The Immortal Glossary is always in the process of being updated. :)

Smaller, story-specific glossaries are found with each published Immortal Legends story.

This is the complete online glossary of people, places, and things found in the Immortal Legends Series. It will be an ongoing project, kept as up-to-date as possible.

Below is a list of abbreviations that may be found beside a word or phrase. If a person, place, or thing plays a major role in a story, the book's initials will be notated beside the entry. For example, Aglaia is marked [Hea]. Aglaia is the heroine of Immortal Heat [Hea], but she is mentioned only in passing in Immortal Embrace, so [Hea] is listed while [Emb] isn't.

Below are the abbreviations for fictional characters or fictional names of people, places, things, and ideas that I created. If there is no [fc] or [fn] beside the word or phrase, then that is a real name, place, thing, or idea found in the myths. For example, Zeleia is marked [fc]. Zeleia is a real name (of a city, actually, which I appropriated for the heroine in IC), but you won't find a woman named Zeleia mentioned in the myths. Tebris is marked [fc/fn]. I created the character of Tebris and also the name by feminizing the real masculine name Tebrus.

aether — The rarefied air of Mount Olympus.

aetherize [fn] — A word I coined for the immortals' ability to appear and disappear at will. A hint of aether surrounds them whenever they pop in or out.

Aglaia [Hea] — See Charis. One of the Charites and the heroine of Immortal Heat. She is Hephaestus' wife in Hesiod's Theogony (one of the oldest original sources for many of the myths, Homer being the oldest source). As Charis, her bright headband is mentioned in Homer's Iliad.

ambrosia — (immortal) The food of the gods. It is said the consumption of ambrosia results in immortality.

Aphrodite — Goddess of Love and Beauty, former wife of Hephaestus.

Charis — In the Iliad, Charis is Hephaestus' wife. Because Charis (Grace) is the singular of Charites (Graces), I prefer to think that Homer is saying "a Grace" is Hephaestus' wife, not that her actual name is Charis. Therefore, I use Charis as a title for one of the Graces, not as a personal name.

The Charites — The Graces. They personify the best attributes of humanity and bestow the gifts of charm, beauty, and grace upon mortals. They are Aphrodite's attendants, and Aglaia is her personal messenger. Ancient historians give differing accounts of their number, names, and lineage. For the purposes of this story, they are daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, an ocean nymph, and their names are Thalia, Euphrosyne, and Aglaia.

chiton — A type of dress worn by both women and men in Ancient Greece. There were several styles, but typically, the chiton was a tube of material, either linen or light wool, half again as long as the height of the person. The tube slipped over the head and was girted (belted) at the waist. The excess was doubled over to fall over the breast and fastened at one or both shoulders with clasps.

Croco [fc/Hea] — One of Queen Eupompe's henchmen. A fictional character.

Cydippe [fc/Hea] — Niece of King Euneus of Lemnos, cousin to Tebris, and in love with the Achaean Crown Prince Oileus. A fictional character.

Dameon [fc/Hea] — Younger Achaean prince, Oileus' brother, in love with Princess Tebris. A fictional character.

Eris [Con] — Goddess of discord.

Euneus [Hea] — The story of Jason and the Argonauts on the isle of Lemnos is straight from ancient sources. Jason consorted with Queen Hypsipyle who gave birth to twins, Euneus and Nebrophonus, but Jason never returned to Lemnos. Later, Euneus is mentioned as King of Lemnos during the Trojan War and having attended funeral games in Nemea. I couldn't find any further information about whom he or his brother married or any children, so I created them for the purposes of my story.

Eupompe [fc/Hea] — Queen of Lemnos, married to King Euneus, mother of Tebris, aunt of Cydippe. A fictional character.

fillet — A piece of netting in the shape of a scoop that holds the hair on the back of the head. The attaching stephane (crown) goes over the front of the head like an upright headband and holds the fillet in place.

greave — A piece of armor worn by soldiers to protect the shin.

Hephaestus [Hea] — God of Fire and the Forge and hero of Immortal Heat. He was married to Aphrodite, but she had an affair with Ares. The story of the trap Hephaestus devised to catch them is told in the Odyssey. His two falls from Mount Olympus are related in separate passages in the Iliad.

himation — A cloak or mantle. A large rectangle of material, either linen or wool, worn in many different ways as an outer wrapping. Some men wore only the himation and no chiton.

ichor — Lifesblood of the immortals.

Lemnos [Hea] — An island in the Aegean Sea and part of Greece. In ancient times, Hephaestus had a strong following there. The modern spelling is Limnos.

Mount Mosychlos [Hea] — Ancient name for modern Mount Despotis on the island of Limnos (Lemnos).

Neda — [Hea] Hephaestus did indeed have serving maids he forged from gold. They are mentioned in the Iliad. I gave them the name Neda and their penchant for differing hairstyles.

Oceanids — [Rap] The fifty daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. Some where among Persephone's Playmates.

Oileus [fc/Hea] — An Achaean Crown Prince, Dameon's brother, betrothed to Princess Tebris but in love with Cydippe. A fictional character.

Persephone's Playmates [Rap] — The goddesses and nymphs who were picking flowers with Persephone when she was abducted. According to Hesiod's Theogony, sixteen of the fifty Oceanids were with Persephone. Other sources include Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena. For the purposes of my novella Immortal Rapture, I chose to limit the number of Persephone's playmates to Artemis, Athena, and seven Oceanids: Acaste, Chryseis, Electra, Galaxaure, Ianira, Rhodia, and Tyche.

Phlius [fc/Hea] — One of Queen Eupompe's henchmen. A fictional character.

Phrygian breeches — Apparently, the ancient Phrygians wore breeches or leggings. I appropriated their use for some of my heroes to wear instead of a dress...I mean, chiton. ;)

stephane — (crown) A metal upright headband that attaches to the fillet.

swear by the Styx — An oath of the immortals that cannot be broken without dire consequences. In myth, Zeus swears by the Styx when he says he'll do anything Semele asks, and she wants to see him in all his glory. To see an immortal in all his/her glory will kill a mortal. Zeus fulfills his oath, killing Semele, instead of paying the price of breaking that oath—one year of madness and nine years as a mortal.

Talos [Hea] — A man of bronze forged by Hephaestus. There are differing stories, but one is that Zeus gave Talos to Europa to be the guard of the island of Crete. The Argonauts, on their return trip from Colchis, landed at Crete. Medea enchanted Talos and pulled out a nail near his ankle that allowed the ichor, the lifesblood of the immortals, to run out and causing his death. Being a creature that Hephaestus created in the first place, I thought Hephaestus should resurrect him.

Tebris [fc/fn/Hea] — Princess of Lemnos, cousin to Cydippe, betrothed to Achaean Crown Prince Oileus but in love with his brother Dameon. A fictional character and one of the few names where I got creative. Tebris is the feminized version of Tebrus which is an authentic Ancient Greek name. (The -is suffix can be used to form the feminine of the masculine -us. However—as I later found out and use as a plot point in Immortal Ecstasy—some names ending in -is can be either masculine or feminine or both.)

tripod — A three-legged stool, sometimes with a back. (Triptolemus, the little tripod with an attitude in Immortal Heat, is a fictional character, although based on tripods mentioned in the Iliad that Hephaestus had created with ears to hear his commands and wheels to obey them.)

Triptolemus [fc/Hea] — The little tripod with an attitude in Immortal Heat.

Tyche [Rap] — An Oceanid and goddess of fortune. One of Persephone's Playmates in Immortal Rapture.

underlinen [fn] — See Immortal Heat. Apparently Ancient Greeks wore the same thing under their chitons that the Scots wore under their kilts: Nothing! But I couldn't imagine a blacksmith getting that close to a fire for any length of time without added protection. Thus, underlinen was born! :) (If they didn't wear some kind of underclothes, they should have.)

wedding — Ancient Greek weddings differed according to local tradition. Basically, the marriage was arranged between the couple's parents. After the wedding supper, the groom and his best friend carried off the bride in a cart from her parents' home to his home with the families following on foot holding torches to light the way. At the bride's new home, marriage songs were sung and, at some point, the bride and groom retired to the marriage chamber to celebrate in private.

Zeleia [fc/Con/Sur] — Raised by foster parents, Zeleia is revealed to be a princess of Iotia. She falls in love with the slave Apollo, only to discover he is the god Apollo who had been stripped of his powers and banished to earth by Zeus. A fictional character.

Zeus — King of the gods, father of Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena, Hephaestus, Ares, the Charites, the Muses, Heracles, and many, many others.