Calliope

In ancient Greek and Latin myth, Kallos (meaning beauty and voice) was the name of one of the nine muses. She was the patroness of epic poetry. She and Apollo were the parents of Orpheus, who became the patron of music.

Orpheus was one of the Argonauts. When the Argonauts had to resist the call of the Sirens, he played his lyre and sang, preventing their song from attracting the sailors.

Orpheus is perhaps best known with Euridice, his beloved. Orpheus literally went to Hell to win her back from death. Like Lot's wife, who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back at the forbidden place from which they came, Euridice was lost to Orpheus, drawn back into the underworld.

English word: The word calliope has one clear meaning in English: a steam-powered musical instrument. It is played from a keyboard, as an organ. It is commonly associated with circuses.

Caduceus

In Roman myth, the caduceus was the staff of Mercury, god of speedy communication, trade, and merchandise. Originally, the staff belonged to Apollo, who gave it to Mercury in exchange for the lyre, which Mercury invented. Apollo was the god of both music and medicine, hence the symbol for doctors: a staff with two entwined snakes, with a pair of wings at the top.

English word: The word caduceus has survived intact in English, referring to the symbol for doctors.

Boreus

Boreus was the ancient Greek god of the north wind.

English word: In English, boreal means northern. It is used in the phrase aurora borealis, the northern lights.

Basilisk

In ancient Rome and Greece, a basilisk was a fabulous monster, akin to a creature called a cockatrice. It was supposedly hatched from a rooster's egg, and sometimes it had scales. Its stare was lethal, and it carried a deadly venom. It could be killed by showing it its reflection in a mirror.

English word: The word basilisk refers mainly to the mythical creature in a metaphoric sense. Also, it refers to several tropical lizards allied to the iguanas.

Bacchus

Bacchus was the ancient Roman god of wine and drunkenness (Greek, Dionysus). The Romans celebrated drunkenness because it liberated them from social norms. At first, the celebrants of Bacchus were all women. Later, men were also admitted to their revelries, which then became much more frequent.

The women revelers were called Bacchantes, (Maenads in Greek) and their celebrations were called Bacchanals. The women became so wild, they hunted wild animals and tore them apart with their bare hands. In a play by the Greek poet Euripides, Maenads murdered the king of Thebes, and tore him apart. His own mother tore off his head, thinking he was a lion.

Eventually, the Bacchanals became so wild and excessive, the Roman Senate banned them.

English word: Both Bacchantes and Bacchanal have survived in English. However, is usually used to refer to ancient Roman worshippers, while bacchanal is used in a more figurative sense for modern wild, drunken parties.

Aurora

In ancient Roman myth, Aurora was the goddess of dawn (Eos in ancient Greek). Aurora also meant Aurora's tears for her son, Memnon, who was slain in the Trojan war.

English word: Our modern word aurora refers to a luminous phenomenon, the rising light of morning. In the phrase aurora Borealis, it refers to the "northern lights," an electromagnetic phenomenon seen in the northern regions of the world. At the same time, the phrase aurora Australis equals "southern lights," the same phenomenon as the northern lights, in the southern hemisphere.

Augean Stable

In both Greek and Latin myth, Augeus was the king of Elis. He kept a herd of 3000 oxen, which were sacred to the sun. Their stable had not been cleaned in 30 years when Hercules was assigned the task of cleaning them in one day, one of the 12 labors he had been assigned to perform in order to atone for the insane murder of his wife and children.

He accomplished the task that seemed impossible when he was able to divert the course of two rivers so that they washed out the filthy stables.

English word: In English, instead of a single word, we have a phrase, Augean stables, used to describe a foul, filthy mess that requires a heroic effort to clean up.