LITERATURE 



331 



daughter of Demeter, whom he carried from the upper 

 world. In the division of the world among the three 

 brothers. Hades obtained the abode of the shades, over 

 which he ruled. Of all the gods he was most hated by 

 mortals. The ensign of his power was a staff, with which, 

 like Hermes, he drove the shades into the lower world. 

 He possessed a helmet which rendered the wearer in- 

 visible, and which he sometimes lent to both gods and 

 men. The Furies are called his daughters; the nymph 

 io, whom he loved, was metamorphosed by Perse- 

 phone into the plant called mint; and the nymph 

 Leuce, whom he likewise loved, was changed by him 

 after death into a white poplar. Being the king of the 

 lower world. Pluto is the giver of all the blessings that 

 come from the earth; hence he gives the metals con- 

 tained in the earth. 



Ham'adryads. Nymphs of the woods who were 

 born and died with particular trees. They possessed the 

 power to reward and punish those who prolonged or 

 abridged the existence of their special tree. 



Harmo'nla. A daughter of Mars and Venus, and 

 wife of Cadmus. Harmonia received a present of a neck- 

 lace, which afterwards became fatal to all who possessed 

 it. 



Haroe'ris. The Egyptian god, whose eyes are the 

 sun and moon. 



Harpies. Robbers or Spoilers, described by Homer 

 as carrying off persons, who had utterly disappeared. 

 Hesiod represents them as fair-locked and winced maid- 

 ens; but subsequent writers describe them as disgusting 

 monsters, birds with the heads of maidens, with long 

 claws, and faces pale with hunger. 



Ho'bo. The goddess of youth, was daughter of Zeus 

 and Hera. She was employed by her mother to pre- 

 pare her chariot, and harness her peacocks, and was 

 cupbearer to all the gods. 



Heo'ate. A mysterious divinity known as the god- 

 dess that troubles the reason of men; the goddess that 

 presides over nocturnal ceremonies, and consequently 

 over magic; hence her identity with Diana in Grecian 

 mythology, and with Isis in Egyptian. 



llee'tor. The prominent hero of the Trojans in 

 th-ir war with the Greeks, was the eldest son of Priam 

 and Hecuba, and the husband of Andromache. He fought 

 with the bravest of the Greeks, and slew Patroclus, the 

 friend of Achilles. The death of his friend roused 

 Achilles to the fight. The other Trojans fled before 

 him into the city. Hector alone remained without the 

 walls, but when he saw Achilles, his heart failed him, 

 and he took to flight. Thrice he ran round the city, 

 Dursued by Achilles, and fell, pierced by Achilles' spear. 

 Achilles tied Hector's body to his chariot, and thus 

 d him into the camp of the Greeks. At the com- 

 of Zeus. Achilles surrendered the body to the 

 prayers of Priam, who buried it at Troy with great 

 pomp. Hector is one of the noblest conceptions of the 

 poet of the "Iliad." 



II < uba. The second wife of Priam, King of Troy, 

 and the mother of Paris and Hector. After the fall of 

 Troy, she fell into the hands of the Greeks as a slave, 

 and. according to one account, threw herself in despair 

 into the sea, 



ll> im'dal. In Northern tales a god. who lived in 



lextial fort Himinsbiorg', under the farther extrem- 



f the bridge Hifrost, and kept the keys of heaven. 



He is the watchman or sentinel of Asgard, sees even m 



sleep, can hear the grass grow, and even the wool on a 



lamb's bark. ll.-m,Mull. at the end of the world, will 



wake the gods with his trumpet. 



II. I. n. A daughter of Jupiter and Leda, and the 

 of Menelaus. King of Sparta. She was the most 

 beautiful woman of her age. and chose Menelaus among 

 many suitors. She afterward eloped with Paris, her 

 husband's Trojan guest, and thus brought on the war 

 between the Greek* and Trojans. After the fall of Troy 



flie w:i* ri-ton-.i to M,-n-l:iii-. 



M. i. mi-. i'nam and Hecuba, celebrated 



for hi* prophetic powers. 



II. I Ice. A maid beloved of Jupiter, and by jeal- 

 ousy of Hera changed jnto a she-bear. 



n. i i.. .n. A mountain in Boeotia sacred to the 

 Muses, from which place the fountain Hippocrene fl< 



also known as the Muses' Mount. It is part of the 

 Parnamus, a mountain range in Greece. 



He'llos. reek sun-god, who rode to his palace 



every night in a golden boat furnixhrd with 



"1 gives light both to gods and 

 He sees and hears everything, and discovers all that is 



Daughter of Athamas and Nephele. and 

 i'iinvux. When i'hrixuM was to be sacrificed. 

 .ele rescued her two children, who rode away 



through the air upon the ram with the golden fleece, 

 the gift of Hermes; but Helle fell into the sea. The 

 episode gave the name of the Hellespont to the part of 

 the sea where Helle was drowned. It is now called the 

 Dardanelles. 



Hel'len. The son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and 

 father of ^Eolus. Dorus, and Xuthus. He was Kinp o.f 

 Phthia in Thessaly, and was succeeded by his son ^Eolus. 

 He was the mythical ancestor of all the Hellenes. 



Hell Shoon. In Icelandic mythology indispensable 

 for the journey to Valhalla as the obolus for crossing 

 the Styx. 



Helmet of Hades. A helmet worn by Perseus, 

 rendering him invisible and which, with the winged 

 sandals and magic wallet, he took from certain nymphs, 

 who held them in possession. After he had slain Medusa 

 he restored them again, and presented the Gorgon's 

 head to Minerva, who placed it in the middle of her 

 shield. 



He'ra. Greek name for the wife of Jupiter, known 

 among Romans as Juno. Hera was worshiped in many 

 parts of Greece, but more especially at Argos. in the 

 neighborhood of which she had a splendid temple, on 

 the road to Mycenae. She had also a temple in Samoa. 

 Hera was usually represented as a majestic woman of 

 mature age. 



Heracli'dse. Name given to the descendants of 

 Hercules, who, in conjunction with the Dorians, con- 

 quered the Peloponnesus eighty years after the destruc- 

 tion of Troy, or B. C. 1104, according to mythical 

 chronology. This legend represents the conquest of 

 the Acluran population by Dorian invaders, who hence- 

 forward appear as the ruling race in the Peloponnesus. 



Her'cules. Of all the Grecian heroes, no other ob- 

 tained such celebrity as Hercules, son of Jupiter and 

 Alcmene. Wonderful strength was ascribed to him 

 even in his infantile years. Eurystheus imposed upon 

 him many difficult enterprises, which he earned through 

 with success; particularly those which are called the 

 "twelve labors of Hercules. These were: to kill the 

 Nemtran lion; to destroy the Lenuran hydra; to catch 

 alive the stag with golden horns; to catch the Eryman- 

 thean boar; to cleanse the stables of Augeas; to exter- 

 minate the birds of Lake Stymphalua; to bring alive 

 the wild bull of Crete; to seize the horses of Diomedes; 

 to 



zons; 



garden of Hesperides, guarded by a sleepless dragon: 

 and to bring from the infernal world the three-headed 

 dog. Cerberus. Many other exploits were ascribed to 

 him, by which he gave proof of his extraordinary strength 

 and exhibited himself as an avenger and deliverer of 

 the oppressed. Such were: his slaying the robber, 

 Cacus: the deliverance of Prometheus, bound to a rock; 

 the killinR of Busiris, and the rescue of Alceste from the 

 infernal world. His last achievement was the dentnic- 

 tion of the centaur. Ness us. Nessus, dying, gave his 

 poisoned tunic to Deianira; Hercules afterwards re- 

 ceiving it from her, and putting it on, became so dis- 

 eased that he cast himself in Despair upon a funeral 

 pile on Mount ./Eta. The worship of Hercules became 

 universal, and temples were erected to his honor. 



llercu'lean Knot. A snaky complication on the 

 rod or caduceus of Mercury, adopted by the 

 brides as the fastening of their woolen girdles, which 

 only the bridegroom was allowed to untie. 



Her la. \ D 'lucal king, the supposed leader of 

 The Wild Hunt of Scandinavian mythology. This was 

 known as the Raging Host in Germany and as Herla- 

 thing in England, from the name. Her In. 



Her'mes. A Greek name of the god Mercury. 



QJ M.n 



c wuu i-suii vi v-/tcic f IAJ e*vnw i ur ini:-r \Ji i Mi'iiicuro t 



obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the A ma- 

 ns; to destroy the monster Geryon; to plunder the 



II, r mi on.-. The beautiful daughter of 1 

 and Helen. She had been promised in marriage to 

 Orestes before the Trojan War, but Menelaus, .-> 

 return home, married her to Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus). 



H. sper'ldes. The Hwperides are called dai ' 

 of Night, because their origin and existence are 

 in darkness. Their names were " 



^^^t^l^^S^Si'^ Earth to Juno on 

 her wedding day. The celebrated gardens of the Hes- 

 perides abounded with fruits and were carefully guarded 

 by a dragon, which never *l. 



Hrs'i- -upnosed son or brother of Atlas 



enrolled among the deities after death, and made 

 tical withlUie Erening Star. 



for Vesta. She was the 



''PI "' 



selves HI the mountain with song and lyre, in so gay a 

 heal Ssm POM it n ien( >.,, 

 to limit the mirth and noisy 

 at the top of the mount, 



manner that all < 

 Pegasus, charging h,m 



ienU On arriving 



