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Oasis
The Greek form of an Egyptian word which was used to denote an island in the sea of sand of the great Libyan Desert. These oases are…
Octavia
A Roman lady, sister to the emperor Augustus, celebrated for her beauty and virtues. She married Claudius Marcellus, and, after his death…
Odenatus
A celebrated prince of Palmyra. At an early period of his life he inured himself to bear fatigue by hunting wild beasts. He was a faithful…
Oedipus
A son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta. Laius was informed by the oracle, as soon as he married Jocasta, that he would perish by the…
Oeneus
A king of Calydon, son of Parthaon or Portheus and Euryte. He married Althaea, their children being Clymenus, Meleager, Gorge, and…
Oenomaus
King of Pisa, in Elis, and father of Hippodamia. He was told by the oracle that he would perish by his son-in-law. Being skillful in…
Olympias
Wife of Philip II., king of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great, was the daughter of Neoptolemus I., king of Epirus. She withdrew…
Olympus
A mountain in Macedonia and Thessaly. The ancients supposed that it touched the heavens, and thus they have made it the residence of the…
Olynthus
A town of Chalcidice, at the head of the Toronaic Gulf, and the most important of the Greek cities on the coast of Macedonia. It was taken…
Omphale
A queen of Lydia, daughter of Jardanus. She married Tmolus, who at his death left her mistress of his kingdom. She had heard of the…
Oppianus
A Greek poet of Cilicia. He wrote some poems celebrated for their sublimity and elegance. Caracalla gave him a piece of gold for every…
Ops
A daughter of Coelus and Terra, the same as the Rhea of the Greeks, who married Saturn, and became mother of Jupiter. She was known among…
Orbilius Pupillus
A Roman grammarian and schoolmaster, best known to us from his having been the teacher of Horace, who gives him the epithet of plagosus…
Orestes
A son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. His father was slain by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, but young Orestes was saved from his mother's…
Origen
A Greek writer, celebrated for his learning and the sublimity of his genius. He suffered martyrdom in his sixty-ninth year. His works are…
Orion
Son of Hyrieus, of Hyria in Boeotia, handsome giant and hunter. Having come to Chios, he fell in love with Merope, the daughter of…
Orithyia
Daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and of Praxithea, who was seized by Boreas, and carried off to Thrace, where she became the mother…
Orpheus
A son of Oeger and the Muse Calliope. Some suppose him to be the son of Apollo.
Osiris
A great deity of the Egyptians, husband of Isis. The ancients differ in opinion concerning this celebrated god, but they all agree that as…
Ostia
A town at the mouth of the river Tiber, and the harbor of Rome. Ovidius, P. Naso. A celebrated Roman poet born at Sulmo. He was sent at an…
Oceanus, Oenone, Olympia, Opus, Orthia & Orthrus
A powerful deity of the sea, son of Coelus and Terra. He married Tethys, the Oceanides being their children. Daughter of the river-god…