Gods & Heroes in Art: Final Exam Study Guide 2.0

Stag

Believing that Herakles’s first two labors were far too easy, Eurystheus tries to complicate Herakles’s third labor by making him retrieve a mythical beast rather than simply kill it. Specifically, Eurystheus tasks Herakles with capturing the Ceryneian Hind, a golden ______ that was said to be sacred to Artemis.

Antler

After Herakles spends a year unsuccessfully chasing the Ceryneian Hind, Athena suggests that he shoot the deer at the piece of skin behind its knees. Thus, by shooting an arrow through both legs, Herakles could lock the deer’s legs together without significantly injuring the animal. However, in the process, he accidentally breaks a golden _________.

Boar

For his fourth labor Herakles was again tasked with capturing a mythical beast. This time, Eurystheus sent Herakles to retrieve the Eurymanthian ______.

Snow

Thanks to Athena’s suggestion, Herakles ultimately captures the Boar by chasing it into _____, slowing down the beast’s movement.

Pholus

During his fourth labor, Herakles encounters _________, a centaur who offers him xenia. Eventually, despite this centaur warning Herakles about the risk of opening alcohol in the presence of centaurs, Herakles demands that he be served wine.

Chiron

Pushing Pholus to serve him wine, Herakles was almost immediately surrounded by other centaurs attracted to the alcohol he opened. The tension among the centaurs (who were expecting to save the wine until they could all share it) quickly resulted in a violent altercation. Ultimately, alongside Pholus, which famous centaur died during this battle?

Vase

When Herakles captures the boar and returns to Eurystheus, he begins to chase the king around the palace in a fit of madness. Rattled with fear, where does Eurystheus hide?

Stables

For his fifth labor, Herakles is tasked with cleaning Augeas’s ___________, a menial task that Eurystheus is hoping will take Herakles a significant amount of time to complete.

1/10

Hoping to get something out of his fifth labor, Herakles makes a bet with King Augeas. Specifically, Herakles proposes that if he can clean all of Augeas’s stables within a single day, then he gets to keep ____________ of the king’s divine livestock.

Rivers

Following Athena’s guidance, Herakles is able to clean Augeas’s stables in a single day by diverting ____________ to flush out the excrement.

Slaves

When Herakles returns to Augeas, the king refuses to honor his agreement with the demigod, saying that __________ do not receive payment. Enraged, Herakles raises and army and kills the king, giving the kingdom to Augeas’s son.

Stymphalian Birds

For his sixth labor, Herakles was tasked with vanquishing the _____________________. These mythical animals were said to have razor-like feathers, sharp beaks, and toxic feces.

Bronze rattles

Herakles uses ____________ given to him by Athena to scare the Stymphalian birds. Then, as soon as Herakles saw them take flight, he would shoot them with his arrows.

Cretan Bull

For his seventh labor, Herakles was tasked with capturing the ___________, the famed beast who notoriously impregnated Pasiphae with the Minotaur. Although this animal was said to breathe fire, Herakles did not require much assistance to accomplish this task. However, since Eurystheus simply asked Herakles to retrieve the animal, he released it once he had brought the beast before the king.

Marathon

After Herakles showed the Cretan Bull to his cousin, Eurystheus, where did the bull wander off to?

Mares

For his eighth labor, Herakles was tasked with capturing the __________ of Diomedes, vicious flesh-eating beasts at the eastern edge of the Greek-speaking world.

Eat

When Herakles went to talk with Diomedes, Diomedes tricked Herakles’s companions into going inside the stables, causing the mares to __________ Herakles’s men.

Genitals

Some accounts say that Herakles was so enraged that Diomedes fed his friends to the mares that he fed Diomedes himself to the divine horses. Other accounts argue that Diomedes tried to trample Herakles with these horses. However, when Herakles knocked Diomedes from his horse, the two began to wrestle on the ground. Once Diomedes realized he was going to lose, he grabbed Herakles’s ___________ in a last ditch effort to gain the upper hand against the demigod.

Belt of Hippolyte

For his ninth labor, Herakles was tasked with retrieving the _________________ from the queen of the Amazons.

Ares

Who gave Hippolyte her warrior girdle?

Hera

Before the battle Herakles pleads with Hippolyte for no loss of life. However, in another attempt to kill the demigod, ______ disguises herself as an Amazon and tells the other warriors that Herakles plans to subjugate them. Spurred on by these lies, the Amazons charge Herakles.

Hippolyte

During Herakles’s battle against the Amazons, who dies in the crossfire?

Hesione

As Herakles is returning home with Hippolyte’s belt, he arrives in Troy where he is asked to save _______, the daughter of King Laomedon, from a sea monster.

Walls of Troy

After Poseidon finished building _______________, King Laomedon refused to pay the god for his services. Enraged, Poseidon began razing the city. Hoping to save his people, Laomedon was told he could pacify the sea god by offering his daughter, Hesione, as a sacrifice.

Trojan Males

Herakles agrees to save Hesione from the sea monster if King Laomedon promises to pay the demigod for his intervention. However, when Laomedon later refuses to compensate Herakles, he kills all ________________.

Cattle

For his tenth labor, Herakles was tasked with capturing the divine _________ of Geryon.

Spain

Geryon was a three-headed/bodied monster who was said to live in modern day ________.

Wine cup

Growing frustrated with the heat on his way to confront Geryon, Herakles shoots an arrow at the Sun in anger. When Helios questions Herakles’s actions, the demigod explains his plight. Ultimately, Helios offers Herakles his _________ which comically doubles as a motorboat. In this way, Herakles is able to reach Spain within a single day.

Orthrus

_________ was one of the guards Geryon enlisted to protect his cattle. This mythological figure was also said to be the brother of Cerberus.

Gates of Hercules

As Herakles drives the cattle back to Eurystheus, some of the cows run away. In fact, because Herakles had to hunt down the missing cattle throughout the Greek-speaking world, many cultures around the Mediterranean have stories about demigod. For instance, when some of the cows tried to cross from Spain into Africa, Herakles is said to have pulled the continents together so that he could more easily pursue the animals. Because of this legend, the Strait of Gibraltar between Africa and Spain is also referred to as the _________ (Roman name).

Antaeus

During one of his side quests to track down the runaway cattle, Herakles encounters ________, a child of Gaea and a giant. Because of his parentage, this mythological figure is said to have derived his strength from the ground. Thus, Athena instructs Herakles to pick him off the ground when the giant challenges him to a wrestling match.

Golden Apples

For his eleventh labor, Herakles is tasked with retrieving the _________ of the Hesperides.

Nereus

Eurystheus sends Herakles to retrieve the golden apples of the Hesperides because he does not think Herakles will be able to find the garden in which they reside. In fact, even Athena does not know their location. Thus, the goddess of wisdom directs Herakles to seek out the help of _______.

Atlas

When Herakles captures the shapeshifting Nereus, Nereus tells the demigod that even he does not know where the garden of the Hesperides is located. That said, he suggests Herakles seek out ________, the father of the Hesperides, since he may know how to help Herakles accomplish his labor.

The world

When Herakles finds Atlas, the titan offers to retrieve the golden apples for the demigod if Herakles agrees to hold ________ in his place. However, when Atlas returns with the golden apples, he sets them at Herakles’s feet before turning to leave. Herakles, realizing that he has been tricked, asks Atlas if to briefly hold the world while he places a pillow on his neck for support. With this, Herakles dupes the titan into reclaiming his burden, allowing the demigod to return to Eurystheus with the fruits of his labor.

Cerberus

For his twelfth and final labor, Herakles is tasked with retrieving _________.

Prometheus

When Herakles confronted Charon during his twelfth labor, Charon refused to let the demigod cross the River Styx. However, when Herakles stared at the ferryman, Charon, intimidated by the demigod’s determination, suddenly allowed Herakles passage. Then, on his way to the house of Hades, Herakles encountered ___________ chained to a rock. Praying to Zeus, Herakles was permitted to shoot the vulture and unchain this mythological figure, bringing an end to his eternal punishment.

Harm

When Herakles asks Hades if he can take Cerberus, the ruler of the Underworld agrees as long as Herakles does not ______ Cerberus in the process.

Vase

Much like with the Eurymanthian Boar, rather than showing Eurystheus proof of his labor outside the city walls, Herakles brings Cerberus inside the palace. Thus, just as before, Eurystheus jumps into a __________ in fear.

Death

Following his labors, Herakles encounters Admetus and Alcestis. Admetus was a just king who was unfortunately fated to die young from a terminal illness. When the Fates agreed to let Admetus live if he found someone willing to die in his place, Apollo rushed to share the news with the king. Nonetheless, as death approached and Admetus came up empty handed, Alcestis, his wife, volunteered to die in his place. Moved by the love between the couple, Herakles beat up _______ to save both of their lives.

Vice and Virtue

According to Socrates, Herakles at one point found himself at a crossroads with __________ and __________. However, varying accounts disagree on which path the demigod ultimately selected.

Aphrodite and Athena

Artists later embellish the story of Herakles at the crossroads with Vice and Virtue, replacing the two figures with the goddesses ________ and _______.

Aphrodite

Following his labors, Herakles joins the Argonauts alongside Orpheus, Peleus, and Jason. During one of their exploits, the Argonauts land at Lemnos, an island inhabited by women who refused to worship ________. Thus, for their impertinence, this goddess made all of the women smell terrible. In turn, many of their husbands tried to leave the island, causing the women to kill the Lemnian men. That said, by the time Jason arrived, the Lemnian women were worried that the Argonauts would try to take control of the island. As a result, they tried to distract the sailors through sex.

Hylas

When Herakles loses his oar on the Argo, his squire ________ goes in search of the missing paddle. However, when his squire does not return, Herakles leaves the Argonauts to look for the boy.

Deianira

Following his labors, Herakles eventually decides to marry again. Who does he take as his second wife?

Achelous

Before taking Deianira as his second wife, Herakles must wrestle _________ (a shapeshifter).

Nessus

At Herakles and Deianira’s wedding, ________ gets drunk and abducts the bride, planning to r*pe her.

Cloak

As Nessus tries to cross a river with Deianira, Herakles shoots the centaur with a poison-tipped arrow. Thus, as the centaur realizes he is dying he apologizes to Deianira, giving the bride a ______ as a wedding gift.

Loyal

When Nessus gives Deianira the poisoned cloak, he tells the bride that this garment will ensure Herakles remains _______ to her.

Delphic Oracle

After spending several years married to Deianira, Herakles grows tired of their relationship and decides to leave. Eventually, he tries to court Iole, the daughter of a local king. However, Iole’s father forbids Herakles from marrying her unless the demigod can beat her whole family in an archery competition. When Herakles is later accused of cheating, the demigod kills Iole’s family in a fit of rage. Thus, to expunge his newfound bloodguilt, the gods send Herakles back to ___________.

Omphale

To atone for killing Iole’s family, Herakles is tasked with serving ________ by performing feminine tasks. To make matters worse, the Delphic Oracle tells Herakles that he must dress as a female during his servitude.

Nessus’s Cloak

After completing the duration of his servitude to Omphale, Herakles returns to Deianira. However, when she hears about Herakles’s infidelity, she gives him ____________, hoping to curb his adulterous behavior.

Hydra

Almost immediately after Herakles puts on Nessus’s cloak, the garment begins to melt into his flesh. This is because the cloak had been contaminated with Nessus’s blood and thus the poison from __________ on Herakles’s arrows.

Funeral Pyre

Feeling guilty for causing her husband excruciating pain, Deianira decides to commit suicide. Not long after, Herakles, under immense suffering, tries to follow suit. Specifically, he tries to burn himself on ____________. Ultimately, he gives a passerby his bow and arrows in exchange for lighting the fire underneath him.

Souls

According to some sources, Herakles’s mortal soul descended to the Underworld after death where it chases _______ for eternity.

Adopted

When Herakles’s immortal soul ascended to Olympus, Hera initially refused to accept the demigod. Ultimately, Zeus convinced his wife to change her mind if they _________ and renamed Herakles.

Glory of Hera

Herakles is the name given to Alcaeus following his death. In Greek, this name translates to “________.”

Medea

In an effort to help Jason retrieve the golden fleece, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera encourage Cupid to make _________ fall in love with Jason. In doing so, the goddesses hope that this sorceress will lend her magic to support the Argonauts.

Hecate

King Aeetes agrees to let Jason seek out and capture the golden fleece if he can prove his worth. Specifically, he tasks Jason with yoking two fire-breathing bulls to plow his fields. Then before the day’s end, Jason must also retrieve the fleece and leave back for his homeland. To support Jason in his tasks, Medea ventures to the shrine of ________ to obtain a magic drug for the hero.

Boulder

Medea instructs Jason to anoint himself with the magic drug to gain god-like strength. Thus, with his newfound power, Jason is able to easily manhandle and yoke the bulls. Then, as giants begin to emerge from the planted dragon teeth Jason sowed, Jason throws a _________ to distract the giants.

Puts the guard dragon to sleep

Medea helps Jason retrieve the golden fleece by singing a chant that ____________.

Pyramus and Thisbe

________ and __________ were a mythological couple said to live in Babylon. Since their parents would not permit them to marry one another, they kept their love a secret, often speaking to each other through a crack in a wall that connected their two houses.

Veil

One night, Pyramus and Thisbe agreed to run away together. When Thisbe arrived at a nearby spring where the couple agreed to meet up, a lion began to pursue her. Frightened, Thisbe ran into a nearby cave, dropping her _________ in the process. When the lion saw this, it tore up the object before walking off.

In the same urn

Finding the torn veil upon his arrival, Pyramus wept, thinking Thisbe to be dead. As a result, he stabbed himself, not wanting to live with this grief. Shortly thereafter, when Thisbe emerged from the cave, she saw her beloved lying dead on the ground. Heartbroken, she too took her life. When their parents found their bodied, they agreed to set aside their differences, placing the couple’s ashes __________.

Aegeus

Who is Theseus’s father?

Poseidon

When Aegeus failed to produce a male heir, he sought out the Delphic Oracle, wanting to know if he needed to adopt. However, the Oracle gave him a cryptic message that left the temple priests confused. Later, as Aegeus made his way back to Athens, he stopped in Troezen to see King Pytheus. Upon hearing the Oracle’s prophecy, Pytheus immediately realized its meaning. Thus, he gave Aegeus copious amounts of wine before sending his daughter to sleep with the drunk Athenian king. Who else is said to have slept with Pytheus’s daughter that night?

Labors

As Aegeus prepares to leave for Athens, he hides his sword and sandals under a rock. In doing so, Aegeus proclaims should his son find these items and journey to Athens, Aegeus will be able to recognize him as his own. However, when Theseus grows up and finds the sandals and sword, he delays his journey to Athens because he first wants to gain acclaim by performing a series of self-imposed __________.

Club

For his first labor, Theseus defeats Periphetes, a barbaric robber who attacked travelers with a club. Specifically, Theseus outspeeds Periphetes and takes his _______ (this item hereafter becomes a significant part of Theseus’s iconography).

Pine Bender

For his second labor, Theseus kills Sinis the ____________. As his name suggests, Sinis tied travelers to bent pine trees and sadistically watched as these victims were ripped apart when the trees were released. Ironically, when Theseus encountered Sinis, he decided to kill him by giving Sinis a taste of his own medicine.

Sow

For his third labor, Theseus killed a man-eating ______.

Flesh Eating Turtle

For his fourth labor, Theseus killed Sciron, a trickster who lured travelers into washing his feet atop a cliff. As the travelers bent down to attend to the task, Sciron kicked them off the mountain into the water below where they were killed by Sciron’s ____________.

Wrestling techniques

For his fifth labor, Theseus beat Ceryon, a seasoned wrestler who was said to be much larger than the Athenian hero. In fact, to overcome the size disadvantage, Theseus developed the first ___________.

Procrustes

For his sixth and final labor, Theseus killed _________, a sadistic figure who obsessively tried to make travelers the perfect height by either cutting off any overhang or stretching out their bodies to the desired length.

Medea

When Theseus arrives in Athens, he finds that Aegeus is married to _______, Jason’s former spouse.

Cuts up her brother

When Jason and the Argonauts flee with the golden fleece, Medea convinces Jason to bring her younger brother along. Then, as Medea’s father closes in on Jason’s ship, Medea ___________ and throws him into the sea to prevent her father from seizing Jason. Thus, Jason and his crew return home safely while Medea’s father scrambles to pick up the remnants of his son to ensure he receives a proper burial.

Heirs

When Jason returns home, Medea grows frustrated that she has to wait for King Pelias to die before ruling alongside Jason. Thus, to accelerate her rise to power, Medea uses magic to show Pelias’s daughter that she can revive a mutilated sheep. Encouraging them to cut up Pelias and perform the same ritual to grant him youth, Medea tricks the girls into killing their own father. When Jason’s people heard about Medea’s twisted antics, they refused to accept either Jason or Medea as their ruler, effectively exiling the couple. As a result, Jason wandered across Greece looking for kings without ________.

Her children

When Jason finds a king who accepts his royal lineage and agrees to let him rule after his death, Jason breaks up with Medea to marry the king’s daughter, guaranteeing his succession to the throne. In response, Medea kills ________ before fleeing to Athens.

Assassin

When Theseus arrives in Athens, Medea immediately identifies him as a threat to her authority. Thus, hoping to eliminate Theseus, she tells Aegeus that Theseus is a(n) _________.

Theseus’s sandals and sword

Thinking Theseus to be an assassin, Aegeus offers the hero a drink poisoned by Medea. However, when Aegeus sees ________, he swipes the cup from Theseus’s hand. Realizing that Medea had been trying to kill Theseus all along, Aegeus banishes the sorceress.

Pasiphae

After Aegeus and Theseus learn about their relationship to one another, Aegeus reveals that a region near Athens has been terrorized by a fire-breathing bull. In fact, this bull is the same one who impregnated ________, fathered the Minotaur, and was later captured by Herakles as part of his labors.

Theseus

Who ultimately kills the Marathonian/Cretan Bull?

Minotaur

When Theseus learns that Athens has to send 7 boys and 7 girls every year to Crete as sacrifices for ___________, Theseus volunteers to venture into the labyrinth to slay the mythical beast.

Aphrodite

Shortly before Theseus departs for Crete with the other tributes, the Delphic Oracle tells the Athenian hero make an offering to ___________.

Ariadne

When Theseus arrives in Crete, ________ falls in love with him at first site. Thus, not wanting him to die in the labyrinth like the previous tributes, this mythological figure gives the Athenian hero magical yarn that will lead Theseus to the location where the Minotaur sleeps.

Phaedra

While Theseus was not interested in Ariadne, he was attracted to her sister ___________. Thus, Theseus agreed to take Ariadne back to Athens with him as long as Ariadne brought her sister along.

Athena

On his journey back to Athens, Theseus and his crew stop on an island. That night, _______ visits Theseus in his dream, warning him that the gods will punish the Athenian hero unless he leaves Ariadne behind on the island.

Dionysus

Shortly after Theseus leaves Ariadne stranded on an island, _________ finds the girl before later marrying her.

Jumped from a cliff

Before Theseus left for Crete, Aegeus fitted Theseus ship with a black sail so that Theseus’s crew could communicate the fate of the Athenian hero days before landing in Athens. If the sail were raised, then Aegeus would know to prepare funeral rites for his son. On the other hand, if the sail were lowered, then Aegeus would know that his son had escaped the labyrinth. However, when Theseus’s ship came in sight of Athens, Theseus forgot his father’s instructions. Thus, when Aegeus saw the black sail, he _________ in grief.

Antiope

Not ready to rule Athens, Theseus engages in battle with the Amazons. However, when he exchanges blows with their new queen, _________, the two quickly drop their weapons and begin to make out on the battlefield. Eventually, the queen of the Amazons returns to Athens and becomes Theseus’s wife.

Hippolytus

What is the name of the child that Theseus and Antiope bear?

Antiope

When the Amazons journey to Athens to reclaim their queen, who leads the charge against the female warriors?

Antiope

Despite helping to turn the tide of battle against the Amazon invasion, ____________ succumbs to their wounds and dies shortly after the conflict.

Phaedra

After Antiope dies, Theseus sets his sights back on ________. However, finding herself madly in love with Hippolytus, this figure tries to make advances on her stepson. When her feelings are not reciprocated, she tells Theseus that Hippolytus tried to r*pe her. As a result, Theseus exiles Hippolytus (who is later knocked from a chariot and killed by a sea monster).

Phaedra

Heartbroken to hear that Hippolytus died, ________ decides to kill herself.

Zeus and Danae

Who were Perseus’s parents?

Gold Dust

What form did Zeus take to impregnate Danae?

Cassiopeia

Andromeda’s people were punished by Poseidon because _________ proclaimed that she was more beautiful than Nereids.

Pegasus

Who was born from Medusa’s blood after Perseus decapitated the gorgon?

Bellerophon

Who defeated the Chimaera?

Golden Bridle

Athena gave Bellerophon a ___________ to help him tame the legendary stallion, Pegasus.