Greek Mythology Flashcards
Cronos gave his name to ________.
Time
Who was Cronos?
Father of the gods
How had Cronos obtained power?
Killing his father, Oranos
What did Oranos mean when he made the prophecy, “…crime begets crime”?
Criminals would be enemies with other criminals
What were the names of the children that Cronos swallowed?
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon
How did Rhea trick Cronos when she had Zeus? Who raised Zeus?
She hid Zeus in a tree. A shepard family raised him.
How did Rhea and Zeus get the other five children back?
Cronos threw them up
Who was on Cronos’s side during the great battle?
The titans
Who was on Zeus’s side during the great battle?
His siblings and friends (monsters) he met on Mount Olympus
How did the word “panic” originate?
The goat god, Pan, screamed
How is this story and Zeus killed Cronos associated with New Year’s Day?
A new era
In what two ways was Hera related to Zeus?
A sister and a wife
Why were Zeus and Hera always quarreling?
Zeus was set in his ways (strongly opinionated).
How did Hera outwit Zeus?
She drugged him, then tied him up.
The story of Zeus’s pursuit of Metis shows one of his abilities. What is it?
Shape shifting
Why did Zeus swallow Metis?
Because her child would hate him.
How was Athene born?
She came out of Zeus’s skull
What is Athene’s domain?
Goddess of wisdom
What are Athene’s contributions to man?
She taught man how to create the ax, the plough, the ox yoke, the wheel, and the sail.
Why do armies and judges pray to Athene?
She is the mistress of strategy.
What was Arachne’s talent?
Weaving
What did Arachne say to anger Athene?
Arachne said that she was better than Athene at weaving.
How did Athene challenge Arachne?
Weaving contest
What item did Athene use in her tapestry?
Cloud-wool
How is Arachne’s talent preserved to this day?
She became a spider.
What is an “arachnid”?
A spider
How did Cronos’s sons divide the world. Who received what?
They threw dice. Zeus got the sky (1st place). Poseidon got the sea (2nd place). Hades got the underworld (3rd place).
Why didn’t Poseidon want to marry Thetis?
Their son would be more powerful than him.
Who did Poseidon marry?
Amphitrite
What sea creature did Poseidon create for Amphitrite?
Dolphin
What did Poseidon and Athene quarrel over? What was Athene’s gift? Who won?
The city of Athens; olive tree; Athene
How did Poseidon woo (pursue) Demeter?
He created a horse.
What were the rejects from Poseidon’s creation of the horse?
Giraffe, hippo, zebra, donkey, and camel
Why did the Greeks put a coin under a corpse’s tongue?
So that the soul could pay the fare on the ferry that crossed the river, Styx
Who is Charon?
A person that rows the boat in the underworld
Who is Cerberus?
A three-headed dog that protects the underworld
Name the three judges of the dead.
Minos, Rhadamanthys, Aeacus
What was the punishment of the greedy King Sisyphus?
He can’t drink water.
What was the main activity of the Field of Asphodel?
To wait for nothing
What was the Greek equivalent to paradise?
Elysium
Describe Hades (the place).
Made of black rock
What was the job of the Furies?
To visit earth and punish evil-doers
What is Demeter’s domain?
Goddess of the cornfield, mistress of planting & harvesting, lady of growing things
Describe Persephone.
Looked like flowers and was in charge of flowers
Who is Persephone’s father?
Zeus
What happened to Persephone when she pulled a strange bush from the ground?
A big hole appeared and a chariot came out it. The guy on the chariot snatched her up.
How did Demeter find out what happened to her daughter?
She found Persephone’s little paintpot, overturned.
After her plea to Zeus fails, how does Demeter react to her daughter’s disappearance? What does she do?
She reacts poorly. She says she is going to go back to earth until Zeus calls for her.
Under what conditions could Persephone’s be returned to her mother?
If no food had passed her lips during her sojourn in Tartarus.
How is Hades trying to win Persephone’s favor?
By giving her everything she wants
How does Persephone feel about Hades (ON THE SURFACE)?
Doesn’t like being there. Wanted to leave.
How does Persephone feel about Hades (IN REALITY)?
Enjoyed his gifts and efforts.
What did Persephone eat?
Pomegranate seeds
What was Zeus’s compromise regarding Hades and Demeter’s argument over Persephone?
Persephone would spend six months a year with Hades because she ate six pomegranate seeds.
Why do we have summer and winter?
Demeter said that during the six months that Persephone is with Hades, there will be desolation everywhere.
In what form did Zeus pursue Leto?
Quail
What was Hera’s curse?
You will grow heavy with child, but you shall not bear anywhere the sun shines.
Who/what did Hera send to enforce her curse?
Leto
Where did Leto give birth to Artemis and Apollo?
An island called Delos
What gifts did Zeus give Apollo?
A golden bow, a quiver of golden arrows that couldn’t never be emptied, and a golden chariot drawn by golden ponies
What gifts did Zeus give Artemis?
Gift of eternal chastity, gift of changing your mind about it, and the gift to chose her own gifts
What metal/color is associated with Artemis?
Silver
What animals pull Artemis’s chariot?
Nymphs
What happened when Artemis shot one of her arrows into a city of unjust men?
The arrow killed everybody.
What did Artemis do to Callisto? Why?
Artemis changed Callisto into a bear because she was so beautiful.
How did Zeus save Artemis?
He put her in the stars.
What metal/color is associated with Apollo?
Gold
Apollo is the god of ________.
The sun
Apollo is the patron of ____________.
Music, poetry, mathematics, and medicine
Why did Apollo want to kill Python?
Because Python had hunted Apollo’s mother
What is an oracle?
A priestess, trained from birth
What did the priestesses of Delphi do?
Chewed laurel, built fires of magic herbs, and sat in the smoke where they saw what was to come
What did Apollo do to make amends with Gaea, Mother Earth?
Promised annual games at Delphi, named the Pythian games (after his enemy)
What happened to Marsyas? Why?
Apollo was jealous of Marsyas’s musical talents, so Apollo challenged him to an impossible music competition. Marsyas lost and Apollo nailed Marsyas’s skin to a tree.
List Apollo’s sons and their mothers.
Corybantes (mother: Thalia), Aristeus (mother: Cyrene), and Amphissus (mother: Dryopes)
Asclepius’s mother was ________.
Coronis
What was the job of the white crow?
To spy on Coronis
What was the result of Apollo’s scorching curse?
All of the crows have become black
Why did Apollo kill Coronis?
She was in love with Ischys.
When was Asclepius born?
After Coronis had died
What was Asclepius’s teacher? What did he teach the boy?
Chiron; diagnostics, surgery, herbology, and hunting
What did Asclepius do to anger the gods, particularly Hades?
Snatched several patrons from the gates of Tartaris
Who did Apollo retaliate after Zeus killed Asclepius?
He killed all of the Cyclopes that had forged the thunderbolt, which had killed his son.
How did Aphrodite get even with Apollo?
She ordered Eros to strike him with a love arrow and then strike Daphne with indifference.
How did Apollo honor the laurel tree?
Gave a crown of laurel tree leaves (that would never die) to the people who won the games
What kind of mischief did Hermes get into shortly after his birth?
Snuck out of his crib and stole cows
How did Apollo discover Hermes’s mischief?
The crows told him.
What gifts did Hermes give to Apollo?
Lyre and pipes
What type of personality do you think Hermes has?
Swifty, ingenuity, cheerful
What is Hermes’s job?
Messenger god
Over what else (besides being the messenger god) does Hermes control?
Liars, thieves, gamblers, commerce, treaties, and travelers
What are some of Hermes’s inventions?
Alphabet, astronomy, the scales, playing cards, and card games
Why was Hera upset when Hephaestus was born?
He was shriveled and ugly.
After Hera threw Hephaestus out of Mount Olympus, what physical disability did the baby have?
Unable to crawl
Who raised Hephaestus?
Thetis
How did Hephaestus come to be accepted back on Mount Olympus?
Hera demanded him back
What is Hephaestus’s domain?
Smith-god
What is Aphrodite’s domain?
Goddess of love and beauty
How was Aphrodite “born”?
Cronos murdered Oranos, and Aphrodite came out of him in the sea (primal murder)
Whom did Aphrodite choose as her husband? Why?
Hephaestus. He said that he would be a good husband for a girl like her and that he works late.
