Greek Metamorphoses Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cypress tree

Cyparissus is the handsome young lover of Apollo. The god gives him a stag as a present and he takes care of it and sometimes rides it. One day when he is hunting, he accidentally spears the stag. He beseeches Apollo to let him mourn it forever, so Apollo turns him into a cypress tree.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Laurel

Daphne idolises Artemis, the divine leader of a troop of chaste huntresses, and wants to stay a virgin forever. Eros shoots a golden arrow at Apollo, causing him to fall in love with Daphne; and fires a golden arrow tipped with lead at Daphne, making her repulsed by Apollo. Desperate to escape the god, she asks her father, the river god, to save her; he transforms her into a laurel tree.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Water reeds

Calamos is a handsome, swift, athletic youth who adores his beautiful friend Carpos. They race each other on land and in the river and Calamos lets Carpos win. After Carpos wins the river race, a jealous wind blows a wave into Carpos' mouth and his lungs fill with water. He drowns. Distraught by the death of his lover, Calamos drowns himself in the river and his body is transformed into water reeds.

Source: 'Dionysiaca' (Nonnus)

Answer: Stag

Actaeon, son of Aristaeus and Autonoe, is the protégée of Chiron. He is a hunter who accidentally espies the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, naked; she punishes him by turning him into a stag. He is caught and eaten by his hunting dogs.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Spider

Arachne is a skilled weaver whose boasting and vanity offends Athena. The goddess challenges her to a contest. Athena warns the imprudent woman by weaving four scenes of gods punishing humans for committing hubris by claiming equality with divinities. Arachne depicts gods misbehaving. Arachne wins the contest; Athena punishes her by transforming her into a spider.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Fountain

Rhodopis is a beautiful huntress whom Artemis invites to join her train, after which Rhodopis devotes herself to chastity. Euthynicus is likewise a chaste hunter. Aphrodite persuades Eros to cause them to fall in love, and they sleep together in a cave. Artemis is furious and turns Rhodopis into a fountain that can test the purity of maidens.

Source: 'Leucippe and Clitophon' (Achilles Tatius)

Answer: Pond

Cyane is a naiad, a water nymph of a spring in Syracuse, who witnesses and tries, unsuccessfully, to prevent Hades' abduction of Persephone. She dissolves in despair into her spring.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Woodpecker

Picus is the son of Cronus. The witch, Circe, sees him hunting and falls for him. She can't get near him, so she conjures up a phantasmic boar to lure him into the dense woods where he can't ride. Circe veils the moon with a dark fog. Then she approaches Picus and proposes to him, but he rejects her. Put out, she turns him into a woodpecker.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)

Answer: Peahen

Erinoma is a very beautiful Cypriot girl whose chastity is pleasing to Athena and Artemis, but much less to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Aphrodite forces Zeus to fall in love with Erinoma; this displeases his wife Hera, so she asks Aphrodite to make Adonis fall in love with Erinoma, too. She does. After Erinoma rebuffs Adonis, Aphrodite swaddles him in a cloud so he can access her bedchamber. He rapes her. Artemis turns her into a peahen out of pity. (After Zeus zaps Adonis with a lightning bolt, Artemis turns her back into a human.)

Source: Donatus

Answer: Cow

Hera is tired of Zeus cheating on her, so after Zeus rapes the beautiful maiden, Io, he turns her into a cow. The cow is very comely, and Zeus lavishes so much attention on it that Hera becomes suspicious, and asks to be gifted the cow. Zeus obliges. Hera gets Argus, who has one thousand eyes, to guard the heifer, so Zeus sends Hermes to kill the guard. Io flees and eventually regains her human form; Argus' eyes are used to decorate the peacock's feathers.

Source: 'Metamorphoses' (Ovid)