is described as pure white in colour, with flaring nostrils from which issue flame and smoke. The name Actaeon means ‘effulgence’, clearly referring to the powerful heat and light of the sun. At night, the horses browsed on magical herbs on the Islands of the Blessed; by day, the nymphs of time, the Horae, harnessed them to the chariot of the sun, which was driven by the god Helios. (See also Horse, Acthon.)
ACTHON
One of the four winged horses of the sun in Roman myth. The poet Ovid (43 BC–AD 17) lists Acthon together with Eous, Phlegon and Pyrios. These four were harnessed daily to the chariot of the sun and driven across the heavens by the charioteer Phaethon. (See also Horse.)
ADAR LLWCH GWIN
According to Celtic tradition, the Adar Llwch Gwin were giant birds, similar in kind to the Griffin, which were given to a warrior named Drudwas ap Tryffin by his fairy wife. The name derives from the Welsh words llwch (‘dust’) and gwin (‘wine’). The birds were said to understand human speech and to obey whatever command was given to them by their master. However, on one occasion, when Drudwas was about to do battle with the hero Arthur, he commanded them to kill the first man to enter the battle. Arthur himself was delayed and the birds immediately turned on Drudwas and tore him to pieces. Later, in medieval Welsh Poetry, the phrase ‘Adar Llwch Gwin’ came to describe hawks, falcons or brave men.
ADARO
This strange being appears in the myths of the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. He is clearly related to the merman, but unlike these familiar sea creatures, the Adaro has legs, attached to which are fins; a larger fin, similar to that of a shark, sprouts from his head. He also has fish gills and a sharp horn where his nose ought to be. The Adaro commands a huge army of flying fish, which savagely rend into pieces anyone foolish enough to invade his waters. The Solomon Islanders describe him as flying through the air, carried by his fish army or riding on the back of a rainbow during storms at sea. (See also Triton.)
ADITI
In Hindu tradition, Aditi is the primordial entity from which all things come. She is shown in the form of a cow who nourishes every living thing. She gives her milk freely to all on the condition that humans behave to her as if they are her calves, like children to their mother. The injunction ‘Do not injure Aditi the Cow,’ is a warning to protect the whole of nature and the Earth itself.
ADLET
These monstrous creatures feature in the mythology of the Inuit people of Labrador and the Hudson Bay area. They are part of a curious creation myth, according to which a human woman cohabited with a red dog. Five of the children resulting from this union were dogs themselves, and these were sent across the sea to Europe where they founded the European races. Five other children were even more monstrous and turned upon the Inuit themselves, drinking their blood and rending them limb from limb. Among the neighbouring people of Baffin Island and Greenland, the same or similar creatures are know as the Erquigdlit.
AELLO
One of the Harpies of classical Greek and Roman myth.
AETERNAE
According to the legends that surround the life and deeds of Alexander the Great, the Aeternae were encountered on the northern plains of India when his army passed that way in the 4th century BC. They were described as having bony, saw-toothed protuberances sprouting from their heads, with which they attacked and wounded their enemies. They killed several of Alexander’s soldiers who were unlucky enough to encounter them.
AETOLIAN BOAR
Also known as the Calydonian boar, this mighty beast appears in classical Greek mythology as a means of inflicting divine justice. The goddess Artemis sent the boar as a punishment to the people of the Aetolian region of Greece, who had failed to give her sufficient honour and sacrifice. After the boar had ravaged much of the country, the hero Meleager was given the task of hunting down and destroying the creature. Calling upon many of greatest heroes in the classical world, Meleager lead them on a long and savage hunt across the country. In the end, it was the huntress Atalanta who brought down the boar with an arrow, after which Meleager killed it with his spear. He then gave the prize of the carcass to Atalanta, but this caused a quarrel over the division of the spoils and in the ensuing battle Meleager himself was slain. (See also Boar, Beigad, Boar of Ben Bulbain, Buata, Cafre, Calydonian Boar, Erymanthean Boar, Pugot, Sacrimnir, Twrch Twrch, Ysgithrwyn.)
AFANC
A water monster found specifically in Welsh folklore tradition. Also known as the Addanc or Abhac, it preyed on unwary travellers. Early references, dating back to the Middle Ages, are vague about its shape and size, but later it came to be described as a giant beaver. The reason for this may be that the name Afanc comes from a local dialect word for beaver. On the river Conway in north Wales there is a whirlpool known as Llyn yr Afanc, and local stories tell of the capture of the monster, which was bound by iron chains and dragged from its home to a lake, Llyn Cwm Ffynnon.
The creature is also associated with Lake Bala, where a version of the Noah’s Flood story is told. A man named Dwyfan suspected that the monster was going to cause a flood and built an ark to house all the animals he could find. The flood did indeed come, caused by the thrashing of the Afanc. Dwyfan and his wife Dwyfach were the sole survivors and they founded the British race. This story probably originated in the flash floods for which the area is famous. Later, it was said that the Arthurian hero Peredur (Percival) slew the Afanc in single combat, but stories were still told of it as late as the 19th century. In one of these, the setting is Llyn Barfog (the Bearded Lake), where, in an echo of the Unicorn story, the Afanc is captured after it is lulled to sleep by the singing of a virgin. It is then chained and dragged away to a deep lake where it still lies. Another such story refers to the mythical hero Hu Gadarn, who captures the beast and drags it from the lake with his team of mighty oxen. The Afanc is probably related to the Scottish kelpie and the Manx glaistyn.
AFRIT/AFREET
A tribe of monstrous demons or djins found in Muslim and Arabic folklore. Described as gigantic in form, sometimes with cloven hooves and horns, it may well have added details to the description of the Devil in Christian mythology. Incredibly fierce and cruel, the Afrits stole unattended children and dragged them to their deaths. They were feared throughout the Muslim world. Usually found in desert lands, the people of Kenya spoke of them inhabiting muddy pools and shallow rivers, from which they leapt out without warning. According to biblical tradition, King Solomon once bound an Afrit with magic, and forced it to help him find the Shamir. Lord Byron, who travelled widely in the Middle East, was so fascinated by the stories of the Aftrit that he included one in his poem ‘The Giaour’.
Go – and with Gouls and Afrits rave; Till these in horror shrink away From Spectre more accursed than they.
AGATHODEMON
A
