Greeks & Romans (Gods) Flashcards
Zeus/Jupiter
King god, lightning and thunder
Hera/Juno
Wife of Zeus, goddess of marriage
Poseidon/Neptune
God of the sea and earthquakes
Aphrodite/Venus
Goddess of love and sexuality
Eros/Cupid
Aphrodite’s son, god of sexual desire, makes people fall in love
Ares/Mars
God of war and agriculture
Athena/Minerva
Goddess of wisdom and skill of warfare and handicrafts.
Associated with an owl.
Hephaestus/Vulcan
God of metal work
Artemis/Diana
Goddess of hunting, chastity.
Forests and hills, the moon, archery.
Apollo
God of music, prophecy, intellect.
Poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light, and knowledge.
Muses
Nine goddesses of inspiration.
Hermes/Mercury
Messenger god, god of traveller’s and thieves.
Trade, sports, trickster.
Iris
Goddess of the rainbow
Demeter/Ceres
Goddess of agriculture
Dionysus/Bacchus
God of wine
Hades/Pluto
God of the underworld
Agamemnon
Leader of the expedition, “most kingly” - assassinated in his bath by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover when he returned home.
Achilles
Son of Peleus (a mortal) and Thetis (a sea-nymph). Invulnerable except for his heel where he was held to be dipped in the river Styx, eventually killed by an aroma to the foot.
Ajax
Went mad after Achilles armor was awarded to Odysseus, committed suicide.
Menelaus
Brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen.
Nester
Oldest of the Greeks, always gave wise counsel.
Aeneas
Son of Aphrodite and mortal Anchises, founded Rome.
Hector
Son of Priam, leading Trojan warrior, his death = the climax of Iliad (foreshadowing the fall of the city and Achilles imitant death).
Paris
Son of Priam. His abduction of Hellen, wife of Menelaus, caused the war.
Priam
King of Troy. He ransomed the body of his son Hector from Achilles, and died when the city fell.
Cassandra
Daughter of Priam, predicted the Trojan war but was not believed.
