The toys of Zeus : Part Two 2 Flashcards
Who was Coronis?
Princess of Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis. Took Apollo as lover.
What did Coronis do while pregnant with Apollo’s child?
Fell for charms of mortal called Ischys and slept with him.
How did Apollo learn of Coronis’s betrayal?
White crow
How did Apollo punish Coronis?
Asked sister Artemis to take revenge by attacking palace at Phlegyantis with plague arrows.
How did Apollo respond to Coronis’s dying?
Leapt through flames of funeral pyre, cut out child from womb, who became Asclepius, then raised Coronis to the stars as constellation Corvus, the crow.
How did the crow become black?
Apollo turned him black for laughing at the woe of his dying lover Coronis.
Who raised Asclepius?
Chiron the centaur
What did Asclepius grow up to become?
First physician, apothecary and healer
What was the sign of Asclepius?
Wooden staff with snake twined around it.
Different from the caduceus of Hermes, which is more slender with two serpents, but also used to denote medicine.
What is the difference between these symbols?
Left –rod of Asclepius
Right –caduceus of Hermes
Who were the daughters of Asclepius and their specialisations?
Hygeia – cleanliness, diet and exercise
Panacea – universal health, medicines
Aceso –healing, including immunology
Iaso –recovery and recuperation
What was Athena’s gift to Asclepius and why? And how did it cause his downfall?
A jar of Gorgon’s blood, which can revive the dead.In thanks for healing a bruised snake.
Made Hades angry that he was preventing souls from entering underworld. Zeus struck him down with thunderbolt.
What were ‘asclepia’ in the ancient world?
Temples to Asclepius, much like health spas
Who is the god of hospitality?
Zeus Xenios
What is the Greek concept of hospitality?
Xenia
Who was Ixion?
King of Lapiths – ancienttribe of Thessaly
What is this region marked in red?
Thessaly
What was Thessaly known as prior to the Greek Dark Ages (1100-750BC)?
Aeolia –and referred to as such in Homer
What were the first two crimes of Ixion (to do with father-in-law)?
Wed beautiful Dia but
1 refused to pay her father, King Deioneus of Phocis, the agreed bride price.
Her father sent raiding party to take a herd of Ixion’s best horses.
Invited Deioneus to dinner, and
2 pushed him into fiery pit.
Violates xenia and commits crime of blood killing.
What was the second crime of Ixion?
Invited to banquet on Olympus, attempts to seduce Hera.
Violating xenia –duties as guest.
How did Zeus punish Ixion?
Cloud gatherer sculpted cloud into likeness of Hera –called Nephele.
Ixion couples with her.
Zeus binds him to fiery wheel to spin , being roasted forever in Tartarus
Where do Centaurs come from?
Union of Ixion and Nephele (cloud Hera) produces misshapen son Centauros, who mated with horses, producing centaurs.
Who is depicted here?
Ixion, tied to spinning wheel in Hades for eternity. 1st-2nd century CE
What is the Greek version of the Isaac and Abraham story?
Nephele (cloud version of Hera) goes on to marry Boeotion king Athamas.
He attempts to sacrifice son, but Nephele sends golden ram to rescue him.
Golden fleece from this ram gives rise to quest of Jason and Argonauts.
What was the crime of Tantalus? And who fell victim to it?
Served up his son Pelops to the gods at a banquet. Only Demeter, who was distracted by the loss of Persephone, ate –the boy’s left shoulder.
How was Pelops resurrected?
Zeus called Clotho the spinner who put his body parts back together in cauldron. Hephaestus carved new shoulder of ivory.
Who became Pelops’s lover?
Poseidon
Who are the cursed descendants of Tantalus?
Pelops, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and Orestes (last of their line)
What land mass is named after Pelops?
The Peloponnese
What was the punishment of Tantalus?
Placed in a pool of water up to waist, which sinks away if try to drink. Above him bough with fruits, swings away when he tries to reach it.
The Greeks are called Hellenes named after who?
Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha (survivors of great flood)
Who is depicted here?
Tantalus, Gioacchino Assereto, 17th century
Who was Sisyphus’s grandfather?
Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha
Who was the founder of Corinth (then known as Ephyra)?
Sisyphus
Why did Sisyphus marry his niece?
Because he hated his brother Salmoneus, and went to Delphic oracle for help. Oracle said “Sons of Sisyphus and Tyro rise to Slay Salmoneus”.
What happened to the sons of Sisyphus and Tyro?
Tyro drowned them after overhearing Sisyphus boast that he’d married her only so her sons could grow up to kill her father Salmoneus.
How does Sisyphus outsmart Autolycus, son of Hermes, who is stealing his cows?
Carves ‘Autolycus stole me’ on their hooves. Ends up taking back cattle as well as Autolycus’ wife.
How did Sisyphus cheat death the first time?
Tricking him into placing his manacles on himself, then locking him in wardrobe.
How did Sisyphus cheat death the second time?
Ordered wife to throw him into street. In Hades, claims to Persephone that wife has violated funeral rites and needs to be punished by his returning to life to punish her.
How does Sisyphus receive his final punishment?
Hermes offers him choice between Elysian fields and rolling boulder up hill to become immortal King Sisyphus.
Who is depicted here?
Sisyphus, Black figure vase, 520BC
Who was Niobe?
Daughter of Tantalus and Dione, brother of Pelops
Wife of Amphion
How many children did Niobe and Amphion have?
Seven daughters and seven sons –the Niobids
What was Niobe’s act of hubris?
Called Leto a bad mother because had only two children, said would cancel festival of Leto
How was Niobe punished?
Artemis shot her seven daughters dead with her silver arrows
Apollo shot her seven sons dead with his golden arrows
What was Niobe’s final refuge?
Slopes of Mount Sipylus, above Tantalis, her childhood home. Gods turned her to stone to stop her lamentation. She is now a waterfall on Mount Spil.
What is this?
The weeping rock of Niobe, in Mount Spil.
Who is depicted here?
Niobe shielding her children, Jacques-Louis David, 1772
Who invented the aulos?
Athena
What did Athena do with her first aulos?
Athena threw it down to earth because the Olympians mocked her red puffed cheeks when she played it.
What is an aulos?
Double-reeded double pipe
Who collected the aulos dropped by Athena?
Marsyas, a satyr and follower of Dionysus
What was Marsyas’s act of hubris?
Betting that he could defeat Apollo in a musical competition.
What happened at the competition between Marsyas and Apollo?
Apollo won, judged by the 9 muses, as he was able to also sing while he played.
How did Apollo punish Marsyas?
Flayed him and hung his skin from a tree
What is depicted here?
Flaying of Marsyas, Titian, 1570
Who is depicted here?
Fury of Athamas, John Flaxman, 1800
Athamas attempting to sacrifice son Phrixus but being retained by Nephele (ex-cloud).
Who is depicted here?
Fury of Athamas, John Flaxman, 1800
Athamas attempting to sacrifice son Phrixus but being retained by Nephele (ex-cloud).
