Classical Mythology Exam 1

Name all chthonic gods (7)

Hades, Persephone, Dionysus, Hecate, Hermes, Demeter, Artemis

Name all virgin goddesses (3)

Hestia, Artemis, Athena

Name all siblings of zeus

poseidon, hera, demeter, Hestia

Name 9 of Zeus' children

Dionysus (thigh), Athena (head), Aphrodite (sea foam), Apollo, Artemis, Persephone, Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus

According to Hesiod, who comes first?

CHAOS

Zeus’ names & epithets

Dyaus, Jupiter, cloud-gatherer, son of Cronus, father of gods and men

Zeus’ symbols

lightning, aegis (cloak of goat skin), eagle, oak tree, beard

What are the 2 versions of zeus’ birth?

hesiod’s theogony said he was born on island of crete where nymphs raised him; callimachus said born in arcadia

What are the 2 versions of Zeus' ascent to power (& their origins) (iliad/theogony)

(Iliad) zeus & his brothers draw lots on who gets which position; (theogony) the gods approved zeus to be their king

Important sanctuaries zeus (5)

dodona (priests who interpret the rustling of oak tree leaves),

olympia (olympic games, Pheidias created gold & ivory statue of zeus (got repurposed)),

cave on crete (where he was raised),

rome (capitoline hill, temple of jupiter)),

temple of olympian zeus at athens

Story of Io

Zeus rapes her, turns her into a cow, Hera is suspicious but plays along and asks 100 eyed Argus to guard the cow, Hermes slays Argus and frees Io, who lives some time as a cow until she eventually returns to human; she lives in Egypt during cow time

Zeus vs typhoeus/typhon

born to defeat zeus but lost; worst monster ever so scary snake

Zeus vs prometheus

gave divine gift to humans, effacing boundaries between humans and gods, zeus punished him with eternal torment of hanging him somewhere while an eagle eats his re-generating liver every day

Zeus vs lycaon

served people chopped up people (bad host); zeus turns himself into a wolf and floods earth, killing everyone except Deucalion & Pyrrha; repopulated earth by throwing “mothers bones” (stones) over their shoulder

Alex the great claimed descent from which god?

zeus; claimed his mother was struck with a thunderbolt and she was impregnated with zeus

Hera’s symbols (bird)

crown, scepter/throne, peacock (eyes of argus)

Hera’s epithets

cow-eyed, golden sandals, appearance

Hera’s children (4)

Eileithyia, Hebe, Hephaestus, Ares

Hera’s places of worship (2-3)

Argos (greece; Io priestess to Hera),

samos (turkey), paestum (poseidonia),

remains of temple of juno moneta (rome)

Story of callisto

zeus disguises himself as artemis and impregnates her; artemis kicks her out of their group & Hera or Artemis turns her into a bear; her child (arcas) almost kills her but Zeus intervenes and turns them both into constellations (Ursa major & minor) (callisto & arcas respectively)

Who wins the beauty contest? Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite? What long-term outcome does this have?

Aphrodite wins because she bribed the judge Trojan Prince Paris (in exchange for Helen’s love); Hera & Athena sided with the Greeks due to this

What does Hera do in the Iliad related to the Trojan War?

Hera seduces Zeus as a distraction to help the greek win (zeus promised achille’s mom he’d help him to restore his honor)

Who is Poseidon's son? What are his attributes?

Triton; half man half fish & conch horn

What are Poseidon's attributes?

horses, trident, beard, fish

Poseidon’s epithets (according to Hesiod's theogony)

rules the sea, loudly shakes the earth

Poseidon Places of worship

sounion (bottom tip of greece)

paestum (poseidonia)

What does Poseidon do to Tyro, Demeter, and Pelops?

Tyro–Disguises self as river to sleep with Tyro;

Demeter–assaults her while she's searching for her daughter while she's in horse form;

Pelops–younger man, gives immortal winged horses to win chariot battle against king of pisa Hippodameia

Why is hades associated with wealth?

rare minerals beneath the ground, agricultural wealth, roman name pluto means "wealthy one”

Who has the helmet of invisibility? why?

hades (means “unseen”); when you die you become unseen so he is unseen cuz hes underground

What does demeter’s roman name equivalent mean? How is this relevant?

Cereals = cereal = grain; she is goddess of agriculture

Symbols of demeter

sheaf of wheat, torch (to look for her daughter)

What does Erysichthon do to Demeter?

cuts down sacred grove for her; punished with insatiable hunger and thirst

Eleusinian mysteries

9 days long, carry torches to mimic Demeter searching for her daughter, making jokes cuz the servant did that to help her break her fast, drinking kykeon (mint barley meat); anyone who spoke greek included (except murderers)

Thesmophoria

women only, fertility ritual, attica, october festival

Who is Triptolemus?

messenger of demeter who taught her agriculture and passed down info

Which goddess helps Demeter find Persephone?

Hecate

Demeter & Demophoon

baby boy she nurses in her human form, Metaneira (its mother) thought Demeter was burning the baby (she was holding it over fire to bless it with immortality) and freaked out; Demeter took offense and pulled back, didn’t allow crops to grow; hades allowed persephone to go see her mom to resolve the conflict (that he caused.)

Lesser → greater mysteries

cult; Hiera is sacred object which is revealed by “Hierophant”; sept-oct, 8 days in Eleusis, final day in Athens

Who takes Dionysus after his birth? How is he birthed?

hermes; from zeus’ thigh

What are dionysus’ symbols?

vine leaves (ivy, grape), thyrsus (wand with leaves)

What are the names of the 2 groups of followers of Dionysus?

Maenads/Bacchae (female followers) (snakes associated with them); Satyrs (pointy ear/nose, tail) & silenoi (lustful & party people)

Punishment of Pentheus

refuses to worship Dionysus, gets tricked into viewing the women worshipping him, gets exposed & eaten by his mom & aunt (who think hes a tiger)

Dionysus & the pirates

pirates tried kidnapping Dionysus, only one knew who he was, that one was spared but the rest turned into dolphins and dionysus spawned a bear & lion

2 birth stories of Dionysus

1. Semele & zeus his parents, hera tricked semele into asking zeus to appear in his divineness – gets her killed but the child survived and hermes rescued him, zeus tucked him into his thigh hiding him from hera

2. Persephone & zeus have Zagreus, Hera got titans to attack infant, his heart was saved by Athena – Zeus swallowed it & semele was impregnated

Pan

satyr (part man part goat); god of shepherds + musician; invented panpipe; made out of reeds of marsh syrinx turned into; he loved Echo but she ran from him and he spread panic among shepherds → she was torn to pieces and her voice remains; lost to music contest with Apollo who turned the judge (Midas)’s ears into donkey ears

Echo & Narcissus

Echo would distract Hera while Zeus slept around; Hera punishes her by only allowing her to echo what people say; Narcissus got lost once and she mimicked his voice; he kept rejecting her; he disintegrated (after staring at his own reflection for too long) turning into a yellow flower with white petals

Dionysus places of worship

Athens, Thebes

What are Apollo's spheres of influence? (7)

archery, light, sun, truth, healing, prophecy, poetry/music

Apollo’s symbols

Long blond hair, Beardless (youth), Bow and arrows, Lyre (harp) & kithara, Sacred tree: laurel tree, dolphin

Where was Apollo born? Where did he slay the python (Gaia)?

delos; delphi

Why is Apollo associated with dolphins?

cuz he appears to sailors as a dolphin (also delphi → dolphin)

Apollo vs Marsyas

challenged Apollo to flute contest, lost, flayed alive by Apollo

Apollo vs Cyclopes

kills them for killing his son Asclepius, Zeus sentences him to live in exile for a year under Admetus; Apollo grew on him and found a way to make Admetus live longer so Alcestis (Admetus’ wife) offered to take his place in death BUT Heracles rescued her and wrestled with death to save her

Name all of Apollo's lovers & their stories

Daphne–Devoted to virginity; Hit by arrow to feel repulsed by Apollo while Apollo was hit with arrow to love her; Gets turned into laurel tree;

Cassandra–Trojan princess, Was going to get with Apollo but she changed her mind but not before getting the gift of prophecy, Since she didn’t fall through with her promise, Apollo spits into her mouth cursing her for nobody believing her prophecies;

Hyacinthos– Disk hit him & he died, Apollo mourned, he turned into a hyacinth flower, Festival thrown for him

Pythia

priestess to Apollo, sat on tripod, responded to questions in a possessed state (believed she inhaled gaseous vapors)

Why is Artemis associated with Hecate?

hecate goddess of witchcraft & crossroads (nighttime activity, artemis = moon)

Artemis symbols

bow & arrows, cornelian ring, deer, shorter garment

Artemis & orion

orion tries to assault artemis while they’re hunting together, she spawns a scorpion that bites him; his constellation is always him running from the scorpion constellation

What is catasterism?

how stars are made

Artemis & actaeon

accidentally sees her naked which is not allowed for mortals – turned into stag and eaten by his dogs

Artemis & Niobe

Boasts her kids are better than Leto’s; her kids are killed by Artemis & Apollo and she is turned into a rock

Artemis & Brauron in Attica

every 4 years young girls go to Brauron wear yellow dresses & pretend to be a bear (cuz a bear was killed by Brauron after it scratched a young girl & her brothers killed the bear; artemis sent plague cuz bear was killed) → transitional ritual from girl to marriage

Athena birth story

metis tricked into being eaten by zeus & athena is born from zeus’ head

Athena symbols

armor, shield, sphere, aegis, owl, olive

Athena & Tiresias

Sees Athena naked on accident; Loses his sight but athena likes his mom so she gives him sight again

Athena & arachne

Arachne depicts the wrongs of the gods, athena’s how prideful humans are; Athena gets mad and beats up arachne, turning her into a spider

Panathenaea

contest, prize was Amphora (vase) with olive oil; weaving & presentation of the robe worked on for years (peplos)

Who was the sculptor of the athena statue in the Parthenon? (also made Zeus statue)

Pheidias

Arrhephoria & Athena

secret ritual, 2 young girls (arrhephoroi) carried sacred mysterious objects to a shrine

Hermes symbols

travelers hat cloak, winged sandals (travel between 3 spheres of existence)

2 birth stories of Aphrodite

1. Sea foam from Uranus’ genitals (hesiod)

2. zeus & dione (homer)

What are Aphrodite's other names? (2)

Cytherea, Cyprus

Aphrodite attributes (bird, flower)

doves/pigeons, myrtle, roses, seasons

Aphrodite of Knidos

First monumental (in size) nude sculpture of a goddess; Shes nude cuz she was bathing and “someone” walked in so she's covering herself

Aphrodite & Trojan war

favored trojans; was wounded by Diomedes cuz Athena gave him power to do so, she cries to her mom and zeus is like don’t get in war

Who does Aphrodite cheat on her husband with?

husband Hephaestus; anchises (Aineias results, hides the fact shes his mom), hermes, ares, adonis (youth, she hunts with him and he dies, becomes flower)

What does hestia’s name mean?

“hearth” fire to cook food at home

What do vestal virgins do?

spend 30 years training for fight as virgin; no longer needs male guardianship; have to keep flame going or else beaten; buried alive if break virginity

Who is hephaestus’ mom? What does she do to him?

hera; throws him off cliff of Olympus cuz hes ugly → he has a limp

What are 2 other names of Hephaestus?

Vulcan, Lemnian (from Lemnos; place he landed after being thrown off cliff)

Hephaestus attributes

disabled, hammer, working in shop

What does ares’ name in Greek mean? What is his speciality?

“curse”; god of offensive war

Who are ares’ 2 sons?

Phobus (putting people to fear), Deimos (fear)

Who is Temple of Mars Ultor (the avenger) dedicated to/where is it

Forum of Augustus

Ares place of worship

Thrace

Name the 3 kings

zeus (sky & gods), poseidon (sea), hades (underworld)

3 queens

Hera (sky and gods), Amphitrite (sea), Persephone (Underworld)

Earth & fertility deities

hades & persephone; dionysus (vine wine); demeter (grain, wheat)

Childbirth deities

hera & artemis

Marriage deities

hera (institutional) & aphrodite (actual love)

Gods of war

athena (defensive), ares (offensive)

Crafts gods

athena (weaving, crafts), hephaestus (metal-working)

Gods of suppliants (protector) & hosting

zeus (justice), hestia

Gods of fire (2)

hestia & hephaestus

Destructive flood comparison

Bible, epic of Gilgamesh

Comparison Zeus vs typhon

Marduk vs Tiamat

Comparison Hermes

trickster figures (Coyote, Loki), Anubis, Thoth

Comparison Aphrodite (love)

Ishtar, Hathor, Isis, etc

What is the order of the eras ancient greece?

Bronze, Iron, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic

Bronze age

bronze for tools; Minoans conquered by Mycenaean’s