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Question 1

Who was assigned by Zeus to help Prometheus make mankind?

Answer 1

Athena

Question 2

What was the Deception at Mekone?

Answer 2

Prometheus tricks Zeus by misleading him to pick the “lesser” sacrifice, he has to allow mankind to live now

Question 3

What does “prometheus” mean?

Answer 3

before thought

Question 4

What does “epimetheus” mean?

Answer 4

after thought

Question 5

Who does Hermes present Pandora to; Why?

Answer 5

Epimetheus because he forgets to heed his brothers warning about the gods tricks

Question 6

Why is Pandora associated with being a curse on humanity?

Answer 6

She opens the jar given to her by the gods and releases all evil things onto humanity, all except HOPE

Question 7

Who is seen as the savior or ultimate sacrifice of humanity?

Answer 7

Prometheus

Question 8

What is Xenia?

Answer 8

The concept of hospitality in Greece. You can crash at any house with a similar social status and the hostess will provide everything no questions asked, and you are also expected to return the favor in the future

Question 9

Who does Hera assign to guard Io the cow?

Answer 9

Argus

Question 10

How does Zeus free Io?

Answer 10

He instructs Hermes to play his flute which put Argus and his 100 eyes to sleep, then he slayed him

Question 11

What is Hebe the goddess of?

Answer 11

Youthful beauty

Question 12

Who are Zeus’s main rivals?

Answer 12

His wife Hera and brother Poseidon

Question 13

How does Zeus punish Apollo and Poseidon for trying to overthrow him?

Answer 13

He sentences them to become the size of humans and build the wall of Troy for a year, they ended up receiving no compensation for their labors

Question 14

What is the story behind this image?

Answer 14

Caenis was raped by Poseidon and he felt remorse so he granted her a wish. She wished to become a man so she would never be overtaken again, becomes a great warrior. Eventually Caenis is slain by centaurs

Question 15

What does Hades use his bident for?

Answer 15

Shepherding souls

Question 16

What is the concept of Katabasis?

Answer 16

A hero goes to the underworld and almost dies in battle but survives and comes back a changed man

Question 17

Where and what is Tartarus?

Answer 17

A place located underneath the underworld where the worst and most evil people are tortured

Question 18

How is Hades allowed to abduct Persephone?

Answer 18

Zeus doesn’t say a verbal “yes” because he knows Demeter would be livid, instead he just nods his head and gives indirect consent

Question 19

What kind of consequence does mankind suffer after Persephone is taken to the underworld?

Answer 19

Demeter neglects her role and mankind goes into a famine

Question 20

How does Zeus solve the problem of Persephone?

Answer 20

Orders her to spend her winter days with Hades in the underworld, but her spring and summer can be spent above ground

Question 21

What is the concept of Venus pudica?

Answer 21

Something that artists take advantage of to be able to show Aphrodite in the nude, conveying her in a modest way/faint chastity in her disposition

Question 22

What does Orpheus do when the love of his life is killed by a serpent?

Answer 22

He marches to Hades and plays him a song, demanding to receive Eurydice back as a gift since Hades never attended their wedding

Question 23

What are Hades stipulations to allow Eurydice to leave the underworld with Orpheus? What eventually happens?

Answer 23

Orpheus must never turn and look back at Eurydice, he must trust that she is following him all the way back to above ground. Orpheus turns and looks back at the last possible second before they are in the clear and she is sent back to the underworld. He is eventually attacked by Nymphs for his preachings about casting out love, and they decapitate him

Question 24

What is the river called that you have to sail down to reach the underworld? Who is responsible for transporting souls?

Answer 24

River Styx; Charon

Question 25

What does Hades have instead of temples for worship?

Answer 25

Necromanteions (caves)

Question 26

Why and how did Hera plan to kill Hercules?

Answer 26

Hercules was a bastard child of Zeus and Hera sent two serpents to strangle Hercules and his brother as babies in their sleep. Hercules ended up ripping their heads off and they survived

Question 27

According to the myth, how was the Milky Way created?

Answer 27

Hercules created such a suction while nursing from Hera that milk spewed from her nipple, creating the Milky Way

Question 28

What was the prophecy associated with Thetis and why did it concern Zeus?

Answer 28

“Whoever has a child with Thetis, the son will become greater than the father”; Zeus didn’t want anyone competing with his power so he made the decree that no immortal could have a sexual relationship with Thetis

Question 29

Who created the apple of discord and why?

Answer 29

Eris (goddess of strife) because she was not invited to the wedding of Thetis to an immortal man. The apple had the phrase written in latin “to the most beautiful” and the three goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena all fought over it until it was determined that Aphrodite was the most beautiful by Paris

Question 30

What did the three goddesses promise Paris while he was deciding who to give the golden apple to?

Answer 30

Hera promised to make him the greatest king, Athena promised to make him the greatest warrior, and Aphrodite promised to give him the most beautiful woman

Question 31

Why do Hera and Athena team up to destroy all Trojans?

Answer 31

Paris declared Aphrodite the most beautiful, which offended the other two goddesses

Question 32

Who does Paris decide is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen?

Answer 32

Helen, who was already married to Menelaus but taken by Paris against her will

Question 33

Why does Hera blind Tiresias?

Answer 33

Zeus argues with Hera that women enjoy sex more and Hera disagrees, so they ask Tiresias who has lived as both sexes, and he says “women”

Question 34

Who did Hera possibly have a sexual relationship with other than Zeus, and how did Zeus punish him?

Answer 34

Ixion, discovered by Zeus setting a trap and creating Nephele out of a cloud that looked exactly like Hera, he was sentenced to be spun on a wheel of fire and serpents for eternity

Question 35

What comes out of Medusa after her head is cut off?

Answer 35

Pegasus

Question 36

What does Nephele eventually give birth to?

Answer 36

Centaurs

Question 37

Who does Aphrodite have an affair with?

Answer 37

Ares, Hephaestus’s brother

Question 38

How does Hephaestus catch Aphrodite and Mars in the act of cheating? Why does he do this?

Answer 38

In order to receive back the dowry from marrying Aphrodite (because the goddesses married beneath her social rank so Hephaestus was compensated) he had to have proof that Aphrodite was actually being unfaithful. He used a net to capture the two in the act

Question 39

Aphrodite and Hermes create who?

Answer 39

Hermaphroditus

Question 40

How does Hermaphroditus come to have both male and female genitals?

Answer 40

Hermaphroditus acts like Aphrodite and draws the attention of a water nymph but he never accepts her advances so she prays to be united with him forever

Question 41

What is the story behind Adonis’s birth?

Answer 41

Cinyras declares his daughter Smyrna to be more beautiful than Aphrodite, and so Aphrodite punishes her by making her fall in love with her own father. She drugs her father, has sex with him, and gives birth to Adonis

Question 42

How does Zeus split Adnois’s time spent?

Answer 42

1/3 with Aphrodite, 1/3 with Persephone, 1/3 his own time (usually spent hunting, which is how he died)

Question 43

Who is this? What is he associated with?

Answer 43

Priapus; wealth and fertility

Question 44

How did Aphrodite punish Psyche for her parents act of hubris?

Answer 44

Sentenced her to the top of a mountain to marry a terrible monster

Question 45

Explain the story behind Cupid and Psyche.

Answer 45

Cupid falls in love with Psyche at first sight and disobeys his mothers direct orders to punish her. He instead takes her to his home, but hides his physical self from her so she can never be connected back to Aphrodite. Her sisters eventually convince Psyche to use a candle to look upon Cupid in the night, which Cupid sees as a betrayal and leaves her. In the end they get back together and it’s one of the few stories of consensual love

Question 46

What were the three tasks Aphrodite forced Psyche to do in order to prove her love for Cupid was true?

Answer 46

(1) Sort a bunch of seeds by the end of the day, hordes of ants ended up helping her complete the task quickly
(2) Collect fleece from sheep who were constantly on fire, someone helps her realize she can collect it from a thorn bush instead
(3) Go to the underworld and collect a cup of water from Styx, Zeus ended up doing this for her

Question 47

How did Aphrodite trick Psyche, causing her death?

Answer 47

Gave her a box that she said contained eternal beauty but was told not to open it if she ever wanted to see Cupid again. She became insecure about aging when Cupid would stay forever young and so she looked inside, but found death, which ultimately made her beautiful forever if she died young (eventually revived and lives forever with Cupid)

Question 48

What happens to Vestal Virgins if the fire at the heart of the city goes out?

Answer 48

They are believed not to be true virgins anymore and are buried alive unless they can perform a miracle

Question 49

Why does Artemus transform Actaeon into a deer?

Answer 49

He endangered her chastity by looking upon her exposed body while she was bathing

Question 50

Who was Rhea Silvia?

Answer 50

A vestal virgin that was raped by Ares and becomes pregnant. She puts her twins in a basket and allows them to float down the river, eventually found by a wolf and nursed before being taken by another man. Named Romulus and Remus