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132 Cards in this Set

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Uranus
according to Hesiod in his Theogony, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. Uranus and Gaia were ancestors of most of the Greek gods. Uranus and Gaia had many kids: their first six sons and six daughters the Titans, the three one-hundred-armed giants the Hekatonkheires, and the one-eyed giants the Cyclopes. Was killed by his son Chronus
Ge/Gaia
the primordial Earth-goddess. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus (the sky), the sea-gods from her union with Pontus (the sea), the Giants from her mating with Tartarus (the hell-pit) and mortal creatures were sprung or born from her earthy flesh.
Cronus
the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky. He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son, Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus
Titans
a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. In the first generation of twelve Titans, the males were Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius and Iapetus and the females were Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea and Themis. The Titans would later battle the Olympians for control of the world and lost.
Prometheus
a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals. Zeus then punished him for his crime by having him bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. His myth has been treated by a number of ancient sources, in which Prometheus is credited with – or blamed for – playing a pivotal role in the early history of mankind
Zeus
Sky God, Leader of Olympus. God of thunderbolts. Associated with Eagles
Hera
Mother Goddess, Goddess of motherhood and wifehood. Always messing with Zeus’s girlfriends
Hestia
Goddess of the hearth. One of the virgin goddesses
Poseidon
God of the Ocean. Associated with Horses. Once fought with Athena over patronage of Athens. (He lost, giving the city a useless salt water spring, while Athena gave them Olive trees.)
Hades
God of the underworld. Raped and kidnapped Persephone
Demeter
Goddess of Summer, of Agriculture. Mother of Persephone. Flipped her shit when Persephone was kidnapped. Raped by Poseidon during this same time
Persephone
Goddess of Spring, kidnapped by Hades and made his queen. She lives in the underworld for 3 months of the year (which is why there is winter) because Hades tricked her into eating a pomegranate seed while in the underworld
Athena/Pallas
Goddess of wisdom and protector of cities. A virgin goddess. Born out of Zeus’ head after he ate her mother, Metis
Apollo/Phoebus/Cynthius
God of prophecy, the sun, and poetry. He and his twin Artemis were born on the island of Delos after their mother had been forced to flee across the Earth by Hera. Symbolic of reason, philosophy, sculpture, etc. Also he has really bad luck with getting girlfriends. And boyfriends. Always shown as rather young
Asclepius
god of healing and medicine. Son of Apoll. main daughter discussed - Hygieia. Killed by Zeus when he used his medicine to bring a man (Hippolytus) back from the dead (considered too prideful)
Artemis/Cynthia
Apollo’s twin sister. Represents the moon, the hunt, and maidens. One of the virgin goddesses
Aphrodite/Cypris/Cytherea
Goddess of Love, wife to Hephaestus and lover of Hermes (and Ares. And Adonis. And at one point Poseidon.)
Hephaestus
God of metal making, husband of Aphrodite, ugly, son of only Hera. Thrown off Olympus (by Hera or maybe Zeus) for being so ugly.
Ares
God of Offensive War. Pure bloodlust for war. Aphrodite was his lover
Hermes
Second youngest Olympian. Messenger god. God of merchants, trickery, theft, also travelers. and boundaries
Pan
Son of Hermes. satyr. Has sex with pretty much everything. Tried to rape Syrinx and she changed into reeds. he then made the pan-pipes
Dionysus/Bacchus
God of wine. His mother, semele, was killed during sex with Zeus (because he was in full divine form) To save the fetus, Zeus sewed him up into his thigh until he was old enough to be born. He appeals to the very carnal side of humans. Big parties, lots of sex, and violence. He is symbolic of the wilderness, the lack of social inhibitions, emotional expression etc.
Chaos
Vast dark void that existed in the beginning.
Cyclopes
Children of Uranus and Gaia. Only One eye. In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus releases three Cyclopes, the sons of Uranusand Gaia, from the dark pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus' thunderbolt, Hades' helmet of invisibility, and Poseidon's trident, and the gods use these weapons to defeat the Titans
Hundred-handed ones
More children of Uranus and Gaia. Super strong. Thrown into Tartarus by their father. Also known as Hekatonkheires
Giants
More children of Uranus and Gaia; born straight out of the earth herself; often depicted as half human, half serpent
Rhea
A Titaness. Marries Chronus. Gives birth to the Olympian Gods.
Atlas
Carries the world on his back.
Epimetheus
Brother of Prometheus. Name means “Hindsight”. Depicted as foolish and stupid.
Pandora
Woman who opened the box that contained all the suffering in the world.
Typhoeus/Typhaon/Typhon
- giant snake-like creature with 100 fire-eating heads; battled Zeus (and Zeus won); was so frightening the Greek gods fled to Egypt
Eileithyia
daughter of Zeus and Hera, associated with childbirths
Mnemosyne
Titaness. Her name means memory. Mother of the muses.
Thetis
Sea Nymph. Mother of Achilles.
Amphitrite
Sea goddess. Wife of Poseidon. Mother of Triton.
Nereids
the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris who dwell in the Mediterranean Sea. These beautiful women were always friendly and helpful towards sailors fighting perilous storms. They are believed to be able to prophesy. They belong to the retinue of Poseidon.
Oceanids
the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Each was the patroness of a particular spring, river, sea, lake, pond, pasture, flower or cloud
Triton
Poseidon’s son, he is always depicted with a conch shell that he uses to tame the tide
Charon
The ferryboat man who ferries dead souls across the river styx. Greeks were often buried with coins used to pay Charon for his services.
Cerberus
three headed dog that guards the gates to Hades to make sure that none of the spirits leave
chthonian deities
- spirits and heroes of the earth or Underworld; concerned with the dead or fertility of the earth; chief chthonian gods: Hades and Persephone, but Hecate was also prominant
Metis
A Titaness, and Athena’s mother. Persuaded Cronus to take an emetic and vomit up his children; married Zeus and he swallowed her after learning that she would bear a son stronger than he
Gorgons
Three monstrous sisters. The most famous is Medusa, who could turn men into stone by looking at them and had snakes for hair. Defeated by Perseus.
Leto
Mother of Apollo and Artemis; wandered the earth while pregnant but could not find a place to give birth because of Hera's jealousy; Tityus tried to rape her but her children killed him
Hecate
- Underworld goddess; goddess of fertility; regularly carried torches
Selene
goddess of the moon
Dione
- mother of Aphrodite; name is feminine form of the name Zeus
Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte
-
Eros/Amor/Cupid
Son of Aphrodite. God of passion/desire/eroticism.
Maia
mother of Hermes
Silenus
-
Antiope
A princess of Thebes, powerful city in central Greece. Zeus seduced her in form of Satyr (half goat-half human creature). She becomes pregnant and runs away, her father comes in pursuit with army against King Epopeus and loses that battle (he dies). His brother finishes the war and wins and brings her back. She is treated like a slave, and gives birth to twin boys Aephion and Zethus. The boys are taken out into the wild and left there for the Gods to take care of. Antiope later on breaks out of prison and wanders into a hut with two 18 year old boys that she recognizes as her sons.
Europa
Zeus turned into a white bull and kidnapped her. Europa climbed on the bull’s back and he charged off into the sea all the way to the island of Crete. Fathered 3 sons with Europa Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon.
Io
One of Zeus’ lovers. Was turned into a cow to hide her from Hera. Wandered the world.
Leda
wife of Tyndareus, Zeus seduces her by turning into a swan. She gives birth to two sets of twins, male and female. Caster and Pollus, and Helen and Clytemestra. In each set, there was one that was the offspring of her husband, and one was offspring of Zeus.
Semele
Mother of Dionysus. Lover of Zeus. Killed when Zeus has sex with her in his full god form.
Ganymede
Ganymede is the young, beautiful boy that became one of Zeus' lovers. One source of the myth says that Zeus fell in love with Ganymede when he spotted him herding his flock on Mount Ida. Zeus then came down in the form of an eagle or sent an eagle to carry Ganymede to Mount Olympus where Ganymede became cupbearer to the gods. Represented by the constellation of Aquarius
Amymone
- chased by a satyr - Poseidon scared the satyr with his trident; Poseidon slept with Amymone and created a stream at the location
Medusa
Gorgon. Had been beautiful once. Now has snakes for hair. People turn to stone if they look in her eyes.
Coronis
- aka Asclepius; son of Apollo, god of healing, revived mortals from the dead and because of this was killed by Zeus' thunderbolt; Apollo killed the Cyclopes in response to Zeus' punishment
Daphne
- attempted to avoid men at all costs; Apollo was struck by Eros and fell in love with Daphne and chased her through the woods; Daphne prayed to Ge to turn her into a tree
Marpessa
- was fought over by Apollo and Idas; she chose Idas because she feared Apollo would abandon her when she grew older
Sinope
-
Cassandra
Prophetess. Cursed by Apollo with the gift of always being right, but the curse that no one will ever believer her, because she rejected him. She was at Troy when it fell.
Cumaean Sibyl
Prophetess. Cursed by Apollo with the gift of always being right, but the curse that no one will ever believer her, because she rejected him. She was at Troy when it fell.
Endymion
- Zeus gave him the opportunity to choose his own fate and he chose to sleep forever, never growing old
Callisto
was a member of Artemis' hunting troop and took a vow of chastity; Zeus disguised himself as Artemis or Apollo and slept with her, as a result Callisto turned into a bear and later was shot; Zeus immortalizes her by transporting her to the stars as the constellation Arctos (the Great Bear)
Adonis
son of Myrrha's incestuous relationship with her father; Aphrodite and Persephone fought over him - Zeus decreed that Adonis spend a third of the year with each goddess and the other third on his own; lover of Aphrodite
Anchises
- lover of Aphrodite - son: Aeneas; she appeared to him pretending to be a mortal and when she revealed her identity as a goddess he became uneasy; one day he revealed his secret while drunk and Zeus struck him with his thunderbolt, crippling Anchises
Psyche
Beautiful mortal girl that Eros falls in love with (despite his mother Aphrodite hating her)
Syrinx
- nymph who pledged to be a virgin huntress; was pursued by Pan but she was transformed into reeds by the water-nymphs; Pan used the reeds to created the first "pan pipes" (syrinx)
Herse & Aglaurus
- daughters of Cecrops; Athena put Erichthonius into a chest and gave it to Herse & Aglaurus but told them not to look inside; they did look inside the chest and found that Erichthonius had taken the form of a snake and were frightened
Ariadne
-
Iasion
- lover of Demeter - son: Plutus
Hyacinthus
- youth that Apollo fell in love with; Apollo killed him accidentally one day by throwing a discus; Apollo turned him into a flower
Cyparissus
-went hunting with Apollo; became too attached to animals & made a deer his pet, one day he accidentally killed the deer and became so devastated he couldn’t recover, died of sorrow; Apollo turned him into a Cypress tree
Cyrene
- lover of Apollo, he transports her to Libya where a city is named in her honor
Hermaphroditus
- son of Hermes and Aphrodite; Salmacis fell in love with him and prayed to the gods that they would never be separated and as a result their bodies were morphed together
Tithonus
- lover of Eos
Deucalion & Pyrrha
- Zeus decided to destroy the human race with a great flood, but Deucalion & Pyrrha built a boat and floated above the water; they were lonely on earth and told by throw the bones of their mother over their shoulders (bones of their mother = rocks of the earth) and the earth was repopulated
Baucis & Philemon
- Zeus and Hermes wandered through Phrygia and were not welcomed in any homes except for the home of Baucis & Philemon. During their meal, the wine bowl never emptied and the gods revealed their identities. They destroyed the rest of the town but made Baucis & Philemon’s house a temple and Zeus offered to grant any wish they might have. Their wish was that they would never live without the other and that they would spend their lives taking care of the temple. When they died, they were turned into trees and grew side by side.
Lycaon
- king of Arcadia; Zeus visited him in disguise. Lycaon fed the god stew that contained human flesh to determine whether he was god or man. Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf as punishment
Argus
-
Sisyphus
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Tantalus
abused the guest-host relationship and was punished by being "tantalized" with hunger and thirst in Tartarus: he was immersed up to his neck in water, but when he bent to drink, it all drained away; luscious fruit hung on trees above him, but when he reached for it the winds blew the branches beyond his reach.
There are differing stories about what Tantalus' crime was. One account says that he tried to share the divine ambrosia with other mortals, and thus aroused the ire of the gods. A more famous account says that he invited the gods to a banquet and served them the dismembered body of his own son, Pelops; when the gods discovered the trick, they punished Tantalus and restored Pelops to life, replacing with ivory a part of the shoulder which had been eaten by Demeter.
Ixion
- tried to seduce Hera but she told Zeus. Zeus created a cloud in the shape of Hera and put it in Ixion's bed, and Ixion slept with it. (cloud gave birth to first centaur) Zeus punished him by tying him to a fiery wheel that turned forever in the Underworld.
Tityus
- a giant; tried to rape Leto but was shot by her children; Tityus was punished in the Underworld - his body was stretched out and his liver was eaten
Danaids
-
Ascalabus
- As Demeter was wandering the earth, Ascalabus' mother offered her kykeon and Ascalabus laughed at her because she drank it so fast. Demeter was offended and turned him into a lizard
Demophon
- Demeter nursed him and tried to make him a god by roasting him over the fire; the child's mother found her doing this and she dropped him into the fire.
Triptolemus
- given agricultural instructions by Demeter
Arachne
Turned into a spider by Athena. Excellent weaver. (Spiders weave webs)
Niobe
- boasted that she had more children than Leto. Apollo and Artemis killed her children as punishment. Niobe never stopped crying and was turned into stone.
Admetus
- the mortal that Apollo was ordered to serve by Zeus; Apollo helped Admetus marry Alcestis
Alcestis
- wife of Admetus; she agreed to die in place of Admetus and went to the Underworld but was brought back
Marsyas
A satyr that played the flute and challenged Apollo to a musical contest, but Apollo won. Apollo hung Marsyas from a tree and skinned him - his blood formed the river Marsyas.
Actaeon
- Came upon Artemis as she was bathing with her hunting troop - Artemis turned him into a stag and he was torn to pieces
Orion
-wished for children; was blinded by King Oenopion of Chios because he slept with his (the king’s) daughter when they weren’t married; was killed by Artemis - version 1: Apollo tricked Artemis into shooting him while he was in the ocean; version 2: Orion boasted that he could hunt all the animals in the world and Ge sent a scorpion to kill him; after he dies he becomes a constellation in the sky
Meleager
-King Oeneus of Calydon failed to sacrifice to Artemis so she sent a giant wild boar to ravage the Calydon countryside. Atalanta is the first to wound the boar, but Meleager actually kills it. Meleager wins the boar skin but presents it to Atalanta because she was the first to wound the boar, although his uncles said it was because he was in love with Atalanta. Because of this, Meleager killed his uncles, and as a result Althea (Meleager’s mother) throws the log into the fire, which kills Meleager. (when Meleager was born, the 3 Fates appeared and told Althea that Meleager wouldn’t live very long - as long as that log was not thrown into the fire, he would live.)
Atalanta
- was the first to wound the boar in the Calydonian Boar Hunt; Meleager kills the boar and presents Atalanta with the boar’s skin.
Milanion/Hippomenes
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Aeneas
Hero of the Aeneid. Trojan soldier who escaped, with his family from Troy after the Greeks won the Trojan war. Went on an epic journey. Ancestor of Remus and Romulus, who would found Rome.
Pygmalion
- king of Cyprus who thought all living women were unworthy of him and decided to create an ivory statue of what he considered a perfect woman. He sacrificed to Aphrodite & she turned the statue into a real, living woman - daughter Paphos (also name of city of Paphos)
Cinyras
- became king of Cyprus and his wife became jealous of his attention to Aphrodite; she boasted that all of her daughters were more beautiful than Aphrodite. Aphrodite made 3 of her daughters marry foreigners (moved far away, never saw them again), made Myrrha (4th daughter) fall in love with her father
Myrrha/Smyrna
- Aphrodite made her fall in love with her father Cinyras. When he finds out, he pursued her with a sword and she prayed to the gods for rescue and was turned into a tree. 9 months later the tree gave birth to Adonis.
maenads
- along with satyrs, composed Dionysus’ troop that followed him as he attempted to spread his cult.
satyrs
Satyrs were typically followers of Dionysus, half human-half goat. Satyr is imaginative projection of man with exaggerated sexual appetites.
Lycurgus
- Dionysus first tries to establish his cult in Thrace, but King Lycurgus drove Dionysus & his followers into the sea. Dionysus drove Lycurgus into a state of intoxication in which he tried to rape his mother; when he awoke e was so horrified he tried to break apart (what he thought where) grapevines with an ax; the grapevines turned out to be the rest of his family.
Pentheus
- denounces Dionysus and throws him into jail. Dionysus caused an earthquake that made the jail collapse. As punishment, Dionysus made Pentheus interested in the practices of his cult and caused the women to think that he was meat they could tear apart and eat (his own mother ended up killing him)
Minyades
- refused to recognize Dionysus. As punishment, Dionysus drove them mad and caused them to tear apart one of their children and later changed them into bats.
Icarius
He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself over her father's grave.
Lake Avernus
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Eleusis
- location of place of King Celeus; where Demeter stayed as was made part of the household and nurse to Demphon
Delos
The Island where Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis
Delphi
the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python, a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth.
Cumae
there is an entrance to the underworld located at Avernus, a crater lake near Cumae, and was the route Aeneas used to descend to the Underworld.
Epidaurus
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Lemnos
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Greater/Lesser Daedala
- took place on Mt. Cithaeron. Marriage procession (idols) from Plataea (foot of mountain) to Mt. Cithaeron (top); sacrifice and conflagration (everything lit up in a big bonfire at the top of the mountain); etiological myth: Zeus pretends to marry another goddess (it is actually a wooden idol), Hera becomes angry and intervenes until she finds out it was an idol, which she finds funny - this reconciles Hera and Zeus.
Thesmophoria
- took place in every Greek city around November; only celebrated by married women (no men or virgins); spent 3 days away from home. Anodos (first day): sacrificed pigs and threw them into a chasm/pit, but first had to clean the pit and take out all of the previous year’s pigs; the women mixed the dead pigs with seeds to make a fertilizer. Nesteia (second day)”: symbolically reenacts famine that took place during Demeter’s wandering; women ate nothing, remained grim and hurled obscene insults at one another. Kalligeneia (third day): feast; much happier day - reenacts Persephone’s ascent back to earth & reunion with her mother.
Eleusinian mysteries
- purely voluntary association (like a mysterious cult); requirements: speak Greek and not have murdered anyone; 9 days: Festival at Eleusinium (mortar & pestle to prepare food); procession to seashore (washed piglet in the sea and sacrificed it in Athens); public sacrifice; more public ceremonies; fasting; procession to Eleusis (gephyrismos - ceremony when they crossed the bridge representing transformation); rites in the Telesterion (initiates enter the temple structure blindfolded and cannot take off blindfolds until the next year); libations for the dead; return to Athens.
Pythian games
- one of 4 great Hellenic game festivals; created to commemorate Apollo’s slaying of Python.
Anthesteria
- Pithoigia (first day) - opening of the jars: first tasting of wine from previous fall’s harvest. Choes (second day): drinking contest (participants has to remain in absolute silence), day of the ghosts (thought the ghosts would come back and haunt the earth, so everyone wore masks), Dionysus’ marriage to the Basillinna (reenacts marriage of Dionysus and Ariadne)
Apsu
A primeval Sumero-Akkadian god who personifies the primordial abyss of sweet waters underneath the earth. He is the consort of Tiamat, the primordial abyss of salt waters
Tiamat
a primordial goddess of the ocean, mating with Apsu (the god of fresh water) to produce younger gods
Anu
a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, Consort ofAntu, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as soldiers to destroy the wicked. His attribute was the royal tiara.
Ea/Nudimmud
The Babylonian god Ea is the son of Anu and husband of Damkina, father of Marduk, god of wisdom, arts and crafts. Ea is the ruler of all gods after Apsu. In the Great Triad, Ea is the third with Anu and Enlil. In the Sumerian pantheon, Ea is the son of Nintu.
Damkina
Babylonian earth mother goddess, the wife of Ea and mother of Marduk
Marduk
connected with water, vegetation, judgment, and magic.He was also regarded as the son of Ea(Sumerian Enki) and Damkina and the heir of Anu,
Mummu
Mesopotamian deity present in the Babylonian creation myth. Sometimes referred to as 'the son of Apsu and Tiamat', Mummu is the third god in the primordial cosmogenous divine trinity. As the third of the first gods Mummu symbolizes the mental world, or logos.
Qingu
after the murder of his father Apsu — the consort of thegoddess Tiamat, his mother, who wanted to establish him as ruler and leader of all gods before she was slain by Marduk. Tiamat gave him the 3 Tablets of Destiny, which he wore as a breastplate and which gave him great power. She placed him as the general of her army. Eventually, he was killed by the god Marduk
Eos
-