The toys of Zeus : Part Two 1 Flashcards
Who was Inachus?
First king of Argos in Peloponnese
Who was the first king here?
Inachus
Who were Inachus’s two daughters?
Io and Mycene
Whom did Inachus choose as patron deity of Argos?
Hera
Who was Io?
Daughter of Inachus and Melia, priestess of Hera
How did Zeus attempt to mate with Io without Hera noticing?
By turning her into a cow
How did Hera attempt to foil Zeus’s plan to get off with Io?
Asked for heifer (Io) as a birthday gift and placed her in field under eyes (many) of Argus.
What was Argus’s special gift, and nickname?
Had 100 eyes. Nicknamed Panoptes.
How did Hermes dispense with Argus?
Lulled him to sleep by playing pipes, then stabbed him in heart.
How did Hera separate Io from Zeus after the death of Argus?
Sent down a gadfly to torment Io, who galloped away from Zeus
What became of Argus’ 100 eyes?
Hera fixed them onto the tail of the peacock
Where did the Bosporus get its name?
Greek words “bous” (βοῦς) meaning “cow” and “poros” (πόρος) meaning “passage” or “ford.”
Who were Io’s children and how were they conceived?
Epaphus –by Zeus laying hand on Io (Epaphus means ‘touch’)
Keroessa –don’t know how conceived, but her son Byzas went on to found Byzantium
What is the origin story of Erechtheus, mythical founder of Athens?
Haphaestus ejaculates on Athena’s thigh, who wipes off semen with headband and chucks away.
Semen seeps into the earth and Gaia is made pregnant.
Athena thinks child should be made immortal, protects with writhing snakes.
His three nurses, seeing this, go insane and throw themselves off Acropolis.
Who were the three nurses of Erechtheus?
Herse, Aglauros and Pandrosos
What is this building, who is it named after, and what supposedly happened on this site?
Erechtheion on the Acropolis, named after Erechtheus, mythical founder of Athens.
Site where Poseidon struck the ground to create saltwater spring, and Athena planted first olive tree.
Who were the parents of Erechtheus?
Gaia and Hephaestus
Who were Phaeton’s parents?
Son of Clymene and Apollo, but stepfather Merops (a mortal)
Eos was goddess of what? And how was she nicknamed
The dawn. Nicknamed rhododaktylos –the rosy-fingered one
What’s the story of Phaeton?
Teased by Epaphus, son of Zeus, Phaeton pledges to drive his father Apollo’s chariot.
Can’t control horses, scorches earth (Sahara), struck by Zeus thunderbolt and falls to earth.
How was the Sahara formed?
Phaeton riding the chariot of the sun too close to the earth.
Who drove the chariot after Phaeton and why?
Helios, son of Hyperion and Theia, because Apollo was ashamed about his son’s death and vowed never to drive again.
Who was Cygnus and what was his fate?
Friend and lover of Phaeton. Mourned him on banks of river Eridanos. Wail was so plaintive that Apollo struck him dumb and transformed into swan.
What is catasterism?
Being placed among the stars –classical equivalent of canonization.
How did extremes of temperature in different regions come about?
Thanks to Phaeton’s ride.
Who was Europa and what happened to her?
Princess of Tyre. Kidnapped by Zeus disguised as white bull and taken to Crete and lived happily ever after.
Who were Europa’s brothers?
Cadmus, Phoenix, Cilix and Thasos
What places did Europa’s brothers found?
Cadmus - Thebes
Phoenix –Phoenicia
Cilix –Cilicia (kingdom in Asia Minor)
Thasos –Thasos (island)
Who brought the alphabet to Europe?
Cadmus brought from Tyre
What was the Delphic oracle’s message to Cadmus in his search for Europa?
Follow heifer marked with half moon, and where it falls, there must you build.
How did Cadmus find the heifer?
Given to him as a gift for winning the Phocian games
Where did the heifer lead Cadmus?
To Thebes, which he founded.
How did Cadmus found Thebes?
Sowed the teeth of the Ismenian dragon he slew, favourite of Ares, on advice of Athena. This created an army from the earth, who killed each other with only five remaining, who became lordsof Thebes.
What is depicted here?
Europa being abducted by Zeus in form of white bull. Rembrandt, 1632
What is depicted here?
Hermes slaying Argus, who is keeping watch over Io, transformed into heifer.
What is depicted here?
Fall of Phaeton, Rubens 1604
What is depicted here?
Cadmus slaying the Ismenian dragon. 3rd century BC
What is depicted here?
Cadmus slaying the Ismenian dragon.
Hendrik Goltzius, 1573
How were the walls of Thebes built?
Amphion, lover of Hermes whom he had taught to play the lyre, sang to the stones which floated into place.
What was Aphrodite’s wedding gift to Harmonia?
Her magical girdle which has power to provoke rapturous desire.
How were Cadmus and Harmonia ultimately punished for the slaying of the Ismenian dragon?
Ares transforms Cadmus into snake. Harmonia beseechs the gods to do same to her. Athena takes pity on her. They live in shadows of temple to Athena.
Who was Semele?
Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia
High priestess of Zeus
Mother of Dionysus
How did Hera trick Semele to her doom?
Convinced her that her lover Zeus might be an impostor, so she forced Zeus to promise to reveal himself in his true form, thus killing her.
What’s depicted here?
Zeus revealing himself to Semele, Rubens
How did Zeus save the unborn child he had with Semele? And who was the child?
Plucked foetus from they dying Semele’s belly and implanted in his own thigh.
Dionysus.
Who suckled and tutored Dionysus?
The rain nymphs of Nysus.
Silenus (pot-bellied old drunk)
How did Dionysus’s lover Ampelos die?
Dionysus in love with Ampelos, and let him win sporting contests.
Boy becomes spoiled, boasts he can ride a steer better than Selene rides the horned moon.
She sends gadfly to sting the beast, which maddens him and Ampelos is gored.
How did Dionysus come to create wine?
He transformed his dying lover Ampelos into a vine, his blood solidifying into grapes.
How were the parts of the grape named?
In Assyria, Dionysus encountered King Staphylos and Queen Methe and son Botrys. Names bunch of grapes ‘staphylos’ after the king dies from a hangover, drunkenness ‘methe’ and the grape ‘botrys’.
What scientific terms derive from Dionysus’ encounter with the Assyrian royal family?
Staphylococcus –from staphylos (bunch of grapes) and coccus (berry)
Methylated, methane –from Methe
Botrytis –the rot on grapes that creates dessert wines, from Botrys
Who are the female followers of Dionysus?
Maenads
Who are depicted here? And how are they usually represented?
Maenads
Thyrsus staff –wrapped in vines and topped with a pinecone
Animal skins
Tambourines
Roman name for Dionysus?
Bacchus
How did Dionysus join the dodecatheon when there were 12 gods there already?
Hestia offered up her place so she could help out in the home.
Who was the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite? And what was his problem?
Priapus. Was cursed by Hera with ugliness and impotence. Had constant erection which failed whenever he needed to perform.
What were the family origins of Actaeon?
Grandson of Cadmus through his daughter Autonoë.
How did Actaeon meet his doom?
While hunting stumbled upon Artemis bathing. She forbids him from ever uttering a word. Actaeon calls out in response to his hunters and is transformed into a stag, then ripped apart by his own hounds.
Who is depicted here?
Artemis and Actaeon, Titian, 1559
Who was Erysichthon?
King of Thessaly
How did Erysichthon meet his doom?
Chopped down grove sacred to Demeter, including hamadryad oak tree. Demeter asked Limos, demon of famine, to curse him. He feels insatiable hunger, sells all possessions to slake it, and ends up eating himself.
Where was kingdom of Thessaly?
At largest state, from Mount Olympus in north to Spercheios river in south. North of Athens in mainland Greece.
Etymology of Dionysus?
Dio –god
Nysus –area on North coast of Africa between Libya and Egypt
