Exam #2 Flashcards
Aegis
“Goat skin”
Emblem of Zeus’ power.
Object that inspired terror in all who held it.
Shown as a shield.
Represented the storm cloud of the weather god.
Zeus
Father of all gods and men.
Married to his sister Hera.
Brother to Hades and Poseidon.
God of Justice.
Xenia
“Formal institution of friendship”
Protected by Zeus.
Courteous relationship between the guest and the host was established for safe travels.
Moerae
“The fates”
In control of destiny.
Daughters of Zeus and Themis.
Zeus cannot act against Fate.
Graces
Born from Zeus’ union with Eurynome.
Three in number.
Personify the feminine qualities that make man attracted to women.
Often seen with Aphrodite.
Ganymede
Prince of the royal house who Zeus fell in love with.
Shepard.
Mortal.
Was carried to Mount Olympus to be a cupbearer for the Greek Symposium so Zeus could be close to him.
Hera
Zeus’ wife.
Name means “lady” or “ruler” or feminine hero.
Goddess of marriage and fertility.
Earlier: May have been mother-goddess of the crops. Symbol was the cow.
Son = Hephaestus
Poseidon
Brother of Zeus and Hades. Ruled the sea. Lacked Zeus' goodwill towards humans. Terrifying. Can unleash earthquakes.
Hades
Did not live on Mount Olympus. Brother to Zeus and Poseidon. Name means "the invisible" Lives in the underworld. Married Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
Anthropomorphism
Characteristic of Greek myth.
Gods and Goddesses resemble human and human qualities. They are just immortal and full of power.
Greek gods conceive bodies like humans except that they are eternally beautiful.
Nymphs
“Young women”
Referring in life to married women who have not given birth yet.
Often with armor and surround the gods in myth.
Minor deities who are NOT immortal.
They are divine.
Can be a terrifying spirit.
Apollo
Brother to Artemis. Mother is Leto. God of prophecy. God if healing. God of Archery.
Delphi
Second part of Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
About Apollo and what he has to do to establish his temple at Delos and how he has to establish himself as a god.
Delos
Where Apollo was born.
First part of Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
Tells of how Apollo was born and the deal that his mother made with them so that she could give birth there.
Pythia
Made predictions about the future.
Can communicate with spirit.
Prophetess at Delphi.
Oracle of Apollo.
Cassandra
Beautiful woman…. Apollo fell in lustful relations.
She demanded that she be granted with prophets powers in return for her sexual relations.
She got what she wanted w/o sex.
She can always speak the truth. But now, no one will believe her.
Sibyl at Cumae
Apollo fell in love with her.
Gave her as many years of life as she could pick up in a pile of sand (the individual grains) in return for sexual relations.
She got what she wanted w/o sex.
She lived as long as she should have but she grew to be shriveled and ugly.
Daphne
Best known affair of Apollo.
She was a nymph.
She rejected him but he followed her into the mountains. For protection, she was turned into a laurel tree by her father.
= why laurel is Apollo's sacred plant.
Was given to athletes at Delphi.Asclepius
Greek god of medicine.
Daughter birthed by Apollo and Coronis.
Coronis
Mortal women who Apollo had relations with and gave birth to Asclepius.
While pregnant, Coronis slept with another man.
Story told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Hermes
Son is Pan. Protects travelers AND thieves. Homeric Hymn to Hermes tells of how he worked to earn the appreciation of his father, Zeus, by first stealing the cattle of his brother, Apollo. "He of the stone heap" Messenger god.
Herm
Stones/pillars to warn off intruders.
The stone pile that Hermes spirit was said to have lived in.
Maia
Hermes mother. (With help of Zeus)
Pan
Son of Hermes.
Form was only partially human. (Half animal like the marina dude)
Concerned with pastures and fertility.
Fertility of the flocks.
Hephaestus
Not of Greek origin.
Here’s son.
Said that Zeus threw him from heaven after siding with his mother during a dispute.
Thrown out of Mount Olympus twice.
Special association with the island of Lemnos.
God of fire.
God of cross men ( important to artisans)
Lemnos
Island that the origin is suspected that came from Hephaestus.
Caduceus
The god's wand. Staff intertwined with two snakes. What they (merchants?) carry as an emblem of Hermes.
Psychopompos
“Soul guide”
Hermes plays this role when he leads the dead into the House of Hades.
Argeiphontes
Hermes slayed hundred eyed monster, Argos.
Hermes was called this meaning “slayer of Argus” afterwards.
Ares
Son of Zeus and Hera.
Most hated of all gods.
God of war.
Had relations with Aphrodite.
Hestia
Oldest child of Cronus and Rhea.
First swallowed. Last regurgitated.
“Hearth”
Just the fireplace in every house.
Aphrodite
Embodies the overwhelming power of sexual attraction.
Child with Ares is Eros, meaning “sexual desire”
i.e. Cupid.
Born from foam or “Aphros”
Cypris/Cytherea
Where Aphrodite went right after arising from the foam. (Her birth)
Hermaphroditus
Had an affair with Hermes which led to the birth of this beautiful boy.
Salmacis sees him as wishes that they never be separated. They soon morph into one.
Priapus
Birthed by Aphrodite and Dionysus or Hermes.
Garden-deity, fertility fetish with a erect phallus which warded off the evil eye.
Pygmalion
King of Cyprus.
Prayed to Aphrodite to have a wife just like the one in the ivory statue (which was Aphrodite herself)
= honorable actions so he was rewarded
Adonis
Birthed by a myrrah tree.
Hero.
Aphrodite fell in love with him.
He fell in love with the kill which in turn killed him.
Anchises
Mortal man.
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.
Aphrodite fell in love with him forcibly by Zeus so that she wasn’t a threat.
Artemis
Not Greek. Mistress of the animals. Heavily associated with nature. "Potnia Theron" Virgin goddess
Potnia Theron
“Mistress of the animals”
Associated with Artemis.
Niobe
Woman who had several children and bragged to Leto about how she had more children.
Apollo and Artemis kill all of them with arrows.
Orion
Giant hunter.
Later killed by Artemis to be made a constellation.
He is spotted in the underworld hunting by Odysseus which means that he wasn’t being punished.
Actaeon
Hunter who saw Artemis in the nude while he was bathing.
Story told of human sacrifice.
Callisto
Artemis’ favorite follower.
A nymph.
Took a vow of chastity.
Zeus raped and got her pregnant.
Artemis sees the baby bump while bathing in the spring. And he turns her into a bear.
Bear was shot and killed by Artemis. Baby saved by Hermes. Baby name = Arcas
Athena
Virgin goddess. Takes name from Athens. Not Greek. Emblem is the owl. Wearing armor, helmet, and carrying spear, holding a shield. Protector if male heroes. Born from Zeus' head.
Arachne
Master weaver who challenged Athena to a weaving contest.
Female.
Wins.
Insulting.
Later turned into a spider after trying to kill herself.
Demeter
The goddess of grain and rich harvest.
Mother to Persephone.
Persephone
Daughter of Demeter.
Marries Hades.
Parthenos
An unmarried Virgin.
i.e. Persephone
Kore
What Persephone is called.
“Daughter” or “girl”
Eleusinian Mysteries
Famous religious cult of Demeter.
Promised to the initiates that they will have a better condition of life in the afterlife. It also teaches not to fear death.
Triptolemus
Hero in Athenian myth and Greek art.
Will travel around the world (told to by Demeter) to teach the science of agriculture.
Hieros gamos
“Sacred marriage”
Refers to that of Persephone and Hades.
Marriage between a god and goddess.
Dionysus
Admitted into Olympus later on.
Different than all the other 12.
God of wine and life force.
Semele
Who Zeus fell in love with to create Dionysus.
Ino
Queen of Orchomenus.
Who Hermes carried the child to.
Semele’s sister.
Dressed Dionysus in clothing as a baby to protect her from Hera. (Hermes told her to)
Nymphs oh Nysa
Who raised Dionysus as a child so that he would be protected from Hera.
Bacchae
Female followers of Dionysus.
Also called Maenads.
Carried thyrsus.
Maenads
What the Bacchae were also referred to.
Female followers of Dionysus
Thyrsus
Staff crowned with a pinecone or a bunch of ivy leaves.
Carried by the Bacchae.
Satyrs
Male followers of Dionysus.
Usually seen: half human, erect and enormous phalli, tails/ears of horses, goat legs.
Silenus
General term for an old satyr.
OR
name of one in particular: ugly, drunk, fat. Told of tall tales. So drunk he cannot stand.
Midas
Local king near India.
Provided hospitality to Dionysus.
Granted him one wish: everything he touched would turn to gold.
Dionysus made that happen alright. Even to his food and water.
Ariadne
Who Dionysus married.
Found her abandoned on an island by Theseus.
Lycurgus
King of a tribe in Thrace.
Showed resistance to Dionysus.
Minyads
Three daughters of King Minyas refused to join Dionysus’s religion.
Turned into a wild scene. Eventually he turned them into bats….. Love darkness and reject the light.
Pentheus
King that refuses Dionysus.
In Thebes. ( city of his birth)
Told about in Euripides play, the Bacchae.
Thespis
Added to pre-existing topics to create the drama.
Well know for bringing the “first actor” to the scene.
Hades
Brother to Zeus and Poseidon.
“The unseen one”
Lives in the underworld and rules over all of the dead.
Pluto
What Hades was also called.
“Enricher”
Because from beneath the earth comes minerals and agricultural wealth.
Tiresias
Most famous seer in Greek myth.
Who Odysseus goes to to seek advice from.
Ghost.
Tantalus and Sisyphus
Guilty of violence against the gods.
Homer is more interested in their punishments rather than their crimes.
Served their son at a banquet to test how far they could go.
Elysium
Where a blessed few end up in the after life.
The opposite of hell.
Like a heaven beneath the ground.
Orpheus
Famous for singing with lyre. Some day he invented it. Not Hermes.
Music enchanted wild animals.
Traveled to the underworld.
Eurydice
Who Orpheus fell in love with.
On wedding day, she was about to be raped. She ran. A snake bit her on the heel and she died.
Zagreus
What Zeus calls Dionysus in the end.
Unknown meaning.
Pythagoras
Known for the philosophical claim that says the essence of reality resides in the relations among numbers, proportions, and measures.
Seem to be connected to Orpheus
Er
Man.
Killed in battle but ten days after, he was found still alive and he was able to tell his story.
Acheron
River.
Boundary of Dis’s realm.
In underworld.
Charon
Ferryman on the boat in the underworld.
Must have a fare or they have to wait 100 years to cross.
Ixion
Famous sufferer who lusted after Hera.
Zeus made a cloud of Hera and he pounced on it which killed him. (Thunderbolt)
Miasma
“Blood pollution”
Referring to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.
What he ‘cleansed’ after defeating the python.
Eidolon
“Image of”
Ghost=
Eidolon of a living man
How Hercules appears to Odysseus in his travel to the underworld.
