Algarsyf
One of the two sons of King Cambuscan, in Chaucer's ‘Squire's Tale’ (see Canterbury Tales, 11).
Amphitryon
A comedy by Dryden, produced and published 1690. Adapted from the comedies of Plautus and Molière on the same subject, it represents the story of Jupiter's seduction of Alcmena in the guise of her ...
apex
A special kind of cap worn by Roman flamines, Salii, and some other priests. The word is said originally to have meant not the whole cap, but the spike or ...
Apollo
In Greek mythology, a god, son of Zeus and Leto and brother of Artemis. He is associated with music, poetic inspiration, archery, prophecy, medicine, pastoral life, and the sun; the sanctuary at ...
Apollonius
Sculptor, son of Nestor, of Athens, signed the Belvedere torso in the Vatican (Winter, Kunstgeschichte in Bildern 394. 2). The supposed signature on the bronze boxer in the Terme is ...
Aramean mythology
The Arameans were one of many Semitic-speaking peoples of the area that includes what was once known as the land of Canaan. By the eleventh century b.c.e. the Arameans, who ...
Aulus Vitellius
(ad 15–69),Roman emperor in 69, son of Lucius Vitellius, was friendly with Gaius (1), Claudius, and Nero. Consul in 48, he became proconsul of Africa (see pro consule; africa, roman), then served as ...
Bar-Kochba
General in Judaea who led a great revolt against Roman dominion (d. 135 ce). Letters written by Bar Kochba (and the coins he struck during his early successes against Rome) have been discovered. From ...
Baucis
And her husband Philēmon were elderly peasants who entertained Zeus and Hermes with the resources of their meagre larder when the gods paid an incognito visit to Phrygia; for their piety they were ...
Bussumarus
[Romano-Gaulish, large-lipped].A god of the Continental Celts whom the Romans identified with Jupiter.
Calistopee
A nymph of Diana, who was seen, desired, and possessed by Jupiter. Driven out by Diana, she bore a son, Arcas. The angry Juno transformed her into a bear. Later ...
Capitol
[Ge]The principal hill in Rome, site of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, that served as a citadel and religious centre.
Carvilius Maximus, Spurius
(RE 9)of non-senatorial origins, was consul twice (293; 272 bc) with L. Papirius Cursor (2). Both secured triumphs for decisive victories in northern central Samnium (293) and for ending ...
Castor and Pollux
In Greek mythology, the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda and brothers of Helen, the Dioscuri.
Celtic mythology
The origin of the Celts, today the smallest group of Indo-European speakers, is unclear. Some archeologists have suggested the existence of a proto-Celtic Indo- European people in the so-called ...
Cupid and Psyche
The allegorical centrepiece of the Golden Ass of Apuleius, in which the author blends a familiar folk tale depicting an enchanted suitor and his abandoned bride with a Hellenistic epyllion about the ...
Diana
An Italian goddess anciently identified with Artemis, from whom she took over the patronage of margins and savageness. One of her most famous shrines was on Mt. Tifata near Capua; the name Tifata ...
Domitian
Younger son of Vespasian, b. ad 51, remained in Rome during his father's campaign against Vitellius. Surrounded on the Capitol with his uncle, he managed to escape and on Vitellius' death was ...
druid
A member of the ruling caste of the Gallic Celts. Knowledge of the Druids is derived chiefly from the hostile accounts of them in the Roman authors Julius Caesar and Tacitus. Caesar reports that they ...
Etruscan mythology
The people of Ertruria, which existed in the west central Italian Peninsula (modern Tuscany and Umbria) between the eighth and fourth centuries b.c.e., were non–Indo-European speakers who developed a ...
