alastor
American Heritage Dictionary:
Top
a·las·tor
also A·las·tor (ə-lăs'tər, -tôr') 
n.
An avenging deity or spirit, the masculine personification of Nemesis, frequently evoked in Greek tragedy.
n.
An avenging deity or spirit, the masculine personification of Nemesis, frequently evoked in Greek tragedy.
[Greek alastōr, from alastos, unforgettable : a-, not; see a-1 + lanthanein, lath-, to escape notice.]
Alastor (əlăs'tər), in Greek mythology, spirit of vengeance. It is an epithet applied to Zeus or any other god in his aspect as avenger and is also sometimes applied to an evildoer who is subject to vengeance.
Top
A cruel demon, who, according to Johan Weyer, filled the post of chief executioner to the monarch of Hades. The conception of him somewhat resembles that of Nemesis. Zoroaster is said to have called him "The Executioner." Others identify him with the destroying angel. Evil genies were formerly called alastors. Plutarch says that Cicero, who bore a grudge against Augustus, conceived the plan of committing suicide on the emperor's hearth, and thus becoming his "alastor."
Sources:
Weyer, Johannes. Witches, Devils, and Doctors in the Renaissance: Johann Weyer, De Praestigiis. Edited by George Mora. Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1991.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Alastor
Alastor (Ἀλάστωρ, English translation: "avenger") can refer to a number of people and concepts related to Greek mythology:[1]
- Alastor was an epithet of the Greek god Zeus, according to Hesychius of Alexandria and the Etymologicum Magnum, which described him as the avenger of evil deeds, specifically, familial bloodshed. As the personification of a curse, it was also an epithet of the Erinyes.[2] The name is also used, especially by the tragic writers, to designate any deity or demon who avenges wrongs committed by men.[3][4][5][6][7] In Euripides' play Elecktra, Orestes questions an oracle who calls upon him to kill his mother, and wonders if the oracle was not from Apollo, but some malicious alastor.[8] There was an altar to Zeus Alastor just outside the city walls of Thasos.[9]
- By the time of the 4th century BC, alastor in Greek had degraded to a generic type of insult, with the approximate meaning of "scoundrel".[2]
- Alastor, a son of Neleus and Chloris. When Heracles took Pylos, Alastor and his brothers, except Nestor, were killed by him.[10][11] According to Parthenius of Nicaea, he was to be married to Harpalyce, who, however, was taken from him by her father Clymenus.[12]
- Alastor, a Lycian, who was a companion of Sarpedon, and was slain by Odysseus.[13][14]
- Alastorides is a patronymic form given by Homer to Tros, who was probably a son of the Lycian Alastor mentioned above.[15]
- Another, unrelated Alastor is mentioned in the Iliad of Homer.[16]
- Alastor, in Christian demonology, came to be considered a kind of possessing entity.[17] He was likened to Nemesis. The name Alastor was also used as a generic term for a class of evil spirits.
See also
References
- ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Alastor", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, pp. 89, http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0098.html
- ^ a b Rose, Herbert Jennings (1996), "Alastor", in Hornblower, Simon, Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece viii. 24. § 4
- ^ Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum 13, &c.
- ^ Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1479, 1508, The Persians 343
- ^ Sophocles, The Trachiniae 1092
- ^ Euripides, Phoenician Women 1550, &c.
- ^ Euripides, Elecktra 979
- ^ Cole, Susan Guettel (1994), "Civic Cult and Civic Identity", in Herman Hansen, Mogens, Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium August, 24-27 1994, Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, pp. 310, ISBN 978-87-7304-267-0, http://books.google.com/?id=y-c56ta4BKwC
- ^ Bibliotheca i. 9. § 9
- ^ Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, i. 156
- ^ Parthenius of Nicaea, c. 13
- ^ Homer, Iliad v. 677
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses xiii. 257
- ^ Homer, Iliad xx. 463
- ^ Homer, Iliad viii. 333, xiii. 422
- ^ Sorenson, Eric (2002), Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity, Mohr Siebeck, pp. 78, ISBN 3-16-147851-7, http://books.google.com/?id=zh4o4LijeQkC
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
Read more
Gale Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
