Greek Mythology Exam 2 Study Guide

Myth 

Traditional tale, handed down with culture, features divine or semi-divine beings and their interactions with humans

Religion

Worship practices of a community

Etiological Myth Theory

Observing how myths reveal the causes or origins of things

Levi Strauss’ Structuralism

Patterns in human behavior and thinking tend to structure themselves in binary opposites; Seek mediation and resolution

Agon

Competition

Gegeneis

Earth born

Iconography

Attributes, symbols, visual motifs associated with representing a person or concept

Culture Hero

A mythological figure who changes the world through invention or discovery

Mircea Eliade: The Timeless Divine

Myth as a tale satisfying the yearning of human beings for a fundamental orientation rooted in the religious aura of a sacred timelessness; Myth and Religion provide a connection to the timeless eternal

Social Charter Myth Theory

Myths as charters to ratify social customs or beliefs

Freud’s Myth Theory

Myths are like dreams/fantasies in that they allow for exploration of desires that we cannot act on in the rational world

Allegorical Myth Theory

All myths are allegories for processes in the natural world

Crone

Wise Woman

Kali

Blue skin, tongue out, many arms

Triple Aspect

Virgin goddesses, mother goddesses, wise women/crone

Athena’s parents were:

Zeus and Metis

What does Zeus give to the Athenians?

Horse and a spring with flowing water

What does Athena give to the Athenians?

Olive tree

Glaukopis

Grey eyed

Epithets for Athena

Tritogeneia/Pallas

“Virgin’s House”, center of the acropolis

The Parthenon

“Mourning Athena'“

Monument for those fallen in battle with the Spartans

Kali’s bloody sword symbolizes:

Knowledge

Kala means:

Time

Asura

Demon

Moksha

Liberation

Propp’s Structuralism

A myth theory describing taking out specifics of character and place to see the similarity between two myths

Motifeme

Constituent element/units of action in a story

Who created the statue of Zeus at Olympia and directed the Sculpture of the Parthenon?

Pheidias

East Pediment

Immortalized the dramatic moment of Athena’s birth

West Pediment

Scene of violent action celebrating Athena’s victory in her contest with Poseidon for control and Athens and Attica

Gods

Devas

Tandava Dance

Cosmic Dance

Artemis’s parents were:

Zeus and Leto

Athena was the goddess of:

War, civilization, wisdom

Artemis was the goddess of:

Childbirth, wild (hunter)

Artemis of Ephesus

Roman era statue. continuation of ancient tradition (?)

Artemis at Brauron

“Play the bear”

Feminism Myth Theory

Feminist interpretations of texts and cultures vary widely

Who is the stepmother of Hippolytus?

Phaedra

Who is the father of Hippolytus?

Theseus

Misandry

Hatred of men

Arete

Excellence

The Amazons

Developed a society that excluded men

Artemis’s Religious Bonds

Excluded males in her group

What was Aphrodite born by?

The castration of Uranos

Aphrodite’s parents were:

Zeus and Dione

What does Dione mean?

“Ms. Shine”

Athena’s animal

Owl

Artemis’s animal

Deer

Aphrodite’s animal

Dove

Celestial, elevated, associated with spirituality 

Aphrodite Urania

Sex and pleasure, “The People’s Aphrodite”

Aphrodite Pandemos

Who was Aphrodite’s mortal lover?

Adonis

Who did Aphrodite have an affair with?

Ares

Who aged 50 years after having sex with Aphrodite?

Anchises

What is Eros’s Roman name?

Cupid

Who built an ivory statue of a woman who soon turned alive and became his wife?

Pygmalion

What is Aphrodite’s Roman name?

Venus

Who was the daughter of Cinyras?

Myrrha

Who was birthed from the myrrh tree?

Adonis

Which flower did Aphrodite turn Adonis into?

Anemone

Who was Attis’s mother?

Nana

Who fell in love with Attis?

Cybele

Who did Eros fall in love with?

Psyche

What does Psyche mean?

Soul

What was Psyche’s first task?

Sort a vast heap of mixed grains

What was Psyche’s second task?

Get wool from sheep with thick golden fleeces

What was Psyche’s third task?

Get water that fed the underworld stream of Cocytus

What was Psyche’s fourth task?

Take a box to Persephone and

Who was Psyche’s daughter?

Pleasure (Voluptas)

Demeter’s parents were:

Cronos and Rhea

“Demeter” stems from:

Ge Mater

Demeter is the goddess of

Fertile earth

What does Kore mean?

Girl

What are Demeter and Persephone sometimes called?

the Two/the Twain

Who was a witness in Persephone’s kidnapping?

Hecate

Who reveals to Demeter that Hades abducted Persephone?

Helios

What is Demeter’s alias as a nanny?

Doso

Which baby did Demeter want to turn immortal?

Demophoon

Who was Demophoon’s mother?

Celeus

Who is the messenger of Demeter?

Triptolemus

Ritual Myth Theory

A ritual is begun, later a myth is told to explain why the ritual is done or ritual grows out of behavior described in myth

What festival celebrated fertility, especially for crops?

Thesmophoria Festival

Persephone’s abduction is considered a

Brutal rape rather than divine rite

Who was the swineherd who was swallowed up with his swine by the earth at the very time Persephone was taken by Hades?

Eubuoleus