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Galataea
A sea nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris. She was loved by Polyphemus, the Cyclops, whom she treated with disdain, while she was in love…
Galatia
A country of Asia Minor, composed of parts of Phrygia and Cappadocia. Galba, Servius Sulpicius. A Roman who rose to the greatest offices of…
Galilaea
At the birth of Christ this was the northmost of the three divisions of Palestine west of the Jordan. Its inhabitants were a mixed race of…
Gallia
Also called Gallia Transalpina or Gallia Ulterior, to distinguish it from Gallia Cisalpina, or the north of Italy. The Romans commenced the…
Ganges
The greatest river of India, which it 124 IOOO CLASSICAL CHARACTERS divided into the two parts named by the ancients India intra Gangem…
Ganymedes
A beautiful youth of Phrygia. He was taken to heaven by Jupiter while tending flocks on Mount Ida, and he became the cupbearer of the gods…
Gellius Aulus
A Roman grammarian in the age of M. Antoninus. He wrote a work called Noctes Atticae, which he composed at Athens. Gemoniae or Gemonii…
Genius
A protecting spirit, analogous to the guardian angels invoked by the Church of Rome. The belief in such spirits existed both in Greece and…
Germania
A country bounded by the Rhine on the west, by the Vistula and the Carpathian Mountains on the east, by the Danube on the south, and by the…
Germanicus Caesar
A son of Drusus and Antonia, the niece of Augustus. He was raised to the most important position in the state, and was employed in war in…
Gigantes
The sons of Coelus and Terra, who, according to Hesiod, sprang from the blood of a wound inflicted on Coelus by his son Saturn. They are…
Glaucus (Son of Hippolochus the son)
A son of Hippolochus, the son of Bellerophon. He aided Priam in the Trojan war, and was noted for his folly in exchanging his golden armor…
Glaucus (Fisherman of Boeotia He)
A fisherman of Boeotia. He observed that the fishes which he caught and laid on the grass became invigorated and leaped into the sea. He…
Glaucus (Son of Minos the Second)
A son of Minos the Second and Pasiphae, who was smothered in a cask of honey. The soothsayer Polyidus, on being commanded by Minos to find…
Gordium
The ancient capital of Phrygia, situated on the Sangarius, the royal residence of the kings of the dynasty of Gordius, and the scene of…
Gordius
A Phrygian who, from the position of a peasant, was raised to the throne consequent to a prediction of the oracle. Gordius consecrated his…
Gorgias
A famous rhetorician and sophist, born about B. C. 480. All his writings have been lost except two declamations of doubtful authenticity…
Granicus
A small river of Mysia, rising in Mount Ida, and falling into the Propontis (Sea of Marmora) east of Priapus: memorable as the scene of the…
Gyges
The first king of Lydia of the dynasty of the Mermnadae, dethroned Candaules and succeeded to the kingdom. He reigned B. C. 716-678. He…
Gymnasium
A place among the Greeks where all the public exercises were performed, and where not only dancers and wrestlers exhibited, but where poets…
Gaugamela & Geryon
A village in Assyria, the scene of the last battle between Alexander and Darius, B. c. 331, commonly called the battle of Arbela. A…