Themes and Characters in Greek Mythology

These flashcards cover key themes, characters, and stories from Greek mythology, providing definitions and illustrating important concepts.

Image 1

Woman with bow → Artemis (goddess of the hunt)

Man with antlers → Actaeon

Dogs attacking → his own hunting dogs

Actaeon accidentally sees Artemis bathing → she turns him into a stag → his dogs kill him.

violation of divine purity/punishment

hubris via boundary crossing

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Image 2-

• Niobe = mother crying, arms up

• Dead children around her

Niobe bragged she was better than Leto → Apollo & Artemis killed all her children → she turned to stone from grief.

Ovid

Hubris = death/ destruction

transformation

Image 3

• Danaë = Princess / mother (daughter of King Acrisius)

• Perseus = Her baby (future hero who kills Medusa)

• King Acrisius = Father of Danaë (not pictured)

King Acrisuis tries to stop a prophecy that is grandson will kill him.

Themes

Inescapable prophecy
Divine conception + hero origin

Motifs

• Miraculous birth

• Exposed child in chest

• Prophecy/fate

He locks up his daughter (Danae),

but Zeus fathers Perseus anyway, so the king dumps mother and baby in a chest into the sea — they survive.

Appollodorus - Bibliotheca

Image 4

• Winged horse = Pegasus

• Hero riding or near Pegasus = Bellerophon

• Monster with a lion head + snake tail (sometimes goat bits) = Chimera

Bellerophon tames Pegasus and uses him to defeat the Chimera, becoming a great hero — but later grows arrogant and tries to fly to Olympus, so Zeus knocks him down.

Homer, Illiad

Image 5

Hercles

Buisrus - egyptian king

• Prophecy said a foreigner would kill Busiris.

• Busiris sacrifices foreigners to avoid fate.

• hero triumpth

• foreign tyrant punished

motif

• civilsation vs barbaism

• strength through divine justice

• sacrifice and ritual gone wrong

• He tries to sacrifice Heracles.

• Heracles breaks his bonds and kills Busiris and his priests.
  Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11
  

Image 6

• hercles - greek hero, son of zeus

• Hyrda- multi head serpent monster

• lolaus- hercles nephew, helper

Heracles fights the many-headed Hydra; when he cuts off a head, two grow back, so Iolaus burns the necks to stop regrowth — they kill it together.

motif - hero vs monsterous chaaos, assiatance, impossible/escalating challange

Apollodorus

Image 7

Phrixus and helle

Ino, their stepmom was jelous and wanted her own children to inherit power

she caused a famine by secretly ruinining the crops, told messengares orcle damanded phrixus to be killed - the gods

Nephele - their mother, cloud godess

sent the Golden ram to rescue them

Helle falls, Phrixus reaches Colchis → Golden Fleece.”

appolodorus

Image 8

Thesus Theseus goes to Crete and captures the bull alive Theseus goes to Crete as part of his early heroic labours to prove himself worthy as a hero and future king of Athens. Capturing the Cretan Bull was one of his tasks to rid the land of danger and show his strength

Themes

Heroic quest but reliant on woman
Betrayal / loyalty / gender power

Motifs

• Impossible quest

• Female magical helper

• Dragon guardian

• Hero not fully heroic

Theme	Meaning
Hero Tests	Young hero proving worth
Civilization vs Wild nature	Subduing chaos
Athens hero identity	Theseus = civic hero

Apollodorus,Bibliotheca

Image 9

Tantalus (left, holding boy)

King who kills his son to test the gods

Pelops (child)

Son cut up and cooked

Demeter (right, veiled woman)

Goddess who eats a part by accident

canibal feast taboo

dvine punishment

violation of divine order

King Tantalus kills and cooks his son Pelops to test the gods — the gods restore Pelops to life but punish Tantalus eternally; Demeter eats Pelops’ shoulder, so the gods replace it with ivory.

Apollodorus- biblotheca

Image 10

Hector (standing warrior)

Trojan prince, best fighter of Troy

Andromache (seated woman)

His wife

Astyanax (child)

Son of Hector & Andromache

Before returning to war, Hector says goodbye to his wife Andromache and baby Astyanax.
The baby is frightened of Hector’s helmet → Hector removes it and blesses him.

Later:

• Hector dies (killed by Achilles)

• Astyanax is thrown off Troy's walls after the war

• Andromache is enslaved

This moment = tragic foreshadowing

Homer, Iliad

Image 11

triton - sea god , son of poisden and amphirite

After Zeus destroys the earth with a flood (Deucalion & Pyrrha myth),
Poseidon commands Triton to blow his conch shell to pull back the waters.
The seas calm, land re-emerges — humanity can restart.

• Restoration after chaos

• Divine authority over nature

• Order returning after punishment of mankind

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica

Image 12

• Seated woman, head down, veil → Penelope - wife of Odysseus

• Young man standing with staff → Telemachus - son of odysseus

Odysseus is gone 20 years (10 at Troy, 10 trying to return).
Penelope stays loyal, raising her son alone.

She distracts suitors by weaving a shroud and secretly undoing it each night.

Telemachus prepares to go find news of his father.

Homer, Odyssey (Books 1 & 2)

Image 13

Jason (right, with spear & fleece)

Hero sent to fetch the Golden Fleece

Medea (left, magical woman)

Sorceress who helps Jason

Serpent/Dragon (coiled around tree)

Guardian of the Fleece

Jason travels to Colchis to get the Golden Fleece.
King Aeëtes sets impossible tasks — but Medea (his daughter) falls in love with Jason and helps him: Gives him magic potion , Puts the serpent to sleep , Jason grabs the Golden Fleece and escapes with her

Themes

Heroic quest but reliant on woman
Betrayal / loyalty / gender power

Motifs

• Impossible quest

• Female magical helper

• Dragon guardian

• Hero not fully heroic

Medea betrays her family for Jason — major tragedy seeds planted here.

Apollodorus

Image 14

Helios in chariot - sun god who drives chariot daily

Helios rides a chariot across the sky every day, bringing daylight to the world.

Often linked to:

• Phaethon, his son, who tried to drive the chariot and lost control → Zeus strikes him down.

• Role as all-seeing witness in myths (he exposes affairs & crimes — like when Aphrodite cheated with Ares).

Here the scene = Helios doing his divine daily journey.

Homeric Hymns

Image 15

Achilles (seated warrior)

Greatest Greek warrior, son of Peleus & Thetis

Thetis (woman gifting armor)

Sea-nymph mother of Achilles

Nereids (behind her)

Sea maidens helping deliver divine gear

After Patroclus dies wearing Achilles' armor, Achilles is devastated and vows revenge.
He can't fight without armor, so Thetis goes to Hephaestus, who forges new divine armor.

Thetis delivers it → Achilles returns to battle to kill Hector.

Scene = moment before Achilles’ tragic rage and glory.

Homer, Iliad Book 18