Classical Mythology Exam # 2

Hippolytus

son of Theseus, rejects stepmom

Hades

god of the Underworld

Sparagmos

ritual performed by maenads

Thespis

father of Greek Tragedy

Tiresias

blind prophet

Elysian Fields

final resting place for heroes and virtuous men, harbors souls forever

Gilgamesh

King of Uruk

Enkidu

wildman, raised by animals, becomes Gilgamesh's best friend

Demeter

goddess of Harvest, wife of Zeus

Aphrodite

goddess of sex and desire, born out of "sea foam"

Iphicles

half-brother of Herakles, son of Alcmene + Amphitryon

Eurystheus

son of Zeus, makes Herakles do labors

Dionysus

god of wine, son of Zeus + Semele

Pasiphae

daughter of Helios, wife of Minos, has sex with bull

Gorgon

three sisters, monsters/daemons

Eurydice

oak nymph, wife of Orpheus, gets killed by a snake

Perseus

Greek hero, locked in a chest, killed Medusa, son of Danae + Zeus

Danae

daughter of Acrisius

Acrisius

King of Argos, gets killed by Theseus

Humbaba

monster who guards the Cedar Forest

Herakles/Hercules

Greek hero, son of Zeus + Alcmene

Alcmene

mother of Herakles, has sex with Zeus disguised as her husband

Megara

Herakles' first wife, gets killed by Herakles, daughter of King Creon of Thebes

Nessus

transported Deianaira through river and tried to rape her, killed by Herakles

Deianaira

Last wife of Herakles, kills Herakles unintentionally (aphrodisiac)

Ariadne

daughter of Minos + Pasiphae, helps Theseus kill Minotaur, gets abandoned in island

Europa

a princess of Phoenicia, gets abducted by Zeus (as a bull) and they head to Krete, mother of Minos

Graeai

three sisters with one eye and one tooth

Minotaur

half men, half bull

Icarus

son of Daedalus, died when his wax wings disintegrated

Daedalus

master craftsman, invented labyrinth

Metamorphoses

poem by Ovid, chronicles history of the world from its creation to Julius Cesar

Philomela

princess of Athens, gets raped by her sister's husband King Tereus of Thrace

Procne

wife of Tereus, helps her sister get revenge by killing her husbands (and her) son

Maenad

extreme female followers of Dionysus

Minos

King of Crete, son of Zeus + Europa

Ursus Major

star constellation, Callisto turns into this

Ursus Minor

star constellation, Arcas turns into this

Pytho

delphic dragon, Apollo kills him

Phaedra

wife of Theseus, falls in love with son (Hippolytus)

Theseus

Greek hero, kills minotaur

Delphi

site of the shrine of Apollo and the Oracle

Sibyl

female prophet

Omphalos

religious artifact, "navel"

Daphne

nymph, pursued by Apollo, prays and gets turned into a laurel tree

Asklepios

god of Medicine, son of Apollo

Hermes

son of Maia + Zeus, god of Commerce

Crete

island ruled by Minos

Dionysus

god of Wine, son of Zeus + Semele, born twice

Semele

mortal lover of Zeus, burns alive after seeing the true form of Zeus

Sisyphus

King of Ephyra, he was a terrible man and was forced to move a boulder uphill for all eternity in Tartarus

Agave

mother of King Penthouse of Thebes, maenad, killed her own son during ritual

Bacchae

Greek tragedy, written by Euripides

Pentheus

King of Thebes, bans Dionysus cult, ends up mutilated by his own mother

Satyr

male companions of Dionysus with horse-like features

Thyrsus

a wand/staff covered with ivy vines and leaves, held by maenads

Pegasus

winged horse, came out of Medusa after she was decapitated

Antikleia

mother of Odysseus, Odysseus talks her in the Underworld

Philoctetes

Greek hero, famed archer, helps Herakles die

Persephone

daughter of Demeter + Zeus, marries Hades

Metaneira

Queen of Eleusis, Demeter nursed her son Demophoon

Demophoon

son of Metaneita, nursed by Demeter

Kore

little girl, Persephone's original name

Eleusis

city where Demeter nurses Demophoon

Orpheus

legendary musician, poet and prophet, goes to the Underworld for Eurydice

Hierophant

an interpreter of sacred mysteries

Achilles

Greek hero, son of Thetis + Perseus

Lethe

one of the rivers of the Underworld that souls drank to forget their past lives

Er

"dies" in battle and travels through the Underworld, then comes back to life to tell what he saw

Charon

ferryman of Hades, carries souls of the newly deceased through the rivers

Ananke

personification of Destiny, holds the universe together

Cerberos

multi-headed dog, guars the entrance of the Underworld

Styx

river in Underworld

"I shall begin my song to the fair-haired holy Demeter "

Persephone gets abducted by Hades. Demeter gets really sad. She talks to Hecate and Helios. Helios tells her what happened to Persephone. Demeter disguises herself as a mortal and goes to Eleusis, where she meets four young girls

"When Zeus, who thunders aloud, whose eye encompasses all things . ."

Zeus sends Hermes to the Underworld to convince Hades to let Persephone go back up. He does but he gives her seeds of pomegranate to ensure that she returns parts of the year

"So, the pair [Demeter and Persephone] passed all the day, each one consoling the other..."

Demeter agrees to give harvest to the Earth once again (by Rhea's request and she explains the rites of her cult to the kings

" Each of us like you . .. "

Talks about how we all have a dying nature like Adonis, but we also have an eternal gold within and we are fit to be worshipped

"Wine sets free sad mortals from sorrow . . ."

Talks about the importance of letting go (Dionysus)

"All around, on dancing feet, the maddened Bacchants thundered "

Dionysus marries Ariadne when he finds her in Naxos (the island, where Theseus had abandoned her.) The poem describes the entry of Dionysus and his followers

"I call to mind Dionysus, Semele's famous son . . ."

Some pirates capture Dionysus while he's chilling on an island. Dionysus turns into a lion and the pirates throw themselves into the sea and are turn immediately into dolphins except the helmsman

"I [Dionysus] have come back to this, the land of the Thebans . .."

Dionysus recounts why he punishes the people of Thebes: mainly because his mother's sisters spread the rumor that his father wasn't Zeus but a mere mortal, and because they didn't worship him.

"[Messenger] : 'from Heaven, a voice resounded.[Dionysus, I suppose . . .],..."

Tells how King Pentheus of Thebes was mutilated by his mother and some maenads

"When lovely sleep came upon him [Achilles], and his cares were gone . ."

While Achilles is mourning his friend Patroclus, Patroclus' spirit comes to him and tells him to bury him, so that he may cross the river to the Underworld

"We carefully checked the gear in every part of the wheel . . ."

Odysseus talks about his experience in the Underworld. He slays a bunch of sheep because he needs to give animal blood to the spirits in order for them to speak to him. He speaks to Elpenor (a friend of his) and Elpenor tells him to bury him. He also encounters his mother and Tiresias, but start talking to Tiresias first

"Dear mother [Antiklea], why do you shrink away ?" . . ."

Recounts the instance when Odysseus tries to embrace his mother (Antiklea) in the Underworld but can't. That is how spirits work

"Noble son of Laertes, Odysseus, the wise and resourceful . . ."

Talks about Odysseus encounter with Achilles in the Underworld. Achilles tells him that he would much rather be a nobody that is alive than to be dead

"Next I beheld King Minos, the glorious son of Great Zeus . ."

Tells how Minos is a judge over the spirits in the Underworld

"It is not your destiny, Menelaus, friend of the gods . . ."

Talks about the Elysian Fields, the place where Greek hero and important men end up

"Running from you [Aristaeus] in terror and splashing her [Euridice] way ... stream . . "

Tells how Orpheus went down to the Underworld to get Eurydice back. Hades allowed him to take her with him on the condition that he didn't look back to see if she was there until they had arrived, but he did, so he lost her forever. Followers of Dionysus ended up killing him for not succumbing to another love

"And So, Glaucon, his [Er's] story has been preserved, and it would save us if we believed."

Socrates refers to the Myth of Er to imply that we should live with righteousness because our life is eternal

"Having completed this part of the Journey, Aeneas and the Sibyl . . ."

Recounts how Aeneas enters the Underworld with a sibyl. He gives Charon a golden bough, so that he takes them to the other side. Once they get there, the sibyl throws a morsel of honey and dough with drugs to Cerberus and puts him to sleep. Aeneas then runs for the gate

"They [Aeneas and the Sibyl] passed to the happy region of green and flowery glades . . ."

Describes the Elysium (Elysian Fields) as Aeneas observes it

"The man who saw everything to the ends of the earth . . ."

Summary of Gilgamesh's career

"They [Gilgamesh and Enkidu] stood, they admired the forest. . . ."

Recounts the time when Enkidu and Gilgamesh go to the Cedar Forest and encounter the guardian there, Humbaba

"You [Goddess Ishtar] are a charcoal grill which goes out in the cold."

Gilgamesh refuses goddess Ishtar's offer of giving her a baby because she's treated all her previous lovers badly

"No one sees death . . .".

Utnapishtim delivers a speech about death

Folktale Motifs in Heroic Myths, & the Modern Hero in J.R.R.Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Talks about how The Lord of the Rings gives a perfect depiction of a classical hero

'Night after night, foul dreams surged over my [Io's] virginal bed . .."

Recounts the story of Io. How Zeus wanted to sleep with her and after hearing an Oracle, her father sends her to exile. She then turned into a cow and was followed by Argus (hundred-eyed monster.) Argus was then killed but his soul in the form a of a deerfly kept following her

She [Danaë] huddled down in the stout-walled box / which the wind drove on . . ."

Danae sings to her son, Perseus, while they're locked inside of a chest, wandering through the sea.

"Bearing the glorious trophy, the head with a garland of serpents. . ."

Recounts how Perseus saves Andromeda, when she was tied to a rock, prepared to be eaten by a monster and then marries her