Collegiate Questions—Intermediate

Question 1

What daughter of Iasus was among those gathered by Oeneus to hunt the Calydonian Boar, and established a footrace to determine her husband, losing to either Melanion or Hippomenes?

Answer 1

ATALANTA

B1: What group was Atalanta notably not allowed to join?

ARGONAUTS

B2: Into what were Atalanta and Hippomenes transformed after defiling the temple of a deity?

LIONS (LION AND LIONESS)

Question 2

In the Aeneid, the gleam of Messapus’s helmet attracts Volcens’s attention and reveals the night raid in the Rutulian camp conducted by what unfortunate pair of Trojan lovers?

Answer 2

NISUS and EURYALUS

B1: In which book of the Aeneid, the only one where Aeneas himself never appears, does this occur?

(BOOK) NINE // NINTH (BOOK)

B2: Earlier in the Aeneid, Nisus and Euryalus competed in a race in the funeral games of Anchises, where Nisus lost his first-place lead due to what unfortunate accident? Provide a description.

SLIPPING IN A POOL OF BLOOD (FROM A RITUALLY SACRIFICED BULL)

Question 3

What unfortunate mythological woman, an ancestor of both Cadmus and Perseus, was chased to Egypt by a gadfly after escaping the clutches of Argus in the form of a cow?

Answer 3

IO

B1: Io’s son, Epaphus, was known for mocking what son of Clymene about his supposed divine parentage, causing him to travel East to his father’s palace?

PHAETHON

B2: Who was Cadmus and Europa’s father, a great-grandson of Io?

AGENOR

Question 4

What maiden, who was turned into a hideous monster by the jealous Circe, devoured six of Odysseus’ men at the Strait of Messina, where she lived along with Charybdis?

Answer 4

SCYLLA

B1: Who approached Circe and asked for a love potion in hopes of wooing Scylla?

GLAUCUS

B2: Who did Circe transform into a woodpecker for spurning her advances?

PICUS

Question 5

Who was guarded in a box by Aglaurus and Herse after springing from the ground during Hephaestus’s botched attempt to rape Athena, and soon became king of Athens?

Answer 5

ERICHTHONIUS

B1: According to Ovid, what god attempted to pursue Herse, provoking Aglaurus’s jealousy?

MERCURY

B2: Who was the third sister of Aglaurus and Herse who also guarded the box?

PANDROSUS

Question 6

After using the backbone of a fish as inspiration to invent the saw, who was hurled from the Acropolis and became a partridge because he provoked the jealousy of his uncle Daedalus?

Answer 6

PERDIX

B1: Daedalus was subsequently tried for murder at what site in Athens?

AREOPAGUS

B2: The Areopagus is named after Ares, who was tried there when he killed what son of Poseidon?

HALIRRHOTHIUS

Question 7

In Book 19 of the Odyssey, what woman notices a scar on the inner thigh of the man she bathes, since she was the nursemaid of Odysseus?

Answer 7

EURYCLEIA

B1: What was the name of Odysseus’ dog, who, upon recognizing the scent of his master for the first time in twenty years, wagged his tail in happiness before dying?

ARGUS

B2: Name either the son or the daughter of Dolius who have almost exactly the same name and both betrayed Odysseus in favor of the suitors.

MELANTHO or MELANTHIUS

Question 8

Birds fought around the tomb of what son of Eos, who came to aid Priam but was killed by Achilles along with many of his Ethiopians?

Answer 8

MEMNON

B1: Memnon did manage to kill what son of Nestor, a brother of Thrasymedes and Pisistratus?

ANTILOCHUS

B2: During the sack of Troy, the ghost of Achilles appeared to the Greeks and demanded they sacrifice what daughter of Priam and Hecuba?

POLYXENA

Question 9

What attendant of Hera, punished for her constant chattering, responded “There!” when asked “Is anyone there?” by the youth Narcissus, since she could only speak by repeating?

Answer 9

ECHO

B1: According to the seer Teiresias, Narcissus was fated to live a long life under what condition?

IF HE NEVER KNOWS HIMSELF (ACCEPT EQUIVALENTS)

B2: Some say that Echo was a love interest of what Arcadian god, who also chased the nymph Syrinx?

PAN

Question 10

Zeus entrusted Laelaps and Talus to guard what woman on the island where he left her — Crete — after taking her from Tyre and seducing her in the form of a white bull?

Answer 10

EUROPA

B1: Name one of the sons Europa bore to Zeus.

MINOS / RHADAMANTHYS / SARPEDON

B2: According to some accounts, who killed Talus either by drugs or a false promise to make him immortal?

MEDEA

Question 11

Who almost drank a cup of aconite when Medea tried to poison him at the court of his father, then joined a group of seven Athenian boys and girls to sail to Crete and defeat the Minotaur?

Answer 11

THESEUS

B1: Who was Theseus’s father?

AEGEUS

B2: Medea had arrived at Aegeus’s court after fleeing from what city, ruled by what king?

CORINTH; CREON

Question 12

What group, which included Alcyoneus and sometimes the two sons of Iphimedia, Otus and Ephialtes, were tasked by Gaia with taking down the gods after the Titans failed to do so?

Answer 12

GIANTS / GIGANTES

B1: Who was brought in to kill Alcyoneus by dragging his body outside the boundaries of his native Pallene?

HERACLES

B2: What related figure, also a son of Gaia, had a hundred snake heads and could imitate all sorts of animal noises?

TYPHON / TYPHOEUS / TYPHAON

Question 13

Acting on Apollo’s orders to kill his father’s murderers, who enlisted the help of Pylades and his sister Electra to kill his mother Clytemnestra?

Answer 13

ORESTES

B1: Who, the eldest sister of Orestes, later helped him steal a statue from the Taurians?

IPHIGENEIA

B2: What daughter of Menelaus created conflict between Orestes and Neoptolemus, since she was promised to both of them?

HERMIONE

Question 14

Despite agreeing to rule in alternate years, what pair of brothers killed each other after one fled to Argos and gathered seven heroes to take Thebes in the name of their father Oedipus?

Answer 14

POLYN(E)ICES and ETEOCLES

B1: After the siege of the seven was over and both brothers were dead, which subsequent king prohibited the burial of Polyneices, since he was considered a traitor to the state?

CREON

B2: Which two members of the Seven Against Thebes, one a seer who knew he was going to die and the other a cannibal who fathered Diomedes, came to hate each other?

AMPHIARAUS and TYDEUS

Question 15

What goddess, whose consort was suckled by a he-goat and eventually castrated himself, was associated with Rhea as a mother-goddess and worshipped in Phrygia alongside Attis?

Answer 15

CYBELE / CYBEBE

B1: What seeress of Mt. Ida, who refused to use her healing abilities on her lover, did Cybele teach the art of prophecy?

OENONE

B2: Attis’s mother was what daughter of the river god Sangarius, who became pregnant after she picked a blossom from an almond tree?

NANA

Question 16

What woman fled from a lion while trying to meet her lover at Ninus’s tomb, leaving her bloody veil and causing a misconception that ended with her suicide over Pyramus’s dead body?

Answer 16

THISBE

B1: Blood from Pyramus’s suicide stains the white fruit of what tree red forever?

MULBERRY

B2: Pyramus and Thisbe were lovers during the reign of what legendary ruler of Babylon?

SEMIRAMIS

Question 17

What deity’s roles in the Iliad include being healed by Dione — her mother — after she is wounded by Diomedes, as well as helping Hera get Zeus to fall in love with her again?

Answer 17

APHRODITE

B1: Aphrodite was wounded by Diomedes while protecting what offspring of hers?

AENEAS

B2: After borrowing a magic girdle from Aphrodite to inspire love in Zeus, Hera also goes to what minor deity for help, promising him the Grace Pasithea in marriage?

HYPNOS

Question 18

Dwellings among the Sintians on Lemnos and within the Sicilian mountain Aetna gave what god respite from mockery on Olympus and an opportunity to create weapons and other crafts?

Answer 18

HEPHAESTUS / VULCAN

B1: In the Iliad, who begs Hephaestus to build a shield for her son Achilles?

THETIS

B2: What queen of Lemnos, seemingly unrelated to the Sintians, presided over an incident where the Lemnian women all killed their husbands?

HYPSIPYLE

Question 19

For which of his labors did Heracles take the following actions: threatening Helius to get a golden cup to sail in; killing the two-headed dog Orthrus; and killing a three-bodied monster?

Answer 19

(STEALING THE) CATTLE OF GERYON

B1: What giant herdsman of Geryon did Heracles also kill? He shares his name with the centaur who incited the fight between the Centaurs and the Lapiths.

EURYTION

B2: In the Aeneid, what ally of Turnus was conceived on Hercules’ journey home after stealing Geryon’s cattle?

AVENTINUS

Question 20

Who was the main subject of Ocyrhoe’s prophecy, the father of Hygieia, Machaon, and Podalirius, and the indirect cause of the Cyclopes’ deaths as Apollo avenged his son’s murder?

Answer 20

ASCLEPIUS

B1: Asclepius is most commonly said to have been killed for reviving what mythological figure, who had been killed due to a frightening bull rising from the sea?

HIPPOLYTUS

B2: Ocyrhoe was the daughter of what mythological figure, who she predicted would choose to give away his immortality?

CH(E)IRON

Question 21

After his birth was facilitated by Galanthis, what infant strangled two snakes sent to kill him, shocking Amphitryon and Alcmene and setting the stage for his service to Eurystheus?

Answer 21

HERACLES

B1: Who had sent those two snakes?

HERA

B2: Into what animal was Galanthis transformed?

WEASEL

Question 22

What deity, who accidentally ate Pelops’s shoulder, wandered for nine days before Helios told her her daughter’s location, then denied the Earth crops until Persephone was returned?

Answer 22

DEMETER [ACCEPT “CERES” BEFORE “HELIOS”]

B1: What city, ruled by Celeus, did Demeter visit and establish as the home of her mystery rites?

ELEUSIS

B2: Some sources say one condition for Troy’s fall was that Pelops’s shoulder bone be brought to the city. Another condition was that what statue of Athena be taken from the city?

PALLADIUM

Question 23

What youth, sometimes rationalized as an early astronomer or historicized as a king of Elis, lies on Mount Latmus enjoying eternal sleep after being visited by Selene?

Answer 23

ENDYMION

B1: According to Ovid, what youth was abducted by Aurora early in his life, but released when she saw how much he loved his mortal wife?

CEPHALUS

B2: Accounts of Endymion as king of Elis claim that his three sons ran a footrace to determine who should succeed him. Name the winning son.

EPEIUS

Question 24

What god killed Lycurgus, turned the daughters of Minyas into bats, and caused Agave to tear off the head of her own son Pentheus as he and his Maenads introduced the vine to the world?

Answer 24

DIONYSUS

B1: In what Boeotian city, sometimes a close friend and sometimes a rival of Thebes, was Minyas king, like Athamas and Erginus?

(BOEOTIAN) ORCHOMENUS

B2: In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the daughters of Minyas tell several stories. One of them describes how what woman was buried alive because of Helios’s interest in her?

LEUCOTHOE

Question 25

Who was told to bury both Misenus and his helmsman Palinurus at various points on his journey with the Cumaean Sibyl into the Underworld, where he saw his father Anchises?

Answer 25

AENEAS

B1: Palinurus earlier advised Aeneas to wait out the storms on which island, where Aeneas had held funeral games honoring Anchises?

SICILY

B2: What deity was responsible for Palinurus’s death? Give the Roman name.

SOMNUS