AP Lit Greek Allusions 2025

What is the story of the Sirens?

• Sirens are typically women with half-woman half-bird features

• They would lure sailors to their deaths with their beautiful voices

• Later adapted into literature as mermaids

• Calling a woman a siren was a medieval term for implying that a woman was attractive yet dangerous

What are key themes taken from the myths of the sirens?

1. Temptation

2. Isolation and Tragic Fate

3. Seduction and Manipulation

What is the story of Helen of Troy?

• Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, was seen as the most beautiful woman in the world

• Was kidnapped at a young age by Theseus and was later rescued by her brothers (Castor and Pollux)

• Helen had many suitors, but eventually chose Menelaus, the king of Sparta

• Later, Helen ran away with Prince Paris, which caused the Trojan War when Menelaus fought to get her back

What are key themes taken from the myth of Helen of Troy?

1. Moral failure

2. Destruction caused by desire

3. Wavering loyalty

What is the story of Apollo?

• Apollo is one of the 12 Olympians and is typically associated with light, music, poetry, healing, and archery

• Hero forbade Leto from giving birth on sold ground out of jealousy, so Apollo and his sister Artemis were born on the isle of Delos (a floating island)

• Love Story: Apollo fell in love with a nymph named Daphne, Daphne isn’t interested and prays to her the river god (her father), the river god doesn’t save her and instead turns her into a laurel tree, Apollo is devastated and makes the tree a symbol of his power and mourning

• Prophecy: Python (a large snake per its name) was terrorizing the village of Delphi, Apollo slayed the beast in order to make a name for himself and later took control of the Oracle of Delphi, the Oracle became one of the most famous in history and connected Apollo with the power of prophecy

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Apollo?

1. Sun/Light: Knowledge, truth, and enlightenment

2. Lyre: Connection to music, and the importance of harmony and creativity

3. Bow and Arrow: Precision and accuracy

What is the story of the muses?

• The proclaimers of heroes

• The daughters of Zeus and the Titaness of memory

• shaped the artistic and intellectual inspiration of ancient greece

• Each of the 9 muses governed a pillar of human society

• generally presided over the arts and sciences

• cared for by the nymph Euphime and Apollo who together taught them the arts

• the muses inspired music, poetry, and art, and also kept alive creativity and tradition

What are key themes taken from the myths of the muses?

1. Artistic Expression

2. Importance of Memory

3. Inspn

What is the story of Narcissus?

• son of the river god and a nymph

• known to be unnaturally beautiful

• Narcissus was one day followed by a nymph named echo, who proclaimed his love for him

  • Narcissus rejected her

• Nemesis, goddess of vengeance, cursed Narcissus to never feel reciprocated love

• Narcissus looked into a pond and fell in love with his own reflection, yet rotted away from desire and became a daffodil

What are the key themes takes from the myths of Narcissus?

1. Consequences of vanity and self-obsession

2. Dangers of obsession

3. Respect for nature

What is the story of Pandora’s Box?

• Pandora was created by the god Hephaestus and was the first mortal woman

• she was given traits, such as curiosity, by all of the gods

• Zeus gave a box to Pandora and warned her to never open it

• Pandora got curious and opened the box, but upon doing so released all of the world’s evil and misery

• All that was left in the box was hope

What are the key themes taken from the myth of Pandora’s Box?

1. Curiosity killed the cat ~ obsession of the unknown

2. Opening a can of worms ~ ignorance of the divine

3. Hope is a blessing and a curse

4. Temptation of knowledge and the unknown

What is the story of Midas?

• Midas ruled his kingdom with an uneven hand

• his antics distracted the gods

• spoiled himself and his daughter

• Midas offered a satyr, one of Dionysus’ followers, a place to recover from hangover and was in turn offered anything he wanted

• Midas asked for the ability to turn anything he toughec into gold, but soon discovered he could no longer eat or sleep comfortably

• he begged Dionysus for pity when he accidentally turned his daughter into gold

• he was told to wash his hands in the nearby river and everything went back to normal

• he remained greedy even after the incident

What are the key themes taken from the myth of Midas?

1. Be careful what you wish for

2. The value of human relationships

3. Dangers of greed

What is the story of Sibyl?

• a prophetess who has the ability to tell the future

• guide humanity, uncover hidden truths, help leaders in times of need

• insights are often hard to decipher

• often associated with Apollo

• Sibyl and Apollo: Sibyl Cumae wished to be immortal in exchange for giving herself to Apollo, she did not hold her end of the bargain and Apollo cursed her with a long but not youthful life, she only wished to die centuries later but was inherited by the Romans

• Sibyl and King Tarquin: Sibyl Cumae wrote three books of prophecy and offered them to the king of Rome for a price, the king refused so the Sibyl burnt three of the books then offered again, the kind again refused so she burnt three more, the scared king took the remaining three books for the original price so he could know the future of Rome

What are the key themes taken from the myth of Sibyl?

1. Free will

2. Fate

3. Foolishness

What is the story of the River Styx?

• The Titan goddess Styx is the personification of the River Styx

• In the war against the Titans, Styx sided with Zeus and the other Olympians

• To honor Styx, Zeus decreed that the solemn oaths of the gods would be sworn by the water of Styx

• The Rover Styx is one of five rivers in the underworld and is the boundary between the living and the dead

• One’s soul has to cross the river with the ferryman (after a payment) in order to proceed into the afterlife

• Crossing the Styx is important if not done properly, souls would roam the shores and haunt the living until Hades granted them rest

• If a god breaks an an oath, they are rendered insensible for a year and then banished for 9 years

• Ancient myths say that the water is poisonous and that Alexander the Great was poisoned by it

• Achilles mother dipped him into the river to make him invulnerable (all except for his ankle where she held him), his one weak spot was later the cause of his death

What are the key themes taken from the myth of the River Styx?

1. Death and Passage

2. Consequences of Oaths

3. Reward for Respect

What is the story of the Gorgons?

• Medusa (most famous and only mortal), Stheno, and Euryale

• Three sisters who can turn anyone who looks at them into stone

• guarded the entrance to the underworld

• Medusa was a priestess of Athena and known for her beauty

• Medusa was seduced and assaulted by Poseidon and was cursed to turn into a gorgon as punishment by Athena

• Later, Medusa was beheaded by Perseus and her head was given to Athena and placed on her shield as a threat to her enemies

What are the key themes taken from the myth of the Gorgons?

1. Female Power

2. Beauty and Monstrosity

3. Transformation and Revenge

What is the story of Athena?

• Zeus met a water nymph named Metis, took her as his wife, and later she got pregnant

• During the pregnancy, Gaia and Uranus warned Zeus that Metis would give birth to a daughter, and then a son who was destined to be invincible and overcome Zeus

• Out of fear, Zeus swallowed Metis

• Zeus had a splitting headache, and soon Athena sprung from his head in full armor and became one of the 12 Olympians

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Athena?

• Overcoming the patriarchy

• The impact of intelligence

• Symbolism ~ Owl, olive branch, helmet

What is the story of Hermes?

• the god of travel, communication, and trickery

• showed incredible cleverness and mischief from the moment he was born

• famously stole Apollo’s sacred cattle and was able to hide his tracks

• Made peace with Apollo by making and giving him a lyre

• Zeus appointed Hermes as the messenger of the gods because of his impressive with and skills

• known for guiding souls to the underworld helping heroes, and protecting people (even thieves)

• Often depicted with winged sandals, winged helmet, and a staff

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Hermes?

1. Cleverness

2. Transformation and Adaptability

3. Duality and Balance

What is the story of Aphrodite?

• Aphrodite was born from sea foam

• One of the 12 Olympians and the goddess of love, beauty, and even joy

• Affair with Ares: Aphrodite didn’t like her marriage to Hephaestus and one of the affairs she had was with Ares, Hephaestus found out and planned to trap and expose them, when they were exposed Aphrodite didn’t care and even felt more exhilarated

• Judgment of Paris: Aphrodite bribed Paris to declare her as the fairest in return for Helen (the wife of the king of Sparta), when Helen was taken the king was outraged, this sparked the Trojan War

• Anchises and Aeneas: Aphrodite fell in love with Anchises because of his beauty, she bore him a child (Aeneas) who late became a great king and one of the founders of Rome

• Pygmalion and Galatea: Pygmalion created a beautiful statue of a woman, he fell in love with the statue and was devoted to her, Aphrodite was moved by his love and devotion and granted Galatea life and blessed their marriage with lasting happiness

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Aphrodite?

• The power of love

• femininity

• Influence of beauty

What is the story of Zeus?

• ruler of mount Olympus

• God of the sky, thunder, and storms

• supreme authority among all gods

• known for maintaining order, but also his flaws and abuse of power

• Prometheus: Zeus punished the titan prometheus for giving fire to humans with eternal torment

• The great flood: flooded the earth to punish the humans for wickedness

• The bull: In many myths, Zeus would often disguise himself as a cloud or a bull to seduce or assault mortal women

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Zeus?

1. Supreme authority

2. divine justice

3. wrath and storm

4. patriarchy and masculine power

What is the story of Hercules?

• Born a mortal despite being the son of Zeus

• Her sent two snakes to kill him when he was a baby, but his strength allowed him to easily defeat them

• When he was a young adult, Hera cast a spell on his that caused him to go crazy and murder his wife and children

• He went to Apollo, begging to be punished, and was given the famous 12 labors

What are the key themes taken from the myth of Hercules?

1. Unparalleled strength

2. Humility and guilt

3. Dedication and perserverance

What is the story of Hades?

• God of the Underworld

• Ruled with his wife Persephone over the dead and over infernal powers

• Supervised trial and punishment of the Wicked

• Depicted as stern and pitiless

• Abduction of Persephone: Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his wife, Demeter (Persephone’s mother) caused famine throughout the world, Zeus intervened and made a deal that Persephone would spend part of the year with Hades, and the rest with Demeter

• Orpheus and Eurydice: Orpheus (the son of a muse) went to the underworld to retrieve his wife Eurydice, Hades was moved by his music and agreed to let her go as long as she followed him to the mortal world and he never looked back, he failed and lost her forever

What are the key themes taken from the myths of Hades?

1. Death and Afterlife

2. Power and Control

3. Transformation and Duality

4. Abduction and Patriarchy