSELL’S POCKET REFERENCE LIBRARY A Dictionary of Mythology — Cassell’s Pocket Reference Library The first Six Volumes are : English Dictionary Poetical Quotations Proverbs and Maxims Dictionary of Mythology Gazetteer of the British Isles The Pocket Doctor Others are in active preparation In two Bindings—Cloth and Leather A DICTIONARY MYTHOLOGYOF BEING A CONCISE GUIDE TO THE MYTHS OF GREECE AND ROME, BABYLONIA, EGYPT, AMERICA, SCANDINAVIA, & GREAT BRITAIN BY LEWIS SPENCE, M.A. Author of “ The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru,” etc. i CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1910 ca') zz-^y . a k. WELLCOME INS77Tint \ LIBRARY Coll. W^iMOmeo Coll. No. _Zv_^ _ii ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTRODUCTION Our grandfathers regarded the study of mythology as a necessary adjunct to a polite education, without a knowledge of which neither the classical nor the more modem poets could be read with understanding. But it is now recognised that upon mythology and folklore rests the basis of the new science of Comparative Religion. The evolution of religion from mythology has now been made plain. It is a law of evolution that, though the parent types which precede certain forms are doomed to perish, they yet bequeath to their descendants certain of their characteristics ; and although mythology has perished (in the civilised world, at least), it has left an indelible stamp not only upon modem religions, but also upon local and national custom. The work of Fruger, Lang, Immerwahr, and others has revolutionised mythology, and has evolved from the unexplained mass of tales of forty years ago a definite and systematic science. The truth, that where man exists under at all similar conditions, there will his beliefs be similar, has been strengthened by the numerous parallels which have been drawn of late from different mythological sys- tems. It is by the collection and comparison of parallel or similar myths that the universal likeness of religious belief may be demonstrated, and by that alone. I have therefore undertaken in this little work to present to the reader numerous parallels between the myths of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Scandinavia, Great Britain, etc., in the hope that they will better illustrate those classical examples with which he is probably more or less familiar. I have also thought it well to include in vii viii Introduction the dictionary the names of the more important deities of many North American, Mexican, and other aboriginal tribes, both of the New and Old Worlds. It must be borne in mind that the gods of Greece and Rome, as we know them from the pages of Hesiod, Homer, and Virgil, sprang from much more primitive and even savage forms. It will thus be seen that there is nothing incongruous in comparing the myths relating to them with those describing the origin or acts of the deities of folk of a less classic age or clime. But it is not through the analogy of savage myth alone that we will ever come to a full understanding of the beliefs of ancient Greece»and Rome. Civilisation rears strange superstructures upon savage practice ; and the results of an admixture of barbaric and semi-cultivated thought upon religious belief are ofttimes well-nigh baffling. Why, for instance, was an owl the symbol of Athene ? Was it because the bird typified wisdom, or that Athene was once herself an owl totem or tribal animal symbol ? Mythology teems with such questions. But whether the reader is desirous of gaining such knowledge of it as will justify it in his eyes as the basis of all religions, or is merely moved by a curious interest to peruse in little the matchless tales which have been handed on to us through the ages, I have attempted to meet his humour in the hope that mere curiosity will be stimu- lated to a stronger interest in a study that cannot fail to repay its devotees tenfold. L. S. Abbreviations q.v. (= quod vide). Which see. v., vide. See. c., circa. About. cf. (= conferaiur). Compare. A DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY AA E- An EgyPtian moon-god, who, with Khensu and Thoth, wears the lunar crescent and solar disc. He is represented as a young man, bearing the signs of divinity and sovereignty. ^ ci Phocis, , ^y which contained a cele- brated shrine of Apollo. ABANTIADES. The descendants of Abas son (i) his Acrisius, and Perseus, his great-grandson by Acnsius daughter Danae. ABANTIAS. Another name for Danae (q.v .). ABARIS . A priest of Apollo in the land of the Hyperboreans, who visited Greece, riding on an arrow which had been given him by his tutelar deity. ABAS 1 A kin o£ - J ) S Argos, son of Lynceus. He possessed the magic shield of his grandfather Danaus which was sacred to the goddess Hera. It was after- n d b ^neas. (2) A centaur, one most fuf ? , y, of the skilful of that race in affairs of the chase (A A king of Latium who took sides with /Eneas in his strife with Turnus (q.v.). He was killed by Lausus ABDERA. A city on the coast of Thrace, said to have been founded by Heracles as a memorial to his inend Abderus. ABDERUS. The armour-bearer of Heracles, whom the horses of Diomede rent in pieces. ABEONA. Tutelary goddesses of Rome, whose function it was to protect children from falls during their first efforts in walking. ABIA. A city promised by Agamemnon to Achilles, situated on the Gulf of Messenia. ABII. A pastoral tribe situated between Scythia and Thrace, whom Homer praises for their honesty 17 ' They W6re averse to strife and lived upon^udk* > I Abiial [Acca Larcntia ABILA. (i) A city of Syria, the capital of Abilene. in (2) A mountain of Africa, which with Calpe Spain is known as the Pillars of Hercules. They were once adjacent, but Hercules tore them asunder and formed an opening between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. ABORIGINES. The original inhabitants of Italy (.see .-Eneas). ABSYRTUS. See Medea. ABYDOS. The Greek name for Abet, the capital of the eighth nome of Upper Egypt, near the site of the modem Girgeh. Its chief deity was An-hur, a sun-god. Tradition held it to be the burial place of Osiris, and multitudes of Egyptian dead were brought thither to be buried. Tombs of the first and second dynasties have been discovered there. the (2) The birthplace of Leander (q.v.), a town of Asian side of the Hellespont, which he swam nightly to visit his mistress Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite. ACADEMUS. A native of Attica who informed the Dioscuri that their sister Helen was incarcerated at Aphidnae by Theseus (q.v.). and companion A CAMUS. (1) A son of Theseus of Diomede, who accompanied the latter as herald on a mission to Troy to demand the restitution of Helen after her flight with Paris. (2) The son of Antenor. ACARNAM. See Alcmamn. ACASTUS. Son of Pelios, king of Iolcus, an Argo- naut, who took part in the hunting of the Calydonian boar (see Jason and Medea). His wife, Astydamia, conceived a passion for Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, who scorned her advances, and she accused him to her husband of attempting her dishonour. Shortly afterwards Acastus deprived Peleus of his sword whilst he lay asleep on Mount Pelion, where they had gone on a hunting expedition, and, left thus defence- less, Peleus was nearly slain by centaurs, but was saved by the wise centaur Chiron. He returned to the court of Acastus, and slew both him and his treacherous wife—who is also known as Hippolyte, ACCA LARENTIA. The wife of Faustulus, the shepherd who discovered Romulus and Remus, and took them from the she-wolf who suckled them. She reared them, and when one of her twelve sons died Romulus took his place, the twelve being known Acerbasj [Achclous ret ren - The festlval of the Larentalia waswa^heMheld 'in u j! m her honour on December 23rd. ACERB AS. A priest of Heracles at Tyre also Killed Sichaeus ’ He married Dido, sister Pygmalion of King of Tyre, by which monarch he was put 6 PUrP°Se ° f "»**»«'* weaUh ^ —ease tiDmo ) ACESTES. Son of Crimisus, a river-god of Sicilv and Egesta, a Trojan woman. Her father, fearfu'l e OU d be de v?ured bV ‘he monsters which infestedi^fested th,» T . tne Trojan plains, sent her to sue became Sicily, where infatuated with Crimisus. Her ^n 3 fou“ded the wty of Acesta, and gave hos- pitalitynitlrf to .Eneas when he sojourned in Sicily. The des“ndants °f the mythical Achasus son of Xuthus and Creusa, and a grandson of Hellen the ancestor of the Hellenes. They sometimes gave th W 6 of Greece, afterwards c? h° known Sf>e klng y ’ they were confined to thethe^.thsouth ‘’f , ! of Thessaly, Argos and Sparta. They were expelled from Argos after its conquest by the the DOrtherD ^ the* Peloponnesus. A CHASME NIDES. A companion of Odysseus abandoned by him in Sicily in his flight from the yC S a rWardS diSCOvered there by .Eneas n i°£ t s toitf. 1 The S°“ °f Xuthus ancestor AchSi *^.).' > of the ACHAIA. See Ach^ei. ACHATES. A friend of .Eneas, His fidelity has be r rblal in tb® ex T0^p? oTr Pression Pifius Achates. ACHELOUS. A river-god, son of Oratnnc -mri Iftbys. and Hercules were the suitors of Dejanira. They fought, and at length Achelous was overthrown by Hercules after a titanic struggle. Then the river, god changed himself into a serpent but was almost strangled by Hercules.