CLCV 111 + 115 Final Exam Study Guide

Divinities/Demigods/Monsters

  • Achilles: Son of Peleus and Thetis, friend of Patroclus, the best warrior on the Greek side at Troy.
  • Aeetes: Son of Helios, father of Medea.
  • Aeneas: Son of Anchises and Aphrodite, Trojan hero who journeys to found Rome, central figure in Virgil's Aeneid.
  • Aeolus: God of the winds, gives Odysseus contrary winds in a bag to help him get home.
  • Amazons: Female warriors, defeated by Heracles, Theseus, and Achilles.
  • Aphrodite: (= Roman Venus) Goddess of love, mother of Aeneas.
  • Apollo: God of disease, healing, poetry, and music.
  • Ares: (= Roman Mars) God of war.
  • Artemis: (= Roman Diana) Goddess of hunting and the death of women.
  • Athena: (= Roman Minerva) Goddess of cities, crafts, wisdom, and war.
  • Boars (Mythical):
    • Erymanthian Boar: Killed by Heracles.
    • Calydonian Boar: Killed by Atalanta and Meleager.
  • Bulls (Mythical):
    • Cretan Bull/Bull of Minos: Stolen by Heracles, eventually killed by Theseus as the Bull of Marathon.
    • Fire-breathing Bulls: Owned by Aeetes, defeated by Jason with Medea’s help.
  • Calypso: ("Hider") Goddess who detains Odysseus for seven years before releasing him.
  • Cattle, Mythical:
    • Of Helios: Odysseus’ men sacrifice one, and are punished.
    • Of Geryon: Stolen by Heracles, then stolen again by Cacus from Heracles.
  • Centaurs: Half-man/half-horse divinities.
    • Chiron: Teacher of heroes.
    • Pholus: Gives Heracles wine, which starts a fight.
  • Cerberus: Three-headed dog who guards the Underworld, stolen by Heracles and later returned.
  • Chiron: Kindly centaur who trains heroes in their youth (e.g., Achilles, Heracles, Jason).
  • Circe: Witch/goddess who turns Odysseus’ men into pigs but then welcomes and helps them all.
  • Cyclopes: Mythical creatures who forge Zeus’ thunderbolts, later become one-eyed ogres.
  • Demeter: (= Roman Ceres) Fertility goddess of crops, mother of Persephone.
  • Dionysus: (= Roman Bacchus or Liber) Fertility god of wine, son of Zeus and Semele.
  • Eros: (= Roman Cupid) Love, son of Aphrodite.
  • Furies: (aka Eumenides) Female deities who punish blood guilt (e.g., Orestes for killing his mother).
  • Hades: (= Roman Pluto or Dis) God of the dead.
  • Helen: Daughter of Zeus, wife of (1) Menelaus, (2) Paris, (3) Deiphobus; her leaving Menelaus caused the Trojan War.
  • Hephaestus: (= Roman Vulcan) God of metalworking and crafts, husband of Aphrodite.
  • Hera: (= Roman Juno) Goddess of marriage, wife of Zeus.
  • Heracles: (= Roman Hercules) Son of Zeus & Alcmena, known for his 12 Labors.
  • Hermes: (= Roman Mercury) God of travelers, thieves, messengers, and oratory.
  • Hestia: (= Roman Vesta) Goddess of the hearth.
  • Hydra (from Lerna): Many-headed snake that grows two heads for each one cut off, killed by Heracles.
  • Janus: (Roman) Two-headed god of bridges and beginnings; his gates at Rome when open = war.
  • Laestrygonians: Cannibal ogres who destroy all but one of Odysseus’ ships.
  • Lares: (singular: Lar) Roman domestic gods associated with the home.
  • Nymphs: Minor goddesses of nature.
  • Persephone: (= Roman Proserpina) Daughter of Demeter, stolen by Hades.
  • Perseus: Son of Danae and Zeus, kills Medusa and defeats a sea monster.
  • Polyphemus: One-eyed ogre, son of Poseidon, defeated by Odysseus.
  • Poseidon: (= Roman Neptune) God of the oceans.
  • Satyrs: (= Roman fauns) Goat/men divinities.
  • Talos: Bronze giant protecting Crete, disabled by Medea.
  • Theseus: Son of Poseidon/Aegeus, defeats the Minotaur and other heroic deeds.
  • Thetis: Nereid, wife of Peleus, mother of Achilles.
  • Zeus: (= Roman Jupiter) Storm god, king of the Olympians, enforces justice, hospitality.

Mortals

  • Aegeus: King of Athens, father to Theseus, gives Medea refuge after Corinth.
  • Aegisthus: Son of Thyestes, sleeps with Clytemnestra and helps kill Agamemnon.
  • Agamemnon: Commander-in-chief at Troy, killed on return home by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra.
  • Ajax: Son of Telamon, best fighter after Achilles, loses the contest for Achilles’ armor.
  • Alcinous and Arete: King and queen on Phaeacia, parents of Nausicaa, hosts to Odysseus.
  • Alcmena: Wife of Amphitryon, mother of Heracles by Zeus.
  • Amphitryon: Theban general, husband to Alcmena, resents her apparent adultery.
  • Anchises: Trojan, sleeps with Aphrodite, father of Aeneas.
  • Andromache: Wife of Hector, mother of Astyanax.
  • Argonauts: Sailors on the Argo with Jason, including Heracles, Orpheus, Polydeuces, Peleus, Meleager.
  • Argus:
    • Odysseus’ dog, welcomes him home and then dies.
    • Builder of the Argo.
  • Atalanta: A hunter, first to wound the Calydonian boar and given the hide in honor.
  • Augean stables: Filthy, Heracles cleaned them by diverting a river.
  • Briseis: Trojan, given to Achilles as a prize, taken away by Agamemnon.
  • Brutus: Lucius Iunius Brutus, helped avenge the death of Lucretia by killing Sextus Tarquinius.
  • Calchas: Prophet on the Greek side in the Trojan War; tells Agamemnon to sacrifice Iphigeneia after Agamemnon gives up Chryseis.
  • Castor and Polydeuces: (= Roman Pollux) Brothers of Helen & Clytemnestra, they sail with Jason.
  • Clytemnestra: Wife of Agamemnon, kills him as punishment for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia.
  • Coriolanus: Early Roman aristocrat, turns against Rome; his wife/mother convince him not to attack.
  • Deianeira: Daughter of Meleager, wife of Heracles, kills him by accident with a poisoned shirt.
  • Dido: Queen of Carthage, delays Aeneas from his quest in a love affair like Calypso/Circe.
  • Etruscans: A people north of Rome with a large cultural impact, provided the first Roman kings.
  • Eurystheus: King of Mycenae, Heracles is forced to perform the labors he dictates.
  • Hecabe: (= Roman Hecuba) Queen of Troy, wife of Priam, mother of Hector.
  • Hector: Son of Priam and Hecuba, main fighter on the Trojan side, killed by Achilles.
  • Hylas: Argonaut and youth beloved of Heracles, stolen by water nymphs.
  • Iphigeneia: Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sacrificed so the Greek fleet could sail.
  • Jason: Son of Aeson, leader of the Argonauts, gets the golden fleece plus Medea, but their marriage fails.
  • Laocoon: Trojan priest who recognizes the wooden horse as a trap, killed by sea serpents.
  • Lavinia: Daughter of king Latinus, Aeneas’ eventual bride, fought over in Aeneid.
  • Leda: Wife of Tyndareus, mother of Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor, and Pollux by Zeus as a swan.
  • Lemnian Women: Murdered their husbands, later slept with the Argonauts.
  • Lotus Eaters: Inhabitants of a “death island”; Odysseus has to drag his crew away once they eat the lotus.
  • Lucretia: Roman aristocrat, raped by Sextus Tarquinius; binds her husband to vengeance and kills herself.
  • Medea: Colchian princess and witch, helps Jason retrieve the golden fleece, later kills their children.
  • Meleager: Heroic figure who hunts the Calydonian boar, kills his uncles in a rage, and dies when his life log burns.
  • Nausicaa: Phaeacian princess, finds and clothes Odysseus and brings him to her parents.
  • Nemean Lion: Beast with impenetrable skin and claws that cut anything, killed by Heracles.
  • Neoptolemus: Son of Achilles who slaughters Priam before an altar, later killed by Orestes.
  • Nessus: Centaur who tries to abduct Deianira, gives his blood as a love potion when killed by Heracles.
  • Odysseus: King of Ithaca, husband to Penelope, creates the Trojan horse, hero of the Odyssey.
  • Oedipus: Son of Laius and Jocasta, accidentally kills his father and marries his mother.
  • Orestes: Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who avenges his father by killing his mother.
  • Paris: Trojan prince, marries Helen, poor fighter in Iliad but major in the Trojan tradition, kills Achilles.
  • Patroclus: Close friend of Achilles, wears Achilles' armor and dies at the hands of Hector.
  • Peleus: Mortal, marries Thetis, father of Achilles.
  • Pelias: Jason’s evil uncle, killed by his daughters when Medea dupes them into chopping him up.
  • Pelops: Son of Tantalus, wins a wife by cheating in a chariot race, later killed and served to the gods.
  • Penelope: Wife to Odysseus, deceives the suitors in his absence, stays loyal to him.
  • Phaeacians: Kindly hosts of Odysseus, known for escorting travelers.
  • Phrixus and Helle: Plotted against by step-mother Ino, escape sacrifice by riding a golden ram.
  • Priam: King of Troy, husband of Hecabe, father of Hector.
  • Rhea Silvia: Daughter of deposed king Numitor, mother of Romulus and Remus by Mars.
  • Romulus and Remus: Children of Mars and Rhea Silvia, found Rome, Romulus kills Remus.
  • Sabine Women: From a tribe near Rome, stolen to provide early Roman settlers with wives.
  • Scylla and Charybdis: Multi-headed monster who eats Odysseus’ men, whirlpool that drowns everything.
  • Sextus Tarquinius: Son of Tarquin the Proud, raped Lucretia and was killed for it, end of the monarchy.
  • Sirens: Monsters with alluring voices who lure sailors to their death; Odysseus defeats them.
  • Tantalus: Evil king who fed his son Pelops to the gods, condemned to hunger/thirst in the Underworld.
  • Tarquin the Proud: (= Tarquinius Superbus) Last Etruscan king of Rome.
  • Telemachus: Son of Odysseus and Penelope, helps his father kill the suitors.
  • Theseus: Son of Poseidon/Aegeus, kills the Minotaur.
  • Turnus: Leader of an Italic tribe (Rutulians), plays the role of Hector in the Aeneid, killed by Aeneas.

Concepts/Items/Events

  • Abduction of Helen:
    • By Theseus, retrieved by her brothers.
    • By Paris, taken to Troy.
  • Amorous Goddess: Folk tale type (e.g., Ishtar and Gilgamesh, Circe inviting Odysseus to sleep with her).
  • Anthropomorphism: Giving human traits to gods/other nonhumans.
  • Apotheosis: Deification or becoming a god (e.g., Romulus, many Roman emperors).
  • Apple of Discord: “For the fairest,” thrown at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.
  • Argo: First ship ever built, carried Jason and the Argonauts on their quest.
  • Argonautica Material in Odyssey: Some borrowed (e.g., clashing rocks, Scylla & Charybdis).
  • Armor of Achilles: Made by Hephaestus, contested after his death; Odysseus wins, Ajax commits suicide.
  • Blinded Ogre: A story type that may lie behind the Polyphemus episode in the Odyssey.
  • Bow of Heracles: Has toxic arrows, given to warrior Philoctetes, needed for Troy to fall.
  • Cannibalism: Rare (e.g., Tantalus serves Pelops to gods, Atreus serves Thyestes his own kids).
  • Clashing Rocks: Jason and the Argonauts get through; Odysseus declines.
  • Contest of the Bow: Set by Penelope to choose a husband, Odysseus wins.
  • Curses, Inherited: (e.g., on the descendants of Tantalus until Orestes is acquitted).
  • Death Islands: Impossible to leave (e.g., Lotus Eaters, Laestrygonians, Calypso’s island).
  • Descent to the Underworld Story: (Katabasis) (e.g., Aeneas, Aeneid Book 6).
  • Divine Visit: (Theoxeny) story (e.g., Zeus visits Tantalus, is served Pelops).
  • Dragon Chariot: Gift of Helios to Medea, enables her escape from Corinth, sign of divine ancestry.
  • Dragon Slaying: Defining feat of Indo-European heroes = defeating chaos/death (e.g., Heracles and Hydra, Jason and golden fleece-protecting dragon).
  • Elysium: Good part of the Underworld to reward the virtuous.
  • Embassy to Achilles: Iliad, bk 9, sent by Agamemnon to compensate for loss of Briseis; Achilles refuses.
  • Eponymous Ancestor: The origin of a name (e.g., Romulus and Rome).
  • Etiological Story: Explains how something came to be (e.g., origin of the Tarpeian rock at Rome).
  • Folk Tale: Stories about ordinary people, talking animals.
  • Girl’s Tragedy: Story type of rape by a god, illegitimate child, punishment, etc. (e.g., Rhea Silvia).
  • Golden Fleece: From the ram sent to rescue Phrixus and Helle, owned by Aeetes, stolen by Jason.
  • Hero: (= heros, Greek concept) Mixed parentage, brought up in the wild, divine protectors/opponents.
  • Hero’s Friend: Close partner, sometimes a double who dies in his place (e.g. Enkidu to Gilgamesh, Patroclus to Achilles, (reduced version), Iolaus or Hylas to Heracles).
  • Hesperides’ Apples: Wedding gift to Hera, guarded by nymphs/dragon; Heracles steals but returns them.
  • Hippolyta’s Belt: (aka girdle) Won by Heracles in combat with the Amazons.
  • Hospitality: (Xenia) Obligations of courteous treatment between guests and hosts.
  • Human Sacrifice: Rare in Greek myth (e.g., of Iphigeneia (Agamemnon), Polyxena (Neoptolemus)).
  • Justice: (Dikê) Proper treatment of others, enforced by Zeus.
  • Legends: Stories about human heroes, set in the past (e.g., Aeneas).
  • Myth: A traditional story with collective importance, especially about gods.
  • Nostos: Return home, a story type; after long travels, a returning king finds chaos at home.
  • Oath of Tyndareus: Helen’s suitors agree to retrieve her if stolen; why they fight at Troy.
  • Odysseus’ Bed: Built from a living tree by Odysseus, symbolic, contrasts Hephaestus’ trap bed.
  • Ogre Blinded Story: Folk tale that probably lies behind Polyphemus story, Odyssey book 9.
  • Palladium: Small statue of Athena, stolen by Odysseus so Troy will fall.
  • Penelope’s Web: The shroud she pretends to weave to buy time from the suitors.
  • Pietas: Roman concept, a sense of duty/responsibility towards family, country and gods.
  • Quarrel of Agamemnon and Achilles: Iliad, book 1, over a captive woman, Briseis.
  • Ransom of Hector: Iliad, book 24, Priam convinces Achilles, end of the wrath story.
  • Recklessness: Theme of the Odyssey, prevents a return home or nostos.
  • Roman Government: 753-510 BCE monarchy, 510-27 BCE republic, 527 BCE -fall, empire.
  • Schliemann, Heinrich: 19th-century businessman who discovered and excavated Troy.
  • Stoic Ideals: Emphasis on performing one’s duty, self-sacrifice, self-control; one reading of the Aeneid.
  • Syncretism: (“Blending”) Greco-Roman practice of identifying foreign gods with their own; stories about local heroes transferred to Heracles.
  • Twelve Labors of Heracles: Initially hunting/beast killing, then travel/monster killing.
  • Wedding in a Cave: Semblance, but not reality, of a real wedding, will fail (e.g., Medea and Jason, Calypso and Odysseus, Dido and Aeneas).
  • Witch in the Woods: Folk tale type (e.g., Circe turning Odysseus’ men into pigs).
  • Wooden Horse: Device built by Odysseus to infiltrate and sack Troy.
  • Wrath Story: Story type: offense against a god, anger, destruction, appeasement, new ritual (e.g., Apollo (Iliad, Book 1), Achilles (the rest of the Iliad).)

Places

  • Argos and Argive Plain: (in Peloponnese, Greece) Original home of Heracles.
  • Athens: Athena’s city, Greece.
  • Colchis: City on the eastern edge of the Black Sea, home to Medea and the golden fleece.
  • Crete: Home of Minos and the Minotaur, Bronze Age inhabitants known as Minoans.
  • Greece: Mediterranean country.
  • Italy: Mediterranean country.
  • Ithaca: Small island on the west coast of Greece, home of Odysseus.
  • Rome: Center of Roman empire, in Italy.
  • Sparta: Home of Menelaus and Helen, in Peloponnese, Greece.
  • Troy: In modern Turkey, near the Hellespont.

Source Texts

  • Aeschylus, Oresteia (= Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides)
  • Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica (= Jason and the Argonauts)
  • Euripides, Medea
  • Homer, The Iliad
  • Homer, The Odyssey
  • Livy, A History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita)
  • Virgil, The Aeneid

Images

(Recognize iconography - who is shown, doing what, any identifying objects or clothing, the story being illustrated. Do not need to know the medium, vase shape, provenance, date, painter, etc. You only need to know the images below, not the others on the lecture slides. Powell has additional information on many of these (noted below).)

  • Heracles & the cup of Helios (red fig. kylix c. 480 BCE) (Powell fig. 15.5)
  • Heracles kills the Nemean lion Black fig. amphora, c. 525 BCE (similar to Powell fig. 15.1)
  • Heracles, Erymanthian Boar, Eurystheus, and Athena black fig. c. 510 BCE (Powell fig. 15.3)
  • Young Heracles strangles snakes sent by Hera Pompeian fresco, c. 65 CE (Powell fig. 15.1)
  • Heracles and Cerberus, Caeretan black fig. hydria, ca 530 BCE
  • Dragon, Jason, golden fleece (hanging up behind dragon), Athena Attic red fig. kylix, c. 470 BCE (Powell fig. 19.5
  • Medea stabbing her child S. Italian water jug, c. 330 BCE (Powell fig. 19.8)
  • Attendant (throwing a rock), Leda and Zeus as a swan, Sleep (god) S. Italian water jug, c. 330 BCE (Powell fig. 20.2)
  • Sacrifice of Iphigeneia and rescue by Artemis (Agamemnon, Odysseus, Iphigeneia, Diomedes, Calchas, Upper level: Artemis bringing a deer) (fresco, Pompeii, 1st c. CE, Powell fig. 20.6)
  • Hephaestus, Thetis, and the new armor he mad for Achilles Attic red fig. kylix c. 490-80 BCE
  • Servants, Priam, Achilles, and Hector’s corpse (under the bed) Attic red fig. cup c. 480 BCE (Powell fig. 20.9)
  • Death of Trojan priest Laocoon and sons by sea snakes Greek sculpture, 2nd – 1st cent. BCE (Powell fig. 21.4)
  • Odysseus, Athena, Nausicaa Attic red fig. amphora 450-440 BCE
  • Telemachus, Penelope, and the shroud for Odysseus’ father (on loom) Attic red fig. cup, c. 440 BCE (Powell fig. 22.5)
  • Dido & Aeneas taking refuge in a cave where they ‘marry’, other figures sheltering from the rain Vergilius Romanus MS (5th c. CE)