Having looked at the gods, goddesses and nymphs of ancient mythology, this week's list concentrates on the mortals, from the heroic to the tragic; the virtuous to the infamous.
The line between deity and mortal is somewhat blurred in many cases. In Celtic mythology many "mortal" figures are believed to have been worshipped as gods and goddesses in earlier times but attributed with a more human story. With the Greeks and the Romans legendary mortals sometimes become worshipped as demi-gods, and Roman emperors in particular weren't above having themselves and their relatives deified.
Here is a selection of mortals from Greek, Roman, Celtic and Norse mythology:
Achilles Actaeon Adonis Adrastos Aeneas Agamemnon Ajax Alf Amphion Amulius Arthur Bedivere Bellerophon Bran Brian Cáel Cai Celtus Chryses Cian Conall Conor Cúchulainn Culhwch Daedalus Damocles Damon Deucalion Diarmaid Dylan |
Endymion Eryx Evander Fearghas Fintan Fionn Gaheris Galahad Ganymede Gareth Gawain Geraint Goronwy Govannon Gunnar Hector Heracles Iolaus Iphicles Jason Lancelot Leander Leandros Linus Lleu Lycaon Lycus Macsen Math Menelaus |
Minos Mordred Myrddin Narcissus Neoptolemus Nestor Numitor Odysseus Oisin Orion Oscar Owain Paris Percival Peredur Perseus Phrixus Priam Pryderi Pwyll Pythias Remus Romulus Siegfried Silvius Theseus Tristan Ulysses Uther Zethos |
Aegle Agave Alcmene Alcyone Amymone Andromache Andromeda Angharad Antigone Antiope Aoife Ariadne Atalanta Bébinn Blodeuwedd Branwen Briseis Brynhild Callisto Camilla Cassandra Cassiopeia Celtine Chryseis Circe Clytemnestra Cyrene Danae Deianira Deirdre |
Dido Eimear Elaine Electra Elissa Enid Eurydice Evadne Fionnuala Gudrun Guinevere Helen Helle Hermione Hero Hippolyta Igraine Iole Iphigenia Ismene Iseult Isolde Jocasta Lavinia Lucretia Maeve Medea Megara Morgen Muirgen |
Niamh Niobe Olwen Otrera Pandora Pasiphae Penthesileia Penelope Phaedra Phyllis Psyche Pyrrha Rhea Rhiannon Sadb Silvia Tyro Xanthe |