GLOSSARY OF MYTHOLOGICAL WORDS AND PHRASES IN ENGLISH 769Elysian Fields/Elysian/Elysium In Vergil's con-
ception of the Underworld there is a place in the
realm of Hades reserved for mortals who, through
their surpassing deeds and virtuous life, have won a
blessed afterlife. It is named the Elysian Fields or Ely-
sium, and the the souls who inhabit this paradise live
a purer, more carefree, and pleasant existence. The
adjective Elysian has come to mean blissful.
enthusiasm In cultic ritual, particularly Dion-
ysiac, the initiate was often thought to become pos-
sessed by the god and transported to a state of ec-
static union with the divine. The Greeks decribed a
person so exalted as being entheos, "filled with the
god," which gave rise to the verb enthousiazein. Thus
the English word enthusiasm, meaning an excited in-
terest, passion, or zeal. See bacchanal.
erotic/erotica/eratomania To the Greeks Eros
was one of the first generation of divinities born from
Chaos; he was also said to be the son of Aphrodite
and Ares. From the Greek adjective eroticos, we de-
rive erotic, which describes anyone or anything char-
acterized by the amatory or sexual passions. Erotica
is a branch of literature or art whose main function
is the arousal of sexual desire. Erotomania is an ob-
sessive desire for sex. See cupidity.
eristic Eris was the goddess of "strife" or "dis-
cord," responsible for all the dissension arising from
the Apple of Discord, which she threw among the
guests at the wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis.
Thus is derived the term eristic, which as an adjec-
tive means pertaining to argument or dispute; as a
noun it refers to rhetoric or the art of debate. See Ap-
ple of Discord.
Europe Europa was the daughter of Agenor,
king of Tyre in Phoenicia. Zeus, disguised as a white
bull, enticed the girl to sit on his back and then
rushed into the sea and made his way toward Greece.
When they reached Crete, Zeus seduced Europa,
who bore a son named Minos and gave her name to
a foreign continent. The word Europe itself may be
of Semitic origin, meaning the land of the setting sun.
Faunus/faun/fauna/flora Faunus, whose name
means one who shows favor, was a Roman wood-
land deity. He was thought to bring prosperity to
farmers and shepherds and was often depicted with
horns, ears, tail, and sometimes legs of goat; there-
fore he was associated with the Greek god Pan and
also Dionysiac satyrs. A faun comes to be another
name for a satyr. Faunus' consort was Fauna, a fe-
male deity like him in nature. Flora was another,
though minor, agricultural deity, a goddess of flow-
ers, grain, and the grapevine. When we talk of flora
and fauna, we refer, respectively, to flowers and an-
imals collectively.
Furies/furious/furioso The Erinyes (Furies) were
avenging spirits. They sprang from the severed gen-
itals of Uranus when drops of his blood fell to the
earth. They pursued those who had unlawfully shed
blood, particularly within a family. They were said
to rise up to avenge the blood of the slain and pur-
sue the murderer, driving the guilty to madness. As
chthonic deities they are associated with the Under-
world and are charged with punishing sinners; they
are usually depicted as winged goddesses with
snaky locks. In English fury can refer to a fit of vio-
lent rage or a person in the grip of such a passion,
especially a woman. The Latin adjective furiosus has
given us our adjective furious as well as the musical
term furioso, which is a direction to play a piece in
a turbulent, rushing manner.
Gaia Hypothesis Gaia (or Ge), sprung from
Chaos, is the personification of the earth. Her name
has been employed in a recent coinage called the
Gaia Hypothesis, a theory that views the earth as a
complete living organism, all of its parts working in
concert for its own continued existence.
genius The Latin word Genius designated the
creative power of an individual that was worshiped
as a mythological and religious concept. See demon.
gorgon/gorgoneion/gorgonian/gorgonize
The Gorgons were three sisters who had snakes for
hair and a gaze so terrifying that a mortal who looked
into their eyes was turned to stone. Medusa, the most
famous of the three, was beheaded by Perseus, aided
by Athena and Hermes. Perseus gave the head to
Athena, who affixed it to her shield (see aegis). The
head of the Gorgon was often depicted in Greek art
in a highly stylized manner; this formalized depic-
tion is called a gorgoneion. Today a gorgon can mean
a terrifying or ugly woman. There is also a species
of coral known as gorgonian with an intricate net-
work of branching parts. The verb to gorgonize
means to paralyze by fear.
halcyon/halcyon days The mythical bird called
the halcyon is identified with the kingfisher. Ceyx
and Alcyone were lovers. Ceyx, the king of Trachis,
was drowned at sea. Hera sent word to Alcyone in
her sleep through Morpheus, the god of dreams, that
her husband was dead. Alcyone in her grief was
transformed into the kingfisher; as she tried to drag
the lifeless body of Ceyx to shore, he too was changed
into a bird. The lovers still traverse the waves, and
in winter she broods her young in a nest that floats
upon the surface of the water. During this time, Al-
cyone's father, Aeolus, king of the winds, keeps them
from disturbing the serene and tranquil sea. Today,
the halcyon days are a period of calm weather dur-