Chapter 12: The Underworld Flashcards
What is the psyche?
The breath of a human, it is what distinguishes the living from the dead
How could you banish a ghost?
Burn it on a pyre, imprison it beneath a large stone, cut the corpse into pieces
What God led the dead to Hades and what was he often known as?
Hermes led the dead to Hades and he was often called Psychopompos (soul guide)
What was the Athenian festival in which ghosts could live freely with the living for a day?
The spring festival of Anthesteria
Who instructed Odysseus to seek advice from the ghost of Tiresias?
Circe
Who was Tiresias?
He was the most famous seer in Greek myth, having had lived as both a man and a woman (transformed into a woman as punishment for killing a snake). Hera blinded him but Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy
Who was Elpenor?
The comrade of Odyssues who had died at the palace of Circe
Who was Odysseus’ mother?
Anticlea
What was the punishment of Tantalus?
To be forever hungry and thirsty. He had a vine of fruit growing above his head that he could never reach and the water below him that he could not drink
What happened to Eurydice after she and Orpheus married?
She was pursued by a beekeeper named Aristaeus who attempted to rape her. She was then bitten by a snake on her heel and died
What was Orpheus particularly skilled with
He was a skilled singer and lyre player
How did Orpheus try to bring Eurydice back to earth?
He convinced Hades and Persephonê with his beautiful singing however could only bring her back on the condition that he didn’t look back until they wee both in the mortal world again
Why did Orpheus fail?
He looked back before they entered the mortal world
What did Orpheus invent after failing to be with Eurydice?
Homosexuality
What was Plato’s myth of Er?
Each soul could choose a new path of life, the soul was immortal. All the souls travelled to the Plain of Lethe then camped by the River of Unheeding
Who was Aeaneas?
He escaped from the burning wreckage of Troy
Why did Aeneas have to travel to the Underworld?
He was told to speak to his dead father Anchises
Who was the guide of Aeneas?
Apollo’s one love, Sibyl
What offering did Aeneas leave Persephonê?
A golden bough
What were two epithets that Hades was known by?
Polydegmon (receiver of many) and Polyxenos (host to many)
As the one who led the dead to Hades, what was Hermes known as?
Psychopompos (soul guide
Who is Ixion?
He lusted after Hera and Zeus made a cloud version of her which he pounced on and his seed tumbled through the cloud onto the earth (from which sprang Centaurus). He was then bound to a wheel of fire that slowly turns through the eternal mists
Who are the Danaids?
The killed their husbands on their wedding night and their punishment was to fill a vat with jugs of water that had no bottoms
