Areilycus does not have an origin myth as a supernatural being; instead the name is attested as that of at least two mortal personages within Greek epic and later mythographic tradition. In genealogical lists and mythographic summaries (e.g., Fabulae 97 and citations in Diodorus/Hyginus) Areilycus (rendered also Archilycus) is given as father of Arcesilaus/Archesilaus and Prothoenor, situating him in Boeotian lineage and the catalogue tradition. Separately, Homer’s Iliad (Book XVI) records an individual called Areilycus, son of Menoetius, who is wounded in the thigh by Patroclus while fleeing in battle; the Homeric passage implies that wound is fatal. Variant spellings across sources reflect oral-textual transmission rather than a unitary mythic identity.
No distinctive supernatural or unusual physical description is provided in the sources beyond the ordinary features of a Homeric warrior. Homer’s Iliad (Book XVI) describes the warrior Areilycus as fleeing when struck: Patroclus’ spear 'pierced the thigh' and shattered bone in the passage cited, a blunt, physical account without extended simile or symbolic embellishment. Genealogical attestations give no portraitic detail — Areilycus functions as a named ancestor in catalogues rather than as a vividly depicted individual.
Areilycus is presented only as a mortal combatant and genealogical progenitor. His recorded behaviours are those of a human warrior in the epic: participating in battle and attempting flight/retreat (the Iliadic account notes he was fleeing when wounded). No supernatural powers, magical capacities, or spirit-like behaviours are ascribed in the provided sources; his role in later compendia is to mark lineage and regional affiliation (e.g., father of leaders from Boeotia).
*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]Homer, The Iliad (Book XVI). Homer, Iliad, Book XVI (translation cited in research notes) — passage describing Patroclus wounding Areilycus (son of Menoetius).literary
- [2]Areilycus (Wikipedia). Wikipedia entry 'Areilycus' — attested forms, etymology ('warlike wolf' / 'wolf of Ares'), summary of attestations and notes on the unembellished nature of his Iliadic death.wiki
- [3]Archilycus / Archilycus (Wikipedia / Wikidata references). Archilycus article and linked mythographic citations (Fabulae 97; summaries citing Diodorus/Hyginus) — genealogical attestation naming Areilycus as father of Arcesilaus/Archesilaus and Prothoenor, Boeotian associations.wiki
- [4]ToposText: Areilycus. ToposText person entry collating Homeric and mythographic references for Areilycus/Archilycus.other
- [5]Person: Areilykos (myths.uvic.ca). Database entry summarizing Homeric occurrences and genealogical listings for Areilycus/Areilykos.other
- [6]Fabulae 97 (summarized in secondary entries). Fabulae 97 as cited in Archilycus/Areilycus summaries — names Arcesilaus (Archesilaus) son of Areilycus and Theobula, from Boeotia with ten ships; used here as a mythographic genealogical source as recorded in the secondary literature.literary