AP Lit Greek Allusions #6

Minerva (Pallas Athena)

Daughter of Zeus. Sprang from Zeus’ head. “Gray-eyed” or “flashing-eyed.” Chief of the three virgin goddesses. Embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity.

Orion

A young man of stature and great beauty and a mighty hunter. Cleared Chiosof wild beasts for its princess’ hand in marriage. the king kept putting it off, insulted Merope drunkenly, Dionysus put him in a deep sleep, and Oenopion blinded him. Then he went as far east as Lemnos, and he regained his sight, and entered the service of Artemis until he killed him.

Orpheus

Master musician and Theraces prince. Followed Eurydices into the Underworld after she died.

Pallas Athena (Minerva)

Daughter of Zeus. Sprang from Zeus’ head. “Gray-eyed” or “flashing-eyed.” Chief of the three virgin goddesses. Embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity.

Pan

Chief of the lesser gods of earth. Was Hermes’ son. Part animal with a goat’s horns, hooves, and the goatherd’s companion. Was always in love with one nymph or another, but was always rejected because of his ugliness.

Pandora

The first woman. Opened the famous box.

Prometheus

A Titan, son of Iapetus and Themis, brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. Was a champion/creator of human-kind and known for his intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals. Zeus then punished him for his crime by having him bound to a rock while a great eagle ate him liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day.

Proteus

Sometimes said to be Posiedon’s son, sometimes his attendant. Had the power both of foretelling the future and of changing his shape at will.

Psyche

Cupid fell in love with her, Aphrodite didn’t approve, and so Cupid stopped working until she relented. She was abducted and revived by Cupid’s kiss. She has to do various tasks, go to the Underworld, etc.

Pygmalion

He made a statue that no mortal woman could rival in beauty, and Venus turned her into a real woman.

Scylla

A nymph, who loved Glaucus (half-man half-fish). Circe fell in love with Glaucus, and so turned her into something with serpents and fierce dogs heads.

Siren

Lived on an island in the Sea. Had enchanting voices and their singing lured sailors to their death. It was not known what they looked like, for no one who saw them ever returned.

Sisyphus

Has to push a stone uphill because he once betrayed a secret of Zeus.

Sphinx

A creature shaped like a winged lion, but with the breast and face of a woman. She lay and wait for the wayfarers along the road to Thebes and whomever she seized she put a riddle to, telling him if he could answer it, she would let him go.

Stenor

Was as loud as fifty men combined. A Greek herald from the Trojan War in the Illiad. Describes a booming, extremely loud, and powerful voice.

Styx

The river of the unbreakable oath by which the gods swear. Charon carries souls across the river.

Tantalus

Son of Zeus and the nymph Plouto. Gave the gods his son cut up into soup. Demeter ate some, and was furious. He is now stuck in the underworld, every time he reaches for the grapes they pull out of his way. Every time he bends down to drink water, it descends until he can’t reach it.

Theseus

Father was Aegeus, a king of Athens, who accepted only once he was able to roll back a stone which held his birthright. On his way to Athens, he became a hero by killing thieves and bandits in the way the killed others. He promised to marry Ariadne after he got out of the Labyrinth which housed the Minotaur. Killed the Minotaur with his bare fists. He left Ariadne on an island after she was seasick and died. Before he left Athens, he promised his father he would sail a black flag if he had won. He forgot, and Aegeus threw himself off of a cliff.

Tiresias

A blind prophet of Thebes, famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. Was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Genesis song “The Cinema Show.”

Zeus

First born among Poseidon, Hades, and the divine gods of Olympus. Impregnated hundreds of women. Married to Hera. Bore Athena from his head. Not omnipotent or omniscient.