Meriones is presented in the epic and mythographic tradition as a Cretan by birth, son of Molus and a member of Cretan royal genealogies. He is closely linked to Idomeneus—described as nephew, charioteer and subordinate companion—and is listed among the Cretan contingent at Troy and among the wider band of Greek suitors/Oath-takers connected to the Helen legend. Genealogical accounts place him in a descent-network connected to Minos and Deucalion, giving him mythic ancestry traced to figures such as Zeus and Europa in the broad heroic genealogy.
Surviving summaries and genealogical notices do not preserve a detailed physical portrait of Meriones (no specific height, hair, or unique heraldry is given in the provided material). Attested aspects of his 'appearance' are social and functional: he is identified as a Cretan warrior and charioteer, son of Molus and companion of Idomeneus, and is depicted in Homeric contexts as equipped for battle and athletic contests (spear-throwing, chariot service), the expected accoutrements of an Achaean combatant in epic narrative. Beyond these narrative roles, no descriptive physical details are supplied in the cited sources.
Meriones is described as a skilled mortal warrior and charioteer within Homeric tradition. Sources record battlefield exploits (brief Iliadic attestations of opponents slain by him in combat) and his success in funeral-game competitions (e.g., taking first place in a spear-throwing contest in the Iliad Book 23 summary). His capacities are those of a capable heroic-age fighter and loyal subordinate—martial prowess, chariot-driving, and competition skill—rather than supernatural powers.
Weaknesses
- conditionmortal human limits (susceptible to wounds and death)
Wards
None recorded.
*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]Meriones (mythology) - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Meriones (mythology)'wiki
- [2]Meriones in Greek Mythology - Greek Legends and Myths. GreekLegendsAndMyths.com summary 'Meriones in Greek Mythology'folk
- [3]Idomeneus – MYTH INDEX, Greek Mythology. MythIndex entry on Idomeneus noting tomb and joint hero-worship at Cnosusfolk
- [4]Iliad Book 23 - Summary. Summary of Iliad Book 23 describing funeral games and Meriones' spear-throwing victoryliterary
- [5]3596 Meriones - Wikipedia. Asteroid named after the Cretan leader Meriones, noted in Wikipediawiki
- [6]Meriones - Wikidata. Wikidata entry for Merionesother
- [7]Deaths in the Iliad (Iliadic kill-lists) - Ian Johnston / Greek Mythology Link. Reference lists and line citations noting combat deaths attributed to Meriones in Iliadic passagesliterary