Greek Mythology Exam 1

Mt. Olympus

home of the Olympians aka the 12 principal gods - ​​Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Hephaestus, Dionysus

Crete

an island, Zeus' birthplace, King Minos Palace - home of labyrinth where Zeus defeated the Minotaur and Icarus who flew too close to the sun

Cyprus

island, Aphrodite was birthed in the waters around the island

Ionian Sea

Io swam across it while flies chased her

Bosphorus

river, Io also swam across it while the flies chased her

Delos

island, where Leto gave birth to Artemis and Apollo, her labor with Apollo lasted 9 days because of jealous Hera

Delphi

a city/region, home of the Oracle of Delphi/Pythia, served the god Apollo because he killed the Python that lived there

Mt Parnassus

in central Greece, the ark of Deucalion comes to rest on its slopes, sacred to the god Dionysus, home of the Pegasus

Phrygia

region, home of King Midas

Mt Ida

located on Crete, sacred to the Goddess Rhea where baby Zeus was concealed from his father Cronus in a cave

Arcadia

region in the Peloponnese, where inhuman creatures like nymphs dwelled, Pan and Hermes were seen here

Mt Cyllene

mountain in Arcadia, Hermes was born here

Eleusis

city within Athens, connected to Demeter during her search for Persephone

Athens

city, Poseidon and Athena competed to become patron god and Athena won, Aegeus was the king and his son was Theseus, children sent to Crete for Minotaur

Tainaron

cape/region, end of Greece, gateway to Hades

Thebes

city, Cadmus founded the city with help from Athena, birthplace of Hercules, where events of Bacchae took place

Mt Cithaeron

where Dionysus carries out his dances and rites with his bacchants

Mycenae

city, founded by Perseus, Eurytheus, a king there, tasked Hercules with the 12 labors

Colchis

region, destination of the Argonauts and home to Medea and the Golden Fleece

Corinth

city, where Jason and Medea went to live and where the events of Medea happened

Chaos

first of the Gods, the Abyss

Gaia

goddess of Earth, mother of all life

Tartaros

fiery pit of the Underworld

Eros

god of love and desire

Ouranos/Uranus

personification of the sky

Ocean/Oceanus

Titan who was father of the river gods and the river that circled Earth

Hecate

goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts, power over heaven, earth and sea

Muses

the sources of inspiration for all of the arts and of knowledge, daughters of Zeus

Typhoios/Typhon

monstrous offspring of Gaia & Tartaros, defeated by Zeus with lightning bolts

Pytho

a huge serpent that was killed by the god Apollo at Delphi

Medousa

a mortal Gorgon with snakes for hair, head turned people to stone, killed by Perseus

Aphrodite

goddess of love, beauty, sexual pleasure, and fertility, born out of the sea from Uranus' gentials, had affairs with many gods such as Ares and mortals such as Anchises

Demeter

goddess of grain and agriculture, her daughter Persephone was taken by Hades and she roamed the Earth looking for her

Hera

queen of the gods, Zeus' jealous and vengeful wife, gave birth to Hephaestus by herself after Zeus fathered Athena

Hades

god of the Underworld, kidnapped Persephone

Zeus

king of the gods, god of the sky and thunder, HBIC, father to many

Apollo

god of sun, light, music and poetry, Leto was in labor with him for 9 days, twin brother to Artemis, killed the Python, lusted after Daphne, deity of the Oracle

Artemis

goddess of wild animals, the hunt, the moon and chastity, twin sister to Apollo

Ares

god of war, known for his bad temper

Athena

goddess of wisdom and war, patron of Athens, turned Arachne into a spider

Hephaistos

god of fire, son of Hera who threw him off Mount Olympus after he was born lame and ugly, blacksmith and craftsman, returned after exile

Hermes

messenger of the gods, invented the lyre, stole cattle from Apollo, divine trickster

Dionysus

god of fertility and wine, fell in love with Ariadne and stole her from Theseus, has a cult following of women

Hestia

goddess of the hearth, protector of the home

Hebe

goddess of youth, cupbearer of the gods, served nectar and ambrosia to Olympians

Rhea

titan/mother of the gods/goddess of fertility, daughter of Gaia and Uranus, wife to Cronos, mother to Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus, gave Cronos a stone to swallow instead of Zeus

Cronos

king of the titans, husband of Rhea, castrated his father Uranus and threw the remains into the ocean, swallowed then vomited back up his children, killed by his son Zeus

Prometheus

titan who stole fire from the gods, tried to trick Zeus into eating bones and fat instead of meat, punished by being imprisoned and having an eagle eat his immortal liver every day, saved by Hercules

Pandora

the first woman and a punishment to men, was given a jar and opened it which released evils into the world, only thing left in the jar was hope

Deucalion

son of Prometheus, sole survivor of great flood with his wife Pyrrha, restarted the human race by throwing rocks that turned into people (aka the bones of their "mother" Gaia)

Pyrrha

wife of Deucalion, the rocks she threw turned into women

Heracles

famous hero, killed wife and children in madness, tasked with completing the 12 labors, such as slaying the Hydra, taking the girdle of Hippolyte, getting Cerberus the three headed dog from the Underworld

Io

first priestess of Hera, Zeus fell in love with her and, to protect her from the wrath of Hera, changed her into a cow, wandered the world to get away from the flies sent after her by Hera, landed in Egypt where she was restored to her original form

Anchises

seduced by Aphrodite in human form, bore him Aeneas, was told not to tell anyone of their affair but did and was therefore killed by Zeus with a lightning bolt

Daphne

nymph, Apollo fell in love with her after being shot by Eros, she wanted to be free from Apollo and was turned into a laurel tree, Apollo wore her leaves

Syrinx

nymph, Pan pursued her, she ran until she reached a river and changed into cattail reeds to avoid him

Callisto

nymph, raped by Zeus, after giving birth to a son was turned by Hera into a bear out of jealousy

Europa

seduced by Zeus in the form of a white bull, who then carried her off to Crete, mother to Minos

Arachne

challenged Athena to a weaving competition, enraged and/or offended by her tapestry Athena turned her into a spider to be an eternal weaver

Semele

mother of Dionysus, lover of Zeus, Hera tricked her into asking Zeus to reveal his true form to her which killed her

Cadmus

brother of Europa, sought out to find his sister but gave up and founded Thebes, he was the first king, sowing of the dragon's teeth to generate people

Teiresias

blind Theban seer, separated two mating snakes for no apparent reason, magically turned into a woman for 7 years, struck the snakes again and turned back into a man

Pentheus

king of Thebes, banned worship of Dionysus, Dionysus tricked him to dress as a woman and go watch their frenzied activities but was killed by them, including his own mother

Agave

mother of Pentheus, daughter of Cadmus, killed her own son after being tricked by Dionysus and exiled

Perseus

hero, cast into the sea in a chest, slayer of Medusa, rescued Andromeda from sea monster, founded the city of Mycenae

Andromeda

wife of Perseus, rescued by him from sea monster

Jason

hero, sent to find Golden Fleece with Argonauts, was able to do so with help of Medea who he married, they fled to Corinth and were happy there until Jason wanted to marry Creusa/Glauce

Medea

wife of Jason, killed their children and Creusa/Glauce after Jason betrayed her, fled to Athens

Theseus

hero, son of Aegeus, King of Athens, kills the Minotaur, fell in love with Ariadne, Minos' daughter, but left her after Dionysus took her, his father killed himself after he thought his son died, unified Attica

Ariadne

daughter of King Minos, fell in love with Theseus and helped him kill the Minotaur but on the way back to Athens was stolen by Dionysus

Hellas

ancient Greek name for Greece

Panhellenic

of or relating to all Greece or all the Greeks

theogony

an account of the origin and descent of the gods

etiology

the cause or origin of disease

pantheon

of all gods

anthropomorphic

ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things

Titan

any of a family of giants born of Uranus and Gaea and ruling the earth until overthrown by the Olympian gods

Chthonic

descriptive word for things related to the underworld

Olympian

major deity of the Greek pantheon

cult

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object (in this case god)

iconography

a particular range of types of image used by an artist to convey particular meanings

athanatoi

immortals; divinities

ambrosia

immortality, food of the gods

mystery cult

served more personal, individualistic attitudes toward death and the afterlife

mustēs

initiated person or mystic, has insight beyond ordinary human knowledge

metamorphosis

the ability to change shape or form

liminal (liminality)

a crosser of boundaries, a god or goddess who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways

City (or Great) Dionysia

ancient dramatic festival in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated; it was held in Athens in March in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine

maenad

female follower of Dionysus, meaning mad or demented

orgia

ecstatic form of worship, referring to Dionysus

ekstasis

to stand outside of or transcend, ecstasy

sparagmos

act of rending, tearing apart, or mangling, usually in a Dionysian context

synoecism

the amalgamation of villages in ancient Greece into city-states

hero cult

cult worship of a particular group of superhuman beings whom the Greeks describe as heroes from the time of Homer

ephebe

18- to 20-year-old man in ancient Greece undergoing military training

polis

a city-state in ancient Greece