The Stories Behind the Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: Minotaur

King Minos attacked Athens and the people of Athens yielded. They were forced to send fourteen boys and girls to be fed to the Minotaur every nine years. Theseus volunteered to be taken with the intention of killing the monster. There was one problem: only one person had ever entered the maze and returned alive - Daedalus, the creator of the labyrinth.

Theseus used some thread to find his way out once the deed was done.

Answer: Gold

Ino was the second wife of King Athamas. In order to ensure that her own son would be heir to the throne, she invented a prophecy that required the king to sacrifice his eldest son, Phrixus. Just as the boy was about to be killed, a golden ram appeared and carried Phrixus and his sister, Helle, away to safety.

Answer: Pomegranate seeds

Hades fell in love with Persephone and abducted her. No one knew what had happened to Persephone so Demeter searched the Earth for her daughter, destroying fields and farms as she went. In the end, Zeus decided to bring Persephone back himself. By then it was too late! Hades had offered food to the girl, and whoever tastes the food of Hades cannot leave the Underworld.

A deal was brokered: Persephone would spend six months with Hades, and then six months on Earth with Demeter. And that's why the Earth has summer and winter.

Answer: Punishing Orion

Orion was tall and handsome, and some stories say Gaia punished the man for being too boastful. Another story has Orion falling in love with seven sisters. The women were scared and asked Zeus to save them. They were turned into doves, and became the seven stars of Pleiades.

The scorpion stung Orion as punishment. In the sky, Scorpio is forever chasing the constellation of Orion, who is forever in pursuit of the Pleiades.

Answer: It was resistant to weapons.

Slaying the Nemean Lion was Hercules' first labour. After realizing that arrows could not pierce the skin, he wrestled the lion and strangled it. Once he had skinned the lion, he wore it as armour.

Answer: Fish

Zeus and Hercules fought and destroyed Gaia's Giants. In revenge, she let loose Typhon, a fearsome creature with snakes for legs. The gods disguised themselves as various animals in order to hide from it. Aphrodite and Eros became fish. Once Typhon was captured, Aphrodite thanked the fish she took the form of by immortalizing them in the stars.

Answer: Centaurs

As the son of Poseidon, Cheiron was immortal. Unfortunately, Hercules accidentally shot him with a poison arrow. Unable to die, the centaur lived in agony until Zeus allowed him to give up his immortality.

Answer: Cup bearer

Zeus wanted Ganymede to live among the gods due to his outstanding beauty. He disguised himself as an eagle and took the young prince. Everyone living in Olympus had to have a job, so Zeus decided that Ganymede would pour nectar for the immortals. Nectar was the drink of the immortals, and like ambrosia, it preserved their youth and immortality.

Answer: Swan

Leda bore two eggs. One contained Zeus' offspring Helen and Polydeuces, and the other contained her husband's children Clytemnestra and Castor. Castor and Polydeuces were very close, despite Polydeuces being an immortal. Castor, the mortal brother, was tragically killed in battle. Polydeuces was so upset that when Zeus asked him to join the Olympians on Mount Olympus, he said no.

He couldn't bear to be immortal while his brother was in the Underworld. Zeus allowed them to be together in the end: they would spend every other day in Olympus, and the days in between would be spent in the Underworld.

Answer: Zeus

Amaltheia, the goat nymph, looked after Zeus when his mother, Rhea, hid him from her husband. Cronus had eaten her previous children, so to protect Zeus she sent him to Crete where her husband wouldn't find him. In gratitude to the love Amaltheia gave him, Zeus put her image in the stars.

Answer: Dike

'Libra' is Latin for weight or weighing scales, so it's no coincidence that it is halfway around the Zodiac. The constellation itself is shaped like a triangle with two lines hanging down.

Answer: Hercules

The goddess Hera hated Hercules. While he was fighting the Hydra, Hera sent a giant crab to help the monster. It pinched Hercules' legs before being crushed by the hero's foot. Hera put the crab in the sky in gratitude to its effort.

Answer: Sirius

Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major, which translates as 'the greater dog'. It follows the constellation of Orion across the sky. Artemis put Sirius in the sky because Orion had loved him so much.

Answer: The gates of the Underworld

Cerberus guarded the gates so that the dead could not leave. Hades allowed Hercules to take Cerberus back to Earth, as long as he did not use a weapon to overpower it. Instead, Hercules wrestled the animal and carried him out of the Underworld. Hercules appears in the Leo, Sagittarius, and Cancer legends.

Answer: Centaurus

Zeus allowed Cheiron to give up his immortality when he was poisoned by Hercules' arrow. His sacrifice allowed Prometheus to be freed from his own punishment. For giving fire to the humans, Zeus commanded that Prometheus be eternally chained to a rock, where an eagle would eat his liver every day. Cheiron's death meant that Hercules could free Prometheus: the crime had been paid with the centaur's sacrifice.