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Naiades
Inferior deities who presided over rivers, springs, wells, and fountains. The Naiads generally inhabited the country, and resorted to the…
Narcissus
A beautiful youth, son of Cephisus and the nymph Liriope, was born at Thespis in Boeotia. He saw his image reflected in a fountain and…
Nauplia
The port of Argos, situated on the Saronic Gulf, was never a place of importance in antiquity, but is at the present day one of the chief…
Nebo
A mountain of Palestine, on the eastern side of the Jordan, and in the southern part of the range called Abarim. It was on a 190 IOOO…
Necessitas
Called Ananke by the Greeks, the personification of Necessity, is represented as a powerful goddess, whom neither gods nor men can resist…
Nemaea
A town of Argolis, with a wood where Hercules in the sixteenth year of his age killed the celebrated Nemaean lion. It was the first of the…
Nemesis
One of the infernal deities, daughter of Nox. She was the goddess of vengeance. She is made one of the Parcae by some mythologists, and is…
Neoptolemus
A king of Epirus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, called also Pyrrhus. He greatly signalized himself during the siege of Troy, and he was the…
Neptunus
One of the gods, son of Saturn and Ops, and brother to Jupiter and Pluto. He was devoured by his father as soon as he was born, and…
Nereides
Nymphs of the sea, daughters of Nereus and Doris. According to most of the mythologists, they were fifty in number. They are represented as…
Nereus
Son of Pontus and Gaea, and husband of Doris, by whom he became the father of the fifty Nereides. He is described as the wise and unerring…
Nestor
A son of Neleus and Chloris, nephew to Pelias, and grandson to Neptune. He was present at the bloody battle between the Lapithae and the…
Nice
Called Victoria by the Romans, the goddess of victory, is described as a daughter of Pallas and Styx, and as a sister of Zelus (zeal)…
Nicolaus Damascenus
A Greek historian, was a native of Damascus. Some fragments of his works have come down to us, of which the most important is a portion of…
Ninus
A son of Belus. He built Nineveh and founded the Assyrian monarchy, of which he was the first sovereign, B. C. 2059. He married Semiramis…
Niobe
A daughter of Tantalus, king of Lydia, and Euryanassa, or Dione. She married Amphion, and, according to Hesiod, they had ten sons and ten…
Nisus
King of Megara and father of Scylla. Scylla, having fallen in love with Minos when he was besieging Megara, pulled out the purple hair…
Nomades
A name given to people who had no fixed habitation, and who continually changed their place of residence in quest of fresh pastures for the…
Nox
One of the most ancient deities among the heathens, daughter of Chaos. She gave birth to the Day and the Light, and was mother of the…
Numa Pompilius
A celebrated philosopher of Cures. He married Tatia, daughter of Tatius, king of the Sabines, and at her death he retired into the country…
Nymphae
Certain female deities among the ancients. They were generally divided into two classes-nymphs of the land and nymphs of the sea. Of the…
Nicias, Nonacris, Notus, Numidia, Nursia & Nursia
A celebrated Athenian general, by whose influence peace was concluded with Sparta in B. C. 421. A town in the north of Arcadia, surrounded…