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Centaurs
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version of the myth, the centaurs were named after Centaurus, and, through his brother Lapithes, were kin to the legendary tribe of the Lapiths. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being as wild as untamed horses, and were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. Centaurs are subsequently featured in Roman mythology, and were familiar figures in the medieval bestiary. They remain a staple of modern fantastic literature. Etymology The Greek word ''kentauros'' is generally regarded as being of obscure origin. The etymology from ''ken'' + ''tauros'', 'piercing bull', was a euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus' rationaliz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lapiths
The Lapiths (; , ''Lapithai'', Grammatical number, sing. Λαπίθης) were a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, who lived in Thessaly in the valley of the Pineios (Thessaly), Pineios and on the mountain Pelion. They were believed to have descended from the mythical Lapithes (hero), Lapithes, brother of Centaurus (Greek mythology), Centaurus, with the two heroes giving their names to the races of the Lapiths and the Centaur, Centaurs respectively. The Lapiths are best known for their involvement in the ''Centauromachy'' (), a mythical fight that broke out between them and the Centaurs during Pirithous and Hippodamia (wife of Pirithous), Hippodamia's wedding. Mythology Origin The Lapiths were an Aeolians, Aeolian tribe who, like the Myrmidons, were natives of Thessaly. The genealogies make them a kindred people with the centaurs: In one version, Lapithes (hero), Lapithes (Λαπίθης) and Centaurus (Greek mythology), Centaurus (Κένταυρος) were said to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centaurus (Greek Mythology)
In Greek mythology, Centaurus () is the son of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the River gods (Greek mythology), river-god Peneus, Peneius and the naiad Creusa (Naiad), Creusa. He is the twin brother of the hero Lapithes (hero), LapithesDiodorus Siculus4.69.1/ref> and father of the race of mythological beasts known as the Centaurs or Ixionidae (Ιξιονίδαι, ''Ixionidai''). The Centaurs are half-man, half horse; having the torso of a man extending where the neck of a horse should be. They were a kindred people with the Lapiths and were said to be wild, savage, and lustful. Mythology After Ixion, king of the Lapiths, fell into insanity and was ostracized by his people, Zeus sympathized greatly with Ixion and brought him up to Mount Olympus, Olympus to dine with the gods. There Ixion saw Hera, Zeus' wife and queen of the gods, with whom he fell instantly in love and began to desire her sexually. Zeus, suspicious of Ixion, set for him a trap by fashioning a figure from cloud ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaephatus
Palaephatus (Ancient Greek: ) was the author of a rationalizing text on Greek mythology, the paradoxographical work ''On Incredible Things'' (; ), which survives in a (probably corrupt) Byzantine edition. This work consists of an introduction and 52 brief sections on various Greek myths. The first 45 have a common format: a brief statement of a wonder tale from Greek mythology, usually followed by a claim of disbelief ("This is absurd" or "This is not likely" or "The true version is..."), and then a sequence of every-day occurrences which gave rise to the wonder-story through misunderstanding. The last seven are equally brief retellings of myth, without any rationalizing explanation. Palaephatus's date and name are uncertain; many scholars have concluded that the name "Palaephatus" is a pseudonym. What little evidence is extant suggests that the author was likely active during the late fourth century BCE. ''On Incredible Things'' Palaephatus's introduction sets his approach betw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ixion
In Greek mythology, Ixion ( ; ) was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly. Family Ixion was the son of Ares, or Leonteus (mythology), Leonteus, or Antion and Perimele, or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes "fiery". Pirithous was his son (or stepson, if Zeus were his father, as Zeus claims to Hera in ''Iliad'' 14). Background Ixion married Dia (mythology), Dia, a daughter of Eioneus, and promised his father-in-law a valuable present. However, he did not pay the bride price, so Deioneus stole some of Ixion's horses in retaliation. Ixion concealed his resentment and invited his father-in-law to a feast at Larissa. When Deioneus arrived, Ixion pushed him into a bed of burning coals and wood. These circumstances are secondary to the fact of Ixion's primordial act of murder; it could be accounted for quite differently: in the ''Greek Anthology'', among a collection of inscriptions from a temple in Cyzicus, is an epigrammatic description of Ixion sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lapithes (hero)
In Greek mythology, Lapithes ();(Ancient Greek: Λαπίθης) may refer to the following figures: * Lapithes, son of Apollo and Stilbe. He and his full brother Centaurus were believed to have given their names to the legendary races of Lapiths and Centaurs respectively. Lapithes settled on the banks of River Peneus and married Orsinome, daughter of Eurynomus, by whom he became the father of Phorbas, Periphas, Triopas (possibly) and Diomede. * Lapithes, son of Aeolus (son of Hippotes) and father of Lesbus, who married Methymna, daughter of Macareus, and gave his name to the island of Lesbos.Diodorus Siculus5.81.6/ref> Notes References * Diodorus Siculus, ''The Library of History'' translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "part man and part bull". He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, upon command of King Minos of Crete. According to tradition, every nine years the people of Athens were compelled by King Minos to choose Sacrificial victims of the Minotaur, fourteen young noble citizens (seven men and seven women) to be offered as sacrificial victims to the Minotaur in retribution for the death of Minos's son Androgeus (son of Minos), Androgeos. The Minotaur was eventually slain by the Athenian hero Theseus, who managed to navigate the labyrinth with the help of a thread offered to him by the King's daughter, Ariadne. Etymology The word "Minotaur" derives from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euhemerism
In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exaggerated in the retelling, accumulating elaborations and alterations that reflect cultural mores. It was named after the Greek mythographer Euhemerus, who lived in the late 4th century BC. In the more recent literature of myth, such as '' Bulfinch's Mythology'', euhemerism is termed the "historical theory" of mythology. Euhemerus was not the first to attempt to rationalize mythology in historical terms: euhemeristic views are found in earlier writings including those of Sanchuniathon, Xenophanes, Herodotus, Hecataeus of Abdera and Ephorus. However, the enduring influence of Euhemerus upon later thinkers such as the classical poet Ennius (b. 239 BC) and modern author Antoine Banier (b. 1673 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foloi Oak Forest
The Folóï oak forest () is an oak forest in southwestern Greece. It is located in the municipal unit of Foloi, Olympia, Elis, in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The Folóï oak forest is situated at an altitude of 688m, on the plateau of the Folóï mountain. It is an ecosystem unique in the Balkan peninsula and consists of a territory of , which is almost entirely covered by deciduous oaks that form a dense forest area. Mythology The Pholóē oak forest was known to Ancient Greeks, because of its proximity to many of their settlements in the Elis region. The mysterious beauty of the forest inspired them to believe that it was a habitat of centaurs and dryads. They gave the forest the name ''Pholóē'' (, modern Greek pronunciation: Folóï) and the chief of the Centaurs the name ''Phólos'' (). The dryads () were "oak spirits" of the forest. Flora The broadleaf oak, ''Quercus frainetto'' (Hungarian oak) is the primary species of oak in the forest, and it cover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Mythology
Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to the subject matter as represented in the literature and art of other cultures in any period. Roman mythology draws from the mythology of the Italic peoples and shares mythemes with Proto-Indo-European mythology. The Romans usually treated their traditional narratives as historical, even when these have miraculous or supernatural elements. The stories are often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individual's personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. Heroism is an important theme. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are more concerned with ritual, augury, and institutions than with theology or cosmogony. Roman mythology also draws on Greek mythology, pri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Etymology
Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. Most directly tied to historical linguistics, philology, and semiotics, it additionally draws upon comparative semantics, morphology, pragmatics, and phonetics in order to attempt a comprehensive and chronological catalogue of all meanings and changes that a word (and its related parts) carries throughout its history. The origin of any particular word is also known as its ''etymology''. For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts, particularly texts about the language itself, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form, or when and how they entered the language. Etymologists also apply the methods of comparative linguistics to reconstruct in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attica
Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Laurion, Lavrio, was an important Mines of Laurion, mining region. The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the Athens city-state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the Classical Greece, classical period. Classical Athens, Ancient Attica (the classical Classical Athens, Athens city-state) was divided into deme, demoi, or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Hislop
Alexander Hislop (1807 – 13 March 1865) was a Free Church of Scotland minister known for his criticisms of the Catholic Church. He was the son of Stephen Hislop (died 1837), a mason by occupation and an elder of the Relief Church. Alexander's brother was also named Stephen Hislop and became well known in his time as a missionary to India and a naturalist. Alexander was born and raised in Duns, Berwickshire. He was for a time parish schoolmaster of Wick, Caithness. In 1831 he married Jane Pearson. He was for a time editor of the ''Scottish Guardian'' newspaper. As a probationer he joined the Free Church of Scotland at the Disruption of 1843. He was ordained in 1844 at the East Free Church, Arbroath, where he became senior minister in 1864. He died of a paralytic stroke in Arbroath the next year after being ill for about two years. He wrote several books, his most famous being '' The Two Babylons: Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife''. ''The Two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
