| Aegeus | [EE-jee-uhs] King of Athens and father of the hero Theseus, he gave refuge to Medea after she escaped from Corinth. When he thought Theseus had been killed by the Minotaur, he committed suicide by leaping into the sea named after him.
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| Alcmene | The wife of Amphitryon and mother of Heracles, she was said to be the last of the mortal women seduced by Zeus.
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| Andromeda | A maiden chained to a rock as prey for a sea monster. She was rescued by Perseus, who then turned her uncle Phineus to stone by showing him the head of Medusa.
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| Argonauts | Fifty Greek heroes who sailed with Jason aboard the Argo to obtain the Golden Fleece.
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| Ariadne | [ar-ih-AD-nee] Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, king and queen of Knossos on Crete, and sister of Phaedra. After helping Theseus to kill the Minotaur and fleeing Crete with him, Theseus abandoned her on the island of Naxos, where Dionysus married her and made her immortal.
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| Bellerophon | [bel-LER-oh-fahn] Son of Glaucus (son of Sisyphus) who killed the Chimaera and defeated the Amazons; he tried to ride to heaven on the winged horse Pegasus. He is also called Bellerophontes.
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| Cadmus | Founder and king of Thebes, husband of Harmonia, and father of Agave, Autonoe, Ino, and Semele. As a young man, he slew a dragon and (by Athene's direction) planted its teeth, from which warriors sprang up. These fought among themselves until only five remained alive; the surviving five built Thebes and were the ancestors of the Theban aristocracy.
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| centaur | A creature half-man, half-horse; symbol of humanity's divided nature.
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| Cerberus | [SER-ber-uhs] The three-headed watchdog of Hades.
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| Chimaera | A fire-breathing monster with a lion's head, goat's body, and dragon's tail, traditionally an inhabitant of Hades' realm.
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| Chiron | [KYE-rahn] A wise old centaur who tutored several famous heroes, including Jason and Achilles.
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| Daedalus | [DEE-duh-luhs] Master architect who designed the labyrinth at Knossos for King Minos. When Minos tried to keep him and his son Icarus prisoner on Crete, Daedalus fashioned wings for their escape. (See Icarus.)
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| Danae | [DA-na-ee] Mother of the hero Perseus, who was sired by Zeus in a shower of gold. Cast into the sea in a chest with her son, Danae was unexpectedly rescued (See Perseus.)
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| Deianeira | [dee-ya-NYE-ra] Second wife of Heracles.
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| Geryon | A three-headed giant whom Heracles killed.
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| Gilgamesh | Legendary ruler of Uruk, a city-state in ancient Sumer; the hero of the world's oldest narrative poem.
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| Golden Fleece | The wool of a golden ram given to the king of Colchis and, with Medea's help, stolen by Jason.
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| Graiae | [GRYE-eye] Three ancient women who had been born old, they had only one eye and one tooth among them, which they shared in rotation. They were named Enyo, Pephredo, and Dino and lived in the far West, where the sun never shone. Sisters of the Gorgons, they were tricked by Perseus into revealing the three objects he needed to kill Medusa.
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| Hebe | [HEE-bee] (Juventas) Daughter of Zeus and Hera and a personification of youth, she was cupbearer of the Olympian gods until displaced by Ganymede. After Heracles' deifi- cation, he married Hebe, symbol of the gods' eternal youthfulness.
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| Hecate | [HEK-uh-tee] In Hesiod, a great and gracious goddess; in later myth, a creature of darkness and the Underworld, patron of magic and witchcraft.
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| Heracles | [HER-a-kleez] (Hercules) Son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene (who was married to Amphitryon), he was the strongest and the most long-suffering of all Greek heroes; best known for the Twelve Labors imposed on him by King Eurystheus, he was eventually rewarded with immortality on Olympus.
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| Hesperides | [hes-PER-ih-deez] Known as Nymphs of the Setting Sun or Daughters of the Evening, they lived in the far West and guarded a tree bearing golden apples.
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| Hippolytus | [hip-PAHL-ih-tuhs] Son of Theseus and Antiope, queen of the Amazons, he was falsely accused of sexual assault by his stepmother, Phaedra, and, when his deceived father cursed him, killed by a monster from the sea.
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| Hydra | A seven-headed monster that ravaged Argos and was slain by Heracles.
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| Hylas | The boy whom Heracles loved, lost ashore while looking for water during the voyage of the Argonauts.
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| Jason | Greek adventurer who led fifty Argonauts on a quest across the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece. After marrying Medea, who had helped him steal the fleece from her father, Jason divorced her. Her reaction is dramatized in Euripides' Medea.
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| Medea | [me-DEE-a] Sorceress daughter of Aeetes (king of Colchis) and wife of Jason, whom she enabled to obtain the Golden Fleece. When he abandoned her for a Greek wife, she killed their children.
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| Medusa | The only mortal Gorgon, whose terrifying gaze turned men to stone. With Athene's help, Perseus beheaded her.
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| Megara | [ME-ga-ra] The first wife of Heracles.
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| Minotaur | [MIN-oh-tahr] A monster half-human, half-bull, produced from Pasiphae's union with the sacred bull of Poseidon, it was confined in the Labyrinth at Knossos and slain by Theseus.
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| Nessus | A centaur whom Heracles killed for attempting to rape Deianeira (Heracles' wife). Nessus gave Deianeira his garment steeped in the poison of the Hydra, a gift that later caused Heracles' painful death.
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| Pasiphae | [pah-SIF-a-ee] Daughter of Helios, sister of Circe, wife of King Minos of Crete, and mother of Ariadne, Phaedra, and (by a bull) the Minotaur.
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| Pegasus | A winged horse that sprang from the blood of Medusa after Perseus beheaded her.
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| Pelias | [PEE-lih-uhs] A son of Poseidon and Tyro who usurped the kingdom of his brother Aeson, father of Jason.
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| Perseus | Son of Zeus and Danae, he beheaded Medusa, wed Andromeda, and (in some myths) founded Mycenae.
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| Phaedra | [FE-drah] Daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae, wife of Theseus (king of Athens), and stepmother of Theseus's son Hippolytus, with whom she fell in love and later denounced to his father after he rejected her advances.
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| Phaethon | [FEE-e-thahn] Son of Helios (or Apollo) and Clymene who convinced his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun across heaven, with catastrophic results.
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| Theseus | [THEE-see-uhs] Son of Aegeus and legendary king of Athens, he won fame by slaying the Minotaur at Minos's palace on Crete. He fathered Hippolytus by the Amazon Antiope and later married Phaedra, daughter of Minos.
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