Review for Mythology Test

1. Review for Mythology Test These are the things you need to know!

2. Why do we study mythology? • To understand allusions to mythology in literature and in everyday life

3. Who were the two great gods of earth, and what did each one do for mankind? • Demeter was the goddess of grain and the harvest. • Dionysus was the god of the vine and showed the people how to cultivate and harvest grapes.

4. What myth did the Greeks use to explain the seasons? • Demeter’s daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades. During the time that Persephone stays in the underworld, Demeter mourns her daughter and no crops grow. When Persephone is with her mother, Demeter is happy and crops grow on the earth.

5. Who was Prometheus, how did Zeus punish him, and who rescued him? • Prometheus was one of the Titans who helped Zeus overthrow Cronus. Prometheus gave fire to man. Zeus punished Prometheus for refusing to reveal a secret by chaining him to a rock where a bird attacked him every day. Hercules rescued him.

6. How did Psyche lose her husband Cupid, and how did she win him back? • She lost Cupid when he left because of her lack of faith in him. To win him back, she performed tasks for his mother Venus. Then the gods made her immortal, so Venus accepted the marriage.

7. Perseus-the prophecy, the heroic deed, who helped him and how • The prophecy was that he would kill his grandfather, so he and his mother were set adrift in the ocean to die. Perseus killed the Medusa. He was helped by Athena and Hermes, who gave him a shield and sword. The Hyperboreans gave him a cap, a wallet, and sandals.

8. Theseus-heroic deed, what kind of ruler he was • Theseus killed the Minotaur to which the Athenians had to sacrifice young men and women every nine years. He was a fair and good ruler who instituted many democratic practices in Athens. He let the people have a voice in their own government.

9. Hercules • His first great act of strength was killing two snakes that Hera sent to kill him when he was a baby. Hera disliked him because Hercules was the child of Zeus and a mortal woman. Hercules completed twelve labors to atone for killing his wife and children in a fit of insanity caused by Hera. Know one labor for the test. Check your book and pick one you can spell.

10. Atalanta • Atalanta was raised by bears when she was abandoned by her father, who didn’t want a daughter. She was a skilled hunter, wrestler, and runner who was a favorite of Artemis. She vowed that she would not marry unless the suitor could beat her in a race. Hippomenes was able to do this with golden apples which Aphrodite gave him.

11. The Judgment of Paris • Paris was the son of King Priam of Troy, who had sent him away because of a prophecy that Paris would bring about the downfall of Troy. Paris was asked to judge the fairest goddess, and he chose Aphrodite because she promised him the most beautiful woman in the world to be his wife. This woman was Helen, and when Paris stole her from her husband Menelaus, it started the Trojan War.

12. Helen • Helen was the daughter of Zeus and a mortal woman. When the time came for her to marry, her mother’s husband made all the suitors promise to support whomever he chose. He chose Menelaus, and when Paris stole Helen, Menelaus asked them to honor their promise and sail to Troy to get her back.

13. Was the Trojan War real? • Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of several cities on the spot where Homer said Troy was located. There was a war between the Greeks and Trojans at some point, but the story in your mythology book is just a story.

14. How long did the Trojan War last? • 10 years

15. Name one of the great heroes of the Trojan War, and tell what he did. • Achilles, Odysseus, Hector, Agamemnon, Aeneas, Diomedes, etc. You choose one and look in chapters 13-14 to see what he did.

16. What part did the gods and goddesses play in Trojan War? • Various gods and goddesses took sides during the war, either because they favored or were related to one of the mortals, or because they wanted to oppose one of the other gods/goddesses.

17. Achilles • The prophecy was that Achilles would die in the Trojan War. His mother had tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx when he was a baby. The only place where he was vulnerable was his heel , which is where Paris mortally wounds him with an arrow guided by Apollo. Although he had his moments of pettiness and sulking, he was a leader who was respected by his men and fought bravely. He killed Hector.

18. Cruelty in the Trojan War • Iphigenia is sacrificed. • Achilles mistreats Hector’s body. • The Trojan women and children are killed or taken as slaves.

19. The prophecy about Paris • The prophecy was that Paris would bring about the downfall of Troy. His father Priam tried to circumvent this by sending Paris away from Troy. By taking Helen, he does bring about the ruin of Troy when the Greeks destroy the city.

20. The Trojan Horse • Odysseus thought of the idea of sneaking Greek soldiers into Troy inside a giant wooden horse. The rest of the Greeks pretended to retreat, Sinon was left behind to tell a plausible story, and the Trojans pulled the horse into the gates despite warnings. The Greek soldiers made a surprise attack, and Troy was defeated.

21. Information about The Odyssey • The Odyssey was written by Homer. It is the sequel to The Iliad. • The Odyssey was told orally by rhapsodes. • It is the model for the epic journey. • There are six characteristics of an epic: a physically impressive hero, a vast setting, a quest for something of value, glorification of the hero at the end, evidence of supernatural forces at work, and a rootedness in a culture. • An epic is a long narrative poem which tells of the adventures of a hero.

22. The Beginning of the Odyssey • Homer begins by invoking the Muses and asking them to help him tell the story. • Books 1-4, which we did not read, tell about Telemachus leaving home to go in search of his father, Odysseus.

23. Calypso • It takes Odysseus ten years to get home from the Trojan War. • Seven of those years were spent on the island of the goddess Calypso, who held him captive. • Calypso was very beautiful, and so was her island, but he wanted to go home. • Athena, who is helping Odysseus, asks Zeus to send Hermes to tell Calypso to let Odysseus go. • Calypso releases Odysseus.

24. I Am Laertes’ Son • After Odysseus leaves Calypso’s island, Poseidon sends a storm to destroy his ship. • He washes ashore on the island of Scheria, where he tells his story to the court of King Alcinous. • This is when the story shifts back in time, to when Odysseus and his men first left Troy.

25. The Land of the Cicones • Odysseus and his men first stop to raid the Cicones. • Odysseus’s men disobey him, which has disastrous consequences. • Then they are blown off course by a storm.

26. The Lotus Eaters • Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Lotus Eaters. • The scouts he sends ashore eat a plant which makes them forget about home and want to stay there and do nothing.

27. The Cyclops • Odysseus and men land on the island of the Cyclops Polyphemus. • The Cyclops traps them in his cave and begins eating Odysseus’s men. • Odysseus comes up with a clever plan to get the Cyclops drunk, blind him, and escape under the bellies of his sheep. • Odysseus tells the Cyclops his name is Nohbody, so that when the other Cyclops come to see who is hurting him, he answers, “Nohbody.” • When they are back on the ship, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus and tells him his real name. • Polyphemus asks his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus, which causes much trouble for Odysseus on the journey home. • This story shows Odysseus’s bravery and cleverness, but also his vanity and rashness.

28. Circe • Circe was an enchantress who turns some of Odysseus’s men into pigs. • He is able to rescue them with the help of a magical plant called a moly which Hermes gives to him. • Circe tells Odysseus that he should go to the Land of the Dead to get a prophecy from Teiresias.

29. The Land of the Dead • Teiresias tells Odysseus that he will survive the journey and return home, but that none of his men will survive. • He tells Odysseus not to let his men kill the cattle of the sun god. • He tells Odysseus that when he returns home to Ithaca he must do three things: • Kill all of the suitors who have taken over his home. • Walk inland until he finds people who have never seen the sea and don’t recognize an oar. • Make a sacrifice to Poseidon.

30. The Sirens • The Sirens are creatures whose beautiful voices lead men to their doom by causing them to shipwreck on the rocks. • Odysseus wants to hear their songs. • Circe tells him how listen and not die. • He should put beeswax in his men’s ears so they can’t hear. He should have his men tie him to the mast so he can hear and not be affected.

31. Scylla and Charybdis • These were two monsters that Odysseus and his men had to pass between. • Scylla had six heads and would snatch up a man for each of those six heads. • Charybdis was a giant whirlpool who would devour the ship and all aboard. • Odysseus chooses Scylla.

32. The Cattle of the Sun God • Odysseus and his men stop at the island where the Sun God keeps his cattle. • There are no favorable winds for sailing, so they are trapped there for a long time and run out of food. • One day while Odysseus is asleep, Eurylochus persuades the other men that it is better to eat the cattle and risk the wrath of the Sun God that to starve to death. • When they leave the island, Zeus sends a lightning bolt that destroys the ship. • Only Odysseus survives, and he is washed ashore on Calypso’s island. • Odysseus has finished telling his story to the court of King Alcinous. This ends the flashback portion of the story. • Kng Alcinous will send him home in one of his ships, fulfilling part of Polyphemus’s plea that Odysseus does return home, he will do so under strange sail.

33. The Homecoming • Athena advises Odysseus to return to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. He has enemies in his own land. • Odysseus goes first to the home of his trusted servant Eumaeus. • There he sees his son Telemachus again for the first time in twenty years. • His faithful dog Argos recognizes him after twenty years and then dies.

34. The Homecoming continued • Penelope has been faithful to Odysseus, but she is tired of all the suitors. • She challenges the suitors that she will marry the one who can string Odysseus’s great bow and shoot an arrow through 12 rings. • No one is able to achieve the task except the beggar. • He kills the ringleader of the suitors, Antinous, and then reveals who he is. • Odysseus, his son, and servants have a plan for the battle and slaughter of the suitors. Athena helps them. • Penelope finally accepts that Odysseus is her husband and the two are reunited after 20 years.