Homer - The Iliad
Index BCDE
Balius
An immortal horse sired by Zephyrus, the West Wind, on Podarge.
BkXVI101 BkXIX338 One of Achilles’ two immortal horses, the other is Xanthus.
BkXVII384 He weeps for Patroclus.
Bathycles
A Greek, the son of Chalcon.
Batieia
Possibly Kozjak, the most prominent of several isolated out-croppings near Troy.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Bear (Arctus)
The Great Bear, The Waggon, The Wain, The Plough, The Big Dipper.The constellation of Ursa Major. It represents in mythology Callisto turned into a bear by Zeus, or the plough or waggon or cart of Bootës. The two stars of the ‘bowl’ furthest from the ‘handle’, Merak and Dubhe, point to Polaris the pole star. The ‘handle’ points to the star Arcturus in the constellation Bootës, who is the Waggoner or Herdsman or Bear Herd (Arcturus means the Bearkeeper) or Ploughman. The Great Bear is circumpolar and never dips below the horizon.
BkXVIII468 The constellation appears on Achilles’ shield.
Bellerophon, Bellerephontes
Properly called Hipponous, was a son of the Corinthian king, Glaucus, and Eurymede, and a grandson of Sisyphus.
BkVI119 Glaucus, his grandson, tells his tale.
Bessa
A Locrian city.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Bias, an Athenian
BkXIII643 An Athenian repelling the Trojan attack.
Bias, the Pylian
BkIV250 A leader of the Pylian contingent at Troy.
Bias, a Trojan
BkXX455 The father of Laogonus and Dardanus.
Bienor
A Trojan general.
Boagrius
A Locrian river, rising on Mount Cnemis, and flowing to the sea between Scarphe and Thronium.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Boebe
A city in Thessaly near modern Nea Ionia north of Volos. The ancient lake Boebeis was presumably nearby.
BkII681 Mentioned.
Boeotians
Boeotia, formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the west by Phocis.
BkII484 The Boeotians send fifty ships to the war.
BkV703 Mentioned.
BkXIII643 They fight to repel the Trojan attack on the ships.
BkXIV458 Promachus, a Boeotian is killed.
BkXV328 Stichius, a Boeotian is killed by Hector.
BkXVII597 Peneleos, a Boeotian, is killed.
Boreas
The North Wind, bringer of cold wintry air.
BkXXI298 Mentioned.
BkXXIII192 Achilles calls for his help.
Borus, father of Phaestus
BkV1 A Maeonian. Mentioned.
Borus, son of Perieres
BkXVI155 Husband of Polydora and nominal father of Menesthius.
Briareus
A hundred-handed giant, the son of Earth.
BkI357 Summoned by Thetis he defended Zeus.
Briseis
She was the widow of King Mynes of Lyrnessus, an ally of Troy. Achilles slew Mynes and the brothers of Briseis, receiving her as a war prize.
BkI148 Agamemnon threatens to sieze her.
BkI318 BkI357 BkII681 BkXVIII368 BkXIX1 Agamemnon sends his heralds to seize her.
BkIX79 Agamemnon promises to return her.
BkXIX238 She is returned to Achilles.
BkXIX282 She grieves for Patroclus.
BkXXIV621 She sleeps beside Achilles.
Briseus
A priest at Lyrnessus.
BkIX79 BkIX222 The father of Briseis.
Bryseiae
A city in Laconia, north of modern Kalyvia Socha, south of Sparta.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Bucolion
A son of Laomedon and the nymph Calybe, he had several sons by Abarbarea.
BkVI1 Mentioned.
Bucolus
See Sphelus
The father of Sphelus.
BkXV328 Mentioned.
Budeum, Budea
A city in Magnesia, Thessaly.
BkXVI569 Home town of Epeigeus.
Buprasium
A city in Elis, north of the city of Elis on the coast.
BkII581 BkXI655 Mentioned. In good wheat-country.
BkXXIII566 The scene of the funeral games for Amarynceus.
Cabesus
Kavissos (near modern Feres) on the border between Macedonia and Thrace.
BkXIII330 Othryoneus from there.
Cadmeians
The descendants of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes.
BkIV326 BkV767 BkXXIII651 Mentioned.
Caeneus
The daughter of Poseidon who became a man, and king of the Lapiths. He was killed at the marriage feast of Peirithous, fighting against the Centaurs.
BkI223 He fought at the marriage feast of Peirithous.
BkII681 The father of Coronus.
Calchas
The priest of Apollo, and a Trojan renegade befriended by Achilles. He learnt the art of prophecy from his father Thestor.
BkI53 BkI101 He interprets the plague as a token of Apollo’s anger.
BkII278 He prophesied the ten year war at Aulis.
BkXIII1 Poseidon imitates his form to rouse the Greeks.
Calesius
Trojan charioteer to Axylus.
Caletor
See Aphareus
BkXIII526 The father of Aphareus.
Caletor, a Trojan
The son of Clytius.
Callianassa
Callianeira
Calliarus
A Locrian city.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Callicolone
A hill near the Simois.
BkXX1 Ares runs towards the hill.
BkXX75 Apollo and Ares observe the battle from there, suggesting it is behind the Trojan lines.
Calydnian Isles
Islands in the Sporades.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Calydon
A city of Aetolia, it lay north of modern Evinochori, east of Messolongi.
BkII581 Mentioned.
BkIX527 The Calydonian Boar Hunt re-told.
BkXIII206 A city ruled by Thoas.
BkXIV82 Oeneus was once king of Calydon.
Cameirus
A city of Rhodes in the west of the island, Camiros site near modern Kalavarda.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Capaneus
A son of Hipponous and Astynome or Laodice, the daughter of Iphis, he was married to Evadne, who is also called a daughter of Iphis, and by whom he became the father of Sthenelus. He was one of the seven heroes who marched from Argos against Thebe. During the siege of Thebes, he claimed that even the fire of Zeus would not prevent him scaling the walls of the city; but when he was ascending the ladder, Zeus struck him with a flash of lightning. While his body was burning, his wife Evadne leapt to her death in the flames. Capaneus is one of the heroes whom Asclepius was believed to have restored to life.
BkII484 BkIV326 BkV84 Father of Sthenelus.
Capys
A son of Assaracus and Hieromneme, he was the father of Anchises.
BkXX153 Grandfather of Aeneas.
Cardamyle
A city, Kardamyle, in Messinia, it lay near the coast east of the Pylian country.
BkIX79 BkIX222 Promised to Achilles by Agamemnon.
Caresus
A river flowing from the Ida range.
BkXII1 After the war, Poseidon diverted its streams to destroy the Greek wall.
Caria
A region of western Anatolia, it extended along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia.
BkII811 Mentioned.
BkIV127 Noted for its working of ivory.
BkX412 Allied to Troy.
Carystus
A city of the Abantes, north of modern Karystos town.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Casus
Modern Kasos Island in the Dodecanese, northeast of Crete.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Cassandra
The daughter of Priam and Hecuba gifted with prophecy by Apollo, but cursed to tell the truth and not be believed. Her rape by Ajax the Lesser caused Athene’s anger to fall on the returning Greeks. She was taken back to Greece by Agamemnon. (See Aeschylus: The Agamemnon)
BkXIII330 Promised to Othryoneus, who is killed before the marriage, she was the loveliest of Priam’s daughters.
BkXXIV677 She is the first to see Priam returning with Hector’s corpse.
Castianeira
The wife of Priam she was mother of Gorgythion.
BkVIII273 Mentioned.
Castor
He was one of the two Dioscuri, who were the sons of Leda and Tyndareus king of Lacedaemon, or of Leda and Zeus, and consequently the brothers of Helen. Castor was famous for his skill in taming and managing horses, and Pollux (Polydeuces) for his skill in boxing.
BkIII181 Mentioned.
Cauconians (Caucones)
An autochthonous tribe of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), displaced or absorbed with other races by the Bithynians, the Mariandyni alone maintaining themselves in cultural independence, in the northeast of what became Bithynia.
BkX412 Allied to Troy.
BkXX259 They are preparing to enter the battle.
Caystrius, Cayster
The Cayster River (or Küçük Menderes, ‘Little Maeander’) is located south of İzmir, Turkey. The Cayster flows generally westward reaching the Aegean Sea at Pamucak beach near Selçuk. The ancient city of Ephesus was once an important port on the Cayster, but with overgrazing and climate change over the centuries, sedimentation gradually filled in the inlet around the city. The coastline moved seaward and the ruins of Ephesus are now some 5 miles inland. With its curving track, and ox-bow lakes it gave its name to the term ‘meandering’ to describe the curving flow of such sedimentary rivers.
BkII394 Noted for its gatherings of migrating birds, which are likened to the gathering of the Greek armies.
Ceas
Father of Troezenus.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Cebriones
A natural son of Priam, and so half-brother of Hector.
BkVIII273 BkXI489 He acts as Hector’s charioteer.
BkXII80 He joins the first company under Hector.
BkXIII788 He fights at the front.
BkXVI726 He is killed by Patroclus.
BkXVI777 The Greeks carry off his corpse.
Celadon
A Greek river (flowing into the Alpheus according to Strabo).
BkVII120 Mentioned.
Centaurs
Creatures, half-man and half-horse living in the mountains of Thessaly, hence called biformes, duplex natura, semihomines, bimembres. They were the sons of Ixion, and a cloud, in the form of Hera.
BkI223 BkII681 They fought the Lapiths at the marriage feast of Peirithous.
BkXI804 Cheiron the Centaur taught Achilles.
Cephallenians
The people of the island of Cephallenia, probably identical with Same, modern Kefallonia. Significant bronze-age burials have been found there and Odysseus may have ruled the island group from Kefallonia.
BkII581 Mentioned.
BkIV326 Odysseus leads their contingent at Troy.
Cephisus
A river rising in Phocis and flowing through northern Boeotia into Lake Copais.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Cer, Fate
Cerinthus
A city of the Abantes, north of moderen Mandoudi.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Chalcis
A city of the Abantes, near modern Chalkida.
Chalcodon
A son of Abas the twelfth king of Argos, and king of the Chalcidians in Euboea.
Chalcon
BkXVI569 The father of Bathcyles.
Charis, Charites, The Graces
The personification of Grace and Beauty, Homer describes her as the wife of Hephaestus. Hesiod (Theog. 945) calls the Charis who is the wife of Hephaestus, Aglaia, and the youngest of the Charites. But according to the Odyssey Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaestus, indicating the identity of Aphrodite and Charis, or at least a close connexion.
BkXVIII368 As the wife of Hephaestus she presumably personifies the aesthetic side of his craft.
Charops
A Trojan, son of Hippasus.
Charopus
Father of Nireus.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Cheiron
The wisest of the Centaurs, he was the instructor of Achilles. The son of Cronus and Philyra, he lived on Mount Pelion, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, gymnastics, and the art of prophecy.
BkIV198 A source of Asclepius’ potions and herbs.
BkXI804 He taught Achilles the use of herbs.
BkXVI101 BkXIX338 He gave Peleus the ash spear which Achilles uses at Troy.
Chersidamas
A Trojan.
Chimaera
A monstrous creature of Caria or Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the body of a lioness, with a tail that terminated in a snake’s head, and the head of a goat on her back at the centre of her spine. The Chimaera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.
BkVI119 Killed by Bellerephon.
BkXVI257 Said to have been reared and kept by King Amisodarus.
Chromis
A Mysian and ally of the Trojans.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Chromius, a son of Priam
Chromius, a Trojan
Chromius, a second Trojan
BkXVII198 Hector rouses him to battle.
BkXVII481 He joins the attack on Automedon.
Chromius, a Lycian.
Chromius, a brother of Nestor
BkIV250 A leader of the Pylian contingent at Troy.
Chryse
A small island in the Aegean Sea, off Lemnos, it is mentioned by Sophocles and Pausanias. The island’s main feature was said to be its temple to Apollo, and its patron deity a goddess named Chryse. The Greek archer Philoctetes stopped here on his way to Troy and was fatally bitten by a viper. The island seems to have disappeared by the 2nd century AD; it is mentioned by Appian.
BkI22 Mentioned in Chryses prayer to Apollo.
BkI53 BkI428 Destination for a sacred peace-offering to Apollo.
Chryses
The priest of Apollo in the island of Sminthos.
BkI1 He goes to the Greeks to demand the release of his daughter Chryseis, or Astynome, whom Achilles had taken captive when he attacked the allies of Troy.
BkI101 BkI148 BkI285 BkI357 His daughter Chryseis is a bone of contention.
BkI428 Odysseus returns his daugher to him on Chryse.
Chrysothemis
A daughter of Agamemnon.
Cicones
A Thracian tribe living in Ismarus, allies of the Trojans.
BkII811 Mentioned.
BkXVII1 Mentes is their chief.
Cilicians
Cilicia formed a district on the south-eastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Giaour Dagh).
BkVI369 Eetion was king of the Cilicians.
Cilla
A city in Aeolis (northwestern Asia Minor) or the Troad, said to be near the plain of Thebe. Mentioned also by Ovid and Strabo.
BkI22 Mentioned in Chryses prayer to Apollo.
BkI428 Sacred to Apollo.
Cinyras
A famous Cyprian hero. According to tradition, he was a son of Apollo or Paphos, king of Cyprus, and priest of the Paphian Aphrodite.
BkXI1 Agamemnon received the gift of a breast-plate from him.
Cisses, Cisseus see Theano
A Thracian ruler.
BkVI237 The father of Theano.
BkXI218 He reared Iphidamas at his court.
Cleitus
A son of Peisenor.
Cleobulus
A Trojan.
BkXVI257 Killed by Ajax the Lesser.
Cleonae
A city near ancient Corinth, east of modern Nemea.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Cleopatra
A daughter of Idas and Marpessa, she was the wife of Meleager. Her nickname was Alcyone.
BkIX527 Mentioned.
Clonius
A leader of the Boeotians in the war against Troy
BkII484 Mentioned.
Clymene
Helen’s handmaid. A relative of Menelaus and a companion of Helen, together with whom she was carried off by Paris. After the taking of Troy, Clymene was given to Acamas.
BkIII121 Mentioned.
Clymene, the Nereid
Clytaemnestra
The wife of Agamemnon, daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta, and Leda, she was the sister or half-sister of Helen, and of the Dioscuri, and the mother of Orestes, Electra (Laodice), and Iphigenia.
BkI101 Agamemnon compares Chryseis to her.
Clytius
Brother of Priam. A son of Laomedon and father of Caletor and Procleia, he was one of the Trojan elders.
BkXV379 The father of Caletor.
Clytius
See Dolops
A Greek.
BkXI299 Mentioned.
Clytomedes
BkXXIII566 An Elian once defeated in a boxing match by Nestor.
Cnossus, Knossos, Cnossos
The principal city of Minoan Crete, near present day Heraklion, the site was mainly occupied between about 2500 and 1200BC.
BkII645 Mentioned.
BkXVIII468 Daedalus built the labyrinth and the dancing floor of Ariadne there (the two artefacts may be related conceptually).
Coeranus, a Cretan
Charioteer and friend of Meriones, he hailed from Lyctus.
Coeranus, a Lycian
Cöon
Eldest son of Antenor.
BkXI218 BkXIX1 He wounds Agamemnon, and is then killed by him.
Copae
A Boeotian city, southeast of modern Kastro.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Copreus
The father of Periphetes, he was a son of Pelops. After having murdered Iphitus, he fled from Elis to Mycenae, where he was purified by Eurystheus, who employed him to inform Heracles of the labours he had to perform.
BkXV565 The father of Periphetes.
Corinth
The ancient city on the Isthmus of Corinth.
BkII484 Mentioned.
BkXIII643 Home of Euchenor, the seer.
Coroneia
A Boeotian city, near modern Agios Georgios in Koronia.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Coronus
A son of Caeneus, he was a prince of the Lapithae, and father of Leonteus and Lysidice. He was slain by Heracles.
BkII681 Mentioned.
Cos
Modern Kos Island in the Dodecanese.
BkII645 Mentioned.
BkXIV224 BkXV1 Heracles was driven there by a gale, instigated by Hera.
Cranae
An island off Gytheio, in Laconia. When Paris abducted Helen from Sparta they spent their first night on Cranae.
BkIII395 Mentioned by Paris.
Crapathos
Modern Karpathos Island in the Dodecanese, between Rhodes and Crete.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Creon
A Greek.
BkIX79 BkXIX238 The father of Lycomedes.
Crete
The island, in the eastern Mediterranean, was the cradle of the ancient Minoan civilization.
BkII645 Its contingent of warriors at Troy.
BkIII181 BkIV250 BkXIII206 BkXIII239 BkXXIII448 Idomeneus, leader of its contingent to Troy.
Crethon
A son of Diocles.
Crisa
A Phocian city, south of modern Chrysso village near Delphi.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Crocyleia
A city of Levkada in the Ionian Islands.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Croesmus
A Trojan.
Cromna
A city in the territory of Sesamus.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Cronos
The father of Zeus, he was the son of Uranus, and Zeus himself dethroned him.
BkI357 BkI488 BkVI119 BkXIII723 etc. The father of Zeus.
BkV703 BkXIV135 The father of Hera.
BkVIII438 Dethroned, he is imprisoned in darkness in Tartarus. Zeus intends this as a taunt to Hera, and an indication of his power.
BkXII442 The crooked counsellor, devious father of Zeus.
BkXV149 The father of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.
BkXV220 He and the Titans are imprisoned under the Earth.
Cteatus
He was one of the two Moliones, a patronymic name by which Eurytus and Cteatus, the sons of Actor, or Poseidon, by Molione, are designated. They were nephews of Augeas, king of the Epeians. As sons of Actor, they are also called Actoridae.
BkII581 Mentioned.
BkXIII136 Father of Amphimachus.
Curetes
A legendary people, they took part in the quarrel over the Calydonian Boar. Strabo and Dionysius of Halicarnassus identified the Curetes as ancient Aetolians.
BkIX527 Their involvement in the Calydonian Boar hunt, and its aftermath.
Cyllene
A mountain in Arcadia: Hermes’ birthplace, hence Cyllenius, an epithet for him. (Pausanias, VIII, xvii, noting it as the highest mountain in Arcadia mentions the ruined shrine of Hermes on its summit, and says it got its name from Cyllen son of Elatus. Hermes’ statue was of juniper, thuon, and stood eight feet tall. Pausanias says that Cyllene was famous for its white, albino? blackbirds.)
BkII581 Mentioned.
Cymodoce
Cymothoe
Cynus
A Locrian city east of modern Livanates.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Cyparisseis
A city southwest of modern Kyparrisia in Messinia.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Cyparissus
A Phocian city, near the modern village of Antikyra.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Cyphus
A city in Thessaly.
BkII681 Mentioned.
Cypris
See Aphrodite
Cyprus
The island in the eastern Mediterranean, sacred to Aphrodite.
BkXI1 Cinyras was priest of Aphrodite in Cyprus.
Cytorus
Mount Cytorus was a mountain on the southern coast of the Black Sea, between the port cities of Sesamus (Amastris) and Cytorus.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Cythera
The island near Cape Malea, off the south-western tip of the Peloponnese, was sacred to Aphrodite who emerged from the sea there.
BkX254 Amphidamas, from there.
BkXV379 The native island of Mastor and Lycophron.
Daedalus
The Athenian master-craftsman, he built the labyrinth for Minos, and later fled to Italy. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
BkXVIII468 He built a dancing floor for Ariadne.
Daetor
BkVIII273 A Trojan killed by Teucer.
Damastor
See Tlepolemus
BkXVI351 The Trojan father of Tlepolemus.
Damasus
A Trojan.
BkXII175 Killed by Polypoetes.
Danaans
The descendants of Danaus, King of Argos, or a general name for the Greeks at Troy.
BkI53 BkI101 BkI223 BkIX222 etc. The Greeks at Troy.
Danae
The daughter of Acrisius, she was seduced by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold. See the entry for Acrisius.
BkXIV292 The mother of Perseus.
Dardania
The Dardans were Trojans, being an ancient people of northwestern Anatolia. They derived their name from Dardanus, the mythical founder of Dardania an ancient city in the Troad. Rule of the Troad was divided between Dardania and the younger more dominant city of Troy.
BkII811 The Dardanian contingent was led by Aeneas.
BkXIII136 BkXV379 Allies of the Trojans.
BkXVI777 Euphorbus is a Dardanian.
BkXX259 Founded by Dardanus.
BkXXII188 The Dardanian Gate of Troy.
BkXXII405 Priam’s move towards the Dardanian Gate suggests it was on a side of Troy (the south-west?) facing towards the Greek ships, to which Achilles was dragging Hector’s corpse. Perhaps Dardanian is here merely an alternative term for the main or Scaean Gate.
Dardanus, son of Bias
A Trojan.
Dardanus, son of Zeus
A son of Zeus and Electra the daughter of Atlas, he was the brother of Jason, or Jasion, Aetion and Harmonia, and his native place in the various traditions is Arcadia, Crete, Troas, or Italy. Dardanus is the mythical ancestor of the Trojans, and through them of the Romans. His son was Ericthonius.
BkVII313 The ancestor of Priam.
BkXI163 BkXI349 BkXX153 The great-grandfather of Ilus.
BkXX259 His line destined to survive through Aeneas.
Dares
A Trojan priest of Hephaestus.
BkV1 The father of Phegeus and Idaeus.
Daulis
A Phocian city, southwest of modern Daulia.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Dawn
See Eos
Eos the goddess of the dawn.
Deicoon
A Trojan hero, son of Pergasus, and a friend of Aeneas,
Deimos, Terror
A personification of terror, he was son of Ares and Aphrodite and brother of Phobos.
BkIV422 Mentioned.
BkXV78 He harnesses Ares’ horses.
Deiochus
A Greek.
Deiopites
A Trojan.
Deiphobus
A son of Priam and Hecabe of Troy, he forcibly married Helen after Paris was killed.
BkXII80 He is a leader of the third company.
BkXIII136 BkXIII239 Attacked unsuccessfully by Meriones.
BkXIII402 He kills Hypsenor, and goes to elicit the aid of Aeneas.
BkXIII468 BkXIII526 He fights alongside Aeneas, killing Ascalaphus, and is then wounded by Meriones.
BkXIII723 Hector seeks but fails to find him in the front ranks.
BkXXII188 Athene assumes his form to deceive Hector.
BkXXII247 Called Deiphobus of the White Shield. Hector finds his form to be that of Athene in disguise.
BkXXIV200 His father berates him.
Deipylus
A close comrade of Sthenelus.
BkV297 Mentioned.
Deipyrus
A Greek captain.
BkIX79 He leads a contingent of guards on sentry duty.
BkXIII81 He is roused by Poseidon.
BkXIII468 He fights alongside Idomeneus.
BkXIII576 He is killed by Helenus.
Deisenor
A Trojan ally.
BkXVII198 Hector rouses him to battle.
Demeter
The goddess of harvests, sister of Zeus, and mother of Persephone.
BkII681 Her sanctuary at Pyrasus.
BkV431 BkXIII239 The golden-haired goddess of harvest.
BkXIV292 She bore Persephone (Kore) and Iacchus to her brother Zeus.
Democoon
A natural son of Priam, who came from Abydos to assist his father against the Greeks, he was slain by Odysseus.
Demoleon
A Trojan, he was the son of Antenor and Theano.
BkXX353 He is killed by Achilles.
Demuchus
A Trojan, the son of Philetor.
Deucalion
King of Crete, he was the son of Minos, and father of Idomeneus.
BkXII80 BkXIII402 BkXVII597 Father of Idomeneus.
Deucalion, a Trojan
A Trojan.
Dexamene
Dexius
See Iphinous
BkVII1 The father of Iphinous, a Greek.
Diocles
The Lord of Pherae, and son of Ortilochus.
BkV519 Mentioned.
Diomede
The daughter of Phorbas of Lesbos, she was mistress to Achilles.
BkIX656 Mentioned.
Diomedes
The son of Tydeus king of Argos, he was a Greek hero in the war against Troy.
BkII394 He assists Agamemnon in sacrificing to the gods and rousing the troops.
BkII484 He led the contingent from the Argolid at Troy.
BkIV326 BkIV422 Agamemnon urges him to fight. He shows support for the king.
BkV1 He is supported by Athene, and kills Phegeus.
BkV84 He is wounded by Pandarus.
BkV166 Aeneas and Pandarus plan to fight him.
BkV239 He kills Pandarus.
BkV297 BkV352 He wounds Aeneas and Aphrodite.
BkV431 He is warned off by Apollo.
BkV519 He urges on the Greeks.
BkV590 He falls back before Ares.
BkV767 Athene urges him to attack Ares.
BkV846 BkXXI383 He wounds Ares.
BkVI72 Helenus deems him the mightiest of the Greeks.
BkVI119 He meets Glaucus and exchanges armour with him.
BkVI237 The Trojans pray to Athene to destroy him, but she denies the request.
BkVI369 He assaults the walls of Troy.
BkVII161 He offers to fight Hector in single combat.
BkVII379 He urges the Greeks to refuse any offer from Paris.
BkVIII53 BkVIII112 He goes to Nestor’s assistance.
BkVIII157 BkVIII212 He retreats with Nestor from the fight, but returns to the attack.
BkVIII489 Hector anticipates killing him.
BkIX1 He resists Agamemnon’s counsel of despair.
BkIX656 He once more rouses the Greeks.
BkX72 Nestor proposes summoning him.
BkX194 He joins the counsel and volunteers to conduct a foray.
BkX254 He arms and sets out with Odysseus to reconnoitre the Trojan camp.
BkX299 Odysseus points out Dolon to him.
BkX349 He and Odysseus capture Dolon.
BkX412 He kills Dolon.
BkX465 He kills thirteen Thracians, among them king Rhesus.
BkX515 He returns in triumph to the Greek camp with Odysseus.
BkXI299 He and Odysseus make a stand against the Trojan onslaught.
BkXI349 BkXI655 BkXVI1 He is wounded by Paris.
BkXIV1 He and the other wounded generals are met by Nestor.
BkXIV82 He describes his lineage and offers his advice.
BkXIV352 Though wounded he re-enters the fight.
BkXIX1 He limps to the assembly.
BkXXIII262 He competes in the chariot race.
BkXXIII362 BkXXIII448 Athene grants him the lead.
BkXXIII499 He wins first prize.
BkXXIII651 He seconds his cousin Euryalus in the boxing.
BkXXIII799 He fights with Telamonian Ajax at the games.
Dion
A city of the Abantes, east of modern Lichada village.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Dione
A female Titan, she was beloved by Zeus, by whom she became the mother of Aphrodite. Her worship in the temples of Zeus suggests she may be an early incarnation of the primitive mother-goddess.
BkV352 She soothes her daughter Aphrodite after she is wounded.
Dionysus
The ‘twice-born’ god of the vine. The son of Zeus and Semele. His worship was celebrated with orgiastic rites borrowed from Phrygia. His female followers are the Maenades. He carries the thyrsus, a wand tipped with a pine-cone, the Maenads and Satyrs following him carrying ivy-twined fir branches as thyrsi. (See Caravaggio’s painting –Bacchus – Uffizi, Florence)
BkVI119 He was persecuted by Lycurgus, king of the Edones.
BkXIV292 The son of Zeus and Semele.
Diores, son of Amarynceus
A leader of the Epeians. The father of Automedon.
Dius
A son of Priam.
BkXXIV200 His father berates him.
Dodona
BkII681 A city in northern Thessaly near Mount Olympus? Possibly there was a sacred, and perhaps original, precinct of Zeus there, similar to that at the more famous Dodona in Epirus, originally sacred to Dione and later usurped by Zeus. If the latter is referred to here, the mysterious Gouneus ruled or roamed a very large tract of northern Greece which seems possible but unlikely.
BkXVI210 A reference to Dodona in Epirus? The priests there are the Selloi or Selli or Elloi or Elli, interpreters of Zeus’ oracle there.
Dolon
A Trojan, the son of Eumedes, who offers to spy on the Greeks.
BkX299 He sets out for the Greek camp.
BkX349 BkX465 He is captured and questioned by Odysseus and Diomedes.
BkX412 Diomedes kills him.
Dolopians, Dolopes
The inhabitants of the south-western part of ancient Thessaly.
BkIX430 Phoenix became their king.
Dolopion
A Trojan priest of Scamander.
Dolops, a Greek
A leading Greek warrior, the son of Clytius.
Dolops, a Trojan
The son of Lampus, son of Laomedon.
Doris
BkXVIII1 A Nereid, named presumably after her mother, the wife of Nereus.
Dorium
A city southeast of modern Dorion in Messinia.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Doryclus
An illegitimate son of Priam.
Doto
Dracius
An Epeian Greek leader.
BkXIII643 He fights to repel the Trojan attack.
Dresus
BkVI1 A Trojan killed by Euryalus.
Dryas, father of Lycurgus
BkVI119 Mentioned.
Dryas, a Lapith
BkI223 He fought at the marriage feast of Peirithous.
Dryops
A Trojan.
Dulichium
Doulichion, an island near Ithaca. Its identification is problematic. Logically it would be the modern Levkas given the identification in the Odyssey of the other major islands.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Dymas
The Phrygian father of Hecabe and Asius.
BkXVI684 He lived by the River Sangarius.
Dynamene
Earth
See Ge
Mother Earth, the personification of the planet. Mother of the Giants.
Echecles
A son of Actor, and the nominal father of Eudorus.
BkXVI155 Mentioned.
Echeclus, son of Agenor
A Trojan.
Echeclus, a Trojan
A Trojan.
BkXVI684 He is killed by Patroclus.
Echemmon
A son of Priam.
Echepolus, a Trojan
A Trojan warrior, the son of Thalysius.
BkIV422 Killed by Antilochus, and first to die in the battle recounted in Book IV.
Echepolus, of Sicyon
A wealthy son of Anchises of Sicyon.
BkXXIII262 He gave Agamemnon his mare Aethe to avoid going to the war.
Echinae
The islands east of Ithaca, in the Ionian Islands group.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Echius, father of Mecisteus
A Greek.
BkVIII273 BkXIII402 Father of Mecisteus.
Echius, a Greek
BkXV328 He is killed by Polites.
Echius, a Lycian
Eeriboea, Eriboea
A wife of Aloeus.
BkV352 Mentioned.
Eetion, father of Andromache
The father of Hector’s wife, Andromache, he was the ruler of Thebe in Mysia. He was the father of Podes.
BkVI369 BkIX162 BkXXIII826 Killed by Achilles at the taking of Thebe.
BkXVI101 Achilles won his horse Pedasus at the taking of Thebe.
BkXXII405 The father of Andromache.
Eetion, of Imbros
Eileithyiae
The goddesses of childbirth were daughters of Hera, possibly also an epithet of Artemis. They (or she) were apparently worshipped in a cave near Amnisos on Crete. Cave sites near Amnisos have yielded evidence of Neolithic habitation, and Homer is possibly evoking memories of worship of the Great Goddess of Neolithic times into the later Bronze Age.
BkXI218 BkXVI155 BkXIX74 Mentioned.
Eilesium
A Boeotian city near modern Arma in Tanagra.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Eionae
A city of the Argolid, near modern Ermioni town.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Eioneus, father of Rhesus
A king of Thrace.
BkX412 Mentioned.
Eioneus, a Greek
Elasus
A Trojan.
BkXVI684 He is killed by Patroclus.
Elatus
BkVI1 A Trojan killed by Agamemnon.
Eleon
A Boeotian city, it lay southwest of modern Assopia near Arma in Tanagria.
Elephenor
A son of Chalcodon, and prince of the Abantes in Euboea.
BkII484 A leader of the Abantes at Troy.
Elis
A city and country of the western Peloponnese. The city was near the modern village of Ilida, northeast of Amaliada.
BkII581 Mentioned. The Ionian Islands lie west of Elis.
BkXI655 Nestor recounts a war between Elis and Pylos.
Elone
A Thessalian city.
BkII681 Mentioned.
Emathia
Ancient Macedonia. The region next to Pieria.
BkXIV224 Mentioned.
Eneti
A Paphlagonian tribe who later migrated to become the Veneti of northern Italy.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Enienes
A tribe of southern Thessaly living on the banks of the River Spercheios.
BkII681 Mentioned.
Eniopeus
Charioteer to Hector.
Enispe
A city in Arcadia, near modern Kamenitsa village north of Vytina.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Ennomus
A Mysian augur, he is an ally of the Trojans.
BkII811 Mentioned.
BkXVII198 Hector rouses him to battle.
Ennomus, a Trojan
A Trojan.
Ennosigaeus
See Poseidon
Enope
A city, Gerenia near Kalamata, in Messinia, near the coast east of the Pylian country.
BkIX79 BkIX222 Promised to Achilles by Agamemnon.
Enops, a Greek
BkXXIII566 The father of Clytomedes.
Enops, a Trojan
BkXIV402 The father of Satnius.
BkXVI351 The father of Thestor.
Enosichthon
See Poseidon
Enyalius, see Ares
BkVII161 BkVIII212 BkXIII468 BkXVII198 BkXX1 An epithet for Ares.
Enyeus
Ruler of the city of Scyrus.
BkIX656 Mentioned.
Enyo
The goddess of war, who delighted in bloodshed and the destruction of towns, she accompanied Ares in battle. At Thebes and Orchomenos, a festival called Homolôïa was celebrated in honour of Zeus, Demeter, Athene and Enyo. A statue of her, made by the sons of Praxiteles, stood in the temple of Ares at Athens.
BkV297 Mentioned.
BkV590 She fights alongside Ares.
Eos, Dawn
The goddess of the Dawn.
BkI428 BkIX656 BkXXIV776 Described as rosy-fingered.
BkVIII1 BkXIX1 BkXXIII192 BkXXIV677 Described as saffron-robed.
BkXI1 Her husband is Tithonus.
Eosphorus
Eosphorus was the Greek name for the planet Venus as the Morning Star. Hesperus was the planet as the Evening Star. Venus rising in the east in the morning is only visible before sunrise, dependent on its position in its orbit round the sun, and likewise setting in the west at evening is only visible after sunset.
BkXXIII192 Mentioned.
Epaltes
BkXVI351 A Trojan killed by Patroclus.
Epeians
The rulers of Elis, the people of King Epeius of Olympia.
BkII581 Their contingent at the war.
BkXIII643 They fight to repel the Trojan attack on the ships.
BkXV514 Otus a leader of the Epeians.
BkXXIII566 King Amarynceus was commander of the Eleans.
Epeigeus
A Myrmidon leader, the son of Agacles.
Epeius
The son of Panopeus, he was a Phocian from Parnassus. He was water-bearer to the House of Atreus and brought thirty ships to Troy from the Cyclades.
BkXXIII651 He wins the boxing contest.
BkXXIII826 He competes in the throwing contest.
Ephialtes
A son of Aloeus’ wife Iphimedeia by Poseidon: brother of Otus. The Aloeidae were renowned for extraordinary strength and daring. They threatened the Olympian gods, and tried to pile Ossa on Olympus, and Pelion on Ossa. They also put the god Ares in chains, and kept him imprisoned for thirteen months; so that he would have perished, had not Hermes been informed of it by Eriboea, and secretly freed him.
BkV352 Mentioned.
Ephyre, see Corinth
BkVI119 Ancient Corinth, home of Sisyphus.
Ephyre
A district near Corinth.
BkII645 Mentioned.
BkXV514 The river Selleis there.
Ephyri
An unknown early Greek tribe in Macedonia and elsewhere - Strabo calls them Crannonians.
BkXIII239 Mentioned.
Epicles
A Trojan, friend of Sarpedon.
Epidaurus
A city of the north-eastern Argolid, southeast of the modern township of Epidauros.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Epistor
A Trojan.
BkXVI684 He is killed by Patroclus.
Epistrophus
A leader of the Halizones.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Epistrophus, son of Evenus
BkII681 Mentioned.
Epistrophus, son of Iphitus
A son of Iphitus by Hippolyte, he commanded the Phocians in the war against Troy, along with his brother Schedius.
BkII484 A leader of the Phocians.
Epytus
See Periphas
BkXVII319 Father of Periphas.
Erebus
The Underworld. The realm of Hades.
BkIX527 The dwelling place of the Fury (Furies)
Erectheus
Legendary hero-king of Athens, son of Pandion, father of Orithyia and Procris.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Eretria
A city of the Abantes, near modern Chalkida.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Ereuthalion
An Arcadian, who, in the armour of Areithous, which Lycurgus had given him, fought against the Pylians at Pheia, but was slain by Nestor.
Erichthonius
A son of Dardanus and Bateia, he was the husband of Astyoche and father of Tros.
BkXX153 An ancestor of Aeneas.
Erinyes, Furies
Also called (by euphemism, the Eumenides, or beneficent ones) they were originally a personification of the curses pronounced on a guilty criminal. Subsequently they were the pursuers of the guilty (the voices of conscience).
BkIX527 Roused (in the singular), by Althaea’s curse, to pursue Meleager, from her place in Erebus.
BkXV149 They support the first-born against the younger siblings.
BkXIX74 One of the three forces, with Fate and Zeus, determining human destiny. Homer makes Ate a Fury, and the daughter of Zeus.
BkXIX238 Agamemnon invokes them as the punishers of perjurers.
BkXIX338 They silence the prophetic utterance of Xanthus, Achilles’ horse.
BkXXI383 Invoked by Hera against Ares for siding with the Trojans.
Eriopis
Wife to Oileus.
BkXIII643 BkXV328 Medon her stepson killed her kinsman.
Eris, Strife
The goddess who rouses strife and discord, she was a sister and companion to Ares.
BkIV422 BkV431 BkXX1 Mentioned.
Eriunius
See Hermes
Erylaus
BkXVI351 A Trojan killed by Patroclus.
Erymas, a Trojan
Erymas, a second Trojan
Erythini
A city in Paphlagonia, beneath two high reddish-coloured peaks, near Sesamus.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Erythrae
A Boeotian city.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Eteocles
The son of Oedipus and Iocaste, and brother of Polyneices and Antigone. After his father’s flight from Thebes, he and his brother Polyneices undertook the government of Thebes by turns. But, in consequence of disputes having arisen between the brothers, Polyneices fled to Adrastus, who then brought about the expedition of the Seven against Thebes.When many of the heroes had fallen, Eteocles and Polyneices resolved upon deciding the contest by a single combat, but both the brothers fell.
BkIV326 Mentioned.
Eteonus
A Boeotian city.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Ethiopia
A name the Greeks gave the regions furthest from Greece where the sun rises and sets, therefore the lands on the opposite side of the Earth, vaguely, also, the country in North Africa.
BkI428 BkXXIII192 The edge of Ocean.
Euaemon
Father of Eurypylus of Ormenion.
BkII681 BkV1 BkVII161 BkVIII212 BkXI543 BkXI804 Mentioned.
Euboea
The large island (modern Evvoia) close to eastern Greece separated from it by the Euboean Gulf. Also called Euripos, and Negropont. It contained Eretria and Aegae. Anthedon was on the mainland across the Gulf from Euboea.
BkII484 Its Greek contingents at the war.
Euchenor
The son of the seer Polyidus, of Corinth.
Eudorus
BkXVI155 Leader of a company of the Myrmidons.
Euippus
BkXVI351 A Trojan killed by Patroclus.
Eumedes
A Trojan herald, father of Dolon the spy.
Eumelus
A son of Admetus and Alcestis.
BkII681 A Thessalian leader at Troy.
BkII760 He drove his father’s horses.
BkXXIII262 He competes in the chariot race.
BkXXIII362 BkXXIII448 Athene wrecks his chariot.
BkXXIII499 He comes in last in the race.
Euneos
A son of Jason by Hypsipyle he was King of Lemnos.
BkVII433 He sends wine to the Greeks at Troy.
BkXXI34 BkXXIII740 He purchased Lycaon, giving Patroclus, on behalf of Achilles, a silver bowl in exchange.
Euphemus
A Ciconian leader of spearmen.
BkII811 Mentioned.
Euphetes
A King of Ephyre in Elis.
BkXV514 He gave Phyleus a metal-plated corselet.
Euphorbus
The Dardanian, son of Panthous.
BkXVII1 BkXVII82 He is killed by Menelaus.
Euryalus
A son of Mecisteus, he was one of the Epigoni who took and destroyed Thebes.
BkII484 A leader of the Argives at Troy.
BkVI1 He kills Dresus, Opheltius, Aesepus and Pedasus.
BkXXIII651 He is defeated in the boxing.
Eurybates
Herald to Odysseus.
BkII155 Eurybates of Ithaca. Mentioned as Odysseus’ squire.
BkIX162 A member of the embassy to Achilles.
Eurybates
Herald to Agamemnon.
BkI318 He is sent to seize Briseis.
Eurydamas
A Trojan interpreter of dreams.
BkV84 His sons killed by Diomedes.
Eurymedon
Attendant to Agamemnon, he was the son of Ptolemy.
BkIV198 He tends Agamemnon’s chariot and horses.
Eurymedon
Attendant and charioteer to Nestor
BkVIII112 Mentioned.
BkXI596 He attends to Nestor’s chariot and horses.
Eurynome
She was a daughter of Oceanus. When Hephaestus was expelled by Hera from Olympus, Eurynome and Thetis received him in the bosom of the sea. ByZeus she became the mother of the Charites.
BkXVIII368 Mentioned.
Eurypylus, son of Euaemon
A son of Euaemon and Ops, he led the men of Ormenion to Troy.
BkII681 Mentioned.
BkVI1 He killed Melanthius.
BkVII161 He offers to fight Hector in single combat.
BkVIII212 He attacks the Trojans.
BkXI543 BkXI655 BkXVI1 He supports Ajax, but is wounded.
BkXI804 BkXII1 BkXV379 Patroclus assists him.
Eurypylus, of Cos
A son of Poseidon and Astypalaea, he was king of Cos, and was killed by Heracles who on his return from Asia Minor landed in Cos, and being taken for a pirate, was attacked by its inhabitants.
BkII645 Mentioned.
Eurystheus
King of Tiryns, he was a grandson of Perseus. He was prompted by Hera to set Heracles the Twelve Labours.
BkVIII335 BkXV565 BkXIX74 Mentioned.
Eurytus, son of Actor
He was one of the two Moliones, a patronymic name by which Eurytus and Cteatus, the sons of Actor, or Poseidon, by Molione, are designated. They were nephews of Augeas, king of the Epeians. As sons of Actor, they are also called Actoridae.
BkII581 Mentioned.
Eurytus
The King of Oechalia in Thessaly, and father of Iphitus. He was a fine archer, taught by Apollo himself. He competed with Hercules who subsequently killed Iphitus.
Eussorus
BkVI1 The father of Acamas the Thracian.
Eutresis
A Boeotian city, near modern Kapareli.
BkII484 Mentioned.
Evenus, father of Mynes
BkII681 Mentioned.
Evenus
See Marpessa
BkIX527 The father of Marpessa.
Exadius
BkI223 He fought at the marriage feast of Peirithous.