Nicander: poet and physician of Colophon; fl. in earlier half of second century B.C. Two of his poems are extant: the Theriaca on venomous animals, and the Alexipharmaca (or ‘Antidotes‘) on poisons and their remedies. The verse in itself is poor.
Nícias: (1) Athenian general in the calamitous expedition against Syracuse (415-413 B.C.). A man of wealth, but religious to the point of disastrous superstition; a commander of experience, though wanting in promptitude and self-reliance. He was put to death by the victors.
(2) painter of Athens, fl. c. 310 B.C., particularly noted for his chiaroscuro and for improvements in encaustic painting.
Nilóxĕnus: a character probably invented by Plutarch, with a name geographically suitable.
Numa: Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, famed for his piety and the excellence of his legislation. Much of his history is legendary.
Olympias: wife of Philip (q.v.) and mother of Alexander. An imperious and vindictive woman, with good reasons for jealousy, who often figures in Macedonian feuds.
Olynthus: a Greek town on the Chalcidic peninsula, south of Thessalonica.
Ómphălë: queen of Lydia, to whom Heracles was for a time enslaved and for whom he played an effeminate part. In a sense she played the Delilah to his Samson.
Orchómĕnus: a very ancient town in Boeotia.
Oromazdes: = Ahuramazda, the great God of the Zoroastrians; deity of light and good, as opposed to Ahrimanes.