Who’s who in ancient Greece
Open Horizons: Ancient Greek Journeys and Connections introduces many people, gods and mythological figures which may be unfamiliar.
Achaemenid Persians
The Archemenid Persian empire, based in modern-day Iran from 550 BCE, was the largest empire the ancient world had seen. The Achaemenid Persians conquered Asia Minor in the mid- 5th century BCE.
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Africans
Ancient Greeks called peoples from Africa ‘Ethiopians’, using skin colour as an identity marker.
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Amazons
A race or community of female warriors. Once considered mythological, evidence now supports their existence in ancient times.
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Assyrians
Peoples from the Near Eastern kingdom of Assyria, which became a great empire in the Middle East.
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Argonauts / argonauts
The Argonauts were heroes who journeyed to the legendary Colchis to find the fabled riches of the gold-ferrous river Phasis (the Rioni in modern Georgia). Their name was given to a type of octopus, the argonaut.
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Cycladic peoples
The Cycladic peoples lived in the southern Aegean Sea islands north of Crete. They traded with mainland Greece from about 6,000 BCE.
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Cypriots
Peoples of Cyprus, a large island east of Greece. Of strategic importance at the crossroads of sea trade, Cyprus was occupied by a series of major powers. Greek settlements from the Bronze Age led to close ties in the region.
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Egyptians
The Egyptian civilization was a major trading partner of ancient Greece, often with close cultural and religious relationships.
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Ethiopians
The term ‘Ethiopians’ was used by ancient Greeks for all people from Africa, rather than only to those from the modern country of Ethiopia.
Etruscans
Lived in pre-Roman Italy. The Etruscan script, derived from a Greek alphabet, is still undeciphered.
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Minoans
The Minoan civilization flourished in Crete in the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600).
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Mycenaeans
Lived during the Mycenaean period (1600–1070 BCE), a time of expanding political alliances and trade. The city of Mycenae was located in the north-eastern Peloponnese.
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Persians
Persians lived in the Archaemenid Empire, within regions governed by satrapies (governors). The Persian Wars were fought with Greece during the 5th century and beyond.
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Phoenicians
A confederation of people who lived on the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Phoenician city of Gadeira (modern Cadiz, Spain), was the end point of the major Phoenician and Greek Mediterranean trade routes.
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Syrians
Peoples from Syria, located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, with an ancient and complex history of governance. The Syro-Palestinian region is a loose label for areas including ancient Syria.
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Alexander the Great
Ruler and military commander, and admirer of Herakles. Lived 356–323 BCE.
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Alexandra
Initiate in the cult of Egyptian goddess Isis.
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Antinous
Favourite of Roman emperor Hadrian, he drowned in the river Nile in 130 CE and was deified. The cult of Antinous-Osiris spread throughout the provinces.
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Apollo
Derived from Egyptian Harpocrates, Apollo was god of many things, including music, poetry, healing, disease, prophecy and light.
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Bellerophon
Corinthian hero, son of Glaucus or Poseidon and Eurynome (wife of Glaucus). Mounted on his winged horse Pegasus, Bellerophon slew the Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster.
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Bes
God protector of mothers and new-born babies, and provided luck in fertility and relationships.
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Bousiris
Mythological king of Egypt, son of Poseidon and Lysianassa. He was killed by Herakles to stop the custom of sacrificing strangers who came to his country in order to end a long drought.
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Cybele
Mountain goddess associated with the Near Eastern goddess Kubaba. Characteristic of her worship were ecstatic rituals in wild locations. The cult of Cybele spread from Phrygia.
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Herakles
Born a mortal, he was seen as a son of Zeus, became a hero and was deified after his death. He tamed nature with his divine power. His cult was widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean region including the Roman Empire.
Helios
Sun god who rode a chariot through the sky.
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Hermaphroditus
Handsome son of the gods Hermes and Aphrodite. When swimming in the waters of a spring near Halikarnassus, in Asia Minor, nymph of the spring Salmakis embraced him in mad desire and asked the gods to grant her prayer that they live ever after united in one body.
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Horus/Harpocrates
Egyptian child-god, the son of Isis and Osiris, who represented the newborn sun rising each day.
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Melqart
Phoenician / Levantine god, identified with Herakles.
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Memnon
Leader of the Ethiopian contingent at Troy.
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Reshef
A god of war, disease and the underworld, both dangerous and benevolent.
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Serapis
Patron god of Egypt during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, combining aspects of the Egyptian gods Apis and Osiris, and the Greek gods Zeus, Hades and Asklepios. Ptolemy I Soter (305-4–282 BCE) promoted the cult of Serapis as a means of unifying the Greeks and Egyptians.
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Theseus
Athenian mythical hero-king who sailed to Crete and killed the half-human, half-bull Minotaur. His journey reflects Athens’ first attempt to gain power in the Aegean Sea.
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Zeus
King of the ancient Greek gods and father of Herakles.
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Chimaera
Fire-breathing monster with the head and body of a lion, a goat-head growing on its back and the tail of a snake.
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Griffins
Daemonic creatures with eagle heads and lion bodies.
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Maenads
Female followers of Dionysos, representing wine and madness.
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Minotaur
Half-human, half-bull, killed by mythical hero-king Theseus.
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Pegasus
Winged horse, on which Corinthian hero Bellerophon was mounted when he slew the dreadful Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster.
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Satyrs
Wild, rustic fertility spirits.
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Sirens
Supernatural creatures with a female head and body and claws of a bird of prey. Ιn Greek mythology the Sirens trapped mariners with their enchanting song and lured them to their deaths.
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Sphinx
Hybrid creature with the head of a woman, body of a lion and wings of a bird. The Sphinx has Egyptian roots, is associated with riddles and puzzles, and symbolises the inexplicable. It has also been considered the bearer of bad luck and destruction.
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Eukleides
Athenian sculptor who lived in the 2nd century BCE.
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Herodes Atticus
Wealthy Athenian orator, sophist and benefactor, who had an estate in Marathon (CE101–177). A statue depicting the deity Antinous-Osiris was unearthed on the site of his estate in 1843, at the sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods.
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