DACTYLS (Daktyloi) Servants of Rhea the Dactyls were immortal magicians and smiths who dwelt on the island of Crete.

CACODAEMON

DAEIRA A goddess nymphe of the Eleusinian mysteries.

DAEMONAE (Daimonai) Female daimones - they included all the classes of Nymphs, as well as the various female personifications and abstractions.

DAEMONES (Daimones) Spirits of the air, earth, sea and underworld. They ranged from personifications such of Elpis (Hope) to nature spirits such as the River-Daemones and the Nymphs.

DAEMONES, AGATHI (Daimones Agathoi) The good spirits who protected and bestowed blessings on mankind.

DAEMONES ARGYREAN (Daimones Argyreoi) The men of the silver age who were immortalised as underground spirits which presided over the fertility of the earth.

DAEMONES, CACO- (Kakodaimones) The harmful (or evil) spirits which plagued mankind. They were released from the jar of Pandora.

DAEMONES CHRYSEAN (Daimones Khryseoi) The men of the golden age who were immortalised as thirty thousand earth-dwelling spirits which watched over mankind.

DAEMONES CHTHONIAN (Daimones Khthonioi) The demon-spirits of the underworld.

DAEMONES GEORGICI (Daimones Georgikoi) The spirits of agriculture and farming

DAEMONES HALIAN (Daimones Halioi) The spirits of the sea.

DAEMONES NOMIAN (Daimones Nomioi) The spirits of the countryside: pastureland and wilds.

DAEMONES URANIAN (Daimones Ouranioi) The spirits of the sky.

DAEMONES PROSEOUS (Daimones Proseoos) Evil demons which haunted the dark caverns of the island of Rhodes.

DAMASEN A Lydian Giant who slew a Dracon which was terrorising the kingdom.

DAPHNE

DAMIA The sprintime Hora of the fertile earth.

DAMNAMENEUS One of the Dactyls.

DAMYSUS (Damysos) The swiftest of the Gigantes who battled with the gods in the giant-war. Chiron extracted the swiftness of his foot and placed it in the heel of Achilles.

DANAIS An nymph of Elis loved by King Pelops.

DAPHNE A naiad daughter of the river Peneius. She was loved by the god Apollo who pursued her through the woods. As he was about to capture her she prayed to Gaea and was transformed into a laurel tree.

DAPHNAIE Dryad-nymphs of the laurel-tree.

DAPHNIS (1) The oreiad prophetess of Gaia at the oracle of Delphi, before Apollon took over the shrine.

DAPHNIS (2) The demigod of pastoral or idyllic poetry.

DAULIS A Naiad nymph after whom the Boeotian town of Daulis was named.

DEIMUS (Deimos) The god of terror and an attendant of Ares.

DEINO (1) One of the old hag Graeae.

DEINO (2) The Naiad nymph wife of the River Sperchius.

DEIPNEUS The daemon of dinner preparation, the making of meals.

DELPHIN (Delphin) The dolphin-god. When Amphitrite hid from Poseidon, Delphinus found her and persuaded her to marry him. He was placed in the stars by Poseidon as a constellation.

DEMETER

DELPHYNE Another name for the monstrous serpent-tailed Echidna.

DEMETER Goddess of agriculture and the fertile earth. She was one of the twelve great Olympian gods. Her Mysteries promised mankind passage to a blessed afterlife.

DERCETIS (Derketis) A Boeotian Naiad nymph who ravished a local shepherd boy.

DESPOENA (Despoine) A mysterious goddess born from Poseidon's rape of Demeter and raised by the Titan Anytus. Her true name was never spoken outside her secret rites.

DICAEOSYNE (Dikaiosyne) The personification of equity.

DICE (Dike) The goddess of justice. She was one of the three Horae (Seasons).

DICTYNNA (Diktynna) The gods of the nets. Another name for Britomarttis.

DIOGENIA (Diogeneia) A naiad daughter of the river Cephisus. She was the wife of an Athenian nobleman.

DIONE (1) The Titanis goddess of the oracle of Dodona. She was the mother by Zeus of the goddess Aphrodite.

DIONE (2) One of the star-nymph daughters of the Titan Atlas. She was the wife of the impious Lydian King Tantalos.

DIONYSOS (Dionysos) God of wine and the youngest of the twelve Olympians. The goddess Hestia relinquished her position to him when he entered Olympus after spending many years wandering the world establishing his cult.

DIONYSOS

DIOPATRA (Diopatre) A Malian Naiad nymph loved by Poseidon. The god turned her sisters into poplars while he seduced her.

DIOSCURI (Dioskouroi) Twin star-crowned gods who came to the aid of sailors in distress during storms, appearing in the form St Elmo's fire. They were originally mortal princes granted immortality by the gods and placed amongst the stars as the constellation Gemini.

DIRCE (Dirke) The Naiad nymph of the sacred fountain of Dionysus on Mount Cithaeron.

DODONA (Dodone) The eponymous Oceanid nymphe of Dodona in Thesprotia.

DODONIDES The prophetic Dryades of the oaks of Zeus at the oracle of Dodona.

DOLUS (Dolos) The male personification of trickery and deceit. He was an apprentice of the Titan Prometheus, who manufactured the maiden of lies as an identical twin to the Prometheus's creation, the maiden of truth.

DORIS The Oceanid goddess of the mingling of fresh water with the brine. She was the wife of the sea-god Nereus and mother of the fifty Nereides.

DRACAENAE Drakainai) Monstrous earth nymphs with the upper body of a woman and the coiled tail of a serpent in place of legs.

DRACAENA OF SCYTHIA (Drakaina Skythia) The first queen of Scythia who had the tail of a serpent in place of legs. She stole the cattle of Heracles and insisted the hero mate with her before she returned them.

DRACON COLCHIS

DRACONES (Drakones) Gigantic toothed serpents which were vanquished by the heroes.

DRACON CYCHREIDES (Drakon Kykhreides) A gigantic drakon which was driven from the island of Salamis by the hero Cychreus. It fled to Eleusis where Demeter welcomed and made him her attendant.

DRACON OF COLCHIS (Drakon Kholkidos) A gigantic sleepless dragon which guarded the golden fleece of Colchis. It was overcome by Jason and Medea.

DRACON OF THE GIANT-WAR (Drakon Gigantomakhios) A gigantic serpent which was cast at the goddess Athena during the giant-war. She caught it up and cast it into the heavens as the constellation Draco.

DRACON OF HESPERIA (Drakon Hesperios) A hundred-headed dragon which guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. It was slain by Herakles.

DRACON OF LYDIA (1) (Drakon Maionios) A gigantic Lydian serpent slain by Heracles.

DRACON OF LYDIA (2) (Drakon Maionios) A massive serpent slain by the Lydian giant Damasen. The creature's mate afterwards restored it to life with a magical herb.

DRACON OF NEMEA (Drakon Nemeios) A giant serpent which guarded the sacred groves of Nemea. It killed the infant prince Opheltes and was slain by the heroes of the Seven Against Thebes.

DRACON OF THE OPHIOGENES (Drakon Ophiogeneikos) A Mysian dragon which impregnated a girl in a shrine of the goddess Artemis. She bore it the ancestor of the Ophiogenes (Serpent-Born) tribe, who were immune to the venom of serpents.

DRACON OF PITANE (Drakon Pitanios) A dragon turned to stone by the gods near Pitane in Aeolia.

DRACON OF THEBES (Drakon Ismenios) The dragon who guarded the sacred spring of Ares at Thebes. It was slain by the hero Cadmus. When its teeth were sown in the earth a tribe armed men sprang up fully grown from the ground.

DRACON OF THESPIA (Drakon Thespiakos) A dragon which ravaged the region of Thespia in Boeotia. It was killed by the hero Menostratus who sacrificed himself in its jaws wearing spiked armour.

DRACONES OF DEMETER (Drakones) A pair of winged serpents which drew the flying chariot of Demeter and her hero Triptolemos.

DRACONS MEDEA

DRACONES OF MEDEA (Drakones) A pair of winged serpents which drew the flying chariot of the witch Medea.

DRACONES OF RHODES (Drakones Rhodioi)A gigantic dragon and its spawn which infested the island of Rhodes. They were destroyed by the hero Phorbas.

DRACONES OF TROY (Drakones Troiades) Two giant sea-serpents sent by Poseidon to silence the Trojan priest Laocoon who was about to warn the Trojans of the ruse of the Wooden Horse.

DRYADS (Dryades) Tree nymphs, also known as Hamadryads. There were two types: the Oreads (nymphs of oaks and pines) and the Meliae (nymphs of ash-trees).

DRYOPE A Dryopian princess transformed into a Hamadryad Nymph by the Nymphs.

DYSAULES A demi-god of the Eleusinian Mysteries. He presided over the ploughed fields.

DYSIS The eleventh of the twelve Horai (Hours), she was the goddess of the sun-set.

DYSNOMIA (Dysnomia) The female personification of lawlessness.