9 for 10 - Greek Myth Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cronus

Cronus was jealous of Uranus' power as ruler of the universe. Uranus had alienated his wife Gaia by hiding away their children, whom he could not abide, deep inside the earth. It was Gaia who constructed the stone sickle with which Cronus castrated his father. In the fullness of time, Cronus was in turn overthrown by his son Zeus.

Answer: Aphrodite

Aphrodite arose from the foam produced by the severed testicles of Uranus (see Q1) when they were thrown into the sea.. She was very beautiful but was married to Hephaestus, the deformed god of blacksmiths. She was the lover of the mortal Adonis.

Answer: Selene

Selene was the daughter of titans Hyperion and Theia and sister to the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. Just as Helios drove his sun chariot across the sky during the day, she drove her moon chariot at night. The element selenium is named after 'selene', which is the Greek word for the moon, just as 'luna' is the Latin word for it.

Answer: Stables

Hercules was assigned twelve labours as penance for killing his wife and children during a fit of insanity induced by Hera, the queen of the gods. He achieved this seemingly impossible task (there was a mind-boggling amount of dung) by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus.

Answer: Asclepius

Aesclepius was a Greek god of medicine and the healing arts. His daughters also had roles in health-related areas, the best known of these being Hygieia, the goddess of cleanliness. His famous rod, consisting of a snake winding itself round a staff, is still used today as a symbol of medicine and health care.

It is to be noted that for the Greeks snakes were sacred beings of wisdom, healing and resurrection.

Answer: Nyx

Nyx was an early goddess born of Chaos, which was the first thing to exist and from which the earth was created. She was the mother of Hypnos and Thanatos, the gods of sleep and death respectively. Astronomers named a mountain on Venus, Mount Nyx, after her.

Answer: Demeter

Demeter is the Greek equivalent of the Roman Goddess Ceres. She and Zeus are the parents of Persephone who was famously abducted by Hades and ended up spending the winter months in the underworld and the remainder of the year above-ground with the gods.

Answer: Rhea

Rhea was a titaness and the daughter of Gaia, the earth goddess, and Uranus, the sky god. She is thus Cronus' sister (see Q1). Just as Cronus had overthrown his father Uranus, it was prophesied that he in his turn would be overthrown by one of his own offspring, so he took the precaution of swallowing them at birth.

However, when Zeus was born, Rhea wrapped a stone up in swaddling clothes and gave that to Cronus to swallow, which he duly did. Rhea then successfully concealed Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete and he lived to become the king of all the gods.

Answer: Agamemnon

Agamemnon was king of Mycenae and brother of Menelaus. The Trojan War was triggered in response to Paris of Troy taking the beautiful Helen from her husband King Menelaus of Sparta. The war is thought to have lasted 10 years and ended with the fall of Troy. Homer's 'Iliad' describes a period in the last year of the siege and his 'Odyssey' of course deals with the war hero's famous return home.

Answer: Cassandra

Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba and the brother of Hector. Apollo was attracted to Cassanadra and she promised herself to him in return for the ability to see into the future. He bestowed this gift upon her, but she then changed her mind and refused to enter into a sexual relationship with him.

This angered him, so he cursed the gift he had given her by specifying that no-one would believe her prophecies, however true they may be.