University of Arkansas, Spring, 2001
WLIT 2323. Greek/Roman Mythology
D. B. Levine
Preview: Second Exam
The second examination will be given on Wednesday, 02 May. It will include:
I. Short-Answer Questions based on class discussion, films, study questions, and all readings assigned since the midterm examination: Iliad, Odyssey, Agamemnon.
II. Modern and ancient meanings of Myth Words presented by students in class.
III. Multiple-Choice questions (by popular demand). BRING SCAN-TRON SHEET AND PENCIL.
IV. Identification and comment on slides depicting myths.
V. Comments on significance of quotations from readings.
Below you will find samples and suggestions.
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I. Short-Answer Questions.
Be prepared to answer some of the following, or questions like them, on material we have read and discussed.
1. What is Classical Mythology?
2. What benefit can the modern student derive from the study of Classical Mythology?
3. How does Penelope reveal her own metis ("cunning intelligence")?
4. What details associate Odysseus with his maternal grandfather?
5. Describe the 'contest of the bow' in the Odyssey, and tell what role in it the following play: Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, the suitors.
6. Why do you think that Odysseus smiles when Penelope says "There are secrets between us no one else knows"?
7. Why is the first night Penelope and Odysseus spend together after their reunion so long? What happens during this long night?
8. At the end of the Odyssey, how does Odysseus identify himself to Laertes?
9. How does his old nurse Eurycleia recognize Odysseus when she is bathing him? What is Odysseus' reaction to her discovery?
10. What kind of relationship do Agamemnon and Achilles have in Hades? How does this compare or contrast with their relationship in the Iliad? How do you account for any differences?
11. How are Phemius and Demodocus the bards different?
12. After Odysseus has killed the suitors, how does he use music for the purposes of deception?
13. What three crimes of the Suitors does Odysseus mention when he begins their slaughter?
14. Which direction did Telemachus have to sail to get from Ithaca to Pylos?
15. What does Priam say to Achilles in Iliad 24 that makes him cry?
16. In what guise does Athena approach Odysseus' house in Odyssey 1? Why does she choose this disguise?
17. Why does Telemachus say that if Odysseus had died at Troy he would have grieved less for him than he currently does?
18. What song was Phemius singing that bothered Penelope so much? What about the song vexed her so?
19. Why does Athena change her own form so many times in the Odyssey?
20. What did the 'wrath of Athena' have to do with the disastrous homecoming of the Achaian heroes?
21. What is Telemachus' reaction to the grandeur of Menelaus' palace? What does this tell us about the relative wealth of their two kingdoms?
22. How does Calypso offer hospitality to Hermes?
23. What is Calypso's attitude towards the other gods -- when she hears why Hermes has come?
24. Why does Odysseus elicit an oath from Calypso? What does this tell us about Odysseus' outlook on life?
25. What does Odysseus tell Calypso before they go to bed and make love?
26. What is the first thing that Odysseus does when he first wakes up on Ithaca? What do his first actions there tell us about his character?
27. What gift does Helen give to Telemachus, and what might be ironic about it?
28. The suitor Amphinomus' name means "double-minded". Explain how this is an appropriate and significant appellation. How is he different from the other suitors?
29. Why does Hera lie to Aphrodite about the reason she wants the love charm to seduce Zeus (Iliad 14)
30. What offer finally convinces Sleep to do Hera's bidding (Iliad14)? How does this match the mood of the scene between Zeus and Hera following it?
31. When Patroclus goes out to fight wearing Achilles' armor, why does he not take Achilles' spear?
32. Why is Hephaestus so willing to help Thetis by making a new set of armor for Achilles (Iliad 18)?
33. What does Achilles do with the "twelve young Trojans" he captured alive after Hector killed Patroclus? When and where does he do it?
34. Why does Achilles say that he will not heed Lycaon's supplication?
36. Why does Zeus not save Hector, though he wants to?
37. How does Athena help Achilles kill Hector?
38. Why does Achilles finally decide to have a funeral for Patroclus?
39. How do the gods force Achilles to give up his wrath at Hector?
40. How does Achilles' attitude towards Priam in the last book of the Iliad compare with what we have learned about Achilles' character in the rest of the epic?
41. What do the first three words of the ILIAD tell us about the work?
42. If you were the commander-in-chief of the Achaian expedition, would you want to have Achilles under your command? Why or why not?
43. How would you describe the marital relationship between Zeus and Hera? Give two examples of their interaction to support your thesis.
44. How do the gods entertain themselves on Olympus?
45. Why do you think that the Dream from Zeus to Agamemnon (Iliad 2) which advises him to try to take Troy takes the form of Nestor?
46. Why does the poet invoke the Muses before he recites the long catalog of all the soldiers in Iliad 2?
47. What is Priam's attitude towards Helen, and why does he feel as he does? How does Helen describe herself to Priam? (Iliad 3)
48. Why does Zeus love Troy, Priam, and the Trojans?
49. Athena puts on the Aegis before going to battle (Iliad 5, lines 7785ff). How does the poet describe it? What is its purpose?
50. Why do Glaucus and Diomedes exchange armor on the battlefield in Iliad 6?
51. Why is Poseidon so upset at the Achaeans for building a wall around their ships? (Iliad 7)
52. What is the origin of the word 'centaur'?
53. Who was a 'good centaur', and what did he do?
54. Who was Ixion?
55. What happened at Pirithoos' wedding?
56. How did Greeks view Amazons? What stories did they tell about them?
II. MYTH WORDS.
Students will be asked to identify the myths/gods that lie behind the modern words, and show the connection between the myth and the modern meaning. You will give the myth in a sentence, and the modern meaning in a sentence, and how it relates to the myth.
I will select a few of the following terms:
hymneal
hyperborean
jovial
mentor
terpsichorean
morphine
stygian
palladium
priapism
procrustean
sibylline
sisyphean
III. Multiple-Choice questions. (BRING SCAN-TRON AND PENCIL)
HERE ARE SOME SAMPLES, WHICH ARE FAIR GAME FOR THE EXAM.
1. In order to fully appreciate the action of Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON,
the audience must understand the location and significance of both: a)
Corinth and Colchis b) Aulis and Athens c) Sparta and Samos d) Troy
and Mycenae e) Troy and Mr. Caucasus
2. Why is Clytemnestra described as a mannish woman in Aeschylus'
AGAMEMNON? a) because she wears man's clothing b) because she dares to
do a daring act of violence c) because she worshipped the phallic god
Priapus d) because she hates women e) because she is in love with
Aegisthus, a puny man
3. What act of Agamemnon's before the Trojan War angered his wife?
a) his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigeneia b) his sudden departure
without saying 'good bye' c) his rape of Cassandra d) his appointment
of a singer to act as her guardian e) his sending Orestes away
4. How did Clytemnestra get such quick news of Troy's downfall? a)
Hermes came to her in a dream b) Iris came to her in a dream c)
Aegisthus had sent a spy to the harbor d) she had arranged fire-signals
on mountain tops from Troy to Mycenae e) Orestes had inadvertently let
fall a hint, which Clytemnestra and nobody else understood
5. Why does Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON contain so many lines about the
destruction wrought by the Greeks at Troy? a) to set a tone of sin,
crime, punishment, and foreboding for the death of Agamemnon in this play
b) to show military accomplishments of Argives, and show patriotism c)
to show the power of the gods who favored the Greeks d) to prove the
superiority of Greek technology over 'barbarian' Trojans e) to complete
the story of the Iliad
6. What had Clytemnestra done while Agamemnon was at Troy? a) taken
a lover b) plotted with Aegisthus to take over Mycenae c) made plans to
kill her husband d) sent Orestes away to a guest-friend's house e) all
of the above
7. What does xenia have to do with he beginning of the Trojan War?
a) Menelaus had violated xenia when he married Helen b) Agamemnon called
upon xenia when he marshaled the Greeks c) Paris had violated the xenia
of Menelaus' house by stealing Helen from him d) Calchas said that
Artemis was angry with the Greeks' lack of xenia at her sanctuary e)
Achilles had complained that Agamemnon was not a good xenos
8. What do the Furies have to do with blood? a) they give it to the
wounded, like in a transfusion b) like bloodhounds, they smell it when it
is spilled, and then hound the shedder of the blood if it was shed
unjustly c) they receive it in sacrifices, and turn it into wine d)
they turn blood into ichor for the gods e) they claim that it makes them
'chthonic'
9. Why might Orestes be called a 'serpent son'? a) because he slept
with a serpent, who told him to avenge his father's murder b) because
his sister gave him a snake to put in his mother's bed c) because
Aegisthus called him 'snake boy' as a nickname d) because Clytemnestra
dreamed that she bore a serpent who bit her breast e) because in Greek
Orestes means 'serpent son'
10. What bloody image does Cassandra describe to the Chorus of
Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON that they see, but do not understand, and what did it
mean? a) she describes the fall of Troy, which means that Mycenae will
fall b) she describes the bloody banquet of Atreus and Thyestes'
children, which shows that there is a curse on the house that is about to
be fulfilled c) she describes the fire signals, which means that
Clytemnestra is burning to kill Agamemnon d) she describes the eagle who
kills its mate, which Clytemnestra will do to Agamemnon e) she describes
Paris carrying off Helen, which Aegisthus has done to Clytemnestra
11. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus of Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON about
her relationship with Apollo? a) that she was actually his half-sister
b) that she spurned his love c) that her father had bribed Apollo to
leave her alone d) that she sacrificed to him until she discovered he
loved another e) that when she found out that he also loved boys, she
dumped him
12. How does Electra identify her brother Orestes at the tomb of
Agamemnon, even before Orestes appears before her? a) she sees his
backpack b) she sees his shadow c) she sees an inscription with his
name on it, scratched on the tombstone d) she sees his signet ring e)
she sees a lock of his hair at the grave site
13. Why does Orestes say that he killed his mother? a) Apollo
commanded him to do so b) Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon c) he was
avenging his father's murder d) Clytemnestra had usurped the throne of
Mycenae and was an oppressive tyrant, ruling with Aegisthus e) all of the
above
14. What is the significance of the net which Orestes brings out of
the palace after the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus? a) it
symbolizes the 'trapping' of Agamemnon b) it shows the power of the
fishermen of Mycenae, whose catches were legendary c) it shows the
'interconnected' nature of blood and honey d) it was related to the
shroud that Penelope wove for Laertes e) it demonstrated the cleverness
of Mycenaean weaving women
15. Why did Athena vote to acquit Orestes in his murder trial? a)
because Orestes had sacrificed to her the most b) because she always
favors the male, being born out of Zeus' head c) because she hated the
Furies d) because Apollo threatened her if she voted against Orestes e)
because she was a goddess of war, and Orestes had 'made war' on
Clytemnestra
16. At the end of the play Eumenides, why does Athena have a long
argument with the Furies? What is the result?
17. In what two locations does the action of Aeschylus' EUMENIDES take
place? a) Athens and Sparta b) Troy and Mycenae c) Delphi and Argos d)
Delphi and Athens e) Troy and Athens
18. What direction did the bronze-clad Achaeans have to sail to get to
Priam's well-walled city from Mycenae and Argos? a) southwest b)
northeast c) southeast d) northwest e) due west
19. Which Homeric hero hailed from Sparta? a) Achilles b) Agamemnon
c) Diomedes d) Idomeneus e) Menelaus
20. Which Homeric hero hailed from Phthia? a) Achilles b) Agamemnon
c) Diomedes d) Idomeneus e) Menelaus
21. Which Homeric hero hailed from Mycenae? a) Achilles b) Agamemnon
c) Diomedes d) Idomeneus e) Menelaus
22. How does Athena stop Achilles from killing Agamemnon in Iliad 1?
a) she puts a mist around him so Achilles can't find him b) she snaps his
helmet strap c) she carries Agamemnon away to his hut d) she appears to
Achilles alone, pulling his hair and telling him to revile Agamemnon with
words only e) she sends Iris to blind him temporarily
23. Which of the following words does not characterize Nestor of
Pylos? a) old b) loquacious c) laconic d) long-winded e) wise
24. Which of the gods tries to calm the quarrel between Zeus and Hera
in Iliad 1? a) Apollo b) Thetis c) Prometheus d) Muses e) Hephaestus
25. Why did Agamemnon take Achilles' girl Briseis? a) because the
gods commanded him to do so b) because he had to give back his girl
Chryseis to appease the wrath of Apollo, and he didn't want to be without
a prize and thus lose prestige c) as a slight to King Priam, who loved
her, too, and declared that whoever had her would win the Trojan war d)
because Clytemnestra wanted her for a household slave e) because he was
no longer in love with his own slave girl, and wanted new stimulation
26. How did Hera distract Zeus from the battlefield so that Poseidon
could help the Achaeans against the Trojans? a) she takes him to a
banquet in Ethiopia b) she seduces him and has Hypnos put him into a deep
slumber c) she takes him to their bedroom on Olympus and makes love to
him better than ever before d) she tells him where Ganymede is waiting
with nectar and ambrosia for him e) she reveals the secret of their
marriage bed to him
27. Why did Odysseus go to visit the shades from the Underworld? a)
to purify himself of murder b) because Circe told him to do so, to learn
from Teiresias information he would need to know c) to find his mother
and tell her the truth of his wanderings d) to learn how Telemachus was
getting along e) to see if Penelope had been faithful to him, and to
learn how to kill the suitors, if she had been faithful
28. Which of the following was depicted as a deadly six-headed dog?
a) Charybdis b) Laestrygonians c) Cyclops d) Nausicaa e) Scylla
29. Which of the following caused Odysseus' companions to feel apathy
about their homecoming? a) Circe b) Calypso c) Laestrygonians d)
Lotus Eaters e) Helios
30. What did Odysseus have to undergo in order to hear the Sirens'
song? a) he was blinded b) he was tied to a mast c) he was forced to
reject -- temporarily --his love for his wife Penelope d) he was forced
to make love to all of them e) he had to fast for seven days
31. Odysseus' name means: a) joy (to friends) b) trouble/grief c)
he who delights in tricks/cunning intelligence d) master of disguise e)
monster-slayer
32. Who keeps Odysseus with her and offers to make him immortal if he
would forget about returning to Penelope? a) Circe b) Nausicaa c) Arete
d) Ino (the white goddess) e) Calypso
33. Who turns men into beasts? a) Circe b) Nausicaa c) Arete d)
Ino (the white goddess) e) Calypso
34. Why does Odysseus' companion Elpenor appear to him in the
Underworld scene? a) he wants to bring him a message from Persephone b)
he wants to find out what happened to his wife c) he wants Odysseus to
take a message to his father d) he wants Odysseus to give him funeral
rites e) he wants to warn Odysseus about Scylla and Charybdis
35. How do Menelaus and his men disguise themselves in order to catch
Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, and why? (Odyssey 4) a) with seal
skins, to find out how to get home b) with masks, to rob him of his
treasure c) with women's clothes, to carry off his daughters d) with
mud, to get his gold e) with wooden barrels, to get the chance to taste
his wine, which was supposed to be the most potent in the world.
36. What did Helen do at Troy when the Achaeans were in the Trojan
Horse? a) she tried to get the Trojans to burn it b) she urged the
Trojans to roll it into the sea c) she told the Trojans that Menelaus
was inside, and asked them to open it up d) she imitated the voices of
the Achaean heroes' wives, trying to get the men inside the horse to give
themselves away e) she called out Odysseus' name, because she knew it
was his idea
37. In the Odyssey, how did Athena reveal her divinity after she had
appeared in disguise? a) she caused a glow to surround her feet and
breasts b) she turned herself into a bird c) she put a drop of ambrosia
on the ground where she had stood d) she left a smell of nectar in the
nostrils of all who saw her e) she left a magical spear for the men to
use
38. Why did Nestor tell Telemachus story of Orestes? a) to remind him
to kill his mother when he returned to Ithaca b) to remind him to be
brave and protect his father's kingdom when he returned to Ithaca c) to
make him feel like a weakling in comparison to Orestes d) to remind him
to sacrifice to Apollo and Hermes, as Orestes had e) to caution him to
avoid the wrath of Poseidon
39. Who was Mentor? a) captain in Achilles' fleet, who saved
Odysseus' life, and who then died at sea b) Ithacan guardian of
Telemachus, and wise counselor c) Odysseus' father, whom Odysseus fooled
in book 24 d) the suitor whom Odysseus spared, because Telemachus asked
him to do so e) the seer of the Trojans, whom Hector scorned
40. Antinous the suitor says that Penelope 'knows more tricks than any
woman alive.' What evidence does he give of her cleverness? a) the trick
of Odysseus' bed b) the trick of the geese and the eagle c) the trick of
the funeral shroud of Laertes d) the trick of getting Telemachus to go to
Pylos and Sparta e) the trick of getting all dressed up and telling the
suitors to vie for her favors by giving her gifts
41. What happens when Poseidon sees how the Phaeacians have helped
Odysseus to get back to Ithaca? a) he turns their ship into a dolphin b)
he surrounds their city with a mountain c) he turns thir ship into a
stone d) he takes away their talent for seafaring e) he swallows their
city in a giant earthquake
42. Where does Telemachus go in search of news of his father Odysseus?
a) Sparta and Argos b) Pylos and Mycenae c) Pylos and Athens d) Pylos
and Sparta e) Ithaca and Pylos
43. How does Argus almost make Odysseus reveal his identity on Ithaca?
a) Odysseus cries to see his faithful dog still alive b) Odysseus cries
to see his faithful cowherd still loyal to him c) Odysseus punishes the
disrespectful maidservants because of him d) Odysseus hears the story
about him and cries when reminded of the Trojan War e) Odysseus
unwittingly says that this was the god most dear to him, and the suitors
almost hear his prayer
44. How did Irus (in the Odyssey) get this nickname? a) he was a
very ironic fellow b) his eal name was Arnaeus, but they called him Iris
because of his beautiful eyes c) He was named after the messenger
goddess because he took messages for the suitors d) he was so egocentric
that he always began sentences with "I" e) his hair was the color of the
rainbow
45. How does Irus resemble the suitors? a) both are of royal blood,
and stand to inherit kingdoms of their own b) both lust after Penelope
c) both are physically ugly d) both have Poseidon as their protector
e) both are unwanted guests in the home of Odysseus, and will be punished
for their misuse of hospitality
46. When Odysseus visited the Underworld, who told him that he would rather be a servant to the living than a king of the dead? a) Tiresias b) Ajax c) Achilles d) Agamemnon e) Elpenor
47. Which mortal is doomed for eternity to push a large stone up a hill only to have it roll down each time? a) Tantalus b) Pelops c) Clytemnestra d) Sisyphus e) none listed
48. The river of forgetfulness in the Underworld is: a) Mnemosyne b) Styx c) Juturna d) Lethe e) Cocytus
49. What was Minos' job in the Underworld? a) pronouncing judgments for the dead b) human skinner c) furnace stoker d) in charge of reservations e) tour guide
50. Whom does Odysseus consult in the Underworld to learn how to return home? a) Hades b) Persephone c) Orpheus d) a sibyl e) Teiresias
51. Which of the following describes Charon? a) head god of the dead
b) tormented endlessly by pushing a boulder up a hill c) tormented by having
vultures eat his liver daily d) tormented by being surrounded by food and
drink, but not being able to consume them e) the ferryman over the river
Styx
52. What did the shade of Elpenor request of Odysseus? a) to return to Ithaca b) to give him a proper burial c) to get him out of Hades d) to send a message to his wife e) none of the above
53. In Hades', the good souls go to Elysium and the bad souls are kept
in a) Tantalus b) Tartarus c) College d) the Labyrinth e) Corinth
54. Whom does Agamemnon bring back with him from Troy? a) Priam b) Paris c) Helen d) Hecuba e) Cassandra
55. What did Agamemnon do in order to appease Artemis and get fair winds to Troy? a) killed his daughter b) won a chariot race c) married one of Artemis' followers d) killed Clytemnestra e) sacrificed 100 bulls
56. What do the Furies come to be called at the end of the Eumenides? a) avengers of murder b) kindly ones c) harpies d) Nereids e) soothsayers
57. Who ate a bit of Pelops' shoulder? a) Athena b) Demeter c) Hera d) Zeus e) Tantalus
58. Which of Orestes' sisters urged him to kill his mother? a) Iphigenia b) Chrysothemis c) Antigone d) Ismene e) Electra
59. In Clytemnestra's nightmare, what sort of animal is Orestes represented by? a) bull b) dog c) snake d) goat e) dragon
60. Who had 'stupid ears' according to Apollo? a) Athena b) Actaeon c) Pan d) Dionysus e) Midas
61. Who loved himself more than he should have? a) Apollo b) Zeus c) Narcissus d) Midas e) Heracles
62. 'January' is named after the Roman god Janus because: a) he was the first of the gods b) he had two faces, looking ahead and behind c) he accepted prayers of those who had drunk too much on new year's eve d) he reminded the Romans of their new year's resolutions e) he was the patron god of 'janitors' who cleaned up after new year's eve celebrations
IV. SLIDES:
I will show a few slides and ask students to write descriptions of what they see, and what is going on -- naming names and myths -- and telling what special characteristics tell us who is who.
For example, if I show a slide of Heracles bringing Cerberus back to Eurystheus, you will write that Heracles is bringing Cerberus from Hades to Eurystheus, who had ordered him to go to fetch this beast, hoping he would not return. His conquering of Death itself was one of the things that marked him as the finest of Greek heroes, and helped him achieve divinity at the end of his life. He is identified in art by his club and his lion skin, and often by his bow.
V. QUOTATIONS.
Identify the source, speaker, context, and significance of the following. (By 'significance' I mean "What about the characters, or about Greek mythology, or the Greeks, do we learn from this passage?")
Example:
"No shame, I think, in the death given this man. And did he not
first of all in this house wreak death by treachery?
The flower of this man's love and mine,
Iphigeneia of the tears
he dealt with even as he has suffered.
Let his speech in death's house be not loud
With the sword he struck,
with the sword he paid for his own act."
A good answer for this would be:
Speaker: Clytemnestra to Chorus in Aeschylus' AGAMEMNON
Context: Clytemnestra is defying the angry Chorus after she has struck down her husband.
Significance: This shows that Clytemnestra believes that she acted with justice, and that Agamemnon deserved the death which she dealt him. She was compelled to act, as he was compelled to act, and as Orestes will be compelled to act against his mother. The Oresteia is about people who are trapped by necessity to do things which they do not want to do. This is the crux of Greek tragedy.