Hamadryas A wood nymph. Bk I:689-722. Hammon See Ammon. Harmonia, Harmony The wife of Cadmus and daughter of Mars and Venus. Bk III:115-137. Bk IV:563-603. She is turned with him into a snake. Bk IX:394-417. At her marriage to Cadmus, Venus gave her the fatal necklace that conferred irresistible beauty. Harpies The ‘snatchers,’ Aellopus and Ocypete, the fair-haired, loathsome, winged daughters of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra, who snatch up criminals for punishment by the Furies. They live in a cave in Cretan Dicte. They plagued Phineus of Salmydessus, the blind prophet, and were chased away by the winged sons of Boreas. Bk VII:1-73. Bk XIII:705-737. An alternative myth has Phineus drive them away to the Strophades where Ovid has Aeneas meet the harpy Aëllo, and Virgil, Celaeno. They are foul-bellied birds with girls’ faces, and clawed hands, and their faces are pale with hunger. (See Virgil’s Aeneid III:190-220) Harpocrates The infant Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. The Egyptian god, misinterpreted as a god of silence by the Greeks, as he is represented sitting on his mother’s lap with his thumb in his mouth. Bk IX:666-713. Hebe The daughter of Iuno, born without a father. Bk IX:394-417. She is the wife of Hercules after his deification, and has the power to renew life. Hebrus The river in Thrace down which Orpheus’s head was washed to the sea. Bk II:227-271. Bk XI:1-66. Hecate The daughter of the Titans Perses and Asterie, Latona’s sister. A Thracian goddess of witches, her name is a feminine form of Apollo’s title ‘the far-darter.’ She was a lunar goddess, with shining Titans for parents. In Hades she was Prytania of the dead, or the Invincible Queen. She gave riches, wisdom, and victory, and presided over flocks and navigation. She had three bodies and three heads, those of a lioness, a bitch, and a mare. Her ancient power was to give to or withhold from mortals any gift. She was sometimes merged with the lunar aspect of Diana-Artemis, and presided over purifications and expiations. She was the goddess of enchantments and magic charms, and sent demons to earth to torture mortals. At night she appeared with her retinue of infernal dogs, haunting crossroads (as Trivia), tombs and the scenes of crimes. At crossroads her columns or statues had three faces – the Triple Hecates – and offerings were made at the full moon to propitiate her. Bk VI:129-145. Goddess of magical herbs, used by Minerva. Bk VII:74-99. Medea the Thracian witch makes Jason promise to marry her, taking his oath on the altar of Hecate, and gives him magic herbs to carry out his tasks. Bk VII:159-178. Medea invokes her aid in her attempt to renew Aeson’s life. Bk VII:179-233. Goddess of witchcraft. Bk VII:234-293. Medea sacrifices to her. Bk XIV:1-74. Bk XIV:397-434. Circe invokes her spells and her presence. |
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