340 



Till-: STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



them to escape, by contriving to intoxicate Polyphemus, 

 and then destroying his simile eye with a fire-brand. 



Polyx'ena. I he daughter of Priam and Hecuba, 

 was beloved by Achilles. 



I'orno'na. A nymph at Rome, who was supposed to 

 preside over gardens and to be the goddess of fruit trees. 

 Pone'mah. In American-Indian mythology the 

 name of the land of the future life, or the spirit-land. 



I'o-ei'don. Called Neptune by the Romans; was 

 the god of the Mediterranean Sea. He was a brother of 

 Zeus (Jupiter), and Hades (Pluto), and it was determined 

 by lot that he should rule over the sea. The palace of 

 Poseidon was in the depth of the sea, near ,/Egir, where 

 he kept his horses with brazen hoofs and golden manes. 

 With these horses he rides in a chariot over the waves 

 of the sea, which become smooth as he approaches, 

 while the monsters of the deep play around his chariot. 

 Poseidon, in conjunction with Apollo, is said to have built 

 the walls of Troy for l.aomedon. 



I'ti a in. King of Troy when that city was sacked by 

 the allied Greeks. His wife's name was Hec'uba; she 

 was the mother of nineteen children, the eldest of whom 

 was Hector. When the Greeks landed on the Trojan 

 coast Priam was advanced in years, and took no active 

 part in the war. Once onlv did he venture upon the 

 field of battle, to conclude the agreement respecting the 

 single combat between Paris and Menelaus. After the 

 death of Hector. Priam went to the tent of Achilles to 

 ransom his son's body for burial, and obtained it. When 

 the gates of Troy were thrown open bv the Greeks con- 

 cealed in the wooden horse, Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, 

 slew the aged Priam. 



Proe'tus. Twin brothers of Acrisius and son of 

 Abas. In the dispute between the two brothers for the 

 Kingdom of Argos, Pro?tus was expelled, whereupon he 

 lobates in Lycial. and married Antea, the daughter 

 of the latter. With the assistance of lobates, Prcetus 

 returned to his native land, and Acrisius gave him a 

 share of his kingdom, surrendering to him Tiryns, Midea, 

 and the coast of Argolis. 



Pro-me'theus. A son of lapetus and Clymene, the 

 brother of Epimetheus, and the father of Deucalion. 

 He made men of clay, and animated them by means of 

 fire which he stole from heaven; for this he was chained 

 by Jupiter to Mount Caucasus, where an eagle, or, as 

 some say. a vulture, preyed by day upon his liver, which 

 grew again by night. The word means forethought, 

 and one of his brothers was Epimetheus or afterthought. 

 Pros'erpine. Known as Persephone also. A god- 

 dess, daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. The seizure and 

 abduction of Proserpine by Pluto has been subject of 

 many tales. 



l'->'che. "The soul," occurs in the later times of 

 antiquity as a personification of the human soul. Psyche 

 was the youngest of the three daughters of a king, and 

 excited by her beauty the jealousy and envy of Venus. 

 In order to avenge herself, the goddess ordered Cupid or 

 Amor to inspire Psyche with a love for the most con- 

 temptible of all men; but Cupid was so stricken with her 

 beauty that he himself fell in love with her. He accord- 

 ingly conveyed her to a charming spot, where unseen 

 and unknown he visited her every night, and left her as 

 soon as the day began to dawn. But her jealous sisters 

 made her believe that in the darkness of night she was 

 embracing some hideous monster, and accordingly once, 

 while Cupid was asleep, she drew near to him with a lamp, 

 and, to her amazement, beheld the most handsome and 

 lovely of the gods. In the excitement of joy and fear, a 

 drop of hot oilfell from her lamp upon his shoulder. This 

 awoke Cupid, who censured her for her mistrust, and 

 fled. Psyche's happiness was now gone, and after at- 

 tempting in vain to throw herself into a river, she wan- 

 dered about from temple to temple, inquiring after 

 her lover, and at length came to the palace of Venus. 

 There her real sufferings began, for Venus retained her, 

 treated her as a slave, and imposed upon her the hardest 

 and most humiliating labors. Psyche would have per- 

 ished under the weight of her sufferings had not Cupid, 

 who still loved her in secret, invisibly comforted and 

 assisted her in her toils. With his aid she at last suc- 

 ceeded in overcoming the jealousy and hatred of Venus; 

 she became immortal, and was united to him forever. 

 In this pleasing story Psyche evidently represents the 

 human soul, which is purified by passions and misfor- 

 tunes, and thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and 

 pure happiness. In works of art Psyche is represented 

 as a maiden with the wings of a butterfly, along with 

 Cupid in the different situations described in the allegory. 

 Pukwa'na. The smoke from the calumet or peace- 

 pipe among American Indians. The pipe was made 

 from stone found near the head waters of the Mississippi. 

 A quarry, located near the mountains, was famous 

 among the Indians, who had made the adjacent territory 



neutral ground. Here they came and provided them- 

 selves with pipes. To apply the stone to any other use 

 than that of pipe-making would have been sacrilege in 

 their mind. From the color, they even fancied it to 

 have been made, at the great deluge, out of the flesh of 

 the perishing Indian. 



Pukwudj'ies. The pygmies of American-Indian 

 folk-lore; little wild men of the woods. 



Pypma'lion. A grandson of Agenor. He made a 

 beautiful statue, which he fell so deeply in love with, 

 that Venus, at his earnest petition, gave it life. In (!il- 

 bert's comedy of Pygmalion and Galatea, the sculptor 

 is a married man, whose wife (Cynisca) was jealous of 

 the animated statue (Galatea), which, after enduring 

 great misery, voluntarily returned to its original state. 

 This, of course, is mixing up two Pygmalions, wide as 

 the poles apart. 



Pyl'ades. Son of Anaxibia, sister of Agamemnon. 

 His father was King of Phocis; and after the death of 

 Agamemnon, Orestes was secretly carried to his father's 

 court. Here Pylades contracted that friendship with 

 Orestes which became proverbial. 



Pyr'amus. The lover of Thisbe, who, on account 

 of her supposed death, stabbed himself under a mulberry 

 tree. Thisbe, afterward, finding the body of her lover, 

 killed herself on the same spot with the same weapon; 

 and the fruit of the mulberry has ever since been as red 

 as blood. (See Thisbe.) 



Pyr'rhus. Known also as Neoptolemus, a son of 

 Achilles, remarkable for his cruelty at the siege of Troy. 

 He was slain at Delphi, at the request of his own wife, 

 by Orestes. 



Pythia. The priestess of Apollo and Delphi. She is 

 represented as crowned with laurels and seated on a tri- 

 pod similarly adorned and placed over a chasm whence 

 arose a peculiar vapor. Whoever inhaled this intoxicat- 

 ing air was thrown into convulsive ravings, which were 

 thought to be an evidence of divine inspiration. The 

 prophetic influence was at first variously attributed to 

 different gods, but was at length assigned to Apollo onlv. 

 A priestess, called the Pythia, was appointed to inhale 

 the hallowed air and utter inspired words, which were 

 interpreted by the priests. 



Py'thon. The monster serpent hatched from the 

 mud of Deucalion's deluge. He lived in the caves of 

 Mount Parnassus, but was slain by Apollo, who founded 

 the Pythian games in commemoration of his victory, 

 and received in consequence the surname Pythius. 



Rach'aders. In Indian mythology, the second tribe 

 of giants or evil genii, who had frequently made the 

 earth subject to their kings, but were ultimately pun- 

 ished by Shiva and Vishnu. 



Radegaste. In Slavonic mythology, a tutelary god 

 of the Slavi. The head was that of a cow, the breast 

 was covered with an a^gis, the left hand held a spear, 

 and a cock surmounted its helmet. 



Ragnarok (.twilight of the gods). The day of doom, 

 when the present world and all its inhabitants will be 

 annihilated. Vidar of Vali will survive the conflagration, 

 and reconstruct the universe. In Scandinavian my- 

 thology is the belief taught that after this time the earth 

 or realm will become imperishable and happiness sure. 



Ra'hu. In Hindu mythology, the demon that causes 

 eclipses. One day Rahu stole into Valhalla to quaff 

 some of the nectar of immortality. He was discovered 

 by the Sun and Moon, who informed against him, and 

 Vishnu cut off his head. As he had already taken some 

 of the nectar into his mouth, the head was immortal, 

 and he ever afterwards hunted the Sun and Moon, 

 which he caught occasionally, causing eclipses. 



Rak'shas. Evil spirits in Hindu myths, who guard 

 the treasures of Kuvera, the god of riches. They haunt 

 cemeteries and devour human beings; assume any 

 shape at will, and their strength increases as the day 

 declines. Some are hideously ugly, but others, espe- 

 cially the female spirits, allure by their beauty. 



Rava'na, according to Indian mythology, was fas- 

 tened down between heaven and earth for 10,000 years 

 by Siva's leg, for attempting to move the hill of heaven 

 to Ceylon. He is described as a demon giant with ten 

 faces. 



Ravens. According to an oracle from the gods, 

 delivered at ancient Athens, ravens prognosticate fam- 

 ine and death because they bear the characters of Saturn, 

 the author of these calamities, and have a very early 

 perception of the bad disposition of that planet. 



Rem'bha. A Hindoo goddess of pleasure. 



Rhadarnan'thus. A son of Jupiter and Europa, 

 brother of Minos, and King of Lycia. Pie was so re- 

 nowned for his justice and equity, that, after death, he 

 was made one of the three judges in the under-world. 



Rham'nus. A daughter of Nox, and otherwise 

 known as Nemesis. Having belonged with the original 



