The Iliad | Glossary

Aeacides: Another patronymic for Achilles, meaning "grandson of Aeacus"

Aeantes: Collective name for the two Achaean fighters named Ajax

Amazons: Tribe of fierce warrior women who later become Trojan allies

Ares: God of war, who is neutral but fights more in support of the Trojans

Argives, Danaans: Other names for the Achaeans (Greeks and their allies)

Artemis: Huntress goddess of wild places and childbirth and sister of Apollo; like her brother, she is an archer

Atridae: The two Atrides, Agamemnon and Menelaus

Centaurs: Mythical creatures that are half horse and half human—mostly wild and brutish, except for Chiron who taught the famous healer Asclepius

Cronus: Father of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Hera, and Demeter; one of the Titans who were overthrown by the Olympian gods

Dardans: Alternate name for the Trojans

Demeter: Goddess of agriculture and grain crops

Enyo: Goddess of war

Gorgon: Mythological monster, a woman with snakes for hair whose glance turns people to stone

Hades: God and king of the dead

Hellespont: Narrow straight north of Troy that connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara (now called the Dardanelles)

Hephaestus: God of fire and blacksmith of the gods, who fashions Achilles's new armor

Heracles: Greek name for Hercules, the hero son of Zeus who was raised to godhood after his death

Hermes: Guide and messenger of the gods, god of shepherds and luck, and son of Zeus, who killed the hundred-eyed giant Argos

Ida: Mountain range near Troy and its central peak, where Zeus likes to rest

Ilium: Another name for the city of Troy

Lycia: Region near Troy and source of Trojan allies such as Sarpedon and Glaucus

Olympus: Tall mountain in northeastern Greece believed to be the home of the gods

Poseidon: God of the sea and earthquakes, who has been an enemy of Troy since Priam's father Laomedon refused to pay him for building a wall around the city

Scamander: River that runs near Troy that is also worshipped as a god

Simois: River that runs near Troy, brother river of Scamander

Styx: River in the land of the dead on which the gods swear binding oaths

Xanthus: (1) Another name for the river Scamander near Troy and its god; (2) river in Lycia