Mythology: Edith Hamilton Flashcards

Question 1

Q

The first written record of Greece is T.. I…. . Greek mythology begins with H…. . It is generally believed to be not earlier than a t…… years before Christ.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The Iliad

Homer

thousand

Question 2

Q

The Greeks, unlike the Egyptians, made their g… in t…. o.. i…. .
With the coming forward of Greece, m…… became the c….. of the u……. .

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The Greeks, unlike the Egyptians, made their gods in their own image.
With the coming forward of Greece, mankind became the center of the universe.

Question 3

Q

Greek artists and poets realized how s……. a m.. could be, straight and swift and strong. He was the fulfillment of their search for b….. . They had no wish to create some fantasy shaped in their own minds. All the art and all the thought of Greece centered in h…. b….. .

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Greek artists and poets realized how splendid a man could be, straight and swift and strong. He was the fulfillment of their search for beauty. They had no wish to create some fantasy shaped in their own minds. All the art and all the thought of Greece centered in human beings.

Question 4

Q

Laughter in the presence of an Egyptian sphinx or an Assyrian bird-beast was i………… ; but it was perfectly natural in Olympus, and it made the gods c………. .

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Laughter in the presence of an Egyptian sphinx or an Assyrian bird-beast was inconceivable; but it was perfectly natural in Olympus, and it made the gods companionable.

Question 5

Q

That is the miracle of Greek mythology—a h…….. world, men freed from the paralyzing fear of an o………. U…. . The terrifying incomprehensibilities which were worshiped elsewhere, and the fearsome spirits with which earth, air, and sea swarmed, were banned from Greece.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

That is the miracle of Greek mythology—a humanized world, men freed from the paralyzing fear of an omnipotent Unknown. The terrifying incomprehensibilities which were worshiped elsewhere, and the fearsome spirits with which earth, air, and sea swarmed, were banned from Greece.

Question 6

Q

Anyone who reads them with attention discovers that even the most nonsensical take place in a world which is essentially r……. and m…..-o.-f… . Hercules, whose life was one long combat against preposterous monsters, is always said to have had his home in the city of Thebes. The exact spot where Aphrodite was born of the foam could be visited by any ancient tourist;

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Rational

Matter-of-fact

Question 7

Q

The terrifying i……… has no place in classical mythology. M…. , so powerful in the world before and after Greece, is almost nonexistent. There are no men and only two women with d……. , s……….. p….. .

….. and ….. are the only witches and they are young and of surpassing beauty—delightful, not horrible.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The terrifying irrational has no place in classical mythology. Magic, so powerful in the world before and after Greece, is almost nonexistent. There are no men and only two women with dreadful, supernatural powers.

Circe and Medea are the only witches and they are young and of surpassing beauty—delightful, not horrible.

Question 8

Q

The early Greek mythologists transformed a world full of f… into a world full of b….. .

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The early Greek mythologists transformed a world full of fear into a world full of beauty.

Question 9

Q

Almost every one of the radiant divinities could act c…… or c………. . A very limited sense of r…. and w….. prevailed in Homer’s heaven, and for a long time after.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Almost every one of the radiant divinities could act cruelly or contemptibly. A very limited sense of right and wrong prevailed in Homer’s heaven, and for a long time after.

Question 10

Q

Zeus the Thunderer was, it seems certain, once a r… g.. . Greece needed …. more than ……..?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

… rain god. Greece needed rain more than sunshine.

Question 11

Q

What did Hesiod emphasise about Zeus? His capacity for ..?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

His capacity for justice.

But Hesiod, who was a peasant living in a poor man’s world, knew that the poor must have a just god. He wrote, “Fishes and beasts and fowls of the air devour one another. But to man, Zeus has given justice. Beside Zeus on his throne Justice has her seat.”

Question 12

Q

Most of the books about the stories of classical mythology depend chiefly upon the L…. writer …. , who wrote during the reign of …….. .

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Latin

Ovid

Augustus

“Ovid is a compendium of mythology. No ancient writer can compare with him in this respect. He told almost all the stories and he told them at great length.”

Question 13

Q

The second writer on the list is sometimes placed in the ninth century, sometimes in the eighth. H….. was a poor farmer whose life was hard and bitter. There cannot be a greater contrast than that between his poem, the Works and Days, which tries to show men how to live a g… life in a h…. world, and the c….. s……. of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The second writer on the list is sometimes placed in the ninth century, sometimes in the eighth. Hesiod was a poor farmer whose life was hard and bitter. There cannot be a greater contrast than that between his poem, the Works and Days, which tries to show men how to live a good life in a harsh world, and the courtly splendor of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Question 14

Q

What is the name of Hesiod’s account of the creation of the universe?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

The Theogony

Question 15

Q

Who was ‘the greatest lyric poet of Greece’?
When did he write?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Pindar
End of sixth century BC

Question 16

Q

Who were the three tragic poets?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides

Question 17

Q

Who was the ‘great writer of comedy’?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Aristophanes

Question 18

Q

Who was the first historian who often referred to myths? Pronounced?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Herodotus

He (like short hair) rod it us

Question 19

Q

Who is the greatest Roman writer of the myths?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (INTRODUCTION)

Answer

A

Virgil

“… he found human nature in them and brought mythological personages to life as no-one had done since the Greek tragedians.”

Question 20

Q

“The Greeks did not believe that the gods created the universe. It was …

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

… the other way about: the universe created the gods.”

Question 21

Q

By what are are the Titans often referred?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

The Elder Gods

Question 22

Q

Who was the most important of the Titans? Until?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Cronus - until Zeus dethroned him.

Question 23

Q

Titans:

O and his wife T

H the father of … … , … …. and … …. .

M - which means…?

T - usually translated…?

I - important because of his sons A and P.

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

OCEAN, the river that was supposed to encircle the earth; his wife TETHYS;

HYPERION, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn;

MNEMOSYNE, which means Memory;

THEMIS, usually translated by Justice; and

IAPETUS, important because of his sons, ATLAS, who bore the world on his shoulders, and PROMETHEUS, who was the savior of mankind. These alone among the older gods were not banished with the coming of Zeus, but they took a lower place.

Question 24

Q

What are the three domains over which Olympians reign?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Poseidon rules the sea

Hades the dead

Zeus the heavens

“Zeus and his brothers drew lots for their share of the universe. The sea fell to Poseidon, and the underworld to Hades. Zeus became the supreme ruler. He was Lord of the Sky, the Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer, who wielded the awful thunderbolt. His power was greater than that of all the other divinities together. In the Iliad he tells his family, “I am mightiest of all.””

Question 25

Q

Who are Zeus’s two brothers?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Poseidon (Neptune) and Hades (Pluto)

Question 26

Q

Who are the sisters of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hestia and Hera (and Demeter)

Question 27

Q

Who is Zeus’s wife? Roman name?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hera (Juno)

Question 28

Q

Who is the son of Zeus and Hera?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Ares (Mars)

Question 29

Q

Which Olympians are Zeus’s children (not by Hera)?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Athena

Apollo

Aphrodite

Hermes

Artemis

Question 30

Q

Who is Hera’s son (sometimes with Zeus)?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hephaestus (Vulcan)

Question 31

Q

What is the explanation given for Zeus’s many lovers?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

The explanation why such actions were ascribed to the most majestic of the gods is, the scholars say, that the Zeus of song and story has been made by combining many gods. When his worship spread to a town where there was already a divine ruler the two were slowly fused into one. The wife of the early god was then transferred to Zeus.

Question 32

Q

Zeus’s breastplate was the ….. , awful to behold; his bird was the ….. , his tree the … . His oracle was Dodona in the land of oak trees.

The god’s will was revealed by the …?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Zeus’s breastplate was the aegis, awful to behold; his bird was the eagle, his tree the oak. His oracle was Dodona in the land of oak trees. EE - JUS

The god’s will was revealed by the rustling of the oak leaves which the priests interpreted.

Question 33

Q

Of what was Hera the protector?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Marriage and married women.

Question 34

Q

Why does Hera hate the Trojans? Spurring the continuation of the war?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Because Paris makes the decision that Aphrodite was the most beautiful goddess.

Question 35

Q

Who is second to Zeus in eminence? Who is he married to?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Poseidon

Amphritite (am frit ite)

When Poseidon desired to marry her, Amphitrite, wanting to protect “her virginity”, fled to the Atlas mountains. Poseidon sent many creatures to find her. A dolphin came across Amphitrite and convinced her to marry Poseidon. As a reward for the dolphin’s help, Poseidon created the Delphinus constellation.[7]

Question 36

Q

Who was the third brother of the Olympians? Who was his wife? And their Roman names?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hades (Pluto)

His wife was Persephone (Prosperine) whom he carried away from the earth and made Queen of the Lower World.

Question 37

Q

What do you recall about Athena?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

PALLAS ATHENA (MINERVA) She was the daughter of Zeus alone. No mother bore her. Full-grown and in full armor, she sprang from his head.

In the earliest account of her, the Iliad, she is a fierce and ruthless battle-goddess, but elsewhere she is warlike only to defend the State and the home from outside enemies.

She was pre-eminently the Goddess of the City, the protector of civilized life, of handicrafts and agriculture; the inventor of the bridle, who first tamed horses for men to use. She was Zeus’s favorite child.

Virgin goddess.

Wisdom.

Question 38

Q

What do you recall of Apollo? Other name?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

The son of Zeus and Leto (Latona), born in the little island of Delos. He has been called “the most Greek of all the gods.” He is a beautiful figure in Greek poetry, the master musician who delights Olympus as he plays on his golden lyre; the lord, too, of the silver bow, the Archer-god, far-shooting; the Healer, as well, who first taught men the healing art.

“O Phoebus, from your throne of truth, From your dwelling-place at the heart of the world, You speak to men.”

Chryses - Priest (Chryseis - daughter)
Crisis / Cris-ees

Question 39

Q

To which god was Delphi connected? Who was the priestess?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Delphi was an ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo. Developed in the 8th century B.C., the sanctuary was home to the Oracle of Delphi and the priestess Pythia, who was famed throughout the ancient world for divining the future and was consulted before all major undertakings

Question 40

Q

What do you recall of Artemis?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Apollo’s twin sister, daughter of Zeus and Leto.

She was one of the three maiden goddesses of Olympus (Athena & Vesta the others).

Cares but for war and the arts of the craftsmen, Artemis, lover of woods and the wild chase over the mountains.

She was the Lady of Wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a woman. Like a good huntsman, she was careful to preserve the young;

she was “the protectress of dewy youth” everywhere.

(She kept the Greek Fleet from sailing to Troy until they sacrificed a maiden to her.)

Question 41

Q

What do you recall of Aphrodite?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

APHRODITE (VENUS)

The Goddess of Love and Beauty, who beguiled all, gods and men alike; the laughter-loving goddess, who laughed sweetly or mockingly at those her wiles had conquered; the irresistible goddess who stole away even the wits of the wise.

She is the daughter of Zeus and Dione in the Iliad, but in the later poems she is said to have sprung from the foam of the sea, and her name was explained as meaning “the foam-risen.” Aphros is foam in Greek.

Wife of Hephaestus

Question 42

Q

What do you recall of Hermes?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Zeus was his father and Maia, daughter of Atlas, his mother. Because of a very popular statue his appearance is more familiar to us than that of any other god.

He was graceful and swift of motion. On his feet were winged sandals; wings were on his low-crowned hat, too, and on his magic wand, the Caduceus.

He was Zeus’s Messenger, who “flies as fleet as thought to do his bidding.” Of all the gods he was the shrewdest and most cunning; in fact he was the Master Thief, who started upon his career before he was a day old.

God of Commerce and the Market

Question 43

Q

What do you recall of Ares?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

ARES (MARS) The God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, both of whom, Homer says, detested him. Indeed, he is hateful throughout the Iliad, poem of war though it is. Occasionally the heroes “rejoice in the delight of Ares’ battle,” but far oftener in having escaped “the fury of the ruthless god.” Homer calls him murderous, bloodstained, the incarnate curse of mortals; and, strangely, a coward, too, who bellows with pain and runs away when he is wounded.

Question 44

Q

What do you recall of Hephaestus?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

HEPHAESTUS (VULCAN AND MULCIBER) The God of Fire, sometimes said to be the son of Zeus and Hera, sometimes of Hera alone, who bore him in retaliation for Zeus’s having brought forth Athena.

Among the perfectly beautiful immortals he only was ugly. He was lame as well. In one place in the Iliad he says that his shameless mother, when she saw that he was born deformed, cast him out of heaven.

Married to Aphrodite in the Odyssey

Question 45

Q

What do you recall of Hestia?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

HESTIA (VESTA) She was Zeus’s sister, and like Athena and Artemis a virgin goddess. She has no distinct personality and she plays no part in the myths. She was the Goddess of the Hearth, the symbol of the home, around which the newborn child must be carried before it could be received into the family. Every meal began and ended with an offering to her.

Question 46

Q

Which god is sometimes presented as Aphrodite’s son? Qualities?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Eros - sometimes presented as a mischievous, naughty boy.

“Evil his heart, but honey-sweet his tongue, No truth in him, the rogue. He is cruel in his play. Small are his hands, yet his arrows fly far as death. Tiny his shaft, but it carries heaven-high. Touch not his treacherous gifts, they are dipped in fire.”

He was often represented as blindfolded, because love is often blind.

Question 47

Q

Who is the Goddess of Youth? Parents?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hebe

Zeus and Hera

Hebe (/ˈhiːbiː/; Greek: Ἥβη), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, often given the ephitet Ganymeda (meaning “Gladdening Princess”), [1] is the goddess of youth or the prime of life.[2] She was the cupbearer for the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, serving their nectar and ambrosia. She also was worshipped as the goddess of forgiveness or mercy at Sicyon. [1]

Question 48

Q

Who is the Goddess of the Rainbow?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Question 49

Q

Who were the Graces and name their parents?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE GRACES were three:

Aglaia (Splendor), uh-glay - uh

Euphrosyne (Mirth), u - fro - zen - ee

and Thalia (Good Cheer).

They were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, a child of the Titan, Ocean.

Question 50

Q

From where did The Muses come?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE MUSES were nine in number, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, Memory. At first, like the Graces, they were not distinguished from each other.

Question 51

Q

Who was the god of righteous anger?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Question 52

Q

What do you recall of Ocean?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

OCEAN, a Titan, was Lord of the river Ocean, a great river encircling the earth. His wife, also a Titan, was Tethys. The Oceanids, the nymphs of this great river, were their daughters. The gods of all the rivers on earth were their sons.

Question 53

Q

What do you recall of Nereus?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

NEREUS was called the Old Man of the Sea (the Mediterranean)—“A trusty god and gentle,” Hesiod says, “who thinks just and kindly thoughts and never lies.” His wife was Doris, a daughter of Ocean. They had fifty lovely daughters, the nymphs of the Sea, called NEREIDS from their father’s name, one of whom, Thetis, was the mother of Achilles. Poseidon’s wife, AMPHITRITE, was another.

Question 54

Q

What are the two divisions of Hades?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Tartarus and Erebus are sometimes two divisions of the underworld, Tartarus the deeper of the two, the prison of the Sons of Earth; Erebus where the dead pass as soon as they die. Often, however, there is no distinction between the two, and either is used, especially Tartarus, as a name for the entire lower region.

Question 55

Q

What is the ‘river of woe’ and who is the boatman?

Clue: ouch

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

The path down to it leads to where Acheron, the river of woe, pours into Cocytus, the river of lamentation. An aged boatman named Charon (cha - run) ferries the souls of the dead across the water to the farther bank, where stands the adamantine gate to Tartarus (the name Virgil prefers). Charon will receive into his boat only the souls of those upon whose lips the passage money was placed when they died and who were duly buried.

Other notable river is The Styx.

Question 56

Q

What were The Furies?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE ERINYES (the FURIES) are placed by Virgil in the underworld, where they punish evildoers. The Greek poets thought of them chiefly as pursuing sinners on the earth. They were inexorable, but just.

Question 57

Q

Who were the supreme Deities of the Earth?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

The Goddess of the Corn, DEMETER (CERES), a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and the God of the Vine, DIONYSUS, also called BACCHUS, were the supreme deities of the earth and of great importance in Greek and Roman mythology.

Question 58

Q

How was Pan unusual?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Hermes’ son; a noisy, merry god, the Homeric Hymn in his honor calls him;

he was part animal too, with a goat’s horns, and goat’s hoofs instead of feet. He was the goatherds’ god, and the shepherds’ god, and also the gay companion of the woodland nymphs when they danced.

He was a wonderful musician. Upon his pipes of reed he played melodies as sweet as the nightingale’s song.

He was always in love with one nymph or another, but always rejected because of his ugliness.

Question 59

Q

What do you recall of Leda?
MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

LEDA was the wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta, and the usual story is that she bore two mortal children to him, Castor and Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife; and to Zeus, who visited her in the form of a swan, two others who were immortal, Pollux and Helen, the heroine of Troy.

Question 60

Q

What is the story of Castor and Pollux? (Include reference to prayer and name parents)

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Castor and Pollux are twin half-brothers. They share the same mother but different fathers. Castor’s father was the mortal Spartan king, Tyndareus, and Pollux’s father was the Greek god of the skies, Zeus.

Went to the land of some cattle owners and fought.

Castor killed (he was the mortal brother)

Pollux was inconsolable, prayed to die (he was immortal (Leda / Zeus))

Zeus in pity allowed him to live, ‘half of thy time beneath the earth and half Within the golden homes of heaven’.

According to this version the two were never separated again. One day in Hades, the next in Olympus, always together.

Question 61

Q

Satyrs, Oreads - contrast?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

Satyrs - goat men (ugly)

Oreads - nymphs (lovely maidens)

Question 62

Q

Centaurs are?

Most famous?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE CENTAURS. They were half man, half horse, and for the most part they were savage creatures, more like beasts than men.

One of them, however, CHIRON, was known everywhere for his goodness and his wisdom.

Question 63

Q

The Graiae?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE GRAIAE (grey eye) were sisters of The Gorgon.

Three gray women who had but one eye between them. They lived on the farther bank of Ocean.

Question 64

Q

The Gorgons?

MYTHOLOGY: EDITH HAMILTON (THE GODS)

Answer

A

THE GORGONS were also earth-dwellers. There were three, and two of them were immortal. They were dragonlike creatures with wings, whose look turned men to stone. Phorcys, son of the Sea and the Earth, was their father.

Answer 63

A

THE SIRENS lived on an island in the Sea. They had enchanting voices and their singing lured sailors to their death. It was not known what they looked like, for no one who saw them ever returned.

Answer 64

A

They were three, Clotho, the Spinner, who spun the thread of life;

Lachesis, the Disposer of Lots, who assigned to each man his destiny; (lack - u - sis)

Atropos, she who could not be turned, who carried “the abhorrèd shears” and cut the thread at death.

Answer 65

A

Numina connected with the life of the household, such as TERMINUS, Guardian of Boundaries; PRIAPUS, Cause of Fertility; PALES, Strengthener of Cattle; and SYLVANUS, Helper of Plowmen and Woodcutters. A long list could be made. Everything important to the farm was under the care of a beneficent power, never conceived of as having a definite shape.

Answer 66

A

There were two, however, who were altogether different—who were, indeed, mankind’s best friends: Demeter, in Latin Ceres, the Goddess of the Corn, a daughter of Cronus and Rhea; and Dionysus, also called Bacchus, the God of Wine.

Answer 67

A

Demeter, goddess of the harvest wealth, was still more the divine sorrowing mother who saw her daughter die each year.

Persephone was the radiant maiden of the spring and the summertime, whose light step upon the dry, brown hillside was enough to make it fresh and blooming, as Sappho writes, I heard the footfall of the flower spring… —Persephone’s footfall. But all the while Persephone knew how brief that beauty was; fruits, flowers, leaves, all the fair growth of earth, must end with the coming of the cold and pass like herself into the power of death.

Answer 68

A

Semele in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.

Tricked into asking to see Zeus’ full radiance (destroyed)

Eventually brought to live with the gods

Answer 69

A

Some time during his wanderings, Dionysus came upon the princess of Crete, Ariadne, when she was utterly desolate, having been abandoned on the shore of the island of Naxos by the Athenian prince, Theseus, whose life she had saved. Dionysus had compassion upon her. He rescued her, and in the end loved her. When she died Dionysus took a crown he had given her and placed it among the stars.

Answer 70

A

Many of the Theban women had joined them; Pentheus’ mother and her sisters were there. And there Dionysus showed himself in his most terrible aspect. He made them all mad. The women thought Pentheus a wild beast, a mountain lion, and they rushed to destroy him, his mother first. As they fell upon him he knew at last that he had fought against a god and must pay with his life. They tore him limb from limb, and then, only then, the god restored their senses, and his mother saw what she had done.

Answer 71

A

So people felt about Dionysus as about no other god. He was not only outside of them, he was within them, too. They could be transformed by him into being like him. The momentary sense of exultant power wine-drinking can give was only a sign to show men that they had within them more than they knew; “they could themselves become divine.”

Answer 72

A

she punishes mortals for their hubris against her.

Hera, ordered ‘all lands to shun her and deny her shelter’. (Sent monstrous Python, a giant serpent). Leto found island, Delos, not joined to the mainland or attached to the ocean floor, therefore it was not considered land or island and she could give birth.

After some Lycian peasants prevented her and her infants from drinking from a fountain, Leto transformed them all into frogs inhabiting the fountain.

In the story of Niobe, Queen Niobe boasts of being a better mother than Leto due to having given birth to fourteen children, as opposed to only two. Leto asks her twin children to avenge her, and they respond by shooting all of Niobe’s sons and daughters dead as punishment.

In another myth, the gigantic Tityos attempted to violate Leto, only for him to be slain by Artemis and Apollo.

Usually, Leto is found at Olympus among the other gods, having gained her seat next to Zeus, or accompanying and helping her son and daughter in their various endeavors.

Answer 73

A

A: Oedipus and Jocasta have four children: Eteocles and Polyneices, Antigone and Ismene.

Original Highlight: “The ceremony was finally over. Polyn had sworn to protect Thebes for the
duration of the year to come, and Creon had lifted the crown from Eteo’s head and placed it on Polyn’s.”

Answer 74

A

A: Antigone is both law-abiding and anarchic, obedient and disruptive, freedom fighter and terrorist.

She obeys the laws of the gods and disobeys the laws of men.

She is the epitome (to put it in Greek philosophical terms) of phusis over nomos; follower of natural law over man-made law. Arguing with her is like arguing with gravity.

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Mythology: Edith Hamilton Flashcards

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