Greek Myth Quiz

Answer: Prometheus & Epimetheus, Athena

Prometheus and Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in Tartarus because they had not fought with their fellow Titans during the war with the Olympians. They were given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay figure. Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness, cunning, strength, fur, wings.

Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give him fire.

Answer: She was turned into a bitch and threw herself into the sea because she could only bark

Her sorrows and misfortunes are featured in numerous Greek tragedies. King Priam of Troy's second wife and mother of 19 children by him, the most famous being Hector, Cassandra and Paris. When her youngest son Polydoris was killed by the king of Thrace, she put out his eyes and murdered his sons. The stories about her end vary: she committed suicide by jumping into the Hellespont, was killed or turned into a bitch.

Answer: Hundred-handed

Uranus and Gaia had three sons: Briareus also called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges also called Gyes. They were gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each of great strength. They had 100 hands and helped Zeus in his war against the Titans.

Answer: Tantalus

The son of Zeus and a Nymph, he was a Lydian king. Because he divulged to mortals, he was plunged up to the chin in a river of Hades, a tree hung with clusters of fruit being just above his head. As every time he tried to drink the waters receded from him, and as the fruit was just out of reach, he suffered agony from thirst, hunger and unfulfilled anticipation.

Answer: Aconite

As Cerberus vehemently resisted Heracles' captor, barking furiously with all three mouths, his slaver dripped on some fields, giving birth to a poisonous plant called aconite; thus named because it flourishes on bare rocks. It is also known as 'hecateis,' because Hecate was the first to use it. Medea tried to poison Theseus with it, and the Thessalian witches used it in preparing the ointment which enabled them to fly.

In medieval times, French witches concocted a similar ointment. Its main ingredients were aconite, abortificient parsley, bat's blood (to assist nocturnal vision), belladonna, hemlock, and cowbane.

The modern name for aconite is wolfsbane.

Answer: Thessaly

Creatures half-man, half-horse, descended from Ixion, and living mostly in ancient Thessaly, the centaurs were invited to a marriage feast, where one of them tried to abduct the bride, which led to a war which drove them out of Thessaly. Most were savage followers of Dionysus, but some, like Chiron, taught humans.

Answer: Glaucus

Son of King Minos of Crete. So vast was Minos's palace of Knossos that when Glaucus turned up missing one day the king had to send for a visionary to locate him. The seer, Polyeidus, found the boy had drowned in a jar of honey. Minos insisted that he restore Glaucus to life. This the seer accomplished, only to discover that instead of a reward Minos insisted he teach Glaucus all his mystical skills.

Answer: Otus

The escorts were: the gory Enyo, Eris (Discord), Deimos (Terror), and Phobos (Fear).

Otus was a son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. He was also the brother of Ephialtis. They both were giant Aloadae. The two brothers decided to lay siege on Mt. Olympus by dethroning Zeus and raping Artemis. During their siege on Mt. Olympus, they captured Ares and put him in a jar for thirteen months. Finally, Artemis offered to lie with Otus if he set Ares free. This made Ephialtis very jealous and the two got into a fight. During the brawl, Artemis changed herself into a doe and sprung between them. Both, not wishing for Artemis to flee, drew their spears and at the same time threw them at the doe. Artemis then disappeared and the spears hit Otus and Ephialtis killing them instantly.

Answer: Troezen

Once there was a young boy named Theseus. Nobody knew who his father was, for both King Aegeus of Athens and Poseidon had been fond of his mother Aethra. Right before Theseus was born Aegeus said to Aethra, "If we shall have a son, when he is old enough tell him to lift this rock and take my sword and sandals from under it." Then Aegeus placed both his sword and his sandals under a large boulder and then set sail for Athens.

Now this all happened in a small town called Troezen where Theseus grew into a strong young man. When Aethra thought it was time she took Theseus to the large boulder and told him to lift it. Theseus wrapped his mighty arms around the boulder lifted it as if it were paper. Then he threw the boulder into a nearby forest. Aethra then told him to take the sword and sandals and go to Athens.

Answer: Zephyr

Son of Astraeus and Aurora, and lover of Flora, he is identified with the Roman Favonius; hence, any soft, gentle wind.