Name origin: Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean. Varuna was also the god of law in the underwater world, and may have been replaced eventually by Indra. He is said to have unlimited knowledge.
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Gifted Thracian bard in Greek legend. The best-known story involves Orpheus venturing into the underworld to try to bring back his wife Eurydike after she died from a snake bite. He lost her again just as they were returning to the upper world, after failing to keep a prohibition on looking back at her on the journey.
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Name origin: Cretan mortal, son of the great craftsman Daedalus, who made wings held together with beeswax to help the two of them escape the island. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by giddiness while flying, Icarus disobeyed his father and came too close to the sun, and the heat melted the beeswax. He fell into the sea and drowned.
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Name origin: A region in north-east Italy named Veneto or the Venetia, which has Venice as its capital. Residents mostly speak Venetian as well as Italian, and there is a notable Venetian independence movement (Venetism).
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Sapientia is Latin for “wisdom”. The corresponding Ancient Greek term (Sophia) variously translates to “clever, skillful, intelligent, wise”; it also implies “skill in handicraft and art” in Homeric usage, which has been applied to both Hephaistos and Athene.
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Name origin: Greek sea goddess and the leader of the fifty Nereides. Like many other sea gods, Thetis possessed the gift of prophecy and power to change her shape at will.
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Name origin: Greek nymph, one of the Seirenes (Sirens) – three monstrous sea-nymphs who lured sailors to their death with a bewitching song.
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