Briseis (brī-sē´is).—Daughter of Brises and beloved by Achilles. She was the occasion of a feud between Achilles and Agamemnon.
Bucephalus (bū-sef´a-lus)—i. e. bull-headed. The favorite charger of Alexander the Great, so named because he was branded with a bull’s head. No one but Alexander was able to mount this celebrated horse, which always knelt down to receive his master. He died in India after carrying Alexander through all his campaigns. Alexander built a city near the place where he died, and named it Bucephala in memory of him.
Busiris (bū-sī´ris).—A king of Egypt who cruelly sacrificed strangers to Jupiter. He attempted to sacrifice Hercules, but the latter slew him and all his ministers.
Buto (bū´tō).—An Egyptian goddess identified with Latona.
C
Cacus (kā´kus).—Son of Vulcan; a huge giant and notorious robber; lived in a cave on Mount Aventine. He stole the oxen of Hercules, which the latter had taken from Geryon, in Spain, whereupon Hercules slew him.
Cadmus (kad´mus).—Son of the Phœnician king Agenor, and brother of Europa. His father sent him to search for his sister, who had been carried off by Jupiter, and he was directed to follow a certain cow, and to build a city on the spot where the cow fell down with fatigue. In this way he became the founder of Thebes, in Bœotia. Near this place was a well guarded by a dragon, which Cadmus slew, and sowed the teeth of the monster. From these arose armed men, who killed each other, with the exception of five, who were the ancestors of the Thebans. All this he did on the direction of Minerva, and Jupiter gave him Harmonia for his wife. The marriage was celebrated in the citadel of Thebes, and all the Olympian gods were present at the ceremony. Cadmus gave Harmonia a famous robe of state (peplus) and a necklace (see “[Harmonia]”) which he had received from Vulcan. Their children were Autonoë, Ino, Semele, Agave, Polydorus and Illyrius. Cadmus introduced among the Greeks an alphabet of sixteen letters.
Cæneus (sē´nūs).—Originally a maiden, named Cænis, who was beloved by Neptune and changed by him into a boy, and at the same time made invulnerable. In the lower worlds she recovered her female form.
Calchas (kal´kas).—The most eminent of the Greek soothsayers at the siege of Troy. He died of grief on meeting Mopsus, who was a wiser soothsayer, and predicted things which Calchas could not.
Calliope (kal-lī´op-ē).—The Muse of epic poetry. See “[Musæ].”