Myth & Legend

Question 1

King of Crete
Palace at Knossos
Refused to sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon
As punishment, his wife Pasiphae fell in love with it and fathered the Minotaur
Ordered Daedalus to build the labyrinth to contain it

Answer 1

MINOS

Question 2

Wife of Minos
Mother of Ariadne & Phaedra
Fell in love with the white bull and gave birth to the Minotaur

Answer 2

PASIPHAE

Question 3

Bull-man
Placed in the labyrinth by Minos
Slain by Theseus

Answer 3

MINOTAUR

Question 4

Lydian king
Sentenced in the afterlife to always be out of reach of fruit & water

Answer 4

TANTALUS

Question 5

Daughter of Tantalus
Turned to stone while weeping over her children’s deaths

Answer 5

NIOBE

Question 6

Princess of Crete
Daughter of Minos
Helped Theseus escape the labyrinth with thread
Abandoned on Naxos by Theseus
Became wife of Dionysus (or Bacchus, as in a Titian work)

Answer 6

ARIADNE

Question 7

Muse of astronomy

Answer 7

URANIA

Question 8

Muse of love poetry

Answer 8

ERATO

Question 9

Muse of sacred poetry

Answer 9

POLYHYMNIA

Question 10

Muse of epic poetry
Mother of Orpheus
Shares name with a hummingbird & a musical instrument

Answer 10

CALLIOPE

Question 11

Muse of comedy
(sometimes of pastoral poetry)

Answer 11

THALIA

Question 12

Muse of tragedy

Answer 12

MELPOMENE

Question 13

Muse of music
(sometimes the flute)

Answer 13

EUTERPE

Question 14

Muse of dance

Answer 14

TERPSICHORE
(a dancer is a TERPSICHOREAN)

Question 15

Muse of history
Shares name with an advertising award

Answer 15

CLIO

Question 16

King of Thebes
Solved the Sphinx’s riddle
As foreseen by Delphi oracle, kills his father and weds his mother unwittingly and then blinds himself upon the realization
Subject of Sophocles’ plays “____ Rex” (or “Tyrannos”) & “____ at Colonus”

Answer 16

OEDIPUS

Question 17

King of Thebes
Father of Oedipus
Slain by Oedipus

Answer 17

LAIUS

Question 18

Mother of Oedipus
Spouse of Oedipus
Mother of Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone, & Ismene

Answer 18

JOCASTA

Question 19

After a weaving contest against Athena, the goddess turns her into a spider

Answer 19

ARACHNE

Question 20

Craftsman and inventor
Banished from Athens
Built Pasiphae’s wooden cow (to mate with the white bull)
Built Minos’ labyrinth, in which he was later imprisoned
Built wax & feather wings for him and his son Icarus to escape Crete

Answer 20

DAEDALUS

Question 21

Son of Daedalus
Did not heed his father’s warning
Flew too high and melted his wax wings
Subject of a Serge Lifar ballet, a Pieter Bruegel painting, and a W. H. Auden poem

Answer 21

ICARUS

Question 22

Son of Theseus

Answer 22

HIPPOLYTUS

Question 23

Daughter of Crete’s King Minos & his wife Pasiphae
Wife of Theseus
Falls in love with stepson Hippolytus, he rejects her, she hangs herself
Subject of Jean Racine’s 1677 tragedy

Answer 23

PHAEDRA

Question 24

Amazon queen
Her belt/girdle was one of Hercules’ labours
Wife of Theseus
Appears in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in Wonder Woman (as her mother)

Answer 24

HIPPOLYTA

Question 25

Father of Theseus Thinking his son dead, threw himself into the sea that now bears his name

Answer 25

AEGEUS (AEGEAN Sea)

Question 26

Mythical founder of Athens Slew Minotaur of Crete (with aid from Ariadne, whom he later abandoned on Naxos) Married Hippolyta (Amazon queen) & Phaedra Duke of Athens in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Portrayed by Henry Cavill in "The Immortals" (2011)

Answer 26

THESEUS

Question 27

Son of Helios Took sun chariot & ended up crashing it Now the name for a certain kind of car or horse carriage

Answer 27

PHAETON

Question 28

Legendary founder of Russia Viking who settled in Novgorod, 862 CE His dynasty lasted until 1598, when the Time of Troubles began

Answer 28

RURIK

Question 29

Sister & daughter of Oedipus, daughter of Jocasta Forbidden from burying her brother Polynices, commits suicide Subject of a Sophocles play (& a later adaptation by Jean Anhouil)

Answer 29

ANTIGONE

Question 30

Last Lydian king Defeated by Cyrus of Persia Incredibly wealthy Part of a saying, "As rich as..."

Answer 30

CROESUS

Question 31

Previously a nymph Now a monster with 6 dog heads Sits on mainland Italian side of Strait of Messina

Answer 31

SCYLLA

Question 32

Whirlpool monster Lies on the Sicily side of the Strait of Messina

Answer 32

CHARYBDIS

Question 33

Wife of Orpheus Dies of a snake bite He rescues her from Hades, only to lose her by looking back

Answer 33

EURYDICE

Question 34

Thracian musician Son of Apollo (god of music) & Calliope (muse of epic poetry) Sailed with the Argo, saved them from sirens Calmed the furies and Cerberus Subject of Offenbach's him "in the Underworld" and Rilke's "Sonnets to" him

Answer 34

ORPHEUS

Question 35

Constellation that supposedly belonged to Orpheus

Answer 35

LYRA THE LYRE

Question 36

Creation of Pygmalion Shares name with Nereid who loved Alcis the Shepherd Also title of a Cervantes work & a moon of Neptune

Answer 36

GALATEA

Question 37

Mythical sculptor Carved Galatea out of ivory, whom he fell in love with She was given life by Aphrodite Inspired a G.B. Shaw play

Answer 37

PYGMALION

Question 38

Handsome youth loved by Aphrodite Guarded by Persephone A hunter, killed by a wild boar His blood became red anemones Shakespeare wrote a 1593 poem of "Venus &" him

Answer 38

ADONIS

Question 39

One of the 5 rivers of Hades River of forgetfulness or oblivion

Answer 39

LETHE

Question 40

Son of Poseidon & Amphitrite Subject of a Bernini fountain in Rome Namesake of Neptune's biggest moon, Ariel's dad, a sea snail, nuclear submarine that circumnavigated the world

Answer 40

TRITON

Question 41

Brother of Zeus & Hades husband of Amphitrite father of Triton, Pegasus, Orion, Polyphemus, Percy Jackson Associated with Atlantis, tridents, horses, the Cretan bull

Answer 41

POSIEDON (Greek) NEPTUNE (Roman)

Question 42

Shape-changing sea god Also namesake of 2nd-largest moon of Neptune, one of the "Two Gentlemen of Verona", and a syndrome

Answer 42

PROTEUS

Question 43

Kind of sea nymph associated with Poseidon Name means "unmistakable" Also the name of Neptune's 3rd largest moon

Answer 43

NEREID

Question 44

River nymph Name comes from "to flow" Also a moon of Neptune

Answer 44

NAIAD

Question 45

Wood nymph Eurydice (Orpheus' wife) was one Keats called the nightingale "light-winged ____ of the trees"

Answer 45

DRYAD

Question 46

Queen of Ethiopia Wife of Cepheus Mother of Andromeda

Answer 46

CASSIOPEIA

Question 47

Nymph loved by Zeus Turned into a bear by Hera Associated with Ursa Major and Arcas, her son by Zeus, with Ursa Minor Namesake of a moon of Jupiter

Answer 47

CALLISTO

Question 48

Character appearing in a German town Leads away rats but, when stiffed on payment, does the same to the kids Subject of a Robert Browning poem Namesake of a fictional tech company Nowadays refers to one who makes false promises

Answer 48

PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

Question 49

Twin children of Mars & Rhea set adrift on the Tiber Suckled by a she-wolf on Palatine Hill The former kills the latter after a disagreement over augury, and then founds a city

Answer 49

ROMULUS & REMUS

Question 50

Pacific goddess of fire & volcanoes Associated with Kilauea

Answer 50

PELE