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65 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Achilles' heel |
one spot that is most vulnerable; one weakness a person may have. -Achilles was invulnerable except for his heel (achilles tendon) |
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Adonis |
handsome young man -Aphrodite loved him |
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Aeolian |
anything pertaining to wind; god who was the Keeper of Wind |
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Apollo |
a physically perfect male -the god of music and light; known for his physical beauty |
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Argus-eyed |
omniscient, all seeing; form Argus, the 100 eyed monster that Hera had guarding Io |
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Athena/Minerva |
goddess of wisdom, the city, and arts; patron goddess of the city of Athens |
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Atlantean |
strong like Atlas <---(carried globe on his shoulders) |
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Aurora |
early morning or sunrise; from the Roman personification of Dawn or Eos |
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Bacchanal |
noun; wild, drunken party or rowdy celebration; from god of wine, Bacchus (Dionysus) |
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Bacchanalian |
adjective; pertaining to a wild, drunken party or rowdy celebration |
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Calliope |
series or whistles; circus organ; from the Muse of eloquence or beautiful voice |
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Cassandra |
a person who continually predicts misfortune but is not believed; from (Greek legend) a daughter of Priam cursed by Apollo for not returning his love; he left her with the gift of prophecy but made it so no one would believe her |
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Centaur |
a monster that had the head, arms, and chest of a man and the body and legs of a horse |
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Chimera |
a horrible creature of the imagination, an absurd or impossible idea; wild fancy; a monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail, supposed to breath fire |
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Cupidity |
eager "desire" to possess something; greed or avarice; Roman god of love = Eros |
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Erotic |
of or having to do with sexual passion or love; greek god of love = eros
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Furor |
latin- furere to rage; wild enthusiasm or excitement, rage; fury, "run like fury"; any one of the three Furies |
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Gorgon |
a very ugly or terrible person, especially a repulsive woman; Medusa, any one of the three sisters have snakes for hair and faces so horrible that anyone who look at them turned to stone |
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Halcyon |
calm, peaceful, tranquil -archaic bird supposed to breed in a nest on the sea and calm the water, identified with the kingfisher |
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Harpy |
a predatory person or nagging woman; from harpy, a foul creature that was part woman part bird |
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Hector |
to bully ; from Hector, the son of Priam (king of Troy), and the bravest Trojan warrior. -killed Achilles' friend Patroclus |
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Helen (of Troy) |
Hellenistic; of or relating to Greece, or a Specialist of language or culture in Greece; symbol of a beautiful woman; from Helen of Troy, the daughter of Leda and Zeus, the cause of the Trojan war |
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Herculean |
very strong or of extraordinary power; from Hercules, Hera's glory, the son of Zeus. He performed the twelve labors imposed by Hera |
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Hydra headed |
having many centers or branches, hard to bring under control; something bad you cannot eradicate; from Hydra, the nine headed serpent that was sacred to Hera. Hercules killed him in one of the twelve labors. |
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Iridescent |
a play of colors producing rainbow effects; from Iris, goddess of the rainbow |
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Jovial |
good humored; from the word Jove, used to express surprise or agreement (Jupiter) |
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Junoesque |
marked by stately beauty; comes from the word Juno, the wife of Jupiter, the goddess of light, birth, women, and marriage |
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Lethargy |
noun; abnormal drowsiness or inertia; from the word Lethe, a river in Hades that caused drinkers to forget their past |
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Martial |
suited for war or a warrior; from Mars, the Roman god of war |
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Medea |
sorceress or enchantress; from Medea who helped Jason and the Argonauts capture the golden fleece; known for her revenge against Jason after he spurned her for the princess of Corinth |
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Mentor |
a trusted counselor or guide; from Mentor, a friend of Odysseus' son, who was entrusted with his education |
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Mercurial |
adjective; suddenly cranky or changeable; Roman mythology, of or relating to the god Mercury |
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Mercury/Hermes |
a carrier of tidings, a newsboy, a messenger; messenger of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, a god of eloquence; the fabled inventor, wore winged hat and sandals |
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Mnemonics |
a device used to aid memory; the personification of memory, Mnemosyne, who gave birth to the nine muses, who supposedly gave good memory in storytelling |
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Morphine |
a bitter white crystalline alkaloid used to relieve pain and induce sleep; Morpheus was a god that could easily change form or shape |
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Muse |
some creature of inspiration; the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, deine singers the preside over thought in all its forms |
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Narcissism |
being in love with our own self-image; named for Narcissus, a handsome young man who despised love. Echo, a nymph who was in love with him, was rejected and decreed, "let he who loves not others, love himself." hearing this he fell in love with his image while gazing in a pond, and drowned himself trying to capture it |
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Nemesis |
just punishment, one who inflicts due punishment; goddess who punishes crime; more often she is the power that is charged with curbing all excess, such as excessive good fortune or excessive pride |
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Neptune |
the sea personified; the Roman god associated with Poseidon, god of the water and ocean |
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Niobe |
mournful woman; from Niobe, whose children were slain by Apollo and Artemis because of her bragging; the gods pitied her and turned her into a rock that was always wet from weeping |
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Odyssey |
a long journey; named for Odysseus, the character in The Odyssey, by Homer. Odysseus makes his long journey back from the Trojan War, encountering several obstacles along the way |
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Olympian |
majestic manner, superior to mundane affairs; any participant in the affairs; any participant in the ancient or modern Olympic games; named after 12 gods that were supposed to reside on Mt. Olympus |
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Paean |
a song of joy; a ritual epithet of Apollo the healer. In Homeric poems, an independent god of healing named Paean or Paeon, who took care of Hades when the latter was wounded. |
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Pandora's box |
something that opens the door for bad occurrences, opened by someone known for curiosity; named for Pandora who was the first mortal, sent by Zeus, to punish man for Prometheus' theft of fire. For her curiosity in opening the box, Zeus gave her all human ills in the world, leaving only hope at the bottom. |
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Parnassus |
mountain sacred to the arts and literature; any center of poetic or artistic activity; poetry or poets collectively, a common title for selection of poetry; named after the hero of Mt. Parnassus (the son of Poseidon and a nymph). He founded the Oracle of Python, which was later occupied by Apollo |
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Pegasus |
poetic inspiration; named after a winged horse which sprang from the blood of Medusa at her death; a stamp of his hoof caused Hippocrene, the fountain of the Muses, to issue poetic inspiration from Mt. Helicon |
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Phoenix |
a symbol of immortality or rebirth; named after the egyptian mythology phoenix, a long bird which lived in the Arabian desert and then consumed itself in fire, rising renewed from the flame to start another long life |
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Plutocracy |
a government by the wealthy; named after Pluton, the "rich man", a ritual tile of Hades. He was originally the god of the fields because the ground was the source of all wealth, ores and jewels |
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Promethean |
life bringing, creative, or courageously original; named after a Titan who brought man the use of fire which he had stolen from heaven for their benefit |
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Protean |
taking many forms, versatile; named after Proteus, a god of the sea, charged with tending the flocks of the sea creatures belonging to Poseidon. He had the ability to change himself into whatever form he desired, using this power particularly when he wanted to elude those asking him questions |
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Psyche |
the human soul, self, and mind; named after Psyche, a maiden who, after undergoing many hardships due to Aphrodite's jealousy, reunited with Cupid and was made immortal by Jupiter; she personifies the soul joined to the heart of love |
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Pygmalion |
someone (usually a male) who tries to fashion someone into the person he desires; from a myth adapted into a play by George Bernard Shaw; a woman-hating sculptor who makes a female figure of ivory who Aphrodite brings to life for him. |
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Pyrrhic victory
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adjective; a too costly victory; from Pyrrhus, a greek king who defeated the romans in 279 BC, but suffered extremely heavy losses in the fight |
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Saturnalia
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a period of unrestrained revelry; named after the ancient roman festival of Saturn, with general feasting in revelry in honor of the winter solstice |
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Saturnine |
sluggish, gloomy, morose, inactive in winter months; named after the god Saturn, often associated with Hades |
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Sibyl |
a witch or sorceress; a priestess who made known the oracles of Apollo and possessed the gift of prophecy |
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Sisyphean |
greedy and avaricious; from the shrewd and greedy king of Corinth, Sisyphus, who was doomed forever in Hades to roll uphill a heavy stone, which always rolled down again |
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Stentorian |
having a loud voice; after Stentor, a character in the Illiad who could shout as loudly as 50 men. He engaged in a shouting match against Hermes and was put to death after losing |
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Stygian |
dark and gloomy; named after the river Styx, a river in the Underworld. The water is poisonous for human and cattle and said to break iron, metal and pottery, though it is said a horse's hoof is unarmed by it. |
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Tantalize |
from king Tantalus who reigned on Mt. Sipylus and was condemned to reside in a beautiful river with sumptuous fruits just out of reach and the water undrinkable, always tempting him as punishment for excessive pride (he boiled his son and fed the broth to trick the god) |
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Terpsichorean |
pertaining to dance; for Terpsichore, one of the nine muses, sometimes said to be the mother of sirens and the protector of dance |
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Titanic |
large, grand, enormous; after Tityus, a giant, the son of Zeus and Elara. His body covers two acres. or after the titans, the offspring of Chronus and Rhea, who went to war against Zeus and other Olympian gods |
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Volcanoes |
originated from Vulcan, the roman god of fire, who is said to be under the mountains |
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Vulcanize |
to treat rubber with sulfur to increase strength and elasticity; from the roman god of fire and metallurgy, Vulcan/Hefaestus |
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Zeus |
a powerful man; king of the gods, ruler of Mt. Olympus, vengeful hurler of thunderbolts |
