Mythological Allusions
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Transcript of Mythological Allusions
MYTHOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS
Abraxus/Abraxas A demon of the
Greek Period Had the body of a
man, the head of a rooster, and serpents for feet
Alecto One of the Furies
The Furies were lesser deities (gods) who punished victims
Her name is derived from the Greek “alektos,” meaning “unceasing in anger”
Sisters are Megaera and Tisiphone
Argus A monster that had a
hundred eyes A guard
Centaur A race of monsters Has the head, trunk,
and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse
Cerberus The three-headed
dog The guardian of the
underworld in Greek mythology
Draco In Latin, Draco means
“dragon” (Draco is a constellation that looks like a dragon but is a snake)
Also, a Greek ruler named Draco who developed a system of laws that favored wealthy families
Created severe punishments for the smallest of crimes
“Draconian” means “harsh or cruel.”
In Romanian, “drac” means “devil”
Errol An owl and
messenger for Athena, Goddess of the night who represented wisdom Revealed unseen truths
to her, had the ability to light up Athena’s “blind side,” enabling her to speak the entire truth
Means “wanderer” in Old English
Fenrir Norse mythology A gigantic and terrible
monster in the shape of a wolf Prophecy which stated that the
wolf and his family would one day be responsible for the destruction of the world
Caught Fenris and locked him in a cage, bound in chains
Fenrir then requested that one of the gods put their hand in his mouth before he was chained as a sign of good faith. Tyr, the god of war and justice, did and his hand was bitten off
Griffin A creature in
mythology with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle
The protector of a god’s gold from mortal men
In Greek, “gryphon” means “protector of wealth”
Hermione The goddess of high
magic; twin sister of Hermes
In other Greek Myths, she was the daughter of Helen of Troy and King Menelaus of Sparta
Hippogryph Derived from the
Greek word “hippos” meaning “horse” and the magical creature known as the griffinIn this case, it has the
body of a horse as opposed to a lion, but keeps the head of an eagle
Lucius A Roman General
usurped by the people of Rome
Defeated them; became a dictator
In Romanian, “lucios” is used to describe a person who desires extravagance and valuable things
A surname for Lucifer (connection to devilry)
Luna Roman goddess of the
moon “Luna” means “moon” in
Latin The word “lunatic” is
also derived from the word “lunar” it was believed that
strange or odd behavior was caused by the moon
“Luna” is a term for “silver” in alchemy.
Minerva The Roman
counterpart to the Greek goddess named AthenaRepresent war,
handicraft and practical reason or wisdom
Nymph Refers to a member
of a group of female spirits found in different types of natureThey are further
classified by where they were found
They also had the ability to change shapes
Orpheus Greek musician who
rescued his wife from the underworldGot past Cerberus by
lulling it to sleep with music
Phineus In Hebrew, means
“serpent's mouth” In Greek mythology,
Andromeda should be married to her uncle Phineus but marries Perseus, the famous hero, instead In the Old Testament,
Phineas kills an Israelite man for being in love with a woman who belongs to another ethnical group
Phoenix A mythical bird with a
colorful plumage At the end of its
lifecycle, it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignitesBoth nest and bird
burn and are reduced to ashes
New, young phoenix or phoenix egg
Immortality
Remus Twin brother of Romulus The King sent the two
twin babies out to a river and tried to drown them
Female wolf, instead of killing them, nursed them after finding the two boys
He was killed by Romulus Founders of Rome
○ So named after Romulus
Sibyls Famous prophets in
ancient mythologyTheir prophecies
were often not decipherable until an event had come to pass