Foreword From The Editors
The rather lax bilingual usage of the names of the characters appearing at this Site, reflect the often arbitrary and interchangeable usage of Greek names and their roman versions, widely prevalent in European languages and literature, especially the Anglo-Saxon and that at times may potentially provoke the legitimate anger or disdain of a dedicated scholar. They do not necessarily conform to scholarly confirmed differences between the original Greek names and the syncretistic, linguistic and phonetic transformations that they underwent later in Roman and modern European civilizations. This is evidently done, with the sole purpose of not letting our characters loose their semi-folkloric connotations, that they may have acquired through centuries of being traded orally and through writing, nor to strip them down from the familiarity as well as secondary meanings that they have doubtlessly gained with time, in the eyes and minds of the public and lastly in order to avoid some more complex pronunciations and spellings manifest most of the times, but not always in the original Greek names. Quite often we chose the lighter versions, whether Greek or Latin, as long as the contextual framework did not impose its own constraints. However the talk here is about the Greek gods and heroes and divinities. For example, a figure worth mentioning here in this respect is Vulcan, a distinct italic god also known as Muciber. In fact, in our story, it is actually the figure of Hephaestus, which is doubtlessly being alluded to, who nevertheless did represent amongst others also the Black-Smith, that the Latin god Vulcan embodied and we have used consistently the name Vulcan instead of Hephaestus in our narration, although in case of Aphrodite, we do frequently refer to her as Venus. In the same token, we prefer Athena to Minerva, again obviously for ease of pronunciation, albeit here as in case of Aphrodite, it is the Greek version which we find to be more congenial of the two for our needs and no less for the important fact, that the city of Athens, still existent has a old claim here at stake, that the imperial Romans should politely refrain from corrupting!
It is obviously in the nature of myths, to undergo fertile transformations. This site is no exception. In fact one of the major reasons for the evolution of this site is no less to shed light on the more recent transformations, that have doubtlessly occurred on these old themes and that have apparently induced the Muses to reweave the old tapestry with nylon, acrylic and carbon-nano strings mixed with the cashmere wool, Chinese silk and sisal-fibers for the amusement of the public, who may be seeking a reprise from the Babel of advertisement or the overemphasized earnestness of the routine and therefore of the mundane.
In this respect see also the etymological dictionary of Elizabeth Wallis Kraemer (link provided below). Translations of the Greek and Roman names of some of our characters can also be viewed at Pantheon.Org. Here you can moreover also choose a name and click for additional information, pertaining to the personage. And below some links, to make yourself more familiar with these characters, in a hopefully pleasant and an amusing manner, as many of them are illustrated. Links last updated Oct.2006
Concise:
- Loggia.Com
- E.W.Kraemer: An Etymological Dictionary of Classical Mythology
- CTC Global Glossary Includes pronunciation guide. Here you can listen to the pronunciation of the word you are interested in.
- Les Muses (in English) D. Valentin. Educnet. Ministry of Education. France.
- Holycross.edu (Images of gods & goddesses)
- Links at Temple.edu to fun and useful sites related to Classical Mythology
More detailed:
- Theoi.com
- Beazley Archiv
- Pantheon.org (Encylopedia Mythica)
- Greek Mythology Link
- Greek Mythology by Michael Stewart (with detailed bibliographical references)
- The Perseus Project (Collections_ Text)
- University of Victoria_ Greek & Roman Studies
- University of Victoria _ Olympic Gods
- MIT (Internet Classics Archiv)
- Museums, Monuments & Archaeological Sites Hellenic Ministry Of Culture. Greece.
- University Evansville (Selected Queries/Essays/Index Internet Sites)
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At the cost of appearing pedantic, we may nevertheless mention, that you can always look up at the Wikipedia.org, hopefully in the language of your choice, for anything not covered here.
You can also search below for more info, concerning any of the classical personages appearing in our narration. Mind you, Thomas Bullfinch or rather this site, has a penchant for roman names. You may be disappointed, if you typed in the Greek name only! Try Athena versus Minerva!
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