CLCV 115 Exam 3 Material Five Characteristic Aspects of the Greek Hero Strange Birth Circumstances Danae impregnated by Zeus as golden rain exposed in a box exposed at birth on Mt Cithaeron delayed delivery snakes attack him and his twin brother Perseus Oedipus Hercules Bellerophon Jason Theseus stolen away as an infant brought up by Chiron the centaur father should not loosen the wine sack until he gets home MonsterSlaying Problems with a Woman Horrible Death Medusa Andromeda None Sphinx Jocasta Epicasta Deianeira blinded exiled disappears burned to death Stheneboea blinded disabled ship fell on him Nemean Lion Hydra Erymanthian Boar Cretan Bull etc Chimaera Serpent that guards the golden fleece Minotaur Medea Phaedra Worshipped as a Demigod after Death boiled to death Names to Know The Heroes Argos Peloponnesus The large peninsula in the south of Greece that contains Athens Argos Sparta and many others A geographical area where the Argive Heraion Sanctuary of Hera in Argos was located Argolid A state in the eastern Peloponnese Contains Argos Argos place City inside Argolid that contains a large monument to the Argivian Hera house of Tiles etc Inachus First king of Argos who has a river named after him which he sacrificed to Hera Father of Io 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 Hermes killed him o Hera then cursed Io with a gad fly causing her to run all the way to Egypt where someone touches her causing her to instantly give birth to Epaphus 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 Libya Ancient term for Northern Africa Also the name for a daughter of Epaphus who was ravished by Poseidon 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 Asia who took over the eastern Nile Delta Belus King of Egypt Father of Aegyptus and Danaus 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 sons of Aegyptus they were sent to Tartarus o Hypermnestra only daughter to refuse to kill her husband on her wedding night became the ancestors of Perseus went to Elysium when she died Perseus Acrisius King of Argos Oracle at Delphi said he will be killed by his grandson Danae s son Acrisius 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 Mycenae 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 Athena 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 Europa Noblewoman from Phoenicia after whom Europe was named Abducted by Zeus who turned into a white bull and carried her across the sea to Crete 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 Ares Dragon that lived in a spring near Thebes the Dirce Fountain After it killed some of Cadmus 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 Lycus devoted to Dionysus Where she died in Thebes he caused a spring to