The name Astynome appears in multiple classical and mythographic sources as a personal name borne by distinct mortal women rather than a single originating entity. Attestations include: an Astynome counted among the Niobids (the children of Niobe); an Astynome listed as daughter of Talaus and mother of Capaneus by Hipponous in Argive genealogies; an Astynome used as an alternative name for Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses taken captive in traditions associated with the Iliad; and an Astynome described in one tradition as mother by Ares of Calydon who saw Artemis naked and was transformed into a rock. These variants are recorded across literary summaries and mythographic compilations (see Wikipedia summary, Pantheon entry, ToposText and related mythographic sources).
No consistent or canonical physical description of 'Astynome' is provided in the supplied sources, because the name refers to several mortal women in distinct narratives. Individual references depict her in roles (daughter, mother, captive) rather than by bodily detail; one tradition records her being transformed into a rock by Artemis, which is an outcome rather than a physical portrait. Overall, the sources present Astynome as ordinary mortal women whose appearances are not specified beyond their narrative functions.
The supplied materials do not ascribe inherent supernatural powers to Astynome. Her recorded capacities are ordinary mortal roles: motherhood (e.g., mother of Capaneus), genealogical identity (daughter of Talaus; daughter of Chryses when identified with Chryseis), and being a war captive (the Chryseis/Astynome tradition). One account records a divinely caused metamorphosis—she saw Artemis naked and was turned into a rock—which is a punishment inflicted by a deity rather than an ability possessed by Astynome herself.
Chryseis
A mortal woman in Greek myth best known from Book 1 of the Iliad as the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo, taken as a captive/concubine by Agamemnon; her father's supplication to Apollo and the resulting plague force Agamemnon to return her, illustrating the nexus of religious and political obligation in the epic. Later traditions give her personal names (Astynome) or rework her into medieval figures such as Cressida and, in some post-Homeric accounts, assign her children by Agamemnon.
Apsara
Celestial dancers and water nymphs of Hindu cosmology — beautiful semi-divine beings who dance at the court of Indra and, by his command, descend to earth to distract sages from excessive asceticism.
*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]Astynome. Wikipedia, 'Astynome' entry (summary of classical attestations)wiki
- [2]Astynome | Facts, Information, and Mythology. Pantheon.org summary of mythographic tradition identifying Astynome with Chryseis and listing other attestationsother
- [3]ToposText: People - Astynome. ToposText genealogical references for figures named Astynome (daughter of Talaus; other mentions)literary
- [4]Wikidata: Chryseis (Q611124). Wikidata entry for Chryseis, reflecting overlap of the names Chryseis and Astynome in traditionother
- [5]Modern creative and miscellaneous mentions (selected). Modern literary uses of the name 'Astynome' (not used as primary mythographic evidence)other