Mythological ABC's Trivia Quiz

Answer: Agave

Pentheus was the king of Thebes and son of Agave and Echion. When he refused to recognize the divinity of his cousin Dionysus, the angry god sent a fit of madness to his mother Agave and her sisters Ino and Autonoe, so that they thought Pentheus a wild boar and tore him limb from limb.

A similar fate was later to befall Autonoe's son Actaeon by the hand of Artemis. Alcippe was a daughter of Ares who was raped by Poseidon's son Halirrhothius. Alecto was one of the Furies, along with Megaera and Tisiphone. Arethusa was a wood-nymph who was pursued by the river-god Alpheus and turned into a spring.

Answer: Battus

On the day he was born, Hermes stole the cattle of his brother Apollo and dragged them backward by their tails to avoid detection. While absconding with the cattle, he was seen by an old man named Battus, whom he paid off with one cow to forget what he saw.

Not trusting Battus's honesty, Hermes disguised himself and asked the old man if he had seen someone leading a large group of cattle; after being offered a reward of two heifers for the information, Battus promptly revealed the direction in which Hermes had gone.

The trickster god then turned the old man into a rock for his crime.

Answer: Calchas

Calchas, a son of Thestor, was instrumental in many of the important Greek decisions before and during the Trojan War. It was he who decreed that Iphigenia must be sacrificed to Artemis at Aulis in order for the Greek fleet to be able to sail. Also at Aulis, he saw a snake devour a mother bird and her eight fledglings and then turn to stone, which signified that the Trojan War would be won by the Greeks, but only after nine long years of fighting.

He also stopped the plague sent by Apollo in the tenth year of the war by forcing Agamemnon to return Chryseis to her father Chryses.

Answer: Dione

In Homer's "The Illiad", he recognizes Dione as the mother of Aphrodite. Etymologically, however, Dione is simply the feminine form of Zeus, so in reality he made Zeus her parent twice. Demeter was the sister of Zeus and goddess of grain and the harvest. Dryope was a woman who was turned into a black poplar tree when she accidentally picked flowers from a tree that was formerly a nymph. Doris was the wife of Nereus and consequent mother of the fifty Nereids.

Answer: Eriphyle

When Polynices and his supporters attempted to enlist both Amphiarius and Adrastus to join their attack on Thebes, Adrastus wanted Amphiarius to join, but the latter, with his powers as a seer, knew the expedition would fail and he himself would die. The two had decided previously that all disputes between them would be arbitrated by Eriphyle, the sister of Adrastus and wife of Amphiarius. Eriphyle was bribed by Polynices with the necklace of Harmonia, which was said to make the wearer permanently beautiful, and consequently advised that her husband go to Thebes.

Answer: Faustulus

Romulus and Remus were the twin sons of Rhea Silvia, a princess of Alba Longa and a Vestal Virgin, and Mars, the god of war. After Rhea Silvia had given birth, she was imprisoned by her wicked uncle Amulius and the babies were exposed on a mountain. After they had been taken in and nursed by a she-wolf, they were found by a kind shepherd named Faustulus who brought them up and helped them to restore their grandfather Numitor to his rightful throne.

Answer: Galanthis

When Alcmene had entered into labor, a vengeful Hera sent her daughter, Illythia the goddess of childbirth, to prevent the birth by sitting outside Alcmene's room and crossing her legs. The slave-girl Galanthis was determined to help her mistress, and, after seven days of labor, emerged from Alcmene's chamber and announced that a healthy baby boy had been born. Illythia was so surprised that she jumped down, consequently uncrossing her legs and allowing Heracles to be born. For her trickery, Illythia turned the clever slave girl into a weasel.

Answer: Helle

When Nephele, the cloud-nymph wife of Athamas, left him and their two children, Phrixus and Helle, he remarried a woman named Ino. She told him that a Delphic oracle had bade him to sacrifice his children to the gods. Although unwilling to kill his children, Athamas did not wish to offend the gods and so arranged for them to be sacrificed.

They were saved, however, by a talking golden ram that Nephele had sent to rescue them. As they were flying away, however, Helle fell off into the straights dividing Europe and Asia, the area that was later to be named the Hellespont.

Answer: Idomeneus

Idomeneus was the grandson of Minos and king of Crete at the time of the Trojan War. He was said to have sailed to Troy in eighty ships as one of the largest contingents. Although one of the older commanders at Troy, he still fought bravely and was one of the men concealed within the Trojan horse.

Answer: Juturna

In the battle for the hand of Lavinia and control of the kingdom of Latium, the Rutulian king Turnus was aided by his nymph sister Juturna. Although she tried to keep her brother away from Aeneas, knowing that the latter was destined to kill him in hand to hand combat, she was ultimately compelled by the warning of a Fury to cease protecting him.

She eventually sank into her pool of water, to remain there forevermore.

Answer: Kore

Kore was an alternative name for Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Demeter and goddess of spring. When Persephone was picking flowers with a group of nymphs, she was abducted by Hades and taken to the Underworld to be his queen. Her mother, Demeter, was distraught and deprived the earth of all vegetation and growth.

In an effort to save mankind from destruction, Zeus pleaded with his brother to return Persephone. Hades agreed, on the condition that she hadn't eaten any food of the Underworld; if she had, she would have to remain there with him.

Although she had previously refused food, Persephone was so hungry that she ate six pomegranate seeds, thus cementing her fate in the Underworld. A compromise was reached, however, that she would remain in the Lower World one month for every seed she ate, explaining the phenomenon of winter as the time when Demeter grieves and waits for her beloved daughter to return.

Answer: Linus

Linus was the first in a comparatively long string of deaths caused by Heracles's hot temper and great strength. Although Heracles was not his own son, Amphytrion provided the youth with every advantage, including tutors in all the skills that were proper for a royal boy, such as archery, chariot racing, and playing the lyre.

Although quite adapt at the first two, Heracles never fully mastered the lyre. When his teacher chastised him for playing a song incorrectly, an irate Heracles beat him on the head with his lyre, killing him instantly.

Although this is the most famous, other stories about Linus have been found, including him being a son of Apollo and bringing the Phoenician alphabet to Greece.

Answer: Marpessa

When Marpessa's father, Evenus, held a chariot race to determine the man who would get to marry her, the mortal Idas defeated Apollo using a winged chariot borrowed from Poseidon. Apollo later carried Marpessa off and turned her into a kingfisher, causing a violent quarrel with Idas.

When Zeus mediated the disagreement, he asked Marpessa to choose which man should would rather marry. She chose the mortal Idas since he would grow old with her and remain faithful. She bore him a daughter named Cleopatra who later married Meleager.

Answer: Nisus

Nisus and Euryalus were two close friends and followers of Aeneas who attempted to kill some of Turnus's troops while hidden by the night. When morning came, however, Euryalus was captured and killed, and Nisus perished trying to rescue him. Virgil took the idea of their secret expedition across enemy lines from the scene in "The Odyssey" where Odysseus and Diomedes steal the Palladium from the Trojans, securing victory for the Greeks.

Answer: Oenone

Oenone and Paris were married while he was still a shepherd in the hills surrounding Troy. He defied her warnings, taken from her gift of prophesy, not to abduct Helen from Sparta, or it would mean his doom and that of his city. After he was wounded by Philoctetes, he sought her out so she could heal him, but she refused because she resented his betrayal.

Although she later repented, he had already perished, and the unfortunate nymph hung herself in grief.

Answer: Panacea

Asclepius, the god of healing, had several children who were also blessed with his gifts, including Panacea, whose name now means a cure-all, and Hygeia, the goddess of hygeine. He was eventually struck down by Zeus for attempting to raise the dead, and was avenged by his father Apollo, who killed Zeus's sons, the Cyclopses.

Answer: Quirinus

After Romulus's death, a Roman named Julius Proculus saw him, shining like a god, and said that Romulus told him all would be well with the city, the people should practice arms, and that they should worship him as the god Quirinus. Quirinus also lends his name to the "Quirites," another name for the Roman people, as well as the Quirinal Hill.

Answer: Rhadamanthys

Zeus and Europa had two sons, Minos and Rhadamanthys, and after their deaths, Zeus appointed them the judges of the dead, who would decide which brave souls spent eternity in the Elysian Fields, and which villains would be forever tortured in Tartarus. They were also joined by Aeacus, the king of Aegina and leader of the Myrmidons, to make three judges.

Answer: Spartoi

When Cadmus sowed half the teeth of a dragon he had slain by the order of Athena, armed men sprung out and began to head for him. He threw stones amidst them, and they started attacking each other. The five who survived the ensuing struggle became known as the spartoi or "sown men." They were Echion, the father of Pentheus, Udaeus, Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelorus. Along with Cadmus, they helped populate the nobility of the city of Thebes.

Answer: Thersites

Thersites was a low-born Greek soldier who enjoyed berating his betters, and, when he scorned Agamemnon for taking Briseis and suggested that the Greeks return home immediately, was beaten severly by Odysseus. He was later killed by Achilles for mocking his love of the Amazon queen Penthesilea, whom he had killed before realizing his passion.

Answer: Urania

The Muses, the personifications of the arts, were the nine daughters of Mnemosyne (Memory) and Zeus and were generally agreed to be Urania - astronomy, Melpomene - tragedy, Erato - Erotic poetry, Euterpe - Lyric poetry and flute-playing, Polyhymnia - Choral poetry, Calliope - Epic poetry, Clio - history, Thalia - Comedy, and Terpsichore - Dance.

Answer: Vertumnus

Pomona, the goddess of fruit orchards, was loved by the god Vertumnus, but initially rejected him. He then changed his form into that of an old woman, and pleaded so eloquently on his own behalf that Pomona accepted him when he reverted to his true nature.

Answer: Welchanos

Welchanos, also known as Kouros, was worshipped on the island of Crete as the god of vegetation, fertility, agrarian magic, as well as the cycles of life and death. He was honored especially in the cities Phaistos, Lyttos, and Gortyn. He is also sometimes incorrectly identified with the Roman god Vulcan.

Answer: Xanthus

Xanthus, as well as his brother Balius, was the offspring of Zephyrus, the West Wind, and Podarge, a Harpy. During the period of the Trojan War when Achilles wasn't fighting, he lent Xanthus and Balius to Patroclus, and they returned to him after the death of his comrade.

Although Achilles blamed Xanthus for his friend's death, Xanthus reminded him that it was not his fault, but rather the will of the gods, and that Achilles's own death was coming soon. He was struck dumb at that point by the Furies, never to speak again. Xanthus was also another name for the Scamander, the main river of Troy.

Answer: Zetes

Zetes and Calais, collectively known as the Boreads, rescued their brother-in-law from the vengeful Harpies, who would steal all his meals and torment him constantly. Since a prophesy had decreed that if they ever failed to catch a fugitive they would die, the Boreads pursued the Harpies until the messenger goddess Iris persuaded them to stop.

They were eventually killed by Heracles for persuading the other Argonauts to sail on without him after he had jumped off the ship to search for his young arms bearer, Hylas.