NICOSTRATUS. A wrestler and double Olympic victor, about 40 A.D. NIOBE. _See_ LETO. NIREUS. A Greek at the siege of Troy, famous for beauty. NUMA. Second king of Rome; his reign was marked by peace and the founding of religious institutions. ODYSSEUS. Son of Laertes, king of Ithaca. To escape joining the Greeks against Troy, simulated madness by driving a plough for a chariot, with one ox and one horse. Palamedes exposed him by threatening Odysseus's son Telemachus with a sword, when he confessed. In revenge, he ruined Palamedes at Troy, convicting him by forged evidence of treacherous dealings with the enemy. When Agamemnon lost heart, and was for returning, Odysseus prevailed on the Greeks not to give up. Took ten years getting home, detained by Calypso, by Circe, and otherwise. Circe enabled him to visit Hades and consult Tiresias. Escaped the Sirens by stopping his crew's ears with wax, and having himself bound to the mast. OENEUS. _See_ MELEAGER. OLYMPIA. In Elis; the Olympic games took place every four years, and, starting from 776 B.C., from which time a record of them was kept, were used for dating events, under the name of Olympiads. The games were the occasion of the largest gatherings of Greeks that took place. OLYMPIAS. Wife of Philip of Macedon and mother of Alexander. OLYMPIEUM. A temple of Zeus at Athens, begun by the tyrant Pisistratus (560-527 B.C.), but not finished till the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.). OLYMPUS (1). A mountain separating Macedonia and Thessaly, the summit of which was the residence of the Gods. OLYMPUS (2). A celebrated flute-player of Phrygia. OMPHALE. _See_ HERACLES. ORESTES. _See_ AGAMEMNON. ORION. A giant and hunter of Boeotia. Blinded by Oenopion for ill-treatment of his daughter Merope, he recovered his sight by the help of Cedalion, who directed his eyes towards the rising sun. ORITHYIA. Daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens. Carried off by Boreas. ORPHEUS. A Thracian musician, son of the Muse Calliope. His music charmed wild beasts, trees, and rocks, and prevailed upon Pluto to restore his wife Eurydice, on condition that Orpheus should not look back to see that she was following him; this condition not being observed, Eurydice remained in Hades. Orpheus was afterwards torn in pieces by the Thracian women, and his head and lyre thrown into the Hebrus, and carried to Lesbos. OSIRIS. An Egyptian king, deified after death, as the husband of Isis. OSROËS. Son of Vologesus I. A king of Parthia, engaged in war with the Emperor Trajan. OTHRYADES. The only survivor of the three hundred Spartans who fought with three hundred Argives for the possession of Thyrea in Cynuria. Being left for dead by the two Argive survivors, he raised a trophy on the field, with an inscription in his own blood, and thus secured the victory. OTUS. _See_ EPHIALTES. PACTOLUS. A Lydian river, whose sands were said to contain gold. PAEAN, (1) A name of Apollo; (2) a song sung before or after a battle.