Part 216

=Semele= (_sem´el-ē_).--Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and mother, by Jupiter, of Bacchus. Juno, actuated by jealousy, persuaded her to ask Jupiter to appear before her in his terrible majesty as king of heaven. Having promised to grant whatever she desired, Jupiter did so; but warned her of the danger she would incur. The result was that she was consumed by the lightning; but Jupiter saved her child Bacchus.

=Serapis= (_se-rā´pis_).--An Egyptian divinity (male), whose worship was introduced into Rome, together with that of Isis, toward the end of the republic.

=Seven Sages.=--Same as _Seven Wise Men of Greece_ (_q.v._).

=Seven Wise Men of Greece.=--The title applied to seven Greeks of the sixth century B. C., who were distinguished for their practical wisdom and their terse maxims or principles of life. Their names are as follows: Bias, Chilo, Cleobulus, Periander (in place of whom some give Epimenides), Pittacus, Solon and Thales. They were the authors of the following famous mottoes, inscribed in later times in the temple of Apollo at Delphi: “Most men are bad,” _Bias_; “Consider the end,” _Chilo_; “Avoid excess,” _Cleobulus_; “Nothing is impossible to industry,” _Periander_; “Know thy opportunity,” _Pittacus_; “Know thyself,” _Solon_; “Suretyship is the precursor of ruin,” _Thales_.

=Seven Wonders of the World.=--A name applied to seven very remarkable objects of the ancient world. They are usually given as follows:

(i) The Pyramids of Egypt.

(ii) The Pharos (_fā´ros_) of Alexandria, which was a lofty lighthouse built by Ptolemy II. on the island of the same name, just opposite to Alexandria and united to it by a mole.

(iii) The walls and hanging gardens of Babylon. The walls are described under “Ninus.” The hanging gardens of Nebuchadnezzar were laid out upon terraces, which were raised one above another on arches.

(iv) The Temple of Diana at Ephesus.

(v) The colossal statue of the Olympian Jupiter by Phidias. It was made of ivory and gold, and the god was represented as seated on a throne of cedar wood, adorned with gold, ivory, ebony and precious stones.

(vi) The mausoleum of Artemisia.

(vii) The Colossus of Rhodes.

=Sibyllæ= (_si-bil´lē_), or =Sibyls=.--Prophetesses, supposed to be ten in number. The most famous of them is the Cumæan, who was consulted by Æneas before he descended into the lower world and gave him the sop to throw to Cerberus, which, when he had devoured it, threw him into a deep sleep and so enabled Æneas to slip by.

=Sichæus= (_si-kē´us_).--Dido’s uncle and husband; often called Acerbas. He was murdered by Pygmalion, Dido’s brother.

=Silenus= (_si-lē´nus_).--A name specially applied to a satyr (_q.v._) who brought up and instructed Bacchus and was his constant companion. He is described as a bald-headed, jovial old man, generally intoxicated, and hence unable to trust his own legs to carry him safely. He generally rode on an ass. He possessed prophetic powers, which he could be made to exercise by surrounding him with chains of flowers while he was drunk and asleep.

=Silvanus= (_sil-vā´nus_).--A Latin deity presiding over woods and forests.

=Sinon= (_sin´on_).--Son of Æsimus, who allowed the Trojans to take him prisoner, and then persuaded them to take the famous wooden horse into their city. See “Troy.”

=Sirenes= (_sī-rē´nēz_), or =Sirens= (_si´renz_).--Sea nymphs, three in number, who had the power of enticing mariners to their destruction on dangerous rocks by their sweet music. In order to get his ship away in safety from them, Ulysses stuffed the ears of his companions with wax and then tied himself to the mast of the vessel, and did not release himself till he could no longer hear their charming voices. They dwelt on an island near the southwest coast of Italy.

=Sisyphus= (_sis´i-fus_).--Son of Æolus and king of Corinth; notorious for his avarice and deceit. His punishment in the lower world was to roll to the top of a hill a huge marble block, which no sooner reached the top than it rolled down again: hence a never-ending punishment.

=Siva.=--The third of the Hindu triad of divinities, who, among a thousand names, bears also that of Mahadeva. The greatest confusion exists as to his attributes; now he is said to be the destroyer, and now the creative principle.

=Somnus= (_som´nus_).--The god of sleep; was a son of Night and a brother of Death.

=Soracte= (_sō-rak´tē_).--A high mountain, near the Tiber, in Etruria, on the summit of which was a temple of Apollo.

=Specter of the Brocken.=--Among German myths, a singular colossal apparition seen in the clouds, at certain times of the day, by those who ascend the Brocken, or Blocksberg, the highest peak of the Hartz mountains.

=Sphinx= (_sfingks_).--A she-monster, who proposed a riddle to the Thebans, and murdered all who failed to guess it (see “Œdipus”). In works of art she is represented with a woman’s bust on the body of a lioness. The word Sphinx (Gr.) means the _Throttler_, from her manner of killing her victims.

=Stentor= (_sten´tor_).--A Grecian herald in the Trojan war. His voice was as loud as that of fifty ordinary men together: hence our word _stentorian_.

=Stheno.=--See “Gorgons.”

=Stymphalus= (_stim-fā´lus_).--A town in Arcadia; the haunt of the terrible birds slain by Hercules. See “Hercules (vi).”

=Styx= (_stiks_)--_i. e._, “the hateful, horrible” (Gr.).--The principal river of the lower world, around which it flows seven times. Charon (_q.v._) ferried the souls of the departed across it. By the Styx the gods swore their most sacred oaths.

=Surya.=--The sun-god, according to the Hindu _Veda_, whose car is drawn by seven green horses, the charioteer being Dawn.

=Sybaris= (_sib´ar-is_).--A Greek town in Lucania, notorious for the luxury of its inhabitants: hence our word _Sybarite_.

=Syphax= (_sif´ax_).--King of one of the tribes of the Numidians. See “Sophonisba.”

=Syrinx= (_sī´rinks_).--A nymph, who, being pursued by Pan, was metamorphosed into a reed, of which Pan then made his shepherd’s pipe, usually called Pan’s pipe.

=T=

=Tantalus= (_tan´ta-lus_).--Son of Jupiter and the nymph Pluto; father of Pelops and Niobe. Having divulged some of his father’s secrets, he received a terrible punishment in the lower world. He was made to stand up to his chin in water, being at the same time afflicted with a raging thirst, and over his head hung branches of tempting fruit, yet when he attempted to drink the waters receded from him, and when he would pluck the fruit the branches immediately sprang out of his reach. Moreover, a huge rock was suspended above his head, threatening every moment to crush him. (Hence our word _tantalize_, meaning to torment by holding out hopes or prospects which cannot be realized.)

=Tarpeia= (_tar-pē´ya_).--Daughter of the governor of the Roman citadel: was tempted by the gold bracelets of the Sabines, who, in the time of Romulus, were besieging the fortress, to treacherously open one of the gates. As they rushed in they threw their shields upon her and crushed her to death. The Tarpeian Rock (_tar-pē´yan_), from which criminals were hurled headlong, was named after her.

=Tartarus= (_tar´ta-rus_).--The place of punishment of the wicked in the lower world, as opposed to the Elysian Fields, the abode of the blessed. Sometimes it means the lower world generally.

=Taygete= (_tā-ij´et-ē_).--Daughter of Atlas and Pleione, one of the Pleiones.

=Tecmessa= (_tek-mes´sa_).--Daughter of Teleutas, king of Phrygia, and mistress of Ajax the Great.

=Telamon= (_tel´a-mōn_).--Son of Æacus and brother of Peleus. He was king of Salamis and father of Ajax the Great (or Telamonius) and of Teucer, the celebrated archer. He was one of the Argonauts, and took part in the Calydonian boar hunt.

=Telegonus= (_te-leg´on-us_).--Son of Ulysses and Circe. He killed his father without knowing it. See “Ulysses.”

=Telemachus= (_tē-lem´ak-us_).--Son of Ulysses (_q.v._) and Penelope.

=Telephus= (_tē´le-fus_).--Son of Hercules and king of Mysia. He married Laodice, daughter of Priam, king of Troy. He was wounded by the spear of Achilles, but was afterward cured by its rust.

=Tenedos= (_ten´e-dos_).--A small island in the Ægean Sea, off the coast of Troas. Hither the Greeks brought their fleet when they pretended to sail away from Troy (_q.v._).

=Tereus= (_tē´rūs_).--Son of Mars, king of Thrace and husband of Procne, by whom he became the father of Itys. He hid Procne and married Philomela (q.v.). Procne killed her son Itys and served him up in a dish to Tereus. She then fled with her sister Philomela. Procne was afterwards changed into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, and Tereus into a hawk.

=Terpsichore.=--See “Musæ.”

=Tethys= (_tē´this_).--Wife of Oceanus and mother of the sea-nymphs and sea-gods.

=Teucer= (_tū´ser_).--(i) Brother of Ajax the Great, and the most skillful archer among the Greeks before Troy. (ii) The first king of Troy: whence the Trojans are sometimes called Teucri.

=Thalia.=--See “Musæ.”

=Themis= (_them´is_).--The goddess of justice and of prophecy. She is generally represented holding a cornucopia and a pair of scales.

=Thersites= (_ther-sī´tēz_).--A Greek before Troy, notorious for his ugliness and scurrility. He was killed by Achilles.

=Theseus= (_thē´sūs_).--The great legendary hero of Attica; was the son of Ægeus, king of Athens, and of Æthra. He went of his own accord as part of the yearly tribute of Athens to the Minotaur (_q.v._). Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, however, fell in love with the hero, and gave him a sword wherewith he slew the monster, and a clue of threads by means of which he found his way out of the labyrinth. Theseus then sailed away in company with Ariadne, but he abandoned her (see “Ariadne”) in the island of Naxos. When approaching Attica, he forgot to hoist the white sail, as a token of success, and so caused the death of his father (see “Ægeus”). Theseus thus became king of Athens. His life was full of adventure. He was an Argonaut, and took part in the Calydonian boar hunt. His friendship with Pirithous is proverbial. He even accompanied Pirithous into the lower world with the object of carrying off Proserpine (see “Pirithous”). On his return from the lower world he found himself unable to re-establish himself as king of Athens, and retired to the island of Scyros, where he was killed by Lycomedes, the king, who treacherously thrust him down a rock.

=Thetis= (_thet´is_).--A sea-nymph; daughter of Nereus and Doris, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles. At her wedding with Peleus occurred the celebrated incident of the Golden Apple (see “Paris”).

=Thisbe= (_this´be_).--A beautiful maiden of Babylon, beloved by Pyramus (_pi´ra-mus_).--Their parents being averse to their union, they used to converse secretly through a hole in the wall, as they lived in adjoining houses. Once they agreed to meet at the tomb of Ninus. Thisbe arrived first, but perceiving a lioness devouring an ox, she took flight. While running she lost her garment, which the lioness seized and soiled with blood. Meanwhile Pyramus came on the scene, and finding her garment soiled with blood, he imagined that she had been slain, and killed himself. Thisbe returned later, and finding the dead body of her lover killed herself also.

=Thor.=--In Scandinavian mythology the eldest son of Odin and Frigga; strongest and bravest of the gods. He launched the thunder, presided over the air and the seasons, and protected man from lightning and evil spirits. His wife was Sif (“love”); his chariot was drawn by two he-goats; his mace or hammer was called Mjolner; his belt was Megin-giord, and whenever he put it on his strength was doubled; his palace, Thrudvangr, contained five hundred and forty halls; Thursday is Thor’s day. This word means “refuge from terror.”

=Thyone= (_thi-ō´nē_).--The name given to Semele when she was brought from the lower world by her son Bacchus and placed among the immortals.

=Tiresias= (_tī-res´i-as_).--A celebrated blind soothsayer of Thebes. He was blind from his seventh year; but lived to a great age. He was one of the most famous soothsayers in all antiquity.

=Tiryns= (_tī´rins_).--A town in Argolis; one of the most ancient in all Greece, where Hercules was brought up. Remains of the city are still to be seen.

=Tisiphone.=--See “Furiæ.”

=Titanes= (_tī-tā´nēz_).--The Titans; the six sons and six daughters of Uranus (Heaven) and Ge (Earth), who contended with Jupiter for the sovereignty of heaven, but were overcome by him and precipitated into Tartarus.

=Tithonus= (_tī-thō´nus_).--Son of Laomedon and brother of Priam. He was beloved by the goddess Aurora, who endowed him with immortality, but not with eternal youth. Consequently, with the gradual decay of nature, he became at length a decrepit old man, whose immortality with ever-weakening physical vigor became a terrible burden to him. Aurora eventually changed him into a grasshopper.

=Trimurti.=--The name of the Hindu triad of deities; or Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva united in one god-head, and spoken of as an inseparable unity.

=Triptolemus= (_trip-tol´em-us_).--Son of Celeus, king of Eleusis. He was the favorite of Ceres, and the inventor of the plow and agriculture: hence introduced civilization, which follows the latter. He introduced the worship of Ceres.

=Triton= (_trī´ton_).--A sea-god; son of Neptune, who blows through a shell to calm the sea. He is represented with a man’s head and body, the lower part being that of a fish.

=Troas= (_trō´as_).--The region about Troy (or Ilium), forming one of the five parts into which Mysia, a district occupying the northwest corner of Asia Minor, was divided. Troas is frequently called _The Troad_.

=Troilus= (_trō´il-us_).--Son of Priam and Hecuba; slain by Achilles.

=Troja= (_trō´ja_), or =Troy=, called by the Greeks =Ilium= (_ī´li-um_).--A city of Asia Minor, situated in the Troad, famous for its ten years’ siege by the Greeks. The name Troy was derived from king Tros (_trōs_), who gave his name originally to the district (Troas) and the people; Ilium from Ilus, son of Tros, who founded the city--which, however, was also called, after his father, Troy. The Trojan war forms the subject of Homer’s immortal poem, the _Iliad_. The history of this celebrated war may be briefly told as follows: The war arose from the abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and the most beautiful woman of her time, by Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy. The cause of her abduction is given under “Paris” and “Helen.” All the chiefs of Greece, who had been former suitors of Helen, joined Menelaus in an expedition to Troy to bring her back. They accordingly massed all their forces and sailed for the coast of Troas. Even the gods took an active part in the contest: Juno and Minerva, owing to the judgment of Paris, were hostile to the Trojans, and accordingly sided with the Greeks; while Venus, to whom Paris had awarded the golden apple, took the side of the Trojans. The innumerable incidents of the siege itself must be passed over; only the remarkable way in which, after a ten years’ siege, the city was finally taken, must be told. The city contained an ancient statue of Pallas (_i. e._ Minerva), called the Palladium, (_q.v._) on the preservation of which the safety of the city was supposed to depend. Accordingly the Greeks make a night attack on Troy, and Ulysses and Diomedes succeeded in carrying off this Palladium. A little later the Greeks returned to their ships and sailed away, pretending that they had relinquished the siege. On the plain before the city, however, they left behind them the celebrated _wooden horse_, the invention of Ulysses, which was hollowed out in the interior sufficiently to admit of the presence of its wily inventor and a few other heroes within it. Meanwhile Sinon, a relation of Ulysses, had allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans, and then persuaded them to draw this wooden horse, which he pretended was an atonement for the Palladium, into the city. They foolishly believed him and dragged the horse into the city, and in the dead of night Sinon let the Greeks out of the horse, and they at once set fire to the city. Meanwhile the main body of the Greeks, who had gone no farther than the island of Tenedos, returned and rushed through the gates of the city, opened by their friends within, and in this way the city was taken. The date most generally accepted for the capture of Troy is B. C. 1184.

=Trolls.=--Dwarfs of Northern mythology, living in hills or mounds; they are represented as stumpy, misshapen, and humpbacked, inclined to thieving, and fond of carrying off children or substituting one of their own offspring for that of a human mother. They are called hill-people, and are especially averse to noise, from a recollection of the time when Thor used to fling his hammer after them.

=Tydeus= (_tī´dēs_).--Son of Œneus, king of Calydon, and father of Diomedes, who was one of the principal Greek heroes at the Trojan war. Hence Diomedes is often called by his patronymic Tydides (_ti-dī´dēz_).

=Tyndareus= (_tin´dar-ūs_).--King of Sparta and husband of Leda. He invited Menelaus to come to Sparta, and handed over the kingdom to him.

=Typhoeus= (_ti-fō´ūs_), or =Typhon= (_ti´fon_).--A giant who wished to acquire the sovereign power over gods and men, but was overcome with a thunderbolt from Jupiter and buried under Mount Ætna.

=Tyr.=--In Norse mythology, a warrior deity, and the protector of champions and brave men; he was also noted for his sagacity. When the gods wished to bind the wolf Fenrir, Tyr put his hand into the demon’s mouth as a pledge that the bonds should be removed again. But Fenrir found that the gods had no intention of keeping their word, and revenged himself in some degree by biting the hand off. Tyr was the son of Odin and brother of Thor.

=U=

=Ulin.=--An enchantress, who had no power over those who remained faithful to Allah and their duty; but if any fell into error or sin, she had full power to do as she liked. Thus, when Misnar (sultan of India) mistrusted the protection of Allah, she transformed him into a toad. When the Vizier Horam believed a false report, obviously untrue, she transformed him also into a toad. And when the Princess Hemjunah, to avoid a marriage projected by her father, ran away with a stranger, her indiscretion placed her in the power of the enchantress, who transformed her likewise into a toad. Ulin was ultimately killed by Misnar, sultan of Delhi, who felled her to the ground with a blow.

=Ulysses= (_ū-lis´ēz_), or =Ulixes= (_u-lix´ēz_); called =Odysseus= (_od-is´sūs_) by the Greeks.--A king of Ithaca, famed among the Grecian heroes of the Trojan war for his craft and eloquence; the son of Laertes, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus and Telegonus (by Circe). In order to escape from going with the other Greek heroes against Troy, he feigned madness, ploughing the sea-shore with a horse and bull yoked together and sowing salt. The imposture, however, was laid bare by Palamedes (_q.v._), who placed Telemachus, the infant son of Ulysses, in the furrow, when the latter at once turned aside the plough; but the wily Ulysses had his revenge on Palamedes. Ulysses, in his turn, sought out and obtained the indispensable assistance of Achilles (_q.v._). At the siege of Troy his cunning and valor were of the greatest service to the Greeks. In company with Diomedes he slew the horses of Rhesus, and also carried off the Palladium (_q.v._). Perhaps the crowning effort of his ingenuity was the invention of the famous wooden horse, by means of which the city of Troy (_q.v._) was ultimately taken by the Greeks. After the taking of Troy Ulysses set out for Ithaca, which, however, he did not reach for twenty years. During this time he passed through the adventures which form the subject of Homer’s glorious poem, the _Odyssey_, which takes its name from Odysseus, the Greek name for Ulysses. He thus visited Circe (_q.v._), Polyphemus (_q.v._), the Lotophagi, and other persons and places. In order to get safely past the island of the Sirens, he, with his usual sagacity, devised special means, which proved entirely successful (see “Sirens”). He lost six of his companions while sailing between Scylla (_q.v._) and Charybdis. He then suffered shipwreck, he alone escaping by means of the mast and planks. In ten days he was drifted on to the island of Ogygia, inhabited by Calypso (_q.v._), with whom he stayed for eight years. He then constructed a raft, and made his way to the island of Scheria (_q.v._), whence he obtained a ship that carried him to Ithaca. He did not, however, make himself known at once to his wife and son. In order to see how the land lay, he disguised himself as a beggar, but was kindly received by the old swineherd. Meanwhile his son Telemachus, now grown up to manhood, returned from a journey to Pylos and Sparta, undertaken with a view to gleaning what information he could as to the probable whereabouts of his father. Ulysses then made himself known to Telemachus, and the two resolved on a plan of revenge on the numerous unfortunate suitors for the hand of the virtuous and constant Penelope (_q.v._). With great difficulty she was induced (being, as yet, unaware of the safe arrival of her husband) to promise her hand to that suitor who could shoot with the bow of Ulysses. Not one of them, however, was able to draw this bow, whereupon Ulysses himself took it up and slew them all. He then made himself known to Penelope, and went to see his father Laertes, bowed down with grief and years. Now Circe, who had had a son, Telegonus, by Ulysses, sent him in search of his father. Telegonus encountered a storm which cast his ship on the coast of Ithaca, and being pressed by hunger, he began to plunder the fields. Ulysses and Telemachus hearing of this, went out against the spoliator; but Telegonus, not knowing Ulysses, ran him through the body with a spear given to him by his mother. Thus the famous hero died at the hands of his own son. Telegonus afterwards married Penelope, and became by her the father of Italus.

=Urania= (_ū-rā´ni-a_).--The muse of astronomy. See “Musæ.”

=Uranus= (_ū´ra-nus_), or =Heaven=.--Husband of Gæa (Earth), and father of Oceanus, Hyperion, Rhea, Themis, Cronos, and other children. At the instigation of Gæa he was dethroned by Cronos.

=Utgard-Loki.=--The chief of the giants, in Norse mythology.

=V=

=Varuna=, or =Vrauna=.--In Hindu mythology, the deity who presides over the waters of the ocean, corresponding with _Neptune_ of classic mythology.

=Valhalla.=--In Scandinavian mythology the palace of immortality wherein are received the souls of heroes slain in battle.

=Valkyrs.=--The battle-maidens of Scandinavian mythology. They were mounted on swift horses and held drawn swords. They rushed into battle and selected those destined to death and conducted them to Valhalla. The number of Valkyrs differs greatly according to the various mythologists and ranges from three to sixteen, the greater part of them, however, naming only nine.