CLCV 115 Exam 2 Review: Classical Mythology

Comprehensive review flashcards for CLCV 111 + 115 Exam 2 covering Greek and Near Eastern divinities, monsters, mortals, mythical narrative motifs, key concepts, places, and exam visual artworks.

Aphrodite

Goddess of love.

Apollo

God of disease, healing, poetry, and music.

Ares

God of war.

Artemis

Goddess of hunting and the death of women.

Athena

Goddess of cities, crafts, wisdom, and war.

Bull of Heaven

Monster sent by Inanna to kill humans; killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Centaurs

Half-man, half-horse divinities.

Charon

Ferryman across the river Styx in the Underworld.

Cybele

Phrygian fertility goddess whose priest is Attis.

Demeter

Fertility goddess of crops and mother of Persephone.

Dionysus

Fertility god of wine, son of Zeus and Semele.

Eros

Love; represented as a primordial force or as the son of Aphrodite.

Gilgamesh

King and legendary hero of Mesopotamia.

Gorgons

Monsters with large eyes that serve an apotropaic function in art.

Hades

God of the dead.

Helen

Daughter of Zeus who marries Menelaus, then Paris.

Hephaestus

God of metalworking and crafts.

Hera

Goddess of marriage.

Hermes

God of travelers, thieves, messengers, and oratory.

Hestia

Goddess of the hearth.

Humbaba

Monster guarding a cedar forest; killed by Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Inanna/Ishtar

Mesopotamian goddess of love and war.

Io

Daughter of the river Inachus, loved by Zeus, and turned into a cow.

Isis

Egyptian goddess, wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus.

Medusa

Woman turned into a snake-haired monster whose stare turns people to stone.

Minotaur

Half-man, half-bull child of Minos and Pasiphae.

Nymphs

Minor goddesses of nature.

Osiris

Egyptian god, husband of Isis, who was killed and dismembered by Seth.

Pasiphae

Daughter of Helios (Sun), wife to Minos, and mother to the Minotaur.

Persephone

Daughter of Demeter who was stolen by Hades.

Perseus

Son of Zeus and Danae who kills Medusa and a sea monster.

Poseidon

God of the oceans.

Satyrs

Goat/men divinities who follow Dionysus.

Semele

Theban princess, daughter of Cadmus, mother of Dionysus by Zeus; destroyed by Zeus's brilliance.

Sphinx

Woman/lion hybrid monster who kills travelers to Thebes.

Thetis

Nereid and mother of Achilles.

Titans

Children of Gaea and Uranus who fought the Olympian gods.

Zeus

Storm god and king of the Olympians who enforces justice and hospitality.

Aegeus

Mortal father of Theseus and king of Athens.

Aeneas

Trojan hero who visits the underworld in Aeneid book 6.

Aethra

Daughter of Pittheus and mother of Theseus.

Agamemnon

Commander-in-chief at Troy who was killed on his return home by his wife.

Agave

Mother of Pentheus.

Andromeda

Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, rescued by Perseus from a sea monster.

Ariadne

Daughter of Minos who saves Theseus in the labyrinth.

Attis

Mortal companion of Cybele who castrates himself.

Bacchae (= Maenads)

Mortal women who follow Dionysus.

Bellerophon

Hero who rides Pegasus to kill the chimera.

Cadmus

Phoenician founder of Thebes.

Daedalus

Craftsman who builds the labyrinth, then makes wings to escape.

Danae

Mother of Perseus by Zeus.

Danaids

Daughters of Danaus; 49 kill their husbands, while 1 spares hers.

Daughters of Oedipus

Offspring who protect Oedipus in exile, especially Antigone.

Dumuzi (Tammuz)

Mortal lover of Inanna who dies and is brought back one day a year.

Elpenor

Companion of Odysseus who dies from a fall.

Enkidu

Wild man created as Gilgamesh’s companion.

Erichthonius

Child of Athena and Hephaestus, and king of Athens.

Europa

Phoenician princess stolen by Zeus in the form of a bull; eponymous ancestor of Europe.

Eurydice

Wife of Orpheus who dies on her wedding day.

Hippolytus

Son of Theseus who is falsely accused by Phaedra and killed.

Icarus

Son of Daedalus who falls from the sky when his wings melt.

Jocasta

Mother of Oedipus who unknowingly marries him.

Laius

Father of Oedipus who is murdered.

Minos

King of Crete who hides the Minotaur and serves as a judge in the Underworld.

Minyads

Princesses who resist Dionysus and are transformed into bats.

Odysseus

King of Ithaca, husband to Penelope, and hero of the Odyssey.

Oedipus

King of Thebes who solves the riddle of the sphinx, kills his father, and marries his mother.

Orpheus

Son of a muse and famous singer who travels to the Underworld.

Paris

Trojan prince who marries Helen.

Peleus

Mortal who marries Thetis and is the father of Achilles.

Pentheus

Grandson of Cadmus who denies Dionysus and is dismembered by his mother.

Phaedra

Daughter of Minos who marries Theseus and falls in love with her stepson.

Philomela

Daughter of Athenian king Pandion who is raped by Thracian king Tereus.

Pirithous

King of the Lapiths at whose wedding the centauromachy breaks out.

Procne

Sister to Philomela, married to Thracian king Tereus.

Procrustes

Evil innkeeper who beheads or stretches guests; killed by Theseus.

Shamhat

Prostitute/priestess who sleeps with Enkidu, civilizing him.

Sisyphus

Evil king who tried to cheat death; condemned to roll a boulder uphill in the Underworld.

Sons of Oedipus

Brothers who wage civil war after Oedipus's exile and kill each other.

Tantalus

Evil king who fed his son Pelops to the gods; condemned to hunger and thirst in the Underworld.

Tereus

Evil king who raped his sister-in-law, Philomela.

Theseus

Son of Poseidon/Aeus who kills the Minotaur.

Tiresias

Theban seer who instructs Oedipus, and later Odysseus.

Apple of Discord

Object introduced at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.

Autochthony

The condition of being indigenous; specifically the Athenians’ belief that they were born from the soil of Athens.

Psychopompos

“Escorter of souls,” an epithet applied to Hermes.

Anthropomorphism

The attribution of human traits to gods or other nonhumans.

Apotropaic

“Warding off evil,” which is the primary protective function of objects like herms or depictions of Gorgons.

Centauromachy

Battle that breaks out at the wedding of Pirithous against the Lapiths, a mortal group from Thessaly.

Katabasis

A “descent to the underworld” narrative, performed by Odysseus, Heracles, Theseus, and Aeneas.

Theoxeny

A divine visit story type, exemplified by Dionysus and the pirates, or Demeter and the royal family at Eleusis.

Doomed Wedding

Narrative motif exemplified by the weddings of Peleus and Thetis, or Cadmus and Harmonia.

“Dying God” Story

A narrative type featuring a divinity who dies or descends, exemplified by Osiris, Dumuzi, Adonis, Attis, and Persephone.

Eleusinian Mysteries

Special ritual dedicated to Demeter and Persephone that provided benefits in the afterlife.

Elysium

The pleasant realm of the Underworld intended to reward the virtuous.

Eponymous Ancestor

A person who provides the origin of a place or cultural name (e.g., Europa giving her name to Europe).

Etiological Story

A narrative explaining how something came to be (e.g., why Apollo has a shrine on Delos).

Folk Tale

Stories about ordinary people and talking animals.

Folk Tale Motifs in Perseus Story

Storybook patterns present in the myth of Perseus, including magic items, three sisters, etc.

Food of the Dead

Mythological motif where consuming Underworld sustenance (such as the pomegranate seeds in the Persephone story) binds one to the realm.