Chapter I: The Anglo-Saxon Period, 449-1066 (8)

=Thangbrand.=--_Tales of a Wayside Inn_, Henry W. Longfellow. King Olaf’s drunken priest, “short of stature, large of limb,” who was sent to Iceland, found the people poring over their books, and sailed backed to Norway to say to Olaf “little hope is there of these Iceland men.”

=Theagenes= (_thē-aj´e-nēz_)= and Chariclea= (_kar-i-klē´ä_).--The chief characters in a Greek love story, by Heliodorus, bishop of Trikka, fourth century. A charming fiction, largely borrowed from by subsequent novelists, and especially by Mdlle. de Scudéri, Tasso, Guarini, and D’Urfé.

=Thekla.=--The daughter of Wallenstein in Schiller’s drama of this name. She is an invention of the poet.

=Theodorus.=--The name of a physician, in Rabelais’ romance of _Gargantua_. At the request of Ponocrates, Gargantua’s tutor, he undertook to cure the latter of his vicious manner of living, and accordingly “purged him canonically with Anticyrian hellebore,” by which medicine he cleared out all the perverse habits of his brain, so that he became a man of honor, sense, courage, and piety.

=Theresa=, or =Teresa= (_te-rē´sä_, or _tā-rā´sä_).--Daughter of the count palatine of Padolia, beloved by Mazeppa, in Byron’s _Mazeppa_.

=Thersites= (_ther-sī´tēz_).--A scurrilous Grecian chief, loquacious, loud and coarse, in the _Iliad_. His chief delight was to inveigh against the kings of Greece. He squinted, halted, and on his tapering head grew a few white patches of starveling down.

=Thopas, Sir.=--In the _Canterbury Tales_, a capital sportsman, archer, wrestler, and runner, who resolved to marry no one but an “elf queen,” and accordingly started for Faëryland. Story left unfinished.

=Thorberg Skafting.=--_Tales of a Wayside Inn_, Henry W. Longfellow. The master-builder ordered by King Olaf to build a ship twice as long and twice as large as the _Dragon_, built by Raud the Strong, which was stranded.

=Three Musketeers= [_Trois Mousquetaires_ (_trwä mös-ke-tar´_), _Les_].--A novel by Alexander Dumas _père_, published in 1844. The scene is laid in the time of Richelieu. The three musketeers are Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, but D’Artagnan is the principal character. He is a young Gascon of an adventurous yet practical nature, with a genius for intrigue, who goes up to Paris to seek his fortune with an old horse, a box of miraculous salve given to him by his mother, and his father’s counsels. His career is one of hairbreadth escapes (with death, in the end, on the field of battle) in the society of the three musketeers.

=Thyestean Banquet.=--Referred to in Milton’s _Paradise Lost_. A cannibal feast. Thyestes was given his own two sons to eat at a banquet served up to him by his brother Atreus.

=Thyrsis= (_ther´sis_).--A herdsman introduced in the _Idylls_ of Theocritos, and in Vergil’s _Eclogues_.

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes
From betwixt two aged oaks,
Where Corydon and Thyrsis, met,
Are at their savory dinner set.
Milton, _L’Allegro_.

=Timias.=--King Arthur’s squire in Spenser’s _Faërie Queene_. He went after the “wicked foster,” from whom Florimel fled, and the “foster” with his two brothers, falling on him, were all slain.

=Tobey, Uncle.=--A character in Sterne’s _Tristram Shandy_. A captain who was wounded at the siege of Namur, and was obliged to retire from the service. He is the impersonation of kindness, benevolence, and simple-heartedness; his courage is undoubted, and his gallantry delightful for its innocence and modesty.

=Tommy Atkins.=--_Barrack-Room Ballads_, Kipling. The name is here used in its general meaning, a British soldier. The name came from the little pocket ledgers served out, at one time, to all British soldiers. In these manuals were to be entered the name, the age, the date of enlistment, etc. The war office sent with each little book a form for filling it in, and the hypothetical name selected was _Tommy Atkins_. The books were instantly so called, and it did not require many days to transfer the name from the book to the soldier.

=Tom Sawyer, Adventures of.=--By Mark Twain. An “elastic” youth whose performances delight both old and young readers. Queer enterprises, influenced by the old superstitions among slaves and children in the Western states give reliable pictures of boy-life in the middle of the nineteenth century.

=Topsy.=--_Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, Mrs. Stowe. A young slave-girl, who never knew whether she had either father or mother, and being asked by Miss Ophelia St. Clare how she supposed she came into the world, replied, “I ’spects I growed.”

=Touchstone= (_tuch´stōn_).--A clown in Shakespeare’s _As You Like It_. His seven degrees of the lie are: (1) The retort courteous, (2) the quip modest, (3) the reply churlish, (4) the reproof valiant, (5) the countercheck quarrelsome, (6) the lie circumstantial, (7) the lie direct.

=Townley Mysteries.=--Certain religious dramas; so called because the MS. containing them belonged to P. Townley. These dramas are supposed to have been acted at Widkirk abbey, in Yorkshire.

=Tranio= (_trā´ni-ō_).--In Shakespeare’s _Taming of the Shrew_, one of the servants of Lucentio, the gentleman who marries Bianca, sister of Katharina “the Paduan shrew.”

=Triads.=--Three subjects, more or less connected, formed into one continuous poem or subject; thus the “Creation, Redemption, and Resurrection” would form a triad.

=Trim, Corporal.=--Uncle Toby’s attendant, in Sterne’s novel, _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent._, distinguished for his fidelity and affection, his respectfulness, and his volubility.

=Tristram= (_tris´tram_), =Sir.=--One of the most celebrated heroes of mediæval romance. His adventures form an episode in the history of Arthur’s court, and are related by Thomas the Rhymer, as well as by many romancists.

=Tubal= (_tū´bal_).--A wealthy Jew, the friend of Shylock, in Shakespeare’s _The Merchant of Venice_.

=Tuck, Friar.=--_Ivanhoe_, Scott. The father-confessor of Robin Hood and connected with Fountain’s Abbey. He is represented as a clerical Falstaff, very fat and self-indulgent, very humorous, and somewhat coarse. His dress was a russet habit of the Franciscan order. He was sometimes girt with a rope of rushes. Friar Tuck also appears in the “morris dance” on Mayday.

=Turveydrop.=--_Bleak House_, Dickens. A conceited dancing-master, who imposes on the world by his majestic appearance and elaborate toilette. He is represented as living upon the earnings of his son, who has a most slavish reverence for him as a perfect “master of deportment.”

=Tutivillus= (_tū-ti-vil´us_).--In Langland’s _Visions of Piers Plowman_, the demon who collects all the fragments of words omitted, mutilated, or mispronounced by priests in the performance of religious services, and stores them up in that “bottomless” pit which is “paved with good intentions.”

=Tweedledum and Tweedledee.=--The prince of Wales was the leader of the Handel party, supported by Pope and Dr. Arbuthnot; and the duke of Marlborough led the Bononcinists, and was supported by most of the nobility.

=Twelfth Night.=--A drama by Shakespeare. The story is said to have come from a novelette written early in the sixteenth century. A brother and sister, twins, are shipwrecked. Viola, dressed like her brother, becomes page to the duke Orsino. The duke was in love with Olivia, and, as the lady looked coldly on his suit, he sent Viola to advance it; but the willful Olivia, instead of melting toward the duke, fell in love with his beautiful page. Sebastian, the twin-brother of Viola, was attacked in a street brawl before Olivia, and, thinking him to be the page, she invited him in. The result was the marriage of Sebastian to Olivia, and of the duke to Viola.

=Twice-Told Tales.=--A collection of tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne, some of which had been already published in the _Token_, and other periodicals. They are mystical and, though in prose form, are the work of a poet. The tales are nearly all American in subject, but are treated from the spiritual rather than the practical side.

=Two Gentlemen of Verona= (_vā-rō´nä_).--A drama by Shakespeare, the story of which is taken from the Diana of Montemayor (sixteenth century). The plot resembles that of _Twelfth Night_, as Julia, disguised as a page, is a prominent figure.

=U=

=Uarda= (_ö-är´dä_).--A novel by Ebers, published in 1877. The scene is laid chiefly in Egypt at the time of the reign of Rameses II.

=Ubaldo.=--_Jerusalem Delivered_, Tasso. One of the older crusaders, who had visited many regions. He and Charles the Dane went to bring back Rinaldo from the enchanted castle.

=Ubeda.=--_Don Quixote_, Cervantes. A noted artist who one day painted a picture, but was obliged to write under it, “This is a cock,” in order that the spectator might know what was intended to be represented.

=Thule= (_thū´lē_).--“_Ultima Thule._” The extremity of the world; the most northern point known to the ancient Romans. Pliny and others say it is Iceland.

=Una= _(ū´nä_).--_Faërie Queene_, Spenser. The personification of truth. She goes, leading a lamb and riding on a white ass, to the court of Gloriana, to crave that one of her knights might undertake to slay the dragon which kept her father and mother prisoners. The adventure is accorded to the Red Cross Knight. Being driven by a storm into Wandering Wood, a vision is sent to the knight which causes him to leave Una, and she goes in search of him. In her wanderings a lion becomes her attendant. After many adventures, she finds St. George, “the Red Cross Knight,” but he is severely wounded. Una takes him to the House of Holiness, where he is carefully nursed, and then leads him to Eden.

=Uncle Tom’s Cabin.=--A work of fiction by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. It had an enormous sale, and at once made the author famous. As a picture of slave life as it once obtained in the Southern states of America it is certainly unsurpassed. The scenes described in it are so terrible that Mrs. Stowe deemed it advisable to publish in 1853 a _Key_ to the work, showing the large extent to which it is founded upon fact. The hero is, of course, Uncle Tom.

Uncle Tom was an old negro slave of unaffected piety, and most faithful in the discharge of all his duties. His master, a humane man, becomes embarrassed in his affairs, and sells him to a slave-dealer. After passing through various hands, and suffering intolerable cruelties, he dies. The figure next in interest is Legree, the brutal slave-owner. Everyone, also, will remember Eva and Topsy.

=Urganda= (_ör-gän´dä_).--In the romance of _Amadis de Gaul_, a powerful fairy sometimes appearing in all the terrors of an evil enchantress.

=Uriel= (_ū´ri-el_), or =Israfil=.--In the _Koran_, the angel who is to sound the resurrection trumpet. Longfellow, in _The Golden Legend_, calls him “the minister of Mars,” and says that he inspires man with “fortitude to bear the brunt and suffering of life.”

=Uther= (_ū´ther_).--Son of Constans, one of the fabulous or legendary kings of Britain, and the father of Arthur.

=Utopia= (_ū-tö´pi-ä_).--The name of an imaginary island described in the celebrated work of Sir Thomas More, in which was found the utmost perfection in laws, politics, and social arrangements. More’s romance obtained a wide popularity, and the epithet _Utopian_ has since been applied to schemes for the improvement of society which are deemed not practicable.

=Uzziel.=--In _Paradise Lost_, the next in command to Gabriel. The word means “God’s strength.”

=V=

=Valentine= (_val´en-tīn_).--(1) One of the heroes in the old romance of _Valentine and Orson_. (2) One of the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, by Shakespeare. (3) A gentleman attending on the duke in Shakespeare’s _Twelfth Night_. (4) One of the characters in Goethe’s _Faust_. He is a brother of Margaret.

=Valerian= (_va-lē´ri-an_).--_Canterbury Tales_, Chaucer. The husband of St. Cecilia. Cecilia told him she was beloved by an angel, who constantly visited her; and Valerian requested to see this visitant. Cecilia replied that he could do so if he went to Pope Urban to be baptized. This he did, and on returning home the angel gave him a crown of lilies, and to Cecilia a crown of roses, both from the garden of paradise.

=Valley of Humiliation.=--_Pilgrim’s Progress_, Bunyan. The place where Christian encountered Apollyon, just before he came to the “Valley of the Shadow of Death.”

=Vanity Fair.=--A novel without a hero, by Thackeray. “There are scenes of all sorts,” says the author in his preface to the work, “some dreadful combats, some grand and lofty horse-riding, some scenes of high life and some of very middling indeed, some love making for the sentimental, and some light comic business; the whole accompanied by appropriate scenery, and brilliantly illuminated by the author’s own candle.”

=Vathek= (_vath´ek_).--By Beckford. Originally written in French. “It was composed,” says the author, “at twenty-two years of age. It took me three days and two nights of hard labor. I never took off my clothes the whole time.” The description of the Hall of Eblis, which is often quoted, was taken, it appears, from the old hall at Fonthill, Beckford’s residence, probably the largest in any private house in England. “It was from that hall I worked, magnifying and coloring it with Eastern character. All the female characters were portraits drawn from the domestic establishment of old Fonthill, their good or evil qualities ideally exaggerated to suit my purpose.” _Vathek_ was translated into English, it is not known by whom, immediately on its appearance. “It was one of the tales,” says Byron, “I had a very early admiration of. For correctness of costume, beauty of description, and power of imagination, it far surpasses all European imitations, and bears such marks of originality that those who have visited the East will find some difficulty in believing it to be more than a translation.”

=Veck, Toby.=--_The Chimes_, Dickens. A ticket-porter who went on errands and bore the nickname Trotty. One New Year’s eve he had a nightmare and fancied he had mounted to the steeple of a neighboring church, and that goblins issued out of the bells. He was roused from his sleep by the sound of the bells ringing in the new year.

=Veiled Prophet.=--_Lalla Rookh_, Moore. He assumed to be a god, and maintained that he had been Adam, Noah, and other representative men. Having lost an eye, and being otherwise disfigured in battle, he wore a veil to conceal his face, but his followers said it was done to screen his dazzling brightness.

=Vernon, Di=, or =Diana=.--_Rob Roy_, Scott. The heroine of the story, a high-born girl of great beauty and talents. She is an enthusiastic adherent to a persecuted religion and an exiled king.

=Vicar of Wakefield.=--A novel by Goldsmith. The hero is Dr. Primrose, a simple-minded, pious clergyman, with six children. He begins life with a good fortune, a handsome house, and wealthy friends, but is reduced to poverty without any fault of his own, and, being reduced like Job, like Job he is restored.

=Vincentio= (_vin-sen´shiō_).--The duke of Vienna in Shakespeare’s _Measure for Measure_. He commits his scepter to Angelo, under the pretext of being called to take an urgent and distant journey, and by exchanging the royal purple for a monk’s hood, observes incognito the condition of his people.

=Vincy= (_vin´si_), =Rosamond.=--One of the principal female characters in George Eliot’s novel _Middlemarch_.

=Viola.= (_vi´ō-lä_)--_Twelfth Night_, Shakespeare. A sister of Sebastian. They were twins, and so much alike that they could be distinguished only by their dress. When they were shipwrecked Viola was brought to shore by the captain, but her brother was left to shift for himself. Being in a strange land, Viola dressed as a page, and, under the name of Cesario, entered the service of Orsino, duke of Illyria. The duke greatly liked his beautiful page, and, when he discovered her true sex, married her.

=Violenta.=--_All’s Well That Ends Well_, Shakespeare. A character in the play who enters upon the scene only once, and then she neither speaks nor is spoken to. The name has been used to designate any young lady nonentity; one who contributes nothing to the amusement or conversation of a party.

=Virgilia= (_ver-jil´i-ä_).--In Shakespeare’s _Coriolanus_, was the wife of Coriolanus, and Volumnia his mother; but historically Volumnia was his wife and Veturia his mother.

=Virginia= (_ver-jin´i-ä_).--A young Roman plebeian of great beauty, decoyed by Appius Claudius, one of the decemvirs, and claimed as his slave. Her father, Virginius, being told of it, hastened to the forum, and arrived at the moment when Virginia was about to be delivered up to Appius. He seized a butcher’s knife, stabbed his daughter to the heart, rushed from the forum, and raised a revolt. This has been the subject of a host of tragedies. It is one of Lord Macauley’s lays (1842), supposed to be sung in the forum on the day when Sextus and Licinius were elected tribunes for the fifth time.

=Vivian= (_viv´i-an_), or =Viviane=, or =Vivien=.--In the Arthurian cycle of romance, an enchantress, the mistress of Merlin. She brought up Lancelot in her palace, which was situated in the midst of a magical lake; hence her name “the Lady of the Lake.”

=Volpone= (_vol-pō´ne_), or the _Fox_.--A comedy by Ben Jonson, written in 1605. Hazlitt calls it his best play; prolix and improbable, but intense and powerful. It seems formed on the model of Plautus in unity of plot and interest. The principal character is represented as a wealthy sensualist, who tests the character of his friends and kinsmen by a variety of strategems, obtains from them a large addition to his riches by the success of his impostures, and finally falls under the vengeance of the law. “_Volpone_,” says Campbell, “is not, like the common misers of comedy, a mere money-loving dotard, a hard, shriveled old mummy, with no other spice than his avarice to preserve him--he is a happy villain, a jolly misanthrope, a little god in his own selfishness; and Mosca is his priest and prophet. Vigorous and healthy, though past the prime of life, he hugs himself in his harsh humor, his successful knavery and imposture, his sensuality and his wealth, with an unhallowed relish of selfish existence.”

=W=

=Wallenstein= (_väl´len-stīn_).--A trilogy by Schiller, comprising _Wallenstein’s Lager_, _Die Piccolomini_, and _Wallenstein’s Tod_. Schiller conceives his hero in these dramas as the type of the practical realist, serious, solitary, and reserved.

=Wandering Jew, The=--(F. _Le Juif Errant_).--A novel by Eugene Sue. The chief character is an imaginary person in a legend connected with the history of Christ’s passion. As the Savior was on the way to the place of execution, overcome with the weight of the cross, he wished to rest on a stone before the house of a Jew, who drove him away with curses. Driven by fear and remorse, he has since wandered, according to the command of the Lord, from place to place, and has never yet been able to find a grave.

=War and Peace.=--An historical novel by Tolstoi, published 1865-1868. The scene is laid in the time of the Czar Alexander I., and the novel is a picture of Russian society during the Russo-French wars.

=Waverley= (_wā´ver-li_) =Novels.=--General name given to Scott’s historical novels.

=Wayside Inn, Tales of a.=--Poems in various meters by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The first series includes a Prelude (_The Wayside Inn_), the Landlord’s Tale (_Paul Revere’s Ride_), the Student’s Tale (_The Falcon of Ser Federigo_), the Spanish Jew’s Tale (_The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi_), the Sicilian’s Tale (_King Robert of Sicily_), the Musician’s Tale (_The Saga of King Olaf_), the Theologian’s Tale (_Torquemada_), the Poet’s Tale (_The Birds of Killingworth_), several Interludes, and Finale.

=Weller= (_wel´er_), =Sam.=--In Dickens’ celebrated _Pickwick Papers_. A servant to Mr. Pickwick, to whom he becomes devotedly attached. Rather than leave his master when he is sent to the Fleet, Sam Weller gets his father to arrest him for debt. He is an inimitable compound of wit, simplicity, quaint humor, and fidelity. Tony Weller, father of Sam; a coachman of the old school, who drives between London and Dorking. On the coachbox he is a king, elsewhere a mere London “cabby.” He marries a widow, and his constant advice to his son is, “Sam, beware of the vidders.”

=Westward Ho!=--A novel by Charles Kingsley, the scene of which is laid in “the spacious times of great Elizabeth,” when the safety of England was threatened by the Spanish armada. Several historical personages figure in the story, such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Grenville, Admiral Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake; and the narrative carries the reader from Bideford to London, and from thence to Ireland, to the Spanish main, and the South American continent, back again to Bideford and Plymouth, whence the hero, Amyas Leigh, sails to take part in the famous sea-fight.

=Wild= (_wīld_), =Jonathan.=--A cool, calculating, heartless villain, with the voice of a Stentor, hero of Defoe’s romance of the same name.

=Wilford.=--(1) In Knowles’ _The Hunchback_, supposed to be earl of Rochdale. (2) In Knowles’ _The Beggar of Bethnal Green_, the truant son of Lord Woodville, who fell in love with Bess, the daughter of the “blind beggar of Bethnal Green.”

=Wilhelm Meister= (_vil´helm mīs´ter_).--Title of a philosophic novel by Goethe. The object is to show that man, despite his errors and shortcomings, is led by a guiding hand, and reaches some higher aim at last. This is considered to be the first true German novel.

=Wimble= (_wim´bl_), =Will.=--A member of the fictitious _Spectator Club_, said to be intended as a portrait of a Mr. Thomas Morecroft, a gentleman of simple habits and good nature.

=Winter’s Tale, The.=--A play by Shakespeare. Leontês, King of Sicily, invites his friend Polixenês to visit him, becomes jealous, and commands Camillo to poison him. Camillo warns Polixenês, and flees with him to Bohemia. Leontês casts his queen, Hermionê, into prison, where she gives birth to a daughter. Hermoinê is reported dead and the child is brought up by a shepherd, who calls it Perdita. Florizel sees Perdita and falls in love with her; but Polixenês, his father, tells her that she and the shepherd shall be put to death if she encourages the suit. Florizel and Perdita flee to Sicily, and being introduced to Leontês, it is soon discovered that Perdita is his lost daughter. Polixenês tracks his son to Sicily, and consents to the union. The party are invited to inspect a statue of Hermoinê, and the statue turns out to be the living queen.

=Worldly-Wiseman, Mr.=--One of the characters in Bunyan’s _Pilgrim’s Progress_, who converses with Christian by the way, and endeavors to deter him from proceeding on his journey.

=Wrayburn= (_rā´bern_) =Eugene.=--_Our Mutual Friend_, Dickens. Barrister-at-law; an indolent, moody, whimsical young man, who loves Lizzie Hexam. After he is nearly killed by Bradley Headstone, he reforms and marries Lizzie, who saved his life.

=Y=

=Yahoo= (_yȧ-hö´_).--A name given by Swift, in his satirical romance of _Gulliver’s Travels_, to one of a race of brutes having the form and all the vices of man. The Yahoos are represented as being subject to the Houyhnhnms, or horses endowed with reason.

=Yorick= (_yor´ik_).--(1) The King of Denmark’s jester, mentioned in Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_. Hamlet picks up his skull in the churchyard and apostrophizes it. (2) A humorous and careless parson in Sterne’s _Tristram Shandy_.

=Z=

=Zadig.=--The title of a novel by Voltaire. Zadig is a wealthy young Babylonian, and the object of the novel is to show that the events of life are beyond human control.

=Zanoni= (_za-nō´ni_).--Hero of a novel, so-called, by Lord Lytton. Zanoni is supposed to possess the power of communicating with spirits, prolonging life, and producing gold, silver, and precious stones.

=Zara= (_zä´rä_; French, _zaire_), a tragedy by Voltaire. Zara is the daughter of Lusignan d’Outremer, king of Jerusalem and brother of Nerestan. For twenty years Lusignan and his two children were captives at the court of the sultan Osman. The latter loves Zara, and was jealous of Nerestan, of whose relationship he was ignorant, and stabbed her to the heart. Nerestan being brought before the sultan, told him he had slain his sister. Osman then stabbed himself out of remorse.

=Zenobia= (_ze-nō´bi-ä_).--_Blithedale Romance_, Hawthorne. A strong-minded woman, beautiful and intelligent, who was interested in playing out the pastoral of the life at Brook Farm. She is represented as disappointed in love, and at last she drowned herself.

=Zephon.=--A “strong and subtle spirit” in Milton’s _Paradise Lost_, whom Gabriel dispatched with Ithuriel to find Satan.

=Zillah.=--One of Southey’s characters, beloved by Hamuel, a brutish sot. Zillah rejected his suit, and Hamuel vowed vengeance. Accordingly, he gave out that Zillah had intercourse with the devil, and she was condemned to be burnt alive. God averted the flames, which consumed Hamuel; but Zillah stood unharmed, and the stake to which she was bound threw forth white roses, “the first ever seen on earth since paradise was lost.”

=Zimri= (_zim´ri_).--In Dryden’s _Absalom and Achitophel_, is intended for George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, who had satirized Dryden in _The Rehearsal_ as Bayes.

=Zophiel= (_zō´fi-el_).--In Milton’s _Paradise Lost_, an angelic scout.

=Zuleika= (_zū-lē´kä_).--The heroine in Byron’s poem of _The Bride of Abydos_, in love with Selim:

“Fair, as the first that fell of womankind...
Soft, as the memory of buried love;
Pure, as the prayer which childhood wafts above:
Such was Zuleika--such around her shone
The nameless charms unmark’d by her alone:
The light of love, the purity of grace,
The mind, the music breathing from her face,
The heart whose softness harmonized the whole--
And, oh! that eye was in itself a soul!”

GODS, HEROES AND MYTHICAL WONDER TALES

A myth is a story told about gods or heroes. Mythology is a term applied to the collected myths of a nation or people, sometimes to the scientific study of myths. The first to busy itself in a large sense with mythology was the Greeks, whose myths had the most luxuriant and fanciful development. When the Romans received the arts and sciences from the Greeks, they adopted also their gods and their entire religious system. Thus it was that the Greek and Roman mythologies were to a great extent the same.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MYTHOLOGY IN EDUCATION

On account of their great beauty and universal interest, myths were made the themes of poets, priests, artists and commentators alike. Not only were the myths the inspiration of classical literature, art and religion, but they kept their place in later civilizations, and mythological allusions are so frequent in our own literature that an acquaintance with classic fable is a necessary part of modern education.

HOW THE MYTHS ORIGINATED

A large proportion of these myths are due to men’s observations of Nature, and her various active and creative forces, which appeared to their lively Southern fancy as manifestations of single supernatural beings. These were regarded now as friendly, now as hostile, to man; and men therefore strove as eagerly to gain their favor as to appease their wrath. Of the appearance of the deities who thus manifested themselves in the workings of nature, men necessarily formed at first very crude and fantastic ideas. But later, when men emerged from the simple conditions of the early patriarchal epoch, and began to dwell in regular political communities, they gradually ceased to regard the gods as mere personifications of natural forces. They began to regard them as beings acting in accordance with unchangeable moral laws, and endowed with forms similar to those of men. They brought the gods into connection with each other by means of genealogies in a great measure artificial, and built up a vast political system, which has its center in Zeus, or Jupiter, the “father of gods and men.” (See Chart on following pages.)

HOW THE GODS RESEMBLE MORTALS

The ancient Greeks believed their gods to be of the same shape and form as themselves, but of far greater beauty, strength, and dignity. They also regarded them as being of much larger size than men; for in those times great size was esteemed a perfection, supposed to be an attribute of divinities, to whom they ascribed all perfections. A fluid named ichor supplied the place of blood in the veins of the gods. They were immortal, but they might be wounded or otherwise injured. They could make themselves visible or invisible to men, and assume the forms of men or of animals. Like men they stood in daily need of food and sleep. The meat of the gods was called ambrosia, their drink nectar. The gods, when they came among men, often partook of their food and hospitality.

Like mankind, the gods were divided into two sexes; namely, gods and goddesses. They married and had children. Often a god became enamored of a mortal woman, or a goddess was smitten with the charms of a handsome youth, and these love tales form a large portion of Grecian mythology.

To make the resemblance between gods and men more complete, the Greeks ascribed to their deities all human passions, both good and evil. They were capable of love, friendship, gratitude, and all affections; on the other hand, they were frequently envious, jealous, and revengeful. They were particularly careful to exact all due respect and attention from mankind, whom they required to honor them with temples, prayers, costly sacrifices, splendid processions, and rich gifts; and they severely punished insult or neglect.

HOW AND WHERE THE GODS LIVED

If we look to the employment of the gods, we find that it consists chiefly in pleasant idleness; though they endeavor, like the rich among mankind, to make time fly by indulging in their favorite pastimes. They take their meals in common, and assemble for this purpose in the palace of Zeus, on the windy heights of Olympus. There they refresh themselves, while Hebe ministers to their wants, listening to the strains of Apollo’s lute, and to the songs of the sweet-voiced Muses, and entertaining themselves with pleasant conversation. Not always, indeed, is the company so peaceful and pleasant. At times these great gods quarrel finely; nay, even small conspiracies arise to interrupt the uniformity of their existence, such as that of Hera, Poseidon, and Athene against Zeus during the Trojan war, which is related in the fifteenth book of the “Iliad.”

RELATIONSHIP AND DOMINION OF THE GODS

Lastly, that no point in their resemblance to mankind may be omitted, all the different deities are united in one great family, of which Zeus, or Jupiter, the father of men and the ruler of the gods, is the head and center. Zeus has, however, a special dominion over the celestial deities only, those of the sea and waters being subjected to Neptune or Poseidon, and those of the lower world to Hades, or Pluto.

A PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF MYTHOLOGY

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION

The long (marked) vowels are pronounced as in the following words;
_fāte_, _fāre_, _far_; _mē_; _mīne_; _mōte_; _mūte_. The short
vowels, which include all not marked as above, are pronounced as in
the following words: _pat_; _pet_; _pit_; _pot_; _put_. The accented
syllable in each word is indicated by a mark placed immediately
after it. (_q.v._), _quod vide_ (L)--which see.

=A=

=Abaris= (_ab´a-ris_).--A mythical personage who is said to have taken no earthly food, and to have ridden on an arrow--the gift of Apollo, whose priest he was--through the air.

=Absyrtus= (_ab-sir´tus_).--A son of Æetes, king of Colchis, sister of Medea. (See “Medea.”)

=Acamas= (_ak´a-mās_).--(_i_) Son of Theseus and Phædra; went with Diomedes to Troy to recover Helen.

=Acantha= (_ak-an´tha_).--A nymph beloved by Apollo and changed into the acanthus.

=Acca Laurentia= (_ak´ka law-ren´shi-a_).--The nurse of Romulus and Remus, after they had been taken from the she-wolf. (See “Romulus.”)

=Achates= (_a-kā´tēz_).--A friend of Æneas--“_fidus Achates_” famous for his fidelity.

=Acheloiades= (_a-ke-lō´i-a-dẽz_).--The Sirens, so called because they were the daughters of Achelous.

=Achelous= (_ak-el´ō-us_).--The river-god was the son of Oceanus and Tethys, and the eldest of three thousand brothers. He and Hercules both loved Deianira, and fought for the possession of her. Hercules conquered him, when he took the form of a bull, but was defeated again and deprived by Hercules of one of his horns. Achelous, who was looked upon as the representative of all fresh water, was considered a great divinity throughout Greece.

=Acheron= (_ak´er-ōn_).--Generally signifies the whole of the lower world. Properly, it is the river of the lower world, around which the shades of the departed hover, and into which the Cocytus and Pyriphlegethon flow. There are other rivers also named Acheron.

=Achilles= (_a-kill´ẽz_).--The great hero of the Iliad. He was the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones, and the Nereid Thetis. His mother, wishing to make him immortal, plunged him, when an infant, into the river Styx, and succeeded with the exception of the ankles, by which she held him. He was educated by Phoenix and Chiron, the centaur--the former teaching him eloquence and the arts of war, the latter the healing art. When he was but nine years old, Calchas declared that Troy could not be taken without his aid. His mother, knowing that this war would be fatal to him, disguised him as a girl and sent him to dwell with the daughters of Lycomedes, at whose court he was called Pyrrha (_pir´ra_), _i.e._, red or tawny, on account of his auburn hair. Seeing, however, that Troy could not be taken without his aid, the crafty Ulysses, disguised as a merchant, sought him out, offering for sale jewels and articles of feminine attire, among which he had placed some arms. The ruse succeeded, as Achilles, by eagerly seizing the arms, at once betrayed his sex, and accompanied Ulysses to the Greek army before Troy. While at Lycomedes’ court he became by Deidamia the father of Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus. Before Troy he performed great feats of valor. After killing numbers of Trojans, he at length met Hector, whom he chased thrice round the walls of the city, and, having slain him, tied his body to his chariot and dragged it to the ships of the Greeks. He had an invulnerable suit of armor made, at his mother’s request, by Vulcan. Finally, he was slain by Paris, son of Priam, who shot him in the heel, his only vulnerable part. He is the principal hero of the _Iliad_, and is represented as the handsomest and bravest of all the Greeks. After his death Achilles became one of the judges in the lower world, and dwelt in the islands of the blessed, where he was united to Medea, or Iphigenia.

=Acis= _(ā´sis_).--A Sicilian shepherd, beloved by the nymph Galatea. He was crushed, through jealousy, under a huge rock by Polyphemus, the Cyclop, and his blood gushing forth from under was changed by the nymph into the river Acis, at the foot of Mount Etna.

=Actæon= (_ak-tē´ōn_).--A mighty huntsman, son of Aristæus and Autonoë. One day while hunting he saw Diana and her nymphs bathing, and was immediately changed by the goddess into a stag, in which form he was torn to pieces by his fifty dogs.

=Admetus= (_ad-mē´tus_).--King of Pheræ, in Thessaly. On the death of his first wife he sued for the hand of Alcestis, whom he obtained, by Apollo’s aid, only on coming in a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild boar. The god (Apollo) tended the flocks of Admetus for nine years, when he was compelled to serve a mortal for having slain the Cyclops. Apollo prevailed on the Fates to grant that Admetus should never die if another would lay down his life for him. This Alcestis did, but was brought back from the lower world by Hercules.

=Adonis= (_a-dō´nis_).--A beautiful youth beloved by Venus. While hunting he was killed by a wild boar, and was changed by Venus into the anemone. The grief of Venus was so great that the gods of the nether regions allowed him to spend six months of every year with Venus upon the earth. (This myth seems to refer to the apparent death of nature in winter and its revival in spring; hence Adonis spends six months in the lower and a like period in the upper world.)

=Æacus= (_ē´ak-us_).--Son of Jupiter and Ægina. It is related that at his birth in the island of Ægina, which was named after his mother, there were no inhabitants on the island, and that Jupiter changed the ants there into men; hence the latter were called Myrmidones (Gr. ants), and Æacus ruled over them. Æacus was renowned throughout Greece for his justice and piety, and after his death became one of the three judges in Hades (the other two being Rhadamanthus and Minos).

=Aedon= (_a-ē´dōn_).--Daughter of Pandareus and wife of Zethus, king of Thebes. Jealous of Niobe, her brother Amphion’s wife, having six sons and six daughters, while she had but one son, she determined to kill the eldest of Niobe’s sons, but by mistake slew her own son Itylus. Jupiter changed her into a nightingale, whose melancholy notes are represented as Ædon’s lamentations for her son.

=Æetes= (_ē-ē´tēz_) or =Æeta=, (_ē-ē´ta_).--Son of Helios (the sun) and Persëis, and king of Colchis at the time Phrixus had fled to his court on a ram with golden fleece, the gift of Mercury. (See “Phrixus.”) After having sacrificed to Jupiter the ram that had carried him, Phrixus gave its golden fleece to Æetes, who suspended it to an oak tree in the grove of Mars, where it was guarded day and night by an ever-watchful dragon. It was, however, greatly coveted, and an expedition was fitted out, consisting of all the great heroes of the age, with the special object, which proved successful, of obtaining it. (See “Argonautæ.”)

=Ægæon= (_ē-jē´ōn_).--Son of Uranus (heaven) and Gæa (earth). Ægæon and his brothers, Gyas and Cottus, were huge monsters with a hundred arms and fifty heads. Ægæon and his brothers, who are often called the Uranids, conquered the Titans when they made war upon the gods, and secured the victory to Jupiter, who thrust the Titans into Tartarus, and placed Ægæon and his brothers to guard them. Ægæon is often referred to under the name Briareus.

=Æneas= (_ē-nē´as_), the hero of Virgil’s great epic poem the _Æneid_ (_ē-ne´id_), was the son of Anchises and Venus, and was born on Mount Ida. Having been attacked on Mount Ida by Achilles, who also drove away his flocks, he led the Dardanians against the Greeks, and at once took part in the Trojan war. Æneas and Hector were the great Trojan heroes, and the former, being beloved by gods and men, was on more than one occasion saved in battle by the gods. Venus saved him from Diomedes, and Neptune from Achilles, when the latter was on the point of killing him. From the flames of Troy he carried on his back his father, Anchises, and the household gods, and led Ascanius, his son, leaving his wife, Creusa, daughter of Priam, to follow. Æneas then set out on those wanderings that form the subject of the _Æneid_. After visiting Epirus and Sicily he was driven by a storm on the coast of Africa, where he met with Dido, queen of Carthage, who hospitably entertained him and became enamored of him. Æneas, however, left suddenly, and Dido (_q.v._) killed herself. He then sailed to Latium, where he married Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus, and founded the town of Lavinium, so named in honor of his wife. Turnus, to whom Lavinia had been betrothed, made war against Latinus and Æneas, but was slain by the latter, who now became ruler of the Aborigines and Trojans. Soon afterwards, however, he was slain in battle by the Rutulians.

=Æolus= (_ē´o-lus_).--The happy ruler of the Æolian Islands. He had been given, by Jupiter, dominion over the winds, which he kept enclosed in a mountain. When Ulysses was on his journey from Troy to Ithaca, Æolus gave him all the adverse winds in bags, but his companions, from curiosity, opened them.

=Æsculapius= (_ēs-kū-lā´pi-us_).--The god of healing. He was the son of Apollo and Coronis, and was brought up by Chiron, the centaur, who instructed him in the art of healing and in hunting. When he was grown up, he not only healed the sick, but recalled the dead to life. He was killed by a thunderbolt by Jupiter, who feared lest men should, by his aid, escape death altogether. Serpents were sacred to him, and the cock was sacrificed to him.

=Agamemnon= (_ag-a-mem´nōn_).--King of Mycenæ, and brother of Menelaus. He married Clytemnestra, who bore him Iphigenia, Chrysothemis, Laodice (Electra) and Orestes. He was the most powerful prince in Greece. When Helen (_q.v._) was carried off by Paris, and the Greek chiefs sought to regain her, Agamemnon was chosen commander-in-chief of the expedition. He is not, however, the hero of the _Iliad_, as he is the inferior of Achilles in true nobility of character. At the capture of Troy he received Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, as his prize. On his return home he was murdered by Ægisthus, who, during his absence at Troy, had been living with Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra. His son Orestes avenged his father’s death by slaying both Ægisthus and Clytemnestra.

=Aganippe= (_ag-a-nip´pē_).--A fountain at the foot of Mount Helicon, in Bœotia, sacred to the Muses, who were hence called Aganippides (_ag-a-nip´pi-dēz_).

=Ajax= (_ā´jaks_).--There are two heroes having this name, Ajax the Great, or Ajax Telamonius, and The Lesser Ajax, or Ajax Oïleus. (i) Ajax the Great was son of Telamon, king of Salamis, and grandson of Æacus. He took a very prominent part in the Trojan war, and was placed second to Achilles alone in bravery. He was conquered by Ulysses in struggle for the armor of Achilles, and this, according to Homer, was the cause of his death. (ii) The Lesser Ajax, or Ajax, son of Oïleus, also took part in the Trojan war. He was, next to Achilles, the most swift-footed among the Greeks.

=Alcathous= (_al-kath´o-us_).--Son of Pelops and Hippodamia. Obtained his wife by slaying the Cithæronian lion, which had killed the king’s son, and succeeded his father-in-law as king of Megara, the walls of which he restored.

=Alcestis= or =Alceste= (_al-ses´tē_).--Wife of Admetus (_q.v._).

=Alcmene= (_alk-mē´nē_).--Wife of Amphitryon. Jupiter, who appeared disguised as her husband, became by her the father of Hercules.

=Alcyone= (_al´si-on-ē_) or =Halcyone=.--Daughter of Æolus and wife of Ceyx. Her husband having perished in a shipwreck, Alcyone’s grief became so intense that she threw herself into the sea. Out of compassion the gods changed the two into birds, and while these birds (halcyons) were breeding the sea always remained calm.

=Alecto= (_a-lek´tô_).--One of the Furies (_q.v._).

=Aloeus= (_al-lō´-ūs_).--Son of Neptune and Canace. His wife had, by Neptune, two sons, Otus and Ephialtes, the Aloidæ (_a-lō´i-dē_), who were of extraordinary size and strength. At the age of nine years they attempted to scale heaven by piling Mount Ossa upon Olympus and Pelion upon Ossa. To prevent them accomplishing this when they grew older Apollo destroyed them before their beards began to appear.

=Althæa= (_al-the´a_).--Wife of Æneus and mother of Meleager (_q.v._).

=Amalthea= (_am-al-thē´a_).--Nurse of the infant Jupiter in Crete, whom she fed with goat’s milk. Jupiter broke off one of the horns of the goat and gave it the power of becoming filled with whatever the possessor might wish; hence it was called the _cornucopia_--_i.e._, horn of plenty.

=Amazones= (_a-māz´on-ēz_).--The Amazones, a mythical race of warlike women living near the river Thermodon. The female children had their right breasts cut off that they might use the bow with greater ease; hence their name _Amazon_, which means, “without breast.” One of the twelve labors of Hercules was to obtain the girdle of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons. They came, under their queen, Penthesilea, to the assistance of Priam in the Trojan war; but she was killed by Achilles.

=Amphion= (_am-fi´ōn_).--Son of Jupiter and Antiope, and twin-brother of Zethus. They were born on Mount Cithæron, and were brought up by a shepherd. Amphion received a lyre from Mercury, on which he learned to play with marvelous skill. Amphion married Niobe (_q.v._).

=Amphitrite= (_am-fi-trī´tē_).--Wife of Neptune and goddess of the sea. She was the mother of Triton.

=Ancæus= (_an-sē´us_).--One of the Argonauts. Having left a cup of wine untasted to pursue a wild boar, he was killed by it, which gave rise to the proverb. “There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.”

=Anchises= (_an-kī´sēz_).--Son of Capys and Themis, the daughter of Ilus, king of Dardanus, on Mount Ida. He was so handsome that he was beloved by Venus, who became by him the mother of Æneas. On the capture of Troy by the Greeks, he was carried off on his son’s shoulders from the burning city. He set forth with Æneas for Italy, but died and was buried in Sicily.

=Androgeos= (_an-droj´e-ōs_).--Son of Minos and Pasiphaë. Slain at the instigation of King Ægus, after having overcome all his opponents in the Panathenæa, at Athens. To avenge his death Minos made war on the Athenians, and compelled them to send every year to Crete seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the Minotaur (_q.v._). Theseus, however, slew the monster, and so delivered them from the terrible tribute.

=Andromache= (_an-drom´a-kē_); literal meaning, “fighting with men.”--Daughter of King Eëtion and wife of Hector, by whom she had a son, Scamandrius, or Astyanax. On the taking of Troy she fell to the lot of Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus), the son of Achilles, who took her to Epirus, and treated her as his wife. She afterwards married Hector’s brother Helenus.

=Andromeda= (_an-drom´e-da_).--Daughter of Cepheus, king of Æthiopia, and Cassiopea. Her beauty was so great that her mother boasted that she surpassed in that respect the Nereids, the marine nymphs of the Mediterranean. Consequently, Neptune sent a sea-monster to lay waste the country. The oracle of Ammon promised deliverance, on condition that Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to the fury of the monster. This was done, but she was saved by Perseus (_q.v._), who slew the monster and obtained Andromeda for his wife. Having been previously promised to her uncle Phineus, however, the latter appeared at the wedding, and a great fight ensued in which Phineus and all associated with him were slain. After her death Andromeda was placed among the stars.

=Antaeus= (_an-tē´us_).--A giant of Libya (_i.e._ Africa), son of Neptune and Earth, who remained invincible so long as he touched his mother Earth. Hercules, having discovered this, held him up in the air and squeezed him to death.

=Antenor= (_ant-ē´nor_).--One of the wisest of the elders of Troy. When Menelaus and Ulysses came to Troy as ambassadors he received them, and advised the Trojans to give up Helen to Menelaus, which, however, they refused to do. When the city was captured by the Greeks Antenor’s life was spared.

=Aphrodite= (_af-ro-di´tē_)--_i.e._ sea-foam.--The goddess of love and beauty, called Aphrodite by the Greeks, because she was supposed to have been born from the sea-foam. She was called Venus by the Romans. See “Venus.”

=Apollo= (_a-poll´ō_).--The sun-god. He was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and twin-brother of Diana. Apollo was the god of music and the fine arts, of prophecy, and the god who protects flocks and cattle. He is also represented as taking great interest in the foundation and government of cities, and was looked upon as the god who punishes; hence carrying a bow and arrows. He had a celebrated oracle at Delphi. The invention of the flute and lyre was ascribed to Apollo. He was challenged to musical contests by Marsyas and Pan (see “Marsyas” and “Midas”). Apollo, as sun-god, is frequently called Phœbus--_i.e._ the bright one. There are several statues of Apollo, the most beautiful being the Apollo Belvedere at Rome.

=Arachne= (_ar-ak´nē_).--A Lydian maiden who so greatly excelled in the art of weaving that she challenged Minerva to a trial of skill. Being defeated, she hanged herself, and was changed by the goddess into a spider. This fable indicates that man learned the art of weaving from the spider, and that it was first pursued in Lydia. Arachne is the Greek word for spider.

=Ares= (_ā´rēz_).--The Greek god of war. See “Mars.”

=Arethusa= (_a-re-thū´sa_).--One of the Nereids or marine nymphs of the Mediterranean. She was the nymph of the celebrated fountain of Arethusa in the island of Ortygia, near Syracuse. Arethusa was being pursued by the river-god Alpheus, when she was changed by Diana into the fountain of the same name.

=Argonautæ= (_ar-go-naw´tē_).--The Argonauts, or sailors of the Argo, were the heroes who went with Jason on the celebrated expedition to Colchis to recover the golden fleece. The origin of the expedition was as follows: Jason’s father had been deprived of his kingdom by his half-brother Pelias, who also, to make himself more secure, attempted to take the life of Jason, then an infant. The latter, was, however, saved, and given over to the care of the centaur Chiron. When he grew up Pelias promised to surrender the kingdom to him on what he considered to be an impossible condition--namely that he brought him the golden fleece. This golden fleece (for the history of which see “Phrixus”) was suspended to an oak in the grove of Mars, in Colchis, and was guarded day and night by a dragon. Jason at once undertook the enterprise, and instructed Argus, son of Phrixus, to build a ship with fifty oars, which he called the Argo, from the name of the builder. Minerva herself superintended the building of the ship. In the expedition Jason was accompanied by all the great heroes of the age--Hercules, Laertes, Theseus, Ajax, etc.--to the number of fifty. After an adventurous voyage they at length arrived at their destination. Æëtes (_q.v._), king of Colchis, on learning the object of their visit, promised to give up the golden fleece if Jason would perform the following feats: first, tame two bulls, which had brazen feet and vomited fire, and yoke them to a plow; second, sow the unused teeth of the dragon slain by Cadmus (_q.v._), from which armed men would spring, and slay them with his own hand; third kill the dragon who guarded the fleece. Medea, daughter of Æëtes, who was well skilled in magic, enabled Jason, with whom she had fallen in love, to do all these things; and, after taking the treasure, he and his Argonauts and Medea embarked by night and sailed away. After another eventful journey they finally reached Colchis again.

=Argus= (_ar´gus_).--A being with a hundred eyes; hence called “Panoptes” (_pan-op´tēz_).--_i.e._ the all-seeing. Juno appointed him to watch over the cow into which Io had been changed; but Mercury, at the command of Jupiter, lulled him to sleep by playing on his flute, and then cut off his head. Juno transplanted his eyes to the tail of the peacock, her favorite bird.

=Ariadne= (_ar-i-ad´nē_).--Daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë. When Theseus was sent as part of the yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured in the labyrinth by the Minotaur, Ariadne fell in love with him, and gave him the clue of thread, by means of which he escaped from the labyrinth. Theseus promised to marry her, and they left Crete together; but he deserted her in Naxos, where she was found by Bacchus, who made her his wife. At their marriage he gave her a crown of seven stars, which after her death was made a constellation.

=Aricia= (_a-ri´si-a_).--A town of Latium, sixteen miles from Rome, near which was a celebrated grove and temple of Diana.

=Arion= (_a-rī´on_).--A celebrated lyric poet and cithara player of Methymna, in Lesbos, about B. C. 625. Once, when returning from a successful musical contest in Sicily, the sailors, in order to possess themselves of his presents, were about to murder him, but, on his urgent entreaty, allowed him to play once more on his cithara. He then invoked the gods, and threw himself into the sea. He was not drowned, however, for one of a number of dolphins that had been attracted round the vessel by his sweet strains took him on his back and bore him safely to land.

=Aristæus= (_ar-is-tē´us_).--Son of Apollo and Cyrene, who is said to have taught men the management of bees, and to have first planted olive trees. He was, after his death, worshiped as a god, and regarded as the protector of flocks and shepherds, of vine and olive plantations.

=Artemis= (_ar´tem-is_).--The Greek name of Diana (_q. v._).

=Ascanius= (_as-kā´ni-us_).--Son of Æneas and Creusa, afterwards called Iulus. He founded Alba Longa, and was succeeded on the throne by his son Silvius.

=Asgard.=--In Scandinavian mythology Asgard represents the city of the gods, situated at the center of the universe, and accessible only by the bridge Bifrost _i. e._, the rainbow.

=Asir.=--In northern mythology the most powerful, though not the oldest, of the deities; usually reckoned as twelve gods and twelve goddesses. The gods are Odin, Thor, Baldur, Niörd, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdall, Vidar, Vali, Ullur, and Forseti; the best-known of the goddesses, Frigga, Freyja, Iduna, and Saga.

=Assaracus= (_as-sar´a-cus_).--King of Troy, son of Tros, father of Capys, the father of Anchises.

=Astarte= (_as-tar´tē_).--A powerful goddess of Syria, corresponding to the Roman Venus.

=Astræa= (_as-trē´a_).--Goddess of justice, daughter of Jupiter and Themis; lived during the golden age among men.

=Astræus= (_as-trē´us_).--A Titan, husband of Aurora (the goddess of the dawn), and father of the winds and the stars.

=Astyanax= (_as-tī´an-ax_)--_i. e._ lord of the city.--A name given by the people of Troy to Scamandrius (or Scamander), son of Hector and Andromache, because his father was the protector of Troy. His mother saved him from the flames at the fall of Troy, but the Greeks hurled him down from the walls.