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54 Cards in this Set
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In 2 Samuel; was David's favorite son; was killed in battle while attempting to usurp his father's throne; alludes to paternal grief and to a lost faithless son |
Absalom |
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The hero of Homer's Illiad who was the model of valor and beauty; slew the Trojan hero Hector but was invulnerable to wounds because his mother Thetis had held him by the heel and dipped him in the river Styx; was slain by Paris who shot as arrow into his heel which had not gotten wet; "___ heel" refers to the vulnerable part of a person's character
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Achilles |
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the king who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to win the gods' favor for his war against Troy; father of Orestes and Electra and unfaithful husband of Clytemnestra |
Agamemnon |
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Daughter of Oedipus who performed funeral rites over her brother Polynices in defiance of Creon's order; story can be sen as symbolic of choice between the gods' authority or civil authority or the choice between justice and law |
Antigone |
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In Revelation, which predicts apocalypse, the location of the final cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil; term is often used in literature to refer to an apocalyptic climax or to a time of judgement
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Armageddon |
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In Greek mythology, she was the huntress who promised to marry any man who could outrun her in a footrace; was defeated by Hippomenes who threw three golden apples in her way to distract her as she ran; the archetype of speed, strength, and daring foiled by a trick of the intellect |
Atalanta
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In Greek mythology, one of the Titans who rebelled against Zeus; as punishment, he was condemned to hold up the heavens on his shoulders (literally:has the weight of the world on his shoulders) |
Atlas |
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a daughter of Priam, King of Troy, who possessed the gift of prophecy but was fated by Apollo never to be believed; she represents an accurate but unheeded prophet of doom |
Cassandra |
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__ the great architect designed the labyrinth that held captive the Minotaur of Crete; imprisoned with his son __ he designed wings of wax and feathers that would allow them to escape; __ flew too close to the sun god Apollo and his wings melted and he plunged to his death: symbolic of the danger of daring to enter "the realm of the gods." James Joyce's protagonist in A portrait of the Artist as a Young Man |
Daedalus and Icarus |
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a symbol of impending peril in Greek mythology; he was at a sumptuous banquet only to look up to see a sword suspended by a thread over his head; spoiled his pleasure; in modern literary usage it indicates impending disaster |
sword of Damocles |
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these two were inseparable friends who would lay down their lives for one another; symbolize lasting friendship |
Damon and Pythias |
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god of wine, revelry, the power of nature, fertility, and emotional ecstasy; usually thought of in terms of overuse or excess; ancient drama festivals were dedicated to him; now representative of the Nietzschean philosophy, the creative-intuitive principle (modern example: the move Animal House) |
Dionysus (Greek) or Bacchus (Roman) |
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subject of multiple legends; most prominently as the chalice or cup that caught the blood from Christ's side and which he had used at the Last Supper; probably of more ancient origin as a fertility symbol; in Arthurian legend it is the object of a quest on the parts of the Knights of the Round Table; the Holy Grail brings health and sustenance to those who hold it and may be found only by the pure of heart (modern examples: Indiana Jones, Monty Python) |
Grail or Holy Grail |
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the eldest child of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; she was sacrificed by her father in exchange for a guarantee of fair winds for the Greek fleet on its way to Troy (compare to Abraham and Isaac) |
Iphigenia |
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In Judges, this is the story of another father's sacrifice of a daughter to keep a vow; she is the model for later Christian saints who died to protect their virginity (modern example: Keats' "The Eve of Saint Agnes") |
Jephthah's Daughter |
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a Phoenician princess (in Kings) who married King Ahab and urged him to sin; also the name given to a cals prophet in Revelation; in literature the term usually refers to a seductive woman who leads the hero astray (modern example: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale) |
Jezebel |
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The prophet who prepared the way for his cousin Jesus as Messiah; the forerunner of Christ's ministry; beheaded by Herod at the request of Salome |
John the Baptist |
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the handsomest man in the world and the judge of the contest to determine the fairest of the goddesses chose Aphrodite and was promised the love of Helen in return; sparked events leading to the Trojan War; similar events in Snow White |
judgement of Paris |
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12 fabulous tasks of enormous difficulty required to become immortal |
labors of Hercules |
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the father of Oedipus and original husband of Jocasta; killed by Oedipus on the fulfillment of the oracle; symbolic of the inevitable usurpation of father by son |
Laius |
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Zeus came to her in the shape of a swan to father four legendary children: Castor, Clytemnestra, Pollux, and Helen; story is a favorite theme of artists from Michelangelo to Dali |
Leda |
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from the Aramaic word for wealth as used in the Bible; became the evil personification of riches and worldliness and the god of avarice |
mammon |
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the chief of the three gorgons (monsters that had snakes for hair and faces so horrifying that just the sight of them turned men to stone); she was killed by Perseus who took her head with a sword from Hermes |
Medusa |
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a monster with a bull's head and a man's body |
minotaur |
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people from Thessaly who accompanied Achilles at the siege of Troy; known for brutality and savagery |
Myrmidons |
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the personification of righteous anger; punished those who transgressed upon the natural order of things either through hubris or excessive love of material goods; usually refers to as an unbeatable enemy |
Nemesis |
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Sanskrit word meaning "going out" like a light; Buddhists believe that in this doctrine of release a state of perfect bliss is attained in life through the negation of all desires and the extinction of self |
nirvana |
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ninth-century BC epic poem attributed to Homer which recounts the story of the ten-year-long homeward journey of Odysseus and his men after the Trojan War; the source of our knowledge of of many of the major Greek myths and legends as well as the basis for many modern works |
Odyssey |
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the son of Laius and Jocasta; in response to an oracle, was abandoned at birth and raised as the son of Polybus and Merope; he learned of the prophecy when he grew up and learned that he would kill his father and marry his mother |
Oedipus |
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the first woman, comparable to Eve in biblical allusion; was given the power to bring about the ruin of mankind; name means "all gifts" |
Pandora
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the goddess of fertility and the queen of the underworld; daughter of Zeus and Demeter; spent half a year with Hades (autumn and winter) and half with her mother (spring and summer); the classical explanation for the seasons
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Persephone |
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members of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict observance of the law; they refused contact with any not of their kind |
Pharisees |
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traditional enemies of the Israelites; the term temporarily connotes an ignorant, crude, and rude person lacking in culture and artistic appreciation and characterized by materialistic values |
Phillistines |
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mythical bird that lived for 500 years, burned to death, and then rose from its own ashes to begin life anew; frequently symbolizes death and resurrection or eternal life |
phoenix |
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the Roman governor before whom Jesus was tried; he washed his hands symbolically cleansing himself of what was to follow and turned Jesus over for crucifixion |
Pontius Pilate |
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a thief of Attica who placed anyone he captured on an iron bed; if the person was too tall he cut off whatever hung over and if their were too short he stretched them until they fit |
procrustes |
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a titan and the champion of men against the gods; stole fire from mount Olympus and gave the precious gift to human; Zeus chained him to a mountain where an eagle tore out his entrails each day |
prometheus |
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Poseidon's herdsman and a prophet; a sea god who could assume any form or shape he wished |
proteus |
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a sculptor and king of Cyprus who created a statue of Aphrodite, fell in love with it, and Aphrodite answered her prayer; the statue came to life, and he married her |
Pygmalion
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King Epirus in ancient Greece; for 25 years he waged a series of wars; he often won but lost too many soldiers in the process; succeeded only in bringing Epirus to ruin |
Pyrrhus |
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legemdary twins; sons of mars and a vestal virgin who was put to birth at his death founded the city of Rome at the spot at which they were rescued from the Tiber by a she-wolf |
Romulus and Remus |
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Romulus "solved" the problem of finding wives for the men on his new settlement by stealing and raping the virgins of the Sabines after luring the men away to a celebration |
rape of Sabine women |
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a race of goat-men sometimes considered demigods with the tail and ears of a horse and the legs and horns of a goat |
satyrs |
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turned into a sea monster with twelve feet, six heads on long necks, and menacing rows of teeth with which she devoured sailors; thrown into the sea by Zeus and hid under rocks and created a whirlpool; together they were a danger ships passing; represent the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" |
Scylla and Charybdis |
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cheated death by telling his wife to forgo the usual burial rites when he died thus giving him permission to return from the underworld to punish her; condemned eternally to roll a rock up a hill after his second death |
Sisyphus |
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a monster with the face of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird; posed as a riddle to the citizens of Thebes and devoured the young men who couldn't get it right |
Sphinx |
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one of the five rivers of hell |
Styx
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refers to the hope that a peaceful age will eventually eliminate the needs for weapons of war |
swords of ploughshares |
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a progenitor of the House of Atreus who is best known for his punishment in Hades; suffers of eternal hunger and thirst as he stands in a pool of water that dries up when he reaches for it; fruit hangs right above his head barely out of reach |
Tantalus |
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amount paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus by identifying him with a kiss leading to Jesus' arrest and crucifixion |
thirty pieces of silver |
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prophesied a time of perfect love and clarity of knowledge of God in contrast to the time when people saw God indistinctly or "____" |
through a glass darkly |
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a large wooden horse designed and built by the Greeks |
Trojan Horse |
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means "nowhere" in Greek; describes the ideal society according to the ideals of the English humanists who dreamt of a land where ignorance, crime, poverty, and injustice did not exist |
utopia |
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the town in Belgium where Napoleon was resoundingly defeated in 1815; refers to a final and crushing defeat |
Waterloo |
