The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo #5)(103)

Jupiter the Roman god of the sky and king of the gods. Greek form: Zeus

karpos (karpoi, pl.) grain spirit; a child of Tartarus and Gaea

King Midas a ruler who was famous for being able to turn everything he touched into gold, an ability granted by Dionysus Koronis one of Apollo’s girlfriends, who fell in love with another man. A white raven Apollo had left to guard her informed him of the affair. Apollo was so angry at the raven for failing to peck out the man’s eyes that he cursed the bird, scorching its feathers. Apollo sent his sister, Artemis, to kill Koronis, because he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Kronos the Titan lord of time, evil, and the harvest. He is the youngest but boldest and most devious of Gaea’s children; he convinced several of his brothers to aid him in the murder of their father, Ouranos. He was also Percy Jackson’s primary opponent. Roman form: Saturn Labyrinth an underground maze originally built on the island of Crete by the craftsman Daedalus to hold the Minotaur Lar (Lares, pl.) Roman house gods

leontocephaline a being with the head of a lion and the body of a man entwined with a snake without a head or tail; created by Mithras, a Persian god, to protect his immortality Leto mother of Artemis and Apollo with Zeus; goddess of motherhood

Lugus one of the major gods in ancient Celtic religion

Lupa the wolf goddess, guardian spirit of Rome

Mars the Roman god of war. Greek form: Ares

Marsyas a satyr who lost to Apollo after challenging him in a musical contest, which led to Marsyas being flayed alive Meliai Greek nymphs of the ash tree, born of Gaea; they nurtured and raised Zeus in Crete Mercury Roman god of travelers; guide to spirits of the dead; god of communication. Greek form: Hermes.

Minerva the Roman goddess of wisdom. Greek form: Athena

Minoans a Bronze Age civilization of Crete that flourished from c. 3000 to 1100 BCE; their name comes from King Minos Minotaur the half-man, half-bull son of King Minos of Crete; the Minotaur was kept in the Labyrinth, where he killed people who were sent in; he was finally defeated by Theseus Mist a magical force that prevents mortals from seeing gods, mythical creatures, and supernatural occurrences by replacing them with things the human mind can comprehend Mithras a Persian god who was adopted by the Romans and became the god of warriors; he created the leontocephaline Morpheus the Titan who put all the mortals in New York to sleep during the Battle of Manhattan Mount Olympus home of the Twelve Olympians

naiad a female water spirit

nectar a drink of the gods that can heal demigods

Nero ruled as Roman Emperor from 54 to 58 CE; he had his mother and his first wife put to death; many believe he was responsible for setting a fire that gutted Rome, but he blamed the Christians, whom he burned on crosses; he built an extravagant new palace on the cleared land and lost support when construction expenses forced him to raise taxes; he committed suicide New Rome both the valley in which Camp Jupiter is located and a city—a smaller, modern version of the imperial city—where Roman demigods can go to live in peace, study, and retire Nine Muses goddesses who grant inspiration for and protect artistic creation and expression; daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; as children, they were taught by Apollo. Their names are: Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Ourania, and Calliope.

nymph a female deity who animates nature

omphalos Greek for navel of the world; the nickname for Delphi, a spring that whispered the future to those who would listen Oracle of Delphi a speaker of the prophecies of Apollo

pandos (pandai, pl.) a man with gigantic ears, eight fingers and toes, and a body covered with hair that starts out white and turns black with age pegasus (pegasi, pl.) a winged divine horse; sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god Peleus father of Achilles; his wedding to the sea nymph Thetis was well attended by the gods, and a disagreement between them at the event eventually led to the Trojan War; the guardian dragon at Camp Half-Blood is named after him Persephone the Greek goddess of springtime and vegetation; daughter of Zeus and Demeter; Hades fell in love with her and abducted her to the Underworld to become his wife and queen of the Underworld Phaethon the demigod son of Helios, Titan of the Sun; he accidentally scorched the Earth when he drove Helios’s sun chariot, and Zeus killed him with lightning as a result Pluto the Roman god of death and ruler of the Underworld. Greek form: Hades

Poseidon the Greek god of the sea; son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Hades. Roman form: Neptune praetor an elected Roman magistrate and commander of the army

Primordial Chaos the first thing ever to exist; a void from which the first gods were produced princeps Latin for first citizen or first in line; the early Roman emperors adopted this title for themselves, and it came to mean prince of Rome

Pythia the priestess of Apollo’s prophecies; the name given to every Oracle of Delphi Python a monstrous serpent that Gaea appointed to guard the Oracle at Delphi

River Styx the river that forms the boundary between Earth and the Underworld

roc an enormous bird of prey

Sassanid gas a chemical weapon the Persians used against the Romans in wartime

Saturnalia an ancient Roman festival held in December in honor of the god Saturn, the Roman equivalent of Kronos satyr a Greek forest god, part goat and part man

scusatemi Italian for excuse me

shadow-travel a form of transportation that allows creatures of the Underworld and children of Hades to use shadows to leap to any desired place on Earth or in the Underworld, although it makes the user extremely fatigued Sibyl a prophetess