Antimache is presented in the classical genealogical tradition as a daughter of Amphidamas of Arcadia (and sister of Melanion in some accounts) who married King Eurystheus of Tiryns, becoming queen by marriage. Through this marriage she anchors Eurystheus' household within broader heroic genealogies and is named as the mother of several children who figure in narratives after the Labors of Heracles.
No ancient physical description or iconographic depiction of Antimache is preserved in the cited sources. She appears in surviving texts and summaries only as a genealogical and narrative personage—queen and mother—rather than a visually described figure.
The sources do not attribute supernatural powers to Antimache; she is a mortal queen in mythic genealogies. Her narrative role consists of familial relationships (wife of Eurystheus; mother of Admete and several sons) and the placement of those offspring in post‑Herculean conflicts. Two variant narrative traditions report violent fates for her sons: one tradition states that all her sons were killed in battle by the Athenians in the war over the Heracleidae; an alternative variant (attested in Athenaeus' summary) says that Heracles himself slew some of her sons—Eurybius, Perimedes, and (possibly) Eurypylus—at a sacrificial meal when they served him smaller portions. The sources differ on these accounts.
Heracles
Heracles is the greatest hero of Greek myth whose career bridges mortal hero-cult and full divinization. Celebrated for his Twelve Labours, martial prowess, and travels between the mortal world, the underworld, and Olympus, he functioned as a civic patron, ancestor of royal lines (the Heracleidae), and object of cult that treated him both as chthonic hero and as god.
Admete (Admeta)
Admete (Ancient Greek: Ἀδμήτη) is a mortal princess of the house of Eurystheus in the Heraclean cycle and, in alternate local tradition, a priestess of Hera associated with the transfer and purification of a cult image to Samos. She functions in surviving accounts as a named requester whose wish prompts one of Heracles' labors and as the human custodian of a sacred image in a Samian foundation story.
*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.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
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.
Abellio
Abellio is a theonym attested in Roman‑period inscriptions from the Comminges area of the Pyrenees and reported as worshipped in the Garonne Valley of ancient Gallia Aquitania. Surviving evidence is limited to a small number of inscriptions; scholars have variously hypothesized solar or arboreal associations and compared the name to forms of Apollo or to Celtic Belenus, but the deity's precise role in local cosmology remains uncertain.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
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.
Aborigines (mythology)
A mytho-historical label used in Roman and general reference sources to denote the oldest inhabitants of a region (specifically central Italy in the cited Roman context). The term functions as an identity/category for original human populations rather than as a characterized supernatural being in the provided sources.
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.
Abundantia
Abundantia is the Roman divine personification of abundance and material plenty, used primarily in imperial propaganda and public iconography to signify secure grain supplies, wealth, and the promise of a 'Golden Age' under the emperor. She also appears in later medieval European folklore as Domina Abundia / Dame Habonde, a household benefactor in accounts condemned by ecclesiastical writers.
Community Record
- [1]Antimache — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Antimache' (summary of classical sources)wiki
- [2]Antimache (Mythology) — Myths UVic. Myths of the World (University of Victoria) entry for Antimacheother
- [3]Antimache to Arsippe - Greek Mythology Link. Greek Mythology Link: entry on Antimache (genealogical summary)other
- [4]King Eurystheus of Tiryns and Mycenae. Overview of Eurystheus and household (includes references to Antimache)other
- [5]Pantheon: Antimache. Pantheon.org summary article on Antimacheother
- [6]Brave Women Warriors Of Greek Myth: An Amazon Roster (name-gloss source). Secondary roster discussing the name gloss 'Confronting Warrior' for Antimache/Antimachos in an Amazonic context (gloss marked uncertain in primary genealogical sources)other