Cretan of the island of Crete

Cyclops (Cyclopes, pl.) a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his or her forehead

Daedalus a skilled craftsman who created the Labyrinth on Crete in which the Minotaur (part man, part bull) was kept

daimon Greek for demon; an intermediary spirit between mortals and the gods

Dambe a centuries-old form of boxing associated with the Hausa people of West Africa

Danubian bordering the Danube river in Europe

Daphne a beautiful naiad who attracted Apollo’s attention; she was transformed into a laurel tree in order to escape him

Delos a Greek island in the Aegean Sea near Mykonos; birthplace of Apollo

Demeter the Greek goddess of agriculture; a daughter of the Titans Rhea and Kronos

Demophon the baby son of King Celeus, whom Demeter nursed and tried to make immortal as an act of kindness; brother of Triptolemus

Dionysus the Greek god of wine and revelry; the son of Zeus

Dionysus Festival a celebration held in Athens, Greece, to honor the god Dionysus, the central events of which were theatrical performances

Doors of Death the doorway to the House of Hades, located in Tartarus; doors have two sides—one in the mortal world, and one in the Underworld

elomìíràn the Yoruba word for others

Elysium the paradise to which Greek heroes were sent when the gods gave them immortality

Erythaea an island where the Cumaean Sibyl, a love interest of Apollo, originally lived before he convinced her to leave it by promising her a long life

Eubouleus son of Demeter and Karmanor; the Greek god of swineherds

Fields of Punishment the section of the Underworld where people who were evil during their lives are sent to face eternal punishment for their crimes after death

Flavian the Flavians were an imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96 CE

Gaea the Greek earth goddess; wife of Ouranos; mother of Titans, giants, Cyclopes, and other monsters

Ganymede a divine hero from Troy whom Zeus abducted to serve as his cupbearer in Olympus

Germani (Germanus, sing.) tribal people who settled to the west of the Rhine river

Gidigbo a form of wrestling that involves head-butting, from the Yoruba of Nigeria, Africa

gloutos Greek for buttocks

Gorgons three monstrous sisters (Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa) who have hair of living, venomous snakes; Medusa’s eyes can turn the beholder to stone

Greek fire an incendiary weapon used in naval battles because it can continue burning in water

griffin a winged creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion; the sacred animal of Britomartis

Grove of Dodona the site of the oldest Greek Oracle, second only to Delphi in importance; the rustling of trees in the grove provided answers to priests and priestesses who journeyed to the site

Hades the Greek god of death and riches; ruler of the Underworld

harpy a winged female creature that snatches things

Hausa a language spoken in northern Nigeria and Niger; also the name of a people

Hecate goddess of magic and crossroads

Hemithea teenage daughter of King Staphylus of Naxos; sister of Parthenos; Apollo made her and her sister divine to save them when they jumped off a cliff to escape their father’s rage

Hephaestus the Greek god of fire and crafts and of blacksmiths; the son of Zeus and Hera, and married to Aphrodite

Hera the Greek goddess of marriage; Zeus’s wife and sister; Apollo’s stepmother

Heracles the Greek equivalent of Hercules; the son of Zeus and Alcmene; the strongest of all mortals

Hercules the Roman equivalent of Heracles; the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, who was born with great strength

Hermes Greek god of travelers; guide to spirits of the dead; god of communication

Hessian mercenaries the approximately thirty thousand German troops hired by the British to help fight during the American Revolution when they found it too difficult to recruit their own soldiers

hippocampi (hippocampus, sing.) half-horse, half-fish creatures

Hunters of Artemis a group of maidens loyal to Artemis and gifted with hunting skills and eternal youth as long as they reject romance for life

Hyacinthus a Greek hero and Apollo’s lover, who died while trying to impress Apollo with his discus skills

ichor the golden fluid that is the blood of gods and immortals

ìgboyà the Yoruba word for confidence, boldness, and bravery

Imperial gold a rare metal deadly to monsters, consecrated at the Pantheon; its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors

Iris the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and a messenger of the gods

Julius Caesar a Roman politician and general who became a dictator of Rome, turning it from a republic into the Roman Empire

Karmanor a minor Greek harvest god; a local deity in Crete who married Demeter; together they had a son, Eubouleus, who became the god of swineherds

karpoi (karpos, sing.) grain spirits

Kronos the youngest of the twelve Titans; the son of Ouranos and Gaea; the father of Zeus; he killed his father at his mother’s bidding; Titan lord of fate, harvest, justice, and time

Labyrinth an underground maze originally built on the island of Crete by the craftsman Daedalus to hold the Minotaur

Lethe the Greek word for forgetfulness; the name of a river in the Underworld whose waters caused forgetfulness; the name of a Greek spirit of oblivion

Leto mother of Artemis and Apollo with Zeus; goddess of motherhood

Little Tiber the barrier of Camp Jupiter

Lityerses the son of King Midas; he challenged people to harvesting contests and beheaded those he beat, earning him the nickname “Reaper of Men”

Marcus Aurelius Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE; father of Commodus; considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors”

Marsyas a satyr who lost to Apollo after challenging him in a musical contest, which led to Marsyas being flayed alive

melomakarona Greek Christmas honey cookies

Midas a king with the power to transform anything he touched to gold; Lityerses’s father; he selected Marsyas as the winner in the musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas, resulting in Apollo giving Midas the ears of a donkey

Minotaur the half-man, half-bull son of King Minos of Crete; the Minotaur was kept in the Labyrinth, where he killed people who were sent in; he was finally defeated by Theseus

Mnemosyne Titan goddess of memory; daughter of Ouranos and Gaea

Mount Olympus home of the Twelve Olympians

Mount Othrys a mountain in central Greece; the Titans’ base during the ten-year war between the Titans and the Olympians

myrmeke a large antlike creature that poisons and paralyzes its prey before eating it; known for protecting various metals, particularly gold

Narcissus a hunter known for his beauty; the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope; he was vain, arrogant, and disdainful of admirers; he fell in love with his own reflection; Narcissus was also the name of Commodus’s personal trainer and wrestling partner, who drowned the emperor in his bathtub—these were two different Narcissuses

Nemean Lion a large, vicious lion that plagued Nemea in Greece; its pelt was impervious to all human weapons; Hercules strangled it with his bare hands

Nero ruled as Roman Emperor from 54 to 58 CE; he had his mother and his first wife put to death; many believe he was responsible for setting a fire that gutted Rome, but he blamed the Christians, whom he burned on crosses; he built an extravagant new palace on the cleared land and lost support when construction expenses forced him to raise taxes; he committed suicide