sAbines AcheLou

 (SaBini) In Geek Roan mytology One of the oldest peoples of central Italy. In a famous Roman legend, the new Roman settlers, subjects of RoMuI,us, needed wives, so they abducted the Sabine women. War

Italian Renaissance sculptor Giambologna (1529­1608) portrayed Roman men carrying off a Sabine woman in this statue, which now stands in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Yair-haklai. Used under a Creative Com-mons License.)

immediately broke out between the Sabine men and the Romans. The Sabine women helped to make peace by placing themselves and their infants between the warring tribes. The Sabines and the Romans became united as one people.

The seizure, or rape, of the Sabine women is fre-quently portrayed in art. One of the most famous is the painting by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in the National Gallery, London.

sAgittArius (The Archer) Greek A constella­tion in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere between Scorpio and CAPRIcoRN; the ninth sign in the Zodiac. Star charts show Sagittarius wielding a bow and arrow, pointing as if to shoot at Scorpio.

Experts debate the mythological identity of Sagit-tarius. Some scholars believe that Sagittarius, who is often shown as human from the waist up and horse from the waist down, represents a CENTAuR, and conclude that he was a symbol of CHIRoN, the wise centaur of Greek mythology. Because Chiron was skilled at archery and hunting, they believe ZEus placed him in the night sky in this position to make him immortal.

However, other scholars and the Latin poet Hygi-nus, who lived in the first century s.c., argue that Sagit-tarius is not half horse but half goat, which would make him a SATyR and a servant of the god DIoNysus (known as BAccHus to the Romans). These experts suggest that Chiron’s constellation is CENTAuRus, which shines in the night sky of the Southern Hemisphere.

sALAciA (The salty one) Roman A goddess of the sea, usually associated with the sea god NEPTuNE, likely his wife. Salacia personified salt water and was said to have fled from Neptune to the Atlantic Ocean, which became her domain. Eventually, she married the great sea god. Salacia took on many of the stories of the Greek goddess AMPHITRITE.

sALus Roman The goddess of health and preserva-tion, also of success and good fortune. Salus was more of an abstraction than a character in myths and became closely associated with the Greek goddess of health, HYGEIA. In 302 B.C., the Romans dedicated a new temple on the Quirinal Hill to Salus. People celebrated her feast on April 30. Salus was often shown standing on a globe and pouring liquid from a cup onto an altar around which curled a snake. Her name was part of the popular phrase “Salus Publica,” referring to the public health, or well-being of the state and society of ROME.

sARpEDoN Greek A son of ZEUS and Laodemia or EUROPA. In the TROJAN WAR, Sarpedon was a hero, the ally of King PRIAM. His particular friend was GLAUCUS (1), who mourned his death (in HOMER’s iliAD) at the hands of PATROCLUS. Zeus had APOLLO carry the body of Sarpedon from the battlefield to be buried in LYDIA, his homeland.

In an earlier legend, Sarpedon was the son of Zeus and Europa, and the brother of MINOS and RHA-DAMANTHUS. He became king of Lydia. Zeus granted him the privilege of living for three generations.

sATuRN (sATuRNus) Roman Originally a god of agriculture, of the sowing of seeds and corn; also the god of the passage of time. Saturn may have been an early Etruscan family god who grew in importance in the culture of ETRURIA before developing a larger following.

To the Romans, Saturn represented a primitive golden age, a time of great happiness that myths say existed before people needed to farm to survive. Saturn was king of that longed-for mythical time. LUA was his wife in that wonderful land.

Eventually, the characteristics of Saturn merged with those of the Greek god CRONUS, and Saturn was honored as the father of JUPITER, NEPTUNE, JUNO, and PLUTO. The role of Saturn’s wife shifted to RHEA. Saturn, whose symbol was the scythe, also served as the keeper or guardian of the treasury in ROME, and because of that responsibility people saw him as the god of money.

The Saturnalia, the week-long feast in honor of Saturn, began on December 17, the time of winter sowing. People celebrated with riotous feasting and exchange of gifts. This festival eventually influenced the Christian celebration of Christmas.

In astronomy, Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest planet, after Jupiter, in this SOLAR SYSTEM. This gas giant is surrounded by as many as 21 moons. The largest, TITAN, is named

for the first race of Greek gods. Other Saturn moons named after Greek and Roman gods include TETHYS, DIONE, Rhea, HYPERION, and PHOEBE.

sATyRs Greek One of a class of woodland and mountain spirits attendant on DIONYSUS. They are usually shown as part human and part goat or monkey. The satyrs were noted for riotousness and mischief, terrifying herdsmen and shepherds, and chasing after NYMPHS. One legend relates that the satyrs were originally men, sons of HERMES and Iphthima. The goddess HERA turned them into half human beasts to punish them for neglecting to keep watch over Dionysus. They were ever after faithful to the god and accompanied him to all his festivals. Medieval Christian art used the satyrs as images of the devil.

scyLLA Greek Daughter of Nisus. She was cru-elly treated by MINOS. This Scylla has no connection with the monster named Scylla (see SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS).

scyLLA AND cHARyBDis Greek Two mythi-cal characters who inhabited the Straits of Messina, between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily. On the Italian side lived the monster Scylla. She had the body of a woman, but around her waist grew six long necks with the heads of dogs armed with three rows of teeth, who emitted ferocious and terrifying barks. On the Sicilian side lived Charybdis, who dwelled under a great fig tree. Three times each day, Charybdis swallowed up the sea and then spat it out again in a boiling whirlpool.

Although the witch CIRCE had warned the hero ODYSSEUS of the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis, Scylla managed to devour six of Odysseus’s crewmen. The legend represents the dangers of navigation faced by early mariners in those waters, where there are treacherous currents akin to whirlpools.

The expression “to fall between Scylla and Cha-rybdis,” similar to the more modern “to jump from the frying pan into the fire,” means to be caught in a dilemma—that is, to have to choose between two unsatisfactory alternatives.

sELENE (Moon) Greek An ancient moon goddess. Daughter of the TITANS THEIA and HYPERION; sister of HELIOS (the Sun) and Eos (the Dawn). Selene is also called PHOEBE. She is LUNA in Roman mythol-ogy, and sometimes identified with ARTEMIS.

Selene was a beautiful woman, usually depicted with long wings and a golden crown that shed a

Selene, the Greek goddess of the moon, watches over the sleeping Endymion, a shepherd boy whom she loves. Sabastiano Ricci (1659-1734) captured the scene in this painting, which now hangs in Chiswick House in London.

gentle light in the darkness of night. White horses pulled her chariot across the skies. She was the mother of three daughters by ZEUS: Pandia, Erse (the Dew), and Nemea. It is said that the Nemean Lion was born to Selene and Zeus, and that it fell from the Moon to the Earth (see under HERACLES). Selene was also loved by PAN. The best-known legend of Selene was that of her love for the youth ENDYMION.

sEMELE (Moon) Greek Daughter of CADMUS and HARMONIA, lover of ZEUS, mother of DIONYSUS. After her death in the flames created by Zeus, Semele was conducted from the UNDERWORLD to OLYMPUS, home of the gods, where she became immortal under the

name Thyone. Semele was worshiped in ATHENS during the Leneitai (Festival of Wild Women), when every year a BULL representing Dionysus was sacri-ficed to her.

Some say that Semele is a form of SELENE, an ancient moon goddess.

sERipHos (sERiFOs) Greek An island in the Western Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. This was the island where the infant PERSEUS and his mother, DANAE, came to rest after escaping from Acrisius.

sEvEN AGAiNsT THEBEs Greek The name given to the conflict between the rulers of the kingdom of THEBES and the rebels who challenged the king for the throne. It was the subject of a tragedy by AESCHYLUS.

At the death of their father, OEDIPUS, Eteocles and Polynices (who were probably twins), had made a pact to rule the kingdom of Thebes jointly, each one taking over the kingdom for a year at a time. How-ever, Eteocles refused to give up his kingship at the end of his year. Polynices appealed to King ADRASTUS of ARGOS for military help and the war began. The seven were the champions Adrastus brought together to help Polynices gain the throne.

The city of Thebes had seven gates. Eteocles set a champion to guard each one. Adrastus delegated a champion to capture each gate. It was fated that, at the end of the battle, the two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, should meet in one-to-one combat and kill each other.

Creon, the new king of Thebes, ordered that Eteocles be left to lie on the battlefield rather than be buried. He was opposed by ANTIGONE, the sister of Eteocles and Polynices, who herself performed the forbidden burial service.

The EPIGONI, sons of the Seven, continued the war years later.

siByL (siByllA) Greek Originally, a young girl, the daughter of a Trojan, who had the gift of prophecy. Her name was Sibylla, and she dedicated her gift to APOLLO, who inspired her to make predictions. Over time, people shortened her name to Sibyl. Eventually, her legend came to identify Sibyl as the daughter of ZEUS and Lamia, a daughter of the sea god POSEIDON.

People then began using the name Sibyl for any woman who had the same gift of foretelling the future. The most famous Greek woman given this name was the Sibyl of Erythia in LYDIA, a region of GREECE. The most famous Roman prophetess was the SIBYL OF CUMAE, who lived in a cave on the Bay of Naples.

SIBYL OF cuMAE Roman A prophetess who lived in a cave below a temple to APOLLO in Cumae, a port in the Bay of Naples on Italy’s western coast on the shores of Lake Averna.

Some historians believe the Sibyl of Cumae was first known as the Sibyl of Erythrae, a city in GREECE. This SIBYL, which was the woman’s name and came to identify a female prophet, is said to have left Greece and settled in Italy after the god Apollo promised her as many years of life as the grains of sand she could hold in her hand if she left her homeland and never returned.

In Italy, the Sibyl of Cumae is said to have offered to sell nine prophetic books to one of the last kings of ROME, Tarquinius Superbus, but, not recognizing her or her power, he refused to pay the price. The Sibyl left, burned three of the books and returned to offer Tarquinius six for the same price as nine. He refused. She burned three more and returned again to offer him three books for the price of nine. Having learned who she was, Tarquinius bought the three, and then and there the sibyl vanished.

Her written words of prophecy, which came to be known as the SYBILLINE BOOKS, gained a powerful influence over the development of Roman religion, particularly as it was influenced by Greek religion.

SIBYLLINE BOOKS Roman A collection of prophecies written by the SIBYL OF CUMAE, perhaps brought with her from GREECE, which contained advice for fortune-telling, predictions of the future of ROME, and a set of instructions that influenced Roman religion for centuries.

In the mid-500s B.C., this sibyl offered the original nine volumes of her predictions to the last Roman king, Tarquinius Superbus, but he refused twice to buy them, not knowing their worth. With each refusal, the sibyl burned three books. Then the king, having learned of her reputation as a prophetess, bought the three remaining books at the same price as the original nine. The sibyl vanished and Tarquin-ius had the manuscripts preserved in a lower chamber of a temple of JUPITER. Special priests guarded the books. In times of strife and conflict, Roman leaders consulted these prophecies. Often they instructed the people of Rome to bring a new cult or worship of a specific Greek god to Rome.

In 83 B.C., the temple in which the books were kept burned and they were destroyed. The Roman leaders sent for copies of the verses from across the empire, which included all of Italy and Greece,

stretched from Spain to Turkey, and included por­tions of northern Africa. The last known time Rome consulted the Sibylline Books was in A.D. 363.

SILENuS (sEliNi) Greek Son of HERMES or of PAN; tutor of DIONYSUS. An immensely wise old man, Silenus knew both past and future. He is often shown as a hairy, plump old man with the ears and legs of a horse, seated astride a wine cask or a donkey.

In its plural form, the Sileni denoted a category of rural divinities, personifying the genii of springs and rivers. As such they were associated with the SATYRS who followed Dionysus in his revels.

SILvANuS Roman An ancient god of northern Italy and then of the Romans. Silvanus was, in his earliest form, a god of uncultivated lands, of forests and woods, fields and flocks. People believed that he either lived among the mysterious forces of these places or was himself one of those mysterious forces. Later, people came to worship Silvanus as a god of agriculture, a rural god. Artists portrayed him as a peasant or a man of the country.

Silvanus was often worshiped with FAUNUS, another Roman god of rural life, who was seen as a protector of farmers and shepherds. As the Romans adopted many of the stories of the gods of classical GREECE (see HELLENIZATION), the characteristics of Silvanaus and Faunus merged with those of PAN, the god of fields and forests whom artists portrayed as half man, half goat.

SIRENS Greek The NYMPHS whose sweet song lured sailors to destruction by making them go mad and therefore become shipwrecked on the coast where the Sirens lived. In HOMER’s ODYSSEY, CIRCE warned the hero, ODYSSEUS, about the Sirens. He plugged the ears of his crewmen with wax, then had himself tied to the mast of the ship, while the crew rowed out of danger. In the myth of the ARGONAUTS, the sailors were able to sail safely by the nymphs because the poet ORPHEUS was on board and sang more sweetly than the Sirens.

SISYpHuS Greek Son of AEOLUS; brother of ATHAMAS; husband of MEROPE. Although Sisyphus is described as a cunning rogue in HOMER’s ODYSSEY, he is most famous for a terrible punishment visited on him by ZEUS. He was condemned to push an enormous boulder to the top of a hill. Once at the top, the boulder would come crashing down, and Sisyphus had to begin his task all over again. Thus,

Sisyphus has become the symbol for a fruitless task. It is not known for what crime Sisyphus was being punished in this manner.

Another story about Sisyphus tells how he outwit-ted THANATOS (Death). Zeus had sent Thanatos to seize Sisyphus. Sisyphus asked Thanatos to demonstrate how the manacles that he carried worked. During the demonstration, Sisyphus managed to lock up Thana­tos. Zeus had to send ARES from OLYMPUS to release Death upon the Earth again, for no one was dying.

Meanwhile Sisyphus asked his wife, Merope, to leave his body unburied when he died—for he knew that Thanatos would come for him a second time. When Sisyphus died, he went straight to HADES, god of the UNDERwORLD (1), and complained that his corpse had not received a proper burial. Hades, a just god, sent Sisyphus back to Earth to arrange a decent burial. Sisyphus had a joyous reunion with his wife, broke his word to Hades to return, and lived to an old age.

SOL Roman In the earliest Roman religion, a sun god worshiped by the SABINES, who introduced the cult of Sol to the Roman people when a Sabine king ruled over that city. As Greek religions gained influ­ence over the religions of ROME, people identified Sol with HELIOS, the Greek sun god, and with APOLLO, who also had attributes of the Sun in his myths.

Later, the Roman emperor Aurelian (A.D. 270–275) introduced the worship of Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun) to Rome, but this Sol is known to have been of Syrian origins and is not the Sol of the older religions of Rome. The worship of Sol Invictus was one of the last cults introduced into Roman culture before the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the A.D. 300s.

Sol is the name given to the Sun at the center of our SOLAR SYSTEM that is 98 million miles from Earth. It is 109 times the diameter of Earth and has been shining for more than 4 billion years, according to scientific estimates.

SOLAR SySTEM The Sun, known also as SOL, named after a Roman god, and the astronomical bodies that orbit it. In modern times, the English names for six of the planets are Roman gods and the names for two of the planets are Greek gods. (Earth is an Old English word that refers to the planet we live on.) These gods are

MERcURY—The Roman god of trade and merchants

VENUS—The Roman goddess of the productive power of nature

MARS—A Roman god of fertility and war JUPITER—The supreme Roman god

SATURN—A very old Roman god of agriculture, father of Jupiter

URANUS—A very ancient Greek deity, husband of GAIA

NEPTUNE—An ancient Roman sea god

PLUTO (no longer considered a planet)—A ritual title for HADES, Greek god of the UNDER-wORLD and Roman god Dis

Many of the moons of these planets were discov-ered since about A.D. 1500. They, too, were given mythological names, most of them from the Greek stories. Some of Jupiter’s 16 moons are GANYMEDE, EUROPA, Io, and CALLISTO. Some of Saturn’s 20 moons are TETHYS, PROMETHEUS, PANDORA, and ATLAS. Neptune’s moons, too, have been named after beings from Greek mythology. TRITON is the largest, discovered soon after the planet in 1846. Most of the moons were discovered in 1989, but also received Greek names, including PROTEUS, GALATEA and THALASSA.

The first known asteroid, CERES, named after a Roman goddess, was discovered in 1801. Since then, many asteroids have received mythological names. JUNO, VESTA, and IcARUS, as well as EROS, the first asteroid to be orbited by a humanmade probe, are also named after Greek and Roman gods and god-desses.

SOpHOcLES (496–406 B.c.) Along with AEScHY-LUS and EURIPIDES, one of the great tragic poets of ancient GREEcE. Not much is known about his life. Sophocles was born at Colonus, near ATHENS. He died at the age of 90, having written more than 100 plays, only seven of which survive. These include Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus, and Electra, all of which are concerned with Greek mythology and are important sources of our knowledge of that subject. Surviving scraps of evidence from the fifth century B.c. show that Sophocles was an actor and a dancer. Drama took a great stride forward when he increased the number of actors from two to three, and made the chorus a more integral part of the play. Sophocles was active as an Athenian citizen, serving in the army, in the treasury, and as a priest. He seems to have possessed serenity and he lived a long life.

SpARTA (lACEDAEMON) Greek City and capital of LAcONIA in the southern PELOPONNESUS. The ancient Spartans were famous for their cruelty to slaves and for their rigorous military training.

SPHINX Greek A monster, half woman, half beast, the offspring of ECHinNA and Orthos. She lived near THEBES and was supposed to set impossible riddles, one of which went something like this:

What goes on four feet, on two feet, and three, But the more feet it goes on, the weaker it be?

The answer is a human being, who as an infant crawls on all fours, as an adult walks on two feet, and in old age supports both legs with a walking stick. It is said that OEniPuS solved this riddle and thus delivered the Thebans from the curse of the Sphinx.

The Greek Sphinx has nothing to do with the Egyptian Sphinx, except that both creatures were half beast, half human.

The marble statue known as the Sphinx of Naxos, which dates back to 560 B.C., was a gift from the island nation to the temple at Delphi in Greece. The half woman/half lion stands on the top of a col-umn and now fills a room in the Delphi Museum in Greece. (Photo by Fingalo. Used under a Creative Com-mons License.)

STATA MATER (STATUA MATER; STATiS MATER) Roman A goddess called upon to help protect against fire. Specifically, people placed a statue to this lesser goddess in the Roman Forum, located between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, and a central area in the ancient city. Here the goddess could protect the city from the threat of fire and other damage at night. Stata Mater also guarded a city fire that burned there on the community hearth.

Stata Mater was closely associated with VuLCAN, Roman god of fire and blacksmiths, and VESTA, god-dess of the home and the household hearth.

STATE GoDS Roman As the city of ROME grew into a regional power and then into the center of a vast empire, rulers and members of the Senate brought into the culture gods and goddesses to pro-tect society. Often these deities had been honored and worshipped first in the home, but rulers saw for them roles they could play in society. Many of these deities were originally influential in the cultures of Central Italy, such as LATiuM and ETRuRiA. By broadening the scope of the deities’s influence from the family to society, the rulers, and eventually the citizens, believed they would be protected in all walks of life.

These state gods included the major PANTHEON of Roman gods. They also included lesser known gods and goddesses who influenced a citizen’s responsibil-ity to the state or government, to Rome’s ability in warfare and success at conquering enemies, and to the physical city itself.

First among the gods and goddess who protected all of Rome and its power was QuiRiNuS, who repre-sented the good citizen and a person’s responsibility to society. The goddess Pietas, whose name means devotion, represented duty to the family and to the state of Rome. FinES was the goddess who helped citizens remain trustworthy and faithful to Rome. Securitas was the goddess who, as her name suggests, protected the state. Eventually, the people of Rome adopted a goddess named ROMA who represented the very essence of Rome itself.

Some divine beings watched over the physical aspects of life in Rome. CLOACiNA, for example, pro-tected the great sewers of Rome, and STATA MATER protected the city from fire. The goddess VESTA watched over communal hearths in cities across the Roman Empire and kept their fires burning, and JANuS protected the gates of cities across the empire.

MARS was the greatest of the war gods by the time of the Roman Empire, which began in the first century B.C. He was supported in his work by