PAL-PHA

Palaestra

Place where Greek youth were instructed in wrestling and boxing.

Palatine

One of the seven hills of Rome.

Panathenaia

Most ancient and important festival to Athena, originally called Athenaia until Theseus untied all of Attica. A lesser Athenaia was held every year and from the time of Pisistratus was held every fifth year and in the third year of every Olympiad from the 24-29 of Hecatombaeon.

Paeonius

Greek sculptor employed c. 436 B/C. in the decoration of the temple of Zeus in Olympia.

Pasiphae

Wife of king Minos who fell in love with a white bull presented to her husband by Poseidon. As a result of her union with the bull, the Minotaur was born.

Pasiteles

First century B.C. Greek artist, native of south Italy, worked in marble, ivory, silver, and bronze and also wrote.

Pater Familias

The master of the house, the father.

Patrician

Relatives of the "patres," the heads of the families of the old tribes of Rome, divided into three tribes, Tities, Luceres, and Ramnes each consisting of 10 curiae.

Patroclus

Son of Menoetius and Sthenele and close friend of Achilles in the Iliad. Hector killed him.

Pausanias

Greek geographer and native of Lydia who explored Greece, Macedonia, Asia and Africa, and then settled in Rome. Lived second half of second C. A.D.

Pax

Roman goddess of Peace.

Pediment

Triangular panels at the ends of a temple's roof.

Pegasus

Born from the bleeding body of his mother Medusa when Perseus chopped off her head, Pegasus the winged horse sprang forth with Chrysaor. His father was Poseidon.

Peirithous

Son of Dia and Ixion or Zeus, the prince of Lapithæ and friend of Theseus. Married Hippodamia. At the wedding feast a battle broke out between the Lapithæ and the Centaurs. In exchange for Theseus' help rescuing his bride from the centaurs, Perithous helped Theseus in the abduction of Helen and went with Theseus to the Underworld to carry Persephone. Chained up in the Underworld as punishment, he was rescued by Hercules.

Peleus

Son of Æacus and Endeis, brother of Telamon, he was banished with his brother for murdering his step-brother Phocus. His uncle Eurytion received him and gave him his daughter Antigone as wife and 1/3 of his land. Peleus accompanied Eurytion on the Calydonian boar hunt and killed him by accident.

Pelias

Son of Poseidon and Tyro, brother of Neleus, half-brother of Æson, Pheres, and Amythaon, father of Acastus and Alcestis; sent Æson's son Jason to Colchis.

Pelops

Son of Tantalus and Atlas' daughter Dione. Slain by his father as a child and fed to the gods. Restored with a missing shoulder because Demeter ate it by mistake.

Penates

Along with Vesta and Lar, the Roman household gods; guardians of the storeroom (penus) which stood next to the atrium. There were two.

Penelope

Odysseus' faithful wife.

Pentathlon

Five events in Greek gymnastics: running, jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, and javelin throwing.

Penthesilea

Queen of the Amazons, she came to Priam's aid in the Trojan War after Hector's death and mortally wounded by Achilles.

Pentheus

Son of Echion and Agave (Cadmus' daughter). When Dionysus came to Thebes his mother, as a maenad, tore Pentheus apart, His grandson was Menoeceus, father of Creon and Iocaste.

Peplos

Greek woman's garment hanging in folds and usually richly embroidered. Most famous one adorned the statue of Athena in the Parthenon.

Pericles

Great leader of Athens who died of plague during the Peloponnesian War.

Peripatetics

Persons who walk around. The followers of Aristotle's philosophy.

Periphetes

Son of Hephaestus who slew passers by with his iron club. Slain by Theseus.

Peristyle

Court surrounded by columns.

Persephone

Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Hades.

Perseus

Son of Zeus and Danae, grandson of Acrisius.

Persius Flaccus

Roman satirist, born 34 AD in Etruria.

Pervigilium

Nocturnal festival in honor of a god, especially the Bona Dea.

Petasus

A petasus is a flat felt hat with broad round brim worn by Hermes, introduced into Greece along with chlamys as a distinguishing mark of the ephebi.

Petronius Arbiter

Author of satiric novel in the time of Nero.

Peutinger Tablet

Map of the Roman world, a copy of a third century A.D. map.

Phaeces

The ruler of the Phaeces, Alcinous, was the father of Nausicaa who helps Odysseus.

Phaedra

Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, wife of Theseus, mother of Acamas and Demophoon. When her stepson Hippolytus rejected her, she slandered him to Theseus. She then killed herself.

Phaedrus

Roman fabulist, a Macedonian from Pieria who came to Rome as a slave.

Phaethon

Son of Helios and the sea-nymph Clymene. He drove his father's chariot one day and rode the chariot alternately too close to the earth and the sun thereby setting the earth on fire. To stop it, Zeus killed him with a bolt of lightning.

Phalanx

Greek military term. Heavy infantry drawn up in an unbroken line, several (8, then later, 12-16) ranks deep. Also used by Romans against barbarians after the second C. A.D.

Phanocles

Greek elegiac poet of Alexandrine period.

PHAROS

One of the wonders of the ancient world. Lighthouse on island of same name in front of Alexandria's harbor. Built of white marble in 270 B.C. for 800 silver talents.

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