A river in northern Lydia, a tributary of the River Hermus.
The site of the royal capital of
Book I.6:1-36. It dyes the fields golden with its streams.
Book I.14:1-24. Its golden waters.
Book III.18:1-34. Croesus derived wealth from its streams.
A city of
Book IV.5:1-78. Famous
for its climate favourable to rose-growing.
A friend of Propertius.
Book III.7:1-72. His death by
drowning.
Pagasae, a seaport of Thessaly, on the
Book I:20:1-52. The Argo sailed from there.
One of the
Book III.9:1-60. Grazed by the sacred bulls.
Book IV.1:1-70. Grazed by Evander’s herds.
Book
IV.6:1-86. Site of the
Book IV.6:1-86. Romulus’s hill of augury.
Book
IV.9:1-74. Hercules and the
Sacred Grove there.
Minerva is the Roman name for Athene the goddess of the mind and
women’s arts (also a goddess of war and the goddess of boundaries – see the
Stele of Athena, bas-relief,
Book II.2:1-16. She wears a Gorgon breastplate.
Book II.28:1-46. Athene described as grey-eyed in Homer’s Odyssey.
Book III.9:1-60. Advised Ulysses on the making of the Wooden Horse.
Book III.20:1-30. Goddess of the chaste arts of women.
Book IV.4:1-94. Identified with Vesta?
Book IV.9:1-74. She
blinded Tiresias but gave him prophetic powers when he
caught sight of her bathing.
The god of woods and shepherds. He wears a wreath of pine needles.
He pursued the nymph Syrinx and she was changed into marsh reeds. He made the
syrinx or pan-pipes from the reeds. He is represented by the constellation Capricorn, the sea-goat, a goat with a
fish’s tail.
Book I.18:1-32. The Arcadian god.
Book III.3:1-52. His reed-pipes.
Book III.13:1-66. The God of shepherds.
Book III.17:1-42. Goat-footed satyrs.
A pseudonym for a lover
of Cynthia.
Book II.21:1-20. He has got married.
Book IV.11:1-102. The Fates.
The ancient feast of Pales, goddess of the
flocks and herds. It was observed on April 21st, the day of the founding of
Book IV.1:1-70. Book IV.4:1-94. The festival. The
horse known as the October equus was sacrificed to Mars on October 15th. Its tail was docked and
the blood dropped onto the hearth of the regia, the ancient
Prince of Troy, son of Priam
and Hecuba, brother of Hector. His
theft of Menelaüs’s wife Helen provoked the Trojan War.
Book II.2:1-16. Asked to choose the most beautiful among the three naked goddesses, Juno, Minerva and Venus, he chose Venus and the gift of Love rather than wealth or wisdom.
Book II.3:1-54. He delayed in replying to Menelaus’s demand for the return of Helen.
Book II.15:1-54. His desire for Helen.
Book II.32:1-62. He was loved by the Naiad, Oenone, daughter of the river Oeneus. He abandoned her for Helen, but she offered to heal him if he were ever wounded, having been taught medicine by Phoebus.
Book II.34:1-94. Abused Menelaus’s hospitality.
Book III.1:1-38. Fought in bed more than in battle! A famous name.
Book III.8:1-34. Helen’s lover.
Book III.13:1-66.
Identified by Cassandra as the cause
of
A mountain in
Book II.31:1-16. The mountain is mentioned.
Book III.13:1-66. An
earthquake occurred there when Brennus
attacked
The painter of
Book III.9:1-60. A miniaturist.
Book IV.7:1-96. Cynthia’s nurse, a slave.
A mountain near
Book I.1:1-38. It is
mentioned.
The Parthian Empire to the south-west of the
Book II.10:1-26. Its army defeated Crassus.
Book II.14:1-32. Book III.12:1-38. Its conquest a desired objective in Augustus’s reign.
Book II.27:1-16. The enemy in the East.
Book III.4:1-22. Parthian trophies of war (by innuendo Persian catamites).
Book III.9:1-60. Parthian shafts.
Book IV.3:1-72. The Pathians fought mainly from horseback.
Book IV.5:1-78. Parthian murra cups. Murra was an unknown material out of which prized cups were made, possibly Chinese porcelain. Pliny says it was a natural product, others say it may have been fluorspar.
Book IV.6:1-86. Agreed to a truce.
The daughter of the Sun and the nymph
She was inspired, by Neptune-Poseidon,
with a mad passion for a white bull from the sea, and Daedalus built for her a wooden frame
in the form of a cow, to entice it. From the union she produced the Minotaur,
Asterion, with a bull’s head and a man’s body.
Book II.28A:47-62. Beautiful though sinful.
Book
II.32:1-62. Book III.19:1-28.
Mounted by the bull.
Achilles’s beloved friend whose death causes him to re-enter the fight against the Trojans. He was the son of Menoetius. He pushed the Trojans back from the Greek ships, dressed in Achilles’s armour.
Book II.1:1-78.His friendship with Achilles is mentioned.
Book II.8A:1-40. His death at the hands of Hector.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Lepidus, consul in 34BC and censor in 22BC. His late wife is Cornelia.
Book IV.11:1-102. Cornelia’s speech to him from beyond the grave.
Book IV.11:1-102. The son of Lucius Paullus.
A Mysian sacred spring.
Book I:20:1-52. Hylas was seized by the Nymphs there.
Pegasus was the winged horse, sprung
from the head of Medusa when Perseus decapitated her. At the same time his brother
Chrysaor the warrior was created. He is represented in the sky by the
constellation Pegasus. The sacred fountain of Hippocrene on
Book II.30:1-40. The winged horse.
An ancient Greek people (Pelasgi) and their
king Pelasgus, son of Phoroneus the brother of Io.
He is the brother of Agenor and Iasus. Used of
Book II.28:1-46. Juno is Pelasgian.
The son of Aeacus, king of
Book II.9:1-52. The father of Achilles.
A mountain in Thessaly in
Book II.1:1-78. The giants Otus and Ephialtes wanted to place Pelion on Ossa to storm the gods in heaven. Propertius adds Olympus to these.
Book III.22:1-42. The timbers of the Argo were cut there.
Book IV.6:1-86.Agamemnon, son of Pelops.
The son of Tantalus,
king of Paphlagonia. He ruled the Lydians and Phrygians
from Enete on the
Hippodamia was the daughter of
Oenomaus, the Arcadian ruler of
Book I.2:1-32. He is mentioned.
Book III.19:1-28. Mycenae his citadel.
A fortress on the
Pelusiac branch of the Nile captured by Augustus.
Book III.9:1-60. Mentioned.
The wife of Ulysses, and daughter of Icarius and the Naiad Periboa.
(See J R Spencer Stanhope’s
painting- Penelope – The De Morgan
Foundation). She was pestered by many suitors (a hundred and eight, in Homer), while she waited faithfully for
Ulysses to return from
Book II.6:1-42. Book III.12:1-38. Book IV.5:1-78. Her loyalty.
Book II.9:1-52. She wove and unwove her tapestry to delay the suitors.
Book III.13:1-66.
Disdainful of the suitors’ gifts. A type of loyalty.
The Queen of the Amazons, who aided the Trojans at Troy. She was killed by Achilles
who fell in love with her, when her helmet was removed and he saw her face as
she lay dead.
Book III.11:1-72. The power of her
beauty.
The son of Echion and Agave, the grandson of Cadmus through his mother. King of Thebes, Tiresias foretold his fate
at the hands of the Maenads. He rejected
the worship of Bacchus-Dionysus and
ordered the capture of the god. He was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes. See
Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book III 528 et seq.
Book III.17:1-42. Book III.22:1-42. Torn apart by the
Maenads.
Book II.3:1-54. Book III.9:1-60. The citadel of
Book III.13:1-66. Book IV.1:1-70. Of Troy.
He made the bronze bull, in which men could be
roasted alive, and offered it to Phalaris Tyrant of Agrigentum, who made
Perillus its first victim.
Book II.25:1-48. A savage fate.
A legendary sorceress.
Book II.4:1-22. Her magic herbs
mentioned.
Book II.10:1-26. A river in Boeotia sacred to Apollo and the Muses.
Melampus the son of Amythaon, undertook to steal the cattle
of Iphiclus for Neleus, so that Bias
his brother or he himself could win Pero, Neleus’s daughter. He was captured
and chained but escaped and succeeded in marrying her.
Book II.3:1-54. She is
mentioned.
A people of
Book III.5:1-48. Pindus.
The
Book III.11:1-72. Babylon a city of
Proserpina, Proserpine, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres-Demeter.
Ceres searched for her after she was abducted and raped by Dis the god of the underworld while she
picked flowers on the plain of Enna in
Book II.13A:1-58. The co-ruler of the Underworld with Dis.
Book
II.28A:47-62. Her aid sought in illness.
Book IV.11:1-102. King
of Macedonia, defeated by Aemilius Paullus, ancestor of Cornelia’s husband at Pydna in 168BC. He claimed descent from Achilles
and Hercules.
The son of Jupiter and Danaë, grandson of Acrisius, King of Argos. He was conceived as a result of Jupiter’s rape of Danaë, in the form of a shower of gold. He is represented by the constellation Perseus near Cassiopeia. He is depicted holding the head of the Medusa, whose evil eye is the winking star Algol. It contains the radiant of the Perseid meteor shower. His epithets are Abantiades, Acrisioniades. Agenorides, Danaëius, Inachides, Lyncides.
(See Burne-Jones’s oil paintings and gouaches in the Perseus series
particularly The Arming of Perseus, The Escape of Perseus, The Rock of Doom,
Perseus slaying the Sea Serpent, and The Baleful Head.)(See Benvenuto Cellini’s
bronze Perseus - the Loggia,
Book II.28:1-46. He rescued and married Andromeda.
Book II.30:1-40. He wore winged sandals.
Book III.22:1-42. He severed Medusa’s head.
Perusia (modern
Book I.21:1-10. Gallus dies there.
Book I.22:1-10. Propertius came from nearby.
Book IV.7:1-96. One of Cynthia’s slaves.
The realm of king Alcinous (
Book III.2:1-26. Alcinous’s orchard
described in Homer’s Odyssey.
The daughter of King Minos of Crete and Pasiphaë,
and the sister of Ariadne. She loved Hippolytus her stepson, and brought
him to his death. (See
Book II.1:1-78. Propertius suggests she tried to poison Hippolytus.
Book II.1:1-78. The
lighthouse at
Book III.7:1-72.The
scene of Paetus’s death.
A river and region in Colchis,
in
Book I:20:1-52. Book III.22:1-42. Mentioned.
The Greek sculptor, a pupil of Ageladas of
Argos. Most influential of all Athenian sculptors, whose work defines the
classical mode. He made the great chryselephantine staue of Zeus-Jupiter in the temple at
Book III.9:1-60. The statue of
Jupiter.
The most famous poet of Cos after Callimachus. One of the Greek poets of
the Alexandrian School. Propertius modelled his
poetry on theirs.
Book II.34:1-94. A poet to imitate when in love.
Book III.1:1-38. An invocation to his spirit. Calliope anoints Propertius with Philetas’s waters (!) in his dream.
Book III.9:1-60. Propertius is glad to have imitated his style.
Book IV.6:1-86. Crowned
with ivy.
Philip II of
Book III.11:1-72. Cleopatra
descended from him.
A city in
Book II.1:1-78. Mentioned
as an example of an episode of Civil War.
Chiron as the son of Phillyra, the daughter of Oceanus, who lay with Saturn
disguised as a horse. She became a lime tree. Her island was Philyra, in the
Book II.1:1-78. Mother of Chiron the Centaur.
The son of Poeas. He lights Hercules’s
funeral pyre and receives from him the bow, quiver and arrows that will enable
the Greeks to finally win at Troy, and that had been with
Hercules when he rescued Hesione there. Bitten by a snake on
Book II.1:1-78. He is healed by the
physician Machaon.
King of
Book III.5:1-48. Tortured by hunger.
A volcanic district north of
Book II.1:1-78. Book III.9:1-60. It is mentioned.
Book III.11:1-72. Pompey fell ill at
Phoebe, a priestess of Athene-Minerva, and Hilaira a priestess of Diana-Artemis, daughters of Leucippus, the Messenian co-king were
abducted and raped by Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces) known as the Dioscuri, the sons of Jupiter by Leda. The two sisters had been betrothed to
Lynceus and Idas the sons of Aphareus
king in
Book I.2:1-32. She is
mentioned as a woman who relied on her natural charms.
The son of Jupiter and Latona (Leto), brother of Diana (Artemis), born on Delos. (See the Apollo Belvedere, sculpted by Leochares?, Vatican: the Piombino Apollo, Paris Louvre: the Tiber Apollo, Rome, National Museum of the Terme: the fountain sculpture by Tuby at Versailles – The Chariot of Apollo: and the sculpture by Girardon and Regnaudin at Versailles – Apollo Tended by the Nymphs – derived from the Apollo Belvedere, and once part of the now demolished Grotto of Thetis )
Book I.2:1-32. He fought with Idas over Marpessa. He is the god of the Arts, and grants the gift of song.
Book I.8A:27-46. His arts help lovers.
Book II.1:1-78. Book III.2:1-26. God of song.
Book II.10:1-26. The River Permessus sacred to him.
Book II.28A:47-62. His country conquered, and humbled.
Book II.31:1-16. The new temple to him.
Book II.32:1-62. God of medicine and drugs.
Book II.34:1-94. Book III.11:1-72. His shrine overlooked Actium’s bay.
Book III.1:1-38. God of epic and lyric song. Accepts poet’s prayers.
Book III.3:1-52. His
sacred grove, Castalian, from the
spring Castalia, is on
Book III.9:1-60. He built the walls of Troy with Neptune for Priam’s father Laomedon.
Book III.12:1-38. His daughter Lampetie guarded his cattle.
Book III.13:1-66. His curling locks of hair never cut, hence his epithet is the Unshorn.
Book III.15:1-46. Paean was a name for Apollo the Healer.
The Paean was a religious hymn in his honour, of praise or joy in victory. Sung by Amphion over the dead Dirce.
Book III.20:1-30. The Sun.
Book III.22:1-42. Fled an Ausonian banquet.
Book IV.1:1-70. His temple on the Palatine Hill, as God of Ships.
Book IV.2:1-64. The lyre his attribute.
Book IV.6:1-86. Born on Delos, once a floating island, now fixed. His help for Augustus at Actium.
The tutor of Achilles,
blinded by his father, but healed by Chiron
who also taught Achilles. He became King of the Dolopes
Book II.1:1-78. Healed by Chiron.
The Phoenician sea-peoples of the
Book II.27:1-16. Their astrological
arts.
Book III.22:1-42. The father of Medusa, the Gorgon.
A region in
Book I.2:1-32. Pelops comes from there.
Book II.1:1-78. The Romans traced their lineage back through Aeneas to Phrygian ancestors.
Book II.22:1-42. The Phrygian followers of Cybele mutilated and castrated themselves with knives in frenzied rituals.
Book II.22:1-42. Book III.13:1-66. Trojan.
Book II.30:1-40.
Cynthia off to the
Book II.34:1-94. The Maeander river flows there.
Book IV.1:1-70. Trojan, used of Aeneas.
A famous courtesan.
Book II.6:1-42. Her wealth.
Achilles birthplace in Thessaly.
Book II.13A:1-58. His tomb.
The son of Phylacus and husband of Laodamia
(Polydora). He joined the expedition against Troy, and was
the first Greek to be killed there. She prayed to have his shade restored to
her for three hours. This was granted and he called on her not to delay in
following him: she then killed herself and joined him in Hades.
Book I.19:1-26. His loyalty is mentioned.
Book II.24A:17-52.
Demophoon, son of Theseus who loved Phyllis, daughter of
Sithon king of Thrace, deserted her. She killed herself
but was turned into an almond tree, which flowered when he returned,
remorsefully, to find her. (See Burne-Jones’s marvellous painting: The Tree of
Forgiveness,
Book IV.8:1-88. A courtesan.
Pierus was King of
Emathia. His nine daughters were the Emathides, or the Pierides, in fact the
Muses, from the earliest place of their worship, in
Book II.10:1-26. The Muses.
Book II.13:1-16. Of
The Greek lyric poet (518-438BC) famous for his odes celebrating Olympic
victors. His birth was associated with the Dircean spring at
Book III.17:1-42. A master of the
elevated poetic style.
A mountain in Thessaly. The Centaurs took refuge there after their
battle with the Lapiths.
Book III.5:1-48. Subject to
earthquake.
Book III.21:1-34. The
King of the Lapithae, an ancient people of
south western Thessaly. The marriage of Pirithoüs and
Hippodamia (Ischomache) was
disrupted by Eurytus one of the
centaurs invited to the feast, leading to the battle between the Lapiths and Centaurs. (See the sculpture from the
west pediment of the
Book II.1:1-78. He is mentioned as a friend of Theseus.
Book
II.6:1-42. He fought with the Centaurs.
The constellation of the Fishes, the twelfth sign of the Zodiac. An
ancient constellation depicting two fishes with their tails tied together. It represents
Venus and Cupid
escaping from the monster Typhon. It contains the spring equinox, formerly in
Aries. The vernal equinox has moved into Pisces since ancient times due to the effects
of precession (the ‘wobble’ of the earth on its polar axis). The last sign of
the solar year, preceding the spring equinox in ancient times. A water sign.
Book IV.1A:71-150. The zodiacal sign
of the Fishes.
The Greek Philosopher (c429-347BC). A pupil of Socrates, he expounded and
extended his philosophy in his twenty-five
dialogues. His School was called the Academy.
Book III.21:1-34. A
source of profound knowledge.
The Seven Sisters, the daughters, with the Hyades and the Hesperides, of Atlas the Titan. Their
mother was Pleione the naiad. They were chased by Orion rousing the anger of Artemis to whom they were dedicated and
changed to stars by the gods. The Pleiades are the star cluster M45 in the
constellation Taurus. Their names were Maia, the mother of Mercury by Jupiter, Taÿgeta, Electra, Merope, Asterope,
Alcyone (the brightest star of the cluster), and Celaeno. They are autumn stars
associated with storms and rain.
Book II.16:1-56. Storm bringers.
Book III.5:1-48. A notable star
cluster.
Phoebe, a priestess of
Athene-Minerva, and Hilaira a priestess of Diana-Artemis, daughters of Leucippus, the Messenian co-king were
abducted and raped by Castor and Pollux
(Polydeuces) known as the Dioscuri, the sons of Jupiter by Leda. The two sisters had been betrothed to
Lynceus and Idas the sons of Aphareus
king in
Book I.2:1-32. He is mentioned.
Book III.14:1-34. Famous for his horsemanship.
Book III.22:1-42. His
Thessalian charger was a gift from Mercury. Propertius
suggests it drank from a healing spring in
The son of Priam and Hecuba, sent by his
father to the court of Polymestor king of Thrace who had married Priam’s sister Ilione, and murdered
there by Polymestor for the sake of the treasure sent with him. His body was
thrown up on the beach where Hecuba was mourning Polyxena, and the event
precipitated her madness.
Book III.13:1-66. Murdered through
greed.
King of Thrace, husband of Ilione daughter of Priam. He murdered his young foster child Polydorus, sent to him by Priam, for the sake of his wealth. Hecuba in turn murdered him, and tore out his eyes.
Book III.13:1-66.
Ruined by greed.
One of the Cyclopes, sons of Neptune,
one-eyed giants living in Sicily. Made drunk by Ulysses, and blinded.
Book II.33A:23-44. Drunk on wine from Ciconian Ismarus.
Book III.2:1-26. Tried to woo Galatea with his singing.
Book III.12:1-38. Blinded by
Ulysses.
A colonnade built in 55BC near Pompey’s Theatre
on the Campus Martius.
Book II.32:1-62. A harmless place to go.
Book
IV.8:1-88. A place to be seen, possibly for dubious purposes.
Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48BC) put down a slave rebellion, cleared the
Book III.11:1-72. He
fell ill at
Book III.11:1-72. He
defeated Mithridates.
A friend of Propertius. A minor epic poet.
Book I.7:1-26. Author of verses about the War of the Seven against Thebes.
Book I.9:1-34. In love.
A friend or relative of Propertius,
perhaps Gaius Propertius Postumus, a senator and proconsul.
Book III.12:1-38. He is addressed.
Twenty miles east of Rome,
the modern Palestrina famous for its oracle of Fortuna Primigenia.
Book II.32:1-62. Cynthia
visiting the oracle.
The great Athenian sculptor of the mid-fourth
century BC. He carved a famous statue of Hermes-Mercury at
Book III.9:1-60. He used marble from
Cnidos.
The King of Troy at the time of the Trojan War, the son of Laomedon, husband of Hecuba, by whom he had many children.
Book II.3:1-54. He accepted the Greek cause as valid.
Book II.28A:47-62. Book IV.1:1-70. Last king of
The son of Iapetus by the nymph Cleomene, and
father of Deucalion. Sometimes
included among the seven Titans, he was the wisest of
his race and gave human beings the useful arts and sciences. Jupiter first withheld fire and
Prometheus stole it from the chariot of the Sun. Jupiter had Prometheus chained
to the frozen rock in the
Book I.12:1-20. The
Book II.1:1-78. He is mentioned.