Lecture 19/20

Question 1

Acheron

Answer 1

River of woe

Question 2

Styx

Answer 2

River of hate

Question 3

Lethe

Answer 3

River of forgetfulness

Question 4

Phlegethon

Answer 4

River of fire, also known as pyriphlegethon, surrounds Tartarus

Question 5

Cocytus

Answer 5

River of wailing

Question 6

Elpenor

Answer 6

Comrade to Odysseus, ‘unwept and unburied’, Elpenor asks Odysseus to give him a proper burial

Question 7

Anticlea

Answer 7

Mother of Odysseus, died due to longing for him, Odysseus tries to embrace her 3 times but fails

Question 8

Achilles

Answer 8

Spirit summoned by Odysseus, claims it is better to be a slave on earth than king of the dead

Question 9

Ajax

Answer 9

Greek hero who committed suicide after Odysseus was rewarded the armour of Achilles, refuses to speak to Odysseus

Question 10

Tiresias

Answer 10

Seer who tells Odysseus his destiny after drinking the blood

Question 11

Aeacus

Answer 11

One of the judges of the Underworld

Question 12

Rhadamanthus

Answer 12

One of the judged of the Underworld

Question 13

Minos

Answer 13

One of the judges of the Underworld

Question 14

Aeneas

Answer 14

Son of Anchises, seeks to visit the realm of Hades to visit his father, requires a golden bough, accompanied by Cumaean Sibyl, brought by Charon across the river Acheron

Question 15

Avernus

Answer 15

Lake whose name means ‘bird less’, where Aeneas enters the Underworld

Question 16

Calliope

Answer 16

Muse of Epic, mother to Orpheus by Oeagrus

Question 17

Centaurus

Answer 17

Monstrous child of Ixion and Nephele, father of all centaurs

Question 18

Cerberus

Answer 18

The hound of Hades, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, guards the realm of the dead, usually depicted with 3 heads

Question 19

Charon

Answer 19

Ferryman of the dead, across the river Acheron (or Styx)

Question 20

Danaids

Answer 20

50 daughters of Danaus (King of Argos), ordered to kill their husbands on their wedding night, punished by eternally filling leaky water jars

Question 21

Elysium

Answer 21

The Elysian Fields, paradise of the Underworld

Question 22

Erebus

Answer 22

Another name for the Underworld, the darkness of Tartarus

Question 23

Hypermnestra

Answer 23

Only Danaid who did not kill her husband

Question 24

Ixion

Answer 24

King of the Lapiths, first man to shed kindred blood (killed his father-in-law), purified by Zeus, attempted to rape Hera, eternally bound to a flaming wheel

Question 25

Katabasis

Answer 25

A descent into the Underworld

Question 26

Metempsychosis

Answer 26

1000 year cycle of souls in the Underworld

Question 27

Nekuia

Answer 27

Book 11 of the Odyssey, also known as the Book of the Dead, tells the story of Odysseus’ journey to the Underworld

Question 28

Orcus

Answer 28

Roman name for the Underworld meaning ‘the place the constrains’

Question 29

Sisyphus

Answer 29

Told Asopus that Zeus has carried off his daughter, Zeus sent death to carry him of, Sisyphus chained Thanatos, left instructions with his wife not to make sacrifices after his death, returned from Underworld and died from old age, punished by pushing a boulder up a hill forever

Question 30

Tantalus

Answer 30

Committed a crime against the gods and is eternally punished with starvation and thirst

Question 31

Thanatos

Answer 31

Death

Question 32

Tartarus

Answer 32

The region of torment in the underworld, surrounded by the river Phlegethon and guarded by Tisiphone

Question 33

Tisiphone

Answer 33

One of the furies, guards Tartarus

Question 34

Tityus

Answer 34

Killed by Apollo for trying to rape Leto, punished by having vultures devour his liver eternally