336 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



rinth by the Minotaurus. From Minos we have Minois, 

 a (laughter or a female descendant of Minos, as Ariadne. 

 and the adjectives Minoius and Minous, used by the 

 poets as equivalent to Cretan. 



Mino'taur. A celebrated monster with the head of 

 a bull and the body of a man. The labyrinth in which 

 it was kt'i : lifted by Daedalus. This monster 



was slain by Theseus, with the assistance of Ariadne, 

 the daughter of Minos. [Theseus.] Daedalus having 

 fled from ape the wrath of Minos. Minos fol- 



lowed him to Sicily, and was there slain by Cocalus and 

 his daughters. 



Mith'ras. In Persian mythology, one of the prin- 

 cipal gods of the ancient Persians, a personification of 

 the sun. He was regarded as a mediator between the 

 two opp<>~ 'nnu/.d and Ahriman, or the prin- 



ciple of good and the principle of evil. 



Mjolnir. l-'rom mythology of northern lands. The 

 name of Thor's celebrated hammer a type of the 

 thunderbolt which, however far it might be cast, was 

 never lost, as it always returned to his hand; and which, 

 whenever he wished, became so small that he could put 

 it in his pocket. 



Mnemo^ yne. Mother of the Muses and goddess of 

 memory. Jupiter courted the goddess in the guise of a 

 shepherd. 



Mnex tli, -us. A Trojan, and a companion of ^Eneas 

 in his voyage to Italy; the reputed progenitor of the 

 family of the Memmii in Rome. At the funeral games, 

 by which .-Eneas celebrated the death of his father, 

 Anchises, Mnestheus took part in a naval contest, and, 

 though not the victor, obtained a prize for skill and 

 ener. 



Moakklbat. A class of angels, according to the 

 Mohammedan mythology. Two angels of this class at- 

 tend every child of Adam from the cradle to the grave. 

 At sunset they fly up with the record of the deeds done 

 since sunrise. Every good deed is entered ten times by 

 the recording angel on the credit or right side of his 

 ledger, but when an evil deed is reported the angel 

 waits seven hours, "if haply in that time the evil-doer 

 may repent." 



Moi'rae. The Greek name for Parcae or the Fates. 

 These grave and mighty goddesses were represented by 

 the earliest artists with staffs or scepters, the symbol of 

 dominion. 



Mo rpheus. The son of Sleep and the god of dreams. 

 The name signifies the fashioner or molder, because 

 he shaped or formed the dreams which appeared to the 

 sleeper. 



Howls* The bridegroom of Snow, who (according 

 to American Indian tradition) wooed and won a beautiful 

 bride; but when morning dawned, Mowis left the wigwam, 

 and melted into the sunshine. The bride hunted for him 

 night and day in the forests, but never saw him more. 



Muses. Nine daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, 

 goddesses of poetry, history, and other arts and sciences. 

 Calliope was the muse of eloquence and heroic poetry 

 (to her the ancients gave precedence) ; Clio, of history ; 

 Erato, of amorous poetry; Euterpe, of music; Mel- 

 pomene, of tragedy ; Polyhymnia, of eloquence and imi- 

 tation; Terpsichore, of dancing; Thalia, of comic and 

 lyric poetry; and Urania, of astronomy. Their usual 

 residence was Mount Parnassus in Helicon. 



Mysterious Three, The, of Scandinavian mythology 

 were "Har" (the Mighty), the "Like-Mighty," and the 

 "Third Person," who sat on three thrones above the 

 rainbow. Then came the "jEsir," of which Odin was 

 chief, who lived in Asgard (between the rainbow and 

 earth); next come the "Vanir," or gods of the ocean, 

 air, and clouds, of which deities Niord was chief. 



Myr'mldons. The trusty followers of Achilles. They 

 are said to have inhabited originally the island of jEgina, 

 and to have emigrated with Peleus into Thessaly; but 

 modern critics, on the contrary, suppose that a colony 

 of them emigrated from Thessaly into yEgina. The 

 Myrmidons disappear from history at a later period. 

 The ancients derived their name either from a mythical 

 ancestor, Myrmidon, son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Euryme- 

 dusa, and father of Actor; or from the ants in ^Egina, 

 which were supposed to have been metamorphosed into 

 men in the time of ^Eacus. 



Na'ids. The nymphs of fresh water, whether of 

 rivers, lakes, brooks, or springs. Many of these nymphs 

 presided over springs, which were believed to inspire 

 those who drank of them. The nymphs themselves 

 were, therefore, thought to be endowed with prophetic 

 power, and to be able to inspire men. Hence all per- 

 sons in a state of rapture, such as seers, poets, madmen, 

 etc.. were said to be caught by the nymphs. 



Nar'aka. The hell of the Hindus. It has' twenty- 

 eight divisions, in some of which the victims are mangled 



by ravens and owls; in others they will be (loomed to 

 swallow cakes boiling hot, or walk over burning sands. 



Narcis'sus. The beautiful youth Narcissus was son 

 of the river-god Cephissus and the sea-nymph I.iriope. 

 Kcho. who was enamored of him, died of grief. But 

 Nemesis, to punish him. caused him to see his own image 

 reflected in a fountain, whereupon he becameso enamored 

 of it that he gradually pined away, until he was meta- 

 morphosed into the flower which hears his name. Ac- 

 cording to another tradition Narcissus had a sister of 

 remarkable beauty, to whom he was tenderly attached. 

 She resembled him in features, was similarly attired, 

 and accompanied him in the hunt. She died young, 

 and Narcissus, lamenting her death, frequented a neigh- 

 boring fountain to ga/e upon his own image in its stream. 

 The strong resemblance that he bore to his sister made 

 his own reflection appear to him, as it were, the form of 

 her whom he had lost. The gods looked with pity upon 

 his grief, and changed him to the flower that bears his 

 name. 



Nausica'a. A daughter of Alcinous, King of the 

 Phfeacians, and Arete, who conducted Ulysses to the 

 court of her father. 



Nec'tar. Wine conferring immortality, and drunk 

 by the gods. 



Ne'leus. Son of Neptune and Tyro, and brother to 

 Pelias. He became king in Peloponnesus; was the father 

 of twelve sons, all of whom were killed by Hercules. 



Neme'an Lion. A monstrous lion, near the forest 

 of Nemfea, wasted the surrounding country and threat- 

 ened destruction to the herds. Hercules* promised to 

 deliver the country of the monster, and Thespius re- 

 warded Hercules by making him his guest so long as the 

 chase lasted. Hercules slew the lion, and henceforth 

 wore its skin as his ordinary garment, and its mouth and 

 head as his helmet. Others related that the lion's skin 

 of Hercules was taken from the Nemean lion. This great 

 adventure happened while he was watching the oxen 

 of his father. 



Nem'esis. A Greek goddess, who measured out to 

 mortals happiness and misery, and visited with losses 

 and sufferings all who were blessed with too many gifts 

 of fortune. This is the character in which she appears 

 in the earlier Greek writers; but subsequently she was 

 regarded, like the Erinyes or Furies, as the goddess who 

 punished crimes. 



Neoptol'emus. The son of Achilles. Neoptolemus 

 was reared in Scyros, in the palace of Lycomedes, and 

 was brought from thence by Ulysses, because it had been 

 prophesied that Neoptolemus and Philoctetes were 

 necessary for the capture of Troy. ' At Troy Neoptole- 

 mus showed himself worthy of his great father. He was 

 one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse. At 

 the capture of the city he killed Priam, and sacrificed 

 Polyxena to the spirit of his father. 



Nep'tune. The sea. In Roman mythology the di- 

 vine monarch of the ocean. The principal exploits and 

 merits ascribed to Neptune are, the assistance to Jupiter 

 against the Titans; the building of the walls and ram- 

 parts of Troy; the creation and taming of the horse; the 

 raising of the Island Delos out of the sea; and the de- 

 struction of Hippolytus by a monster from the deep. 

 He was feared also as the author of earthquakes and del- 

 uges, which he caused or checked at pleasure by his 

 trident. 



Ne'reids. Sea-nymphs, generally regarded as 96- 

 longing to the Mediterranean. The chief characteristics 

 of these minor deities of the sea were the power of divina- 

 tion and ability to change their forms at pleasure. The 

 daughters of Nereus ana Doris were the so-called "Ne- 

 reides." or sea-nymphs, fifty in number. They belonged 

 to the train of Neptune and were subservient to his will. 



Ne'reus. A son of Pontus and Gara, and husband of 

 Doris, by whom he became the father of the fifty Nereides. 



Nes'tor. A 89n of Neleus and Chloris, and King of 

 Pylos in Triphylia. He took a prominent part in the 

 Trojan War, acting as counselor of the other Grecian 

 chiefs, but was equally distinguished for his valor in the 

 field of battle. Homer extols his wisdom, justice, brav- 

 ery, and eloquence. He lived to so great an age that his 

 advice an,d authority were deemed equal to those of the 

 immortal gods. 



Nlckar or Hnickar. The name assumed by Odin 

 when he personated the destroying principle. 



Nicneven. A gigantic and malignant female spirit of 

 the old popular Scottish mythology. The hag is repre- 

 sented as riding at the head of witches and fairies at 

 Hallow-e'en. 



Nidhug. The dragon that gnaws at the root of Yggd- 

 rasil, the tree of the universe in Scandinavian mythology. 



Niflheim. Mist-home of old Norse mythology. The 

 region of endless cold and everlasting night, ruled over 



