In the classical genealogical tradition Amphithemis is presented as the son of Apollo and Acacallis (daughter of Minos). Exiled or borne in Libya — the place to which Acacallis had been sent in these accounts — he functions as a founder or eponymous ancestor: Apollonius of Rhodes names him Garamas, connecting him to the Garamantes, and he is father by the Libyan lake-nymph Tritonis of two sons, Nasamon and Caphaurus (Cephalion). In a separate, later poetic reworking (Nonnus' Dionysiaca, 5th century AD) the same name is applied to a centaur, assimilating the name into the troupe of half-horse creatures that accompany Dionysus.
In the Hellenistic and mythographic sources that treat Amphithemis as Apollo's son he is not given a detailed physical description and is treated as a human or semi-divine ancestor in genealogical lists. In Nonnus' Dionysiaca Amphithemis is explicitly called a centaur — a half-human, half-horse being — though the provided summaries do not quote extended descriptive passages from Nonnus beyond this categorical identification.
As an eponymous progenitor in Apollonius/Hyginus-style accounts Amphithemis' role is genealogical and foundational rather than demonstrably miraculous: he begets offspring who serve as local eponyms and actors within heroic cycles (notably his son Caphaurus/Cephalion, a shepherd who kills two Argonauts after they plunder his flocks). The extant summaries attribute no specific supernatural feats to Amphithemis himself. The centaur-identification in Nonnus places him within the conventional behavioral field of centaurs in Greek poetry — martial strength, pastoral association, and participation in Dionysian retinues — but the supplied materials do not record individual exploits or powers for Amphithemis beyond that taxonomic placement.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Aba (disambiguation / name-form)
Aba is a polyvalent name-form attested across many unrelated contexts (place names, personal names, animal names, and brief mythological listings). The provided sources do not support a single, coherent supernatural entity called "Aba" and offer no descriptive or ritual material for such a being.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abomination of Desolation
An apocalyptic prophetic phrase originating in the Book of Daniel designating a profaning thing or act that renders the Jerusalem Temple cult desolate; later reused in the Synoptic Gospels as an eschatological sign prompting urgent flight. The term denotes ritual/cultic impurity (Hebrew shiqquts) and is variously interpreted as pagan offerings or altar, a foreign cult statue, or (in some New Testament readings) an acting agent.
Absyrtus
Absyrtus (Ancient Greek: Ἄψυρτος) is a Colchian prince in the Greek Argonautic cycle, son of King Aeëtes and brother or half-brother of Medea. He appears in variant traditions either as a companion taken by Medea during her flight with Jason and murdered/dismembered to delay pursuit, or as a pursuer sent by Aeëtes who is overtaken and slain by Jason; his death functions as a key narrative device in the escape from Colchis.
Acacallis
Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς; also Acalle) is a mythological princess of Crete in Greek tradition, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. She functions primarily as a dynastic and etiological figure: in varying accounts she is mother, by gods such as Hermes (Mercury) or Apollo, of eponymous or founder-figures like Cydon (founder of Cydonia), Miletus, or Lydon/ Lydus.
Acacus
Acacus (Ancient Greek: Ἄκακος) is, in Arcadian Greek tradition, a mortal eponymous founder-king of Acacesium and is remembered as the foster-father who reared the infant Hermes (Mercury) in that local tradition. He is presented in genealogies as a son of Lycaon and functions as a local ancestral/onomastic figure rather than a supernatural spirit.
Academus
Academus (Greek: Akádemos / Hekádemos) is an Attic hero-eponym tied to a sacred grove (Akademeia) on the Cephissus near Athens. In myth he revealed where Helen was hidden to the Dioskouroi, an act said to have saved the city, and the place bearing his name became a long-lived sacred precinct, later the site of Plato's Academy.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acantha
Acantha (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάνθα, 'thorn') is a late or secondary mythological figure known from modern retellings as a nymph transformed into the acanthus plant. The tale that she scratched Apollo and was changed into a spiny-leaved plant is not attested in surviving classical corpora and appears to be a modern compilation or invention rather than a firmly documented ancient myth.
Community Record
- [1]Amphithemis — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Amphithemis,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Dionysiaca (Nonnus) — reference to centaurs of Dionysus. Summary reference to 'Centaurs of Dionysus' and late antique poetic treatments (Nonnus' Dionysiaca, 5th c. AD) as cited in the provided notes.literary
- [3]Tritonis — Libyan Nymph & Lake-Goddess. Theoi Project entry on Tritonis; used in supplied notes to connect Amphithemis' offspring to the Libyan lake-nymph.literary
- [4]Apollonius of Rhodes — Argonautica (genealogical material referenced). Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica: genealogical notices linking Amphithemis/Garamas to Libyan eponymy and to his sons (as summarized in supplied materials).literary
- [5]Hyginus, Fabulae (Argonauts material). Hyginus' Fabulae contains lists and episodes connected to the Argonauts; Hyginus is cited in the supplied notes for related episodes (Caphaurus/Cephalion killing Argonauts).literary
- [6]Amphithemis (genus) — Odonata records (modern taxonomic reuse). Kosterin & Chartier (2018) and Kosterin et al. (2012) — records noting Amphithemis curvistyla and the modern biological reuse of the classical name; cited in supplied notes to distinguish taxonomic homonymy from mythic identity.other
- [7]Person: Amphithemis — Myths UVic summary. Mythographic summary used in the supplied notes collating classical references for Amphithemis (Apollo + Acacallis tradition and Libyan associations).other