Cassandra

Finally! We get onto a name that does not begin with an A! Anyway, Cassandra is also know as Alexandra. (Sigh) She is the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. She was so beautiful that it caused Apollo to give her the gift of Prophecy. However, other people believe also that she spent the night at Apollo's temple, where snaked licked her ears clean, enabling her to hear the future.
 But when she did not return his love he cursed her so that no one would ever believe her predictions. She is seen as a figure of Epic tradition and Tragedy, because she had a deep understanding but was powerless to help humankind.
 Cassandra was twins with her sister Helenus, who was described as 'having brown hair kept i curls, brown eyes, fair skin and very beautiful, intelligent, charming, desirable, elegant, friendly, gentle, but also considered to be insane. Cassandra on the other hand was described as the second most beautiful woman in the world. Cassandra's beauty was even compared to Aphrodite and Helen of Troy.
 The cursed gift that Apollo gave to Cassandra became an endless source of pain and frustration to her. Sometimes this is depicted by the god spitting in her mouth. However, in Aeschylus Agamemnon it seems that she promised to Apollo to become his consort, but for some reason she broke it. Thus 'incurring his wrath'.
 Cassandra saw the destruction of Troy in her vision, she warned the Trojan's of the Trojan horse, the death of Agamemnon, and her own death. But she could do nothing to prevent it, as no one would believe her. Two people, Coroebus and Othronus came to aid Troy because of their love for Cassandra, and she had to witness her brother's body being brought back to the city, she was the first to witness it.
 At the fall of Troy, she attempted to seek shelter in a temple to Athena, but was abducted and raped by Ajax the Lesser. She was then taken as a Concubine by King Agamemnon. She was killed when Agamemnon and her lover, Aegisthus murdered her and Agamemnon. People believe she had twin son's, Teledamus and Pelops, who where both killed by Aegisthus.

Atreus and Thyestes

First of, I will write about Atreus.

 He was a king of Mycenae, he was the father of Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus. He on the other hand was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia. His descendants are known collectively as Atreidai or Atreidae. Which is basically the same word i guess, but different spelling.

 Oh. Atreus was a twin brother of Thyestes, and they where both exiled for murdering their half-brother, whos name was, Chrysippus. They killed him in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They fled to Mycenae, where they eventually became king because of the previous king, Eurystheus' absence. Eurystheus was fighting in Heracleidae, the stewardship had meant to be temporary, but became permanent when he died in battle. 

 Some sources say Atreus was the father of Plisthenes, but in some poems Plisthenides, which means son of Plisthenes, is used as an alternate name for Atreus himself.

 Thyestes, Atreus' twin, was the King of Olympia, and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. He was Atreus' wife, Aeropes, lover. When Atreus discovered the golden lamb in his flock, he gave the lamb to his wife, who in turn gave it to Thyestes. He then convinced Atreus to agree that whomever had the lamb should be king. He then produced the lamb that Aerope had given to him, and claimed the throne for himself.

 Atreus did managed to win the throne back however. He received advice from Hermes, and put it to use. He made Thyestes agree to give back the throne if the sun moved bacwards in the sky. A feat that Zeus managed to accomplish by commanding that Helios, the god of the sun, drives his golden chariot of the sun back through the sky. At least, that's what i remember.  Anyway. Once done, Atreus banished his brother.

 Atreus then learnt of Thyestes and his wife's adultery, and plotted revenge. He killed his brothers son's, and cooked them. But he saved their heads and hands, then he served Thyestes sons's to his brother, and taunted him with their heads and hands.

 Then things got messed up. Well, they were pretty messed up anyway, but this is worse.

Thyestes was advised by an oracle that if he had a son with his daughter, Pelopia, he would grow up to kill Atreus. He had a son with her, and Aegisthus, that was his name, did kill Atreus. But his son was abandoned by his mother when he was first born, she was ashamed of her incest with her father. A Shepard then found Aegisthus, and took him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son.

 I think that is good.

 

Arion

Arion is a horse. Not in a rude way, but its a 'divinely-bred', extremely swift horse, capable of speech, which is also invincible. I'm going to write a quote, just because i cannot put it in my own terms, its confusing.
 'Arion's siring by Poseidon in stallion form varies by author: according to the Pseudo-Apollodorus, the horse was foaled by Demeter while she was "in the likeness of a fury".' <- Wikipedia, because im that cool. Anyway, according to Pausanias, he reported that, according to Antimachus, the horse was foaled by Gaia, the earth herself. So really, this is all very confusing.
 That is actually about all it has to say, so i have written two short posts....:D

Arachne

In Greek-Roman mythology, Arachne is a great mortal weaver. She is said to have boasted her skill in waving greater than Minerva, the Latin version of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. She refused to accept that at least part of her knowledge came from the goddess herself. This offended Athena/Minerva decided there would be a contest between them. 

 According to Ovid, who i know not. The goddess was so envious of her opponents tapestry and the mortals success, perhaps even offended by Arachne's chosen subjects, the loves and transgressions of the gods, that she tore the tapestry and slashed the mortals face. She then destroyed her own tapestry, and ultimately turned Arachne into a spider.

:D

Ambrosia

Okay, so, contrary to my other posts, Ambrosia is not a Greek hero. But rather, it is seen as the food of the gods. Its often depicted as giving ageless immortality upon anyone what consumes it. The gods gained it from the doves that carried it up to Olympus, so it may have been believed in Homeric tradition to be a kind of divine exhalation of earth.
 Ambrosia is closely related to another food for the gods, nectar, the two names may well have not originally been distinguished, but in Homers poems, nectar is the drink of the gods, ambrosia the food. With ambrosia, Hera 'cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh.' It also appears to be the means of which Athena gives the gift of immortality to mortals. Heracles was given ambrosia by Athena, but she refused Tydeus when she discovered him eating human brains. It would seem that those who 'eat' ambrosia have not blood in their veins, but ichor.
 Both the food and the drink of the gods, ambrosia and nectar, are fragrant, and used in perfumes. In the Odyssey, Menelaus and his men disguise themselves as seals in untanned seal skins, 'and the deadly smell of the seal skins vexed us sore, but the goddess saved us, she brought ambrosia and  put it under our nostrils.' In Homer's poems, he speaks of ambrosial raiment, ambrosial locks of hair, and even the god's ambrosial sandals.
 As I have written in my post about Achilles, there is a story that believes his mother, Thetis, anoints the baby hero in ambrosia, and puts him through a fire in an attempt to make her beloved child immortal, but her mortal husband, Peleus, stops her, thus leaving only his heel mortal.

Antigone

Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. From what I understand, Jocasta is Oedipus' mother. Her name (The daughter) may 'be taken to mean' -Wikipedia (yush Wikipedia) 'unbending' coming from 'anti' (against, opposed to) and 'gony' (Corner, bend, angle) but her name has also been suggested to mean 'opposed to motherhood'. 'in place of a mother' or 'anti generative'.
 She is the daughter of an accidentally Incestuous (intercourse etc. between closely related family members) because Jocasta is King Oedipus of Thebes mother. She is the main heroine in a popular story where she attempts to gain a respectable burial for her brother, Polynices, even though he was a tratior and the law forbade even to mourn him, on pain of death. In the oldest known version of the story, the funeral is conducted whilst her father, Oedipus, reigns over Thebes, but it is before he marries Jocasta, leading me into a confusion pit. Because if she is the result of there marriage, then how come she is alive whilst her 'parents' are not married? Anyway. In the more popular , the best known, versions, Sophocles' tragedies, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, it appears in the years after Oedipus' banishment and death, Antigone has to struggle against Creon. In the version by Sophocles, both of Antigone' brothers are killed in a battle against the state. Im assuming 'the state' is Thebes.
 Okay, enough for now. XD

Ajax or Aias

Ajax was a Greek hero, kinda obviously because this is about ancient Greek myths, and why would i put a baker in if he was not a hero? Anyway, Ajax was not a baker. His father was named Telamon and his mother Periboea. He was king of Salamis.
 He has an important role on Homers Iliad and the 'Epic Cycle', a series of poems about the Trojan War. To tell him apart from Ajax, son of Oileus, otherwise known as Ajax the lesser, he was called Telamonian Ajax, Greater Ajax or Ajax the Great. In something called Etruscan mythology, his name is Aivas Tlamunus.
 Ajax was the eldest son of Telamon, who's father was Aeacus. Ajax is the grandson of Zeus. Many Athenians, including Cimon, and a historian Thucydides traced their descent from Ajax.
 In the Iliad, he is placed of high stature, huge build and the strongest of all the Achaens. He was also trained by the centaur Chiron, who had also trained his father, but anyway, Ajax was trained at the same time as his cousin Achilles. Homer described him as fearless, strong and powerful, but he also had a very high level of combat intelligence.
 He is also seen as the second most valuable member of Agamemnon's army, as well as Diomedes. Though he's not seen as cunning as Nestor, Diomedes, Idomeneus or Odysseus, but he's more powerful and just as intelligent. He is commander of a large army, wielding a huge shield made of seven cow hides and using a layer of bronze. Notably, he is not wounded in any of the described battles written in the Iliad. Also, he is the only main character on either side who does not receive personal help from the gods who take part in the battle.
 Like the vast majority of Greek leaders, Ajax is alive as the battle in the Iliad come to a close. When Achilles, his cousin, is killed by Paris, he is one of those to help fight of the Trojans to get the body back. He and Odysseus both claim to Achilles armour.  Ajax argues that he should have it, because of his strength and the fighting he has done for the Greeks, including saving ships, chasing people off with  a boulder and such alike.B But Odysseus proves more eloquent, and the council give him the armour. Ajax become enraged and falls upon his own sword, "conquered by his own sorrow.