| Actaeon | [ak-TEE-ahn] The son of Aristaeus and Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus. When he offended Artemis, either by boasting of his superior hunting abilities or by observing her bathing, the goddess changed him into a stag, and he was torn apart by his hounds.
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| Agave | [a-GAY-vee] Daughter of Harmonia and King Cadmus (founder of Thebes), she was the sister of Semele, Ino, and Autonoe and the mother of Pentheus.
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| anagnorisis | In tragedy, the recognition scene in which a character discovers a previously unknown fact or relationship.
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| Bacchus | [BAH-kuhs] Another name for Dionysus.
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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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| 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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| hubris | [HYOO-bris] The kind of excessive pride that blinds the tragic hero to his own limitations, offends the gods, and initiates his doom.
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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,
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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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| 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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| Pentheus | [PEN-thee-uhs] Son of Agave and Echion (one of the men born when Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth), he was the young king of Thebes who opposed the introduction of Dionysus's cult into his realm, for which the god destroyed him.
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| Themis | [THEE-mis] A Titan goddess, daughter of Gaea and Uranus, who personified justice and law; in some myths, she was the mother of Prometheus. Even after Apollo's cult was established there, she had a prophetic shrine at Delphi.
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