10 Question Humanities Quiz: Greek Mythology | Greek Myth

Answer: Psyche

Cupid took Psyche as his wife with the condition that she could never know his name or see him. Her sisters persuaded her to look at him when he was asleep, but she dropped hot wax from a candle on his shoulder and he discovered her treachery. He moved back home with his mother who was infuriated and set Psyche many impossible tasks. Cupid eventually found out what his mother was doing and asked Zeus himself for help. Zeus elevated Psyche to the rank of immortal for her trouble and everyone lived happily ever after.

Answer: Minos

Minos had asked Poseidon for a bull to sacrifice. When Poseidon sent the bull, Minos thought it too beautiful to kill and Poseidon was incandescent with rage. He asked Aphrodite to make Minos's queen, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull and the resulting offspring was the minotaur. If I had been Minos I'd have been a bit suspicious.

Answer: Arachne

Arachne's skill at weaving was renowned throughout the ancient world. Athena heard about this and being a goddess was miffed that a mere mortal thought herself better. She appeared as an old crone to a torrent of abuse and was so incensed that she challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. Arachne duly beat her by weaving scenes that mocked the Gods.

In her rage, Athena tore up Arachne's work and turned her into a spider. Serves her right.

Answer: Phaethon

Helios's job was to drive the sun across the sky each day. Phaethon was Helios's son from his liaison with a mortal and his friends didn't believe that he was the son of a God. Phaethon sought out his father who promised him anything he wanted. Phaethon asked to drive the sun across the sky and Helios was reluctantly forced to let him. Phaethon realised too late that driving the sun was a skilled job. Eventually, after he veered all over the sky, Zeus was forced to shoot him down with a lightning bolt and Phaethon fell to his death in the River Eridanos.

Helios was livid. Many see this myth as an account of an asteroid strike in ancient times.

Answer: Oineus

Oineus was King of Calydon and when he forgot to offer sacrifice to Artemis she vented her anger by unleashing a fearsome boar on his land. This was no ordinary pig, it was a monster with tusks as long as an elephant's, glowing eyes and foaming jaws. It laid waste to the lands of Calydon and no man dared to face it.

When Meleager, son of Oineus, returned from his quest for the golden fleece with Jason, he formed a posse and eventually killed the mighty hog. A fight then broke out over the spoils after he awarded the boar's fur to Atalanta (as she had struck the first blow) and Meleager killed both his uncles.

When his mother found out that he had killed her brothers, she burnt a firebrand that caused him to die. Moral:- Don't let your mum find out that you killed her brothers.

Answer: Midas

This was after Dionysius had given and then removed the "curse" of turning everything he touched to gold. Midas came upon Pan with his reed pipe taunting Apollo with his lute in a clearing. After he declared that Pan's music was superior, Apollo turned Midas's ears into those of an ass. He always wore a hat after that.

Answer: Odysseus

When Odysseus landed on the Island of the Cyclopes, he and his men hid in a cave. Unfortunately this cave was owned by Polyphemus the cyclops, who blocked the entrance with a stone and then started eating Odysseus's crew. Odysseus devises a cunning escape plan.

They would get Polyphemus drunk, then blind him with a sharpened stick. The plan worked, but Poseidon was most annoyed and delayed their return home while making them face many perils. Moral: If you are travelling by sea, don't poke the sea god's son in the eye. Particularly if it's the only eye he's got.

Answer: Lamia

When Zeus fell in love with Lamia, his wife Hera took revenge by murdering Lamia's children. For good measure she also cursed Lamia never to close her eyes. Zeus found out and offset Hera's wrath slightly by allowing Lamia to temporarily remove her eyes to rest them.

Answer: Mentha

Mentha was dazzled by Hades's beautiful golden chariot, evidently the ancient Greek equivalent of the Ford Capri. Persephone didn't take kindly to this and turned her rival for Hades's affections into a sweet smelling mint plant.

Answer: Ouranos

There does not seem to be a satisfactory explanation as to why Ouranos hid Hecatonchires and Cyclops from Gaia, but when she found out she gathered Cronus and his brothers and told them to go and sort him out. Only Cronus took up the challenge and cut off Ouranus's genitals with a sickle given to him by his mother.

He cast the amputated member into the sea near Paphos, Cyprus and from the remains Aphrodite was born. Ouranos, of course, had no more kids after that and walked kinda funny.