Week 12 Flashcards
- cerebus
most explicit conquest of death, heracles asks hades and persephone who agree as long as he doesnt use weapons, wrestles cerebus, brings to eurytheus and then returns to hades
ghost of meleager
only ghost that doesnt flee from heracles (past hero), who offers him his sister deianira
heracles and achelous
wrestels deianira suitor river god achelous, breaks off one of horns but gives it back to him, rewarded with the horn of amalthea (food horn)
heracles and nessus
they go home to tiryns, but have to cross a river, centaur nessus offers to carry her, he tries to rape her, heracles shoots with arrow and tells deianira to gather his poison blood
heracles and iole
falls in love, wants to marry so wins an archery competition, father eurytus says no
heracles and iole brother
takes iole to a little citadel and kills her brother who comes looking for his horses in madness
heracles atonement
goes to oracle at delphi, she is silent, he tries to steal the tripod, apollo comes and they wrestle, broken up by lightning from zeus
heracles punishment
sold to queen omphale of lydia for a year, her lover and humiliating tasks
deianira’s reaction
told by herald lichas, heracles requested a new marriage robe, she soaks it in nessus poison, mortal part of him dies and deianira kills herself
apotheosis
the process of becoming a god
god heracles marries
hebe
heraclidae
mother and children persecuted by eurytheseus, athenians defeat him, macaria voluntarily sacrifices herself
return of heracleidae
oracle says after 3 generations they can go back and reclaim peleponese (explains occupation of dorian tribes)
minyae
crew of the argo, leading heroes before the trojan war
iolcus
jason’s birthplace and location of main part of the saga
what the argo means to homer
“all men’s concerns”
aea and aeetes
land / man of the land (folktale elements, personification of the land)
king athamas and wife 1
king athamas (unlucky), takes cloud nymph nephele for his wife, 2 kids, phricus and helle, she returns to the sky and leaves children
king athamas wife 2
ino, daughter of cadmus of thebes, 2 sons, very jealous of phricus
ino’s plot
gets women to plant dead sea grain so there is no harvest, they ask oracle, ino bribes for false report to sacrafice first born
golden ram appearance
upset athamas takes phricus onto mountain, golden ram appears, sent by nephele with helle on it, helle falls off above dardanelles (hellespont straights)
phricus at colchis
welcomed to colchus by aeetes, gives aeetes golden fleece, hung and guarded in a tree
athamas brother
cretheus, king of iolcus, after his death his stepson pelias deposes rightful heir aeson, (jason’s dad)
pelias oracle
“beware of the man with one sandal”
jason stream
jason heads back to iolcus, on the way helps an old lady cross a stream (hera), becomes her favorite and loses a sandal
jason teacher
chiron (stillborn rumor)
building of the argo
argus, son of phrixus, magic prow with power of speech as athena’s gift
jason challenge pelias
pelias promises to yield throne after jason brings him golden fleece
orpheus and heracles
not originally in story, but prominent in story
character of those on the argo
all great men, some have gifts, some stand out
voyage to colchis: island of lemnos
isle of sex starved women, punsihment from aphrodite due to lack of worship, had them kill all their husbands (thoas survived), queen hypsipyle says the argonauts should stay for a year, they have lots of kids, before remebering their purpose
voyage to colchis: cyzicus and cios
welcomed by king cyzicus, they leave but at next habour they are pushed back, battle which cyzicus is accidentaly killed, bury him and leave. heracles breaks an oar boasting, they pull ashore at cios, hylas taken by water nymphs, heracles leaves expedition
amycus
polydeuces kills ugly giant in boxing match
voyage to colchis: symplegades / euxine sea
only way to escape clashing rocks is if dove makes it through, dove loses a tail feather, ship loses ornament, symplegades remain fixed after
euxine sea = more deaths, take sons of phrixus aboard
phineus and the harpies
zetes and calais drive away harpies (the snatchers) in exchange for info from blind prophet (punished by apollo for abusing gift of prophecy) warns about symplegades
jason at colchis
cruel aeetes will only let jason take the fleece if he performs impossible tasks, oracle says foreigner is supposed to be his undoing
aeetes tasks
yoke the fire breathing bulls, sew dragon’s teeth/ fight subsequent army
medea
aeetes daughter, priestess of hecate and niece of circe falls in love with jason (eros) and give him a magic ointment / drugs the serpent
euripides medea
medea kills the dragon
jason and medea flee
sets sail with fleece, pursued by colchians under medeas brother apsyrtus, who medea tricks and jason kills in ambush
ovid’s jason
a heroic figure
pindar’s return narrative
brief clean journey back
apollonius of rhodes return narrative
- circe purifies jason and medea
- same dangers as odysseus
- jason and medea married among phaeacians
pelias in argo’s absence
thinks the argo has sunk, kills all of jason’s family, super surprised by jason return, does not honour his pact
medea’s pelias plot
rejuvenates jason’s father and a ram to show him, daughters see this and brings pelias, she kills him instead
pelias death aftermath
murder enrages iolcus, jason and medea driven to corinth
jason and medea in corinth eumelos
medea becomes queen of corinth, respects hera, kids die
jason and medea in corinth (euripides)
jason divorces medea to marry glauce (cresua), medea posions wedding gift of robe, which kills glaucea and father, medea kills her children and flees to athens
jason death
jason never recovers from children death, old and depressed, killed by rotted away prow of argo
