| Obriareos |
| Another name for Briareos; he and his brothers, Kottos (Cottos) and Gyes, are three of the most terrible creatures ever to be produced by Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens). |
| All three brothers have fifty heads and fifty arms sprouting from their massive shoulders; the Immortals use the name Briareos to name him but mere mortals call him Aigaios’ son. |
| When the brothers were in the womb of Gaia, Ouranos would not let them be born; when they attempted to come out, Ouranos would push them back inside; Gaia made a sickle of flint and begged for one of her Titan children to attack Ouranos but only Kronos came to her aid; Kronos laid in ambush for his father and struck him down with the flint sickle; the three fifty-headed brothers were allowed to escape Gaia’s womb and the blood of Ouranos created the Furies, the Giants, the Nymphs of the Ash Trees and the goddess of Love, Aphrodite. |
| Kronos had helped his mother, Gaia, free the monstrous brothers but he feared their strength and beauty and imprisoned them under the earth where they remained until the war between the Titans and the Olympians began; Zeus brought the three brothers back into the light and gave them nectar and ambrosia to renew their vitality; Briareos, Kottos and Gyes joined the Olympians in the war against the Titans. |
| After ten years of war, Zeus let loose all his fury and the earth and heavens trembled under his thunderbolts; at that moment, Briareos, Kottos and Gyes bombarded the Titans with three-hundred boulders that buried the Titans and ended the war. |
| Long after the war with the Titans, Thetis summoned Briareos to Mount Olympos (Olympus) to keep Hera, Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Pallas Athene (Athena) from binding Zeus; when Briareos ascended Mount Olympos he simply sat beside Zeus and his fierce presence deflected all thoughts of aggression. |
| Obriareos was wedded to the daughter of Poseidon, Kymopoleia (Cymopoleia). |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 1, line 403 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 1, line 487 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 1, line 462 |
| Theogony, lines 149, 615, 712, 817 and 819 |
| Odyssey |
| The Odyssey is the story of the journey of the Greek hero, Odysseus, to his island home of Ithaka (Ithaca) after the Trojan War. |
| The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer are the epic poems which form the basis of the Epic Cycle which, in their totality, describe the sack of Troy and the return of the Greek heroes to their various homes. |
| The story is divided into twenty-four books and is presented in the form of a poem which dates from circa 700 BCE and is presumed to have been recited or sung for hundreds of years before it was ever written down. |
| Odysseus left Troy with his crew and plunder but offended Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and was prevented from sailing directly home to his wife and kingdom; despite Odysseus’ bravery and cleverness, he is unable to save his crew or the riches he had been awarded as part of the spoils of war; each obstacle he encounters results in the loss of more crewmen and ships; the Trojan War lasted ten years and Odysseus’ voyage home took another ten years. |
| The story of Odysseus is augmented by two subplots: |
| 1) The search by Odysseus’ son, Telemachos (Telemachus) for his long overdue father; and |
| 2) The misery and doubt of Odysseus’ wife, Penelope as she tries to fend off the numerous suitors who have invaded her house waiting for her to choose a new husband. |
| I have not attempted to retell the story here because it is a “must read” for all students regardless of your major interests; there are numerous translations of The Odyssey but many of them are flawed beyond reclamation; I personally recommend the translations by either Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0060931957) or Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0385059418); both translations are different in their details but the transliterations of the Greek text are very readable and thoroughly engaging; the Lattimore translation has the lines numbered but fails to put the book numbers at the top of each page which makes easy reference difficult; the Fitzgerald translation has the opposite problem, i.e. he puts the book number at the top of each page but fails to number the lines; you can order these books from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Oedipus (Oidipous) |
| eh dee POS |
| The unfortunate king of the city of Thebes who inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. |
| Oedipus is one of the most well known names in Greek mythology; we hear his name today associated with a mental disorder which denotes the unhealthy attraction of a son to his mother and is called the Oedipus Complex. |
| The story of Oedipus begins with Oedipus’ father, Laius; when Laius was a young man he fled his home in the city of Thebes and took refuge with King Pelops; for unknown reasons, Laius kidnapped Pelops’ son; to be welcomed as a guest and then to violate that trust was one of the most serious crimes an ancient Greek could commit; as punishment for this crime, Apollon foretold that Laius would have a son that would kill him. |
| Laius was as arrogant as an adult as he was impulsive as a young man, so when he and his wife, Iokaste (Jocasta), had a son, they made one of their servants take the infant to Mount Kithaeron (Cithaeron), pierce and bind his ankles, and leave him for the beasts and elements to devour; they clearly wanted to defy the prophecy of Apollon. |
| The servant they chose to murder the boy could not carry out the murderous act and gave the child to a shepherd from a neighboring province; the child was finally presented to the king of the city of Corinth where he was named Oedipus and raised as part of the royal household; the name Oedipus means “swollen foot” and was derived from the injury to the boy’s ankles. |
| The king and queen of Corinth, Polybos and Merope raised Oedipus as their son but when he became an adult he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he would be the murderer of his father; Oedipus loved Polybos, who he assumed to be his natural father, and fled Corinth so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled. |
| While traveling, Oedipus encountered a nobleman and his guards; a confrontation ensued and Oedipus killed the nobleman, who was his true father, King Laius, and all but one of the guards; Oedipus apparently did not place any divine significance to the encounter and resumed his journey. |
| When he was near Thebes, Oedipus was stopped by the monster known as the Sphinx who demanded the answer to a riddle before he could pass; the Sphinx guarded the road into Thebes and was a curse to all travelers because if they could not answer her riddles, she killed them; no one had ever survived an encounter with the Sphinx until Oedipus arrived. |
| The riddle which Oedipus correctly answered was briefly referred to by Hesiod in Works of Days (line 533) and was presumably: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening; the answer is Man, i.e. he crawls on all-fours as an infant, walks on his two legs in his prime and walks with a cane in old age; when Oedipus correctly answered her riddle the Sphinx killed herself thus lifting the curse from Thebes. |
 |
| Oedipus and the Sphinx |
| Oedipus was welcomed at Thebes as a hero and, since King Laius was dead, he was asked to become the new king and marry Laius’ widow, Iokaste; they lived for many years in peaceful prosperity and had four children, two boys and two girls. |
| When the children became young adults, a plague enveloped the land around Thebes; Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Kreon (Creon) as an envoy to the oracle at Delphi hoping to find a remedy for the blight that threatened the countryside; when Kreon returned, he told Oedipus that the oracle had told him that until the people of Thebes exposed and exiled the murderer of King Laius, the plague would continue. |
| Oedipus desperately begged the citizens of Thebes to come forward with any information which might expose the murderer of Laius; the blind prophet, Teiresias, reluctantly told Oedipus that he, Oedipus, was cursed by the Immortals and that he was the cause of all their sorrows; Oedipus flew into a rage against Kreon and Teiresias but before he could vent his anger a messenger arrived from Corinth to inform him that his assumed father, Polybos, was dead; Oedipus was momentarily relieved because the prophecy of Apollon had not been fulfilled, he had not murdered his father. |
| The only bodyguard to survive the attack on Laius, now an old man, was brought forward and when he related the circumstances of Laius’ death, Oedipus realized that the nobleman he had killed on the road those many years ago must have been Laius; the messenger from Corinth also happened to be the same man who had taken the infant from Laius’ servant on Mount Kithaeron and given it to Polybos. |
| Iokaste confessed that she and Laius had plotted to murder their son but that she had no idea that the child had survived; with the entire story now exposed, Oedipus and Iokaste fully realized the utter hopelessness of their position; they had been manipulated by the machinations of the Immortals and there was no escape from the prophecies of Apollon; Iokaste retreated into the palace and hanged herself; Oedipus blinded himself and left Thebes as an exile; Oedipus’ oldest son, Eteokles (Eteocles) took the throne of Thebes and exiled his younger brother, Polyneikes (Polyneices). |
| Polyneikes went to Argos and plotted revenge against his brother; one of Oedipus’ daughters, Antigone, accompanied him into exile but his other daughter, Ismene, stayed in Thebes; after years of wandering, Oedipus and Antigone came to the town of Kolonus (Colonus) near Athens; they took refuge in a sanctuary of the Eumenides (the Furies) and were confronted by a group of elders from nearby Athens; Oedipus refused to leave the forbidden sanctuary and begged for an audience with the king of Athens, Theseus; everyone in Greece had heard of the infamy of Oedipus but Theseus took pity on him and promised to protect him from all harm. |
| At this time, Ismene found her father and sister in the sanctuary and warned them that Kreon was plotting against Oedipus and that her brothers were insane with ambition; Oedipus was unmoved by the news of his troubled kingdom because of a premonition of his impending death; he sent Ismene to the nearby spring to fetch water so that he might cleanse himself and show proper respect for the goddesses of the sanctuary where he was determined to stay until his appointed hour with death. |
| While Theseus was busy at the altar of Poseidon (lord of the Sea), Kreon appeared in the sanctuary and kidnapped Antigone; he said that Ismene was already his prisoner and that if Oedipus did not accompany him back to the border of Thebes, the girls would not be allowed to see him again; Oedipus could not return to Thebes because of his banishment but Kreon insisted that Oedipus would be a symbol of his (Kreon’s) right to the throne; Oedipus denounced Kreon and cursed him for his outrageous behavior. |
| The cries of outrage from the Athenian elders did not stop Kreon but Theseus heard the commotion and sent soldiers to retrieve Ismene and Antigone; Kreon was unrepentant for his rashness but did not resist the authority of Theseus; at this time Polyneikes entered the sanctuary and begged his father to give his blessing for his impending attack on Thebes; Oedipus did not give his blessing but instead cursed Polyneikes and his brother, Eteokles, to an ignoble death. |
| Polyneikes and Eteokles, unlike their sisters, had turned their backs on Oedipus while he had been in exile and so Oedipus had no sympathy for the ungrateful and self-serving behavior of his sons; the sound of thunder in the sanctuary of the Erinys was proof positive to the Athenian elders and Theseus that Oedipus was blessed by the Immortals and that he was to be treated with respect; they concluded that no man could be blamed for fulfilling the will and prophecies of Zeus or Apollon. |
| Oedipus promised Theseus that if he was allowed to die in peace that Theseus and his heirs would remain the unchallenged rulers of Athens for all time; Theseus and Oedipus went into the nearby forest and, with no other witnesses, Oedipus was taken into the Underworld. |
| Oedipus at Kolonus (Oedipus at Colonus) |
| The second of three plays by Sophocles dealing with the death of King Oedipus. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Oedipus |
| Antigone |
| Ismene |
| Theseus |
| Kreon (Creon) |
| Polyneikes (Polyneices) |
| Oedipus at Kolonus was written towards the end of Sophocles’ life and was produced posthumously circa 401 BCE. |
| This tragedy marks the end of the Oedipus saga; Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone, have come to the Grove of the Eumenides at Kolonus near Athens; Oedipus was once given a prophecy which said that he would die at a sanctuary of the Eumenides amidst earthquakes and the thunder of Zeus. |
| Once the blind and old Oedipus realizes that he has finally arrived at the Grove of the Eumenides, he is certain that the prophecy has been fulfilled and that he has come to the end of his long and painful life; the elders of Athens implore Oedipus to leave the sacred grove but he refuses; Theseus, the king of Athens, is summoned because he is a man of intellect and perception; Theseus is sympathetic to Oedipus and gives the old man every courtesy. |
| It seems that the only one of his children for which Oedipus has any respect is Antigone; she has been his faithful companion since he was forced to leave Thebes and has forsaken all of her own personal comforts and desires so that her long suffering father will have at least one person who sincerely cares about his wellbeing; Oedipus’ final meetings with his daughter, Ismene, and his son, Polyneikes (Polyneices) are fraught with mean spirited exchanges; Ismene is too young to appreciate the full scope of the situation and Polyneikes is seeking his father’s blessing on the impending attack on Thebes to wrest the throne from his brother, Eteokles (Eteocles); Oedipus makes the prediction that both Polyneikes and Eteokles will die without honor and he (Oedipus) does not seem to be bothered by that eventuality. |
| In fulfillment of the prophecy, Theseus accompanies Oedipus deep into the Grove of the Eumenides and, amidst an earthquake and the sound of thunder, Oedipus dies without a grave marker to indicate his final resting place. |
| I personally recommend the Penguin Classics version of The Theban Plays translated by E. F. Watling (ISBN 0140440038); the book includes the three plays dealing with Oedipus and his family: King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone; you can find this book at your local library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Oedipus Tyrannus |
| The first of three plays by Sophocles dealing with the life of King Oedipus; the play was produced circa 430 BCE; also called Oedipus Rex and Oedipus the King. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Oedipus |
| Jocasta |
| Kreon (Creon) |
| Teiresias |
| This play is the foundation of the Oedipus saga and begins after Oedipus has been king of Thebes for over a decade; he married the widow of the former king and has four children; when the play begins, the city is suffering from what seems to be a god-sent plague; an affliction has effected the crops and the citizens are suffering from an illness of the body and soul; Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Kreon, to the oracle of Apollon to ask the god’s advice; Kreon returned and reported that a stain of murder has caused the problems for Thebes and when the unpunished murderer is driven from the country, the city will recover its prosperity. |
| It seemed obvious that the murder in question was of the former king of Thebes, Laius, because the murderer was never caught; Oedipus summons the blind seer Teiresias for his prophetic insights; Teiresias is reluctant to talk but Oedipus berates him and commands him to speak; Teiresias reluctantly tells Oedipus that it was he, Oedipus, who killed Laius; Oedipus is furious and denies the possibility; he believes that Teiresias is lying so that he and Kreon can usurp the kingship of Thebes and drive Oedipus out. |
| Oedipus dismisses Teiresias and then confronts Kreon with the conspiracy allegations; Kreon is incensed by the accusation but Oedipus does not believe him either and condemns Kreon to death; the queen, Jocasta, enters the scene and convinces Oedipus to let Kreon go free because she knows for a fact that Oedipus could not have murdered Laius; she tells Oedipus of an old oracle that was once given to Laius about how he would be killed by his own son; she says that when she and Laius did have a son, they abandoned the infant in the mountains and allowed it to die so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled; Jocasta reasons that since she has no living son, Laius must have been murdered by rogues and the prophecy about being killed by his own son was false. |
| Oedipus is stunned by this bit of news and tells Jocasta of an incident that happened to him before he came to Thebes; he had been raised in Corinth by King Polybus and his wife, Merope, as their son; when he became a young man, a drunken lout told Oedipus that he was not really Polybus’ son; Oedipus secretly went to Delphi and asked the oracle for a clear answer to the question of his parentage; the Pythia did not answer his question directly but said that Oedipus was destined to kill his father, marry his mother and beget accursed children; in an attempt to prove the oracle false, Oedipus fled Corinth and made his way to Thebes; Oedipus and Jocasta are positive that he could not have killed Laius because he was not Laius’ son. |
| A messenger arrives from Corinth with the news that Polybus has died of old age and if Oedipus will return, the people of Corinth will make him their king; Oedipus is joyous that he had no part in his father’s death but tells the messenger that he still cannot return to Corinth because he’s afraid that he might still become his mother’s lover; the messenger tells Oedipus that he knows for a fact that Polybus and Merope are not his parents because he was the one who had brought Oedipus to Corinth as an abandoned orphan; the messenger relates how he had been given a child with pierced ankles by a Theban shepherd and he had taken the baby to Corinth where Polybus adopted it as his own son. |
| The Theban shepherd is summoned and he confirms everyone’s worst fears; Oedipus was the son of Jocasta and Laius and he was the abandoned baby who was left in the mountains; all the facts fit into place and prove that Oedipus did, in fact, kill his father and unwittingly marry his mother; his children by Jocasta are also his brothers and sisters; the implications of these facts where too much for Jocasta and Oedipus to bear; Jocasta retires to her bedroom and hangs herself from the rafters; when Oedipus sees Jocasta’s dead body, he pulls a broach from her dress and thrusts the pins in his eyes; the four orphaned children and Kreon are left to carry the weight of the family curse as Oedipus leaves Thebes as a blind and god-cursed exile; at the end of the play, the chorus sadly intones that you cannot judge whether any man has had a happy life until that life is over. |
| The two plays which make up the remainder of this tragic saga are: Antigone and Oedipus at Kolonus. |
| I personally recommend the Penguin Classics version of The Theban Plays translated by E. F. Watling (ISBN 0140440038); the book includes all three plays and is very well translated; you can find this book at your local library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Ogygia |
| The island of the nymph, Kalypso (Calypso). |
| Kalypso detained Odysseus after he left the ruins of the city of Troy and tried desperately to return to his home on the island of Ithaka (Ithaca); the location of Ogygia is unknown but assumed to be somewhere in the far western Mediterranean Sea. |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 5, line 123; book 7, line 254; book 12, line 448; book 15, line 404; book 23, line 333 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 7, line 282; book 12, line 485; book 15, line 454; book 23, line 377 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 7, line 273; book 12, line 573; book 15, line 491; book 23, line 373 |
| Catalogues of Women, fragment 48 |
| Oichalia (Oechalia) |
| ee kha LEE ah |
| There are towns in Thessaly, on the island of Euboea and in Messenia named Oichalia; the primary interest in ancient Greek history is the Oichalia where Herakles (Heracles) had his encounter with Prince Eurytos (Eurytus) but we cannot be exactly sure in which of these locations that encounter took place. |
| Eurytos was seeking a manly husband for his daughter Iole and devised an archery competition in which the winner would marry the fair Iole; Herakles, as subtle with his bow as he was brutal with his club, entered the contest and won; Eurytos must have known that Herakles was presumed to have murdered his first wife Megara, so it is difficult to blame Eurytos when he refused to allow Iole to marry Herakles; with no hesitation, Herakles killed Eurytos and his sons and, to add to Iole’s dishonor and sorrow, Herakles took her as his mistress instead of his wife. |
| The story of Herakles and Eurytos is told in the fragmentary remains of The Taking of Oichalia and surviving pieces of art. |
| The existing fragments of The Taking of Oichalia may be summarized as follows: |
| Fragment 1 - Herakles sacked Oichalia for the sake of Iole, daughter of Eurytos; there are conflicting reports as to who actually wrote The Taking of Oichalia; some assert that Homer wrote the poem while he was a guest of Kreophylos (Creophylus) of Samos; others say that Kreophylos wrote the poem and Homer allowed Kreophylos to take credit for the composition; |
| Fragment 2 - A single line: Ragged garments, even those which now you see; a line from The Odyssey: book 14, line 343 in which the disguised Odysseus tells the swineherd Eumaios (Eumaeus) that he was taken as a slave and dressed in rags; |
| Fragment 3 - There are differences of opinion as to whether Eurytos had two or four sons; |
| Fragment 4 - While living in Corinth, Medeia (Medea) killed King Kreon (Creon) but left her children at the altar of Hera Akraea (Acraea) thinking that Jason would care for them; in their outrage, the people of Corinth killed the children and blamed Medeia. |
| For the complete translations of Homerica, including The Taking of Oichalia, I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Oileus 1 |
| One of the Argonauts; the father of Lesser Aias and Medon. |
| The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE. |
| When the Argonauts came to the Island of Ares they were attacked by birds which dropped their feathers like daggers; Oileus was wounded by the feathers but the Argonauts began pounding on their shields and frightened away the horrible birds; Oileus and his wife, Eriopis, were the parents of Lesser Aias (not Ajax); Medon was another son of Oileus (but not by Eriopis) and the half-brother of Aias. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 71-76 and book 2, lines 1030-1046 |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, lines 527, 727 and 728; book 12, line 365; book 13, lines 66, 203, 694, 697 and 701; book 14, lines 441, 446 and 520; book 15, lines 333 and 336; book 17, line 256; book 23, lines 473, 488 and 754 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 2, lines 617, 829 and 830; book 13, lines 82, 803, 806 and 811; book 14, lines 521 and 608; book 15, lines 393 and 396; book 17 (Oilean Ajax), line 292; book 23 (Oilean Ajax), line 839 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, lines 620 (misspelled as Oieus), 867 and 868; book 12, line 409; book 13, lines 77, 799, 804 and 817; book 14, line 520; book 15, line 387; book 17, line 286; book 23, lines 542 and 866 |
| Okeanid |
| Any of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys. |
| Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping. |
| Only a few of the Okeanids are mentioned by name; in many cases, the name of the Okeanid implies her sphere of influence or her personal characteristics; the following list includes the Okeanids as listed in Theogony and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. |
| |
| The Okeanids in Theogony |
| Theogony is a 1022 line poem by Hesiod from circa 750 BCE; Theogony deals with the origins and exploits of the Immortals and gives us the names of many of the Okeanids. |
| Admete - Unwedded - line 349 |
| Akaste (Acaste) - Gentle - line 356 |
| Amphirho - Sea-Girt - line 360 |
| Asia - Asian - line 359 |
| Chryseis - Golden - line 359 |
| Dione - God-Like - line 353 |
| Doris - Gift - line 350 |
| Elektra (Electra) - Amber - line 349 |
| Eudora - Dew - line 360 |
| Europa (Europe) - European - line 357 |
| Eurynome - Broad - line 358 |
| Galaxaura - Prized-Wind - line 353 |
| Hippo - Pasture - line 351 |
| Ianeira - Lady of the Ionians - line 356 |
| Ianthe - Delight - line 349 |
| Idyia (Eidyia) - Skillful - line 352 |
| Kallirhoe (Callirhoe) - Beautiful-Flowing - line 351 |
| Kalypso (Calypso) - Exalted - line 359 |
| Kerkeis (Cerceis) - line 355 |
| Klymene (Clymene) - Renowned - line 351 |
| Klytia (Clytie) - Famous - line 352 |
| Melobosis - line 354 |
| Menestho - Patient - line 357 |
| Metis - Wise - line 358 |
| Okyroe (Ocyrhoe) - Swift-Flowing - line 360 |
| Ourania (Urania) - Heavenly One - line 350 |
| Pasithoe - line 352 |
| Peitho - Persuasion - line 349 |
| Perseis (Perse) - Persian - line 356 |
| Petraie (Petraea) - Living Among The Rocks - line 357 |
| Plexaura - Strong-Wind - line 353 |
| Plouto (Pluto) - Wealthy - line 355 |
| Polydora (Polydore) - Richly Endowed - line 354 |
| Prymno - Ship-Pilot - line 350 |
| Rhodeia (Rhodea) - Lady of Rhodes - line 351 |
| Styx - Hateful - line 361 |
| Telesto - Priestess - line 358 |
| Thoe - Encircler - line 354 |
| Tyche - Good Fortune - line 360 |
| Xanthe - Yellow-Haired - line 356 |
| Zeuxo - Bridge - line 352 |
| |
| The Okeanids in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter |
| The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is a poem in praise of the goddess of the Harvest and includes the terrible ordeal of Demeter’s daughter Persephone when the young goddess was abducted by her uncle Hades (lord of the Dead); the Okeanids were with Persephone in a rather idyllic scene as the young goddesses were busy gathering flowers in a meadow completely unaware of the fate which awaits Persephone; without being observed, Hades opened a hole in the ground and pulled Persephone down into the earth before she could scream or run away; when Demeter came looking for her daughter, the Okeanids were unable to help because they had no idea where Persephone had gone. |
| Admete - Unwedded - line 421 |
| Akaste (Acaste) - Gentle - line 421 |
| Chryseis - Golden - line 421 |
| Kallirhoe (Callirhoe) - Beautiful-Flowing - line 419 |
| Kalypso (Calypso) - Exalted - line 422 |
| Elektra (Electra) - Amber - line 418 |
| Galaxaura - Prized-Wind - line 423 |
| Iache - Joyous Sound - line 419 |
| Ianeira - Lady of the Ionians - line 421 |
| Ianthe - Delight - line 418 |
| Leukippe (Leucippe) - Driving White Horses - line 418 |
| Melite (Melita) - Sweet - line 419 |
| Melobosis - line 420 |
| Okyroe (Ocyrhoe) - Swift-Flowing - line 420 |
| Ourania (Urania) - Heavenly One - line 423 |
| Phaino (Phaeno) - Revealer - line 418 |
| Plouto (Pluto) - Wealthy - line 422 |
| Rhodeia (Rhodea) - Lady of Rhodes - line 419 |
| Rhodope - Rosy - line 422 |
| Styx - Hateful - line 423 |
| Tyche - Good Fortune - line 420 |
| Okypete (Ocypete) |
| oh kee PEH teh |
 |
| One of the Harpies; she and her sister Aello are the daughters of Thaumas and Elektra (Electra). |
| The poet, Hesiod refers to them as “Harpies of the lovely hair, winged women soaring aloft like birds”; they are the sisters of the rainbow goddess, Iris, and not described as the filthy monsters that we have come to imagine. |
| Their primary role in Greek mythology was when the Argonauts found the blind seer, Phineus, on the island of Thynias being tormented by the Harpies; Phineus had been blinded by Zeus and, as a double punishment, Helios (the Sun) had the Harpies steal his food; the winged sons of Boreas (North Wind), Kalais (Calais) and Zetes chased away the Harpies and freed Phineus from his curse but Zeus would not allow the brothers to harm the Harpies; Okypete’s name means Swift-Flying. |
| Theogony, line 267 |
| Argonautika, book 2, lines 188, 252, 264, 276, 289, 298, 432 and 461 |
| Olympian Games (Olympic Games) |
| Athletic competitions originating at the city of Olympia in the district of Elis on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. |
| The Odes of Pindar make it clear that the first Olympian Games held at Olympia were initiated by Herakles but it is traditionally held that the first athletic games to by held there were started by the eponymous founder of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, Pelops, at the turn of the second millennium BCE; the Olympian Games differed from the original games of Pelops in that they were open to all free-born Greek men regardless of where they lived whereas the games of Pelops were more of a local event. |
| The first Olympian Games are officially dated 776 BCE but the true origins of the contests reaches back into prehistory and the ultimate hero, Herakles (Heracles); we can approximate the dates of these events by using the Trojan War as a benchmark; the Trojan War was fought circa 1250 BCE and we know that Herakles was of the generation before the war, i.e. from 1300-1250 BCE; during the course of his Twelve Labors, Herakles was in Elis cleaning the stables of King Augeas of Elis but trouble arose when Augeas refused to pay the wage for cleaning the stables; Herakles exacted his revenge by killing prince Eurytos of Oichalia, and also killing a son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) named Kteatos. |
| Herakles then gathered an army and sacked Augeas’ city, Pisa; he used the spoils of the conquest to establish the sacred precinct that would become the site of the Olympian Games; he dedicated six double alters to the twelve Olympian Immortals near the tomb of Pelops, he measured out the Altis (the sacred precinct of Zeus) by the river Alpheios (Alpheius) and named a nearby and snow covered landmark the Hill of Kronos. |
| A ceremony was held to dedicate the site and the first games; the Fates (Moirai) and Time (Chronos) stood in attendance as Herakles divided the plunder from Pisa and made an offering of the best portion to the Immortals; Herakles declared that the games would be held every four years in honor of Zeus. |
| The games were held in late August or early September when the third day of the ceremonies could coincide with the full moon; the only official prizes to be awarded were wreaths of olive leaves taken from a tree growing in the sacred precinct of Zeus; victors of the various contests were always honored by their home cities and were often given lifetime honors and legal entitlements as recognition of their physical prowess; when the chariot horses of Philip II of Macedon won the games in 356 BCE, he was so proud that he had special coins minted and had a circular monument built at Olympia to commemorate the event; when someone suggested that Alexander the Great should compete in the games because of his phenomenal running abilities, he jokingly replied that he would be glad to compete if all the competitors were kings. |
| One of the most inspiring aspects of the Olympian Games was the remarkable cessation of all hostilities between the Greek cities during the games; heralds were sent out and all military conflicts would temporally stop so that the competitors and spectators could travel to and from the games unmolested. |
| The games continued with few interruptions from 776 BCE until 393 CE when the Roman emperor, Theodosius I, banned all pagan related activities; the Olympian Games were not re-instituted until 1896 CE as a result of the persistent efforts of Baron Pierre de Coubertin; the 1896 games were held in Athens and the tradition has continued ever since. |
| Pindar, Olympian Ode 10, lines 24-59 |
| Olympias (Myrtale) |
| (375-circa 316 BCE) The wife of Philip II of Macedon and the mother of Alexander the Great and a daughter named Kleopatra (Cleopatra). |
| Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus (Neoptolemos) of Molossia; her name was Myrtale but she assumed the name, Olympias, and is generally referred to by that name; she was Philip’s third wife and they were married in the autumn of 357 BCE; as the niece (or sister) of prince Arybbas of Epirus, it is very likely that the marriage was a political maneuver on the part of Philip in order to aid the expansion of his growing empire; Philip’s previous two wives had died soon after their marriages but there was no implication of foul play related to their deaths; the historian, Plutarch, contends that Philip and Olympias met when they were quite young during the rites of the Elysian Mysteries and were immediately smitten with one another; in order for that to be true, Olympias would have had to been a very young girl which makes Plutarch’s story seem a little more romanticized than factual. |
| Philip traced his linage back through Herakles (Heracles) to Zeus; Olympias’ family traced their linage back to Achilles, who was semi-divine through his mother, Thetis. |
| By all accounts, Olympias was an eccentric young woman and most historians tend to cast her in a very ignoble light; she was eighteen years old when she married Philip and thoroughly committed to the orgiastic rites of Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine); this cult association involved the use of snakes in the rituals and this practice gave rise to the story that Alexander was actually the son of the Egyptian god, Ammon, who seduced Olympias in the form of a snake; it was also widely believed that Philip lost his right eye in battle because he had secretly observed Olympias with Ammon in the guise of a snake; whether Olympias tried to encourage the belief that her son, Alexander, was divine is a matter of pure speculation but there are many clues that indicate that Alexander believed that he was descended from Ammon; while he was in Egypt he made an arduous pilgrimage to the temple of Ammon and, when he asked the priest if he had caught and killed all the assassins of his father, the priest answered that his true father could not be killed thus implying that Alexander was the son of the god, Ammon, and not of a mortal father. |
| When Philip married his fourth wife, Kleopatra, Olympias moved back to Epirus to show her displeasure; soon after Philip’s assassination, in 336 BCE, Olympias moved back to Macedon and arranged for the death of Kleopatra as well as Kleopatra’s son and father. |
| When Alexander left Macedon to invade Persia in 334 BCE, he left Antipater in charge of maintaining the peace and sending new troops as needed to the Persian front; Olympias and Antipater were in constant conflict as to his administration of the government; Alexander wrote Olympias constantly from Persia and urged her to be reasonable and tolerant with Antipater; Alexander loved his mother dearly and was patient with her but he was also a strong willed young man who would listen to different sides of an argument and then do as he thought best regardless of who he might offend; he is reputed to have said, after reading one of Olympias’ demanding letters, that she was asking a very high price for the nine months he resided in her womb; by late 331 BCE, Olympias was so frustrated with Antipater, and Alexander’s unwillingness to take her side against him, that she moved back to Epirus; Olympias’ daughter, Kleopatra, married Alexander of Epirus who was Olympias’ brother. |
| After Alexander’s death in 332 BCE, Olympias stayed on in Epirus and was forced to take sides in the internal fighting between Alexander’s generals for control of various portions of the empire that Alexander had conquered; her affiliation with Polyperchon against Kassander (Cassander) resulted in the death of the nominal queen of Epirus, Eurydike (Eurydice); she also instigated a purge of all those she thought were against her in Macedon; upon returning to Macedon in 317 BCE, Olympias mustered an army against Kassander but the army deserted and she was forced to surrender to Kassander in the spring of 316 BCE; she was brought before the Macedonian Assembly and, at the insistence of Kassander, condemned to death; the sentence was carried out by the victims of her murderous purge from the previous year; Kassander furthered Olympias’ disgrace by not giving her a proper burial. |
| Plutarch’s Lives, Alexander, II.1,3, V.4, IX.3,5, X.4, XXV.4, XXXIX.4,5, LXVIII.3, LXXVII.1 |
| Diodorus Siculus, book 16.72.1, book 16.91.4, book 17.108.7, book 17.114.3, book 17.117.1, book 17.117.2 |
| Onesilos (Onesilus) |
| (?-497 BCE) The brother of King Gorgos (Gorgus) of the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus. |
| Cyprus was a part of the Persian Empire but when the Ionians rebelled from Persian rule, Onesilos used the occasion to capture the city of Salamis and usurp his brother’s throne; he was able to win every city on the island except Amathus, which stayed loyal to the Persians. |
| The Persians, with the help of the Phoenician navy, soon mounted an attack on Cyprus; some of the Ionian colonies sent ships to assist Onesilos and they faced, and defeated, the Phoenician navy; Onesilos led the army against the Persian general, Artybius, and was defeated; the Ionian ships retreated and five months later, the Persians had regained control of the island. |
| Gorgos was reinstated as king of Salamis and Onesilos’ head was placed on a pole on the gates of the city of Amathus; as time passed, bees built a hive in Onesilos’ hollow skull and the people of Amathus asked an oracle what they should do; the oracle advised them to bury the skull and institute a yearly sacrifice in honor of Onesilos. |
| Histories, book 5.104-105 and 5.108-115 |
| Oracle of Delphi |
| This was perhaps the best known oracle in the ancient world and was dedicated to and sanctioned by the god Apollon circa 700 BCE; the actual date for the choice of the site of the oracle goes back to the dawn of time when Zeus attained godhood; when his devious father, Kronos (Cronos), attempted to swallow all of his newborn children, his (Kronos’) sister/wife, Rheia (Rhea), substituted a stone in place of her sixth child (Zeus) and Kronos swallowed it down without suspecting that he had been tricked; when Zeus attained manhood, he assaulted his father and the stone and his five swallowed siblings were vomited up; Zeus placed the stone at Delphi to be a portent and marvel to mortals for all time. |
| The geographical location of the city of Delphi made it easily accessible to all the Greeks and thus added to its popularity; Delphi was considered to be the Navel of the World; the priestesses of Apollon, known as the Pythia, would sit atop tripods and render the prophecies in hexameter verse. |
| Great reverence was given to the Oracle of Delphi and many private citizens as well as all the major cities erected treasuries to house their tributes to Apollon; there are many references to the correctness of the prophecies provided by the Pythia but there were also occasions where the prophecies were misinterpreted and led to disaster; perhaps the most famous example of a misinterpreted prophecy is described by Herodotus in the case of King Kroesus (Croesus), of Lydia, when he sent an emissary to Delphi asking if he should fight or surrender to the invading Persian army; the Pythia said that if Kroesus fought the Persians he would destroy a mighty empire; Kroesus mustered his army and took the field against the Persians and was captured after his army was soundly defeated; thus a the mighty empire was destroyed just as the Pythia had predicted; the only problem was that the empire that was destroyed was not the one that Kroesus had imagined. |
| To say that the prophecies of Oracle at Delphi were believed literally and without question is unrealistic; there were doubters even among the citizens of Delphi; when the Persian army, led by Xerxes, was marching towards Delphi in 490 BCE with the undisguised intentions of looting the treasuries, the citizens and temple workers asked the god if they should bury or remove the riches to protect them from the Persians; Apollon said that they should do nothing because he was well able to defend his temple and its treasures; regardless, all but sixty citizens and one prophet fled Delphi; as the Persians approached the temple of Athene (Athena) Pronaia, on the outskirts of the sacred precinct, the prophet, Akeratus (Aceratus), saw weapons magically coming out of the temple; as the Persians came closer, bolts came from the skies and two large boulders fell from Mount Parnassos (Mount Parnassus) and killed many of the invaders; as if this was not enough, the larger than life images of two ancient heroes entered the fray, they were Phylakus (Phylacus) and Autonous whose shrines were nearby; the temple and city were undamaged by the Persians and the credibility of the Oracle at Delphi reached new heights. |
| Histories, book 1.53; book 8.35-39 |
| Theogony, lines 495-500 |
| Pausanias, x.24.6 |
| Oresteia |
| A trilogy written by the Athenian tragic poet, Aeschylus, which centers around the murder of Agamemnon after his return from Troy and the retribution meted out by his son, Orestes. |
| Part one, Agamemnon, describes the murder of the victorious hero after his return from Troy. |
| Part two, The Libation Bearers (Choephore), is the story of the murderous revenge meted out by Agamemnon’s son, Orestes, against his mother Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and her lover Aegisthus (Aigisthus). |
| Part three, the Eumenides, is the trial and acquittal of Orestes and lays the philosophical basis for the difference between revenge and justice. |
| If you wish to read these plays I suggest The Complete Greek Tragedies, Aeschylus II, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, ISBN 0226307948; you can find this book at your library in the 800 section or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Orestes 2 |
| A tragedy by Euripides produced circa 408 BCE. |
| Cast of Characters: |
| Orestes - Son of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) |
| Elektra (Electra) - Daughter of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) |
| Helen - Wife of Menelaos; the sister of Klytemnestra and daughter of Tyndareus |
| Menelaos (Menelaus) - King of Sparta, husband of Helen and uncle of Orestes and Elektra |
| Hermione - Daughter of Helen and Menelaos and the cousin of Orestes and Elektra |
| Tyndareus - Father of Klytemnestra and Helen |
| Pylades - Friend and companion of Orestes |
| Apollon - The god who ordered Orestes to kill his mother, Klytemnestra |
| The anguish and tragedy of Agamemnon, his ancestors and his children, seems to never end; Orestes obeyed the oracle of Apollon and killed his mother for her wanton murder of her husband, Agamemnon, and now Orestes is beset by the phantom-like Eumenides (the Furies) and drifts in and out of madness; Elektra pleads with the gods and the spirit of her dead father to save them and relieve Orestes from the intermittent insanity that has plagued him since he killed his mother. |
| The people of Argos, with few exceptions, will not speak to Orestes or Elektra and the two await helplessly for their death sentence to be proclaimed; Helen came to Argos to visit the grave of her sister, Klytemnestra, but she had to come secretly because she is hated in all of Greece for the thousands of men who died to save her from the Trojans; when Menelaos arrives, Orestes begs him to speak out in his behalf to get the people of Argos to not enact the death sentence; Menelaos tells Orestes to be patient but essentially does nothing to help. |
| When Tyndareus arrives he is full of hatred for Orestes and Elektra; he denounces his daughters (Helen and Klytemnestra) but says that the crime of matricide is far worse than any crime his daughters committed; he asks the people of Argos for the death sentence without hesitation for his grandchildren. |
| Pylades urges Orestes to speak in his own behalf to try to convince the people of Argos that his crime was justified and that he was only following the commandment of Apollon when he killed his mother; the only effect Orestes has by speaking in his own defense is to have the death sentence mitigated so that he and Elektra have the option of killing themselves instead of being stoned to death; with death as their sure fate, Orestes and Elektra hatch a plot to kill Helen, take Hermione hostage and thus force Menelaos to act forcefully and save their lives; considering the fact that this play is a tragedy, the ending is relatively happy; Orestes has to stand trial before the gods for the crime of matricide but is promised by Apollon that he will one day marry Hermione and rule Argos; Apollon also promises that Elektra and Pylades will marry and live happily in Pylos. |
| This play is one of Euripides’ best; the characters are dynamic and the storyline is direct and forceful; I am still surprised to see that Helen is so despised and spoken of with such venom; playwrights such as Euripides and others seem to hold Helen personally responsible for the Trojan War while at the same time freely admitting that she was simply a pawn of the Immortals and not really to blame for the deaths of the thousands of young Greek men who died at Troy; in this play, for example, even Helen’s servants hate her and her own father calls her vile names. |
| I personally recommend the translations compiled by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene; you can find this and other plays by Euripides in the 882 section of your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site. |
| Orion |
 |
| The Hunter; a Giant who was renowned for his hunting abilities and his lack of modesty. |
| After a life of adventure and controversy, Orion finally became eternal by being placed in the heavens as a constellation; the reason and manner of his ascension into the sky depends on which ancient author you care to believe. |
| In The Odyssey of Homer, we hear the story of Orion and the goddess Eos (Dawn); when Hermes told the goddess Kalypso (Calypso) that Zeus had commanded her to release Odysseus and allow him to continue his journey home, Kalypso complained bitterly that other Immortals had been allowed to take mortal lovers and now she was being forced to release Odysseus; her argument did not seem too convincing because she used the example of Eos and Orion; it seems that the Immortals insisted that Eos and Orion be separated and so Artemis was called upon to kill Orion; when Odysseus finally left Kapypso’s island, he sailed with the constellation of Orion clearly visible in the sky. (Odyssey, book 5, lines 121 and 274) |
| Also in The Odyssey, we are told that Orion was the third most handsome man on earth, exceeded in manly beauty only by Otos (Otus) and Ephialtes; when Odysseus went to the entrance to the Underworld, he saw Orion herding the animals he had killed while he still walked the earth so even though he had been elevated to the heavens his “shade” made its abode in the Underworld. (Odyssey, book 11, lines 310 and 572) |
| Orion’s most famous hunt was his relentless pursuit of the daughters of Atlas, the Pleiades, which may have been the cause of both hunter and prey being placed in the sky as constellations. |
| Another story concerning Orion is told in The Astronomy (Fragment 4) where he is said to be the son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Euryale; he was given the power to walk upon the water as if it were land; he went to the island of Chios and outraged Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, by his drunkenness; Oenopion blinded Orion and he fled to the island of Lemnos; Hephaistos (Hephaestus) took pity on the blind hunter and gave him a servant named Kedalion (Cedalion) to act as his guide; Orion carried Kedalion on his shoulders to point out the roads and help him find his way around the world; while in the east, Orion was healed by Helios (the Sun) and resumed his prideful and indulgent life; when he ventured to the island of Crete he hunted with Artemis and Leto; his zeal for hunting made him boast that he would kill every wild animal on the earth; outraged by his boasting, Gaia (Earth) sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion and, after his death, Artemis and Leto persuaded Zeus to place Orion in the heavens as a constellation. |
| The Astronomy, fragment 4 |
| Orpheus |
| The most skillful musician in ancient Greece; the son of the Muse, Kalliope (Calliope). |
| Orpheus’ ability as a musician was so profound that he was said to have moved the boulders and changed the course of rivers simply by playing the lyre; he charmed the oak trees of his native province of Pieria and marched them to Thrace where they still stand in close order. |
| When his beloved wife, Eurydike (Eurydice), died he followed her into the Underworld; his wit and talent charmed Hades (lord of the Underworld) and Orpheus was allowed to return Eurydike to the surface of the earth provided that he lead the way and not look back to see if Eurydike was following him; at the very last moment Orpheus was compelled to look around and, by doing so, Eurydike was returned to the land of the dead and lost to Orpheus until he also died. |
| When Jason formed a band of heroes to join him in the quest for the Golden Fleece, Orpheus became an Argonaut and on several occasions saved the crew-members from certain doom; when their ship, the Argo, came near the island of the Sirens, Orpheus played such beautiful melodies on the lyre that the sailors, with two exceptions, were able to maintain their wits and not be tempted by the Siren song. |
| Argonautika, book 1, lines 23, 33-34, 495, 540, 915 and 1134; book 2, lines 161, 685 and 928; book 4, lines 905, 1160, 1409 and 1547 |
| Osiris |
 |
| The Greek rendering of the name of the Egyptian god of the dead, Asar. |
| According to the historian, Herodotus, the Egyptian god Osiris was somehow equated with the Greek god of Wine, Dionysos (a.k.a Bacchus); he states that the only two gods worshiped throughout Egypt were Isis (Ast) and Osiris; exactly how Osiris and Dionysos are similar or equal is not explained. |
| The name of Osiris raises an interesting problem in our modern use of his name and the common rendering of ancient names in general; for example, when we use the Greek names of the builders of the three Egyptian pyramids at Giza, we normally use the Greek renderings of all three names, i.e. Cheops, Chephren and Mykerinus (the Egyptian names for the same three men are: Kufu, Chafre and Menkaure); we can correctly use the Greek or the Egyptian names but to mix the Greek and Egyptian names would be confusing and incorrect. |
| If you were to say, The Greeks called the Egyptian god of the dead Osiris, you would be correct, but if you were to say, The Egyptian god of the dead was Osiris, you would be incorrect, i.e. his Egyptian name was Asar. |
| Histories, book 2.42, 2.47, 2.123, 2.144 and 2.156 |
| Otanes |
| The son of Pharnaspes and one of the richest men in the Persian Empire; he was one of the seven Persians who successfully mounted the revolt which deposed the usurper, Smerdis, from the throne of the Persian Empire. |
| When the second king of the Persian Empire, Kambyses (Cambyses), was occupied with the subjugation of Egypt, a Mede named Smerdis assumed the role of Kambyses’ dead brother, also named Smerdis, and claimed the throne for himself; Kambyses had secretly arranged the murder of his brother, Smerdis, and therefore knew that the Smerdis on the throne was not his brother but before Kambyses could return to confront the false-Smerdis and reclaim his throne, he accidentally wounded himself with his own sword and died. |
| The false-Smerdis was very clever at concealing his true identity and never left the palace or allowed high ranking Persians to see him; the false-Smerdis not only bore the same name as Kambyses’ brother but was also physically similar to him, with one exception: the Median Smerdis had no ears; Kambyses had inflicted a punishment on the Mede that required that his ears be lopped off. |
| Otanes was the first to suspect that something was wrong and devised a plan to determine the truth of the matter; Otanes’ daughter, Phaedyme, was the wife the true-Smerdis and was occasionally required to attend the false-Smerdis as part of his pretense to the throne; Otanes instructed her to secretly feel Smerdis’ head to see if he had any ears; Phaedyme bravely obeyed her father and recognized the false-Smerdis for what he was. |
| Otanes began to recruit other Persians in what would ultimately be a rebellion; with the help of Gobryas, Intaphrenes, Megabyzus, Darius, Aspathines and Hydarnes, Otanes plotted to murder the false-Smerdis and reclaim the throne of the empire for the Persians; the seven rebels fought their way into the false king’s chamber and killed him; when the populace found out what had transpired, a wave of violence swept the city and only darkness saved the Medes from complete extermination. |
| The seven men then debated as to which type of government to establish; the former king, Kambyses, had been cruel and excessive in the extreme and Otanes argued for a democratic government; Darius argued for another monarchy and finally won the others to his point of view; Darius was installed as the third king of the Persian Empire in 521 BCE. |
| For being the organizer of the revolt, Otanes was promised special consideration by means of yearly gifts from the king; he and the other rebels were granted special privileges in the new kingdom and were allowed to have an audience with the king at any time unless he was with one of his wives; Darius took several wives including Otanes’ daughter Phaedyme. |
| When Darius decided to bring the island of Samos under his dominion, he gave Otanes instructions that the island was to be taken without bloodshed or enslavement and that Otanes was to put a man named Syloson in charge of the island; when the Persians arrived, the ruler of Samos, Maeandrius, willingly handed over control of the island but after prompting from his brother, Charilaus, he decided to ferment an armed resistance against the Persians and then flee the island with his riches; the result was disastrous; Otanes was caught off guard by the Samiots and, after the death of many of the Persian captains, he ordered his troops to kill everyone they encountered; Otanes’ over-reaction made Syloson the new tyrant of an uninhabited island; later, after he had a prophetic dream, Otanes repopulated the island of Samos. |
| Histories, book 3.68-88 and 3.139-149 |
| Otos (Otus) |
| oh TOS |
| Otos and his brother, Ephialtes, were the Giant sons of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Iphimedeia; Iphimedeia was married to a man named Aloeus but she was seduced by Poseidon and the terrible brothers were the result of that union; only second to the mighty hunter Orion, Otos and Ephialtes were the most handsome demigods to ever exist; the two brothers were also the tallest men ever to reside on the earth; when they were nine years old, they were nine cubits across and nine fathoms tall (the units of measurement (yards, cubits and fathoms) varies with each translator but the number nine is used consistently). |
| In The Iliad a story is recounted where Otos and Ephialtes bound Ares (god of War) in chains and imprisoned him in a cauldron for thirteen months until their stepmother, Eeriboia, told Hermes of Ares’ plight and he was freed. |
| Before the two brothers had reached adulthood, they brought about their own doom by challenging Zeus and the other Olympians; the two rebellious Giants tried unsuccessfully to climb to the top Mount Olympos (Olympus) by piling Mount Ossa and Mount Pelion atop one another so that they might reach the abode of the Olympians; at the command of Zeus, Ephialtes and Otos were killed by Apollon in a rain of arrows. |
| Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Iliad (Fagles), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 5, lines 384-390 |
| Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 11, lines 305-320 |
| Odyssey (Fagles), book 11, lines 348-363 |
| Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 11, lines 352-371 |
