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HOMER GLOSSARY


NAMES OF GODS:
Aphrodite, Cytherian:
Goddess of the erotic.
Apollo, Phoebus:
Sun god.
Ares:
God of war.
Artemis:
Goddess of the hunt.
Athena, Pallas, Tritogenia:
Goddess of wisdom and of battle.
Dionysus:
God of ecstatic release, associated with wine.
Hera, Ox-eyed:
Goddess wife of Zeus.
Poseidon:
God of the Sea.
Zeus, Son of Cronus:
King of the gods, both brother and husband of Hera. God of sky, weater, hospitality, punishment of injustice, sending of omens, and the rule of the universe--though he shares this final power with the fates.

NAMES OF WARRIORS:
-ides
This is a suffix, added on to the name of a warrior to signify who his father is--just as in contemporary Iceland the name Jon Henrysson means Jon the son of Henry. A warrior may be called either by his own name or by his patronymic, i.e., the name that signifies his father.
Achaeans, Danaans, Hellenes, Lacedaemonians:
Other names for the Greeks.
Achilles, Aeacedes, Pelides:
Achilles is the grandson of Aeacus, the son of Peleus. He may be called by any of these names.
Agamemnon, Atrides, and Menelaus, Atrides; both together, Atridae:
The brother kings, sons of Atreus.
Ajax, Aeantes:
There are two warriors named Ajax. When spoken of together they are called Aeantes.
Dardanians:
People descended from Dardanus, the king of a colony that eventually became Troy.
Myrmidons:
The troops of Achilles.

NAMES OF PLACES:
Argos, Argolid:
Both a city and the entire kingdom of Agamemnon.
Troy, Ilium:
Both are names of Troy.