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Ianassa

Ianassa

:For the moon of the planet Neptune, see Nereid (moon). In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are blue-haired sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. They often accompany Poseidon and are always friendly and helpful towards sailors fighting perilous storms. They are associated with the Mediterranean Sea. The most notable of them is Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles; and Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon. In Iliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for the slain Patroclus, "there gathered round her every goddess, every Nereid that was in the deep salt sea. Glauce was there and Thaleia and Cymodoce; Nesaea, Speio, Thoe and ox-eyed Halie; Cymothoe, Actaee and Limnoreia; Melite, Iaera, Amphithoe and Agaue; Doto, Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene; Dexamene, Amphinome and Callianeira; Doris, Panope and far-sung Galatea; Nemertes, Apseudes and Callianassa. Clymene came too, with Ianeira, Ianassa, Maera, Oreithuia, Amatheia of the lovely locks, and other Nereids of the salt sea depths. The silvery cave was full of nymphs" (E.V. Rieu, translator). Names of Nereids:
- Amphitrite
- Arethusa
- Dynamene
- Galatea
- Lotis
- Lycorias
- Panopea
- Pherusa
- Psamathe
- Thetis
- Thoosa Category:Nymphs ja:ネレイデス

Natural satellite

The common noun moon (not capitalized) is used to mean any natural satellite of the other planets. There are at least 140 moons within Earth's solar system, and presumably many others orbiting the planets of other stars. The large gas giants have extensive systems of moons, including half a dozen comparable in size to Earth's moon. Mercury and Venus have no moons at all, Earth has one large moon ("The Moon"), Mars has two tiny moons, and Pluto has three, including a large companion called Charon (Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a double planet).

Origin

Most moons are assumed to have been formed out of the same collapsing region of protoplanetary disk that gave rise to its primary. However, there are many exceptions and variations to this standard model of moon formation that are known or theorized. Several moons are thought to be captured asteroids; others may be fragments of larger moons shattered by impacts, or (in the case of Earth's Moon) a portion of the planet itself blasted into orbit by a large impact. As most moons are known only through a few observations via probes or telescopes, most theories about their origins are still uncertain.

Orbital characteristics

Most moons in the solar system are tidally locked to their primaries, meaning that one side of the moon is always turned toward the planet. Exceptions are Saturn's moon Hyperion, which rotates chaotically due to a variety of external influences, and the outermost moons of the gas giants, which are too far away to become 'locked' (an example is Saturn's moon Phoebe). It is not possible for a moon to have moons of its own: the tidal effects of their primaries would make such a system unstable. However, several moons have small companions in the Lagrangian points of their orbits (e.g., Saturn's moons Tethys and Dione). The recent discovery of 243 Ida's moon Dactyl confirms that some asteroids also have moons. Some, like 90 Antiope, are double asteroids with two equal-sized components. The asteroid 87 Sylvia has two moons. See asteroid moon for further information.

Moons of the Solar system

The largest moons in the solar system (those bigger than about 3000 km across) are Earth's Moon, Jupiter's Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, Saturn's moon Titan, and Neptune's captured moon Triton. For smaller moons see the articles on the appropriate planet. The following is a comparative table classifying the moons of the solar system by diameter. The column on the right includes some notable planets, asteroids and Kuiper belt objects for comparison.

Diameter(km)	Earth	Mars	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto	Other objects
5000-6000			Ganymede	Titan
4000-5000			Callisto					Mercury
3000-4000	Luna		Io Europa
2000-3000						Triton		Pluto
1000-2000				Rhea Iapetus Dione Tethys	Titania Oberon Umbriel Ariel		Charon	90377 Sedna 90482 Orcus 50000 Quaoar 20000 Varuna 28978 Ixion
100-1000			Himalia Amalthea	Enceladus Mimas Hyperion Phoebe Janus Epimetheus Prometheus	Miranda Sycorax Puck Portia	Proteus Nereid Larissa Galatea Despina	S/2005 P 1² S/2005 P 2²	1 Ceres 2 Pallas 4 Vesta 10 Hygiea 511 Davida 704 Interamnia 3 Juno (and many others)
50-100			Thebe Elara Pasiphaë	Pandora	Caliban Juliet Belinda Cressida Rosalind Desdemona Bianca	Thalassa Naiad S/2002 N 4		(Too many to list)
10-50		Phobos Deimos	Carme Metis Sinope Lysithea Ananke Leda Adrastea	Siarnaq Atlas Helene Albiorix Telesto Pan Paaliaq Calypso Ymir Kiviuq Tarvos Ijiraq	Ophelia Cordelia Setebos Prospero Stephano Perdita S/2001 U 2 S/2001 U 3 Margaret Trinculo Mab Cupid	S/2002 N 1 S/2002 N 2 S/2002 N 3 Psamathe		(Too many to list)
less than 10	Cruithne¹		At least 47, see Jupiter's natural satellites for a listing.	Erriapo Narvi Skathi Mundilfari Suttungr Thrymr Pallene Polydeuces Methone S/2004 S 3 Daphnis				(Too many to list)

¹) Cruithne is not a real moon; it is mainly placed here for comparison's sake.
²) Diameters of the new Plutonian satellites are still very poorly known, but they are estimated to lie between 64 and 200 km.
In addition to the moons of the various planets there are also over 30 known asteroid moons, asteroids that orbit other asteroids.

External links

Jupiter's moons

- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jupsatdata.html Data on Jupiter's satellites]
- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/jmoons/jmoons.html Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2000)]
- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jup.html Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2002)]
- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jup2003.html Jupiter's new moons (discovered in 2003)]

Saturn's moons

- [http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Oct00/Saturn.moons.deb.html Saturn's new moons (discovered in 2000)]
- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/sat2003.html Saturn's new moon (discovered in 2003)]

Neptune's moons

- [http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/whatsnew/pr/030113A.html Neptune's new moons (discovered in 2003)]

All moons

- [http://www.planetary.org/learn/solarsystem/moons.html Moons of the Solar System (The Planetary Society)]
- [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites Scott Sheppard's page]
- [http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov JPL's Solar System Dynamics page]
- [http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planet_photo_040910.html Moon of an Object? First Photo of Satellite Beyond the Solar System]
- [http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/append7.html USGS list of named moons] ----
- als:Satellit (Astronomie) ko:위성 ms:Satelit semulajadi ja:衛星 th:ดาวบริวาร

Planet

A planet is generally considered to be a relatively large mass of accreted matter in orbit around a star that is not a star itself. The name comes from the Greek term πλανήτης, planētēs, meaning "wanderer", as ancient astronomers noted how certain lights moved across the sky in relation to the other stars. Based on historical consensus, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) lists nine planets in our solar system. Since the term "planet" has no precise scientific definition, however, many astronomers contest that figure. Some say it should be lowered to eight by removing Pluto from the list, whilst others claim it should be raised to fifteen, twenty, or even higher.

Planetary formation

It is not known with certainty how planets are formed. The prevailing theory is that they are formed from those remnants of a nebula that don't condense under gravity to form a protostar. Instead, these remnants become a thin disc of dust and gas revolving around the protostar and begin to condense about local concentrations of mass within the disc. These concentrations become ever more dense until they collapse inward under gravity to form protoplanets. When the protostar has grown such that it ignites to form a star, its solar wind blows away most of the disc's remaining material. Thereafter there still may be many protoplanets orbiting the star or each other, but over time many will collide, either to form a single larger planet or release material for other larger protoplanets or planets to absorb. Meanwhile, protoplanets that have avoided collisions may become moons of larger planets. With the discovery and observation of planetary systems around stars other than our own, it is becoming possible to elaborate, revise or even replace this account.

Within our solar system

Main article: Solar system The process of naming planets and their features is known as planetary nomenclature. All the currently accepted planets in the solar system are named after Roman gods, except for Uranus (named after a Greek god) and the Earth, which was not seen as a planet by the ancients but rather the centre of the universe. The designated planetary names are near-universal in the Western world, but some non-European languages, such as Chinese, use their own. Moons are also named after gods and characters from classical mythology, or, in the case of Uranus, after Shakespearean characters. Asteroids can be named after anybody or anything at the discretion of their discoverers, subject to approval by the IAU's nomenclature panel.

Accepted planets

Asteroid According to the authority of the IAU, there are nine planets in our solar system. In increasing distance from the Sun they are: #Mercury (astronomical symbol ) #Venus () #Earth () with one confirmed natural satellite, Luna (the Moon) #Mars () with two confirmed natural satellites, Deimos and Phobos #Jupiter () with sixty-three confirmed natural satellites #Saturn () with forty-six confirmed natural satellites #Uranus (Uranus) with twenty-seven confirmed natural satellites #Neptune () with thirteen confirmed natural satellites #Pluto () with three confirmed natural satellites (Charon, S/2005 P 1, S/2005 P 2) However, there is some pressure for Pluto to be reclassified as a Kuiper Belt object, especially in light of the discovery of . This object, however, has not yet received a definitive classification from the IAU.

Other candidates

When Ceres was found orbiting between Mars and Jupiter in 1801, it was initially touted as a planet, but after many smaller objects were found with a similar orbit, it was classified as an asteroid. However, due to its large size (relative to the other asteroids), and its roughly spherical shape, Ceres would be considered a planet by some astronomers' definitions. Similarly, since 1992 many objects have been found in the predicted Kuiper Belt that exists beyond Neptune. Several of the largest of these have challenged the planetary status quo, as they are both spherical and larger than the bodies in the Mars-Jupiter asteroid belt, and are similar in size, orbit and composition to Pluto. However, as yet none have been accepted as planets by the IAU. The most significant of these are (in order of increasing distance from the Sun) 90482 Orcus, , 50000 Quaoar, , , 28978 Ixion, 20000 Varuna, 19521 Chaos, and 90377 Sedna. (However, it should be noted that Sedna is often considered to be beyond the Kuiper Belt; being either a member of the scattered disc or the inner Oort Cloud). Like Ceres before it, Sedna was widely touted as a planet when it was discovered in 2003, as it was the largest object found since Pluto. However, mainly due to its size still being smaller than Pluto's, it did not achieve planetary status from the IAU. However, the discovery in 2005 of (nicknamed Xena), with a size and mass larger than Pluto seems to have forced the issue. As of September 2005 it has not yet been accepted as a planet, but the IAU is expected to announce a definition of a planet by the end of the year, which will either see become a planet, or have Pluto stripped of its status.

Extrasolar planets

:Main article: Extrasolar planet. Of the 173 extrasolar planets (those outside our solar system) discovered to date (October 2005) most have masses which are about the same or larger than Jupiter's. Exceptions include a number of planets discovered orbiting burned-out star remnants called pulsars, such as PSR B1257+12, the planets orbiting the stars Mu Arae, 55 Cancri and GJ 436 which are approximately Neptune-sized [http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-2004/pr-22-04_pf.html], and a planet orbiting Gliese 876 that is estimated to be about 6 to 8 times as massive as the Earth and is probably rocky in origin. It is far from clear if the newly discovered large planets would resemble the gas giants in our solar system or if they are of an entirely different type as yet unknown, like ammonia giants or carbon planets. In particular, some of the newly discovered planets, known as hot Jupiters, orbit extremely close to their parent stars, in nearly circular orbits. They therefore receive much more stellar radiation than the gas giants in our solar system, which makes it questionable whether they are the same type of planet at all. There is also a class of hot Jupiters that orbit so close to their star that their atmospheres are slowly blown away in a comet-like tail: the Chthonian planets. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States has a program underway to develop a Terrestrial Planet Finder artificial satellite, which would be capable of detecting the planets with masses comparable to terrestrial planets. The frequency of occurrence of these planets is one of the variables in the Drake equation which estimates the number of intelligent, communicating civilizations that exist in our galaxy. Astronomers have recently [http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050711/full/050711-6.html] [http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2005-115] detected a planet in a triple star system, a finding that challenges current theories of planetary formation. The planet, a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter, orbits the main star of the HD 188753 system, in the constellation Cygnus, and is hence known as HD 188753 Ab. The stellar trio (yellow, orange, and red) is about 149 light-years from Earth. The planet, which is at least 14% larger than Jupiter, orbits the main star (HD 188753 A) once every 80 hours or so (3.3 days), at a distance of about 8 Gm, a twentieth of the distance between Earth and the Sun. The other two stars whirl tightly around each other in 156 days, and circle the main star every 25.7 years at a distance from the main star that would put them between Saturn and Uranus in our own Solar System. The latter stars invalidate the leading hot Jupiter formation theory, which holds these planets form at "normal" distances and then migrate inward through some debatable mechanism. This could not have occurred here, the outer star pair disrupting outer planet formation.

Brown dwarf "planets"

The discovery of a planet-sized satellite of a brown dwarf has blurred the distinction between "planet" and "moon." A brown dwarf, though a star in theory, in practice is often described as in between a planet and a star. It is formally defined by the IAU by its official statement that "Substellar objects with true masses above the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium are "brown dwarfs", no matter how they formed nor where they are located." To the IAU, the question of whether an object in orbit around a brown dwarf is a "planet" or a "moon" was simply not relevant, as it does not use the term "moon," only "satellite" and as yet has no official definition for "planet."

Interstellar planets

Interstellar planets are rogues in interstellar space, not gravitationally linked to any given solar system. No interstellar planet is known to date, but their existence is considered a likely hypothesis based on computer simulations of the origin and evolution of planetary systems, which often include the ejection of bodies of significant mass. Such objects are not formally called planets, however, since the IAU has not defined the term "planet".

Definition and classification of planets

Much like "continent", "planet" is a word without a precise definition, with history and culture playing as much of a role as geology and astrophysics. Recent definitions have been vague and imprecise; The American Heritage Dictionary, for instance, formerly defined a planet as: :A nonluminous celestial body larger than an asteroid or comet, illuminated by light from a star, such as the sun, around which it revolves. In the solar system there are nine known planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.' However, for some time that definition has been viewed by many as inadequate. The eight largest planets (which are also the eight nearest to the Sun) are universally recognised as such, and for this reason are often universally referred to as "major planets", but there is controversy over Pluto and other smaller objects.
Suggested wide definitions
Since the discoveries of many of the objects in the Kuiper belt and around other stars, there has been a concerted push amongst scientists to come up with a precise definition of what constitutes a planet. In 1999, the IAU set up a working group to develop a scientifically plausible recommendation, but as of August, 2005 they had not reached a conclusion. After the discovery of (informally called "Xena"), a member of the committee, Alan Stern, has said that the group wanted "to get something done, pronto". He also informed journalists that a "consensus" in the group was moving towards the following definition: :A planet is a body that directly orbits a star, is large enough to be round because of self gravity, and is not so large that it triggers nuclear fusion in its interior. Note that this definition also covers disputes at the upper end of a planet's size, which provides the extra benefit of forming a barrier between planets and brown dwarfs. Many consider this definition the best option as it sets up divisions based on physical characteristics rather than an arbitrary size limit. It is also somewhat universal in its application where other definitions have been crafted mainly to sort our own solar system into simple categories (such as placing the size limit as just under Mars, Mercury or Pluto). Depending how it is interpreted, objects counted as planets under such a new system would include some or all of the objects listed above, with potentially many more yet to be found. Gibor Basri, head of astronomy at the University of Berkeley, has suggested a similar definition and has also proposed the terms "fusor" (any object that achieves fusion in its core) and "planemo" (an object that is round from self-gravity but not a fusor) to help improve the astronomical nomenclature. Under Basri's definition: :A planet is a planemo orbiting a fusor These definitions have the advantage of creating a group including larger moons (which share many characteristics with the smaller planets) and also covering large free-roaming objects, which some astronomers think should be included in the definition of a planet. Basri has also suggested 'liberal use of adjectives' such as "major", "beltway", "dwarf", "giant", "super" and "historical".[http://astron.berkeley.edu/%7Ebasri/defineplanet/Mercury.htm] Others have suggested categories of planet/planemo based on composition such as "rock" (composed mainly of silicate), "gas" (composed mainly of hydrogen and helium), and "ice" (composed mainly of oxygen and carbon).
Suggested narrow definitions
There are alternate suggestions which would instead reduce the number of planets in the system. Upon his discovery of Sedna, Mike Brown of Caltech suggested a definition which would exclude both Sedna and Pluto from being classified as planets, proposing the following: :A planet is any body in the solar system that is more massive than the total mass of all of the other bodies in a similar orbit [http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/sedna/#What%20is%20the%20definition%20of%20a%20planet?] This definition generally plays down the importance of size, but instead focuses on the formation of the proposed planet. Under this definition, no Kuiper Belt objects (including Pluto) would be considered planets. Brown's wish to "demote" Pluto prompted many to criticize him for setting out to create a purely scientific definition for a term which had an existing popular (albeit 'flawed') application. Upon his discovery of , Brown indicated he had become a convert to this way of thinking, and proposed that whatever definition of planet be adopted, it should include both Pluto and any Kuiper Belt object found to be larger than Pluto. [http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/index.html]
Further classification
Astronomers distinguish between minor planets, such as asteroids, comets, and trans-Neptunian objects; and major (or true) planets. Planets within Earth's solar system can be divided into categories according to composition.
- Terrestrial or rocky: Planets that are similar to Earth — with bodies largely composed of rock: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
- Jovian or gas giant: Those with a composition largely made up of gaseous material: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Uranian planets, or ice giants, are a sub-class of gas giants, distinguished from true Jovians by their depletion in hydrogen and helium and a significant composition of rock and ice.
- Icy: Sometimes a third category is added to include bodies like Pluto, whose composition is primarily ice; this category of "icy" bodies also includes many non-planetary bodies such as the icy moons of the outer planets of our solar system (e.g. Triton). Many consider the Earth and its Moon to be a double planet, for several reasons:
- The Moon, as measured by its diameter, is 1.5 times larger than Pluto.
- The gravitational force of the Sun on the Moon is larger than the gravitational force of the Earth on the Moon by a factor of approx. 2.2. (This is not a unique situation in the solar system. The Sun's gravity is also stronger than the primary's on Jupiter's moon S/2003 J 2; Uranus' moon S/2001 U 2; Neptune's moons S/2002 N 4 and Psamathe; and several asteroid moons. However, Luna is the sole case of this phenomenon affecting an object of planetary mass.)
See also

- Definition of planet
- Planetary habitability
- Planetary science
- Planemo
- Planetoid
- Brown Dwarf
- Planets in science fiction
- Prograde and retrograde motion
- Skies of other planets
References

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External links

- [http://www.nineplanets.org/ NinePlanets.org] - tour of the solar system
- [http://www.iau.org International Astronomical Union]
- [http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Solar/ Solar System Live] (an interactive orrery)
- [http://janus.astro.umd.edu/javadir/orbits/ssv.html Solar System Viewer] (animation)
- [http://www.sky-pics.net/ Pictures of the solar system]
- [http://gw.marketingden.com/planets/sun.html Renderings of the planets]
- [http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/ NASA Planet Quest]
- [http://www.ciw.edu/IAU/div3/wgesp/definition.html Working definition of "planet"] from IAU WGESP — the lower bound remained a matter of consensus in February 2003
- Dan Green's page on [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/icq/ICQPluto.html planet classification]
- [http://www.spacedaily.com/news/outerplanets-04b.html Gravity Rules: The Nature and Meaning of Planethood]; S. Alan Stern; March 22, 2004
- [http://www.iau.org/IAU/FAQ/PlutoPR.html On the status of Pluto]; IAU, February 3, 1999
- als:Planet ko:행성 ms:Planet ja:惑星 simple:Planet th:ดาวเคราะห์ zh-min-nan:He̍k-chheⁿ

Nereid (moon)

Nereid (neer'-ee-id (UK, US), nair'-ee-id (UK), Greek Νηρηΐδα) is a moon of Neptune. Nereid was discovered on 1949-05-01 by Gerard P. Kuiper. It is named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology. It is also designated Neptune II. It was the outermost of Neptune's known moons for a long time (S/2002 N 1 through Psamathe have since taken that honour), and is the third largest, with a diameter of 340 km. Its orbit averages 5,513,400 km in radius, but is highly eccentric and varies from 1,353,600 to 9,623,700 kilometres. This is the most highly eccentric orbit of any known satellite in the solar system. The unusual Nereidian orbit suggests that it may be a captured asteroid or Kuiper belt object, or possibly that it was perturbed during the capture of Neptune's largest moon Triton. Very little else is known of Nereid. Nereid was too far to be properly imaged by the Voyager 2 probe as it visited the Neptune system in 1989. Photos sent back show only its highly irregular shape as no surface features could be seen at the resolution available. 1989

Data

- Orbital radius: 5,513,400 km
- Periposeidion: 1,353,600 km
- Apoposeidion: 9,623,700 km
- Diameter: 340 km
- Mass: 3.1 kg
- Orbital period: 360.14 d
- Orbital inclination: 32.55° (to Neptune's equator), 7.232° (to the local Laplace plane), 5.07° (to the ecliptic)
- Rotation period: 0.48 d (11.52 h)

External links

- [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0061//0000175.000.html Kuiper, Gerard P., "The second satellite of Neptune", PASP 61 (1949) 175–176] Category:Neptune's moons

Nereus

Nereus: in Greek Mythology, eldest son of Pontus and Gaia, the Sea and the Earth. See Hesiod, Theogony 233-36. A Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids. He lived with his family in the Aegean Sea. He was a shapeshifter with the power of prophecy and would aid heroes such as Heracles, who managed to catch him even as he changed shapes. Nereus and Proteus ("first") seem to be two manifestations of the god of the sea prior to being supplanted by Poseidon when Zeus overthrew Cronus. Nereus was known for his truthfulness and virtue: :But Pontos, the great sea, was father of truthful Nereus who tells no lies, eldest of his sons. They call him the Old Gentleman because he is trustworthy, and gentle, and never forgetful of what is right, but the thoughts of his mind are mild and righteous. — Hesiod, Theogony 233

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon (Ποσειδώνας) was the god of the sea. In Greek and Roman mythology, Poseidon was known as Nethuns and Neptunus, respectively. Poseidon was also the god of earthquakes and horses. In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenean culture, Poseidon's importance was that of Zeus, if surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted. The name PO-SE-DA-WO-NE (Poseidon) occurs with greater frequency than does DI-U-JA (Zeus). A feminine variant, PO-SE-DE-IA, is also found, indicating the existence of a now-forgotten consort goddess. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon" and to "the Two Queens and the King" compounding the mystery further. The most obvious identification for the "Two Queens" is with Demeter and Persephone (or some precursors), who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. Poseidon is already identified as "Earth-Shaker"— E-NE-SI-DA-O-NE— in Mycenaean Knossos [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html], a powerful attribute where earthquakes had accompanied the collapse of the Minoan palace-culture. Demeter and Poseidon's names are linked in one Pylos tablet, where they appear as PO-SE-DA-WO-NE and DA-MA-TE, in the context of sacralized lot-casting. The 'DA' element in each of their names is seemingly connected to an Indo-European root relating to distribution of land and honors (compare Latin dare "to give"), thus 'Poseidon' would mean something like "distribution-lord" or "husband of the distributor", to match 'Damater' "distribution-mother". Given Poseidon's connection with horses as well as the sea, and the landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, some scholars have proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic horse-god who was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea. In any case, the early all-importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's Odyssey, where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events.

Worship

In the historical period, Poseidon was often referred to by the epithets Enosichthon, Seischthon and Ennosigaios, all meaning "earth-shaker" and referring to his role in causing earthquakes. Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in importance; while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the chief god of the polis. According to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the Oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. Apollo and Poseidon worked closely in many realms: in colonization, for example, Apollo provided the authorization to go out and settle from Delphi, while Poseidon watched over the colonists on their way, and provided the lustral water for the foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon's Anabasis describes a groups of Spartan soldiers singing Poseidon a paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo. Like Dionysus and the Maenads, Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. One Hippocratic text says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy. Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice.

In art

Poseidon's chariot was pulled by a hippocampus or seahorses. He was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish spears (tridents). He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.

In Rome

Neptune was worshipped by the Romans primarily as a horse god, Neptune Equester, patron of horse-racing. He had a temple near the race tracks in Rome (built in 25 BC), the Circus Flaminius, as well as one in the Campus Martius. Only July 23, the Neptunalia was observed at the latter temple. Neptunalia

Myth

Birth and childhood

Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. Like his brothers and sisters save Zeus, Poseidon was swallowed by his father. He was regurgitated only after Zeus forced Cronus to vomit up the infants he had eaten. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Hecatonchires, Gigantes and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans. According to other variants, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete. When the world was divided in three, Zeus received the earth and sky, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea.

Lovers

Poseidon fell in love with Pelops, a beautiful youth, son of Tantalus. He took Pelops up to Olympus and made him his lover, even before Zeus did the same with Ganymede. To thank Pelops for his love, Poseidon later gave him a winged chariot, to use in the race against Oenomaus for the hand of Hippodamia. Poseidon once pursued Demeter. She spurned his advances, turning herself into a mare so that she could hide in a flock of horses; he saw through the deception and became a stallion and captured her. Their child was a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech. Poseidon had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon, begetting Hippothoon. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis. Poseidon rescued Amymone from a lecherous satyr and then fathered a child, Nauplius, by her. A mortal woman named Tyro was married to Cretheus (with whom she had one son, Aeson) but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus and from their union was born Pelias and Neleus, twin boys. With Medusa, Poseidon had sexual intercourse on the floor of a temple to Athena. Medusa was changed into a monster. When she was later beheaded by the hero Perseus, Chrysaor and Pegasus emerged from her neck. After raping Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a man.

External links

- [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/ Greek Mythology resource]
- [http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/ The story of Poseidon and Pelops]
- [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html Gods found in Mycenaean Greece;] a table drawn up from Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek second edition (Cambridge 1973) Category:Greek gods Category:Nature gods Category:Sea and river gods ko:포세이돈 ja:ポセイドン

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km² (965 000 mi²). It is also called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea in oceanography to distinguish it from other mediterranean seas in the world. It was a superhighway of transport in ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region — Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and the Middle-East (Arab/Persian/Semitic) cultures. The history of the Mediterranean is important in understanding the origin and development of Western Civilization.

Name

The term Mediterranean derives from the Latin mediterraneus, 'inland' (medius, 'middle' + terra, 'land, earth'), in Greek "mesogeios". The Mediterranean Sea has been known by a number of alternative names throughout human history. It was, for example, commonly called Mare Nostrum (Latin, Our Sea) by the Romans. In the Bible, it is referred to as the Great Sea or the Western Sea. In modern Hebrew, it is called "ha-Yam ha-Tichon" (הים התיכון), "the middle sea", a literal adaptation of the German equivalent Mittelmeer. In Turkish, it is Akdeniz, "the white sea". In Arabic, it is Al-Bakhr Al-Abiad Al-Muttawasit, "the middle white sea". Currently, "The Med" is a common English language contraction for the Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding regions when employed in informal speech.

Geography

Turkish The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar on the west and to the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea, by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, on the east. The Sea of Marmara is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is generally not. The man-made Suez Canal in the south-east connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Tides are very limited in the Mediterranean as a result of the narrow connection with the ocean. The Mediterranean climate is generally one of wet winters and hot, dry summers. Special crops of the region are olives, grapes, oranges, tangerines, and cork. The region has a long history of civilization. Large islands in the Mediterranean include:
- Cyprus, Crete, Euboea and Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean
- Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and Malta in the central Mediterranean
- Ibiza, Majorca and Minorca (the Balearic Islands) in the western Mediterranean

Bordering countries

Modern states bordering the Mediterranean Sea are:
- Europe (from west to east): Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, the island state of Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, and the island state of Cyprus.
- Asia (from north to south): Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
- Africa (from east to west): Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco

Subdivisions

Morocco] The Mediterranean Sea is sub-divided into a number of smaller seas, each with their own designation (from west to east):
- the Alboran Sea, between Spain and Morocco,
- the Ligurian Sea between Corsica and Liguria (Italy),
- the Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by Sardinia, Italian peninsula and Sicily,
- the Adriatic Sea between the Italian peninsula and the Dalmatian coast,
- the Ionian Sea between Italy and Greece,
- the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, with
- the Thracian Sea in its north,
- the Mirtoon Sea between the Cyclades and the Peloponnesos,
- the Sea of Crete north of Crete, and
- the Sea of Marmara between the Aegean and Black Seas. In addition to the seas, a number of gulfs and straits are also recognised:
- the Gulf of Lyon, south of France
- the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and the toe of Italy
- the Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy,
- the Gulf of Haifa, between Haifa and Akko, Israel
- the Gulf of Sidra, between Tunisia and Cyrenaica (eastern Libya)
- the Strait of Sicily, between Sicily and Tunisia
- the Corsica Channel, between Corsica and Italy
- the Strait of Bonifacio, between Sardinia and Corsica
- the Gulf of Iskenderun, between Iskenderun and Adana(Turkey).
- the Gulf of Antalya, between west and east shores of Antalya(Turkey).

Geology

The geology of the Mediterranean is complex, involving the break-up and then collision of the African and Eurasian plates, and the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the late Miocene when the Mediterranean dried up. The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m and the deepest recorded point is 5267 meters (about 3.27 miles) in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for 46,000 km. A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of Sicily and the coast of Tunisia divides the sea in two main subregions (which in turn are divided into subdivisions), the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Western Mediterranean covers an area of about 0.85 million km² and the Eastern Mediterranean about 1.65 million km². In the last few centuries, humankind has done much to alter Mediterranean geology. Structures have been built all along the coastlines, exacerbating and rerouting erosional patterns. Many pollution-producing boats travel the sea that unbalance the natural chemical ratios of the region. Beaches have been mismanaged, and the overuse of the sea's natural and marine resources continues to be a problem. This misuse speeds along and/or confounds natural processes. The actual geography has also been altered by the building of dams and canals. The Mediterranean was once thought to be the remnant of the Tethys Ocean. It is now known to be a structurally younger ocean basin known as Neotethys. Neotethys formed during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic rifting of the African and Eurasian plates. There have been theories that the Mediterranean reflooded after Man reached the area, causing the Biblical Flood legend. However, the Strait of Gibraltar is too deep to have dried out in the Ice Age, and the Flood legend may recall the Black Sea re-flooding.

Ecology

As a result of the drying of the sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the marine biota of the Mediterranean are derived primarily from the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic is considerably colder and more nutrient-rich than the Mediterranean, and the marine life of the Mediterranean has had to adapt to its differing conditions in the five million years since the basin was reflooded. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and Red seas. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a salt-water river that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The Bitter Lakes, which are hypersaline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalized with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonize the eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor Eastern Mediterranean. The construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich silt from the Nile into the eastern Mediterranean, which has made conditions there even more like the Red Sea. This species exchange is known as the Lessepsian Migration, after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the engineer who oversaw the canal's construction.

External Links

- [http://www.planbleu.org/indexUK.html Planblue - Environment and Development in the Mediterranean Region]
- Category:Seas zh-min-nan:Tē-tiong-hái ko:지중해 ja:地中海 th:ทะเลเมดิเตอร์เรเนียน

Thetis

:This article is about the Greek sea nymph. Thetis should not be confused with Themis, the embodiment of the laws of nature. For other uses, see Thetis (disambiguation). In Greek mythology, silver-footed Thetis (Greek Θέτις) is a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of "the ancient one of the seas," Nereus, and Doris (Hesiod, Theogony), a grand-daughter of Tethys.
Thetis as goddess
While most extant material about Thetis concerns her role as mother of Achilles, and while she is largely a creature of poetic fancy rather than cult worship in the historical period, a few fragmentary hints and references suggest an older layer of the tradition where Thetis played a far more central role in the religious practices and imagination of certain Greeks. The etymology of her name (from tithemi (τίθημι), "to set up, establish") suggests an early political role. Her aquatic functions suggest syncretism with powerful Near Eastern sea-goddesses like Tiamat. In one fragmentary hymn by the 7th century BC Spartan poet Alcman, Thetis appears as a demiurge, beginning her creation with poros (πόρος) "path, track" and tekmor (τέκμωρ) "marker, end-post". Third was skotos (σκότος) "darkness", and then the sun and moon. This cosmogony is interesting not only because it takes up Near Eastern astronomical and theological speculation, but also because its first principles are the building-blocks of a race-track, reflecting the athletic preoccupations of Spartan society and education. Given that she is the mother of Achilles, the Greek youth par excellence, it may be that Thetis once presided over the all-important realm of aristocratic adolescence.
Thetis and the other gods
Apollodorus writes that Thetis was once courted by both Zeus and Poseidon - she was given to the mortal Peleus only because of the prophecy by Themis or Prometheus or Calchas that her son would excel his father. Quintus of Smyrna writes that Thetis once released Zeus from chains, perhaps at the hands of Typhon. When Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus, whether cast out by Hera for his lameness or evicted by Zeus for taking Hera's side, the Nereids Eurynome and Thetis caught him and cared for him on the volcanic isle of Lemnos, while he labored for them as a smith, "working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur" (Iliad 18.369). When Dionysus was expelled by Lycurgus with the Olympians' aid, he took refuge in the Erythraean Sea with Thetis in a bed of seaweed.
Thetis, Achilles and the Trojan War
Thetis is the mother of Achilles by Peleus, king of the Myrmidons. Zeus had received a prophecy that, should Thetis have a son by a god, that son would overthrow him. Therefore, in order to ensure a mortal father for her eventual offspring, Zeus and his brother Poseidon made arrangements for her marriage to a man, Peleus, son of Aeacus, but she refused him. Chiron, the wise centaur, who would later be tutor to Peleus' son Achilles, advised Peleus to find the sea nymph when she was asleep and bind her tightly to keep her from escaping by changing form. She did shift shapes, becoming flame and then a raging lion (compare the sea-god Proteus). But Peleus held fast. She then consented to marry him. The wedding of Thetis and Peleus was celebrated on Mount Pelion and attended by all the deities: there the gods celebrated the marriage with feasting. Apollo played the lyre, and the Muses sang, Pindar claimed. At the wedding Chiron gave Peleus an ashen spear, and Poseidon gave him the immortal horses, Balius and Xanthus. However, Eris, the goddess of discord, had not been invited. In spite, she threw a golden apple into the midst of the goddesses that was to be awarded only "to the fairest." (The award was effected by the Judgment of Paris and eventually occasioned the Trojan War). Thetis worked her magic on the baby Achilles by night, burning away his mortality in the hall fire and anointing the child with ambrosia during the day, Apollonius tells. When Peleus caught her searing the baby, he let out a cry. :"Thetis heard him, and catching up the child threw him screaming to the ground, and she like a breath of wind passed swiftly from the hall as a dream and leapt into the sea, exceeding angry, and thereafter returned never again." (A similar myth of immortalizing a child in fire is connected to Demeter; compare the myth of Meleager.) In a variant of the myth, Thetis tried to make Achilles invulnerable by dipping him in the waters of the Styx (the river of Hades). However, the heel by which she held him was not protected by the Styx's waters. In the story of Achilles in the Trojan War in the Iliad, Homer does not mention this weakness of Achilles' heel. Peleus gave the boy to Chiron to raise. Prophecy said that the son of Thetis would have either a long but dull life or a glorious but brief life. When the Trojan War broke out, Thetis was anxious and concealed Achilles at the court of Lycomedes, disguised as a girl. When Odysseus found that one of the girls at court was not a girl, but actually Achilles, he dressesed as a merchant, and set up a table of vanity items and jewelry and called to the group. Only Achilles picked up the golden sword that lay to one side, and Odysseus quickly revealed him to be the warrior. Thetis then had Hephaestus make a shield and armor but then refused to pay him the favors she promised for the armor. When Achilles was killed by Paris , Thetis came from the sea with the Nereids to mourn him, and she collected his ashes in a golden urn and raised a monument to his memory and instituted commemorative festivals.
References
Homer's Iliad makes many references to Thetis; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica IV, 770-879, Apollodorus, The Library 3.13.5
External links

- [http://www.theoi.com/Pontos/Thetis.html Thetis]: very full classical references
- [http://24.24.31.212/literature/POL-HS-Peleus-Thetis.htm Peleus and Thetis] Category:Nymphs ja:テティス

Achilles

:For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). In Greek mythology, , transliterated to Akhilleus or Achilleus in Roman letters, Latinized from this ancient Greek to Achilles, appearing in Etruscan as Achle, was a hero (ancient Greek heros, "defender") of the Trojan War, the greatest and the most central character of Homer's Iliad.

Name

The very first two lines of the Iliad read (in transliteration): Iliad :"Menin aeide thea, Peleiadeo Akhileos :oulomenen, he muri' Akhaiois alge' etheken," :Sing, Muse, the wrath of Achilles the son of Peleus, :the destructive wrath, that brought a thousand griefs upon the Achaeans," In these lines, we see the name Akhilleus Peleides, which is a praenomen and a patronymic, the latter being formed from Peleus with the suffix -ides producing Achilles the son of Peleus. The system is similar to the names used by Scandinavians before modern times, such as Leif Erikson. The formation of the name casts no doubt of having a much older origin than either culture. Similarly, Peleus' name would be Peleus Aiakides, Peleus the son of Aiakos. There is no nomen gentile, as among the Romans, indicating that clan names might not be Indo-European after all. There is a very strong derivation of Achilles devised by Leonard Palmer and expostulated in the first work cited below, by Gregory Nagy. The name is Indo-European: "whose laos has akhos", where laos is a corps of soldiers and akhos is grief. As it is used in the poem, which is stuffed full of irony, there is a double entendre: when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring grief to the enemy, but when wrongly, his men get the grief. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership.

Birth

Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons in Phthia (southeast Thessaly), and the sea nymph Thetis. Zeus and Poseidon were rivals for the hand of Thetis. That is until Prometheus the fire bringer revealed that if one of these gods wed Thetis, she would bear a son greater than his father. For this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit. When Achilles was born, Thetis had tried to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, but forgot to wet the heel she held him by, leaving him vulnerable. (See Achilles' tendon.) Homer deliberately makes no mention of this; Achilles cannot be a hero if he is not at risk. Homer does, however, mention Achilles' being wounded, although not seriously, in the Iliad. In an earlier and less popular version of the story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage. Peleus gave him (together with his young friend Patroclus) to Chiron the Centaur, on Mt. Pelion, to raise.

Achilles in the Trojan War

Telephus

When the Greeks left for the Trojan War, they accidentally stopped in Mysia, ruled by King Telephus. In the battle, Achilles wounded Telephus. The wound would not heal and Telephus asked an oracle who stated that "he who is wounded shall heal". According to other reports about Euripides, the lost play about Telephus, went to Aulis pretending to be a beggar and asked Achilles to heal his wound. Achilles refused, claiming to have no medical knowledge. Alternatively, Telephus held Orestes for ransom, the ransom being Achilles' aid in healing the wound. Odysseus reasoned that the spear had inflicted the wound; therefore, the spear must be able to heal it. Pieces of the spear were scraped off onto the wound and Telephus was healed. This is an example of sympathetic magic.

During the Trojan War

sympathetic magic] Achilles is one of the only two people described as "god-like" in the Iliad. In Homer's Iliad, Achilles is the only mortal to experience rage ("menon"). He shows a complete and total devotion to the excellence of his craft and, like a god, has almost no regard for life. Not his own — clearly he does not mind a swift death, so long as it is glorious (kleos) — and not really of others. His anger is absolute. The humanization of Achilles by the events of the war is the main theme of the Iliad. Achilles' charioteer's name was Automedon.

Troilus

According to Dares Phrygius' Account of the Destruction of Troy [http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/DaresTW.html], while this youngest son of Priam and Hecuba (some say that it was Apollo who fathered Troilus on Hecuba) was watering his horses at the Lion Fountain outside the walls of Troy, Achilles saw him and fell in love with his beauty (whose "loveliness of form" was described by Ibycus as being like "gold thrice refined"). The youth rejected his advances and took refuge inside the temple of Apollo. Achilles pursued him into the sanctuary and decapitated him on the god's own altar. (Tzetzes, scholiast on Lycophron). At the time Troilus was said to be a year short of his twentieth birthday, and the legend goes that if Troilus had reached down his pants, Troy would have been invincible. (First Vatican Mythographer)

Agamemnon and the death of Patroclus

First Vatican Mythographer Achilles took twenty-three towns outside Troy, including Lyrnessos, where he captured Briseis to keep as a concubine. Meanwhile, Agamemnon took a woman named Chryseis and taunted her father, Chryses, a priest of Apollo, when he attempted to buy her back. Apollo sent a plague through the Greek armies and Agamemnon was forced to give Chryseis back to her father; however he took Briseis away from Achilles as compensation for his loss. This action sparked the central plot of the Iliad: Achilles becomes enraged and refuses to fight for the Greeks any further. The war goes badly, through the influence of Zeus, and the Greeks offer handsome reparations to their greatest warrior. Achilles is visited by Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix who attempt to persuade him to return to battle, but Achilles still refuses to fight. Once the Greeks are pushed back to the ships, which are just starting to be set on fire by Hector, he agrees to allow Patroclus to fight in his place, wearing his armor. The next day Patroclus is killed and stripped of the armor by the Trojan hero Hector, who mistakes him for Achilles. Achilles is overwhelmed with grief for his beloved friend, and the rage he once harbored toward Agamemnon begins shifting to Hector. Thetis, his mother, rises from the sea floor and berates him for excessive grief. She obtains magnificent new armor for him from Hephaestus. The goddess Athena provides him with the aegis of Zeus. Effectively Achilles is the sole mortal to use the powerful weapon of Zeus. When he goes to the battlefield, the entire Trojan army flees behind the walls of Troy. Hector comes out of the walls to defend the honour of Troy. After a legendary fight Achilles kills Hector. Other versions of the tale say that Achilles chased after Hector two times, and one time he was delivered by the gods, however on their second encounter Achilles trapped Hector and challanged him. Stories tell that Hector ran about Troy seven times and Achilles followed him, however seeing that Achilles would not be out run Hector stood his ground and fought. Before this however Hector asked for a compromise, that the body of the loser would be returned for proper burial by the winner. Achilles did however not honor this oath, which he did not necessarily agree to. Influenced by his anger, he drags the body of Hector behind his chariot round the walls of Troy three times, and refuses to allow it to receive funeral rites. Much to the dismay of Achilles, the body of Hector miraculously heals and will not decay as normally expected. Aphrodite, the goddess of love whom sided with Troy throughout the whole conflict, put a protective barrier over Hector, which kept him looking like he did before he was viciously killed by Achilles. When Priam, the king of Troy and Hector's father, comes secretly into the Greek camp to plead for the body, Achilles finally relents; in one of the most moving scenes of the Iliad, he receives Priam graciously and allows him to take the body away. The scene is intensely moving because Priam, the king of one of the greatest cities in the known world, kneels down, old and frail as he is, and kisses the hands of the man who killed his son. The greatness of Achilles lies in not just being the greatest Greek fighter ever, but in knowing the choice provided to him by Destiny. His mother Thetis had prophesied to him that if he pulled out of the Trojan War, he would enjoy a long and a happy life. If Achilles fought, however, he would die before the walls of Troy but assure an everlasting glory, surpassing that of all other heroes. He had made the choice, and coming face to face with it showed his greatness.

Zanthus

During the Trojan War, Xanthos, one of Achilles' horses, was rebuked by Achilles for allowing Patroclus to be killed. Xanthos responded by saying (Hera temporarily gave him voice to do so) that a god and a mortal had killed Patroclus and a god and a mortal would soon kill Achilles too.

Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles

Patroclus Victoria and Albert Museum]] Shortly after the death of Hector, Achilles defeated Memnon of Ethiopia, Cycnus of Colonae and the Amazonian warrior Penthesilia (with whom Achilles also had an affair in some versions). As predicted by Hector with his dying breath, Achilles was thereafter killed by Paris — either by an arrow to the heel (which may have subsequently become fatally infected), or in an older version by a knife to the back while visiting Polyxena, a princess of Troy. Both versions conspicuously deny the killer any sort of valor, and Achilles remains undefeated on the battlefield. His bones are mingled with those of Patroclus, and funeral games are held. Like Ajax, he is represented (although not by Homer) as living after his death in the island of Leuke at the mouth of the Danube.

The Fate of Achilles' armor

Achilles' armor was the object of a feud between Odysseus and Ajax the Greater (Achilles' older cousin). They competed for it and Odysseus won. Ajax went mad with grief and vowed to kill his comrades; he started killing cattle (thinking they were Greek soldiers), and then himself.

The Lost Play of Aeschylus

In the early 1990s a lost play by Aeschylus was discovered in the wrappings of a mummy in Egypt. The play, Achilles, was part of a trilogy about the Trojan War. It was known to exist due to mentions in ancient sources, but had been lost for over 2,000 years. There is another lost play with Achilles as the main character, The Lovers of Achilles, by Sophocles.

Spoken-word myths (audio)

Achilles in Music

"Achilles, Agony & Ecstasy In Eight Parts", by Manowar; from the album The Triumph of Steel, 1992, Atlantic Records. "Achilles Last Stand", by Led Zeppelin; from the album Presence, 1976, Atlantic Records; "Achilles' Revenge", by Warlord.
- Achilles' Heel is an album by the indie rock band Pedro the Lion
- Achilles and his heel are referenced in the song "Special K" by the rock band Placebo

Achilles in film

The role of Achilles has been played by:
- Stanley Baker in Helen of Troy (1956)
- Arturo Dominici in La Guerra di Troia (1962)
- Derek Jacobi [voice] in Achilles (Channel Four Television) (1995)
- Steve Davislim in La Belle Hélène (TV, 1996)
- Joe Montana in Helen of Troy (TV, 2003)
- Brad Pitt in Troy (2004)

References

Homer, Iliad; Homer, Odyssey XI, 467-540; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca III, xiii, 5-8; Apollodorus, Epitome III, 14-V, 7; Ovid, Metamorphoses XI, 217-265; XII, 580-XIII, 398; Ovid, Heroides III; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica IV, 783-879; Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, V.

Bibliography

- Ileana Chirassi Colombo, “Heros Achilleus— Theos Apollon.” In Il Mito Greco, éd. Bruno Gentili & Giuseppe Paione, Rome, 1977;
- Anthony Edwards:
- “Achilles in the Underworld: Iliad, Odyssey, and Æthiopis”, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 26 (1985): pp. 215-227 ;
- “Achilles in the Odyssey: Ideologies of Heroism in the Homeric Epic”, Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie, 171, Meisenheim, 1985 ;
- “Kleos Aphthiton and Oral Theory,” Classical Quarterly, 38 (1988): pp. 25-30 ;
- Hélène Monsacré, Les larmes d'Achille. Le héros, la femme et la souffrance dans la poésie d'Homère, Paris, Albin Michel, 1984;
- Gregory Nagy:
- The Best of The Acheans. Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry, Johns Hopkins University, 1999 (rev. edition);
- The Name of Achilles: Questions of Etymology and 'Folk Etymology, Illinois Classical Studies, 19, 1994;
- Dale S. Sinos, The Entry of Achilles into Greek Epic, Ph.D. thesis, Johns Hopkins University;
External links

- [http://www.androphile.org/preview/Library/Mythology/Greek/ The Story of Achilles and Patroclus] Category:People who fought in the Trojan War Achilles ko:아킬레우스 ja:アキレウス

Poseidon

Worship

In art

Poseidon's chariot was pulled by a hippocampus or seahorses. He was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish spears (tridents). He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.

Ianassa

Natural satellite

Origin

Orbital characteristics

Moons of the Solar system

See also

External links

Jupiter's moons

Saturn's moons

Neptune's moons

All moons

Planet

Planetary formation

Within our solar system

Accepted planets

Other candidates

Extrasolar planets

Brown dwarf "planets"

Interstellar planets

Definition and classification of planets

Suggested wide definitions

Suggested narrow definitions

Further classification

See also

References

External links

Nereid (moon)

Data

External links

Nereus

Further reading

Poseidon

Worship

In art

In Rome

Myth

Birth and childhood

Lovers

Other stories

External links

Mediterranean Sea

Name

Geography

Bordering countries

Subdivisions

Geology

Ecology

See also

External Links

Thetis

Thetis as goddess

Thetis and the other gods

Thetis, Achilles and the Trojan War

References

External links

Achilles

Name

Birth

Achilles in the Trojan War

Telephus

During the Trojan War

Troilus

Agamemnon and the death of Patroclus

Zanthus

Memnon, Cycnus, Penthesilea, and the death of Achilles

The Fate of Achilles' armor

Other Stories About Achilles

The Lost Play of Aeschylus

Spoken-word myths (audio)

Achilles in Music

Achilles in film

References

Bibliography

External links

Poseidon

Worship

In art

In Rome

Myth

Birth and childhood