338 



THE STANDARD DICTION AH V OF FACTS 



lyre by Apollo, and instructed by the Muses in its use, 

 he enchanted with its IUUMC not only the wild beasts, 

 but the trees and rocks upon Olympus, so that they 

 from their places to follow the sound of his 

 golden harp. After his return from the Argonautie ex- 

 pedition, he took up his abode in Thrace, where he 

 married the nymph Eur\ wife having died of 



the bite of a serpent, he followed her into the abodes of 

 Hades. Here his lyre so charmed King IMuto that 

 Eurydice was released from death on the condition that 

 .1 not look back till he readied the earth. 



kreadia \^i> especially sacreil to him, and 

 here he is said to have given oracles on Mount l.yea-us. 

 His festivals were introduced by Kvander among the 

 Unmans, and by them called I.upercalia. (loats, honey, 

 and milk were' the usual olTe rings to Pan. Pan, like 

 other gods, who dwelt in forests was dreaded by travelers, 

 to whom lie sometimes appeared, and whom he startled 

 \\itli sudden awe or terror. Hence sudden fright, with- 

 out any visible cause, was ascribed to Pan, and was called 

 a panic fear. 



Pando'ra. The first mortal female that ever lived. 



He was just about to place his foot on the earth when she was made of clay by Vulcan, and having received 



he turned round, and Eurydice vanished from him in life, all the gods made presents to her. Venus gave her 



a[l in.-tatit. beauty and the art of pleasing; the Graces gave her the 



ian mythology, is said to have been power of captivating; Apollo taught her how to sing; 



the son of Jupiter by Niobe, and to have ruled first over Mercury instructed her in eloquence and brought her to 



and afterward* to have become king of Epimetheus, \\ho made her his wife, forgetting the ad- 



. ho is by many said vice of his brother Prometheus, not to receive gifts from 



- the gods. 

 Parcae. 



(The fates.) Powerful goddesses who pre- 

 sided over the birth and life of mankind. They were 



e with the lo, daughter 9f Inachus. Osiris 

 was at length slain by Typhon, and his corpse concealed 



in a chest and thrown into the Nile. Isis, after much 



search, by the aid of keen-scented dogs, found the body, three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, daughters 



and placed it in a monument on an island near Memphis. o f N OX and Erebus. Parcse is from "pars," a lot; and 

 \ptians paid divine honor to his memory, and j ^he corresponding Home is from "meros," a lot. The 



chose the ox to represent him, because, as some say, a f a teg were so ca ll e d because they decided the lot of every 



large ox appeared to them after the body of Osiris was man . Among early peoples the superiority which they 



interred, or according to others, because Osiris had ^cribed to their deities consisted chiefly in freedom 



instructed them in agriculture. Osiris was generally f ro m bodily decay, a sort of immortal youth, ability to 



represented with a cap on his head like a mitre, with mO ve with wonderful celerity, to appear and disappear 



two horns; he held a stick in his left hand, and in his at pleasure with a noble and beautiful form, and to exert 



right a whip with three thongs, 

 with the head of a hawk. 



Sometimes he appears 



o tus. This giant and his brother, Ephialtes, were 

 usually called the Aloidae. They were renowned for 

 their extraordinary strength and daring spirit. 



I'acto'lus. The river whose sands turned to gold 

 when Midas washed in the waters by order of Bacchus. 



Paimosaid'. In American Indian myths a walking 

 thief, especially one who walks through cornfields about 

 harvest time to pluck the ears of maize or corn. 



Pala^'mon. Originally called Melicertes. Sonoflno; 

 called Pala-mon after he was made a sea-god. The 

 Roman Portu'nus, the protecting god of harbors, is the 



Pa'les. The goddess of shepherds, presided ove^ 

 cattle and pastures, whose festival, the Palilia, was cele- 

 brated on the 21st of April, the day on which Rome was 

 founded. 



Palame'des. A Greek hero. He was sent by the 

 Greek princes, who were going to the Trojan War, to 

 bring Ulysses to the camp, who, to withdraw himself 

 from the expedition, had pretended to be insane. Pala- 

 xnedes soon penetrated the deception, and Uylsses was 

 obliged to join in the war. 



Palla'dium. A Trojan statue of the goddess Pallas, 

 which represented her as sitting with a spear in her right 

 hand, and in her left a spindle or distaff. On this statue 

 the fate of the city was supposed to depend; for while 

 this sacred image was kept intact, Troy was supposed 

 to be impregnable. The Palladium is said to have fallen 

 from heaven near the tent of Ilus, at the time when that 

 prince was employed in building the citadel of Ilion or 

 Troy; and Apollo, by an oracle, declared that the city 

 should never be taken whilst the Palladium was con- 

 tained within its walls. 



Pal'las. (1) One of the giants. (2) The father of 

 Athena, according to some traditions. (3) Son of Ly- 

 caon, and grandfather of Evander. (4) Son of Evander, 

 and an ally of yEneas. 



Pallas-Athene. She is in Homer, and in the general 

 popular system, the goddess of wisdom and skill. In 

 war she is opposed to Ares, the wild war-god, as the 

 patroness and teacher of just and scientific warfare. 



Therefore she is on the side of the Greeks, and he on that 

 of the Trojans. Ulysses was her special favorite. As 

 the patroness of arts and industry in general, Pallas- 

 Athene was regarded as the inspirer and teacher of all 

 able artists. Thus she taught Epius to form the wooden 

 horse, by. means of which Troy was taken; and she also 

 superintended the building of the ship Argo. 



I'an. One of the most singular of the inferior gods 

 was Pan, whose worship was universally regarded. He 

 was the god of shepherds and herdsmen, of groves and 

 fields, and whatever pertained to rural affairs. His 

 worship was probably derived from the Eg; 

 was said to be the son of Mercury and D 



an immediate influence upon the condition of mortals. 

 In these respects, however, their power was limited, 

 according to the general opinion, being controlled by an 

 eternal and immutable relation of things, termed fate, 

 and to the Parcse, or fates, was attributed a power over 

 all destinies and at times control of the gods themselves. 



Paris. The son of Priam, King of Troy, and He- 

 cuba; he was also called Alexander. The tradition is 

 that at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis the goddess of 

 discord, who had not been invited, showed her displeas- 

 ure by throwing into the assembly of the gods, who were 

 at the nuptials, a golden apple, on which were the words: 

 " Let it be given to the fairest." The apple was churned 

 by Hera (Juno), Aphrodite (Venus), and Athena (Mi- 

 nerva). Zeus (Jupiter), ordered Hermes (Mercury), to 

 take the goddesses to Mount Ida, and to intrust the de- 

 cision of the dispute to the shepherd Paris. The god- 

 desses accordingly appeared before him. Hera promised 

 him the sovereignty of Asia, Athena renown in war, and 

 Aphrodite the fairest of women for his wife. Paris de- 

 cided in favor of Aphrodite, and gave her the golden 

 apple. This judgment called forth in Hera and Athena, 

 fierce hatred against Troy. Under the protection of 

 Aphrodite, Paris now sailed to Greece, and was hospit- 

 ably received in the palace of Menelaus at Sparta. Here 

 he succeeded in carrying off Helen, the wife of Menelaus, 

 who was the most beautiful woman in the world. Hence 

 arose the Trojan War. Paris fought with Menelaus be- 

 fore the walls of Troy, and was defeated, but was earned 

 off by Aphrodite. He is said to have killed Achilles, 

 either by one of his arrows or by treachery. 



Parnassos (Greek). Parnassus (Latin). A moun- 

 tain near Delphi, in Greece. It was well wooded; at its 

 foot grew myrtle, laurel and olive trees, and higher up 

 firs; and its summit was covered with snow during the 

 greater part of the year. It contained numerous caves, 

 glens, and romantic ravines. It has two summits, one 

 of which was consecrated to Apollo and the Muses, the 

 other to Bacchus. It was anciently called Larnassps, 

 from larnax, an ark, because Deucalion's ark stranded 

 there after the flood. After the oracle of Delphi \\as 

 built at its foot it received the name of Parnassos. It M 

 celebrated as one of the chief seats of Apollo and the 



Muses, and an inspiring source of poetry and song. 



Parthcn'ope. One of the sirens, whose dead body 

 was washed ashore on the present site of Naples. She 

 threw herself into the sea out of love for Ulysses. 



Patroc'lus. The gentle and amiable friend of Achilles 

 in Homer's Iliad. 



Pau'guk. Name given to the great power, death, in 

 American-Indian mythology. 



Pau'puk-kee'wis. In American-Indian folk-lore a 

 anairs. nm mischievous magician, who is pursued by Hiawatha, 

 yptians. He i goes through a series of wonderful transformations in 

 ryope. His his endeavors to escape, and finally becomes an eagle. 



favorite residence was in the woods and mountains of Pax. The goddess of peace, worshiped in Greece 



Arcadia. From his love to Syrinx, who was changed 

 into a reed, he formed his shepherd-pipe out of seven 

 reeds, and called it by her name. His pride in this in- 

 vention led him into his unlucky contest with Apollo. 

 Pan was originally, among the Egyptians, worshiped 

 in the form of a goat, and under the name of Mendes. 



under the name Irene. Pax wears a crown of laurel, 

 and holds in her hand the branch of an olive tree. 



Pe'boan. In American-Indian folk-lore the personifi- 

 cation of winter in form of a great giant who shook the 

 snow from his hair and turned water into stone by his 

 breath. 



