CLT 3370 Exam 2

Question 1

Define/ Explain importance: legends

Answer 1

human heroes or heroines are the main characters to look up to/ aspire to be, heroes may seem almost superhuman, but are not supernatural.
Set in human past and have some historical accuracy

Question 2

Define/ Explain importance: folktales

Answer 2

main characters are ordinary people, no set chronology
Used to justify or teach certain behaviors

Question 3

Define/ Explain importance: “A Hero’s Journey”

Answer 3

The Hero’s Journey- archetypal framework to look at stories or myth with heroes in them, type of monomyth
3 parts- departure, initiation, and return

Question 4

Define/ Explain importance: Gilgamesh

Answer 4

Story of King Gilgamesh of Uruk (Mesopotamia), follows Hero’s Journey structure common in Greek myths about heroes.
Important due to its age (one of the oldest), its influence on the Greeks (both in religion and story), common hero story motifs

Question 5

Define/ Explain importance: Eurystheus

Answer 5

Cousin of Herakles, the one who gives Herakles the twelve labors he completes.
Born at 7 months due to Hera not wanting Herakles on the throne in Mycenae.

Question 6

Define/ Explain importance: cretan bull

Answer 6

labor 7 of Herakles, who was sent to capture the bull. The bull is let go and then wanders to Marathon and is killed there by Theseus

Question 7

Define/ Explain importance: Cecrops

Answer 7

first king of Athens, autochthonous, half-snake and half-man, taught the Athenians civilized skills like how to bury the dead

Question 8

Define/ Explain importance: Amazonomachy

Answer 8

City of Athens v. the Amazons
Theseus (as king) kidnapped Antiope (queen of the Amazons), the Amazons almost won but didn’t.
Meant to reflect the superiority of Athenian culture (under Theseus and continued to the Classical Period).

Question 9

Define/ Explain importance: Centauromachy

Answer 9

At Pirithoüs’s and Hippodamia’s wedding (friends of Theseus), centaurs (Pirithoüs’s cousins) get drunk and kidnap Hippodamia.
The centaurs are defeated, but Hippodamia dies shortly after.
Fight is featured on a side of the Parthenon.

Question 10

Define/ Explain importance: King Minos

Answer 10

Son of Europa and Zeus, asked the gods to send a bull from the sea if he was destined to be king, Poseidon sent the Cretan Bull.
Linked to Pasiphaë (wife)/ Bull/ Minotaur, Daedalus (inventor), Daedalus and Icarus, son’s death leads to fight with Athens that ends when Theseus kills the Minotaur

Question 11

Define/ Explain importance: Daedalus

Answer 11

Inventor- made cow for Pasiphaë in Cretan bull story, labyrinth, wax wings in Icarus story (the dad)
Left for Sicily and solved a puzzle that lead to king Minos’s death

Question 12

Define/ Explain importance: Minoans

Answer 12

culture named after king Minos, dates back to mid to late bronze age around Crete. Oldest info we have.
Lots of writing artifacts that we can’t translate, used 2 writing systems, lots of art, big palaces, believed in a “mother goddess,” symbol of bull w double axes found everywhere

Question 13

Define/ Explain importance: Cadmus

Answer 13

brother of Europa and first king of Thebes- followed a cow to Thebes when he gave up looking for his sister/planted dragon’s teeth for citizens OR only founded Cadmeia (acropolis) while his brothers founded the lower city
Ancestor of Oedipus

Question 14

Define/ Explain importance: Seven Against Thebes backstory

Answer 14

After Oedipus, sons Polynices and Eteocles ruled by alternating years in power: Eteocles threw Polynices out of Thebes (power hungry), so Polynices goes to Argos where King Adrastus backs him to take back Thebes.
Polynices bribes Eriphyle (wife of Amphiaraüs) with the necklace of Harmonia to make her husband go to fight at Thebes.

Question 15

Define/ Explain importance: Seven Against Thebes aftermath

Answer 15

Oedipus dies/ becomes a spirit that protects Athens.
All seven heroes against Thebes take control of a gate, Creon becomes king.
Creon says not to bury any of the enemies but Antigone wanted to bury Polynices (her brother), disobeys Creon’s orders and gets caught, commits suicide before punishment.
Epoigoni- sons of the Seven Against Thebes fight at Thebes

Question 16

Define/ Explain importance: golden (ram) fleece

Answer 16

sacrificed to Zeus by Phrixus (escaped being a sacrifice by riding it far east), ram made the Aries constellation, fleece was given to Aeëtes and put in a grove sacred to Ares, guarded by a dragon.
Important to the myth of Jason (and the Argonauts)

Question 17

Define/ Explain importance: Medea (play)

Answer 17

Centers Medea in Corinth as Jason (husband) wants to divorce her for princess Glauce of Corinth (for the money and power), Medea is exiled and in her last day poisons/kills Glauce and her father, kills her and Jason’s 2 children, and runs away to Athens

Question 18

Define/ Explain importance: Meleager

Answer 18

Argonaut and member of the Calydonian Boar Hunt
Had a log that would kill him if consumed by fire (mom locked the log away to keep him safe), Meleager falls for huntress Atalanta and tries to give her the credit for the kill, his uncles die (either he kills them or in a battle) and his mother burns the log/kills him

Question 19

Define/ Explain importance: Atalanta

Answer 19

huntress favored by Artemis/ raised by a bear
challenged suitors to a foot race for her hand- if they lost she beheaded them. Suitor Melanion uses a golden apple to distract her, they marry and are turned into lions by Zeus when they sleep together in one of his sanctuaries

Question 20

Define/ Explain importance: Pelops

Answer 20

Son of Tantalus, cut into pieces and served to the gods by his father but put back together with an ivory shoulder, marries Hippodamia by messing with her father’s chariot and wins her hand/kills her dad.
Father of Atreus, king of Mycenae after Eurystheus died

Question 21

Define/ Explain importance: Agamemnon

Answer 21

Son of Atreus/ later king of Mycenae, ruler during the Trojan War and brother-in-law of Helen
Invokes the Oath of Tyndareus to start the war, lots of beef with Achilles, is killed by his wife upon his return for sacrificing their daughter at the beginning of the war

Question 22

Define/ Explain importance: Menelaus

Answer 22

Son of Atreus/ husband of Helen, convinces brother Agamemnon to invoke the Oath of Tyndareus and fights in the Trojan War, takes Helen back to Sparta at the end “happily” ever after

Question 23

Define/ Explain importance: Helen

Answer 23

daughter of Leda and Zeus/ Tyndareus, part of the Oath of Tyndareus and marries Menelaus
“face that launched a thousand ships,” falls for Paris after the Judgement of Paris and leaves with him to Troy

Question 24

Define/ Explain importance: Oath of Tyndareus

Answer 24

Lots of suitors wanted to marry Helen (princess of Sparta)
Odysseus knew he wouldn’t marry Helen, helped Tyndareus (“father,” her dad was really Zeus) make an oath in exchange for Penelope as his wife for all suitors to promise to protect and defend Helen and her husband if they need it.

Question 25

Define/ Explain importance: Judgment of Paris

Answer 25

Wedding of Peleus and Thetis had all the gods there, Eris threw the golden apple into the party for the “fairest.”
Paris (son of Trojan king Priam) made the one to decide if Hera (promising him power), Athena (promising him strength), or Aphrodite (promising him the most beautiful woman) is the fairest.
Paris chooses Aphrodite, she gives him Helen, he and Helen go to Troy

Question 26

Define/ Explain importance: Iphigenia

Answer 26

Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sacrificed by her father to appease Artemis (is saved by Artemis/becomes a priest for Artemis in some versions) before the Trojan War begins

Question 27

Define/ Explain importance: Homer

Answer 27

Wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
The Iliad- ca. 8th century BCE, 300-400 years between possible historical Trojan War and Homer, parts of the story became dramatic
Homer likely portrayed his own time’s customs and values.

Question 28

Define/ Explain importance: The Iliad

Answer 28

Written by Homer and covers part of the 10th year of the Trojan War (Achilles kidnapping Trojan women Chryseïs and Briseïs to Hector’s funeral).
“best” old documentation of the Trojan War, keeping in mind legends and historical accuracy.

Question 29

Define/ Explain importance: Hector

Answer 29

Trojan warrior, kills a bunch of Greeks and is favored by some gods, kills Patroclus and then is killed by Achilles, corpse is dragged behind a chariot around Troy by Achilles.

Question 30

Define/ Explain importance: Ajax

Answer 30

Greek warrior in the Trojan war, son of one of the Argonauts.
Wanted Achilles’s armor so bad he went mad, commits suicide in shame (killed sheep thinking they were Greek leaders).

Question 31

Define/ Explain importance: death of Patroclus

Answer 31

Patroclus suggests he wear Achilles’s (bestie/lover) armor (Iliad Book 16) and scare off the Trojans a little, Achilles half-heartedly agrees under the condition Patroclus stays away from Hector.
Patroclus kills a bunch of Trojans and doesn’t back down, Apollo disarms him and Hector kills him, his death makes Achilles re-enter battle wanting revenge against Hector.

Question 32

Define/ Explain importance: the Trojan Horse

Answer 32

Idea from Odysseus- horse hid 50 men and the rest were on ships out of sight.
Told the Trojans the horse was for Athena/ a peace offer, only 1 Trojan was suspicious but he was killed by snakes, Greeks massacred the city (killed men/boys/children, kidnapped women) that night

Question 33

Define/ Explain importance: Odyssey

Answer 33

Written by Homer, sort of a sequel to the Iliad
In media res, follows Odysseus trying to get home after the Trojan War
Major theme is xenia

Question 34

Define/ Explain importance: Xenia

Answer 34

“guest friendship” or politeness and welcoming a guest with food/shelter/entertainment/etc. for anyone that asked- meant to be returning kindness you would want and just in case the guest/traveler was a god in disguise

Question 35

Define/ Explain importance: Polyphemus

Answer 35

cyclopes/ son of Poseidon
Stabbed/blinded by Odysseus, curses them with the help of his father, is the reason it takes Odysseus so long to get home.

Question 36

Define/ Explain importance: Penelope

Answer 36

Wife of Odysseus, perceived by ancient Greeks as the ideal wife (waits for Odysseus, respects xenia, doesn’t talk)

Question 37

Hero’s Journey Outline: Perseus
(Ordinary world, call to adventure, crossing the threshold, the main goal of the journey (might be the ‘initial’ goal), and example tests (2) along the way, what happens when they get home, (how) do they die?)

Answer 37

Ordinary world- son of Zeus, mother Danaë was impregnated by gold dust, Danaë and baby Perseus imprisoned in Argos before floating to Seriphos where he grew up
Call to adventure- King Polydectes wanted to marry Danaë, sends Perseus to get a Gorgon’s head as a gift
Crossing the threshold- Athena goes to Perseus/leads him to the Graeae to get what he’ll need to defeat a Gorgon
Main goal- Bring back the head of a Gorgon for Polydectes
Example tests- Perseus steals the eye of the Graeae and won’t give it back until they tell him how to find the Hesperides, pit stop to save Andromeda from a sea monster using Medusa’s head
When they get home- Perseus turns Polydectes to stone with Medusa’s head, Perseus returns magical objects to gods/ gifts Medusa head to Athena, leaves and finds Mycenae/becomes king
(How) do they die?- N/A

Question 38

Hero’s Journey Outline: Theseus
(Ordinary world, call to adventure, the main goal of the journey (might be the ‘initial’ goal), and example tests (2) along the way, what happens when they get home, (how) do they die?)

Answer 38

Ordinary world- child of Aethra, Poseidon, and King Aegeus, grew up with his mother not knowing about his father(s)
Call to adventure- Theseus gets old enough that Aethra tells him about Aegeus and Athens
Main goal- get to Athens
Example tests- 2 of 6 labors: Labor 1 to kill Periphetes (son of Hephaestus, steals the club he would beat others with), labor 4 to kill Sciron (lived on a cliff and would push people off as they washed their feet, Theseus does it to him)
When they get home-Theseus gets to Athens, Medea tries to poison him but Aegeus (initially under a spell) recognizes and saves him, Theseus helps his father fight his uncle for control of Athens and wins
(How) do they die?- post-Minotaur and post-underworld, killed by another king when seeking advice on how to reclaim his throne in Athens, pushed off a cliff

Question 39

Hero’s Journey Outline: Jason
(Ordinary world, call to adventure, crossing the threshold, the main goal of the journey (might be the ‘initial’ goal), and example tests (2) along the way, what happens when they get home, (how) do they die?)

Answer 39

Ordinary world- grew up on Mt. Pelion with Chiron (safe away from uncle/ King Pelias of Iolcus
Call to adventure- unknowingly helps Hera, meets Pelias with one sandal (fulfills a prophecy), Pelias says he will give Jason the throne if he retrieves the golden fleece
Crossing the threshold- Creates the Argo (ship) and Argonauts (crew of heroes)
Main goal- Retrieve the golden fleece
Example tests- Most of the Argonauts stop at Lemnos (island of only women) and sleep with/impregnate all they slept with to regrow the population, help seer Phineus kill the Harpies that steal his food (cursed by Zeus) in return for advice on getting to Colchis
When they get home- (eventually) gets home and Medea “helps” (does all the work) kill Pelias/tricks his daughters into cutting him into pieces
(How) do they die?- rotting prow of the Argo (ship) falls on his head

Question 40

Herakles: labors/struggles (3), and fate

Answer 40

labors/struggles- Hera made Herakles go mad and kill wife Megara and their children thinking he was avenging Amphitryon’s death, Lernean Hydra labor to kill the water serpent with many heads/ cauterizes stumps so no heads grow back, Cretan Bull labor to capture it/Herakles grabbed the bull by the horns and threw it into the ocean/rode it back to the Peloponnese (bull later killed by Theseus)
fate- Wife Deianira accidentally poisons Herakles when trying to ‘love potion’ him, Herakles builds his own funeral pyre/ gives his bow to the guy that lights it, Herakles becomes a god and marries Hebe

Question 41

Theseus: labors/struggles (3), and fate

Answer 41

labors/struggles- Medea tries to poison Theseus so her unborn son will be king, Amazonomachy (Amazons v. Athens), Centauromachy (helps save his friend’s wife after centaurs kidnap her)
fate- after killing the Minotaur and getting back from the Underworld, he is killed by another king/pushed off a cliff when seeking advice on how to reclaim his throne in Athens

Question 42

Oedipus: labors/struggles (3), and fate

Answer 42

labors/struggles- has to kill bandits on his way to Thebes (Laius) trying to escape prophecy, gets rid of the Sphinx in Thebes by answering the riddle correctly, Oedipus Rex play (whole plot)
fate- blinded, Oedipus wanders into the woods and becomes a spirit that protects Athens

Question 43

Achilles: labors/struggles (3), and fate

Answer 43

labors/struggles- Achilles v Agamemnon over Trojan women (plague hits Greek camp bc one woman’s father was a priest for Apollo), death of Patroclus, Achilles and his ‘love’ for Amazon Penthesilea (allied with Troy, Achilles kills her but feels a little bad)
fate- killed by an arrow from Paris (guided by Apollo), struck in his heel

Question 44

Odysseus: labors/struggles (3), and fate

Answer 44

labors/struggles- Polyphemus (cyclopes) and Poseidon’s curse, Circe (sorceress) turns some of his crew into pigs/Hermes gives Odysseus a charm to protect him from spells and the crew stay with Circe for a year, sirens and wax in the crew’s ears
fate- returns home to Ithaca and lives happily ever after with wife Penelope