CLASSICS 370 Final Exam

Theseus

son of Poseidon and Aethra; father of Hippolytus; killer of the Minotaur

Cecrops

A mortal whom the Athenians claimed to be descended from

Erichthonius

"he of the wool and earth"; Athenian king sprung from the earth; raised by Athena

Procne

sister of Philomela; married to Tereus; fed her son to Tereus; turned into a nightingale

Philomela

sister of Procne; raped by Tereus; turned into a swallow

Tereus

Thracian king; husband of Procne; rapes Philomela; turns into a Hoopoe

Itys

son of Tereus and Procne; served in a stew to his father

Erechtheus

early king of Athens

Aegeus

father of Theseus; a king of Athens

Aethra

mother of Theseus; slept with Posedon and her husband on the same night; became Helen's slave when abducted from Athens

Procrustes

"stretcher"; killed by Theseus

Amazonomachy

battle with the Amazons

Hippolytus

"horse tamer"; son of Theseus and Antiope; slandered by Phaedra; killed by his father's curse; resurrected by Asclepius; changed into a minor Italian god

Phaedra

"bright"; daughter of Minos; wife of Theseus; stepmother of Hippolytus

Bellerophon

Corinthian hero; grandson of Sisyphus; tamed Pegasus and killed the Chimaira

Pirithous

king of the Lapiths; foe of the Centaurs; friend of Theseus

Lapiths

Thessalian tribe; led by Pirithous; defeated the Centaurs

Centaurs

half-horse half-human creatures

Centauromachy

war with Centaurs; between Lapiths and Centaurs

Pisistratus

tyrant of Athens; he made economic and cultural improvements that would later make Athens powerful

Europa

daughter of Agenor; sister of Cadmus; seduced by Zeus in the form of a bull; mother to Minos

Minos

Cretan king of Cnossus; son of Zeus and Europa; husband of Pasiphae; judge in the underworld

Pasiphae

"all shining"; daughter of Helius; wife of Minos; mother of the Minotaur

Daedalus

Athenian craftsman; built a hollow cow for Pasiphae, the labyrinth, and wings for himself and his son to escape from it

Minotaur

"bull of Minos"; half-man half-bull offspring of Pasiphae and a bull

Labyrinth

"house of the double ax"; Cretan maze; home of the Minotaur

Scylla

"puppy"; daughter of Nisus; loved Minos; turned into a sea bird

Icarus

son of Daedalus; trapped in the Labyrinth; drowned when he flew too close to the sun and it melted the wax on his wings

Cocalus

king in Sicily; Daedalus took refuge with him

Boeotia

"cow-land"; region north of Africa; location of Thebes

Sparti

"sown men"; rose up from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus; the original Thebans

Antiope

mother of Amphion and Zethus; Amazon queen raped by Theseus

Amphion

son of Zeus and Antiope; husband of Niobe; musician brother of Zethus; one of the twin founders of Thebes

Zethus

son of Zeus and Antiope; twin brother of Amphion; co-founder of Thebes

Dirce

wife of Lycus; persecutor of Anitope; killed by her nephews Amphion and Zethus

Laius

son of Labdacus; husband of Jocasta; father of Oedipus; killed at a cross road by Oedipus

Jocasta

mother/wife of Oedipus; killed herself after learning of their relation

Oedipus

"swellfoot"; son of Laius and Jocasta; father of Polynices, Eteocles, Ismene, and Antigone; married his mother and killed his father

Polynices

son of Oedipus; brother of Eteocles; buried by Antigone

Eteocles

son of Oedipus; killed brother Polynices in attack of seven against Thebes

Antigone

daughter of Oedipus; buries her brother Polynices against state edict; sentenced to death by Creon

Ismene

daughter of Oedipus; sister of Antigone

Adrastus

king of Argos; sole survivor of the Seven Against Thebes

Amphiaraus

a seer; participant in the Calydonian boar hunt; one of the seven against Thebes; swallowed by the earth

Eriphyle

sister of Adrastus; wife of Amphiaraus; mother of Alcmeon

Epigoni

"descendants"; sons of the seven against Thebes

Thessaly

region in Greece south of Mt. Olympus

Iolcus

city in southeastern Thessaly; home of Jason at the head of the Gulf of Pagasae

Apollonius of Rhodes

author of the Argonautica; tells the story of the Argonauts

Jason

son of Aeson; husband of Medea; leader of the Argonauts

Athamas

Thessalian hero; son of Deucalion and Pyrrha; husband of Nephele and Ino; father of Phrixus and Helle

Phrixus

son of Athamas and Nephele; brother of Helle; escaped on the back of a golden ram

Helle

daughter of Athamas and Nephele; sister of Phrixus; fell from the golden ram into the Hellespont

Hellespont

straits between the Aegean sea and the Propontis; where Helle fell to her death

Colchis

territory at eastern end of Black Sea; where Jason sailed to find the Golden fleece; capital was Aea

Aeetes

"man of earth"; king of Aea; brother of Circe; father of Medea

Pelias

son of Poseidon and Tyro; twin of Neleus; father of Alcestis; ousted half-brother Aeson from thron of Iolcus; killed by a trick of Medea

Chiron

"hand"; the wise Centaur; tutor of heroes

Argo

"swift"; ship of Jason and the Argonauts; built by Argus

Boreads

Zetes and Calais; sons of Boreas

Phineus

blind prophet persecuted by the Harpies; released by the Boreads

Symplegades

"clashing rocks"; threatened the Argonauts; crushed anything that came between them

Medea

with from Colchis; daughter of Aeetes; wife of Jason; murdered her children and Jason's second wife

Apsyrtus

Medea's brother; cut up to delay persuers of the Argo

Talus

Cretan bronze robot

Aetolia

district north of the Corinthian Gulf; where the cities of Pleuron and Calydon were

Calydon

main city in Aetolia in southwestern mainland Greece; home of Meleager; site of the Calydonian boar hunt

Meleager

"he who cares for the hunt"; Aetolian hero; brother of Deianira; killed Calydonian Boar

Atalanta

female Arcadian athlete; loved by Meleager; defeated in footrace by Milanion; turned into a lion by Zeus

Pelops

son of Tantalus; defeated Oenomaus and married Hippodamia; father of Atreus and Thyestes; grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus

Oenomaus

king of Pisa; father of Hippodamia with whom he was in love

Hippodamia

daughter of Oenomaus; wife of Pelops

Myrtilus

charioteer of Oenomaus; bribed by Pelops

Thyestes

son of Pelops; father of Aegisthus; brother of Atreus who fed him his own children in a stew

Aegisthus

son of Thyestes; lover of Clytemnestra; murderer of Agamemnon; killed by Orestes

Atreus

king of Mycenae; son of Pelops; brother of Thyestes; father of Agamemnon and Menelaus

Menelaus

king of Sparta; son of Atreus; husband of Helen; brother of Agamemnon

Agamemnon

son of Atreus; brother of Menelaus; leader of Greek forces at Troy

Tyndareus

Spartan king; husband of Leda

Leda

wife of Tyndareus; mother of Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, Polydeuces

Polydeuces

brother of Castor, Helen, and Clytemnestra

Helen

daughter of Zeus and Leda; husband of Menelaus; lover of Paris

Castor

mortal son of Tyndareus and Leda; brother of the immortal Polydeuces (Pollux) and of Helen and Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra

"famed for her suitors"; daughter of Tyndareus and Leda; wife of Agamemnon whom she killed; murdered by Orestes

Oath of Tyndareus

An agreement between the suitors of Helen and her father Tyndareus; stated that there would be no fighting over the chosen suitor and that if Helen were ever kidnapped, the suitors would band together to retrieve her

Peleus

grandson of Zeus; son of Aeacus; husband of Thetis; father of Achilles

Ajax

son of Telamon; half-brother to Teucer; ruler of Salamis

Hecabe

wife of Priam; queen of Troy; mother of Hector

Aulis

port in Boetia; where the Trojan expedition set sail

Palamedes

clever enemy of Odysseus; perhaps the name of the inventor of the Greek Alphabet

Calchas

prophet of the Greek forces at Troy

Iphigenia

daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; sacrificed by her father

Philoctetes

inherited bow of Heracles; bit by a snake and abandoned on Lemnos; killer of Paris

Chryseis

daughter of Chryses; given as booty to Agamemnon during the Trojan War

Briseis

Achilles' war-captive; taken by Agamemnon

Andromache

wife of Hector; mother of Astyanax; taken captive by Neoptolemus at the end of the Trojan War

Astyanax

"king of the city"; son of Hector and Andromache; thrown from walls of Troy

Neoptolemus

"new fighter"; son of Achilles; also called Pyrrhus

Laocoon

priest of Poseidon; struck Trojan Horse with his spear; strangled by serpents

Polyxena

Trojan princess; sacrificed over the grave of Achilles