Askalaphus was a gardener for Hades, god of the dead, in the underworld. When Hades abducted Persephone, her mother Demeter searched for her in vain, until Hekate told her of the kidnapping. Demeter went to Zeus and demanded the return of her daughter, who decreed that, so long as Persephone had eaten none of the food of the dead, she could be freed.
Plato created the myth of Atlantis, an island of the ancient world which he used as an allegory of aggression and superior force. Plato presented his story as a history, wherein the fictional locale was reputed to have a strong navy which threatened the Greek city-states, and was finally defeated by Athens, Plato’s home, due to its superior style of government. At the end of the story, Plato asserts that the island fell out of favor with the gods, and was submerged beneath the seas.
Atropos was one of the three Moirai, sisters known in English as “the Fates”. The Fates were the daughters of Erebus (“Darkness”) and Nyx (“Night”), and even Zeus was subject to their dictates. Atropos was known as “the Cutter”, for it was her responsibility to determine the means of one’s demise, and to sever the thread of life at death.
Bacchus was the Roman god of wine, agriculture and fertility.
Borasisi is the name of the solar creation deity, also an actual sun of the fictional world, which forms the basis of a religious cult in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 novel “Cat’s Cradle.”
Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture, specifically grains, fertility and motherhood. Several important planting and harvest festivals were dedicated to her, and she was invoked during marriage ceremonies to ensure fecundity.
