Mythology TERMS 04 24 2015 Thespis Athenian playwright known as the father of drama for having created the first role for an actor Phrynicus An early tragedian the first to produce plays about contemporary history such as the Capture of Miletus Aeschylus Founder of tragedy and Greek Tragedian who wrote Agamemnon and Eumenides Sophocles Greek tragedian who wrote the Theban plays the trilogy Oedipus Rex and Antigone Euripides Tragedian in ancient Athens who is known for Medea Theater of Dionysus a major open air theater and one of the earliest preserved theaters in Athens Persian Wars In 508 BC Athens instituted the world s first democratic constitution only to have it threatened by two successive Persian military invasions successfully repelled at the battles of Marathon and Salamis Pelopennesian Wars A disastrous war between the rival states of Athens and Sparta and their respective allies ending with Sparta s victory Punic Wars A series of three wars between Rome and Carthage that ended with the destruction of Carthage and Rome s dominance over the western Mediterranean Agamemnon Son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus he was commander in chief of the Greek expedition against Troy Murdered by his wife Clytemnestra he was avenged by his children Orestes and Electra Clytemnestra The leading female character in the Oresteia she was the daughter of Tyndareus or Zeus and Leda sister of Helen wife of Agamemnon mistress of Aegisthus and mother of Iphigenia Electra Chrysothermis and Orestes After murdering Agamemnon she was slain by Orestes Orestes Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra brother of Iphigenia and Electra and husband of Hermione daughter of Helen Electra Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and sister of Orestes she conspired with her brother to avenge their murdered father Iphigenia Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra whom her father sacrificed at Aulis to prevent the Greeks expedition against Troy from being disbanded the winds to allow him to sail to troy Aegisthus Son of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopia he became Clytemnestra s lover and was slain by Orestes Cassandra Daughter of Priam and Hecucba she was Apollo s virgin prophet part of Agamemnon s booty from Troy she was brought to Argos where Clytemnestra murdered her Atreus A son of Pelops and king of Mycenae he was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus Tantalus Son of Zeus and father of Pelops whose flesh he served to the Olympians an act for which he was condemned to eternal torment in Tartarus Dike justice Ancient goddess of justice and spirit of moral order and fair judgment daughter of Zeus and Themis depicted wearing a laurel wreath Pylades Orestes friend and accomplice to Clytemnestra s murder marries Electra The Furies Dirae Born from Uranus s blood they were goddesses of blood vengeance in Aeschylus they were daughters of Night They were also called the Erinyes The Eumenides Greek name for the Kindly Ones formerly the Furies The Areopagus Court Oedipus Son of Laius and Jocasta father of Ismene Antigone Etecles and Polyneices and king of Thebes his myth demonstrates human inability to circumvent the gods will The Sphinx Enigmatic creature with the head of a woman body of a lion and wings of an eagle infamous for killing anyone who tried by failed to solve its riddles Polybus Ancient Greek male name Polybus of Corinth reared Oedipus Polybus of Sicyon son of Hermes and king of Sicyon Polybus of Thebes king of Egyptian Thebes Polybus Odyssey father of Eurymachus Polybus Trojan war a son of Antenor Merope The faintest star because she was the only of the Pleiades to marry a mortal One of the seven Pleiades virgin companions to Artemis caretakers of infant Bacchus their transformation into a star cluster known as the Pleiades is the subject of varied myths Jocosta Widow of Laius mother and wife of Oedipus sister of Creon and mother of Ismene Antigone Eteocles and Polyneices Laius Father of Oedipus and first husband of Jocasta he brought a curse on his family by eloping with Chrysippus the son of his host Pelops Tiresias Blind Theban prophet who had temporarily been changed into a woman giving him the experience to settle a quarrel between Hera and Zeus over which sex has the greater capacity for sexual pleasure Hera blinded him for his candid answer while Zeus gave him long life and insight Antigone Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta she was her blinded father s guide in Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus and the heroine at Antigone Eteocles Son of Oedipus and Jocasta he was killed in a duel with his brother Polyneices Polynices Son of Oedipus and Jocasta he was killed in a battle for the throne of Thebes by his brother Eteocles Ismene Antigone s sister obedient refuses to help Antigone bury their brother but later tries to take some of the blame never mentioned in the epilogue of the play Eurydice Wife of Orpheus whom he tried to retrieve from Hades Haemon Son of Creon and fianc to Antigone he committed suicide when his father condemned his bride to be to death Medea Sorceress daughter of Aeetes and wife of Jason whom she enabled to obtain the Golden Fleece When he abandoned her for a Gree wife she killed their children Jason Greek adventurer who led fifty Argonauts on a quest across the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece After marrying Medea who had helped him steal the fleece from her father Jason divorced her Accidentally killed Cyzicus King of the Doliones Creon Greek word for ruler In Sophocles Theban plays Jocasta s brother In Euripides Medea King of Corinth Pelias A son of Poseidon and Tyro who usurped the kingdom of his brother Aeson father of Jason Aegeus King of Athens and father of the hero Theseus he gave refuge to Medea after she escaped from Corinth When he thought Theseus had been killed by the Minotaur he committed suicide by leaping into the sea named after him Apsyrtus Brother of Medea Murdered by Medea so she could lose her father as he picked up Apsyrtus rather than overtaking Medea Romulus Son of Mars and Rhea Silvia and founder of Rome he killed his twin brother Remus for criticizing the inadequacy of the walls he had built around Rome Remus Son of Mars and a Vestal Virgin he was the twin brother of Romulus Numitor King of Alba Longa Descendant of Aeneas the Trojan and father of Rhea Silvia and Lausus Rhea Silvia In some myths the Vestal Virgin mother of Romulus and Remus She is also known as Ilia Gravitas Seriousness of purpose Pietas The supreme Roman virtue of duty toward the family state and gods
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