Greek Mythology: Allusion Significance?

Sysyphus

, in Greek mythology, son of Aeolus and founder and king of Corinth. Renowned for his cunning, he was said to have outwitted even Death. For his disrespect to Zeus, he was condemned to eternal punishment in Tartarus. There he eternally pushed a heavy rock to the top of a steep hill, where it would always roll down again. Albert Camus' essay The Myth of Sisyphus is based on this legend. APPLICATION?

Trojan war

10 year war fought between the Mycenaean Greeks and the city of Troy 1200 BC The war between Greece (mainly Sparta) and Troy over Helen, who was the wife of a Spartan. A Trojan prince (Paris) had abducted her and the Greeks attacked Troy for that reason. They got into the city of Troy with the Trojan horse, which is now well known. APPLICATION?

Charon

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon (/ˈkɛərɒn/ or /ˈkɛərən/; Greek Χάρων) is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. APPLICATION?

Jephthah (Bible)

Jephthah makes a deal with God and says "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering." (Basically if you let me win, I'll sacrifice the next thing that comes to my door). Along comes his daughter singing and dancing up to the door and he is like "Awe rats, you made a bad choice showing up at this door girl." He tells her he's going to kill her and she's perfectly fine with it, just asks for two months to play with her friends. When she comes back he kills her. Jephthah's ignorance of not calling upon the Ephraimites lead to a more costly war against the Ammonites and the Ephraimites. Whereas the Ephraimites excessive pride and overconfidence lead to battle with a much more powerful army. In conclusion, Excessive pride leads to excessive loss if you bite off more than you can chew. Ignorance is a costly attribute especially if you don't consider others feelings. Chastity Vow...sacrifice? God planned ...? APPLICATION?

Neoptolemus

Neoptolemus was the son of Achilles He was foretold to be the one able to win the Trojan war for the Greeks. He embarked on a quest to gain the poisonous arrows of Heracles from Philoctetes, and steal the Palladium. He killed his own father in order to end the Trojan war. Pyrrhus also sacrificed the Trojan princess, Polyxena, in order to appease the ghost of Achilles. Analysis: This myth could be used as a reference to one who has betrayed their family for a bigger picture of greater good. APPLICATION?

Pyrrhus

Son of Achilles King of Epirus in ancient Greece. He waged a series of wars for 25 years, and often won but lost many soldiers. A pyrrhic victory is one that was won at much too high a price APPLICATION?

Hyperion

Sun God Sun god, , his cattle are eaten by Odysseus' men The Titan of Burning Light. Hyperion is the father of Helios and Selene, the titans of the sun and moon, respectively. He appears in The Last Olympian, where he is clad in full golden armor and battles Percy. The satyrs come to Percy's aid and trap Hyperion in a tree trunk. in Greek religion and mythology, a Titan. He was the husband of his sister Theia and the father by her of Helios, Selene, and Eos. It is sometimes said that he was the original sun god. Due to his diligent observation, he was first to understand the movements of the sun and the moon, as well as the other stars and seasons. He was believed to have ordered the cycles of the sun, the moon, and the dawn. During his time, he married her sister Theia with whom he had three children who presided over these cycles. Helios presided over sun, Selene over the moon, while Eos presided over the dawn. Application?

House of Atreus

The House of Atreus traces back to Tantalus, king of Lydia. He invited the gods to a banquet and served the flesh of his own son, Pelops, to test their ominscience. All noticed except Demeter. Tantalus was doomed to Tartarus for his wrongdoing, and stands in a pool of water with a tree overhead. When he tries to drink the water recedes, and when he tries to eat fruit from the tree it moves away. This started off a train of betrayals in the House of Atreus.

House of Cadmus

When Zeus had abducted King Agenor's daughter, Europa, King Agenor sent his sons out on a quest to find her. They were not to come back unless they had found Europa. One of the King's sons, Cadmus, went to the oracle of Delphi to learn of Europa's whereabouts. The oracle advised Cadmus to stop his search for his sister and follow a cow instead. When this cow fell ill and died, Cadmus should build a city. So, Cadmus did what the oracle said until the cow died, and in the spot the cow died, Cadmus built the city of Thebes. He sent his companions to fetch water from a nearby spring that was guarded by a dragon. When the dragon killed a number of his companions Cadmus slew it. Athena appeared and told him to sow the dragon's teeth. After doing so, armed men sprang up ready to fight, so Cadmus threw a stone among them and they fell upon themselves until only five warriors remained, each of whom offered to serve Cadmus in building Thebes. However, Ares was angered at the killing of the dragon and forced Cadmus to serve him for eight years. Cadmus was then awarded the lovely Harmonia as his wife, and all the Olympians attended the wedding, bringing splendid gifts for the bride. APPLICATION?

Rivers of Underworld

here were a number rivers in the Underworld, and each served a purpose. Acheron was the river of lamentation. Cocytus was the river of woe. Lethe was the river of forgetfulness. Phlegethon was the river of fire. Styx was the river of unbreakable oath, by which the gods swore. It was also the river of hate. APPLICATION?

Polyphemus

in Greek mythology, a Cyclops. He was a shepherd and the son of Poseidon. In the Odyssey, Polyphemus imprisoned Odysseus and his men in his cave. They gave him wine and then, when he was drunk, they blinded him and escaped, hiding under Polyphemus' sheep as they left the cave. A later legend tells of the giant's futile love for the nymph Galatea APPLICATION?

Achilles

in Greek mythology, foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis. He was a formidable warrior, possessing fierce and uncontrollable anger. Thetis, knowing that Achilles was fated to die at Troy, disguised him as a girl and hid him among the women at the court of King Lycomedes of Skyros. He was discovered there by Odysseus, who persuaded him to go to Troy. One of Lycomedes' daughters, Deidamia, bore Achilles a son, Neoptolemus. According to Homer, Achilles came to Troy leading the 50 ships of the Myrmidons. In the last year of the siege, when Agamemnon stole the captive princess Briseis from him, Achilles angrily withdrew and took his troops from the war. Later he allowed his friend and lover Patroclus to borrow his armor and lead the Myrmidons to aid the retreating Greeks. When Hector killed Patroclus, Achilles was filled with grief and rage and returned to the battle, routed the Trojans, and killed Hector, viciously dragging his body back to the Greek camp. Achilles died of a wound inflicted by Paris. According to one legend, Thetis attempted to make Achilles immortal by bathing him in the river Styx, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable, and Paris inflicted a fatal wound in that heel. Other legends state that Achilles was struck from behind and killed by Paris when he went to visit Priam's daughter Polyxena, with whom he had fallen in love. Achilles, the object of widespread hero worship, is the main character of Homer's epic The Iliad. APPLICATION?

Cyclops

in Greek mythology, immense one-eyed beings. They appear in at least two distinct traditions. According to Hesiod the Cyclopes were smiths, the sons of Uranus and Gaea. They were imprisoned in Tartarus by their father and again by their brother Kronos. In return for their freedom they gave Zeus the thunderbolt that aided him in overthrowing Kronos. In Homer the Cyclopes are a lawless, barbarous, and pastoral people, one of whom (Polyphemus) Odysseus encounters in his wanderings. APPLICATION?

Penthyus

in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, son of Cadmus' daughter Agave. When Dionysus came to Thebes, Pentheus denied his divinity and tried to prevent his ecstatic rites. The women of Thebes, led by Agave, were driven mad by the offended god and tore Pentheus to pieces. The story is the subject of Euripides' Bacchae. APPLICATION

Hercules

most popular of all Greek heroes, famous for extraordinary strength and courage. Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, made love to both Zeus and her husband on the same night and bore two sons, Hercules (son of Zeus) and Iphicles (son of Amphitryon). Hercules incurred the everlasting wrath of Hera because he was the child of her unfaithful husband. A few months after his birth Hera set two serpents in his cradle, but the prodigious infant promptly strangled them. When he was a young man, Hercules defended Thebes from the armies of a neighboring city, Orchomenus, and was rewarded with Megara, daughter of King Creon. But Hera later drove Hercules insane, and in his madness he killed his wife and children. After he had recovered his sanity, he sought purification at the court of King Eurystheus of Tiryns for 12 years. During those years Hercules performed 12 arduous labors: he killed the Nemean lion and the Hydra; caught the Erymanthian boar and the Cerynean hind; drove off the Stymphalian birds; cleaned the stables of Augeas; captured the Cretan bull and the horses of Diomed; made off with the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte; killed Geryon; captured Cerberus; and finally took the golden apples of Hesperides. After his labors were completed, Hercules was involved in many other adventures and combats, including the Calydonian hunt and the Argonaut expedition. He killed Iphitus, son of the king of Oichalia, because the king would not give him his daughter Iole. When Neleus, king of Pylos, refused him absolution for that crime, Hercules sacked his kingdom and killed all his sons except Nestor. For that outrage the Delphic oracle bade him serve Omphale, queen of Lydia, who, in some legends, dressed him in women's clothes and had him work with her maids spinning wool. He later was her lover, but after he finished his servitude he returned to Oichalia and carried off Iole. When his second wife, Deianira, daughter of King Oeneus, was seized by the centaur Nessus, Hercules killed Nessus with arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra. As he died, Nessus told Deianira that blood from his wound would restore Hercules' love for her if ever it were to wane. Later, when Deianira sought to win back her husband's love, she contrived to have him don a robe smeared with the blood. The robe stuck fast to Hercules' skin, burning him unbearably. In agony, he built a huge pyre atop Mt. Oite and had it set afire. His mortal parts burned away, but the rest rose to heaven, where he was finally reconciled with Hera and married Hebe. APPLICATION?

Niobe

queen of Thebes, wife of Amphion and daughter of Tantalus. The mother of six sons and six daughters, she boasted of her fruitfulness, saying that Leto had only two children. Apollo and Artemis, angry at this insult to their mother, killed all Niobe's children. Crying inconsolably, she fled to Mt. Sipylus. There Zeus turned her into a stone image that wept perpetually. APPLICATION?

Satyr

the Greek god of nature and fertility, satyrs were spirits of nature—of the forests and the mountains. They were a kind of wood genie whose sudden appearance would terrify shepherds and travelers. Part man and part animal, they were traditionally lascivious by nature, usually depicted with erect phalli. They were often found in the company of nymphs. They had pointed ears, low foreheads, upturned noses, goat horns protruding from their heads, and cloven hooves. Satyrs are usually depicted with the body of a goat, like Pan, although early depictions show them with a horse's tail. They were lovers of music and played various musical instruments, including the pan pipes. Many times they are shown carrying a thyrsus wand, which is much like the Wiccan phallic wand with pinecone tip. APPLICATION?