States Questions—Advanced Flashcards
Who killed the king of the Doliones, Cyzicus in a case of mistaken identity in a nighttime raid?
JASON
B1: What king of the Bebyrces forced all guests to box him until he was killed by one of the Argonauts?
AMYCUS
B2: Which Argonaut killed Amycus with one punch to the elbow?
POLYDEUCES
After Aeneas fled the ruins of Troy, with what king of Delos did he and Anchises spend time, where the Trojans were told to find their ancient mother?
ANIUS
B1: What god gave Anius’ daughters the ability to produce wine, oil, and grain
DIONYSUS/BACCHUS
B2: When the girls were captured by the Greeks, what did Dionysus transform them into?
(white) DOVES
Who killed her uncle Perses and placed either her son, Medus, or her father, Aeetes, on the throne of Colchis?
MEDEA
B1: After Medea died she married what hero in the Islands of the Blessed?
ACHILLES
B2: When Medea tricked the daughters of Pelias into killing their father, who was the only one of them who refused to chop up their father to rejuvenate him?
ALCESTIS
What demi-god, the son of Saturn and Venilia, was the grandfather of Latinus?
PICUS
B1: What god was Venilia’s father?
JANUS
B2: What happened to Picus when he rejected the advances of Circe?
SHE TURNED HIM INTO A WOODPECKER
Amycus, Io, Aegialeus, and Phoroneus were all children of what sort of beings, the sisters of the Erinyes and the Giants?
MELIAE
B1: What river god was the father of Aegialeus, Phoroneus, and Io?
INACHUS
B2: What god was the father of Amycus?
POSEIDON/NEPTUNE
What Greek physician settled in the Carian Cheronese after the Trojan War due to a prophecy by the Delphic Oracle?
PODALEIRIUS
B1: What was the prophecy?
SETTLE WHERE HE WOULD NOT BE HARMED OF THE SKY FELL
B2: What led Podaleirius to believe that the Cheronese was his prophesied new home?
IT WAS SURROUNDED BY HIGH MOUNTAINS
Who escaped the Calydonian Boar by using his spear to vault into a tree?
NESTOR
B1: Atalanta drew first blood from the boar, who drew second blood?
AMPHIARAUS
B2: What Phthian king, the son of Actor, who shared his name with the leader of the
centaurs at the wedding of Peirithous and Hippodameia, was killed by Peleus during the hunt?
EURYTION
Who disguised themselves as a woman named Doso to search for their lost daughter?
DEMETER/CERES
B1: What prince of Eleusis did Demeter attempt to make immortal, but the process was interrupted by the boy’s mother, Metaneira?
DEMOPHOON
B2: What brother of Demophoon was given a chariot pulled by dragons by Demeter, which he used to spread knowledge of grain cultivation?
TRIPTOLEMUS
What Lycian warrior was mourned by his father Zeus who caused bloody rain to fall after he was killed in battle?
SARPEDON
B1: What Greek killed Sarpedon?
PATROCLUS
B2: What two gods assisted Apollo in removing Sarpedon’s body from the battlefield and taking it to Lycia for burial?
HYPNOS and THANATOS
Who in the Trojan War was framed by Odysseus as a traitor to the Greeks, thus allowing Odysseus to get revenge on the man for sending him to the war?
PALAMEDES
B1: Who was Palamedes’ father, who got his revenge on the Greek leaders by convincing many of their wives to take lovers?
NAUPLIUS
B2: How else did Nauplius get revenge on the Greek fleet as they were caught in a storm on the way home?
LIT A FALSE BEACON WHICH CAUSED SHIPS TO WRECK
Who was torn apart by maenads in Thrace because he had rejected their advances after the death of his wife?
ORPHEUS
B1: What river carried Orpheus’ head down to the sea and ultimately to Lesbos?
HEBRUS
B2: What son of Apollo and Cyrene was chasing Eurydice when she stepped on the snake that killed her?
ARISTAEUS
Persephone, Echidna, Bia, Cratus, Zelus, and Nike were all called by various authors children of what river in the Underworld?
STYX
B1: What Titan, who shares his name with a giant, a daughter of Triton, and the son of
Evander killed by Turnus, was the father of Bia, Cratus, Zelus, and Nike?
PALLAS
B2: Who was bound by Bia and Cratus in a play by Aeschylus?
PROMETHEUS
What is the common name: a child of Eos who was an ancestor of Adonis, an epithet of Apsyrtus, and a young man whose body fell into the Eridanus River after he was killed by Jupiter?
PHAETHON
B1: According to Ovid, whose mockery of Phaethon’s parentage claims prompted him to go find his real father?
EPAPHUS’
B2: What king of Liguria mourned Phaethon’s death and was turned into a swan?
CYCNUS
Thrace, Delos, the Strophades, Buthrotum, and Carthage were all stopping points for what Trojan hero before finally stopping in Latium?
AENEAS
B1: According to Celaeno, how would the Trojans know they reached home?
THE TROJANS WOULD BE SO HUNGRY THEY ATE THEIR TABLES
B2: At Delos, the Trojans spent time with King Anius. What special abilities had led
Anius’ daughters to be kidnapped by the Greeks at the start of the Trojan War?
THEY COULD PRODUCE WINE, GRAIN, AND OIL
In the Aeneid, what daughter of Thaumas and Electra finally releases Dido’s spirit from her body?
IRIS
B1: What disguise does Iris use in book 5 to encourage the women to set fire to the Trojan ships in Sicily?
AN OLD WOMAN
B2: What happens to the ships when Turnus attempts to burn them in Book 9?
THEY ARE TURNED INTO NYMPHS
The Fates, Mercury, and Palamedes were all claimed by Hyginus to have contributed to what Phoenecian import, which Herodotus claims was given to the Greeks by Cadmus?
THE ALPHABET
B1: Again according to Hyginus what king and founder of Pallantium introduced the
alphabet to Italy?
EVANDER
B2: According to Hyginus, Mercury was inspired to create letters by the migratory patterns of what type of bird, into which the queen of the Pygmies had been turned, during their flight from Egypt to Greece?
CRANE
Names frequently change in mythology. What was the original name given to Heracles?
ALCAEUS
B1: What was the original name given to Achilles?
LIGYRON
B2: What was the original name given to Bellerophon?
HIPPONOUS
What man, who is said to have fought his twin brother Proetus in the womb of their mother Aglaea, married Eurydice and had a single daughter named Danae?
ACRISIUS
B1: What other pair of twins, who are said either to be conjoined or have two heads and four arms and legs on a single body, married Theronice and Theraephone, another pair of twin daughters of Dexamenus?
CTEATUS AND EURYTUS / THE MOLIONES
B2: Belus, who himself was a twin to Agenor, was the father of what pair of twins, one of whom became the king of Egypt and the other a king of Argos?
AEGYPTUS AND DANAUS
What type of animal did Apollo change into to lead Cretan sailors to found Delphi, rescued Arion from sailors trying to ransom him, convinced Amphitrite to marry Poseidon, and were the animals which Dionysus transformed Tyrrhenian pirates into?
DOLPHINS
B1: What Titan, the father of the Hyades, was Amphitrite hiding with when Delphinus
found her?
ATLAS
B2: The only member of the Tyrrhenian pirates not turned into a dolphin by Dionysus was Acoetes, who instead became a follower of the god. What Theban king later imprisoned Acoetes unsuccessfully?
PENTHEUS
What Lycian king’s body was carried away by Thanatos and Hypnos after he was killed by Patroclus in the Trojan War?
SARPEDON
B1: What did Zeus cause to happen at Sarpedon’s death in honor of his slain son?
CAUSED BLOODY RAIN TO FALL
B2: Zeus had tried to save Sarpedon from death but was rebuked by what goddess?
HERA
What king of Corinth was punished in the Underworld for telling the river god Aesopus that Zeus had carried of Aesopus’ daughter, Aegina?
SISYPHUS
B1: Which of the four major panhellenic games was supposedly founded by Sisyphus?
ISTHMIAN GAMES
B2: In honor of which child of Ino and Athamas did Sisyphus institute the Isthmian
Games?
MELICERTES
Who left his son, Perses, in Ethiopia so that he could inherit his grandfather Cepheus’ kingdom?
PERSEUS
B1: Perseus and Andromeda had several sons but only one daughter. What was her name?
GORGOPHONE
B2: Gorgophone was the mother of what Spartan prince, the father of Iphthime and Penelope?
ICARIUS
What trait was shared by Caeneus, Cycnus of Colonae who fought for the Trojans in the Trojan War, and the Nemean Lion?
THEY WERE INVULNERABLE TO WEAPONS
B1: What god made both Caeneus and Cycnus invulnerable to weapons?
POSEIDON/NEPTUNE
B2: How was Caeneus killed by centaurs?
PILED TREES (AND ROCKS) ON TOP OF HIM UNTIL HE WAS
CRUSHED
What name is shared by the first son of Zeus and a mortal woman, the eldest son of Phrixus, and the son of Arestor who killed Echidna?
ARGUS
B1: What name is shared with the mother of Argus who was the first mortal seduced by Zeus, and the mother of Chloris and Amyclas?
NIOBE
B2: What daughter of Aeetes was Argus’ mother and Phrixus’ wife?
CHALCIOPE
What queen of Lydia bore Lamus to Heracles after he had served as her slave for three years?
OMPHALE
B1: Who was Omphale’s first husband, whom she gained her kingdom from, who also acted as the judge for Pan and Apollo’s music contest?
TMOLUS
B2: Heracles sold himself into slavery in order to atone for the murder of what son
Eurytus?
IPHITUS
What king was the only person who knew the location of Oedipus’ tomb, due to the fact that he offered protection to Oedipus when he exiled himself from Thebes?
THESEUS
B1: Who, the king of Thebes between Laius and Oedipus, tried to kidnap Oedipus so he could die at Thebes and thus offer the city his protection?
CREON
B2: What name was shared by two of Creon’s sons, one of whom was killed by the Sphinx, and the other of whom was engaged to Antigone?
HAEMON
Who were the parents of Amyclas and Chloris, who survived the fate of their twelve siblings by praying to Leto?
NIOBE and AMPHION
B1: What king of Pylos, who was later killed along with eleven of their twelve sons by Heracles, married Chloris?
NELEUS
B2: Which of Chloris’ sons had the ability to transform?
PERICLYMENUS
What name is shared by a king who fed his horses human flesh, a son of Minos who drowned in a jar of honey, and a sea god who was loved by Circe?
GLAUCUS
B1: Who did the Corinthian Glaucus raise as his son with his wife Eurynome, although the actual father of the child was Poseidon?
BELLEROPHON
B2: Who brought the Cretan Glaucus back to life after finding him in the honey jar?
POLYEIDUS/ASCLEPIUS
Staphylus, Ceramus, Thoas, and Oenopion were all children of what Cretan princess and the god Dionysus?
ARIADNE
B1: Oenopion blinded what giant for insulting his daughter?
ORION
B2: What was the name of Oenopion’s daughter, who was engaged to Orion?
MEROPE
What pair lived as two snakes in Elysium after they were transformed by Ares?
CADMUS and HARMONIA
B1: What pair appeared as two stars above the yoke of Iolaus as he pursued Eurystheus?
HERACLES and HEBE
B2: What pair transformed into fish and hid in the Euphrates in order to get away from Typhon?
APHRODITE and EROS
What creatures were encountered by both Aeneas, who received a prophecy from them about eating his tables, and the Argonauts?
HARPIES
B1: What creatures affected both the Argonaut Butes, who was rescued from them by
Aphrodite, and Odysseus?
SIRENS
B2: Whose ghost warned Aeneas not to settle in Thrace, as he had originally planned?
POLYDORUS’
Who, according to Homer, was killed by Zeus after he lay with Demeter in a thrice plowed field at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia?
IASION
B1: What wealth god was the son of Demeter and Iasion?
PLUTUS
B2: Demeter and Iasion’s other son, Philomelus, was made the constellation Bootes for what invention?
WAGON
Who married Asterius, the king of Crete after she bore three sons to Zeus?
EUROPA
B1: What two beings were given as gifts to Europa to act as her guardians when Zeus took her to Crete?
LAELAPS and TALUS
B2: What king of Tyre, who shares his name with the son of Amyntor, was Europa’s
brother, but some sources say was her father?
PHOENIX
Who killed Neoptolemus at Delphi in order to marry Hermione?
ORESTES
B1: According to Aeschylus, where did Orestes face trial for the murder of Clytemnestra?
AREOPAGUS
B2: What goddess cast the tie-breaking vote to acquit Orestes of Clytemnestra’s murder?
ATHENA
A stone and a foal were two items used by what Titaness to trick her cannibalistic husband and protect her children?
RHEA
B1: Which of her offspring did Rhea replace with a foal?
POSEIDON
B2: With what Roman goddess is Rhea identified?
OPS
What Egyptian king, who was conceived by the touch of Zeus, was born along the Nile as his mother was fleeing a torturous gadfly?
EPAPHUS
B1: What daughter of the Nile did Epaphus later marry?
MEMPHIS
B2: What goddess may have caused Epaphus to be killed while hunting?
HERA
What sons of the god Asclepius both served as healers for the Greek army at Troy?
MACHAON & PODALEIRIUS
B1: Where was the chief cult center of worship for Asclepius in Greece?
EPIDAURUS
B2: The goatherd Aresthanes discovered the exposed Asclepius on what mountain?
MT. MYRTIUM
What poisonous substance in mythology is believed to have caused the deaths of the Centaurs Pholus, Cheiron, and Nessus?
HYDRA’S VENOM / BLOOD
B1: On his way to what mountain to complete his fourth labor had Heracles stopped to rest and was thereby entertained by Pholus?
MOUNT ERYMANTHUS
B2: What other substance had previously driven the Centaurs mad and led to a brawl between them and Heracles?
WINE
Whose pursuit of his sister took him all the way to the Danube River before he was killed by her and subsequently had pieces of his body spread across the water?
ABSYRTUS’
B1: What pair of Titans, parents of Aeetes’ wife Eidyia, are the grandparents of Absyrtus and Medea?
OCEANUS & TETHYS
B2: By what name, meaning the “Shining One,” was Absyrtus known because of his superiority over all Colchian youths?
PHAETHON
According to Book X of Homer’s Odyssey, who broke his neck and died after falling from Circe’s roof in a drunken stupor?
ELPENOR
B1: After leaving Circe’s island home of Aeaea, Odysseus and his men sailed the river Ocean, and disembarked at the land of what people, a place where the sun never shines?
CIMMERIANS
B2: Circe instructed Odysseus to make a sacrifice at the juncture of what three rivers of the Underworld?
(PERI)PHLEGETHON, COCYTUS, ACHERON
What Libyan giant was killed when Heracles lifted him from the earth and killed him with a bear hug?
ANTAEUS
B1: Why did Heracles have to pick Antaeus up off the ground to kill him?
BECAUSE ANTAEUS DERIVED HIS POWER FROM CONTACT WITH THE EARTH
B2: What did Antaeus do in his father Poseidon’s temple to celebrate his victories?
LINED THE ROOF OF THE TEMPLE WITH SKULLS OF HIS VICTIMS
Who repeatedly stole Sisyphus’ cattle, an act which was discovered when Sisyphus marked their hooves with the thief’s name?
AUTOLYCUS
B1: Who were the parents of Autolycus?
HERMES (or APOLLO / DAEDALION) & CHIONE
B2: Not only did Sisyphus take back the cattle, but he also seduced which daughter of Autolycus?
ANTICLEIA
Daedalion, Aesacus, Tereus, Ceyx, and Perdix all share what fate in mythology?
TRANSFORMED INTO BIRDS
B1: Into what kind of bird was Tereus transformed?
HOOPOE
B2: What deity transformed Aesacus into the diver bird?
TETHYS
Broteas, Niobe, and Pelops are among the children of what ill-fated man, whose hubris and disrespect toward the Olympians led to his everlasting torture in Tartarus?
TANTALUS
B1&2: In addition to attempting to serve them his son Pelops, identify, for five points each, the two other acts which earned Tantalus the hatred of the gods?
STOLE AMBROSIA AND NECTAR and TOLD THEIR SECRETS TO MORTALS
What Thessalian king became the first in mythology to murder his kin when he killed his father-in-law?
IXION
B1: Who was Ixion’s father-in-law?
EIONEUS
B2: What daughter of Eioneus did Ixion marry?
DIA
What son of Nauplius and Clymene was credited by the Greeks with having invented certain letters of the alphabet, dice, and other useful things?
PALAMEDES
B1: Palamedes incurred the wrath of Odysseus by exposing his attempt to avoid going to war at Troy. How did Odysseus exact vengeance upon Palamedes?
HE FRAMED HIM (FOR TREASON AND PALAMEDES WAS STONED TO DEATH)
B2: How did Nauplius exact vengeance upon the Greek captains at Troy for the death of his son?
INDUCED THEIR WIVES TO BE UNFAITHFUL
In Book IV of the Iliad, what deity assumes the guise of a son of Antenor in order to break the truce between the Greeks and Trojans?
ATHENA
B1: Name this son of Antenor.
LAODOCUS
B2: What Trojan archer, a son of Lycaon, did Athena persuade to break the truce?
PANDARUS
What hero in mythology unknowingly killed a Mysian king during a nocturnal battle in which neither side was able to recognize the other?
JASON
B1: Name this Mysian king who had previously entertained the Argonauts.
CYZICUS
B2: Of what tribe was Cyzicus the king?
DOLIONES
What epithet, which may have been simply an extension of Hades’ name, was seldom uttered by the Greeks out of fear of summoning or otherwise attracting the god?
AÏDONEUS
B1: What was the likely meaning of “Aïdoneus”?
UNSEEN ONE
B2: On one rare occasion, Hades emerged from the Underworld to defend the city of Pylos against the invasion of what man, who succeeded in shooting the god with an arrow?
HERACLES
According to Hesiod, what mother-daughter pair of celestial goddesses crossed paths twice daily, as one would emerge from Tartarus as the other entered it in the morning, and vice versa at night?
NYX & HEMERA
B1&2: For five points each, name both the brother and father of Hemera, who each also occupied a realm above and below the earth.
AETHER & EREBUS
Thersander, Polydorus, Promachus, Sthenelus, Diomedes, Amphilochus, and Alcmeon were all members of what mythological group?
EPIGONI
B1: Which of the Epigoni was the son of Polyneices?
THERSANDER
B2: Which of the Epigoni was the only one to die?
AEGIALEUS
What youth, created by Prometheus, did the Titan fail to send to Zeus for inspection because of his beauty?
PHAËNON
B1: What god noticed the oversight of Prometheus and reported it to Zeus?
EROS
B2: Hermes persuaded Phaënon of the advantages of immortality, and he was carried off to heaven and subsequently became which planet?
PHAËNON / JUPITER / SATURN
Catullus says that the oaths of lovers don’t come to the ears of the gods and should be written on running water. Strangely enough it is the water of this Underworld river that the gods swear by and hold sacred.
Answer: STYX
B1. I know, that seemed like a level one question, didn’t it? Fine, we can make it a bit more
challenging. Spell the names of the three Furies for me.
Answer: TISIPHONE, ALECTO, MEGAERA
B2. Now name the two gates of dreams in the Underworld and each’s particular function.
Answer: HORN (TRUE DREAMS), IVORY (FALSE DREAMS)
Name the mortal child that Demeter tried to make immortal.
Answer: DEMOPHOÖN
B1. Who was the mother of Demophoön who shrieked and stopped Demeter from making
Demophoön immortal?
Answer: METANEIRA
B2. Why had Metaneira shrieked?
Answer: SHE SAW DEMETER PUTTING DEMOPHOÖN INTO THE FIRE.
Children of Uranus and Ge, each of these three giants had a hundred hands and fifty heads
Answer: HECATONCHEIRES
B1. Which of these giants did Thetis bring to aid Zeus when the gods rebelled against him?
Answer: BRIAREÜS
B2. Name the other two Hecatoncheires
Answer: GYES, COTTUS
When Aeneas meets Charon in the Underworld the Ferryman complains about Hercules, of course, but also two other mortals who recently crossed the Styx together. Name this dynamic duo.
Answer: THESEUS AND PEIRITHOÜS
B1. Some of the wicked men that Theseus faces on his way to Athens had more than one name. What was the other name for Periphetes and what does it mean?
Answer: CORYNETES, CLUBMAN
B2. According to some stories, Theseus had to fight his way back to the Athenian ship after
killing the Minotaur and during the fight Theseus killed a leader of the Cretans. Name him
Answer: ASTERIUS/TAURUS
What princess, set to be sacrificed to a terrible monster found herself instead carried magically to a beautiful palace.
Answer: PSYCHE
B1. In the end Psyche was banished from the palace by Cupid. To whose temples does she go
before she goes to Venus’?
Answer: JUNO AND CERES
B2. Psyche is forced to do several tasks for Venus in order to regain her favor. Who helps
her obtain the water of the Styx?
Answer: THE EAGLE OF ZEUS
Which ghost in the Underworld refused to speak to Odysseus?
Answer: AJAX /AIAS (TELAMONIAN/THE GREATER)
B1. Why did Odysseus travel to the Underworld?
Answer: TO SPEAK WITH TEIRESIAS
B2. Odysseus speaks with his mother after he talks with Teiresias. What was her name?
Answer: ANTICLEIA
Upon what mountain do Deucalion and Pyrrha land?
Answer: PARNASSUS
B1. It is on the slopes of Parnassus that Delphi is built and from the side of that mountain that a famous spring of Apollo flowed. Name the nymph who gave herself to the spring rather
than give herself to Apollo.
Answer: CASTALIA
B2. Apollo was not the first deity to hold Delphi as an oracle. Name the two others who held it
before Apollo.
Answer: THEMIS, GAIA (MOTHER EARTH)
Zeus is typically far more powerful than any other single being – except for this monster who literally cut out Zeus’ sinews. Name the monster.
Answer: TYPHOEUS/TYPHON
B1 + B2. For your two boni name the two deities that stole Zeus’ sinews back and restored them.
Answer: HERMES AND AEGIPAN
What hero of the Trojan war nearly kills Agamemnon for presuming to take Briseis from him?
Answer: ACHILLES
B1. What deity stops Achilles from killing Agamemnon?
Answer: ATHENA
B2. Achilles withdraws from the fight as a result of the quarrel. What three men come to try and persuade Achilles to return?
Answer: AJAX (THE GREATER), ODYSSEUS, PHOENIX
What hero committed an act of sacrilege when he sent back the heralds of Orchomenos with their ears cut off and hanging around their neck as the tribute from Thebes
Answer: HERACLES
B1. The Thebans had surrendered their armor to Orchomenos as tribute years ago and so King Creon refused to send the army to battle and considered giving Heracles up. The young men followed Heracles into battle anyway. What did they use for armor?
Answer: THE RUSTING ARMOR THEY FOUND DEDICATED IN TEMPLES IN THEBES.
B2. Heracles is victorious in the battle. Who was the king of Orchomenos that he defeated?
Answer: ERGINUS
Sons and mothers in myth time again. If you were listening in on novice or intermediate rounds you may have heard the question about Perseus and Andromeda The pair I am thinking of this time happened because Zeus was angry with this goddess and forced her to fall in love with a mortal Trojan prince. Name the goddess and her famous hero son.
Answer: APHRODITE AND AENEAS
B1. A mortal named Iasion so charmed a goddess that she slept with him in a thrice ploughed
field in Crete. Name the Greek goddess and one of the two children she bore him.
Answer: DEMETER; PLUTUS/PHILOMELUS
B2. Plutus became the god of wealth, Philomelus on the other hand was a poor farmer. What did Philomelus invent?
Answer: A WAGON
The Greeks have some curious habits when it comes to names. Sometimes they refer to people by their grandfather’s name rather than the father. A good example would be the two who are referred to as the Tyndaridae but usually are called Dioscuri. Name the two Tyndaridae.
Answer: CASTOR AND POLLUX/POLYDEUCES
B1. Another hero referred to in this grandfatherly way is Achilles. What name is sometimes
applied to him?
Answer: AEACIDES
B2. Diomedes is commonly called Tydides, but if we named him by his paternal grandfather,
what would his name be?
Answer: OENIDES
This son of Eurynome and Glaucus was rumored to be the son of Poseidon, and, because of the favor of the gods he was able to capture Pegasus.
Answer: BELLEROPHON/HIPPONOÜS
B1. Bellerophon had slept in the temple of Athena to gain the golden bridle that allowed him to capture Pegasus. Who had advised Bellerophon to sleep there?
Answer: POLYEIDAS
B2. Bellerophon rides Pegasus and destroys the Chimaera. Who sent Bellerophon on the quest to destroy the Chimaera?
Answer: IOBATES
Odysseus finds the ghost of Elpenor in the Underworld. What ghostly member of his crew does Aeneas find in the Underworld?
Answer: PALINURUS
B1. Aeneas also finds another ghost he recognizes through the shadows “like a man who sees, or thinks he has seen the moon rising through the clouds at the first of the month” Whose
ghost is this?
Answer: DIDO
B2. “Three times I tried to throw my arms round its neck, three times the ghost vainly grasped
escaped from my hands” is a close translation of Vergil’s close translation of Homer. What
two ghosts does Aeneas try to embrace this way?
Answer: CREUSA, ANCHISES
Name the queen of Calydon whose children included Deianeira and Meleager.
Answer: ALTHEA
B1. Name Althea’s husband, a man who was such a generous host that he looked the other way so that a god could sleep with Althea.
Answer: OENEUS
B2. Now name the god and the child that Althea conceived
Answer: Either: 1. DIONYSUS, DEIANEIRA or 2. ARES, MELEAGER
Known as the “Gerenian Horseman” in Homer, this king of Pylos was an old man at Troy.
Answer: NESTOR
B1. Even as an old man Nestor took part in the fighting, although he is most known for his long stories about his “glory days.” One story about Nestor tells that he narrowly escaped the
attack of the Calydonian Boar. How?
Answer: HE VAULTED OVER HIM USING HIS SPEAR
B2. In another story Nestor is said to have participated in the boxing, wrestling, spear-throwingand footrace contests at the funeral games of Amarynceus. How did Nestor do in each of these?
Answer: HE WON THEM ALL
What collective name is given to the sons of the Seven Against Thebes?
EPIGONI
B1: Who led the Epigoni on their assault on Thebes?
ALCMEON
B2: Who was the only one of the Epigoni to die on the expedition?
AEGIALEUS
What goddess lay with Iasion in a thrice plowed field?
DEMETER
B1: At whose wedding did this affair occur?
CADMUS & HARMONIA’S
B2: What two children were the result of this union?
PLUTUS & PHILOMELUS
In Book I of Homer’s Iliad, what god inflicts pestilence on the Greek camp because of Agamemnon’s refusal to return Chryseis to her father?
APOLLO
B1: As Agamemnon reveals his intention to take Briseis from Achiiles, which deity is sent from Olympus to stop Achilles from attacking the Greek chieftan?
ATHENA
B2: Athena tells Achiiles that she has been sent by what other deity to make sure he did not indulge his rage?
HERA
What seer, the son of Apollo and Cyrene, was killed by a boar on the expedition to retrieve the Golden Fleece?
IDMON
B1: What other seer on the Argo was killed by a snake in Libya?
MOPSUS
B2: This snake was created when the blood from the head of what Gorgon fell on the desert sand in Libya?
MEDUSA
During which of his labors did Heracles inadvertently cause the death of the centaur Pholus?
CAPTURING THE ERYMANTHIAN BOAR
B1: Pholus was the son of an ash-nymph and what companion of Dionysus?
SILENUS
B2: The Centaurs had settled on Mt. Pholoe, where Heracles encountered them, only because of their brutish behavior at whose wedding?
PIRITHOUS & HIPPODAMEIA’S
Athena fashioned the talking mast of the Argo from what oak harvested grove, sacred to her father?
DODONA
B1: At Dodona, with whom was Zeus worshipped, a female figure whom some scholars say was Zeus’ consort?
DIONE
B2: According to Homer, which deity was the child of Zeus and Dione?
APHRODITE
In Book VII of Homer’s Odyssey, Athena appears to Odysseus as a young girl in order to guide him to the palace of what Phaeacian king?
ALCINOUS
B1: Athena talks of the lineage of Phaeacian kings, including what father of Alcinous?
NAUSITHOUS
B2: Athena also tells Odysseus that what queen of the Phaeacians was not only the wife of Alcinous, but also his niece?
ARETE
Who cut off the single purple lock of her father’s hair, thus dooming her city of Megara?
SCYLLA
B1: Who was Scylla’s father?
NISUS
B2: According to Ovid, into what kind of bird was Scylla transformed after she drowned?
CIRIS
What bard became the first man to love another man when he fell in love with Hyacinthus?
THAMYRIS
B1: Thamyris was the son of another famous bard and the nymph Argiope. Who was Thamyris’ father?
PHILAMMON
B2: Who was Philammon’s mother, who bore Philammon to Apollo on the same day that she
bore Autolychus to Hermes?
CHIONE
Which of the Giants was invincible so long as he remained within the Pallene?
ALCYONEUS
B1: Who dragged Alcyoneus out of the Pallene and killed him?
HERACLES
B2: According to Pindar, who was the king of the Giants?
PORPHYRION
What man, originally named Arnaeus, was an Ithican beggar who fought the disguised Odysseus at the instigation of Penelope’s suitors?
IRUS
B1: Describe the manner in which Odysseus defeated Irus?
WITH ONE PUNCH / BLOW
B2: Which of the suitors took pity on the disguised Odysseus, prompting Odysseus to warn him to leave Ithaca?
AMPHINOMUS
Who hesitated to present his creation Phaenon to Zeus for fear that the young boy would be abducted?
PROMETHEUS
B1: Zeus carried off Phaenon who became what planet?
JUPITER
B2: Prometheus had a son named Deucalion. Who was Deucalion’s mother?
PRONOEA
Which of Odysseus’ men convinced his crewmates to eat the cattle of the sun?
EURYLOCHUS
B1: What did Helios threaten to do if Zeus did not punish Odysseus’ crew?
SHINE IN HADES
B2: What daugher and herdswoman of Helio reported the sacrilege to her father?
LAMPETIE
Mneme, Melete, and Aoede were the three original names belonging to what mythological group?
MUSES
B1: According to Pausanias, who were the first to locate these Muses on Mt. Helicon?
OTUS & EPHIALTES
B2: What thracian king lured the Muses into his house in order to rape them, only to see them use their wings to fly away?
PYRENEUS
What king, when blocked by the Amasenus River, swore to Diana that his infant daughter Camilla would be her servant?
METABUS
B1: In Book VII of the Aeneid, Camilla’s swiftness is described. Give one of the two feats
which Camilla is able to perform?
RUN ON WHEAT STALKS (WITHOUT BENDING THEM)
OR RACE OVER WATER (WITHOUT GETTING HER FEAT WET)
B2: What Nereid avenges Camilla’s death in the Aeneid by killing the Trojan Arruns?
OPIS
In Book XVI of Homer’s Iliad, which Trojan wounds Patroclus before he is killed by Hector?
EUPHORBUS
B1: By whom was Euphorbus killed in turn?
MENELAUS
B2: Some sources claim that it was Euphorbus, and not Hector, who killed what man as the
Greeks arrived at Troy?
PROTESILAUS
What son of Priam was captured by Achilles and sold as a slave to the king of Lemnos?
LYCAON
B1: What was Lycaon doing when he was captured?
GARDENING / CUTTING FIG SHOOTS FOR HIS CHARIOT
B2: What man, a guest-friend of Lycaon, ransomed him and sent him to Arisbe?
EETION (OF IMBROS)
What two names are given by various authors to the wife of Proetus?
ANTEIA & STHENEBOEA
B1: Whom did Stheneboea falsely accuse of rape after he rebuked her advances?
BELLEROPHON
B2: Bellerophon, like Stheneboea, is known by two names. By what name was Bellerophon
known before he killed his brother Bellerus?
HIPPONOUS
Sometimes described as a single body with two heads and four arms, what brothers distinguished themselves in battle at Pylos, Calydon, Tory, and Elis and fought against such heroes as Nestor and Heracles?
MOLIONES / CTEATUS & EURYTUS
B1: Name either the mortal or the god who is considered to be the father of the Moliones.
ACTOR / POSEIDON
B2: At what city did Heracles ambush and kill the Moliones while they were on their way
to the Isthmian Games?
CLEONAE
What daughter of Bisaltes did Poseidon transform into an ewe to hide her from her other suitors?
THEOPHANE
B1: To what island had Poseidon carried Theophone and later transformed all of the island’s
inhabitants into cattle?
CRINISSA / CRUMISSA
B2: When Theophane’s suitors arrived at Crumissa, they began to slaughter all of the cattle. In a rather odd attempt to solve this problem, into what did Poseidon transform the suitors?
WOLVES
