Classics 270 Exam 1

Divine myth: myths pertaining to the cosmos or universe, cosmogony and theogony, supernatural forces

Legend: tale of distant human past, it is believed people lived in physical places of Greece, demigods

Folktale: commonplace stories for entertainment

Etiological tale: describes the beginnings of something

Folktale types: commonplace events/people/incidents identifiable across stories. ex) cinderella

Folktale motifs: distinct or unusual motifs. ex) “cap of invisibility” “dragon guarding spring

Boeotia: Region north of Attica where Thebes is situated

Attica: Region in central Greece where Athens is located

Peloponnesus: south of Attica, smaller peninsula

Laconia: Territory in the southern Peloponnesus surrounding Sparta

Euboea: Long island east of Attica

Aegean Sea: great Greek natural resource for fishing, communication with the world

Cyclades: islands placed in circle around Delos

Indo-Europeans: early Greeks that originally were from central Asia

Late Bronze Age: emergence of first Greeks, Lubear B writing system

Mycenaean Age: between c. 1600-1200 BC

Achaeans: division of Greek people, Homer’s word for Greeks at Troy

Linear B: writing system on clay tablets

Ionia: western coast of Asia Minor

Archaic Period: invention of the Greek alphabet, polis, rebirth of commerce

Polis: politically independent city-states that emerged in the archaic period

Classical Period: emergence of the world’s first democracy, rule by written law, Golden Age, writers like Aeschylus

Peloponnesian War: rival leagues of Sparta against Athens, Greece never recovered

Hellenistic Period: period of Greek culture between Alexander the Great’s death and the ascendency of Rome (post 323 BC)

Pederasty: love for young boys

Hoplites: heavily armed men in war

Parthenos: a vigin

Miasma: blood pollution

Narcissus: died of love for himself, turned into a flower

Roman Period: Roman takeover, Romans adopted and adapted Greek ideals

Etruscans: inhabitants of Etruria, north of Rome

Potnia Thêrôn: goddess of the animal, figure of Artemis

Mesopotamia: land between the rivers

Sumerians: People of Southern Mesopotamia

An: sumerian sky god

Inanna: Sumerian fertility goddess

Enlil: Sumerian storm god

Enki: Sumerian clever god of the fresh waters

Semites: pushed out Mesopotamian people

Akkadians: Semitic people of Mesopotamia, took over Sumerian cities

Hebrews: most widely known of Semitic people, trace ancestry back to Abraham

Hittites: Indo-European warrior people in central Anatolia

Homer: composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey

Epic: a long poem on a heroic topic

Hesiod: Greek poet and composer of Works and Days and Theogony

Homeric Hymns: collection of poems, composed orally, believed to be by Homer

Humanism: combination of ethics and secular law

Choral song: memorized for public presentation by groups of dancers, to tell myth

Tragedy: form of popular entertainment to be performed, focused on concerns of typical man of the times

Aeschylus: earliest tradgedian writer with surviving works, The Oresteia

Sophocles: poet that wrote men how they ought to be

Euripides: poet that wrote men how they truly were

Apollonius of Rhodes: poet that wrote an epic poem on Jason in the style of Homer

Library of Apollodorus: account of mythical events from creation of the world to the death of Oddyseus

Vergil: greatest Roman poet told story of Aeneas

Ovid: poet that is source of period of the early Roman empire

Metamorphoses: written by Ovid, influential of Greek myth

Cosmogony: story explaining the origin of the world

Theogony: story explaining the origin of the gods

Chaos: chasm the void

Gaea: earth, has 12 titans, cyclopes, and hecatonchires with uranus

Uranus: sky, overthrown by cronus, 12 titans

Tartarus: has a child with Gaea, is the chasm of underworld

Eros: sexual desire

Titans: offspring of Uranus and Gaea

Cyclopes: one eyed giants, main weapons for gods

Hecatonchies: 3 brothers, 50 heads, 100 hands for use in battle, children of Gaea and Uranus

Cronus: child of Uranus and Gaea, husband of Rhea, overthrew Cronus, overthrown by son Zeus

Oceanus: titan, husband of Tethys, the stream that encircles the Earth

Rhea: titan, wife of Cronus, mother of Zeus

Helius: sun god, son of Hyperion, father of Phaëthon

Eos: the dawn goddess

Phaëthon: son of Helius and Clymene

Tithonus: brother of Priam, beloved of Eos, given eternal life - not eternal youth, turned into a grasshopper

Erinyes: the furies or Eumenidies

Giants: violent large beings

Sphinx: riddling monster that threatened Thebes

Cerberus: offspring of Echidna and Typhoeus, multi-headed monster guarding the entrance to the underworld

Chimera: offspring of Echidna and Typhoeus, lion’s body, snake’s tail, goat’s head from back, killed by Bellerophon

Thetis: Nereid wife of Peleus, mother of Achilles

Titanomachy: war between generations of titans and olympians

Atlas: titan, son of Iapetus and Clymene, holds up the sky

Typhoeus: monstrous offspring of Gaea, overcome by Zeus

Typhonomachy:

Succession myth: younger generation of gods overthrows the previous, takes power of the father

Gigantomachy: war between Olympian gods and the Giants

Tiamat: Babylonian monster in Enuma Elish

Anu: Mesopotamian sky god

Ea: Akkadian equivalent of the Sumerian Enki, clever god of flowing water

Marduk: Babylonian storm god

Prometheus: titan, maker, and benefactor of humankind

Pandora: first woman on Earth, created by Zeus to punish Prometheus

Deucalion: son of Prometheus, husband of Pyrrha, survivor of the great flood

Pyrrha: wife of Deucalion, daughter of Epimetheus, sruvived the great flood

Hellên: son of Pyrrha and Deucalion, eponymous ancestor of the Hellenes

Eponym: person who’s name is given

Zeus: son of Cronus and Rhea, the Greek storm and sky god

Aegis: goat skin, emblem of Zeus’ power

Xenia: a custom of friendship protected by zeus

Moerae: the fates, triad of female beings

Graces: 3 attendants of Aphrodite, feminine qualities that attract men

Ganymede: most beautiful Trojan mortal prince, beloved of Zeus, cupbearer of the gods

Hera: daughter of Cronus and Rhea, wife and sister of Zeus, goddess of marriage and fertility

Poseidon: son of Cronus Rhea, the Greek god of the sea

Hades: king of the dead, the underworld

Anthropomorphism: attribution of human features to nonhumans

Nymphs: young women, divine, virgins

Apollo: god of prophecy and healing, archer god

Delphi: the sanctuary of Apollo at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where Apollo slew Python

Delos: a tiny island in the center of the Cyclades, where Apollo and Artemis were born, center of the universe, sacred Greek city

Pythia: the prophetess at Delphi

Cassandra: Prophetic daughter of Priam and Hecuba, killed by Clytemnestra, cursed by Apollo

Sibyl at Cumae: oracle shrine on bay of naples

Daphnê: nymph, apollo wanted Daphne, but she asked her father to turn her into a tree (laurel)

Asclepius: son of Apollo and Coronis, the Greek god of medicine

Coronis: mortal woman, cheated on Apollo with mortal man, mother of ascelpius killed by Apollo for infidelity

Hermes: son of Zeus and Maia, the Greek god of travel, tricks, commerce, and thievery, stole Apollo’s cattle

Herm: stone pillars with human bearded head and erect phallus, believed to ward off theives

Caduceus: a wand with two intertwined snakes, carried by Hermes

Psychopompos: soul guide, nickname for Hermes, who leads dead into House of Hades

Argeïphontes: nickname for Hermes because he was the slayer of monster Argus

Maia: mother of Hermes

Cyllenê: a mountain in Arcadia where Hermes was born

Pan: God of woodland

Hephaestus: Greek god of smiths, son of Hera alone, husband of faithless Aphrodite

Lemnos: an island in the northern Aegean sea, associated with Hephaestus

Ares: Greek god of war and battle

Hestia: daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Greek goddess of the hearth, protector of the home

Aphrodite: Greek goddess of sexual love and attraction

Cypris: what aprhodite is referred as in literature

Cytherea: another name for what aphrodite is referred as in literature

Hermaphroditus: son of Hermes and Aphrodite, became bisexual when united with the nymph Salmacis: nymph that falls in love with hermaphroditus, and merges with him making him bisexual

Priapus: Ithyphallic garden deity

Pygmalion: king of Cyphes, Cypriote sculptor who fell in love with his statue which then came to life

Cinyras: father of Myrrha, has sex with her while drunk, tries to kill daughter when he finds out truth

Myrrha: turned into a tree by gods before she is slain by father, had sex with father, cursed by Aphrodite because her mother claimed she was more beautiful than Aphrodite

Adonis: child of myrrha and cinyras, split from tree of myyrha, beautiful hero, loved by APhrodite

Anchises: Prince of Troy, lover of Aphrodite, father of Aeneas

Artemis: Daughter of Zeus and Leto, virgin goddess of the wild, mistress of animals, sister of Apollo

Niobê: Wife of Amphion, cofounder of Thebes, sons and daughters killed by Artemis and Apollo

Orion: son of Poseidon, hunter, turned into a constellation

Actaeon: son of Autonoë, torn to bits by his own dogs

Callisto: nymph that took vow of chastity, raped by Zeus, changed into a bear by Artemis

Athena: sprung from Zeus’ head, virgin goddess of war and handicrafts

Arachnê: Lydian princess, challenged Athena in weaving, turned into a spider