Hades the Greek god of death and riches; ruler of the Underworld

Hadrian the fourteenth emperor of Rome; ruled from 117 to 138 CE; known for building a wall that marked the northern limit of Britannia

harpy a winged female creature that snatches things

Hecate goddess of magic and crossroads

Hecuba queen of Troy, wife of King Priam, ruler during the Trojan War

Helen of Troy a daughter of Zeus and Leda and considered the most beautiful woman in the world; she sparked the Trojan War when she left her husband Menelaus for Paris, a prince of Troy

Helios the Titan god of the sun; son of the Titan Hyperion and the Titaness Theia

Hephaestus the Greek god of fire, including volcanic, and of crafts and blacksmithing; the son of Zeus and Hera, and married to Aphrodite; Roman form: Vulcan

Hera the Greek goddess of marriage; Zeus’s wife and sister; Apollo’s stepmother

Heracles the Greek equivalent of Hercules; the son of Zeus and Alcmene; born with great strength

Hercules the Roman equivalent of Heracles; the son of Jupiter and Alcmene; born with great strength

Hermes Greek god of travelers; guide to spirits of the dead; god of communication

Herophile the daughter of a water nymph; she had such a lovely singing voice that Apollo blessed her with the gift of prophecy, making her the Erythraean Sibyl

Hestia Greek goddess of the hearth and home

Hyacinthus a Greek hero and Apollo’s lover, who died while trying to impress Apollo with his discus skills

hydra a many-headed water serpent

Hypnos Greek god of sleep

Imperial gold a rare metal deadly to monsters, consecrated at the Pantheon; its existence was a closely guarded secret of the emperors

Incitatus the favorite horse of Roman emperor Caligula

Janus the Roman god of beginnings, openings, doorways, gates, passages, time, and endings; depicted with two faces

Jupiter the Roman god of the sky and king of the gods; Greek form: Zeus

Katoptris Greek for mirror; a dagger that once belonged to Helen of Troy

khanda a double-edged straight sword; an important symbol of Sikhism

kusarigama a traditional Japanese weapon consisting of a sickle attached to a chain

Kymopoleia Greek goddess of violent storm waves; daughter of Poseidon

La Ventana a performance and event venue in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Labyrinth an underground maze originally built on the island of Crete by the craftsman Daedalus to hold the Minotaur

legionnaire a member of the Roman army

Leto mother of Artemis and Apollo with Zeus; goddess of motherhood

Little Tiber the barrier of Camp Jupiter

Lucrezia Borgia the daughter of a pope and his mistress; a beautiful noblewoman who earned the reputation of being a political schemer in fifteenth-century Italy

Marcus Aurelius Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE; father of Commodus; considered the last of the “Five Good Emperors”

Mars the Roman god of war; Greek form: Ares

Medea a Greek enchantress, daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis and granddaughter of the Titan sun god, Helios; wife of the hero Jason, whom she helped obtain the Golden Fleece

Mefitis a goddess of foul-smelling gasses of the earth, especially worshipped in swamps and volcanic areas

Meliai Greek nymphs of the ash tree, born of Gaea; they nurtured and raised Zeus in Crete

Michelangelo an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance; a towering genius in the history of Western art; among his many masterpieces, he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican

Minotaur the part-man, part-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

Mount Olympus home of the Twelve Olympians

Mount Vesuvius a volcano near the Bay of Naples in Italy that erupted in the year 79 CE, burying the Roman city of Pompeii under ash

Naevius Sutorius Macro a prefect of the Praetorian Guard from 31 to 38 CE, serving under the emperors Tiberius and Caligula

Neos Helios Greek for new sun, a title adopted by the Roman emperor Caligula

Nero ruled as Roman Emperor from 54 to 58 CE; he had his mother and his first wife put to death; many believe he was responsible for setting a fire that gutted Rome, but he blamed the Christians, whom he burned on crosses; he built an extravagant new palace on the cleared land and lost support when construction expenses forced him to raise taxes; he committed suicide

Nine Muses goddesses who grant inspiration for and protect artistic creation and expression; daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; as children, they were taught by Apollo; their names are Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania, and Calliope

Niobids children who were slain by Apollo and Artemis when their mother, Niobe, boasted about having more offspring than Leto, the twins’ mother

nunchaku originally a farm tool used to harvest rice, an Okinawan weapon consisting of two sticks connected at one end by a short chain or rope

nymph a female deity who animates nature

Oracle of Delphi a speaker of the prophecies of Apollo

Oracle of Trophonius a Greek who was transformed into an Oracle after his death; located at the Cave of Trophonius; known for terrifying those who seek him

Orthopolis the only child of Plemnaeus who survived birth; disguised as an old woman, Demeter nursed him, ensuring the boy’s survival

Ouranos the Greek personification of the sky; husband of Gaea; father of the Titans

Palatine Hill the most famous of Rome’s seven hills; considered one of the most desirable neighborhoods in ancient Rome, it was home to aristocrats and emperors

Pan the Greek god of the wild; the son of Hermes

pandai (pandos, sing.) a tribe of men with gigantic ears, eight fingers and toes, and bodies covered with hair that starts out white and turn black with age

parazonium a triangular-bladed dagger sported by women in ancient Greece

Petersburg a Civil War battle in Virginia in which an explosive charge designed to be used against the Confederates led to the deaths of 4,000 Union troops

phalanx a body of heavily armed troops in close formation

Philip of Macedon the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BCE until his assassination in 336 BCE; father of Alexander the Great

physician’s cure a concoction created by Asclepius, god of medicine, to bring someone back from the dead

Plemnaeus the father of Orthopolis, whom Demeter reared to ensure that he would flourish

Pompeii a Roman city that was destroyed in 79 CE when the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried it under ash

Poseidon the Greek god of the sea; son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Hades

praetor an elected Roman magistrate and commander of the army

praetorian guard a unit of elite Roman soldiers in the Imperial Roman Army

princeps Latin for first citizen or first in line; the early Roman emperors adopted this title for themselves, and it came to mean prince of Rome

Python a monstrous dragon that Gaea appointed to guard the Oracle at Delphi

River Styx the river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld

Sarpedon a son of Zeus who was a Lycian prince and a hero in the Trojan War; he fought with distinction on the Trojan side but was slain by the Greek warrior Patroclus

Saturnalia an ancient Roman festival held in December in honor of the god Saturn, the Roman equivalent of Kronos

satyr a Greek forest god, part goat and part man