Metamorphoses
Juno (aka Saturnia), Daughter of Saturn; sister, wife, and queen of Jove, I.374
Jupiter, See Jove, I.158
Laestrygonians, Ancient Italian tribe; reputedly cannibals, XIV.335
Lapiths, People of Thessaly who engaged in famous battle with centaurs, XII.374
Latinus, Father of Lavinia, XIV.877
Latium, Italian region whose capital became Rome, XIV.465
Latona, Daughter of the Titan Coeus; mother (by Jove) of Apollo and Diana, VI.232
Lavinia, Daughter of Latinus; wife of Aeneas, XIV.816
Learchus, Son of Athamas and Ino; slain by his frenzied father, IV.704
Leda, Wife of Tyndareus; mother (by Jove-as-swan) of Castor and Pollux, VI.153
Lesbos, Island in the Aegean, II.822
Leuconoë, One of the storytelling daughters of Minyas, IV.229
Leucothoë, (1) Daughter of Orchamus and Eurynome; beloved of Phoebus, IV.272; (2) name given to the deified Ino, IV.742
Liber, An Italian god of wine; identified with Bacchus, III.681
Lichas, Servant of Hercules; changed into a rock, IX.234
Ligdus, Father of Iphis, IX.967
Liriope, Water nymph; mother of Narcissus, III.441
Lotis, Nymph changed into a lotus tree, IX.504
Lucifer, Father of Ceyx; the morning star, II.158
Lucina, Goddess of childbirth, V.443
Lycaon, King of Arcadia; father of Callisto; changed into a wolf, I.225
Lycurgus, Thracian king opposed to the worship of Bacchus, IV.38
Lydia, Country in Asia Minor, II.336
Lyncus, Scythian king turned into a lynx, V.832
Macareus, Companion of Ulysses, XII.667
Maeander, Father of Cyanee, the mother of Byblis and Caunis; a famously winding river and a river god, II.326
Maenads, Frenzied followers of Bacchus, XI.31
Maeonia, Old name for Lydia, III.751
Manto, Daughter of Tiresias and herself a prophet, VI.229
Mars, Son of Jove and Juno; god of war, III.42
Marsyas, Satyr who challenges Apollo to a musical contest, VI.574
Medea, Daughter of Aeetes; a magician; in love with Jason, VII.20
Medusa, Daughter of Phorcys and Keto; raped by Neptune, she was turned by Athena into a monster whose snake-girded head became a weapon that petrified those who saw it; decapitated by Perseus, her streaming blood produced Pegasus and Chryasor, IV.899
Meleager, Son of Oeneus and Althaea; Calydonian hero, VIII.379
Melicertes, Son of Athamas and Ino; changed into the sea god Palaemon, IV.712
Memnon, Son of Aurora and Tithonus; slain by Achilles, XIII.841
Memnonides, Birds that sprang from the ashes of Memnon, XIII.897
Menelaüs, Son of Atreus; brother of Agamemnon; husband of Helen, whose abduction by Paris instigates the Trojan War, XII.910
Mercury, Son of Jove and Maia; father of Autolycus; messenger of Jove, I.953
Merops, Ethiopian king; husband of Clymene; putative father of Phaëthon, I.1060
Messana, City in Sicily, XIII.1057
Midas, Phrygian king of dubious intellect, XI.129
Miletus, Son of Apollo; father of Byblis and Caunis, IX.648
Milon, Legendary athlete, XV.280
Minerva, (aka Pallas Athena), Daughter of Jove; goddess of wisdom and technical skill; virgin warrior; patron of Athens, II.781
Minos, Son of Europa (by Jove-as-bull); husband of Pasiphaë father of Androgeos and Ariadne; warlike king of Crete, VII.653
Minotaur, Monster born of Pasiphaë by a bull; kept in the labyrinth that Minos ordered Daedalus to build; slain by Theseus, VIII.215
Minyas, King of Orchomenus, a city in Boeotia; his daughters opposed the worship of Bacchus, IV.1
Mithridates, King of Pontus vanquished by Pompey, XV.936
Mnemosyne, Mother (by Jove) of the nine Muses, V.389
Morpheus, Son and messenger of Sleep, XI.908
Mother Earth, Roman Terra; the earth goddess; daughter of Chaos; wife of Uranus; mother of the Giants, I.215
Muses, Nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, goddess of Memory, charged with inspiring various kinds of poetry, as well as dance, history, and astronomy, V.369
Mycenae, City in Argolis; home of Agamemnon, VI.592
Myrmidons, Race of men created by Jove from ants, VII.934
Myrrha, Daughter of Cinyras who fell in love with him; mother (by Cinyras) of Adonis, X.387
Myscelus, Son of Alemon; founder of Crotona, XV.28
Naiads, Water nymphs, goddesses of rivers and springs, I.890
Narcissus, Son of river god Cephisus and water nymph Liriope, III.446
Nature, A process responsible for giving form to Chaos, I.8
Naxos, Largest of the Cyclades, III.821
Neleus, Son of Neptune; king of Pylos; father of Nestor, II.953
Nemesis, Greek goddess; a personification of the righteous indignation of the gods, who punishes men for their presumption and arrogance, III.523
Neoptolemus, Son of Achilles, XIII.663
Neptune, Son of Saturn; brother of Jove and Dis; trident-bearing god of the waters, I.381
Nereids, Sea nymphs; daughters of Nereus and Doris, I.417
Nereus, A sea god; father of the Nereids, I.256
Nessus, Centaur slain by Hercules for attempted rape of Deianira, IX.145
Nestor, Son of Neleus; oldest of Greek heroes during the Trojan War, VIII.441
Niobe, Daughter of Tantalus and Dione; wife of Amphion; mother of fourteen, all slain by Apollo and Diana, VI.215
Nisus, King of Megara; father of Scylla; vanquished by Minos, VIII.9
Nixi, Three Roman goddesses protective of women in labor, IX.433
Nonacris, Mountain in Arcadia, I.955
Numa, Second Roman king, XV.5
Numidians, Tribe in North Africa vanquished by Julius Caesar, XV.935
Numitor, King of Alba; deposed by brother, Amulius; restored by his grandsons, Romulus and Remus, XIV.1125
Nyctimene, Daughter of Epopeus; changed into an owl, II.819
Nysa, Site of a cave in India where the infant Bacchus was sheltered, III.405
Oceanus, God of the ocean; husband of Tethys, II.704
Ocyroë, Daughter of Chiron and Chariclo; changed into a mare, II.885
Oedipus, Theban king who solved the riddle of the Sphinx, VII.1087
Oeneus, King of Calydon; father of Meleager and Deianira; husband of Althaea, VIII.382
Oeta, Site of a mountain range in southern Thessaly, I.433
Olympus, Mountain in Thessaly; home of the gods, I.211
Ops, Italian deity; goddess of abundance; wife of Saturn, IX.728
Orchamus, Father of Leucothoë, IV.294
Orion, (1) Constellated Giant, VIII.287; (2) Theban man famed for self-sacrificing daughters, XIII.433
Orithyia, Daughter of Erectheus; seized by Boreas, VI.991
Orpheus, Son of Apollo (or Oeagrus) and the Muse Calliope; husband of Eurydice; famed Thracian poet and musician, X.4
Orphne, Nymph of the underworld; mother (by Acheron) of Ascalaphus, V.713
Osiris, Husband of Isis; Egyptian god of fertility, IX.1003
Ossa, Mountain in Thessaly, I.212
Othrys, Mountain in Thessaly, II.296
Pactolus, River in Lydia famed for its gold, VI.23
P-Airides, See Pierides, V.867
Palaemon, See Melicertes, IV.741
Palamades, Exposed Ulysses’ feigned madness to the Greeks and was later falsely accused by him, XIII.54
Palatine, Hill in Rome, favored by the upper classes, I.242
Pallas Athena, See Minerva, III.124
Pan, Goat-footed god of woods and shepherds; a faun, I.967
Pandion, King of Athens; father of Procne and Philomela, VI.610
Paphos, Son of Pygmalion and his statue; gave his name to Cypriot city, X.371
Paris, Son of Priam and Hecuba; brother of Hector; lover of
Helen, XII.6
Parnassus, Mountain in Phocis; sacred to Apollo and the Muses, I.436
Parthenon, Famous temple of Athena on the Acropolis in Athens, II.987
Pasiphaë, Daughter of the Sun; wife of Minos; mother (by him) of Phaedra and Ariadne; mother (by a bull) of the Minotaur, VIII.183
Pegasus, Winged horse born from Medusa’s blood, IV.1072
Peleus, Son of Aeacus; brother of Telamon; half brother of Phocus; husband of Thetis; father of Achilles, VII.682
Pelias, Half brother of Jason’s father, Aeson, whom he deposed; sent Jason on quest for Golden Fleece, VII.418
Pelion, Mountain in Thessaly, I.212
Pelops, Son of Tantalus; brother of Niobe; slain by his father and offered as a feast to test the gods, VI.579
Penelope, Wife of Ulysses, VIII.443
Peneus, Thessalian river and river god; father of Daphne, I.629
Pentheus, Son of Echion and Agave; Theban king who opposed worship of Bacchus, III.662
Perdix, Nephew of Daedalus; changed by Minerva into a partridge, VIII.363
Pergama, Trojan citadel or Troy itself, XIII.514
Periclymenus, Grandson of Neptune; shape-shifting brother of Nestor; slain (in the form of an eagle) by an arrow of Hercules, XII.815
Perimele, Nymph loved by Acheloüs; changed by him into an island, VIII.849
Persephone, See Proserpina, V.640
Perseus, Son of Jove and Danaë Greek hero who slew the Medusa and rescued Andromeda, IV.836
Phaëthon, Son of Clymene and Phoebus (or Merops); took father’s chariot for his last ride, I.1039
Pharsalia, Region in Thessaly where Julius Caesar defeated Pompey in 48 B.C.E., XV.1030
Philemon, Pious old husband of Baucis, VIII.890
Philippi, Macedonian city where Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) and Marc Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius, conspirators who slew Julius Caesar, XV.1031
Philoctetes, Son of Poeas; companion of Hercules; abandoned on isle of Lemnos by the Greeks at the beginning of the Trojan War, IX.341
Philomela, Daughter of Pandion; sister of Procne; raped by Tereus, VI.648
Phineus, (1) Uncle and betrothed of Andromeda, V.11; (2) Blind seer; Thracian king tormented by Harpies, VII.3
Phlegethon, River in the underworld, V.719
Phocis, Region in Greece between Boeotia and Aetolia, I.432
Phocus, Son of Aeacus and the Nereid Psamathe; half brother of Peleus and Telamon, VII.683
Phoebe, See Diana, I.661
Phoebus, See Apollo, I.468
Phoenix, Legendary self-resurrecting bird, XV.454
Phorcys, Father of the Gorgons, IV.1056
Phrygia, Country in Asia Minor; original site of the worship of Cybele, VI.64
Phylius, Lover of Cycnus, VII.524
Picus, Son of Saturn; husband of Canens; king of Latium; changed by Circe into a woodpecker, XIV.455
Pierides, (aka P-Airides), Nine daughters of Pierus; changed into magpies by the Muses, V.857
Pierus, Father of nine daughters known as the Pierides, V.441
Pindus, Mountain range in Thessaly, I.787
Pirene, A spring in Corinth, II.320
Pirithoüs, Son of the Lapith king Ixion; friend of Theseus, VIII.424
Polydorus, Son of Priam and Hecuba; betrayed and slain by the Thracian king Polymestor, XIII.626
Polymestor, Thracian king whose murder of Polydorus was avenged by Hecuba, XIII.625
Polyphemus, Cyclops who loved Galatea and slew Acis, XIII.1108
Polyxena, Daughter of Priam and Hecuba; sacrificed to the shade of Achilles, XIII.651
Pomona, Wood nymph of Latium wooed by Vertumnus, XIV.892
Pontus, Kingdom in Asia Minor on the Black Sea, XV.936
Priam, Son of Laomedon; husband of Hecuba; last king of Troy, XI.1078
Priapus, God of procreation and gardens, IX.505
Procne, Daughter of Pandion; sister of Philomela; wife of Tereus; mother of Itys, VI.612
Procris, Daughter of Erectheus, the Athenian king; wife of Cephalus; sister of Orithyia, VII.990
Procrustes, Robber who famously compelled victims to lie on eponymous bed, then stretched or lopped their limbs to fit, VII.625
Prometheus, Son of Iapetas; father of Deucalion; created mankind out of clay, I.112
Propoetides, Women of Amathus who, despising Venus, were turned by her into prostitutes, then into stones, X.286
Proserpina, (aka Persephone), Daughter of Jove and Ceres; wife of Pluto; queen of the underworld, V.558
Protesilaüs, First Greek slain in the Trojan War, XII.99
Proteus, Shape-shifting sea god, II.11
Psamathe, Mother of Phocus; slain by Peleus; a Nereid, XI.571
Pygmalion, Cypriot sculptor whose ivory maiden lived to marry him, X.312
Pylos, city in Elis; Nestor’s home, II.947
Pyramus, Lover of Thisbe, IV.87
Pyreneus, Thracian king who attempted to violate the Muses, V.400
Pyrrha, Daughter of Epimetheus; wife of Deucalion, I.483
Python, Monstrous serpent slain by Apollo, I.608
Quirinus, See Romulus, XIV.1209
Rhadamanthus, Son of Jove and Europa; brother of Minos, IX.638
Rhegium, Italian seaport opposite Messana, XIV.7
Rhesus, Thracian king allied with Priam; slain by Ulysses and Diomedes, XIII.141
Rhodope, Man changed by Jove for his impious presumption into a mountain in Thrace frequented by Orpheus, II.297
Romulus, Son of Mars and Ilia; brother of Remus; husband of Hersilia; known after death as Quirinus, XIV.1130
Rutulians, Latins, whose hero was Turnus and whose city was Ardea, XIV.644
Sabines, People of central Italy, neighbors of the Romans, XV.7
Salmacis, Nymph enamored of Hermaphroditus who gave her name to a pool of water in Caria, IV.397
Samos, Island in the Aegean; birthplace of Pythagoras, VIII.309
Sardis, Capital of Lydia, XI.192
Saturn, Son of Heaven and Mother Earth; husband of Ops; father of Jove, Juno, Neptune, and Dis, by whom deposed and confined to underworld, I.55
Saturnia, Juno, XIV.1139
Satyrs, Goat-footed libertarians; companions of Bacchus, I.266
Scylla, (1) Daughter of Nisus; infatuated with Minos, VIII.20; (2) nymph wooed by Glaucus; changed into monster, then a rock between Italy and Sicily, VII.101
Scythia, Region in Asia and southeastern Europe; home of nomadic Scythians, I.89
Semele, Daughter of Cadmus; mother by Jove of Bacchus, III.330
Semiramis, Queen of Babylon, IV.90
Seriphos, Island in the Aegean, V.352
Sibyl, Priestess of Apollo living at Cumae, XIV.151
Sidon, Phoenician city; birthplace of Mercury; home of Cadmus and Europa, II.1153
Silenus, Satyr, tutor, and companion to Bacchus, IV.51
Simoïs, River near Troy, XIII.479
Sinis, Greek robber slain by Theseus, VII.628
Sirens, Daughters of Acheloüs and one of the Muses; transformed unjustly and incompletely into birds, whose irresistible song lured sailors to their deaths, V.730
Sisyphus, Son of Aeolus; punished for theft in the underworld, IV.629
Smilax, Nymph beloved of Crocus; changed into a flower, IV.392
Sphinx, Riddle-posing Theban monster, vanquished by Oedipus, VII.1088
Stellio, Boy changed into a lizard by Latona for his presumption, V.632
Styx, River in the underworld or the underworld itself, I.1019
Symplegades, Two rocky islands in the Euxine, or Black Sea that clashed together when ships passed between them, XV.393
Syrinx, Arcadian nymph; loved by Pan; changed into pipes of Pan, I.956
Tages, Etruscan god who was changed from clod of earth to man and who taught soothsaying to his people, XV.659
Tagus, Spanish river famous for its gold, II.335
Tantalus, Son of Jupiter; father of Niobe and Pelops; punis
hed in the underworld for attempting to deceive the gods by serving them Pelops at a feast, IV.626
Tarpeia, Roman woman who attempted to betray Rome to Sabines, XIV.1132
Tartarus, The underworld, I.55
Tatius, Sabine king who first warred against Romulus, then ruled jointly with him, XIV.1129
Telamon, Son of Aeacus; king of Aegina; brother of Peleus; half brother of Phocus; Greek hero who accompanied Hercules in the capture of Troy; joined with the Argonauts and the heroes of the Calydonian boar hunt, VII.682
Telethusa, Wife of Ligdus; mother of Iphis, IX.984
Tempe, Thessalian valley through which the river Peneus runs, I.786
Tereus, Thracian king; husband of Procne; father of Itys, VI.605
Tethys, Sea goddess; wife of Oceanus, II.93
Teucer, Son of Telamon and Hesione, XII.228
Thaumas, Father of Iris, IV.659
Thebes, City founded by Cadmus in Boeotia, III.63
Themis, Daughter of Heaven and Mother Earth; goddess of justice, I.443
Thersites, Greek soldier berated by Ulysses for his verbal abuse of leaders, XIII.341
Theseus, Son of Aegeus; father of Hippolytus; husband of Phaedra; Greek hero who slew the Minotaur, VII.575
Thessaly, Country in the northeastern part of Greece, I.784
Thetis, Sea nymph daughter of Nereus and Doris; wife of Peleus; mother of Achilles; a Nereid, XI.313
Thisbe, Beloved of Pyramus, IV.88
Thrace, Country to the northeast of Macedonia, II.328
Tiber, River running through Rome, II.344
Tiberinus, King of the Albans, XIV.882
Timolus, Mountain and its presiding deity in Lydia, II.290
Tiresias, Theban seer who spent seven years as a woman, III.415
Tisiphone, One of the three Furies, IV.650
Titans, Family of primordial gods; children of Uranus and Gaea; overthrown and replaced by the Olympians, VI.275
Tithonus, Husband of Aurora; father of Memnon, IX.616
Tityos, A Giant punished in the underworld for attempting to rape Latona, IV.625
Tlepolemus, Son of Hercules, XII.789
Triptolemus, Greek king used by Ceres to disseminate knowledge of agriculture, V.827
Triton, Son of Neptune; a fish-tailed sea god, I.457
Troezen, City in Argolis, VI.597
Turnus, King of the Rutulians; enemy of Aeneas, XIV.636
Typhoeus, Giant; struck by Jove’s lightning bolt, he lay buried beneath Sicily, I.391