sign in sign up
<<
Home , Acrisius, Aegyptus, Aegyptus (mythology), Belus (Egyptian), Danaus, Epaphus

CLCV 115 Exam 3 Material

Five Characteristic Aspects of the Greek Hero

Strange Birth Monster- Problems with a Horrible Worshipped Circumstances Slaying Woman Death as a Demigod after Death Danae impregnated by None (as golden rain); exposed in a box Oedipus exposed at birth on Mt. Sphinx Jocasta blinded, exiled, Cithaeron (Epicasta) disappears Hercules delayed delivery; snakes Nemean Lion, Deianeira burned to attack him and his twin Hydra, death brother Erymanthian Boar, , etc. Chimaera blinded, disabled stolen away as an infant; Serpent that Medea ship fell on brought up by Chiron the guards the him centaur golden fleece Theseus father “should not loosen the Phaedra boiled to death wine-sack until he gets home”

Names to Know: The Heroes

Argos

Peloponnesus: The large peninsula in the south of that contains , Argos, , and many others. A geographical area where the Argive Heraion (“Sanctuary of in Argos”) was located Argolid: A state in the eastern . Contains Argos. Argos (place): City inside Argolid that contains a large monument to the Argivian Hera, house of Tiles, etc. : First king of Argos who has a river named after him, which he sacrificed to Hera. Father of . The son of Ocean and Tethys. River enabled the inhabitants to flourish through agriculture  Io: priestess of Hera, she was impregnated by Zeus and transformed into a white heifer o Hera put Argos (the beast) in charge of watching it until killed him o Hera then cursed Io with a gad-fly, causing her to run all the way to , where someone touches her, causing her to instantly give birth to  Argos (beast): 100-eyed giant and servant of Hera. Because he has 100 eyes, he can sleep with some of them and keep watch with the others. o Assigned by Hera to guard Io, the cow. o Slayed the serpent-legged beast Echidna. o Slayed by Hermes, who put a spell on him that put all his eyes to sleep and then bludgeoned him to death with a rock, and his eyes became those of a peacock’s (Hera’s sacred animal)  Epaphus: Son of Zeus and Io, and a king of Egypt o : Ancient term for Northern Africa. Also the name for a daughter of Epaphus who was ravished by and bore twins.

Isis: Egyptian goddess of health, marriage, and wisdom Ba’al: Semitic honorific, similar to “lord”. Hyksos: were a mixed group of Asiatic people from Western who took over the eastern Delta

Belus: King of Egypt. Father of and  Aegyptus: has 50 sons, commanded Danaus to have his daughters marry his sons  Danaus: has 50 daughters, Danaids, built a ship and fled to Argos with daughters to avoid marriage, commanded the Danaids to kill Aegyptus’ son on their wedding night o Danaids: 50 daughters of Danaus, after they killed the , they were sent to o : only daughter to refuse to kill her husband on her wedding night, became the ancestors of Perseus, went to when she died

Perseus

Acrisius: King of Argos. at said he will be killed by his grandson, Danae’s son. hid her away in a bronze chamber that was only open to the sky in his courtyard. Zeus impregnates Danae by transforming into a golden shower. Zeus and Danae have the son: Perseus. Acrisius puts Danae and Perseus in a chest and tosses them out to the sea. Zeus has Poseidon rescue them, and the chest ends up on the shore of Seriphos.  Danae: daughter of Acrisius, is impregnated by Zeus, gives birth to Perseus  Perseus: son of Zeus and Danae

Perseus: slays medusa, saves Andromeda, and accidentally kills his grandfather, Acrisius, striking him in the head with a discus, fulfilling the oracle.  Founder of : an ancient city in Greece near Argos, named after either his sword or a mushroom picked off the ground there  Perseus beheaded Medusa and used her head as a weapon, as it retained its petrifying abilities even after death. Eventually, he gave it to to put on her shield.  Graiai: aka the Grey sisters, three sisters who shared one tooth and one eye above them, knew how to slay Medusa, but didn’t tell Perseus until he stole their communal eye and was passing it around  Gorgons: a trio of female monsters, who have hair made of living, venomous snakes and turned people into stone. Two of them, Stheno and Euryale, are immortal, but the third, Medusa, is not. o Medusa: monster with living, venomous snakes in her hair, gazing directly into her eyes would turn you into stone, beheaded by Perseus . Pegasus: Pure white, winged horse, means “he of the fountain”, Medusa was pregnant with him when she was killed  Captured by the hero Bellerophon, the two defeated the Chimera and had many other exploits together. The hero fell off Pegasus’ back as they flew up to Olympus, though. Zeus transformed Pegasus into a constellation. . Apotropaic: A type of magic used to ward off evil. Reliefs of Medusa’s head are often used for this purpose.  Gorgoneion: an apotropaic amulet with a Gorgon head.  Cassiopeia: mother of Andromeda. Similar to Niobe, she boasted that her child was better than the gods, and was ordered to sacrifice her to a sea monster as punishment o Andromeda: Daughter of an Ethiopian king, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia . Her mother’s hubris leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids. Poseidon sends a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage her as punishment. Andromeda is stripped naked and chained to a rock as sacrifice, but Perseus saves her on his way back from slaying Medusa. He later takes her as his wife. o Cetus: Sea monster sent by Poseidon under the influence of Hades to ravage Andromeda. Slayed by Perseus Thebes

Boeotia: “cow-land”, an atypical area of Greece featuring pasture, grazing land, grass, etc. A wealthy, prosperous area. A region to the north of the Peloponnese. Its largest city is Thebes. : Noblewoman from after whom was named. Abducted by Zeus, who turned into a white bull and carried her across the sea to

Cadmus: Founder and first king of Thebes. He founded the city after the Delphic Oracle told him to find where a special cow with a half-moon marking laid down.  Serpent of : that lived in a spring near Thebes, the Dirce Fountain. After it killed some of ’ men, he slayed it and planted its teeth in the ground. The teeth turned into fierce warriors, the Spartoi o Spartoi: The men who grew from dragon teeth, who fought amongst themselves until only five survived; these men became the patriarchs of the noblest families in the city. o Dirce: Wife of , devoted to . Where she died in Thebes, he caused a spring to form. Punished by being attached to a bull. o Jocasta: Queen consort of Thebes. . She married , a descendant of the Spartoi. . He received an oracle from Delphi that he must not have a child with Jocasta or that child would kill him and marry her. However, he gets drunk and fathers Oedipus with Jocasta anyway.

Oedipus: Tragic hero. Fulfilled the above prophecy despite his best efforts not to. Once he realized what he had done, Jocasta hanged herself and Oedipus gouged his eyes out. They had four children before her death.  Creon: Brother of Jocasta who offered the throne and Jocasta to whoever could get rid of the sphinx who was tormenting the people of Thebes.  Sphinx: Mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It sometimes has bird wings. Those who cannot answer its riddle are killed and eaten. Oedipus is able to correctly answer its riddle, earning the throne and Jocasta’s hand in marriage.  Polynices: Son of Oedipus and Jocasta. He and his brother Eteocles inherited the throne after the death of their father, but they were cursed by him to never share the throne peacefully. They killed each other in a battle for control of the city.  Antigone: Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. Name literally means “worth of one’s parents”.