Gods, deities, demi-gods, heroes, and mythological characters and beasts
Including characters of the Iliad and the Odyssey
| Aeacus | One of the three judges at Tartarus. |
| Aeneas | Trojan hero; son of Prince Anchises and Aphrodite; father was second cousin to King Priam. |
| Aeacus | One of the three judges at Tartarus. |
| Aeneas | Trojan hero; son of Prince Anchises and Aphrodite; father was second cousin to King Priam. |
| Aeos | One of the fire-darting steeds that pull Helius’s chariot (the sun) across the sky. |
| Aether | God of the upper atmosphere and light; personification of Heavenly Light. |
| Aethon | One of the fire-darting steeds that pull Helius’s chariot (the sun) cross the sky. |
| Akademos | Spared the city Attica by telling invaders where the abducted Helen was hidden; venerated by the city as a savior; buried on land adorned with olive plantation called Akademia dedicated to his memory, and where Plato gave his lectures. |
| Akheloios | God of fresh waters; battled Heracles for the hand of Princess Deïaneira. |
| Alcaeus | Son of Perseus; father to Amphitryon, whose wife gave birth to Heracles. |
| Alcmene | Wife of King Amphitryon of Thebes; mother to Heracles who was fathered by Zeus. |
| Amalthea (Adamanthea) |
Nymph who raised Zeus. |
| Anius | King of Delos; son of Apollo and Rhoeo; priest to Apollo; father to daughters: Oeno, Spermo, and Elais, known as the Oenotropae; Dionysus gave daughters power to change anything into wine, wheat, and oil; when Greeks landed on Delos, Anius prophesized the Trojan War would not be won until the tenth year. |
| Antenor | Counselor to Priam during Trojan War; wisest of Trojan elders and counselors; husband of Theano, who bore him numerous sons, including Medon; advised fellow-townsmen to send Helen back to the Greeks; friendly to the Greeks and advocate of peace and in return his house and family were spared. |
| Antilochus | One of Helen’s suitors; accompanied his father and his brother to Trojan War; commanded the Pylians; favorite of the gods; friend of Achilles, to whom he was commissioned to announce the death of Patroclus; sacrificed himself to save his father, Nestor; his death was avenged by Achilles. |
| Aphrodite | Goddess of love, beauty, desire, sex and pleasure. |
| Apollo | God of music, arts, knowledge, healing, plague, prophecy, poetry, manly beauty, archery, and the sun; son of Zeus and Leto; twin brother of Artemis; as brother and sister, they were identified with the sun and moon; both use a bow and arrow. |
| Apollonius Rhodius | Apollonius of Rhodes; best known as author of the Argonautica, an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. |
| Archemoros | Name given to Prince Opheltes by the Seven Against Thebes; translated as Beginner of Doom. |
| Ares | God of war, bloodshed, and violence; son of Zeus and Hera. |
| Argus Panoptes | Giant with one hundred eyes tasked with guarding Io. |
| Artemis | Virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, animals, young girls, childbirth, plague, and the moon; daughter of Zeus and Leto; Apollo‘s twin sister. |
| Asclepius (Asclepios) |
God of medicine; Alexander razed the shrine built to honor him after the death of Hephaestion. |
| Astyanax | Son of Hector; crown prince of Troy; Andromache hid the child in Hector’s tomb, but he was discovered and killed by Neoptolemus, who threw the infant from the walls of Troy to end the royal lineage. |
| Athena | Goddess of intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, handicrafts, and wisdom; special patron of heroes such as Odysseus; patron of the city Athens. |
| Athena Alcidemus | Epithet of Athena, the city-goddess of Pella, Macedonia. |
| Athena Ilias | Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra in the temple of Athena and this resulted in his death; angry, Poseidon wrecked his ship on the coast of Euboea, and Zeus killed Ajax with a lightning bolt; for his crime, Locrians had to send two unmarried maidens to the temple of Athena at Ilion of Athens for 1,000 years, where they should live until they died; Athena is referred to as Athena Ilias—a name not necessarily derived from Ilion, but maybe from the family deity Oileus, the father of Ajax—she could have protected the maidens during their period of initiation. |
| Atlas | Titan forced to carry the heavens upon his shoulders by Zeus; son of Iapetus. |
| Augean stables | The stables of King Augeas of Elis; housed single greatest number of cattle in the country; had never been cleaned—until Heracles did so as one of his twelve labors. |
| Aura | Titaness of the breeze and the fresh, cool air of early morning. |
| Benthesicyma | Poseidon’s daughter who raised and educated his son with Chione, Eumolpos. |
| Brisēís | Queen in Asia Minor at time of the Trojan War; concubine to Achilles; Agamemnon stole her from Achilles. |
| Calchas | Son of Thestor (a priest of Apollo); most-famous oracle among Greeks at time of Trojan War; played important role in quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon at beginning of Homer’s Iliad. |
| Campe | Dragon that guards Tartarus. |
| Cassiopeia | Mother to Andromeda. |
| Castor | One of Helen’s twin brothers who invaded Attica to free her when she was kidnapped at the age of twelve. |
| Caucasus Mountains | Where Zeus had Prometheus chained in retaliation; a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region. |
| Cepheus | King of Ethiopia; father to Andromeda. |
| Cerberus | Multi-headed dog, or hellhound, with a serpent’s tail, a mane of snakes, and a lion’s claws; guards the entrance of the Underworld to prevent the dead from escaping and the living from entering. |
| Ceryneian Hind | Also called Cerynitis, or the Golden Hind; enormous hind (deer), who lived in Keryneia, Greece; sacred to Artemis; had golden antlers like a stag and hooves of bronze or brass; could outrun an arrow in flight. |
| Cetus | Sea monster to whom Andromeda was being been sacrificed. |
| Chaos | A primeval state of existence from whence all else came. |
| Charon (Kharon) |
Ferryman of Hades who carried souls of newly deceased across Styx and Acheron (rivers) dividing the world of the living from the world of the dead. |
| Chelone | Nymph who refused to attend Zeus and Hera’s wedding. |
| Chimaera | Monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor; usually depicted as a lion, with head of a goat arising from its back, and tail ending with a snake’s head; offspring of Typhon and Echidna and sibling to Cerberus and Lernaean Hydra. |
| Chione | Mother to Eumolpos with Poseidon. |
| Chronos | God of time; not to be confused with Cronus, father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. |
| Chrysaor | Giant born from the neck of the beheaded Gorgon, Medusa. |
| Chryses | Priest of Apollo at Chryse, near the city of Troy; during Trojan War, Agamemnon took Chryses’ daughter, Chryseis, as a war prize and Chryses attempted to pay ransom for her release, but Agamemnon refused to release her. |
| Cinyras | King of Cyprus; father to Adonis; did not participate in the Trojan War as he had promised. |
| Cretan Bull | The bull Pasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to the Minotaur; captured by Heracles at the request of King Eurystheus as his seventh task. |
| Cronus | Leader of the Titans; overthrew his father Uranus; was overthrown in turn by his son, Zeus; not to be confused with Chronos, god of time. |
| Cyclopes (Elder) | Three one-eyed giants who forged the lightning-bolts of Zeus, trident of Poseidon, and helmet of Hades: Arges, Brontes, and Steropes. |
| Cyclopes (Younger) | Tribe of one-eyed, man-eating giants who herded flocks of sheep on the island of Sicily. |
| Danae | Wife of Zeus; mother to Perseus, who slayed Medusa. |
| Daphnis | Shepherd who loved the water nymph Nomia who struck him blind when he was unfaithful. |
| Dardanians | Same people as, or a people closely related to, the Trojans, an ancient people of the Troad; name derived from Dardanus; Homer makes distinction between Trojans and the Dardanoi. |
| Day | Earthly Light. |
| Deïaneira | Sister to Meleager; second wife of Heracles; unintentionally killed her husband when she dipped his tunic in the poisonous blood of the centaur, Nessus, thinking it to be a love charm. |
| Deidameia | One of King Lycomedes’ seven daughters with whom Achilles hid out as children; the two became romantically involved; Achilles joined the Trojan War, leaving behind a pregnant, heart-broken Deidameia; their son, Neoptolemus, later joined his father, but was eventually killed by Orestes. |
| Deiphobus | Son of Priam and Hecuba; greatest of Priam’s sons after Hector and Paris; after death of Paris, was given Helen as a bride for his deeds in the war; slayed by either Odysseus or Menelaus, and his body mutilated. |
| Demeter | Goddess of grain, agriculture and the harvest, growth, and nourishment; daughter of Cronus and Rhea; sister of Zeus, by whom she bore Persephone. |
| Demophon | Son of King Celeus and Queen Metanira; while Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone (taken to the Underworld by Hades), she took the form of an old woman naned Doso, and received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica, and he asked her to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira. |
| Dionysus | God of wine, parties and festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, drugs, and ecstasy; often in the company of his thiasos, a posse of attendants including satyrs, maenads, and his old tutor Silenus; his consort was Ariadne. |
| Dioscuri | Helen of Sparta’s (Troy’s) twin brothers, Castor and Pollux, fathered by Tyndareus and Zeus, respectively. |
| Diphilus | |
| Echidna | Wife to Typhon. |
| Echo | Nymph who Zeus employed to distract Hera; fell in love with Narcissus. |
| Eileithyia | Daughter of Zeus and Hera; goddess of childbirth. |
| Eleionomae | Marsh water nymphs; daughters of Zeus; often misled travelers with illusions of a traveler’s loved ones; lured young, virgin boys and seduced them with their beauty. |
| Eleuther | Son of Apollo and Aethusa; renowned for having excellent singing voice, which earned him a victory at Pythian Games; also for having been first to erect statue of Dionysus; also for having given his name to Eleutherae. |
| Elysian Fields | Fields within one of the three areas of the Underworld along with Tartarus and Asphodel. |
| Elysium | One of the three areas of the Underworld along with Tartarus and Asphodel. |
| Endymion | Handsome Aeolian king loved by Selene, the Moon; goddess of the moon. |
| Eos | Titaness of the dawn. |
| Eos | Mother of Memnon, warrior at Troy killed by Achilles and made immortal by Zeus. |
| Epaphus | Son of Zeus and Io; ancestor to Heracles. |
| Epeius | Eldest son of Endymion; ascended the throne after his father’s death because he bested his two brothers in a race. |
| Epeius | Greek soldier during Trojan War; built the Trojan Horse; chose twenty-nine soldiers to accompany him inside the horse; founded Pisa and Metapontum. |
| Ephialtes | According to Apollodorus, blinded by arrows from Apollo and Heracles. |
| Ephialtes | Malian Greek traitor at the Battle of Thermopylae. |
| Epimetheus | Titan of afterthought; father of excuses; brother to Prometheus; creator of Earth’s creatures. |
| Erebus | God of darkness and shadow; deep darkness. |
| Erinyes | Children of Gaia and Uranus; the Avenging Furies. |
| Eris | Daughter of Zeus and Hera; goddess of discord. |
| Eros | God of love and attraction. |
| Erymanthian Boar | Giant fear-inspiring creature of the wilds; lived on Mount Erymanthos, once sacred to the Mistress of the Animals; sent by Apollo to kill Adonis, a favorite of Aphrodite, as revenge for the goddess blinding Apollo’s son, Erymanthus, when he saw her bathing. |
| Eumaeus | Odysseus’s swineherd and friend; his father, Ktesios, son of Ormenos, was king of Syria. |
| Eumolpus | Eumolpus, mythical ancestor of the priestly clan of the Eumolpids at Eleusis, a town west of Athens, and the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the best known of the Greek mystery cults. |
| Eurymedon | King of the Giants; father of Periboea. |
| Eurynome | Titaness of water-meadows and pasturelands; with Zeus, mother of the three Charites. |
| Eurypylus | Son of Telephus and Astyoche; at Priam’s request, Astyoche bribed him with golden vine to fight on side of Trojans; Priam sent him gifts and promised him Cassandra’s hand in marriage; one of most handsome men ever (next to Memnon); killed by Neoptolemus. |
| Eurystheus | King to whom Heracles provided twelve labors; cousin to Heracles. |
| Fields of Asphodel | Fields within Asphodel, one of the five regions of the Underworld. |
| Gaia | Personification of Earth (Mother Earth); mother of the Titans. |
| Geryon | Son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe; grandson of Medusa; Three-bodied giant who dwelt on the sunset isle at the ends of the earth (the red island of Erytheia); monster with one body and three human heads, six hands, six feet, winged, and the appearance of a warrior; owns two-headed hound named Orthrus, brother of Cerberus, and a herd of magnificent red cattle; slain by Heracles when he arrived to fetch the giant’s cattle as one of his twelve labors. |
| Gigantes (Giants) |
Offspring of Gaia (Earth); born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by their Titan son, Cronus, who fought the Gigantomachy, a war with the Olympian gods for supremacy of the cosmos. |
| Girdle of Hippolyte | Armor of the queen of the Amazons given to her by her father, Ares. |
| Graeae | Three women who shared a single eye between them; told Perseus how to find Medusa. |
| Hades | King of the Underworld and the dead; god of regret; his consort is Persephone; one of three sons of Cronus and Rhea; sovereign over the Underworld. |
| Harpalus | Childhood friend of Alexander III; exiled by Philip for his role in testing the king’s loyalty to his son, Alexander. |
| Hebe | Daughter of Zeus and Hera; goddess of youth. |
| Hector | Acted as leader of Trojans and their allies in defense of Troy; fought Protesilaus in single combat at the start of the war and killed him—fulfilling prophecy that first Greek to land on Trojan soil would die. |
| Hekatonkheires | Hundred-handed ones; giant gods of violent storms and hurricanes; three sons of Uranus and Gaia, each with their own distinct characters: Briareus (The Vigorous), Cottus (The Furious), and Gyges (The Big-Limbed). |
| Helen (Helen of Sparta; Helen of Troy) | Young girl kidnapped by Theseus, king of Athens; most beautiful woman in Greece; eloped with Paris, prince of Troy setting off the Trojan War. |
| Helenus | Son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy; twin brother of the oracle, Cassandra; part of the Trojan forces led by his brother, Hector; vied against his brother Deiphobus for hand of Helen after the death of their brother Paris; Helen was awarded to Deiphobus; retreated to Mount Ida; Odysseus intercepted him; told the Greek forces under what circumstances they could take Troy. |
| Helius | Titan of the sun and guardian of oaths. |
| Hephaestus | Crippled god of fire, metalworking, and crafts; son of Hera alone; blacksmith to the gods; husband of Aphrodite; created the armor of Achilles. |
| Hera | Queen of the gods; goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, heirs, kings, and empires; wife and sister of Zeus; daughter of Cronus and Rhea. |
| Heracleidae | The numerous descendants of Heracles—especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deïaneira. |
| Hermes | God of boundaries, travel, communication, trade, language, and writing; son of Zeus and Maia; messenger of the gods; Psychopomp who leads the souls of the dead into the afterlife. |
| Hesione | Daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy; sister of Priam; abduction of Hesione by Heracles sometimes regarded as cause of the abduction of Helen by Paris, and start of Trojan War. |
| Hestia | Virgin goddess of the hearth, home and chastity; daughter of Rhea and Cronus; sister of Zeus; in some accounts, she gave up her seat as one of the Twelve Olympians in favor of Dionysus. |
| Hippodameia | Daughter of King Oenomaus, king of Pisa. |
| Hippolytus | Killed by Hermes, who was wearing Hades’ helmet making him invisible. |
| Horai (Horae) |
Goddesses of the seasons and natural portions of time; originally personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but later regarded as goddesses of order in general and natural justice. |
| Hyllus | Heracles’ eldest son. |
| Hyperion | Titan of light; with Theia is father to Helius (Sun), Selene (Moon), and Eos (Dawn). |
| Hypnos | Personification of sleep. |
| Iapetus | Titan of mortality; father to Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, and Atlas. |
| Idomeneus | King of Crete; Cretan commander; father of Orsilochus, Cleisithyra, Leucus and Iphiclus; led Cretan armies to the Trojan War; one of Helen’s suitors; comrade of the Telamonian Ajax. |
| Io | Maiden with whom Zeus falls in love. |
| Iolaus | Nephew of Heracles; charioteer; assisted Heracles with cleaning the Augean stables. |
| Iphicles | Twin brother to Heracles; son of Amphitryon and Alcmene. |
| Jocasta | Queen of Thebes; mother to Oedipus. |
| Kouretes | Armored male dancers who made noise to hide the cries of baby Zeus. |
| Laius | King of Thebes; father to Oedipus. |
| Laocoön | Trojan priest of Poseidon attacked, with his two sons, by giant serpents sent by the gods after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear; was to have said, “Do not trust the Horse, Trojans / Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts;” source of the saying: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” |
| Laomedon | Trojan king; father to Priam. |
| Lapiths | Legendary people of Greek mythology, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion. |
| Lernaean Hydra | Ancient serpent-like water monster with reptilian traits; possessed more heads than vase-painters could paint; for each head cut off it grew two more; poisonous breath and blood so virulent, even its scent was deadly. |
| Lethe | River of forgetfulness in the Underworld. |
| Leto | Titaness of motherhood; mother of the twin Olympians, Artemis and Apollo. |
| Lion | Possibly one of the Gigantes; killed by Heracles. |
| Machaon | With his brother, Podalirius, led an army from Thessaly in the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks; brothers were highly valued surgeons and medics; possessed herbs which were bestowed to his father Asclepius by Chiron, the centaur; killed by Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons. |
| Mares of Diomedes | Also called Mares of Thrace; four man-eating horses—magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable—belonging to the giant, Diomedes, king of Thrace, son of Ares and Cyrene who lived on the shores of the Black Sea (not to be confused with Diomedes, son of Tydeus); Bucephalus, Alexander III’s horse, was said to be descended from these mares. |
| Medon | In Trojan War, took control of Philoctetes’ ships after he went to Lemnos to heal; son of Oileus 1 and Rhene 1; brother of Ajax II; killed by Aeneas. |
| Medusa | One of the Gorgons with hair of snake heads; slain by Perseus. |
| Megapenthes | King of Tiryns; exchanged kingdoms with Perseus. |
| Megara | First wife of Heracles. |
| Meleager | Hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia; famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition reworked by Homer. |
| Meliae | Children of Gaia and Uranus; Ash Tree Nymphs. |
| Memnon | Ethiopian king; son of Eos; considered to be almost Achilles’ equal as a warrior; during Trojan War, brought army to Troy’s defense; killed by Achilles; Zeus was so moved by Eos’s tears, he granted Memnon immortality. |
| Menelaus | King of Sparta; husband of Helen (of Troy); central figure in Trojan War; son of Atreus and Aerope; brother of Agamemnon; leader of Spartan contingent of the Greek army during Trojan War. |
| Menoetius | Titan of violent anger, rash action, and human mortality. |
| Mentor | Friend to Odysseus and tutor to Telemachus; name is proverbial for a faithful and wise adviser. |
| Meroes | Friend of King Porus who Alexander enlisted to deliver a message requesting submission. |
| Merope | Queen of Corinth; adoptive mother of Oedipus. |
| Metis | Titaness of good counsel, advice, planning, cunning, craftiness, and wisdom; mother to Athena. |
| Minos | One of the three judges at Tartarus; son of Zeus and Europa. |
| Mnemosyne | Titaness of memory and remembrance; mother to Nine Muses. |
| Moirai (Moerae) |
The Fates; white-robed incarnations of Destiny: Clotho (spinner), Lachesis (allotter), and Atropos (unturnable). |
| Morpheus | God of human form in dreams. |
| Myrtilus | Charioteer of King Oenomaus, king of Pisa. |
| Narcissus | Hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia; known for his beauty; son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope; drowned admiring his own reflection in the water. |
| Nauplius | Ruled over Nauplia; went to Troy to demand justice for death of his son; ignored, he swore revenge against King Agamemnon and other Greek leaders; lit beacon fires along perilous coastline of Euboea, and many Greek ships returning home after the war were wrecked as a result. |
| Nemesis | Goddess of retribution. |
| Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus) | Son of Achilles and princess Deidameia; progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epirus. |
| Nereids | Sea nymphs; female spirits of sea waters; fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris; sisters to Nerites; distinct from Sirens; often accompany Poseidon. |
| Nereus | Eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (the Earth), who with Doris fathered the Nereids and Nerites, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. |
| Nestor | King of Pylos; became king after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestor’s siblings. |
| Nomia | Eleionomae who fell in love with Daphnis. |
| Nymphai (Nymphs) |
Female spirits of the natural world; minor goddesses of the forests, rivers, springs, meadows, mountains, and seas; responsible for the crafting of nature’s wild beauty, from the arrangement and growth of the plants, flowers, and trees, to the nurture of wild birds and animals, and the formation of rocky caverns, springs, wetlands, and brooks. |
| Nyx | Night; goddess of night. |
| Oceanid | Sea nymphs who were the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys; each was the patroness of a particular spring, river, sea, lake, pond, pasture, flower, or cloud; some, such as Calypso, Clymene, Asia, Electra/Ozomene, were closely associated with the Titan gods or personified abstract concepts (Tyche, Peitho). |
| Oceanus | Titan of the all-encircling river Oceans around the earth; fount of all Earth’s fresh water. |
| Odysseus | Ulysses; legendary Greek king of Ithaca and a hero of Homer’s epic the Odyssey; plays a key role in Homer’s Iliad and other works in same epic cycle. |
| Oedipus | Son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta, who killed his father and married his mother. |
| Olympians | The second generation of gods: Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, and others. |
| Olympus | The place where the gods live; might be Mount Olympus. |
| Orion | Giant huntsman Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion. |
| Orthus | Two-headed dog that guarded Geryon’s cattle; killed by Heracles; offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon; brother to Cerberus, also a multi-headed guard dog. |
| Paion | Second son of Endymion; settled Paionia after losing a race against his brothers in competition for the throne. |
| Palamedes | Joined the Greeks in expedition against Troy; was sent by Agamemnon to retrieve Odysseus, who had promised to defend the marriage of Helen and Menelaus. |
| Pallas | According to Apollodorus, flayed by Athena, who used his skin as a shield. |
| Pan | God of shepherds and flocks; son of Hermes and a nymph; born with legs and horns of a goat, which caused his mother to spurn him. |
| Pandarus | Trojan aristocrat; fought on the side of Troy in Trojan War; wounded Menelaus with an arrow, sabotaging a truce that could have led to peaceful return of Helen; goaded by gods into breaking truce; wounded Diomedes with arrow and acts as Aeneas’ charioteer; killed by Diomedes. |
| Pandora | The first woman; created by Hephaestus and Athena; given to Epimetheus as a gift. |
| Paris | Handsome, young prince who eloped with Helen of Troy, triggering the Trojan War; son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, who dreamed of his birth as a flaming torch that destroyed Troy; Priam consulted an oracle, who warned the dream foretold disaster for the city; advised Priam to have the baby killed. |
| Pasithea | Youngest of the Charites (Graces); personification of relaxation and meditation; sometimes said to be the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, but Pasithea’s parentage has also been identified as Hera and Dionysus; married to Hypnos, god of sleep |
| Patroclus | Closest and childhood friend of Achilles; fought at his side in the Trojan War; speculated also to be his lover. |
| Pegasus | Horse-son of Poseidon and Medusa; brother of Chysaor; born after Perseus chopped off Medusa’s head. |
| Peleiades | The Doves; sacred women of Zeus and goddess of mothers, Dione, at the Oracle at Dodona. |
| Pelops | Husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Oenomaus. |
| Peneleos | Achaean soldier in the Trojan War; sailed with the Argonauts; suitor of Helen; came from Boeotia and commanded twelve ships; chosen to command the Boeotian troops; killed Ilioneus and Lycon; wounded by Polydamas; killed by Eurypylus, son of Telephus. |
| Penelope | Wife to Eumaeus. |
| Penthesilea | Amazonian queen; daughter of Ares and Otrera; sister of Hippolyta, Antiope, and Melanippe; accidentally killed Hippolyta. |
| Persephone | Daughter of Zeus and his sister, Demeter; wife to Hades. |
| Perseus | Son of Zeus; slayer of Medusa. |
| Philoctetes | Son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly; Greek hero; famed archer; participant in the Trojan War. |
| Phlegethon | River of fire in the Underworld. |
| Phlegon | One of the fire-darting steeds that pull Helius’s chariot (the sun) cross the sky. |
| Phobetor | God of nightmares. |
| Phoebe | Titaness of the bright intellect and prophecy; consort of Koios. |
| Phoenix | Son of Amyntor and Cleobule; one of the Myrmidons led by Achilles in the Trojan War. |
| Pollux | One of Helen’s twin brothers who invaded Attica to free her when she was kidnapped at the age of twelve. |
| Polybus | King of Corinth; adoptive father of Oedipus. |
| Polydectes | King of Seriphos where Danae and Perseus—slayer of Medusa—washed ashore. |
| Polymele | Wife of Menoetius; daughter of Peleus, king of Phthia; older half-sister to Achilles; mother of Patroclus, Achilles’ dearest friend. |
| Pontus | God of the sea; father of the fish and other sea creatures. |
| Poseidon | God of the sea, rivers, floods, droughts, and earthquakes; son of Cronus and Rhea; brother of Zeus and Hades; rules sea and waters. |
| Priam | King of Troy during the Trojan War; youngest son of Laomedon. |
| Prometheus | Titan of forethought and crafty counsel; creator of mankind. |
| Protesilaus | Hero in the Iliad who was venerated at cult sites in Thessaly and Thrace; son of Iphicles; leader of the Phylaceans; first to leap ashore at Troy, and thus the first to die in the war. |
| Pylius | A respected local citizen who adopted Heracles so he could enter the Eleusinian Mysteries cult. |
| Pyrois | One of the fire-darting steeds that pull Helius’s chariot (the sun) cross the sky. |
| Rhadamanthus | One of the three judges at Tartarus; son of Zeus and Europa. |
| Rhea | Titaness of fertility, motherhood, and the mountain wilds; sister and consort of Cronus; mother of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. |
| Sarpedon | King of Lycia, descendant of Zeus and Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon; became king when his uncles withdrew claim to Lycia; fought on the side of the Trojans with his cousin Glaucus during the Trojan War; became one of Troy’s greatest allies and heroes. |
| Scamander | River god, son of Oceanus and Tethys; fought on the side of the Trojans during Trojan War; attempted to kill Achilles three times, was only saved due to the intervention of Hera, Athena, and Hephaestus. |
| Selene | Titaness of the moon. |
| Sinon | Greek warrior during the Trojan War; Achaean spy who gave signal to the fleet stationed at Tenedos to return to invade Troy. |
| Sisyphus | King of Ephyra; punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, repeating this action forever. |
| Stymphalian Birds | Man-eating birds with beaks of bronze, sharp metallic feathers they could launch at victims, and poisonous dung; pets of Ares; migrated to a marsh in Arcadia to escape pack of wolves; there they bred quickly and swarmed countryside, destroying crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. |
| Styx | Titaness of the Underworld river Styx; personification of hatred; river of hate in the Underworld; home to the ferryman, Charon. |
| Tartarus | God of the deepest, darkest part of the Underworld, the Tartarean pit (which is also referred to as Tartarus itself); Gaia’s womb; prison in the Underworld; father of Typhon. |
| Telamonian Ajax | Greek hero; plays important role in Homer’s Iliad. |
| Telephus | Son of Heracles and Auge (daughter of King Aleus of Tegea); intended to be king of Tegea, but became the king of Mysia in Asia Minor; wounded by the Achaeans in Trojan War. |
| Tenes | Eponymous hero of island of Tenedos; son of Apollo; killed by Achilles, despite his mother’s warning that doing so would result Achilles’ own death at the hands of the god Apollo. |
| Tethys | Titaness of fresh water; mother of rivers, springs, streams, fountains, and clouds. |
| Thanatos | God of Death; brother to Hypnos (Sleep) and in some references to Moros (Doom). |
| Muses | Daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne: Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, Terpsichore, Urania, Thalia, and Polymnia. |
| Theia | Titaness of sight; shining light of the clear blue sky; consort of Hyperion; mother of Helius, Selene, and Eos. |
| Themis | Titaness of divine law and order. |
| Thersander | One of the Epigoni, who attacked Thebes in retaliation for deaths of their fathers, the Seven Against Thebes, who had attempted the same thing; son of Polynices and Argea. |
| Thersites | Soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War; killed by Achilles for having torn out the eyes of the Amazon queen, Penthesilea. |
| Thespius | King who purified Heracles for murdering his wife and children after he had been driven mad by Hera. |
| Thoas (Thoon) | Son of Andraemon and Gorge; one of the heroes who fought with the Greeks in the Trojan War; former suitor of Helen; led a group of forty ships for the Aetolians; killed by Moirai. |
| Tithonus | Lover of Titaness, Eos; a Trojan by birth, son of King Laomedon of Troy by a water nymph named Strymo. |
| Triton | Merman; demigod of the sea; son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. |
| Tyndareus | King of Sparta; father of Castor, Clytemnestra, Timandra, Princess Phoebe and Philonoe; stepfather to Helen of Troy and Pollux. |
| Typhon | Monstrous immortal storm-giant who attempted to launch an attack on Mount Olympus but was defeated by the Olympians and imprisoned in the pits of Tartarus. |
| Uranus | God of the heavens (Father Sky); father of the Titans. |
| Zeus | King and father of the gods; ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice; youngest son of Cronus and Rhea; overthrew Cronus and gained the sovereignty of heaven for himself. |
| Zeus Ammon | A combined deity represented by a bull and a ram; this version of Zeus was said to be the father of Alexander III. |
| Zeus Apobaterius | A name of Zeus used by mariners; translates from he who presides over landing; called so due to his enabling them to quit their ships and recover the land. |