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O entries
Ocean. A river, personified as a god, which ushered from the Underworld and flowed around the flat earth in a circle. When he journeyed to Hades to consult the prophet Teiresias, the hero Odysseus crossed the stream of Ocean to reach the kingdom of the dead.
Odysseus (oh-DISS-ee-us or oh-DISS-yoos). King of an island off the western coast of Greece; one of the heroes who fought in the Trojan War. On his trip home from Troy, Odysseus and his shipmates encountered a number of perils. At Mythweb, see the illustrated myth of Odysseus.
Oedipus (ED-i-pus or EE-di-pus). King of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.
Colorful encounters awaited the great heroes as they set out on the road, never knowing what strange adventure lay ahead. Sometimes these run-ins were with humans, sometimes not. The hero Oedipus was told to stand aside by a charioteer in a narrow pass. He refused, the chariot rushed him and Oedipus struck down the driver as he passed. The man died. Only long afterwards did Oedipus discover that the stranger was his own father.
Further along the same road, Oedipus came to another narrow place. There perched a beast with the head of a woman, the wings of a griffin and the body of a lion. This monster - the Sphinx - asked a riddle of all passers-by. Failure to answer correctly meant death. She put the riddle to Oedipus: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three at close of day?"
"That's simple enough," replied the hero. "A human crawls on four legs as an infant, walks upright on two in the prime of life and hobbles with a cane in old age."
Hearing this, the Sphinx promptly ran off and killed herself. The grateful people of nearby Thebes made Oedipus their king. Like all great heroes, he never shirked an encounter.
Olympians (uh-LIM-pee-uns or oh-LIM-pee-uns). The supreme gods of the Greek pantheon, who were thought to dwell on the peaks of Mount Olympus or somewhere in the sky. High in the clouds, they lived in a marvelous palace and diverted themselves from time to time by interfering in the lives of the mortals below.
The king of the Olympian gods was Zeus. He sat on a throne of Egyptian marble, inlaid with gold. A purple ram's fleece cushioned the seat. Queen Hera's throne was ivory. Over it hung a full moon. To the side of Hera sat Ares, the god of war. His throne, of burnished brass, had a cushion covered in human skin. The throne room, or council hall, was in the midst of the sumptuous palace, built for the Olympians by the Cyclopes, industrious one-eyed giants.
There were twelve supreme Olympians, although the precise configuration of the divine counsel convening on Mount Olympus was subject to change over time. At one point, for instance, Hestia, goddess of the hearth, was a member, but she grew tired of the godly bickering and gladly gave her place to the god of wine, Dionysus.
Demeter's daughter Persephone was sometimes but not often considered to be one of the twelve. As Hades' wife, her proper throne was in the Underworld. Nor was the god of the dead, Hades himself, an Olympian, even though he was Zeus's brother. On the other hand, Zeus's other brother Poseidon shared the lofty heights of Olympus when he was not breasting the waves in his seaborne chariot. He is often depicted carrying a three-pronged spear, or trident, symbol of his power as god of the sea.
Others in the pantheon were Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, and her husband Hephaestus, master craftsman of the gods; Hermes, the Olympians' messenger, and Apollo, god of prophecy and healing. Athena often carries a spear because she is goddess not just of crafts but of the science of war as well. And Artemis the huntress is equipped with a bow.

Mount Olympus. Photo: C.M. Dixon.
Olympus (uh-LIM-pus or oh-LIM-pus). Mountain in northern Greece, rising to multiple peaks of over 9000 feet. Generally thought of as the home of the supreme gods. (However, a myth in which two giants piled other mountains on top of Olympus to attack the gods suggests that they were also conceived of as living somewhere in the sky.)
oracle (OHR-a-kul). The answer given by a god to a question asked by a mortal supplicant. Or the human agent conveying the divine response. Or the place where the answer was given.
Oracles were often hard to understand. King Croesus of Lydia was so wealthy that his name gave rise to the expression, "as rich as Croesus". He consulted the famous Oracle of Delphi before he rebelled against the Persian empire. Croesus was told that if he proceeded, a mighty empire would fall. Croesus took this as an endorsement of his plan, and the oracle came true. Unfortunately the empire that fell was his own.
Orion (oh-RYE-un). Gigantic hunter, killed by Artemis. The goddess had been spending a great deal of time hunting with Orion - too much time in the opinion of her brother Apollo, who decided to put an end to the relationship. He tricked Artemis into shooting an arrow at something bobbing far out at sea, which turned out to be the head of the swimming Orion.

Orpheus playing the lyre, from a southern Italian Greek vase. 330 B.C. Canossa, Italy. Munich Antikensammlung. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource.
Orpheus (OHR-fee-us or OHR-fyoos). Supremely gifted minstrel who attempted to rescue his dead wife from the Underworld. Orpheus had been taught to play the lyre by Apollo, and such was his skill on the instrument, together with the sweetness of his singing voice, that he could charm wild animals and even cause trees to uproot themselves and follow in his steps. Jason and the Argonauts took him along when they quested after the Golden Fleece, and Orpheus saved them from shipwreck by drowning out the treacherously alluring voices of the Sirens with his own musical stylings.
Orpheus fell in love with a nymph named Eurydice and blissful was their life together until one day she was pursued by a son of Apollo, the minor deity Aristaeus. In her headlong eagerness to escape, she stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten and died. Disconsolate, Orpheus found a cave which lead to Hades and followed Eurydice to the Underworld. Here his musical charms were so persuasive that the King of the Dead permitted the minstrel to take his sweetheart home with him - on one condition.
This condition was so simple that it takes some explaining to account for Orpheus's failure to heed it. Perhaps he could not bear to keep his eyes off their beloved object for a moment longer. Perhaps he wanted to share his rapture at birdsong and sunshine as they approached the mouth of the cave. Or maybe he wanted Eurydice to hear the latest lick that he had worked out on his lyre. In any case, he did the one thing he had been forbidden. He turned around and looked at Eurydice, and she was lost to him forever.
Orpheus swore he would never love another, and it may have been the steadfastness of this vow which caused certain wild women of Thrace to tear him limb from limb in a fit of jealousy. They threw his head into a river, and it kept on singing all the way to the sea.
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O entries
Ocean. A river, personified as a god, which ushered from the Underworld and flowed around the flat earth in a circle. When he journeyed to Hades to consult the prophet Teiresias, the hero Odysseus crossed the stream of Ocean to reach the kingdom of the dead.
Odysseus (oh-DISS-ee-us or oh-DISS-yoos). King of an island off the western coast of Greece; one of the heroes who fought in the Trojan War. On his trip home from Troy, Odysseus and his shipmates encountered a number of perils. At Mythweb, see the illustrated myth of Odysseus.
Oedipus (ED-i-pus or EE-di-pus). King of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.
Colorful encounters awaited the great heroes as they set out on the road, never knowing what strange adventure lay ahead. Sometimes these run-ins were with humans, sometimes not. The hero Oedipus was told to stand aside by a charioteer in a narrow pass. He refused, the chariot rushed him and Oedipus struck down the driver as he passed. The man died. Only long afterwards did Oedipus discover that the stranger was his own father.
Further along the same road, Oedipus came to another narrow place. There perched a beast with the head of a woman, the wings of a griffin and the body of a lion. This monster - the Sphinx - asked a riddle of all passers-by. Failure to answer correctly meant death. She put the riddle to Oedipus: "What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three at close of day?"
"That's simple enough," replied the hero. "A human crawls on four legs as an infant, walks upright on two in the prime of life and hobbles with a cane in old age."
Hearing this, the Sphinx promptly ran off and killed herself. The grateful people of nearby Thebes made Oedipus their king. Like all great heroes, he never shirked an encounter.
Olympians (uh-LIM-pee-uns or oh-LIM-pee-uns). The supreme gods of the Greek pantheon, who were thought to dwell on the peaks of Mount Olympus or somewhere in the sky. High in the clouds, they lived in a marvelous palace and diverted themselves from time to time by interfering in the lives of the mortals below.
The king of the Olympian gods was Zeus. He sat on a throne of Egyptian marble, inlaid with gold. A purple ram's fleece cushioned the seat. Queen Hera's throne was ivory. Over it hung a full moon. To the side of Hera sat Ares, the god of war. His throne, of burnished brass, had a cushion covered in human skin. The throne room, or council hall, was in the midst of the sumptuous palace, built for the Olympians by the Cyclopes, industrious one-eyed giants.
There were twelve supreme Olympians, although the precise configuration of the divine counsel convening on Mount Olympus was subject to change over time. At one point, for instance, Hestia, goddess of the hearth, was a member, but she grew tired of the godly bickering and gladly gave her place to the god of wine, Dionysus.
Demeter's daughter Persephone was sometimes but not often considered to be one of the twelve. As Hades' wife, her proper throne was in the Underworld. Nor was the god of the dead, Hades himself, an Olympian, even though he was Zeus's brother. On the other hand, Zeus's other brother Poseidon shared the lofty heights of Olympus when he was not breasting the waves in his seaborne chariot. He is often depicted carrying a three-pronged spear, or trident, symbol of his power as god of the sea.
Others in the pantheon were Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, and her husband Hephaestus, master craftsman of the gods; Hermes, the Olympians' messenger, and Apollo, god of prophecy and healing. Athena often carries a spear because she is goddess not just of crafts but of the science of war as well. And Artemis the huntress is equipped with a bow.

Mount Olympus. Photo: C.M. Dixon.
Olympus (uh-LIM-pus or oh-LIM-pus). Mountain in northern Greece, rising to multiple peaks of over 9000 feet. Generally thought of as the home of the supreme gods. (However, a myth in which two giants piled other mountains on top of Olympus to attack the gods suggests that they were also conceived of as living somewhere in the sky.)
oracle (OHR-a-kul). The answer given by a god to a question asked by a mortal supplicant. Or the human agent conveying the divine response. Or the place where the answer was given.
Oracles were often hard to understand. King Croesus of Lydia was so wealthy that his name gave rise to the expression, "as rich as Croesus". He consulted the famous Oracle of Delphi before he rebelled against the Persian empire. Croesus was told that if he proceeded, a mighty empire would fall. Croesus took this as an endorsement of his plan, and the oracle came true. Unfortunately the empire that fell was his own.
Orion (oh-RYE-un). Gigantic hunter, killed by Artemis. The goddess had been spending a great deal of time hunting with Orion - too much time in the opinion of her brother Apollo, who decided to put an end to the relationship. He tricked Artemis into shooting an arrow at something bobbing far out at sea, which turned out to be the head of the swimming Orion.

Orpheus playing the lyre, from a southern Italian Greek vase. 330 B.C. Canossa, Italy. Munich Antikensammlung. Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource.
Orpheus (OHR-fee-us or OHR-fyoos). Supremely gifted minstrel who attempted to rescue his dead wife from the Underworld. Orpheus had been taught to play the lyre by Apollo, and such was his skill on the instrument, together with the sweetness of his singing voice, that he could charm wild animals and even cause trees to uproot themselves and follow in his steps. Jason and the Argonauts took him along when they quested after the Golden Fleece, and Orpheus saved them from shipwreck by drowning out the treacherously alluring voices of the Sirens with his own musical stylings.
Orpheus fell in love with a nymph named Eurydice and blissful was their life together until one day she was pursued by a son of Apollo, the minor deity Aristaeus. In her headlong eagerness to escape, she stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten and died. Disconsolate, Orpheus found a cave which lead to Hades and followed Eurydice to the Underworld. Here his musical charms were so persuasive that the King of the Dead permitted the minstrel to take his sweetheart home with him - on one condition.
This condition was so simple that it takes some explaining to account for Orpheus's failure to heed it. Perhaps he could not bear to keep his eyes off their beloved object for a moment longer. Perhaps he wanted to share his rapture at birdsong and sunshine as they approached the mouth of the cave. Or maybe he wanted Eurydice to hear the latest lick that he had worked out on his lyre. In any case, he did the one thing he had been forbidden. He turned around and looked at Eurydice, and she was lost to him forever.
Orpheus swore he would never love another, and it may have been the steadfastness of this vow which caused certain wild women of Thrace to tear him limb from limb in a fit of jealousy. They threw his head into a river, and it kept on singing all the way to the sea.
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