Œnone (ē-nō´nē).—Wife of Paris of Troy, before he carried off Helen.
Oileus (o-ī´lūs).—King of the Locrians, father of the lesser Ajax, and one of the Argonauts.
Olympia (o-lim´pi-a).—A plain in Elis, where the Olympian games were held. In the plain was the sacred grove of Jupiter, which contained the masterpiece of Greek art—the colossal statue of Jupiter by Phidias. The Olympic games were held every four years, this interval being called an Olympiad.
Olympus (o-lim´pus).—A mountain range on the boundary of Macedonia and Thessaly, of great height, and consequently regarded as the abode of the gods. Once the giants tried to reach heaven, and to do so piled Mount Pelion on Mount Ossa (both being high mountains in the neighborhood of Olympus); but Jupiter used his thunderbolts against them, and, with the assistance of Hercules, destroyed them all, and buried them under Mount Ætna.
Omphale (om´fa-lē).—A queen of Lydia, whom Hercules served as a slave a short time. She put on his lion´s skin, and carried his club, whilst he donned woman´s attire and spun wool.
Ops.—Wife of Saturn, the goddess of plenty and fertility, and especially the patroness of husbandry.
Oreades.—See “[Nymphæ].”
Orestes (o-res´tēz).—Son of Agamemnon and Clytæmnestra, who, on the murder of Agamemnon, after his return from Troy, by Clytæmnestra and her paramour Ægisthus, was saved from the same fate by his sister Electra. He went to Strophius, king of Phocis, who was the husband of his aunt Anaxibia. Here he formed a memorable friendship with Pylades (pī´la-dēz), the king’s son. Later he avenged his father’s death by slaying his mother and Ægisthus; but was, in consequence, seized with madness and wandered from place to place. Apollo told him he could recover from his madness only by bringing the statue of Diana from the Tauric Chersonesus. Accordingly he set out, in company with his friend Pylades; but on their arrival they would have been sacrificed by the Tauri (q.v.) to Diana had not Orestes’ sister Iphigenia, who was the priestess of Diana, recognized him and intervened in time to save their lives. All three then escaped with the statue of the goddess. After this Orestes became king of Mycenæ, his father’s kingdom, and married the beautiful Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen (of Troy), after slaying [Neoptolemus] (q.v.).
Orion (o-rī´on).—A handsome giant and hunter. He was beloved by Diana, which so displeased Apollo that he asserted that she was unable to hit, with one of her arrows, a distant point he showed her in the sea. This point was the head of Orion, who was swimming in the sea. Thus Orion perished, and he was placed among the stars, where he appears as a giant with a girdle, sword, a lion’s skin, and a club.
Orlog.—A god of Norse fable personifying the eternal law of the universe, from whose decree there was no appeal.