A Handy Dictionary of Mythology

This Handy Dictionary of Mythology is intended to supply the everyday reader with concise accounts of the gods and goddesses of the ancients in an accessible form.

Besides confronting us at every turn in the museums and picture galleries, these deities and heroes are constantly mentioned by poets and portrayed by painters and sculptors, and they are used for the purpose of illustration in the literature of the day. Nothing is more common than to find the comic newspapers resorting to Mythology for subjects for their pictures; and quite recently Punch has given us some delightful cartoons by Tenniel, which, apart from the admirable drawing, are intensely amusing to people who know enough of Mythology to see the drift of the artist. For example, there is a cartoon representing Æacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus sitting in judgment on the unlucky electioneering bribers, and underneath is the word “Nemesis.” Again, there was a capital cartoon representing the “Judgment of Paris,” in which the Duke of Richmond, Earl Cairns, and Lord Salisbury figure as Juno, Minerva, and Venus. This had reference to the selection of a Conservative Leader for the House of Lords, and was very popular. In order fully to enjoy similar works, and to appreciate the allusions, it is necessary that we should be able to find out readily something about these mythological beings. But to ascertain this “something” we do not want to waste time in wading through such a number of volumes as the compiler has used in making this Dictionary, even if it were possible to get access to them.

It has been a matter of astonishment to him to find how many different versions there are of the same fable, and to see how often various writers attribute the same actions to different gods or heroes. In fact, it has frequently been a difficult task to decide which version should be adopted,—which authority accepted. It may therefore be desirable to state that where doubts have arisen, either the various versions are given, or else Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary has been referred to, to decide the questions.