Greek Myth #3

Question 1

What does Katabasis mean in english? What does it mean in terms of mythology?

Answer 1

The march downward or the downward hike.

In Greek myth it is the living persons journey to the Underworld.

Its not what ghosts of the dead do, its what living, walking person does: Heracles, etc.

Question 2

Name 5 mythical characters that successfully made the katabasis journey and survived?

Answer 2

1. ) Orpheus
2. ) Theseus - his companion Peirithous did not return
3. ) Heracles - 12th Labour (Kerberos)
   4) Odysseus - Homer’s Odyssey
   5) The young woman Psyche: from ancient Greco-Roman fable of Cupid and Psyche

Question 3

How did Orpheus’s wife die?

Answer 3

Snake bite

Question 4

What did Orpheus do when his wife died?

Answer 4

He tried to bring her back to life from the Underworld

Question 5

Why was Orpheus’s strategy in the Underworld different then Heracles?

Answer 5

Instead of brute force, he employed singing and lyre-playing, talents in which he outshone all mortals.

Question 6

Who did Orpheus want to impress in his voyage to the Underworld?

Answer 6

Hades and Persephone

Question 7

Was Orpheus successful in persuading the rulers of the Underworld to release his wife Eurydice?

Answer 7

He “partially” succeeded, Eurydice was released from death, but only on the condition that Orpheus could not look back as she followed him up into the light.

In myth, such prohibitions are made to be broken, being human, he did look back and Eurydice receded into the darkness.

Question 8

What did Orpheus do with his life after returning from the Underworld without Eurydice?

Answer 8

Remarriage was ruled out by Orpheus,
he roamed the Thracian countryside lamenting his loss until he was torn limb to limb by a group of maenads.

maenad, female follower of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus. The word maenad comes from the Greek maenades, meaning “mad” or “demented.” During the orgiastic rites of Dionysus, maenads roamed the mountains and forests performing frenzied, ecstatic dances and were believed to be possessed by the god.

Question 9

What is said to have happened to Orpheus’s severed head?

Answer 9

His head floated down the Thracian river Hebros and into the sea, the current led it to the island of Lesbos, it is said to be singing still.

This myth provides an aetiological explanation for the exalted poetic reputation of Lesbos, home of many renowned poets.

Question 10

What was Orpheus’s profession?

Answer 10

Musician

Question 11

Where did Orpheus access the Underworld from?

Answer 11

Aornum cave, near the River Acheron and the Oracle of the Dead

Question 12

Who is Psyche married to?

Answer 12

Cupid (Eros in Greek mythology, Cupid is Roman Mythology)

Question 13

How does the legend of Cupid and Psyche begin?

Answer 13

Venus is jealous of Psyche for being the most beautiful girl on Earth. She sends her son Cupid down to Earth to make Psyche fall in love with some ugly old man.

Instead, unknown to Venus, Cupid falls in love with Psyche himself and arranges to marry her, in complete secrecy.

Question 14

What Disney movie copies parts of the story of Cupid and Psyche?

Answer 14

Beauty and the Beast

Question 15

What is different about Psyche and Cupids marriage?

Answer 15

Psyche never sees her husband or is never told his identity.

Question 16

Where is Psyche brought after getting married to Cupid? What is strange about the time they spend together?

Answer 16

A luxurious mansion where invisible servants wait on her.

At night she is visited by her husband, who seems to be young man, yet she never sees him in the darkness.

Nightly they converse, make love, and sleep together, by morning he is gone.

Question 17

What does curiosity make Psyche do, in regards to her husbands instructions?

Answer 17

She brings an oil lamp to bed to see him in the light, she sees the luminous skin of a god and feathery wings. Unluckily a drip of the oil drops on him and wakes him up.

Appalled at having been disobeyed by her, he flies out the window and leaves the marriage

Question 18

What happens with Psyche after Cupid leaves her?

Answer 18

She atones for sins by becoming a slave or servant to her tyrannical mother-in-law, Venus.

She takes on four labours (similar to Heracles), if she completes them, Cupid will return to her.

The assignments are meant to be impossible but not fatal. Venus WANTS her to fail.

But Psyche always succeeds, partly due to mysterious divine help, not from Venus.

Question 19

What is different in regards to Psych’s last labour?

Answer 19

Venus wants to kill her and trap her in the Underworld forever. (During her katabasis)

Question 20

What is Psyche’s task in the Underworld?

Answer 20

To bring an empty jar and ask Persephone to fill it with some of her beauty, enough for one brief day.

Venus wanted to apply it before attending a gathering of the gods.

Question 21

What mysterious object provides guidance to Psyche in regards to her katabasis? What is she told to do instead?

Answer 21

The turret of the tower itself. She is guided to Cape Taenarum, where she will find a breathing hole of the Underworld.

Question 22

What items is Psyche told to bring on her katabasis?

Answer 22

Two barley-cakes soaked in honeyed wine.

Two coins in her mouth.

Question 23

What is the purpose of the two barley-cakes (Psyche)?

Answer 23

To bribe Kerberos, on the way there and the way back.

Question 24

What is Psyche warned not to do with the jar once its filled with Persephone’s beauty?

Answer 24

Avoid human temptation to open it up or look at it… but of course she does, whereupon a sleeping-spell engulfs her. “But the tale ends happily: Eventually, Psyche is reunited with her husband, Cupid, and is reconciled with
her mother-in-law, Venus. “