W OMEN ADMETE Teenage daughter of Eurystheus with a passion for Amazons. AETHRA Daughter of Pittheus. Briefly betrothed to Bellerophon. Mother of Theseus (by Aegeus and Poseidon). Carried off the Dioscuri in revenge for Theseus’s abduction of Helen. Freed after long service to Helen by Acamas and Demophon. AGAVE Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Sister of Autonoë, Ino, Polydorus and Semele. Aunt of Dionysus. Scion of a much-cursed house. Wife of Echion (one of the founding lords of Thebes). Mother of Pentheus. Driven mad by Dionysus; unwittingly helps tear apart Pentheus. ALCESTIS Daughter of Pelias. Sister of Acastus and the Peliades. Abets her sisters in mistakenly casseroling their father. Wife of Admetus. Their wedding night spoiled by Artemis’s snakes in their bed. Willingly dies to fulfil Apollo’s scheme to make Admetus immortal. Brought back from death by Heracles. ALCIMEDE Also known as Polymede. Granddaughter of Minyas. Cousin of Atalanta. Wife of Aeson. Mother of Jason and Promachus. Imprisoned with Aeson by Pelias. Either murdered by Pelias, or driven to murder-suicide with Aeson and Promachus by Pelias, while Jason absent on the quest for the Golden Fleece. ALCMENE Granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda. Wife of Amphitryon, accidental slayer of her father Electryon. Later wife of Rhadamanthus. Mother of Heracles (by Zeus), and of Iphicles and Laonome (by Amphitryon). ALTHAEA Daughter of Thestios. Sister of Hypermnestra, Leda and the
Thestiades. Wife of Oeneus. Mother of Meleager (perhaps by Ares) and of Deianira and the other Meleagrids. Attempts to forestall the future foretold for Meleager by the Fates. Ends up fulfilling the prophecy when she kills Meleager in revenge for his slaying the Thestiades, then hangs herself out of grief. ANDROMEDA Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. Offering to Cetus. Rescued and married by Perseus. Mother of Alcaeus, Electryon and Perses. Great-grandmother of Heracles. Catasterized. ANTIGONE Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. Sister of Eteocles, Ismene and Polynices. Scion of a much-cursed house. Accompanies Oedipus into exile. After his death returns to Thebes. Sentenced to death by Creon for trying to bury Polynices after he is killed fighting Eteocles. Hangs herself, causing her fiancé Haemon (son of Creon) to commit suicide. ANTIOPE Amazon princess. Daughter of Ares. Sister of Hippolyta. Abducted by Theseus and Pirithous. Becomes former’s wife and mother of his son Hippolytus. Slain by Amazons for betraying their way of life. ARETE Wife (and niece) of Alcinous. Kind-hearted and protective host of Jason, Medea and the Argonauts. ARIADNE Daughter of Minos II and Pasiphae. Sister of Androgeus, Deucalion and Phaedra. Half-sister of the Minotaur. Provides Theseus with the key to the labyrinth. Surrendered by him to Dionysus. Married to Dionysus, mother of his children. Restored to life by him and brought to live with her mother-in-law Semele on Olympus. Her wedding diadem catasterized as the Corona Borealis. ATLANTA ‘The coequal’. Daughter of Clymene and Schoeneus (or possibly Iasus). Cousin of Alcimede. Possibly niece of Ancaeus and kinsman of Jason. Exposed by an infant. Fostered by a she-bear; later raised by hunters. Votary (and devastating tool) of Artemis. Too much of a girl, in Jason’s view, to be an Argonaut. Too amazing, in Meleager’s view, not to be a Calydonian Boar hunter. Awarded the trophy for slaying the boar, with fatal consequences for the Thestiades and Meleager. Resists Schoeneus’s efforts to marry her off, before being outsmarted by Hippomenes. Mother (by Hippomenes) of Parthenopaeus. With Hippomenes, punished by Aphrodite for ingratitude, then transformed into a lioness by Cybele for involuntarily profaning her temple. AUTONOË Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Sister of Agave, Ino, Polydorus and Semele. Aunt of Dionysus and Pentheus. Scion of a much-cursed house. Wife of Aristaeus. Mother of Actaeon. Driven mad by Dionysus; helps unwittingly tear apart Pentheus. CAENIS Daughter of the Lapith chieftain Elatus. Sister of Polyphemus. Kinswoman of Asclepius. Violated by Poseidon. Transformed by him at her request into Caeneus. CASSIOPEIA Wife of Cepheus. Boastful mother of Andromeda. Catasterized. CHALCIOPE Daughter of Aeëtes and Idyia. Sister of Absyrtus and Medea. Wife of Phrixus. Mother of the Phrixides. CIRCE Enchantress with a penchant for making pets out of passing sailors. Daughter of Helios and the Oceanid Perseis. Sister of Aeëtes and Pasiphae. Curses Medea for murdering Absyrtus