Classics Midterm

Agamemnon

King of Mycenae and the supreme commander of the Greek forces during the Trojan War in Greek mythology

Menelaus

Agamemnon's brother, King of Sparta, Helen's husband. Paris's stealing of Helen is the cause of the Trojan War

Achilles

Greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and the central hero of Homer's Iliad

Nestor

Elderly king of Pylos and respected Greek leader who fought in the Trojan War. Serves as an advisor to leaders such as Achilles and Agamemnon. Telemachus visits him in Pylos while searching for information about his father

Ajax

One of the strongest Greek warriors in the Trojan War, second only to Achilles in fighting ability. Known for enormous size, physical strength, courage, and a sense of honor. After Achilles dies, he competes with Odysseus for Achilles' armour and loses. He eventually takes his own life out of humiliation

Diomedes

King of Argos and one of the greatest Greek warriors during the Trojan War. Known for his courage, intelligence, and exceptional fighting ability.

Danaans

A term Homer used when referring to the Greeks who fought against the Trojans during the Trojan War

Achaeans

Another term Homer used to refer to the Greeks who fought against Troy

Thetis

Sea goddess and mother to Achilles

Thersites

Greek soldier in the Trojan War known for openly criticizing Agamemnon and the Greek leadership in Homer's Iliad. He questions why ordinary soldiers should continue suffering while their leaders accumulate wealth and prizes. Odysseus rebukes him and smacks him with a scepter.

Hecuba

Queen of Troy, wife of King Priam, and mother of Hector and Paris in Greek mythology. Deeply loves Hector and begs him not to fight Achilles

Andromache

Trojan princess, the wife of Hector. She represents the suffering of women and families during the Trojan War.

Odysseus

King of Ithaca, a Greek hero of the Trojan War, and the main character of Homer's Odyssey. Best known for his intelligence, cunning, resourcefulness, and determination to return home after the Trojan War. Represents a different kind of Greek Hero from Achilles. While Achilles is celebrated primarily for his physical strength and military excellence, Odysseus succeeds through intelligence, adaptability, deception, and endurance.

Hektor

Greatest Trojan Warrior, prince of Troy, and son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. Kills Patroclus, Achilles's closest companion, during battle. Achilles kills Hektor in revenge

Priam

King of Troy, husband of Hecuba, and father of Hector and Paris in Greek mythology. He bravely begs Achilles to return Hector's body, showing the importance of love, grief, and human compassion.

Paris

Trojan prince, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and brother of Hektor. His relationship with Helen triggers the Trojan War

Patroklos

Greek warrior and best friend of Achilles. His death comes at the hands of Hektor, prompting Achilles to return to battle to seek revenge.

Helen

the beautiful wife of Menelaus who goes to Troy with Paris, helping cause the Trojan War. In the Odyssey, she has returned to Sparta and helps Telemachus learn about his father.

Penelope

The faithful queen of Ithaca and wife of Odysseus who cleverly delays her suitors while awaiting her husband's return.

Telemakhos

The son of Odysseus and Penelope who matures into a young hero as he searches for news of his absent father and defends his household.

Mentor

An old friend of Odysseus whose identity is often assumed by Athena to guide and encourage Telemachus.

Antinoos

The most arrogant and aggressive leader among the suitors vying for Penelope and plotting against Telemachus.

Eurymakhos

A deceitful and influential suitor of Penelope who hides his cruel intentions behind smooth words.

Eurylokhos

The second-in-command of Odysseus's crew who often opposes Odysseus's decisions and leads the men to eat Helios's cattle.

Calypso

The sea nymph who holds Odysseus captive on her island of Ogygia for seven years out of love.

Aeolus

The keeper of the winds who gives Odysseus a bag containing all unfavorable winds to speed his journey home.

Circe

The enchantress goddess who transforms Odysseus's men into swine before becoming his ally and guide.

Polyphemus

The Cyclops and son of Poseidon whom Odysseus blinds, incurring Poseidon's vengeful wrath.

Eurykleia

The faithful old nurse of Odysseus and Telemachus who recognizes Odysseus by his childhood scar upon his return.

Phaecians

The hospitable, seafaring inhabitants of Scheria who welcome Odysseus and safely transport him back to Ithaca.

Nausicaa

The Phaeacian princess who discovers the shipwrecked Odysseus on the shore and assists him in gaining her parents' help.

Arete

The respected queen of the Phaeacians whose wisdom and judgment Odysseus must win over to secure passage home.

Lotus-eaters

A peaceful island people whose consumption of the sweet lotus plant causes visitors to lose all memory and desire for home.

Laestrygonians

A tribe of giant, man-eating cannibals who destroy all but one of Odysseus's ships.

Teiresias

The blind prophet of Thebes whom Odysseus visits in the Underworld to learn the path for his return home.

Scylla

A six-headed sea monster who eats six of Odysseus's crew members as his ship passes her lair.

Charybdis

A terrifying whirlpool monster that thrice daily swallows and disgorges seawater, threatening total ship destruction.

Eumaios

The loyal swineherd of Ithaca who hospitably receives the disguised Odysseus and aids him in slaughtering the suitors.

Iros

A cowardly, beggar-like figure in Ithaca who challenges the disguised Odysseus to a fight and is promptly defeated.

Melantho

A disloyal servant girl in Odysseus's palace who mocks the disguised king and sides with the suitors.

Aristeia

a hero has their best combat and dominates the battlefield

Atē

delusion, derangement, reckless blindness that leads to ruin

Kleos

glory, what others hear about you

Mēnis

wrath, rage, anger

Mētis

resourcefulness, cunning intelligence,

Miasma

Ritual Pollution brought by taboo acts

Nostos

return home, homecoming

Timē

glory and status shown through possessions, sometimes won in battle

Xenia

sacred Greek custom of treating your guests with proper hospitality

Pathei mathos

philosophical concept that wisdom and truth are found through suffering

Athena

goddess of strategy, wisdom

Aphrodite

goddess of love, beauty, desire,

Apollo

god of music, disease and healing, prophecy, truth

Ares

god of war and bloodlust

Artemis

goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals

Hera

goddess of marriage, women, family and queen of olympians

Hermes

god of trade and commerce, thieves, liars, and tricks. Divine messenger

Poseidon

god of the sea/water, earthquakes and horses

Zeus

god of sky, weather, law, and fate. supreme king of gods

Tantalus

king who feeds his own son to the gods and curses his entire lineage with endless suffering

Pelops

son of Tantalus brought back to life by the gods. Perpetuates his family's curse through winning his bride through a rigged chariot race.

Atreus

king of mycenae who feeds his brother thyestes own children to him.

Thyestes

brother of atreus who curses atreus lineage after being fed his own slain children

Clytemnestra

wife of agamemnon who murders him once he comes back from troy to avenge their daughter.

Aegisthus

the lover of Clytemnestra, co-conspirator in the murder of Agamemnon, cousin to Agamemnon

Orestes

The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who avenges his father's murder by slaying his mother, triggering torment by the Furies.

Iphigenia

The daughter of Agamemnon sacrificed by her father at Aulis to obtain favorable winds for the Greek fleet.

Katharsis

Ritual purification

Peripeteia

A sudden, drastic reversal of fortune or circumstances experienced by a dramatic protagonist. protagonists fortune shifts from good to bad according to aristotle

Anagnorisis

The moment in a drama where a character makes a crucial discovery or experiences a realization of true identity or context.

Hamartia

A hero's critical error in judgment or fatal flaw that leads directly to their tragic downfall.

Homer

The poet credited with writing the Iliad and the Odyssey

Plato

the philosopher who explored justice, truth, and ideal society. Wrote the Republic and famously known as a hater of poetry.

Aristotle

the philosopher who wrote poetics which defines key literary concepts

Aeschylus

the father of tragedy, wrote the oresteia trilogy

Claude Lévi-Strauss

French anthropologist who developed structuralism, the idea that all cultures are shaped by universal patterns in thinking which shape how people form myths.