INDEXES 1-25
Melpomene (mel-pom' e-ne), Muse of tragedy or lyre
playing, 73, 125
Memnon (mem' non), son of Eos and Tithonus,
Ethiopian leader, killed by Achilles, 471
Menelaûs (men-e-lâ' us), king of Sparta, husband of He-
len, and father of Hermione, 406, 411, 437, 447,456, 482
Menestheus (me-nes' the-us), usurper of Theseus' power
and leader of the Athenians at Troy, 565
Menoeceus (me-në' se-us), father of Creon, 381; son of
Creon, 381, 397
Mercury, Mercurius (mer' kur' -i-us), Roman god of
commerce and profit, 628, 638
Merope (mer' ô-pë), wife of Heraclid Cresphontes, 545;
wife of Polybus who brought up Oedipus, 382; wife of
Sisyphus, 574
Messene (mes-së' ne), region in the southwestern Pelo-
ponnesus, 545
Messina (mes-sï' na), Straits of, between Italy and Sicily,
152-153
Metaneira (met-a-nï' ra), wife of Celeus and mother of
Demophoôn, 311-313
Metion (më' ti-on), brother of Cecrops, uncle of Pandion,
and father or grandfather of Daedalus, 549, 554
Metis (më' tis), "Wisdom," swallowed by her lover Zeus,
after she became pregnant, 109, 157
Mezentius (me-zen' shi-us or me-zen' ti-us), Etruscan, 647,
652
Midas (mï' das), king of Phrygia cursed with the golden
touch, whose ears were turned into those of an ass,
243-244, 294-295; of Akragas, winner at the Pythian
Games, 410
Milanion (mi-la' ni-on), he (or Hippomenes) beat Ata-
lanta in a footrace, 610, 612
Miletus (mï-lë' tus), city in Ionia in Asia Minor, named
after the father of Byblis and Caunus, 573
Milky Way, a band of light caused by myriads of stars, 670
Minerva (mi-ner' va), Italian goddess whom the Romans
equated with Athena, 164-166, 628, 630, 718-719
Minos (mï' nos): Minoan-Mycenaean, 40^41; son of Zeus
and Europa, husband of Pasiphaë, king of Cnossus, and
judge in the Underworld, Minoan (mi-nô' an), Mi-
noans, 39, 331, 342, 349, 377, 558, 567-570
Minotaur (min' o-tawr), half bull and half man, offspring
of Pasiphaë and a bull, 40, 556, 558, 560, 567
Minyae (min' i-ë or min' i-ï), another name for the Arg-
onauts; Minyans (min' yans), 522, 573
Minyas (min' i-as), his daughters (Minyads) resisted
Dionysus, were driven mad, and turned into bats, 607
Mithras (mith' ras) or Mithra: Persian god of light and
truth, Mithraism (mith' ra-ism), 365
Mnemosyne (në-mos' i-në), "Memory," Titaness mate of
Zeus and mother of the Muses, 54, 73, 124-125
Moira (moy' ra), plural Moirai (moy' rï) or Moirae (moy'
rë), Fate, Fates (Roman Fatum, Fata), 336; daughters of
Zeus and Themis or Erebus and Night or (in Plato) of
Necessity (See also Ananke)
Moly (mo' li), magic antidote against Circe, given by
Hermes to Odysseus, 490
Mopsus (mop' sus), seer and an Argonaut, 583
Muse (muz), Muses, "Reminders," the nine daughters of
Zeus and Mnemosyne, patrons of the arts, who inspire
and inform artists, 51-52, 72-74, 124-125, 471
Mycenae (mï-së' ne), city of the family of Atreus, first
excavated by Schliemann, Mycenaean (mi-se-ne' an),
40, 41, 372-373, 404-434, 516, 519
Myrmidons (mir' mi-donz), tribe of Phthia, led by
Achilles at Troy, 450, 455
Myrrha (mir' ra), "Myrrh Tree," daughter and mate of
Cinyras and mother of Adonis, 177
Narcissus (nar-sis' sus), son of Liriope and Cephisus, he
rejected the love of many (including Echo), died of un-
requited love for his own reflection, and was turned
into a flower, 300
Nauplius (naw' pli-us), father of Palamedes, 482
Nausicaâ (naw-sik' a-a), Alcinoiis' daughter in Phaeacia
who helps Odysseus, 493
Naxos (naks' os), island in the Aegean where Theseus
abandoned Ariadne, 558-561
Necessity. See Adrasteia; Ananke
Nectar (nek' tar), the drink of the gods, 128
Neleus (nil' e-us), son of Poseidon and Tyro, father of
Nestor, and king of Pylos, 533, 574, 606
Nemea (nem' e-a), city in the northern Peloponnesus;
Nemean Games, founded in honor of Opheltes, 396;
Nemean (nem' e-an) Lion, offspring of Echidna and Or-
thus and first Labor of Heracles, 154, 523, 530
Nemesis (nem' e-sis), goddess of retribution, 83
Neoptolemus (në-op-tol' e-mus), also called Pyrrhus,
son of Achilles and Dei'damia, 406, 415-416, 450-451,
473, 475, 476, 483
Nephele (nef e-lë), "Cloud," wife of Athamas and
mother of Phrixus and Helle, 573-574; mother of Cen-
taurus, 602-603
Neptune (nep' tune), Neptunus, Roman god equated
with Poseidon, 151, 637
Nereus (nër' e-us), Nereid(s) (n" re-id), sea nymphs,
daughters of Nereus and Doris, 148,150,153; son of Pon-
tus and Ge, and a prophetic old man of the sea, 153, 528
Nergal (ner' gal), chief god of the Sumerian Underworld,
102
Nerio (ne' i-ô), Sabine fertility goddess, associated with
Minerva and consort of Mars, 626, 630
Nessus (nés' sus), centaur killed by Heracles for trying
to rape Deîanira, 534, 536
Nestor (nes' tor), son of Neleus, king of Pylos, and wise
orator in the Trojan War, 42, 448, 467, 482, 533, 574
Night, sprung from Chaos or a daughter of Phanes,
52-53
Ninurta (nin-ur' ta), son of Enlil, Summerian warrior-
god and hero, 102
Niobe (nî' ô-bë), Amphion's wife; hubris against Leto
caused Apollo and Artemis to kill her seven sons and
seven daughters, 203, 380, 406, 508
Nisus (nï' sus), lover of Euryalus, 652; son of Pandion,
king of Megara, and father of Scylla who cut off his
purple lock of hair; he was turned into a sea-eagle, 549
Noah (no' ah), the Biblical equivalent of Deucalian,
saved from the flood, 99
Nobody, Ou tis (û' tis), name Odysseus gives to the Cy-
clops Polyphemus, 487
Numa (nû' ma), Roman king, responsible for religious
innovations, 627, 631, 638
Nycteus (nik' te-us), brother of Lycus and father of An-
tiope, 380
Nymph(s): supernatural women, 129