| Epimetheus | [ep-ih-MEE-thee-uhs] A brother of Prometheus who, on man's behalf, accepted the Olympian gods' gift of Pandora; his name means "afterthought."
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| hamartia | In Greek tragedy, a term derived from the verb "to miss the mark," to fall short in judgment, understanding, or action; the term Aristotle used to denote a serious error in judgment of the tragic hero.
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| Hellas | [HEL-luhs] The ancient Greeks' name for their country.
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| Hellenes | [HEL-lee-neez] Name the Greeks used in classical times to denote the Greek people, who were reputedly descended from a mythical ancestor, Hellen.
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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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| Io | A young priestess of Hera in Argos whom Zeus raped and whom Hera vindictively changed into a heifer and drove mad with a gadfly.
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| Pandora | In Hesiod, the first woman, created by Hephaestus from clay and adorned by Athene with every attraction. She was designed by Zeus to weaken humankind.
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| Prometheus | [proh-MEE-thee-uhs] A Titan cousin of Zeus and son of Iapetus and Clemene, he was punished by Zeus for befriending humanity. Prometheus's theft of fire signified his enlightenment of primitive men, rescuing them from the mental darkness of ignorance and savagery. After suffering for millennia the repeated tearing out of his liver by Zeus's fierce eagle, Prometheus was eventually reconciled to his enemy and ascended to Olympus, where he was honored as the divine fire-bearer.
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