Less Common Greek Mythology Trivia Quiz

Answer: Phlegethon

The others are: Acheron - River of {Woe;} Cocytus - River of {Lamentation;} Lethe - River of {Forgetfulness;} and Styx - River of Hate.

Answer: Aetna

Aethra is the daughter Pittheus, king of Troezen, wife of Aegeus and mother of the hero Theseus. Ersa is the goddess of the dew daughter of Zeus and Eos. Iaso is a goddess of healing, daughter of Asclepius.

Answer: Telesto

Telesto is a sea nymph, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. The tenth of Jupiter's moons is named after her.

Answer: Amphitryon

Aeacus, son of Zeus and Aegina, is the pious monarch of the island of Aegina, which was named after his {mother;} after his death he was made a judge in hades. Oeagrus is a Thracian king, the father of Orpheus. Taphius is a son of Poseidon and Hippothoe, regarded as the founder of the city Taphos on the island with the same name.

Answer: nymphs who live in trees

Dryads are female spirits of nature, presiding over groves and forests. Each is born with a certain tree which she watches. A dryad either lives in a tree, in which case she is called a Hamadryad, or close to it. As for the others, the Muses are also called Corycides or the Corycian {nymphs;} the Hesperides guard the tree of golden apples in a garden supposedly situated in the Arcadian {Mountains;} and the nymphs of bodies of fresh water are called the Naiads.

Answer: Orion

Orion is a son of Poseidon and Euryale. Amphion's mother is the nymph Antiope (queen of Thebes). Arcus' mother is the nymph Callisto, who was turned into a bear by Hera out of envy. Sarpedon is the son of Zeus and {Europa;} he was banished by his brother Minos and moved to Asia Minor, where he became king of the Lycians

Answer: the Nemean Lion, Chimera, and Hydra

Echidna's children include the Nemean Lion, Cerberus, Chimera, Sphinx, and Hydra. The Ladon seems to be most often mentioned as one of her children as well, though (after it was brought to my attention) I have come across one instance where he is considered the son of Phorcys (and Cedo?) and not Echidna.

The Gorgons were the daughters of Ceto (daughter of Gaia and Pontos). The Cyclops are considers to be children of either the Titans Uranus and Gaia, and(or) children of Poseidon. Charybdis is the nymph-daughter of Poseidon and Gaia who flooded lands for her father's underwater kingdom until Zeus turned her into a monster.

Answer: Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia

Aglaea (splendor), Euphrosyne (mirth) and Thalia (good cheer) are the Charities. Tisiphone (the avenger of murder), Megaera (the jealous one) and Alecto (unceasing in anger) are the Erinyes (also called Furies). Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the apportioner) and Atropos (the inevitable) are the Moirae (Fates). Melete, Mneme, and Aoede are the original three Muses before their number increased to nine (and names changed, too).

Answer: the Pleiads

The Pleiads are Alcyone, Electra, Celaeno, Maia, Sterope, Merope and Taygete. The Heliades are the 3 daughters of Helios, who mourned brother Phaeton so that the godspitied them and changed them into poplar trees The Litai are sisters of the goddess Ate (a goddess of discord and mischief), who follow her to try to repair the damage she brings to mortals.

The Thriae are 3 holy virgin sisters, lesser nature goddesses who can foresee the future.

Answer: Patroclus

Peleus is Achilles' {father;} Pyrrhus (also called Neoptolemus) is Achilles' son by Lycomedes' daughter, {Deidameia;} and Ajax is another great hero, the son of Telamon (king of Salamis)

Answer: Autolycus, Zetes, Castor and Peleus

Everyone mentioned is a member of the Argonauts EXCEPT: Thersander (a son of one of the Seven Against Thebes), Boreas (the god of the North Wind), and Apsyrtus (younger brother of Medea).

Answer: Dionysus

Dionysus gave Midas one wish as a reward for the king's hospitality toward a drunken Silenus (who was the god's surrogate {father);} Midas asked for the Golden Touch, then later pleaded for it to be removed after accidently killing his own daughter. I will conceed to a note from Player strategos who has read Midas received his 'gift' from Apollo (thus I have removed him as a choice), but my various sources all say it was Dionysus.

Answer: the Hecatonchires

The Hecatonchires are monsters who each had one hundred hands and fifty heads.

Answer: she was made a nymphomaniac

Her lovers were Orion, Cephalus and Tithonus.

Answer: a fire brand

The Moirae (Fates) prophesied at his birth that Meleager would live only so long as a brand burning upon the hearth remained unconsumed. His mother Althaea snatched the brand from the fire and kept it in a safe place. Upon hearing that Meleager had killed her brothers (after the Calydonian Boar Hunt, when they tried to steal the prize from Atalanta), Althaea cast the brand onto the fire and let it burn up, causing Meleager's immediate - and very painful - death.

Answer: murder a kinsman

Ixion invited his father-in-law, Deioneus, to come and collect the price that Ixion owed him for his bride. Upon his arrival, Deioneus fell into a pit filled with burning coals Ixion had camouflaged.

Answer: Erichthnonius

Hephaestus supposedly attempted to rape Athena, but was not successful, and impregnated Gaia by accident: thus Erichthonius was born. Because Gaia did not want the child, Athena took care of Erichthonius as though he were her son. Actually, she gave him to her priestesses at the sanctuary of the Athenian Acropolis to raise, but she is still considered his mother.

Answer: Helen of Troy and Menelaus

Before Paris abducted Helen and began the Trojan War, Helen and Menelaus lived for quite a few years as husband and wife.

Answer: Chaos

Eros, god of love and sexual desire, also worshiped as a fertility god, was initially believed to be a contemporary of the primeval Chaos (the great void of emptiness within the universe), which makes Eros one of the oldest gods ('brother' of Gaia, the earth). Over time he was 'reinvented' as the winged child of Aphrodite and associated with the Roman god Cupid. Yet another legend says that he was the son of Iris (personified goddess of the rainbow) and Zephyrus (god of the west wind).

Answer: hung him from a tree

According to one legend, the nurse (who has been given almost a dozen different names) deceived Kronos by hanging the baby Zeus (in his cradle) from a tree, so that, suspended between earth, sea, and sky, he was invisible to his father. Another legend says that Rhea (Zeus' mother) hid her son in a cave and had the Curetes (vegetation demons) wait outside the mountain and bang their shields together to cover the baby's cries.

Answer: sexual desire

Icelus is the personification of nightmares, Hymen (or Hymenaeus) was the goddess of the marriage feast or song, and Apate is the goddess of deceit.

Answer: she birthed an egg which hatched her children

Leda was seduced by Zeus when he came to her in the form of a swan. Leda gave birth to an egg, which hatched the Dioscuri (the twins Castor and Pollux). With Zeus she also had Helen and with her husband Tyndareus she had Clytemnestra.

Answer: Song, Meditation and Memory

The later nine muses were Calliope (eloquence and epic or heroic poetry), Clio (historical and heroic poetry), Erato (lyric poetry - particularly love and erotic poetry - and mimicry), Euterpe (music and lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (sacred hymn, eloquence and dance), Terpsichore (dancing and the dramatic {chorus;} later of lyric poetry), Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry), and Urania (astronomy and astrology).

Answer: Halirrhotius

Ares then killed the rapist, and was brought before the other gods to go on trial for murder; the first murder trial. After hearing the brutal facts of the case they quickly acquitted him.

Answer: Nilus

Epaphus is the son of Zeus and Io born on the banks of the Nile. Apophis is Greek rendering of the Egyptian snake of the underworld. Proteus is a prophetic sea divinity who usually stays on the Island of Pharos near Egypt.