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Bk XIV:75-100. A Trojan, a friend of Aeneas,
living at Eryx on Sicily. Aeneas visits him, and sacrifices,
and pays honour at his father, Anchises's tomb, who
had previously died there. (See Virgil, The Aeneid III 700, and V) |
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Bk III:572-596. A Tyrrhenian from Maeonia, a ship's captain and priest of Bacchus, captured by Pentheus. There is the suggestion later that
Acoetes is a manifestation of Bacchus himself ( 'nec enim praesentior illo
est deus'). (See Euripides: The Bacchae)
Bk III:597-637. He tells of them finding
Bacchus on Chios, and how he knew that
the boy was a god, and tried to avoid sacrilege.
Bk III:638-691. He escapes the transformation
of the ship and crew by Bacchus.
Bk III:692-733. He vanishes from Pentheus's prison mysteriously. |
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Bk III:528-571. King of Argos,
the son of Abas, father of Danae, and
grandfather of Perseus. He opposed the
worship of Bacchus-Dionysus.
Bk IV:604-662. He rejects the divine origin
of Bacchus and Perseus, but will live to regret it. He is kin to Cadmus and to Bacchus son of Semele, Cadmus's daughter, because Danaus
is his ancestor whose line runs back to Belus,
brother of Agenor, who is father of Cadmus. Both Belus
and Agenor are sons of Neptune.
Bk V:200-249. He is ousted by his brother
Proetus, but has his kingdom restored to him,
though little deserving it, by Perseus. |
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Bk III:138-164. Grandson of Cadmus, son of Autonoe,
called Hyantius from an ancient name
for Boeotia.
Bk III:165-205. He sees Diana bathing naked
and is turned into a stag.
Bk III:206-231. He is pursued by his hounds.
The dogs are named.
Bk III:232-252. He is torn to pieces by his
own pack. (See the Metope of Temple E at Selinus - the Death of Actaeon -
Palermo, National Museum: and Titian's painting - the Death of Actaeon - National
Gallery, London.) |
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The promontory in Epirus site of the famous naval battle in
the bay between Octavian (later Augustus Caesar) and
Antony in 31BC. (It lies opposite the modern port of Préveza
on the Gulf of Amvrakia.)
Antony was defeated by Octavians' admiral, Agrippa and the outcome led
to Cleopatra's downfall.
Bk XIII:705-737. Passed by Aeneas. Associated with Apollo. |
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The son of Myrrha by her father Cinyras, born after her transformation
into a myrrh-tree. (As such he is a vegetation god born from the heart of
the wood.)
Bk X:503-559. Venus
falls in love with him.
Bk X:560-637. She
tells him the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes.
Bk X:681-707. She
warns him to avoid savage creatures.
Bk X:708-739. He ignores her warning and is
killed by a wild boar that gashes his thigh. His blood becomes the windflower,
the anemone. |
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King of Colchis, son of Sol and the Oceanid Perse, brother of Circe, and father of Medea.
Bk VII:1-73. The Argonauts
reach his court, and request the return of the Golden Fleece. This fleece was that of the divine ram on
which Phrixus had fled from Orchemonos,
to avoid being sacrificed. Iolcus
could never prosper until it was brought back to Thessaly. King Aeetes is reluctant and
sets Jason demanding tasks as a pre-condition
for its return.
Bk VII:159-178. Medea regrets her betrayal of her father and
country. |
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Bk II:1-30. Briareus, one of the hundred-handed
giants. A name also for the earliest Heracles. He is depicted on the palace
of the Sun. |
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Bk VII:453-500. An island in the Saronic
Sea between Attica and Argolis.
Named by Aeacus after his mother. Once called Oenopia.
It refuses to aid Minos in his war on Attica. (The later conflict
with Athens compelled the surrender of the island in
459BC and its destruction as an economic power.) |
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Bk XV:745-842. A Trojan prince, the son of Venus and Anchises,
and the hero of Virgil's Aeneid.
(See Turner's etching and painting, The Golden Bough- British Museum and
Tate Gallery)
Bk XIII:623-639. He leaves ruined Troy carrying his father, and the sacred
icons of Venus, and, with his son Ascanius also, sails
to Delos where he sacrifices to the Delian
gods.
Bk XIII:640-674. Bk XIII:675-704. He consults the oracle
of Apollo and is told to seek out his ancient mother
and ancestral shores. He receives the gift of a cup of Alcon's
design from King Anius of Delos.
Bk XIII:705-737. He reaches Crete, and then sails to Sicily. (See Virgil, The Aneid III)
Bk XIV:75-100. He reaches Carthage, deserts
Dido, and reaches Cumae. (See Virgil, The Aeneid I, IV, and V)
Bk XIV:101-153. He visits the Sibyl, who conducts him to the Underworld,
having plucked the golden bough. He sees his father's shade in the fields
of Elysium. ( See Virgil, The Aeneid
VI)
Bk XIV:154-222. Bk XV:622-745. He returns from the Underworld,
and sails from Cumae north, along the
western Italian coast, to Caieta (modern
Gaeta) where he marks the funeral of Caieta his old nurse, who gives her name
to the place. (See Virgil's Aeneid, the opening lines of book VII.)
Bk XIV:435-444. He sets up Caieta's tomb
and inscribes an epitaph.
Bk XIV:445-482. He wins the throne of
Latinus, and marries his daughter, Lavinia. He wages war with the Rutulians under Turnus, and is supported by Evander.
Bk XIV:566-580. He is deified as Indiges.
Bk XV:418-452. Helenus prophesied that Aeneas carried the
destiny of Troy and its descendant
city, Rome.
Bk XV:745-842. Venus once saved him from Diomede, by veiling him in a cloud.
Bk XV:843-870. Ovid calls on the gods
friendly to Aeneas. |
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Bk II:612-632. The son of Coronis
and Apollo. He is saved by Apollo from his mother's body and given
to Chiron the Centaur to rear. He is
represented in the sky by the constellation Ophiucus
near Scorpius, depicting a man entwined in the coils of a serpent, consisting
of the split constellation, Serpens
Cauda and Serpens Caput, which contains Barnard's star, having the greatest
proper motion of any star and being the second nearest to the sun.
Bk II:633-675. His
fate is foretold by Ocyrhoe.
Bk XV:479-546. He restores Hippolytus to life.
Bk XV:622-745. He saves Rome from the plague, and becomes a resident
god. (His cult centre was Epidaurus
where there was a statue of the god with a golden beard. Cicero mentions that
Dionysius the Elder, Tyrant of Syracuse wrenched off the gold. ('On the Nature
of the Gods, Bk III 82) |
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Bk II:227-271. The country Ethiopia
in north-east Africa bordering the Red Sea, containing the Mountains of the
Moon. During Phaethon's fatal chariot ride the sun burnt
the skins of its peoples black. Aethiops, means Ethiopian.
Bk V:107-148. Culmination of the fight at
Cepheus's court. He is an Ethiopian king.
Bk XV:307-360. The country has lakes with
waters that cause delerium. |
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Bk V:294-331. A famous fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon. Pausanias says (Bk IX:xxix, Boeotia)
that Aganippe was a daughter of Termessos, another stream on the mountain |
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A hero of the Trojan War, the son of Telamon and grandson of Aeacus.
Bk X:143-219. Bk XIII:382-398. He shares with Hyacinthus the flower (hyacinthos grapta
- the blue larkspur) that bears the marks of woe, AI AI, and that spells his
name, ΑΙΑΣ.
Bk XII:579-628. He competes for the arms
of Achilles.
Bk XIII:1-122. He speaks in his own cause,
attacking Ulysses. He fought in
single combat with Hector and was undefeated,
rescued Ulysses, and saved the ships.
Bk XIII:123-381. Ulysses responds with
a speech extolling intelligence above mere brawn and courage, and arguing
that a man should be judged on his abilities not his ancestry. He was deceived
by Achilles's female disguise. He was ready to turn tail when
Agamemnon gave the order to abandon the war.
Bk XIII:382-398. Defeated in the contest
for the arms, he kills himself in his rage. From his blood a flower grows,
see above.
Bk XIV:445-482. His rape of Cassandra brought the wrath of Minerva on the Greeks. |
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Bk XIV:527-565. The king of the Phaeacians (Phaeacia is probably Corcyra, =Corfu),
on whose coast Ulysses was washed
ashore. One of his ships was turned to stone. See Homer, The Odyssey XIII. |
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The daughter of Electryon king of Tiryns,
wife of Amphitryon, and mother of Hercules by the god Jupiter.
Bk VI:103-128. Arachne
depicts her rape by Jupiter disguised as Amphitryon.
Bk VIII:515-546. Deianira, wife of Hercules, sister of Meleager, is her daughter-in-law.
Bk IX:1-88. The mother of Hercules.
Bk IX:211-272. His funeral pyre attacks only
the mortal part of him inherited from Alcmene.
Bk IX:273-323. She tells of Hercules's birth
and the transformation of her servant Galanthis.
Bk IX:394-417. She comforts Iole. Iolaus, her grandson, appears to them,
his youth renewed. (He is the grandson of Alcmene, since his father Iphicles
is her son by Amphitryon, and Hercules mortal half-brother, the twin or tanist
of the sun-god. Iolaus's renewal and appearance at the threshold may indicate
his cult as a representative of the risen sun of the new year. His cult was
celebrated in Sardinia where he was linked to Daedalus.) |
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Bk VII:350-403. The daughter of Aeolus, granddaughter of Polypemon,
and wife of Ceyx, changed into a kingfisher
or halcyon. They foolishly compared themselves to Juno and Jupiter,
for which the gods drowned Ceyx in a storm. Alcyone leapt into the sea to
join him, and both were transformed into kingfishers. In antiquity it was
believed that the hen-kingfisher layed her eggs in a floating nest in the
Halcyon Days around the winter solstice, when the sea is made calm by Aeolus,
Alcyone's father. (The kingfisher actually lays its eggs in a hole, normally
in a riverbank, by freshwater and not by seawater.)
Bk XI:346-409. She begs Ceyx not to fight the wolf from the marsh.
Bk XI:410-473. She reproaches him for leaving
her in order to visit the oracle.
Bk XI:474-572. Ceyx calls to her as he
is drowning.
Bk XI:573-649. She prays for his return
at Juno's shrine.
Bk XI:650-709. In a dream Morpheus reveals himself in the form of Ceyx
and tells her of his death.
Bk XI:710-748. His body returns to her
on the tide, and they are transformed into halcyons. |
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The sons of Aloeus, namely Otus and Ephialtes, who are actually the children
of Neptune by Iphimeida wife of Aloeus.
Bk VI:103-128. Arachne
depicts the rape by Neptune. |
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Bk II:227-271. A river and river-god of Elis in western Greece. Olympia is near the
lower reaches of the river. (The idea for Coleridge's 'Alph, the sacred
river' in Kubla Khan?)
Bk V:487-532. He loves Arethusa.
Bk V:572-641. He merges with Arethusa after
she has turned to water. |
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Bk XV:552-621. One of the Amazons, a race
of warlike women living by the River Thermodon, probably based on the Scythian warrior princesses of the Black
Sea area (See Herodotus). In particular Hippolyte the mother of Hippolytus by Theseus. |
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Bk XIII:705-737. A city of Epirus in north western Greece. The land there
one fought over by the gods. The judge in the contest was turned to stone.
Aeneas passes it. |
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A Greek seer, one of the heroes, the Oeclides,
at the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The son of Oecleus, father of Alcmaeon,
and husband of Eriphyle.
Bk VIII:260-328. He is present at the Calydonian
Boar Hunt.
Bk IX:394-417. Fighting in the war of the
Seven against Thebes he is swallowed
up alive by the earth. |
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Bk I:1-30. A
sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus and wife of Neptune. The Nereid whom Poseidon married,
here representing the sea. He had courted Thetis another of the Nereids but desisted
when it was prophesied that any son born to her would be greater than his
father. Thetis bore Achilles. |
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An epithet of Hyacinthus as the descendant of Amyclas, builder of Amyclae. |
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Bk XV:307-360. The son of Cretheus, and
father of Melampus, noted for wisdom. |
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The daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope who was chained to a rock and exposed
to a sea-monster Cetus because of her mother's sin. She is represented by
the constellation Andromeda which contains the Andromeda galaxy M31 a spiral
like our own, the most distant object visible to the naked eye. Cetus is represented
by the constellation of Cetus, the Whale, between Pisces and Eridanus which
contains the variable star, Mira.
Bk IV:663-705. She is chained to a rock for
her mother's fault and Perseus offers to rescue her. (See Burne-Jones's
oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series, particularly The Rock of
Doom)
Bk IV:753-803. He kills the sea serpent and
claims her as his bride. |
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Bk II:111-149. The constellation of the Serpent,
near the constellation Scorpius,
and above the ecliptic (right of it, as the sun travels annually along it)
in the northern hemisphere. It is separated into two parts, Serpens Cauda,
and Serpens Caput, the tail and the head. |
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Bk XV:259-306. A river of Elis in south-western Greece. Its waters were
said to be poisoned by the centaur Pylenor, shot by Hercules with a poisoned arrow. Pausanias
gives the background and confrims the chemical foulness of the water. (See
Pausanias V 5) |
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The daughter of king Nycteus, so known as Nycteis, the mother by Jupiter
of Amphion and Zethus.
Bk VI:103-128. Her rape by Jupiter
disguised as a Satyr, is depicted
by Arachne. (See Hans von Aachen's - Jupiter embracing Antiope
- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) |
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Bk XV:259-306. A town on the northern
coast of Lesbos. Once an island harbour,
subsequently a peninsula. (Near modern Skalakhorió). |
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Bk XV:745-842. Antony, the Roman general,
who seized the inheritance at Caesar's
death, despite his will, and who was defeated by Octavius at Mutina in Cialpine Gaul, and Octavian's naval commander, Vispanius
Agrippa, at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC. Lover of Cleopatra,
Queen of Egypt. |
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Bk IX:666-713. The jackal-headed god Anpu
of Egypt, identified with Mercury, and
'opener of the roads of the dead'. He accompanies Isis. |
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Hapi, 'the Bull Apis', the Egyptian sacred animal, a reincarnation of
the god Ptah. The Apis bull was tended and worshipped at Memphis where a visit
to see the animal in his courtyard was a tourist attraction of the Graeco-Roman
world. The mummified sacred bulls were entombed at the vast subterranean complex
of Saqqarah. The temple above was the Serapeum. Worshipped as Osiris,
Apis was later confused with Serapis and worshipped in the Serapeum at Alexandria.
Bk IX:666-713. He accompanies Isis. |
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Bk I:438-473. Son of Jupiter and Latona (Leto), brother of Diana (Artemis), born on Delos. See also the extensive entry under Phoebus. (See the Apollo Belvedere, sculpted
by Leochares?, Vatican: the Piombino Apollo, Paris Louvre: the Tiber Apollo,
Rome, National Museum of the Terme: the fountain sculpture by Tuby at Versailles
- The Chariot of Apollo: and the sculpture by Girardon and Regnaudin at Versailles
- Apollo Tended by the Nymphs - derived from the Apollo Belvedere, and once
part of the now demolished Grotto of Thetis )
Bk VII:350-403. Responsible for changing
Cephisus's grandson into a seal.
Bk IX:324-393. Raped Dryope. Rules at Delphi and Delos.
Bk XI:1-66. Orpheus is his poet.
Bk XI:146-171. He competes with Pan's reed-pipe on the lyre.
Bk XI:194-220. He helps Laomedon build the walls of Troy, with Neptune.
Bk XI:410-473. He has an oracular temple
at Claros.
Bk XII:579-628. Neptune prompts him to
help Troy. He encourages Paris to fire
an arrow at Achilles and guides the bow. He is worshipped
as Smintheus at Troy.
Bk XIII:123-381. Chryse and Cilla,
captured by Achilles, are cities of his in Asia Minor.
Bk XIII:399-428. Cassandra is his head priestess at Troy.
Bk XIII:623-639. Aeneas
sacrifices to him on Delos.
Bk XIII:640-674. He gave Andros the power of prophecy.
Bk XIII:705-737. He is associated with
Actium.
Bk XV:479-546. Bk XV:622-745. Aesculapius
is his son. |
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Bk II:111-149. The constellation, the Altar,
in the Milky Way south of the constellation Scorpius, and below the ecliptic (left
of it, as the sun travels annually along it) in the northern hemisphere. Ara
represents the altar on which the gods swore an oath of allegiance before
defeating the Titans. |
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BkVI:1-25. The daughter of Idmon,
skilled in weaving. She rejects the claim that she has been taught by Minerva.
Bk VI:26-69. She foolishly challenges
Pallas Minerva to a contest in weaving.
Bk VI:103-128. She depicts the rapes
perpetrated by the disguised gods. (See Velázquez's painting - The Fable of
Arachne, or Las Hilanderas, the Weavers - Prado, Madrid. The tapestry, that
Velázquez shows Arachne weaving in the painting, is a copy of Titian's painting
of the Rape of Europa in the Gardner Museum, Boston, done for Philip II of
Spain, the painting therefore revealing as Ovid does, a myth within a myth.)
Bk VI:129-145. Her work is so good,
and so revealing, that Pallas destroys it and strikes the girl, who tries
to hang herself. In pity Pallas Minerva turns her into a spider, and rules
that her descendants shall hang and spin forever.
Bk VI:146-203. Niobe
had known her. |
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A city of the Rutulians, of Latium. (Its site was near modern Anzio, south
of Rome.) It was the centre of a cult of Venus and Cicero mentions the procession
around the sacred enclosure ('On the Nature of the Gods' BkIII 46)
Bk XIV:566-580. It is destroyed in the
war, and the grey heron, ardea cinerea, is born from its ashes. |
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Bk I:622-641. A creature with a thousand eyes,
the son of Arestor, set to guard Io by Juno.
Bk I:689-721. Killed by Mercury. (For an echo of the last lines here
see Rilke's poem and epitaph 'Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust, Niemandes
Schlaf zu sein unter soviel Lidern.')
Bk I:722-746. After his death, Juno sets his
eyes in the peacock's tail. |
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A daughter of Minos. Half-sister of the Minotaur, and sister of Phaedra who helps Theseus on Crete.
Bk VIII:152-183. She flees to Dia with Theseus and is abandoned there, but rescued
by Bacchus, and her crown is set among
the stars as the Corona Borealis. (See Titian's painting - Bacchus and Ariadne
- National Gallery, London: and Annibale Carracci's fresco - The triumph of
Bacchus and Ariadne - Farnese Palace, Rome)). The Northern Crown, the Corona
Borealis, is a constellation between Hercules and Serpens Caput, consisting of an arc of
seven stars, its central jewel being the blue-white star Gemma. |
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Bk XV:479-546. A town in Latium, (the modern La Riccia), at the foot
of the Alban Mountain, three miles from Nemi. The lake and the sacred grove
at Nemi were sometimes known as the lake and grove of Aricia, and were the
sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, Diana of
the Wood. (See Turner's etching and painting, The Golden Bough- British Museum
and Tate Gallery). Worship there was instituted by Orestes,
who fled to Italy, after killing Thoas,
king of the Tauric Chersonese, taking with him the image of Tauric Diana.
The rites practised there are the starting point for J.G.Frazer's monumental
study in magic and religion, 'The Golden Bough'. (See Chapter I, et seq.) |
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Bk X:143-219. The constellation of the Ram,
between Taurus and Andromeda. It represents the ram whose Golden Fleece was
sought by Jason and the Argonauts. In ancient times it contained the point of the
spring equinox (The First Point of Aries) that has now moved into Pisces due to precession. |
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Bk XV:391-417. An Assyrian. From the ancient
kingdom of Mesopotamia and the Upper Tigris River. |
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Bk I:125-150. Goddess of Justice,
last of the immortals to abandon earth because of human wickedness. She is
represented in the sky as the constellation and zodiacal sign of Virgo, which
alternatively depicts Ceres-Demeter. Nearby are her scales of justice,
the constellation and zodiacal sign of Libra. |
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The daughter of King Schoeneus of Boeotia,
famous for her swift running.
Bk X:560-637. Warned against marriage by the
oracle, her suitors are forced to race against her on penalty of death for
losing. She falls in love with Hippomenes.
Bk X:638-680. He races with her, and by use
of the golden apples, wins the race and her.
Bk X:681-707. She, and Hippomenes, descrate
Cybele's sacred cave and are turned into
lions.
(See Guido Reni's painting - Atalanta and Hippomenes - Naples, Galleria
Nazionale di Capodimonte) |
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A Phrygian shepherd, loved by Cybele. An incarnation of the vegetation god,
the consort of the Great Goddess.
Bk X:86-105. He is embodied by the
sacred pine, one of the trees that gather to hear Orpheus
sing. |
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Bk XV:745-842. Julius Caesar's grand-nephew,
whom he adopted and declared as his heir, Octavius Caesar (Octavian). (The
honorary title Augustus was bestowed by the Senate 16th Jan 27 BC). His wife was Livia. Jupiter prophesies his future glory: his
defeat of Antony, who had seized the inheritance,
at Mutina: his defeat of the conspirators Cassius
and Brutus at the twin battles of Philippi:
his (Agrippa's) defeat of Antony at Actium: and his
(Agrippa's) defeat of Pompey's son at
Mylae and Naulochus off Sicily. (See the sculpture of Augustus, from Primaporta,
in the Vatican)
He exiled Ovid to the Black Sea region for 'a poem and a mistake'. The
poem probably the Ars Amatoria, the mistake probably something to do with
the notorious Julia's set, that Ovid knew of and repeated. He seems to refer
to it in a number of the stories, for example that of Coronis,
where the talebearer is punished. As Naso, 'the beaky one', he may have personified
himself as the garrulous bird.
Bk XV:843-870. Ovid prays that Augustus
will outlive him, and being deified, grant entreaties from afar (! A subtle
cry from exile -Augustus in fact died in 14 AD, and Ovid in 17 AD, and Ovid
was nerver pardoned.) |
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Bk I:52-68. Bk V:425-486. Bk VII:796-865. Goddess
of the Morning, and wife of Tithonus, daughter of the Titan Pallas, hence called Pallantias or
Pallantis, who fathered Zelus (zeal), Cratus (strength), Bia (force) and Nice
(victory) on the River Styx.
Bk II:111-149. Brings
the dawn as Phaethon begins his ride.
Bk III:138-164. Actaeon
talks of her 'saffron car' bringing back the light. (See Guido Reni's fresco
-Aurora and the Chariot of the Sun - Casino Rospigliosi, Rome)
Bk III:165-205. Bk VI:26-69. The radiant red of her dawn light
referred to.
Bk IV:604-662. Bk XI:266-345. Lucifer wakes her fires to begin the day, and
she summons the chariot of the dawn.
Bk VII:179-233. Pales at the sight of Medea's poisons.
Bk VII:661-758. She seduces Cephalus and is angered by him. She foresees
disaster for him. She changes his appearance to assist his testing of Procris's loyalty.
Bk IX:418-438. Longs to renew the youth of
her mortal husband Tithonus. She
had gained eternal life for him but not eternal youth.
Bk XI:573-649. Bk XV:176-198. The dawn.
Bk XIII:576-622. She sees her son Memnon killed by Achilles,
and begs Jupiter to grant him honours.
He creates the Memnonides, a flight
of warring birds from the ashes.
Bk XIV:527-565. She is the mother by
Astraeus, the Titan,
of the four winds, the Astraean brothers. |
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Bk XIV:609-622. A mythical Alban king who gave his name to the
Aventine hill from which he ruled. |
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