MYTHOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS

Abraxus/Abraxas A demon of the

Greek Period Had the body of a

man, the head of a rooster, and serpents for feet

Alecto One of the Furies

The Furies were lesser deities (gods) who punished victims

Her name is derived from the Greek “alektos,” meaning “unceasing in anger”

Sisters are Megaera and Tisiphone

Argus A monster that had a

hundred eyes A guard

Centaur A race of monsters Has the head, trunk,

and arms of a man, and the body and legs of a horse

Cerberus The three-headed

dog The guardian of the

underworld in Greek mythology

Draco In Latin, Draco means

“dragon” (Draco is a constellation that looks like a dragon but is a snake)

Also, a Greek ruler named Draco who developed a system of laws that favored wealthy families

Created severe punishments for the smallest of crimes

“Draconian” means “harsh or cruel.”

In Romanian, “drac” means “devil”

Errol An owl and

messenger for Athena, Goddess of the night who represented wisdom Revealed unseen truths

to her, had the ability to light up Athena’s “blind side,” enabling her to speak the entire truth

Means “wanderer” in Old English

Fenrir Norse mythology A gigantic and terrible

monster in the shape of a wolf Prophecy which stated that

the wolf and his family would one day be responsible for the destruction of the world

Caught Fenris and locked him in a cage, bound in chains

Fenrir then requested that one of the gods put their hand in his mouth before he was chained as a sign of good faith. Tyr, the god of war and justice, did and his hand was bitten off

Griffin A creature in

mythology with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle

The protector of a god’s gold from mortal men

In Greek, “gryphon” means “protector of wealth”

Hermione The goddess of high

magic; twin sister of Hermes

In other Greek Myths, she was the daughter of Helen of Troy and King Menelaus of Sparta

Hippogryph Derived from the

Greek word “hippos” meaning “horse” and the magical creature known as the griffinIn this case, it has the

body of a horse as opposed to a lion, but keeps the head of an eagle

Lucius A Roman General

usurped by the people of Rome

Defeated them; became a dictator

In Romanian, “lucios” is used to describe a person who desires extravagance and valuable things

A surname for Lucifer (connection to devilry)

Luna Roman goddess of the

moon “Luna” means “moon” in

Latin The word “lunatic” is

also derived from the word “lunar” it was believed that

strange or odd behavior was caused by the moon

“Luna” is a term for “silver” in alchemy.

Minerva The Roman

counterpart to the Greek goddess named AthenaRepresent war,

handicraft and practical reason or wisdom

Nymph Refers to a member

of a group of female spirits found in different types of natureThey are further

classified by where they were found

They also had the ability to change shapes

Orpheus Greek musician who

rescued his wife from the underworldGot past Cerberus by

lulling it to sleep with music

Phineus In Hebrew, means

“serpent's mouth” In Greek mythology,

Andromeda should be married to her uncle Phineus but marries Perseus, the famous hero, instead In the Old Testament,

Phineas kills an Israelite man for being in love with a woman who belongs to another ethnical group

Phoenix A mythical bird with a

colorful plumage At the end of its

lifecycle, it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignitesBoth nest and bird

burn and are reduced to ashes

New, young phoenix or phoenix egg

Immortality

Remus Twin brother of Romulus The King sent the two

twin babies out to a river and tried to drown them

Female wolf, instead of killing them, nursed them after finding the two boys

He was killed by Romulus Founders of Rome

○ So named after Romulus

Sibyls Famous prophets in

ancient mythologyTheir prophecies

were often not decipherable until an event had come to pass