AENEAS—a Trojan hero, the son of Aphrodite and a favorite of Apollo; becomes king of the Trojan people

AMPHORA (AMPHORAE, pl.)—a tall ceramic jar

ANDROMEDA—the daughter of the Ethiopian king, Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia; after Cassiopeia bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sent a sea monster, Cetus, to attack Ethiopia; Perseus saved Andromeda from the rock she was chained to as a sacrifice

APHRODITE—the Greek goddess of love and beauty; she was married to Hephaestus, but she loved Ares, the god of war

APOLLO—the Greek god of the sun, prophecy, music, and healing; the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis

ARCAS—the son of Zeus and Callisto, a nymph follower of Artemis; Zeus disguised himself as Artemis in order to seduce Callisto; after Hera became jealous and transformed Callisto into a bear, Zeus hid their son, Arcas, in an area of Greece later called Arcadia

ARES—the Greek god of war; the son of Zeus and Hera, and half brother to Athena

ARGONAUTS—a band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo, in search of the Golden Fleece

ARGUS—a hundred-eyed giant sent by Hera to guard a nymph named Io

ARTEMIS—the Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon; the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Apollo

ASCLEPIUS—the Greek god of medicine; son of Apollo; his temple was the healing center of ancient Greece

ATALANTA—a Greek hero; the daughter of King Iasus, who left her on a mountaintop to die because he wanted a son; she grew up in the wilderness and eventually became one of Artemis’s Hunters; she sailed with the Argonauts as the only woman among them

ATHENA—the Greek goddess of wisdom

ATHENA PARTHENOS—a giant statue of Athena; the most famous Greek statue of all time

ATHENA POLIAS—an olive-wood, life-size statue of Athena Polias (“of the city”) that was located in the temple to Athena at the Acropolis of Athens, Greece

CALLISTO—a nymph who had a son with Zeus and was transformed into a bear by the jealous Hera; Zeus later placed her into the sky as the constellation Ursa Major, or “the Great Bear”

CASSIOPEIA—wife of the Ethiopian king Cepheus, and mother of Andromeda; she angered Poseidon when she claimed that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids

CELESTIAL BRONZE—a rare metal deadly to monsters

CENTAUR—a race of creatures that is half-human, half-horse

CETUS—the sea monster Poseidon sent to attack Ethiopia as punishment when Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter, Andromeda, was more beautiful than the Nereids; Andromeda was sacrificed to the monster but ultimately saved by Perseus

CHARMSPEAK—a blessing bestowed by Aphrodite on her children that enables them to persuade others with their voices

CHITON—a Greek garment; a sleeveless piece of linen or wool secured at the shoulders by brooches and at the waist by a belt

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

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

DIONYSUS—the Greek god of wine and revelry; a son of Zeus; activities director at Camp Half-Blood

DRAKON—a gigantic yellow-and-green serpentlike monster, with frills around its neck, reptilian eyes, and huge talons; it spits poison

DRYADS—tree nymphs

EIDOLON—a possessing spirit

ENCELADUS—a giant created by Gaea to specifically destroy the goddess Athena

GAEA—the Greek earth goddess; mother of Titans, giants, Cyclopes, and other monsters

GOLDEN FLEECE—this hide from a gold-haired winged ram was a symbol of authority and kingship; it was guarded by a dragon and fire-breathing bulls; Jason was tasked with obtaining it, resulting in an epic quest

GREEK FIRE—an incendiary weapon used in naval battles because it can continue burning in water

GROVE OF DODONA—the site of the oldest Greek Oracle, second only to the Oracle of Delphi; 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

HEBE—the Greek goddess of youth; daughter of Zeus and Hera

HECATE—goddess of magic and crossroads; controls the Mist

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

HERMES—the Greek god of travelers; guide to the spirits of the dead; god of communication

HESTIA—the Greek goddess of the hearth

HIMATION—an outer garment worn by the ancient Greeks over the left shoulder and under the right

HUNDRED-EYED—Argus was a hundred-eyed giant sent by Hera to guard Io, a nymph with whom Zeus was involved

HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS—a group of maidens loyal to Artemis and gifted with hunting skills and eternal youth as long as they reject men for life

HYPNOS—the Greek god of sleep

IO—a nymph who attracted Zeus’s attention and was guarded by a hundred-eyed giant named Argus

IRIS—the Greek goddess of the rainbow, and a messenger of the gods

JASON—a Greek hero; the leader of the Argonauts’ expedition in the quest of retrieving the Golden Fleece

KOPIS—a three-foot-long sword with a forward-curving blade

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

LYRE—a string instrument, similar to a small harp, used in ancient Greece

MANTICORE—a creature with a human head, a lion’s body, and a scorpion’s tail

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

MIST—a magic force that disguises things from mortals

MOUNT OLYMPUS—home of the Twelve Olympians

MOUNT PELION—a mountain in the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece; the homeland of Chiron the centaur, tutor of many ancient Greek heroes

MYCENAE—the capital city that Perseus and Andromeda founded

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

NAIAD—a water nymph

NEMEAN LION—a lion that ravaged the area of Nemea; its fur was impervious to human weapons; slain by Heracles

NEMESIS—the Greek goddess of revenge

NEREIDS—water nymphs

NIKE—the Greek goddess of strength, speed, and victory

NYMPH—a female deity who animates nature

OMPHALUS—stone used to mark the center—or navel—of the world

ORACLE OF DELPHI—a speaker of the prophecies of Apollo

OURANOS—the Greek personification of the sky; father of the Titans

PALAESTRA—the Greek goddess of wrestling

PALIKOI (PALIKOS, sing.)—twin sons of Zeus and Thaleia; the gods of geysers and thermal springs

PANATHENAIA—an ancient religious festival in Athens; the Athenians went in procession to the Acropolis, sacrificed one hundred oxen, and gave offerings, including a richly embroidered cloth, to the goddess Athena in the Parthenon temple