Women to be feared Flashcards
1
Q
When did Medea meet Jason?
A
When he was was on his quest to find the legendary Golden fleece
2
Q
Who was Medea the daughter of?
A
Aites the king of Colchis
3
Q
Jason and his quest for the golden fleece [4]:
A
- Jason was promised the throne of Thessaly by his uncle Pelias if he got the golden fleece
- Jason built a ship called the Argo and collected a group of heroes, later known as the Argonauts
- The King of Colchis, Aites, did not want him to get the fleece so he set Jason a challenge
- Jason had to yoke a pair of oxygen to a plough, used them to plough the field and then sowed the field with serpents’ teeth
4
Q
What would happen once serpent teeth were sown into the earth?
A
Warriors would spring up from the earth
5
Q
What were Oxen?
A
Monstrous beasts of metal that breathed fire
6
Q
Hera’s involvement in Jason’s quest [3]:
A
- Jason was one of the favorite mortals of Hera
- She knew the quest for the fleece would be difficult for Jason so she made Aites’ daughter, Medea, fall in love with Jason
- Hera hoped that Medea would help Jason complete the quest with her magical powers
7
Q
Which Greek epic poet narrated the moment Medea fell in love with Jason ?
A
Apollonius
8
Q
The love Eros inspired in Medea was…[2]:
A
- Overwhelming
- She longed for nothing else but to save Jason’s life
9
Q
How did Medea help Jason?
[3]:
A
- She gave Jason a charm that would make him invulnerable and able to complete Aites’ tasks
- She also used a combination of magic, chants and drugs to lull the serpent to sleep
- In return Jason promised to take Medea back to Greece with him and marry her
10
Q
Why was it a problem that Medea helped Jason?
A
She was betraying her father and country
11
Q
What Greek word is Medea’s name derived from?
[2]:
A
- ‘planner’ or ‘deviser’
- this links to her cunning characteristic
12
Q
How did Medea slow down the angry Colchians when they chased the Argonauts?
[2]:
A
- She killed her brother, Apsyrtus and then cut his body into to pieces
- Every time the Colchians got close she would threw a piece of her brother into the water and the Colchians had to stop and search for the piece as they believed in proper burials
13
Q
When Jason and Medea arrived in Thessaly…
A
- King Pelias was shocked to see that Jason had acquired the golden fleece and refused to give up the throne
14
Q
Medea’s plan for the throne of Thessaly [4]:
A
- She showed the two daughters of king Pelias a magic ritual that could reverse the ageing process
- She demonstrated by cutting up an old ram and then boiled it in a cauldron
- When the girls weren’t looking she replaced the ram with a young lamb, tricking the girls
- The girls tried the ritual on their father, unwittingly killing him in the process
15
Q
What happened to Medea and Jason after the death of King Pelias? [2]:
A
- They were driven out of Thessaly by angry townsfolk
- They had to seek refuge in The Greek city of Corinth
16
Q
Medea’s unpopularity in Corinth [3]:
A
- Jason and Medea settled down in Corinth and had 2 sons
- Medea had gained an unfavourable status of the barbarian foreigner which meant that Jason was not able to get along with local rulers
- Jason left Medea so that he can improve his status and his new bride was the princess of Corinth called Glauce
17
Q
Medea’s Revenge [4]:
A
- Medea sends Glauce a coronet and wedding dress on the day of her wedding
- The dress burns the princess as soon as she puts it on as Medea had cast a poisonous spell on it
- King Creon tries to help his daughter by removing the dress but instead, it burns him to and they both die
- Medea then finally kills her two sons to hurt their father
18
Q
Cleopatra background [3]:
A
- She was born around 69 BC and grew up in a royal household
- Her family was the Ptolemies and they had ruled Egypt since the fall of Alexander the Great in 323 BC
- She became ruler in 55 BC
19
Q
Cleopatra’s sole rule of Egypt [4]:
A
- A man and a woman should rule together although the woman should be subservient to the man
- Her father Ptolemy died when she was 18 making her younger brother the new male monarch
- Cleopatra took advantage of her brother’s young age and took control
- However, her sole rule was short-lived as she had to flee Egypt in 45 BC as the result of a coup that removed her from power
20
Q
Cleopatra’s sole rule of Egypt [4]:
A
- A man and a woman should rule together although the woman should be subservient to the man
- Her father Ptolemy xii died when she was 18 making her younger brother the new male monarch
- Cleopatra took advantage of her brother’s young age and took control
- However, her sole rule was short-lived as she had to flee Egypt in 45 BC as the result of a coup that removed her from power
21
Q
The Roman civil war [5]:
A
- It was between to military generals; Julius Caesar and Pompey
- They had been former allies
- After a military defeat, Pompey fled to Alexandria in Egypt
- Pharoah Ptolemy xiii ordered Pompey’s execution in an attempt to win Caesar’s favour
- Caesar was not impressed as he did not wish Pompey’s death only his defeat and so took control of Alexandria
22
Q
Cleopatra’s opinion on the roman civil war [2]:
A
- She saw Caesar’s new control of Alexandria as an opportunity to reclaim her throne
- She sought to state her case and make her claim to the Egyptian throne to Caesar himself
23
Q
Plutarch’s description of how Cleopatra got the throne [4]:
A
- Cleopatra arranged a meeting with Caesar alone and unnoticed
- Her plan relied on Caesar preferring her over her brother, Ptolemy xiii
- In private she worked her charm uninterrupted
- Caesar later declared that Cleo rule jointly with her brother
24
Q
Caesar and Cleopatra’s relationship [2]:
A
- she became his mistress
- They then had a son Ptolemy Caesar (Caesarion)
25
Ptolemy xiii's death
He was killed, months after Caesarion's birth, during a failed attempt to take the throne for himself
26
Cleopatra's unpopularity with the Romans [2]:
- She was immediately unpopular as the Romans had an ingrained disdain for monarchs and she insisted on being called 'queen'
- The people of Rome worried that Cleo's influence on Caesar would end in radical changes in Rome
27
Cleopatra's statue in Rome [4]:
- Ordered by Julius Caesar
- Portrayed Cleopatra as the Egyptian goddess Isis
- It was put in the temple of Venus Genetrix, goddess of motherhood
- This was seen as a radical change to Roman culture as the Romans did not worship rulers
28
Caesar's death [3]:
- Happened months after he was elected dictator for life
- He was stabbed to death in the senate house
- Cleopatra returned to Alexandria fearful for her life
29
Power vacuum in Rome after the assassination [3]:
- 2 men rose to prominence; Mark Antony and Octavian
- They eventually turned on each other
- In 41 BC Antony requested Cleopatra meet him in Tarsus so that she would ally with him in upcoming wars
30
Cleopatra's seduction of Antony [4]:
- According to Plutarch Cleo had no intent to ally with him but to seduce him like Caesar
- She succeeded as he spent the winter of 41-40 BC in Egypt
- They married in 36 BC, despite having been married to a roman noblewoman
- This was a scandal as Bigamy was not accepted
31
Donations of Alexandria [5]:
- This was a public event in 34 BC held by Antony and
Cleopatra
- It was a celebration of Antony's victory over the Parthians
- The fact that it was not held in Rome was seen as proof that Cleopatra convinced Antony to move the centre of the Roman empire to Egypt
- During the celebrations, Antony named Cleopatra the ruler of Cyprus as well as Egypt
- By giving realms to Cleopatra and his children he was essentially betraying Rome
32
Antony's Civil war with Octavian [4]:
- In 33 BC relations between the former allies had completely broken down
- Octavian convinced the Senate to declare war on Cleopatra
- The decisive battle of this conflict was the battle of Actium fought off the coast of Greece
- Octavian's forces fought against Antony and Cleopatra's fleets
- Antony and Cleopatra retreated to Alexandria as Octavian had won the war
33
Cleopatra's death [4]:
- In 30 BC Octavian marched on Alexandria and Antony's remaining forces became Octavian's
- Antony killed himself after this
- Cleopatra killed herself shortly after
- It is not known exactly how she killed herself but the most common version is that she allowed an Egyptian asp or Cobra to bite her
