The dictionary
Mythology glossary
The terms every myth assumes you know (hubris, aegis, Ragnarok, the Duat...), explained in two sentences.
Greek mythology
- Aegis
- The aegis is the divine shield or goatskin of Zeus and Athena, often bearing the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Merely shaking it could scatter whole armies, which is why 'under the aegis' still means protected by a higher power.
- Ambrosia
- Ambrosia is the food of the Greek gods, granting immortality and eternal youth to those who eat it. Mortals who stole a taste, like Tantalus, earned punishments so inventive they became legends in their own right.
- Chthonic
- Chthonic describes the gods and spirits of the underworld and the depths of the earth, like Hades and Hecate. The Greeks sacrificed to them at night, burying the offerings in pits instead of raising them toward the sky.
- Elysium
- Elysium is the paradise of the Greek afterlife, reserved for heroes and souls favored by the gods. While everyone else wandered gray fields of asphodel, its residents enjoyed eternal sunshine, games and music.
- Hubris
- Hubris is the arrogance of overstepping your mortal place, the number one killable offense in Greek myth. Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, existed specifically to correct it.
- Ichor
- Ichor is the golden fluid that flows through the veins of the Greek gods in place of blood. It was said to be lethal to mortals, so even a divine wound could kill the merely curious.
- Moirai (the Fates)
- The Moirai, or Fates, are the three sisters who spin, measure and cut the thread of every life. Even Zeus, king of the gods, could not overrule the length they assigned.
- Nymph
- A nymph is a minor nature goddess bound to one specific place: a spring, a tree, a mountain or the sea. When Daphne's laurel or Echo's fading voice appears in a story, a nymph is behind it.
- Oracle
- An oracle is a priestess or shrine through which the gods answered mortal questions, most famously the Pythia at Delphi. Its prophecies were technically true but so ambiguous that misreading them toppled kings like Croesus.
- Styx
- The Styx is the river of the underworld upon which the gods swore their unbreakable oaths. Thetis dipped her son Achilles into it, making him invulnerable everywhere except the heel she was holding.
- Tartarus
- Tartarus is the abyssal prison beneath the underworld where the gods lock away their worst enemies, including the Titans. Homer claimed an anvil dropped from earth would fall for nine days before reaching it.
- Titan
- The Titans are the primordial generation of gods, children of Uranus and Gaia, who ruled before Zeus. The Olympians overthrew them in a ten year war called the Titanomachy and hurled most of them into Tartarus.
Norse mythology
- Bifrost
- Bifrost is the burning rainbow bridge that connects Midgard, the world of humans, with Asgard, home of the gods. The watchman Heimdall guards it day and night, waiting to sound his horn at the start of Ragnarok.
- Einherjar
- The Einherjar are the slain warriors chosen by the valkyries to live in Odin's hall, Valhalla. They fight each other to the death every day and rise again by dinnertime, training for Ragnarok.
- Jotunn
- A jotunn is a giant of Norse myth, member of the chaotic rival race of the gods. They are not always enemies: Loki is one, and several gods, including Thor, have jotunn mothers.
- Ragnarok
- Ragnarok is the prophesied end of the Norse cosmos, when gods and giants destroy each other and the world burns and sinks into the sea. Unusually for an apocalypse, it comes with a sequel: a green world reborn.
- Valhalla
- Valhalla is Odin's golden hall in Asgard, where half of those who die bravely in battle are welcomed. Its roof is made of shields, and its residents feast on a boar that regenerates every single night.
- Yggdrasil
- Yggdrasil is the immense ash tree that holds the nine worlds of Norse cosmology in its branches and roots. A dragon gnaws at its roots while a squirrel, Ratatoskr, runs up and down the trunk delivering insults.
Egyptian mythology
- Ankh
- The ankh is the Egyptian hieroglyph for life, a cross topped with a loop. In tomb paintings, gods hold it to the pharaoh's lips, literally handing him the breath of eternal life.
- Ba
- The ba is the part of the Egyptian soul closest to personality, drawn as a bird with a human head. Each night it flew free of the tomb, but it had to return to the mummy before dawn.
- Book of the Dead
- The Book of the Dead is a collection of Egyptian spells buried with the deceased to guide them through the underworld. It even includes the exact words to recite so your heart passes the final judgment.
- Duat
- The Duat is the Egyptian underworld, the perilous realm the sun god Ra crosses every night and the dead must navigate. Its final trial weighs your heart against the feather of Maat.
- Ka
- The ka is the vital life force of the Egyptian soul, born with you as an invisible double. It survived death but still needed food and drink, which is why Egyptians left offerings in tombs.
- Maat
- Maat is the Egyptian principle of truth, justice and cosmic order, personified as a goddess wearing an ostrich feather. In the judgment of the dead, any heart heavier than her feather was fed to the devourer Ammit.
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APA
MythologyNow. (2026). Mythology glossary. https://www.mythologynow.app/en/glossaryMLA
"Mythology glossary." MythologyNow, 2026, https://www.mythologynow.app/en/glossary.Chicago
MythologyNow. "Mythology glossary." Accessed 2026. https://www.mythologynow.app/en/glossary.Hear these myths narrated
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