Classics 106 - Test 5 Flashcards
Theseus
- son of aethra & aegeus
- raised by mother and sent to father when he was strong/old enough
Cecrops
- half-man, half-serpant
- claimed by Athenians as basis of their origin
Procne
- wife of tereus
- sends for sister who gets raped by procne’s husband
- serves son to husband
- turned into nightingale after incident
Philomena
- sister of procne
- repeatedly raped & tongue cut out by Tereus after he fell in love with her
- turned to a swallow
Tereus
- husband of procne
- father of Itys
- served child as punishment for what he did to wife’s sister
Itys
- child of tereus & philomena
- served to father after he raped wife’s sister
Aegeus
- father of theseus
- king of athens
- dies when theseus comes home without changing the black sail
Aethra
- princess of troezen
- mother of theseus after affair with aegeus
Hippolytus
- youth who rejected advances of phaedra
- cursed by theseus and zeus after he “raped” her
Phaedra
- wife of theseus
- sister of ariadne
- falls for hippolytus who rejects her
- commits suicide after claiming he raped her
Pirithous
- son of Ixion
- king of lapiths
- tried to kidnap queen of the dead
Erichthonius
- early king of athens, succeeded cecrops
- born when athena being pursued by hephaestus wipes his seed of her leg on piece of wool and throws it to the ground
Erechtheus
-brother of procne & philomena
Pandion
- father of pronce, philomena, erechtheus
- suceeded erichthonius
Minotaur
- half-man, half-bull
- king minos required 7 athenian maidens/young men to be sacrificed to bull
Ariadne
- helped theseus slay minotaur
- since she shamed her family, she travels to athens with him
- theseus leaves her in sleep > saved & immortalized by Dionysus
Thebes
- Boetia “cow-land”
- cadmeians/cadmea
Cadmus
- went to search for sister after she is kidnapped by Zeus
- married daughter of ares & aphrodite (harmonia)
- children semele, ino, agave
Antiope
- zethus & aphion > children with zeus
- betrayed by sister dirce
Dirce
- aunt of zethus and amphion
- killed by bull set on her by nephews for betrayal
Oedipus
- destined to kill father Laius and marry/breed with mother Jocasta
- after he fulfills his destiny and realizes what he did, gauges his eyes out and wanders alone as poor man
sphinx
winged lion with woman’s head
siren
bird with human head, typically female
Adrastus
- king of argos
- dies with Polynices in seven against thebes
- rescued from death by winged horse Arion
Jason
- father aeson, brother of pelias
- raised by centaur chiron when exiled by Pelias
- fathered a son with one lemnos woman
- sent to fetch golden fleece that “flew” to king aeetes in aea
- king did not want to part with it > sent jason on tasks
Argo/Argonauts
- lemnos: populated by foul smelling women who killed their husbands
- rescue blind seer phineus from harpies
Medea
- falls for jason, helps him get the fleece
- kills brother/dissects him
- has two sons with jason
- enraged when husband has to marry young princess
- kills her and the king through wedding gifts
- kills children and jason
- escapes to athens where she marries aegeus
- soon banished when she tries to kill theseus
Meleager
- destined to live as long as a log
- father Oeneus/mother Althea
- killed his uncles
- killed
Atalanta
- female warrior who was nearly impossible to beat
- in funeral games of Pelias, she wrestled achilles father
- races suitors to find her mate
- hippomenes wins
Bellerophon
- hero from corinth
- had pegasus>winged horse born from severed head of medusa
- acidentally killed someone > purified by king of tiryns/argos
- queen claimed he raped her b/c he would not be her lover
- offered lycian princess as rewards from Iobates
- not satisfied, tried to fly to olympus but fell and died
- pegasus made it
Proetus
- king of tiryns/argos
- purified bellerophon
- later exiled him to Iobates for “raping” his queen
Iobates
- king of lycia
- sent bellerophon on dangerous tasks
chimera
lion with she-goat head on back and snake tail
Procrustes
-man who altered people to fit his beds
Pasiphae
- daughter of helius [sun-god]
- wife of minos
- mother of ariadne, phaedra, and androgeus
Daedalus
-great craftsman imprisioned by minos to create labyrith for minotaur he ‘helped’ create
Icarus
- took wings made by father to escape crete
- flew too close to the sun and fell to his death
Pelias
- evil king/uncle of Jason
- killed by daughters who were tricked by Medea (sorceress linked to hera)
