In Greek mythological genealogies Autolycus (Ancient Greek: Αὐτόλυκος, lit. 'the wolf itself') is usually described as a son of Hermes and a mortal mother (commonly named Chione or Philonis), inheriting from Hermes the arts of theft and trickery. Variant traditions exist: some sources (e.g., Pausanias as recorded in later summaries) present Daedalion as an alternate father. Autolycus is placed within hero-line networks through marriage and descent (various traditions name wives such as Mestra and daughters who link him to figures like Anticlea, mother of Odysseus), and he is sometimes listed among the ranks of heroic companions in later compilations.
Ancient sources preserved in the provided materials do not give a single canonical physical description; the figure is described through deeds and reputation rather than fixed features. Classical summaries locate his residence on Mount Parnassus. In later literary appropriation (notably Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale) the name 'Autolycus' is used for a stage rogue/clown, implying a roguish, low‑class theatrical appearance in those adaptations, but that is a literary role rather than an original mythical portrait.
Autolycus is famed for consummate skill in theft and trickery, credited with the same thieving arts associated with Hermes. Classical summaries record that he could change the appearance of things he stole — famously described as making 'white of black, and black of white' or altering hornedness in animals — and that he was given a gift such that his thievery could not be caught by anyone. He is also credited in some accounts with teaching wrestling to Heracles and elsewhere appears in narratives involving cattle theft (with variant outcomes across traditions).
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acarnan
Acarnan (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαρνάν) is an anthroponym attested in Greek mythic and epic tradition as the name of at least two distinct mortal figures: a son of Alcmaeon and Callirrhoe, and a human suitor of Penelope from Dulichium. The lexical form also appears adjectivally/ethnically (Acarnanian), linking the word to the region Acarnania; etymologically the name is reported as derived from a Greek fish-name (akarnan).
Acastus
Acastus is a mortal heroic figure of ancient Greek tradition: son of Pelias who became king of Iolcus, an Argonaut who sailed with Jason, and an actor in the post-Argonautic cycle involving Medea, Peleus, and the aftermath of Pelias’s death. He is attested as performing civic and ritual actions (burying Pelias, instituting funeral games, purifying Peleus) and as a participant in vendetta episodes that end in violent reprisals.
Acmon
Acmon (Ancient Greek: Ἄκμων, 'anvil') is a polyvalent personal name in Greek myth borne by several distinct minor figures — a Dactyl (artisan), a Phrygian eponymous king, a mischievous woodland creature, companions in epic cycles (one companion of Diomedes transformed into a bird; an Aenead), and in some brief traditions an alleged father of Uranus. The name therefore functions across artisanal, topographical, trickster, and metamorphosis motifs rather than denoting a single unified supernatural species.
Acrisius
Acrisius (Ancient Greek: Ἀκρίσιος, Akrisios) is a mythic-historical king of Argos in Greek tradition whose narrative is defined by an oracular prophecy foretelling his death by his daughter's son. He is portrayed as a mortal ruler entangled with dynastic rivalry, oracular authority, and the eventual accidental fulfillment of fate.
Aeacidae
The Aeacidae are a dynastic lineage in Greek myth and historiography descended from the hero Aeacus, son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina. The name functions as a patronymic designation for those 'of Aeacus' and is used to claim genealogical legitimacy and political prestige in regions such as Aegina and Molossian Epirus.
Aegipan
Aegipan (Αἰγίπαν / Αἰγίπανος) is an ancient Greek mythological figure associated with goat attributes and with the sea‑goat imagery of the constellation Capricornus. He appears in classical myth as a semi‑divine helper (notably in the Typhon episode) and, in later natural‑history and medieval bestiary reception, the name is applied to satyr‑like or ape‑like wild men in distant lands.
Aegisthus
Aegisthus (Greek Αἴγισθος, Aigisthos) is a mortal member of the House of Atreus in Greek myth who, born of incestuous circumstances and raised by shepherds and a goat, participates in dynastic murder and usurpation — notably the slaying of Atreus in some accounts and the conspiracy (with Clytemnestra) that results in Agamemnon's death — and is later killed by Orestes, an episode that figures in narratives about inherited guilt, vengeance, and the transition from private retribution to public justice.
Aepytus
Aepytus (Ancient Greek: Αἴπυτος, Aíputos/Aípytos, lit. 'steep, high, lofty') is a personal name in Greek myth borne by several legendary kings tied to Arcadian and Heraclid genealogies. The figures named Aepytus function as ancestral/dynastic nodes in literary genealogies and later literary receptions rather than as supernatural beings.
Aergia
Aergia (Ancient Greek: Ἀεργία) is the personification/goddess of sloth, idleness, indolence and laziness in Greco-Roman mythic thought. She appears in literary sources as a named personified quality and as an attendant or guardian in the household of Sleep (Hypnos/Somnus); Roman equivalents include Socordia and Ignavia.
Aeson
Aeson (Ancient Greek: Αἴσων) is a legendary mortal king of Iolcus in Thessaly in Greek myth, best known as the father of the hero Jason. His fate—imprisonment by his half-brother Pelias and either suicide or a miraculous restoration performed by Medea—provides the dynastic and moral background for the Argonautic cycle.
Community Record
- [1]Autolycus. Wikipedia, 'Autolycus'.wiki
- [2]Autolycus (Wikidata). Wikidata entry Q463107 for Autolycus.other
- [3]The Winter's Tale (Act 4 references to Autolycus). Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale (dramatic character usage of Autolycus).literary
- [4]Introduction to Shakespeare's Autolycus. Shakespeare-online, character introduction for Autolycus in The Winter's Tale.literary
- [5]Symposium (Xenophon) – contextual classical literature. Xenophon (classical literature corpus referenced in source set).literary
- [6]Archive references and modern usages (name reuse). Archive item noting later cultural uses of the name 'Autolycus' (not mythic source).other