CLA204 Test 2 Myths

Arachne

A girl who is EXTREMELY skilled at weaving. In some versions, she was actually taught how to weave by Athena, but she denies this, making Athena angry. Athena appears to her as an old woman and warns her about not giving credit where credit is due, but Arachne ignores this and challenges Athena. Athena weaves challenges between the gods and humans, as well as all the 12 Olympians. Arachne weaves an insult to the gods by weaving how the gods raped humans, etc. Athena gets even angrier and hits Arachne with a shovel. Arachne becomes so ashamed that she tries to hang herself. Athena takes pity on her and turns her into a spider.

Midas

A guy who is given one wish by Dionysus for returning his satyr foster father. He wishes for everything he touches to be turned into gold. However, this quickly backfires, as even his food and his water turns into gold. Dionysus tells him to bathe in the Patolus River, which gets rid of the gold touch and explains why there's gold in the Patolus River. He then rejects materialistic culture, and starts hanging out with Pan in nature. One day, Pan and Apollo have a music competition. Apollo wins, but Midas questions the decision. Apollo then gives him donkey ears. A servant sees all this, but Midas orders him not to tell anyone. Servant can't resist, however, and whispers it into a hole in the ground. Reeds grow from the hole, and whisper the tale.

Marsyas

A satyr who picks up Athena's flute one day and figures out that he's pretty good at playing it. He challenges Apollo to a music competition, which he loses, obviously. Apollo then flays him alive.

Byblis

A young girl who was in love with her brother. One day, her brother left without telling her, as he had been made aware of her feelings through a letter she had written. She went after him, but could never find him. Eventually, she gave up, staying in one place and crying until she turned into a spring.

Aphrodite Wounded

Aeneas is fighting in the Trojan War, in charge of some special horses. Diomedes, a Greek, wants those horses, so he goes to fight Aeneas with Athena's help. He has a special power (given to him by Athena) to see and harm the gods. Aphrodite attempts to step in and protect Aeneas, but is slightly injured and drops him. Apollo whisks Aeneas away in Aphrodite's stead, and Iris then has to go to Ares and get his chariot to take Aeneas away from the battlefield because it's not his time to die. The other gods ridicule Aphrodite.

Baucis and Philemon

An old married couple who welcome Zeus and Hermes into their home when they have very little to offer. They demonstrate great xenia/guest friendship. As a result, Zeus tells them to go to the top of the hill. He then proceeds to basically flood the entire town b/c they didn't demonstrate xenia. Baucis and Philemon end up becoming Zeus' priests, even asking him for permission. When they die, they turn into two joined trees.

Aphrodite and Anchises

Aphrodite has been making all the gods sleep with mortals, so Zeus decides to get back at her by making her fall in love with a mortal man named Anchises. She goes to her sanctuary to get ready, then appears to him as a beautiful mortal woman. Anchises thinks she's too pretty to be a normal woman, however, and says that she must be a goddess, and he doesn't want to get involved with a goddess because people usually end up getting hurt. However, she persuades him, and the two sleep together. Aphrodite then ends up pregnant with his child, Aeneas. She tells him that he won't meet the same fate as Ganymede and his father Tros, or Dawn and her lover Tithnous. She tells him that his line will live on for a long time.

Venus' Revenge

Aphrodite/Venus is mad at Helios for telling Hephaestus/Vulcan about her and Ares/Mars' affair, so she decides to get revenge. Makes Helios fall in love with Leukothoe. He appears to her as her mother to get close to her, and the two sleep together. Clytie, Helios' former lover, sees them, however, and tells Leukothoe's father, who buries her in sand. Helios pours some nectar over her burial ground, and a frankincense grows there. Meanwhile, Clytie, upset that Helios didn't go back to her, stays in one spot, watching the sun, and eventually turns into a sunflower.

Niobe

Daughter of Tantalus who's asked to honour Leto through rituals and such. Brags that she has more children than Leto, because she has fourteen while Leto only has two. Leto is upset and asks her twins to kill all of Niobe's children, who fulfilled her request. Husband commits suicide in his grief, and she turns into a rock that's constantly trying.

Aphrodite and Ares

Despite being married, Aphrodite and Ares have been having an affair in Hephaestus' bed. Helios sees them, however, and tells Hephaestus, who is understandably angry. He makes a special net and places it over the bed, then pretends to leave for his workshop. Sure enough, Aphrodite and Ares attempt to have sex, but get caught in the net. Helios then informs Hephaestus that his plan worked. Hephaestus invites the other male gods to see Aphrodite and Ares caught. Everyone else laughs, but Poseidon begs Hephaestus to let them go, promising anything in return.

Semele

Dionysus/Bacchus' mother. She had a little bit of immortal blood in her through being the daughter of Harmonia. She was also one of Zeus' many lovers. He would appear to her as a mortal, but told her that he was the god Zeus. One day, a jealous Hera appears to her as an old nurse. Semele confesses to Hera/the nurse that she's worried that Zeus isn't actually Zeus, and is just lying to her. Hera convinces Semele to demand proof. The next time Zeus comes to visit, Semele makes him swear on the River Styx to do something for her. She asks him to make love to her as he would to Hera. However, Zeus' true form is too much for her to handle, and she dies. As she's dying, however, Zeus manages to take the baby she was pregnant with and stick it in his thigh.

Daedalus and Icarus

Father and son who were trapped in the maze with the Minotaur. Daedalus was the one who built it, he's a genius inventor. Daedalus builds them two pairs of wings with wax as glue, and the two escape. However, Icarus flies too close to the sun, ignoring his father's warnings, and the glue melts, causing Icarus to plummet to his death.

Tyrrhenian Pirates

From Dionysus' Homeric Hymn, as well as the story of Pentheus in Ovid. Basically, these pirates kidnap Dionysus when they see him on the shore, mistaking him for a rich and pretty woman. Dionysus asks them to take him somewhere (Ovid) or reveals that he's a god by turning the chains he was captured in to ivy and such (Homeric Hymn), but the pirates don't believe him, except for one steersman who no one listens to. The pirates are then turned into dolphins, while the steersman lives a long and happy night. This myth shows how Dionysus was a very generous god to his followers, but a vengeful one to his doubters.

Daughters of Minyas

Good, virtuous girls who continue to weave in their homes even when Dionysus visits the town. While normally considered a good thing, this is not true when Dionysus is visiting. They refuse to attend the festival, so Dionysus punishes him. The house ends up filling with smoke and the daughters all turn into bats.

Ino and Athamas

Ino was Semele's sister, and the only one who believed that she was sleeping with a god. She's very proud of her husband Athamas and her two children, which can be considered a bad thing in Greek mythology. One of the Furies punishes her for her pride by throwing snakes at the family, making her husband go mad and think that his sons are lions, starting to hunt them. Ino manages to save one, however, and runs away. The two of them end up falling off a cliff, but Aphrodite takes pity on them and turns them into gods.

Myrrha

Myrrha was a girl who was in love with her father, but knew it was wrong and never tried anything. She attempts to hang herself, but her nurse stops her. Her nurse decides to help her sleep with her father. Every night, her nurse brings her into her father's bedroom under the pretense that she's just some random girl he can sleep with. One night, her father turns on the light to see who she is and is horrified to discover that he's been sleeping with his daughter. She runs away, and wishes that she never existed. The gods grant her wish and turn her into a tree. However, she's pregnant with Adonis, and remains pregnant even as a tree. The Roman version of Eileithyia comes and helps her with the birth.

Echo and Narcissus

Narcissus was prophesied to live a very long life, as long as he didn't see ("know") himself. Echo was a nymph who was cursed by Hera to only be able to talk by repeating words other people say. One day, Echo sees and falls in love with Narcissus, and eventually manages to communicate with him and meet him. However, Narcissus rejects her, leaving Echo heartbroken. She runs away to a cave and wastes away there, eventually becoming nothing more than a voice. Meanwhile, Narcissus is rejecting the advances of several nymphs, one of whom prays for Narcissus to fall in love and never have that love be returned. Nemesis grants this prayer, making Narcissus see himself in a nearby pool. He instantly falls in love with his reflection and never moves from his spot, eventually wasting away and becoming a narcissus flower.

Pygmalion

Pgymalion is an artist who hates all women and believes they're all whores. One day, he makes a sculpture of a beautiful, perfect woman and falls in love with it. During a festival to Aphrodite/Venus, he makes a sacrifice and wishes that his sculpture was a real woman. Aphrodite grants his wish, and makes his sculpture a woman named Galatea. The two then get married and have a son.

Socrates' theory of love (Symposium)

Poros (resource) and Penia (poverty). Two met at a festival for Aphrodite, slept together, and gave birth to Eros (who hangs out w/ Aphrodite b/c he was conceived at her festival). So all love is based on the union between Poverty and Resource.

Pyramus and Thisbe

The ancient version of Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream. The two were neighbours in Babylon whose fathers had forbidden them from being together. There was even a fence set up to separate their properties, and they could only talk through a small hole in it. One day, they decide to run away, agreeing to meet at Ninus' tomb. Thisbe gets there first, but she sees a lion and runs away, dropping her shawl in the process. When Pyramus arrives, he sees Thisbe's dropped shawl and the lion and comes to the wrong conclusion. He falls on his own sword (committing suicide). When Thisbe comes back and sees what happened, she also commits suicide.

Pentheus

The king of Thebes and a distant cousin of Dionysus, who doesn't believe in Dionysus' godly status. One day, Dionysus comes to Thebes, and the people basically go crazy. Pentheus is HIGHLY DISPLEASED, and has Dionysus brought to him. He is willfully blind and refuses to see that Dionysus really is a god, even when he's presented with proof, so he's turned into a boar. In their frenzy, his mother and the Bacchae hunt and kill him, similar to what happened to Actaeon.

Phaethon

The son of Helios/Apollo and Clymene. No one believed that he actually was the son of Helios, so his mother suggests going straight to the Sun and asking. Helios confirms that Phaethon is indeed his son. After, Phaethon asks to drive the sun chariot, after asking Helios to swear on the River Styx to do whatever Phaethon wanted. Phaethon couldn't control the sun chariot, however, and eventually crashes.

Pausanius' theory of love (Symposium)

Uranian vs. Pandeniam love. Uranian love is based on the idea that Aphrodite was born from Ouranous' genitals, so it's a pure love between men and boys. Pandeniam love is based on the idea that Aphrodite was born from Zeus and Dione, so it's a base love that only involves lust and is between men and women.

Aphrodite and Adonis

Venus took Adonis from Myrrha's tree and gave him to Persephone to raise. She fell in love with him one day when Eros grazed her with one of his arrows. She and Persephone decided to each spend 1/3 of the year with Adonis, and then let him decide who to spend the last 1/3 of the year with. Adonis ultimately chose Aphrodite. One day, however, Adonis was hunting when he was killed by a boar, and turned into the anemone flower. Persephone and Aphrodite still decided to share him, however, meaning that he was now associated w/ death and rebirth.

Flood myth

Zeus is served human flesh by Lycaon, and starts to believe that all humans are as bad as he is. He asks Poseidon to flood the Earth, killing all humans. Deucalion and Pyrrha are the only ones who survive, on a raft. They're very pious and immediately thank the gods for saving them. Zeus stops the flood, realizing that there were still good humans in the world. However, there are now only two humans alive. They go to the oracle, who tells them to "toss the bones of the mother" behind them. In this case, the bones of the mother are stones. Humans sprung up from the stones Deucalion and Pyrrha toss behind them.

Aristophanes' theory of love (Symposium)

originally, humans were either male (Sun), female (earth), or both (moon). Humans were also originally two humans joined together. Zeus feared their power, however, and split them apart.

Hermaphroditus

son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who was really attractive. One day, a naiad named Salcamis saw him and fell in love. He went into her pool (metaphor for sex), and she basically attacked him. Wished that they could be together forever or something along those lines - gods end up granting that wish by making them one person, both a boy and a girl. Hermaphroditus isn't pleased and curses the pool so that whoever steps into it shares his fate.