Exam 4 Flashcards
Agamemnon
Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae, and when he returned, he flaunted his victory. He even had his new sex slave Cassandra. Clytemnestra lays a carpet down when he arrives which shows how prideful Agamemnon is. It is unsure of exactly how he died, but he died at the arms of his wife and her new lover Aegisthus. It was either with a net or in the bath tub.
Cassandra
She was a princess of Troy and one of Apollo’s unhappy lovers. She has the gift of prophecy, but no one ever believes her. She ends up getting captured in the Trojan War, and she becomes Agamemnon’s sex slave.
Clytemnestra
She is the wife of Agamemnon. While he is away she gets upset that he killed their daughter Iphigenia. Aegisthus ends up falling in love with her, so they plot their revenge and kill Agamemnon. Agamemnon’s son Orestes ends up killing Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
Aegisthus
He is a son of Thyestes, which already makes him a bit odd. When Agamemnon leaves, he ends up falling in love w/ Clytemnestra and rules in part with her. They make the plot to kill him, but he dies to Orestes.
Orestes
The son of Agamemnon. He probably grew up with an inflated view of his father. When he kills Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, he is plagued by Furies, and he goes to Delphi to find out how to stop them (he even sacrificed a pig to slow them down). He ends up going to Athens where Athena has to stop the furies. She puts Orestes on trial for his murder and rules in his favor. She justifies this by saying that he killed the king’s killer, and the mom is not actually responsible for the child’s genetics. She changes the names of the furies to Euminides which means “the kindly ones.”
Oresteia
Oresteia is the name given to three plays written by Aeschylus. They were Agamemnon’s Return (Agamemnon dies), Libation Bearer (Orestes kills), and Euminides (Orestes saved by Athena).
Odyssey
A series of books written by Homer that tells the story of Odysseus’s nostoi. It was written during 7th century BC. It is from the standpoint of Odysseus retelling his story to the Phaeacians and tells what happens when he gets back to Ithaca. He tells the story to King Alcinous.
Odysseus
He is the son of Laertes and Anticlea, and he is also the king of Ithaca. He is married to Penelope and has a son named Telemachus. He fights in the war and is successful; he gets Achilles armor and came up with the Trojan Horse. Some believe he is the one to convince Agamemnon to kill Iphigenia. He ends up making it back to Ithaca
Nostoi
Nostoi simply means a poetry homecoming, and the two nostoi we focused on was Odysseus and Agamemnon’s return.
Calypso
A nymph that lives on an island called Ogygia. Odysseus lived there for seven years and was originally in love with Calypso. He eventually just wants to go back home to Penelope. She bribed him w/ eternal youth, but he never gives in. He is basically just used for sex after that point. Athena convinces Zeus to stop the torture of Odysseus. Hermes eventually allows Odysseus to leave the island. This was towards the end of his journey.
Cyclops
This happens 3rd. Cyclops mean “circle eye.” Odysseus and his crew eventually get on an island inhabited by cyclops, and he knows the Phaeacians hated Cyclops. Odysseus head to a cyclops’s cave named Polyphemus and trespasses. He doesn’t steal because he wanted to test their hospitality. Polyphemus eats the men. Odysseus stabs Polyphemus in the eye w/ a hot rod and it blinds him. This makes Polyphemus scream, and this attracts more cyclops. The other cyclops go away because Odysseus hides, and he told Polyphemus that his name was “no one.” Polyphemus might’ve been in love with a nymph named Galatea. Odysseus ends up telling Polyphemus his name, and Polyphemus throws a boulder at his ship. Polyphemus also gets Poseidon to curse Odysseus, which makes travel hard for the rest of the story.
Cicones
This is what happens first after leaving Troy. Odysseus and his men stop at Ismarus in Thrace, which is the land of the Cicones. They sack the city and devour sheep, cattle, and wine. The next day the neighboring Cicones attack and kill six men from each ship. The Greeks then leave.
Lotus Eaters
This happened early on in his journey (2nd). Odysseus and his men arrived on an island where people only ate lotus. It didn’t harm people, but anyone who ate it wanted to stay on the island forever. Odysseus stays strong and eventually has to drag his friends off the island.
Aeolus
This happened 4th. Aeolus is the wind-king, and Odysseus came to his island. Aeolus spends his days dining with his six sons and six daughters, whom are all married to each other. Aeolus dines with Odysseus and gives him a special gift: a sealed cowhide bag that contains the dangerous winds. Odysseus and his men leave, and almost makes it all the way to Ithaca. His men get greedy because he thought the bag had gold in it and open it. The bag pushes them back to Aeolus who does not help thm this time.
Laestrygonians
This happens 5th. After Aeolus, Odysseus and his men arrive on the land of the Laestrygonians. The men go out with the king, and the king eats one of them. The other Laestrygonians smash the ships with giant boulders. They harpoon and eat all the men except for Odysseus and his lucky crew.
Circe
This happens 6th. Circe is the daughter of Helius, and she lives on the island Aeaea where Odysseus and his men arrive. Odysseus stays on the ship while the men investigate the island when Eurylochus comes back. He said that the men drank a potion that turned them into pigs. He goes to investigate and Hermes gives him moly (a magical root) that protects him from Circe’s magic. She can’t turn him into a pig, but she offers to go to bed with him. He makes her swear she can’t do harm to him(she would castrate him if she didn’t). Circe then releases the men from their enchantment, and the men live there for a year. They end up leaving, and Circe gives them advice on what to do next.
Sirens
This happens 7th. Odysseus crosses the river ocean, talks with Tiresias in the underworld, and sail away. They approach the island of the Sirens, whose songs no man can resist. Odysseus’s mean plug up their ears, but he does not because he wants to listen to the song. They tie him up, and he tells them to release him, but they eventually make it past.
Scylla
This happens 8th. After the sirens, the men come to a double evil. One one side of a strait there is Charybdis and on the other is Scylla. The decide to go through Scylla. Scylla is a monster w/ 12 feet, 6 necks, 6 heads, 3 rows of teeth in each head. She is hidden by a cliff, so Odysseus stands on the prow w/ a sword. She ends up devouring 6 mean anyway.
Charybdis
He was a monster in the ocean. He was an enormous whirlpool that sucks down and spits up a torrent of water three times a day. Odysseus tries to avoid this but ends up fighting Scylla.
Helius
This is 9th. Odysseus and his men come to Thrinacia, the island of Helius. Helius’s cattle graze on this island, and Circe warned them not to eat the cattle. They end up getting stuck on the island due to the winds and start starving so they have to eat fish. While Odyssues is away praying, Eurylochus ends up caving, saying, “he would rather die with a full belly than live like this.” Odysseus comes back and sees the damage that had been done. They go to sail away and Zeus smashes their boat with a thunderbolt. Everyone dies except for Odysseus. He drifts back to Charybdis and gets shot to the island Ogygia.
Euryclea
Euryclea is the nurse who took care of Odysseus when he was little. She is the first person to realize that he is Odysseus when he gets back, but he makes her stay quiet. She notices him by a scar on his leg.
Penelope
Odysseus’s wife, she took care of the palace while he was gone. She was also assaulted by the suitors while Odysseus was gone. She tricks the suitors by saying that she’ll marry one of them when she finishes the tapestry she’s making. She actually goes back down at night to undo all the work she did during the day. She makes a contest and whoever wins gets to be her wife. The contest is to string her husband’s bow and shoot an arrow through the holes of 12 ax handles. Odysseus gets the bow, shoots it through the 12 ax handles, then starts massacring the suitors.
Telemachus
Odysseus’s son, he had to deal w/ the suitors as well. He ends up killing the suitors with Odysseus as well.
Roman History
Monarchy: 753 to 509 BCE. 1st King was Romulus from Alba Longa. Rome wasn’t very strong yet.
Republic: 509 to 31 BCE. Citizens overthrew the king. 2 Consuls ruled. Rich’s vote had more emphasis. Last 100 years had a lot of political violence. It was built for a small city not an empire.
Empire: 31 BCE to 476 CE. 1st Emperor was Augustus. Still had elected positions but emperor was ultimately in charge of everything.
Religion
Numina: They were divine spirits, could have been a c up, springs, ponds, and other inanimate objects. They worshipped these like the Greeks worshiped gods. The Olympians became numina.
Penates: Household gods, gods specific to people’s household
Lares: Gods specific to locations like a neighborhood.
Genii: savior or guardian angel of the house.
Apotheosis: the process of becoming a god. Roman rulers like Romulus and every emperor after Caesar and Augustus became gods.
Aeneas
Son of Aphrodite and Anchises. He was the “first” Roman. He led the Trojans after the war to Rome. He got lost in Carthage and fell in love with Dido. He was known for pietas. He fell in love with Dido, but he had to leave her. He had a katabasis. He ends up leaving Carthage and has to fight off Latium and Turnus. He wins and starts the city Lavinium.
Anchises
He is the father of Aeneas. Aphrodite falls in love with him, and he gossips about her so Zeus hits him with a lightning bolt. This leaves him lame/disabled. Aeneas has to carry him away from Troy. He sees Aeneas in the underworld and tells him that Rome will take over the world. He also sees the souls of the future Romans.
Ascanius/Iulus
He is the son of Aeneas. His mother is Creusa (Aeneas’s first wife), and she dies on the trip to Rome. He gets rescued from Troy with his dad. He ends up becoming the founder of Alba Longa.
Dido
This was Aeneas’s lover in Carthage. She is also the Queen of Carthage (her first husband died). They consummate their relationship in a cave. She gets upset when Aeneas leaves and kills herself. She blames Aeneas for her suicide in the underworld.
Turnus
Turnus is in love with Lavinia before Aeneas. He starts a war against the Trojans when Aeneas arrives. He is also the prince of the Rutulian tribe. Aeneas kills him and gets Lavinia as his prize.
Lavinia
She is the princess of Latium; daughter of King Latinus. She ends up getting married to Aeneas after the war. He names the city he finds “Lavinium” in her honor.
Aeneid
This is a book written by Vergil between 30-19 BCE. It tells the stories of Aeneas’s voyage from Troy to Carthage to Latium. (Voyage, Carthage and Dido, Sicily and Anchises burial, Katabasis with the Sibyl of Cumae, and the war against Turnus).
Vergil
Author of Aeneas, lived from 70 BCE to 19 BCE, Roman poet.
Augustus
He was the first emperor of Rome. He was said to be like Aeneas. He made the people of Rome happy because he ended the political corruptness.
Romulus and Remus
They were the twins of Rhea Silva and Ares. They were raised by a wolf first then a sheep. They grow up to kill their uncle the King of Alba Longa. They start their own nation and Romulus kills Remus.
Rhea Silva
Mom of Romulus and Remus. She was the brother of the corrupt king of Alba Longa. He tried to stop people from having kids, so he could rule Alba Longa. She ends up getting raped/seduced by Ares/Mars.
Rape of the Sabine Women
Romulus realized that Rome had no women, so he held a festival and invited the surrounding nations and the Sabine families to the festival. He got his men to kidnap the Sabine women, and they became the wives of the people of Rome. They were skeptical at first but relented when they heard that they were going to be wives.
Horatii and Curiatii
This happened in a war between the Romans and the Albans. The Horatii were Roman triplets and the Curiatii were Alban triplets. Instead of fighting an entire war, it is just fought between the triplets. A horatii triplet is the only man left standing. He returns home to find out that his sister was married to one of the Curiatii, and he kills her.
Tullia
She was the daughter of Servius Tullius. Servius Tullius was the 6th king of Rome. He had two daughters but both of them were named Tullia. They married brothers, and one of them was having an affair with her brother-in-law. He was Tarquin the proud and Rome’s last king. Tarquin murdered his brother and her sister, so they could rule. He then took the throne and killed Tullius. He threw his body down the steps into the street and Tullia ran him over with her carriage.
Lucretia
A “good” Roman woman. Her husband, Collatinus, was in war, and the soldiers wanted to know which was the best wife. They went back home and found that Lucretia was weaving while all the other wives were gossiping or having affairs. This made Sextus Tarquin horny so he raped her. She tried to stop him, but he threatened to kill her and say that she had an affair with her servant. She ends up killing herself because she can’t live knowing that she had an affair (even though she was raped). This makes her husband mad, and he overthrows the corrupt monarchy. He becomes one of the two 1st elected consuls.
