US Senate Page School English Final Mythology Stories Definitions

Achilles

Greek hero of the Trojan War; invulnerable except his heel due to being dipped in the River Styx; greatest Greek warrior who kills Hector but is later killed by Paris.

Adonis

Beautiful youth loved by Aphrodite; killed by a boar; symbolizes beauty, desire, and seasonal cycles of death and rebirth.

Aegis

Divine protective shield or cloak of Zeus and Athena, often associated with Medusa’s head; symbolizes divine protection and authority.

Alexander the Great

Macedonian king whose conquests were mythologized; believed in some traditions to be semi-divine; spread Greek culture across Asia.

Amazons

Mythological tribe of fierce warrior women who lived independently of men and fought Greek heroes.

Ariadne

Cretan princess who helps Theseus escape the Labyrinth using a thread; later abandoned and rescued by Dionysus.

Cassandra

Trojan princess cursed by Apollo to predict the future but never be believed.

Ceres

Roman goddess of agriculture; her daughter’s kidnapping explains the changing seasons.

Damocles

Courtier who learns that power is dangerous when forced to sit under a sword hanging by a thread.

Diogenes

Cynic philosopher who rejected wealth and social norms, lived in extreme simplicity, and mocked society.

Greaves

Protective armor worn on the lower legs by Greek and Roman soldiers.

Helios

Greek sun god who drives a chariot across the sky each day, bringing sunlight.

Hemerodromos

Ancient Greek long-distance messenger runner trained for rapid delivery of messages.

Hercules

Roman hero of immense strength who completes the Twelve Labors as punishment and redemption.

Knossos

Ancient Minoan palace on Crete associated with King Minos and the myth of the Minotaur and Labyrinth.

Marathon

Site of Greek victory over Persia in 490 BCE; inspires the modern marathon race.

Mausolos

Ruler whose tomb (the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus) became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Minerva

Roman goddess of wisdom, war strategy, and crafts; equivalent to Greek Athena.

Minotaur

Monster with the body of a man and head of a bull, trapped in the Labyrinth and killed by Theseus.

Narcissus

Youth who falls in love with his own reflection and wastes away; origin of narcissism.

Neptune

Roman god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses; equivalent to Greek Poseidon.

Odysseus

Greek hero known for intelligence and cunning; main character of The Odyssey who struggles to return home after Troy.

Olympia

Sacred site of the Olympic Games honoring Zeus in ancient Greece.

Ostracon

Pottery shard used in Athenian voting to exile citizens (ostracism).

Pharos

Ancient lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Pheidippides

Greek messenger who runs from Marathon to Athens to announce Greek victory.

Sarmatians

Ancient nomadic warrior people sometimes linked in myth with the Amazons.

Sisyphus

King punished in the underworld by eternally rolling a boulder uphill that always rolls back down.

Tantalus

Punished in Tartarus by eternal hunger and thirst just out of reach of food and water.

Tartarus

Deep abyss of the Greek underworld used as a prison for the worst sinners and monsters.

Telegonus

Son of Odysseus and Circe who unknowingly kills his father.

Thanatos

Personification of peaceful death in Greek mythology.

Theseus

Athenian hero who kills the Minotaur and unifies Athens.

Vulcan

Roman god of fire and the forge; blacksmith of the gods and master of volcanoes.