Perpetual Darkness Quiz | Greek Myth

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Tartarus is the land reserved for the greatest sinners. Which river, composed of fire, surrounds it to prevent these souls within from escaping?

Answer: Phlegethon

Phlegethon is the river of fire; Lethe the river of forgetfulness; Acheron the river of woe; and Styx the river of hate (and the boundary between the earth and the underworld).

2. One of the most famous inhabitants of Tartarus, what former king of Corinth was sentenced to roll a boulder up a hill, but was cursed to always have the boulder slip away from his grasp before it reached the top?

Answer: Sisyphus

A "Sisyphean" task is a hopeless, repetitive one. The boulder task was assigned to Sisyphus as punishment because he had constantly tricked the gods with his cleverness while he was alive. According to Ovid, Sisyphus had no rest from his punishment except when Orpheus came to the underworld seeking his wife Eurydice.

When Orpheus sings a song to persuade Hades and Persephone to let her go, Sisyphus, entranced by the beauty of the song, stops and sits on his rock.

3. This man dared to sacrifice and serve his son at a feast for the gods. Who was cursed with eternal hunger and thirst, and no way to satisfy those desires?

Answer: Tantalus

He was forced to stand beneath a tree of luscious fruit, whose branches would continually move away from him when he tried to eat the fruit. He was also placed in a pool of water, but the water would recede when he knelt to drink. From his punishment, modern English gets the word "tantalize".

4. What sinner was tied to a great flaming wheel which would spin forever?

Answer: Ixion

Ixion was sentenced to this punishment for being the first man to murder his kin (his father-in-law) and for attempting to rape Hera, the Queen of the Gods. According to Pindar, the centaurs (half-men, half-horse) are descended from his coupling with a fake Hera (created by Zeus).

5. Not all the inhabitants of Tartarus were men. What was the collective name of the 49 sisters who, as punishment for killing their husbands on their wedding night, were sentenced to fill a bathtub with leaky jars for eternity?

Answer: The Danaides

According to Edith Hamilton's "Mythology", the fifty sons of Aegyptus were to marry the fifty daughters of King Danaus (hence, the Danaides), against Danaus' will. Danaus ordered his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night -- but one of them, Hypermnestra, did not do so after her husband allowed her to remain chaste.

The other 49 followed through. In death, they were ordered to fill a bathtub with jars of water to wash away their sins. Unfortunately the jars always leaked too much, dooming them to attempt to fill the tub for eternity.

6. Which inhabitant of Tartarus and brother of Sisyphus was killed by a bolt of lightning for attempting to pretend that he was Zeus?

Answer: Salmoneus

Salmoneus built a bridge of brass and rode a chariot over it to simulate thunder, throwing torches in the air to simulate lightning. All of this was in an attempt to persuade his subjects that he was the god Zeus. Zeus did not take kindly to mortals who attempted to emulate him, and killed Salmoneus with a real lightning bolt.

7. What giant was sentenced to having his liver continually eaten by birds, for the crime of attempting to rape Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis?

Answer: Tityos

Tityos was cursed to have his liver regenerate every day for continued punishment. This punishment is extremely similar to the one suffered by Prometheus, the Titan who gave the secret of fire to mankind.

8. Who was the father of Zeus, who, with his Titan brothers, became the first inhabitants of Tartarus after they lost the Titanomachy against Zeus and his siblings?

Answer: Cronus

According to Hesiod's "Theogony", Cronus was the king of the gods, but learned that one of his children was prophesied to overthrow him. So he swallowed each child as it was born. Finally his wife, Rhea, tricked him into swallowing a stone instead of the young baby Zeus, allowing Zeus to escape. Cronus was then tricked into eating an emetic which caused him to vomit up Zeus's siblings. Zeus and his siblings then beat their father and uncles in a war to claim the lordship of the heavens.

9. The three judges of the dead collectively decide who should go to Tartarus (or to the other, more pleasant areas of Hades). Of the three judges, which one, a king of Crete who appeared in another famous Greek myth, is said by Plato to cast the deciding vote?

Answer: Minos

The three judges of classical Greek myth are Aeacus, Rhadamanthus, and Minos. In Plato's "Gorgias" dialogue, Minos has the deciding vote when Aeacus and Rhadmanthus cannot agree. While living, Minos was the king of Crete whose wife, Pasiphae, gave birth to the Minotaur.

10. Finally, according to Virgil's "Aeneid", what Erinyes or Fury was responsible for guarding the gates of Tartarus?

Answer: Tisiphone

Tisiphone, whose name means "avenging murders" or "vengeance", was the Fury who punished murderers. Alecto punished moral crimes such as anger, and Megaera punished crimes of jealousy. Medusa was a Gorgon (who turned people who saw her to stone), and not a Fury.

Source: Author eyhung

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Perpetual Darkness Trivia Quiz

Tartarus, the land of the sinners and perpetual darkness. See what you know about this darkest part of the Greek underworld. All answers according to Bullfinch's mythology unless otherwise stated.

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