GLOSSARY

THIS IS A WORK of fiction, not of theology. For a coherent theology of Hell, see Thomas Aquinas. I started writing this book, with the help of my students, as a way of introducing them to the worlds of Dante and Homer. For this reason, I have appended this glossary, which may be of help to the reader when particular historical, mythological, or theological concepts turn up.

Wherever possible, I have tried to be faithful to Dante’s landscape and to Homer’s characters; however, some details of those magical worlds had to be adapted or omitted. And so with the theology. I have tried to stick with the theological perspective of Dante’s day. But the idea of visiting Hell is itself theologically ludicrous. There is no time or space in Hell, and once there, souls never leave. To be sure, there are theological points that come up from time to time throughout this book, but in the end, it’s just a story.

Likewise with the language. I once had a conversation with Reginald Foster, the renowned authority on spoken Latin. I asked him which pronunciation of Latin was the most authentic. “All of them,” he answered. “Because the Roman Empire was so vast, no matter how you choose to speak Latin today, there was surely someone who spoke it that way in the ancient world.” I think it’s fair to assume that ancient Greek was spoken with some variety as well. Moreover, the Greeks of the Bronze Age were no more likely to speak Homeric Greek than Englishmen of Shakespeare’s day were likely to speak in iambic pentameter. The ancient Greeks must have used slang, contractions, and all the casual corruptions that inevitably creep into the spoken word. In this book, they have crept into Odysseus’ speech as well.

ACHAEA: Another name for Greece. During the Bronze Age, Greeks were commonly known as Danaans, Achaeans, or Hellenes.

AEGIS: The “storm shield” wielded by Zeus (and sometimes Athena) in Greek mythology. The Gorgon’s head is affixed to it, and tassels hang from the lower rim. When shaken, it erupts with thunder and inspires panic.

AGAMEMNON: The lord of all Achaea; elder brother of Menelaos and commander of the entire Greek army that sailed to Troy. Upon his return from the war, he was murdered by his wife.

AIKI!: Greek expletive. Roughly translated, it means “Oh no!”

AJAX: Second only to Achilles, the greatest fighter to sail to Troy. Because of his enormous size and strength, it was often assumed that Ajax must be dull of intellect. He was.

AMPHINOMOS: The only one of Penelope’s 108 suitors whom she actually liked. Amphinomos was essentially an honorable man, and Odysseus tried to warn him of the impending slaughter when he came to his house disguised as a beggar. Amphinomos, however, failed to heed the warning and suffered the same ignoble fate as the others.

ANGELOS (PL. ANGELOI): The Greek word translates to “messenger” but has come to signify a purely spiritual being created by God to be His servant and messenger. Dante divides them into three classes: those who chose to rebel against God, those who remained faithful, and those who would not choose a side.

ANTAEOS: A Lybian giant who forced passersby to wrestle him for their lives. His enormous strength was drawn from the earth itself. Hercules killed him by lifting him off the ground until he was weak enough to be crushed.

ANTINOUS: One of several men who tried to seduce Odysseus’ wife while he was away at Troy.

ARGOS: (1) Odysseus’ faithful hound. The name means “swift” or “speedy”. (2) A central Greek city-state ruled by Diomedes and his family. The name can be used in a broader sense to denote all Greece or in its adjectival form, “Argive”, to describe any inhabitant of that region.

ARMOR: In the Homeric world, armor was a man’s most valued possession. Many lives are lost in the course of Homer’s Iliad in battles over the armor of fallen comrades.

ATHENA: The goddess of wisdom and war; a special friend and guide to Odysseus throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey. She is also especially fond of Diomedes, whom she fills with such supernatural power in the Iliad that he is able to fight the gods themselves.

AUTOLYCOS: King of Phocis and grandfather of Odysseus. Autolycos was the world’s most skillful thief. He was known throughout Greece as “the wolf himself”.

BOW: By Greek standards, the weapon of a coward; nonetheless, this was Odysseus’ favorite weapon and played a key role in identifying him as the rightful heir of Ithaca when he returned from the Trojan War. Supposedly, he was the only man alive who could string it.

CENTAUR: Creature that is half man, half horse. The word means “bull killer” in Greek. The Centaurs were clever creatures, famous for their skill with the bow, but inclined to drunkenness and barbarity.

CERBEROS: In Greek mythology, the three-headed, flesh-eating guard dog of the Underworld.

CHARON: The ferryman of the Underworld.

CHIRON: A wise and knowledgeable Centaur who tutored Jason, Achilles, Ajax, and a number of other Greek heroes. He was particularly renowned for his skills in the medicinal arts.

DANAAN: See ACHAEA.

DIOMEDES: The youngest of the great heroes of the Iliad. Homer seems to have a particular fondness for him. He is notable for his fighting skill, bravery, and piety. He and Odysseus are often found together in the Iliad, and an entire chapter is devoted to their nighttime reconnaissance mission. Dante consigned them both to the eighth level of Hell, where they burn together in a single flame.

ERINYES: See FURIES.

EU LEGEIS: Greek for “Well said.”

EUPEITHES: A nobleman of Ithaca who led a rebellion against Odysseus in revenge for the death of his son, Antinous (slain by Odysseus in revenge for the dishonor he brought upon him and his wife). Contrary to Odysseus’ “prophecy” that Odysseus would kill him, Eupeithes was in fact slain by Laertes, Odysseus’ father.

FURIES: Triplet Greek goddesses of vengeance. Also known as Erinyes.

GERYON: According to Greek mythology, a giant with three bodies and one set of legs. Egyptian mythology added a pair of wings, and Dante gave him a scorpion tale to boot. Geryon had a pet dog with two heads named Orthos (the brother of Cerberos), and the two were said to inhabit the island of Erytheia, where they guarded a herd of magic red cattle. Both Geryon and his dog were slain by Hercules, who ran off with their flocks.

GORGON: Any of three monstrous winged sisters from Greek mythology (Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa) who had snakes instead of hair. Looking directly at them would turn the observer to stone.

HADES: In Greek mythology, Hades (the god) was lord of Hades (the place), a murky, indistinct landscape where the souls of the deceased lost their substance over time. With the advent of Christianity, Hades (the god) became identified with Lucifer, or Satan, the first of the fallen angels, who presides over Hell. Likewise, Hades (the place) became identified with Hell (Dante’s Inferno), the place of eternal punishment for the damned.

HARPY: A winged deity, notoriously filthy and horrible to look at, part bird and part human. The name means “snatcher” in Greek. Harpies are closely related to Sirens, though of a lower order.

HELEN: Said to be the daughter of Zeus himself, Helen was the most beautiful woman who ever lived. Her seduction by Paris was the cause of the entire Trojan War.

HELL: See HADES.

HOMER: The eighth-century-B.C. author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Alexander Pope wrote of him that “Homer is universally allowed to have had the greatest invention of any writer whatever.” Popular legend held (and still holds) that Homer was blind. He was almost certainly illiterate and thus composed both poems orally, reciting what he knew from memory.

HORNED DEVILS: The common representation of devils with horns, tails, and whips originated in canto 18 of Dante’s Inferno, where the panderers and seducers are tormented. Dante names these vicious devils the frustratori.

IGNATIUS: Latin for “fiery”.

IGNOTUS: Latin for “unknown”.

ITHACA: The homeland of Odysseus; a small island on the west coast of Greece.

KLEOS: Literally, “what people hear of you”. Kleos is the Greek word for “fame”, though it can also be translated as “renown”, “honor”, or “glory”. For the Homeric Greek, one’s sense of self-worth was entirely dependent on what others said of him.

LAERTES: The father of Odysseus.

LOTUS EATERS: Described in Homer’s Odyssey, these people inhabited an island off the coast of Africa, drugging themselves (and their guests) on lotus blossoms.

MALEBRANCHE: The name means “evil claws”. These devils appear as a sort of comic relief at the eighth level of Dante’s Inferno, where they guard the barrators and grafters. Malicious, clever, and violent, the Malebranche delight in vulgarity, imitating all the worst habits of humans, whom they envy for their physical nature.

MEDUSA: See GORGON. Another creature appropriated by Dante from Greek mythology, the Medusa was the only mortal Gorgon.

MENELAOS: An Achaean lord; the husband of Helen and younger brother of Agamemnon.

MINOTAUR: Half man and half bull, the Minotaur is known from Greek legend as the monster that inhabited King Minos’ maze. Dante, however, confuses the king with the creature, and assigns him the task of greeting condemned souls at the entrance to Hell. The Minotaur appears again just outside the Centaurs’ camp.

ODYSSEUS: The “man of twists and turns”, Odysseus was the chief strategist of the Achaean army though held in some suspicion by his peers. He was rarely seen on the front line but fought bravely when his turn came. It was his idea that all the Achaean lords should take vows to protect Helen. This led directly to the Trojan War, which Odysseus tried to avoid by feigning insanity. It was also his idea to build the infamous Trojan horse, which won the war for the Greeks. His name also means “man who brings suffering”.

O MOI EGO!: Greek expletive. O i moi! and Aimi! are variants. Literally, “O me, myself!”, though “Oh gosh!”, “Oh Hell!”, “Oh my!”, or even “Wow!” would serve as an English equivalent.

ORTHOS: See GERYON.

OUTIS: Odysseus’ nickname. It is also the Greek word for “nobody”.

O ZEO!: Greek expletive. Literally, “O Zeus!”, though “O God!” is the closest modern equivalent.

PARTHENOS: “Virgin”; another name for Athena. Early Christians equated the cult of Athena with the cultus of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

PENELOPE: The wife of Odysseus; famous for her intelligence, beauty, and faithfulness.

PRIAM: The old king of Troy; father of Hector and Paris.

PROTEUS: The shape-shifting “Old Man of the Sea”. A son of Oceanus himself, Proteus was notable for his many wives and his prophetic powers.

SIREN: Although similar in form to the Harpy (half woman, half bird), the Siren is of a higher order of deity. According to Greek legend, there were three Sirens whose singing lured sailors to their deaths.

STORM SHIELD: See AEGIS.

SUICIDE: Although in Dante’s day, suicides could not receive a Christian burial, the Church today recognizes that self-murder is almost always accompanied by mental and emotional disorders, which limit the freedom—and therefore the subjective guilt—of the sinner.

TELEMACHOS: The son of Odysseus. His name means “far-shooter”.

TYDEUS: The father of Diomedes.

TIMĒ: The Greek concept of honor, though limited to a material sense. Greek warriors of the Bronze Age literally measured their timē in terms of cattle, slaves, treasures, and land. Thus, it was closely linked to one’s kleos, or honor. The ancient Greeks had no interior sense of honor—no “self-esteem” in the modern sense. Therefore, English has no direct equivalent of this term.

TI TO KAKON!: Greek expletive meaning “What a bad thing!”, though“What the Hell!” is closer to the original meaning.

VICE: From the Latin vitium, meaning “fault, defect, or blemish”. Like virtues, the vices (e.g., greed, wrath, lust, gluttony, avarice) are dispositions of the soul that can be learned, cultivated, or lost.

VIRTUE: From the Latin virtus, meaning “manliness, valor, merit, or moral perfection”. The four cardinal virtues come from Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. They are prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude. The three theological virtues come from the letters of Saint Paul. They are faith, hope, and love. According to Thomas Aquinas, the three theological virtues were infused in man by God, but the cardinal virtues come naturally to man and may be learned. All virtues constitute a learned predisposition to the good—a good habit, so to speak. They must be practiced so as to be perfected in the soul.

“VIVIT! VIVIT! ECCE, AMICI! VENITE! HOMO VIVANS!” Translation: “He’s alive! He’s alive! Come here, guys! It’s a living man!”