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| In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War. When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable. During the Trojan War, he quarreled with the commander, Agamemnon, and in anger sulked in his tent. Eventually ----- emerged to fight and killed the Trojan hero Hector, but he was wounded in the heel by an arrow and died shortly thereafter. |
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| A famous warrior of classical mythology; a leader in the Trojan War on the Trojan side. After the fall of Troy, ----- fled with his father and son and was shipwrecked at Carthage in northern Africa. There Dido, the queen of Carthage, fell in love with him and ultimately committed suicide when she realized that ----- could not stay with her forever. After many trials, ----- arrived in what is now Italy. The ancient Romans believed that they were descended from the followers of -----. |
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| A famous warrior of classical mythology; a leader in the Trojan War on the Trojan side. After the fall of Troy, ------ fled with his father and son and was shipwrecked at Carthage in northern Africa. There Dido, the queen of Carthage, fell in love with him and ultimately committed suicide when she realized that ----- could not stay with her forever. |
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| In classical mythology, the king who led the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War. To obtain favorable winds for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy, ------ sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis and so came under a curse. After he returned home victorious, he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. |
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| In classical mythology, a daughter of King Oedipus. Her two brothers killed each other in single combat over the kingship of their city. Although burial or cremation of the dead was a religious obligation among the Greeks, the king forbade the burial of one of the brothers, for he was considered a traitor. orn between her religious and legal obligations, disobeyed the king’s order and buried her brother. She was then condemned to death for her crime. |
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| The Greek and Roman god of poetry, prophecy, medicine, and light. ----- represents all aspects of civilization and order. He was worshiped at the Delphic oracle, where a priestess gave forth his predictions. Zeus was his father, and Artemis was his sister. He is sometimes identified with Hyperion, the Titan he succeeded. |
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In classical mythology, the companions of Jason in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Their ship was the Argo.
(Naut means “sailor” in Greek and is the root of our word nautical. Today, the word is used to coin terms such as astronaut and aquanaut.) |
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| A creature in classical mythology who had a hundred eyes. Hera set him to watch over Io, a girl who had been seduced by Zeus and then turned into a cow; with ----- on guard, Zeus could not come to rescue Io, for only some of -----’ eyes would be closed in sleep at any one time. Hermes, working on Zeus’ behalf, played music that put all the eyes to sleep and then killed -----. Hera put his eyes in the tail of the peacock. |
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| The Greek name for Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon; the daughter of Zeus and the sister of Apollo. ----- was also called Cynthia |
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| The Greek and Roman goddess of wisdom. She had an unusual birth, springing fully grown out of the forehead of her father, Zeus. ----- was one of the goddesses angered by the Judgment of Paris, a Trojan, and she therefore helped the Greeks in the ensuing Trojan War. Eventually, she became the protector of Odysseus on his journey home. |
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| In classical mythology, a Titan famous for his strength. After the defeat of the Titans by Zeus, ----- was condemned to support the Earth and sky on his shoulders for eternity. |
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| A fairy tale character from the Charles Perrault collection. The character is a monstrous villain who marries seven women in turn and warns them not to look behind a certain door of his castle. Inside the room are the corpses of his former wives. ------- kills six wives for their disobedience before one passes his test. |
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| In classical mythology, a prophetess in Troy during the Trojan War whose predictions, although true, were never believed by those around her. Apollo had given her the gift of prophecy but made it worthless after she refused his amorous advances. The Greeks captured ----- after their victory and sacrilegiously removed her from the temple of Athena. As a result, Athena helped cause shipwrecks and enormous loss of life to the Greeks on their return home. |
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| In classical mythology, an ingenious inventor, designer of the Labyrinth, and one of the few to escape from it. He was the father of Icarus. |
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| An object that figures in a legend about an actual Greek nobleman, ------ According to the story, ----- frequently expressed his awe at the power and apparent happiness of his king. The king, tired of such flattery, held a banquet and seated ----- under a sword that was suspended from the ceiling by a single hairthus demonstrating that kingship brought with it fears and worries as well as pleasures. |
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(b)=Damon
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(a)=Pythias |
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| In a Greek legend, two friends who were enormously loyal to each other. When the tyrannical ruler of their city condemned (a) to death, (a) pleaded for time to go home and put his affairs in order. (b) agreed to stay and die in place of (a) if (a) did not return by the time of the execution. (a) was delayed, and (b) prepared to be executed. (a) arrived just in time to save (b). The ruler was so impressed by their friendship that he let them both live. |
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| In classical mythology, a daughter of Agamemnon. To avenge his death, she helped her brother, Orestes, kill their mother and her lover. |
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| A young knight in the tales of King Arthur. ------’s exceptional purity and virtue enabled him to see the Holy Grail in all its splendor, whereas many other knights who sought it could not see it at all. |
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| A complex knot tied by a Greek king. According to legend, whoever loosed it would rule all Asia. Alexander the Great, according to some accounts, undid the ------ knot by cutting through it with his sword. |
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| In classical mythology, a prince of Troy and the bravest of the Trojan warriors. At the end of the Trojan War, Achilles killed ----- and then dragged his body behind a chariot around the walls of Troy. |
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| In classical mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world, a daughter of Zeus by Leda. Her abduction by Paris led to the Trojan War. ------’s was “the face that launched a thousand ships”: the entire Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back. |
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| An actual Native American chief of the sixteenth century. In legends, he is the husband of Minnehaha. He urged peace between his people and the European settlers. |
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| In classical mythology, the eldest daughter of Agamemnon and the sister of Electra and Orestes. When the Greek fleet was about to sail to fight in the Trojan War, Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis to obtain favorable winds. According to some stories, Artemis saved Iphigenia from the sacrifice, and she was later reunited with Orestes. |
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| [a] was a great musician, and [b] was his wife. The music of [a] was so beautiful that it could calm the wildest animal and even make stones rise up and follow. When [b] died, [a] went to the underworld, played his lyre for Hades, ruler of the dead, and asked that [b] be sent back to Earth. The god was so moved that he agreed to let her return, on one condition: that [a] go ahead of her and not look back until they had reached the Earth again. [a] led [b] up, but at the last moment, when he had come out of the underworld and she was about to leave it, he could resist no longer and turned to look at her. She vanished, and he had lost her forever. He spent the rest of his days wandering about, playing his lyre, and singing. In the end, he was torn to pieces by crazed followers of Bacchus, the god of wine. |
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| The king of Troy and father of Hector and Paris. The Greeks killed him at the end of the Trojan War when they sacked the city. |
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| In classical mythology, the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. As punishment for the theft, Zeus ordered ----- chained to a rock and sent a great eagle to gnaw at the Titan’s liver. Despite his torment, ----- refused to submit to Zeus’ will. He was eventually rescued by Hercules. |
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| In Roman mythology, a beautiful girl who was visited each night in the dark by Cupid, who told her she must not try to see him. When she did try, while he was asleep, she accidentally dropped oil from her lamp on him, and he awoke and fled. After she had performed many harsh tasks set by Cupid’s mother, Venus, Jupiter made her immortal, and she and Cupid were married. |
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| French author who laid foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, and whose best known tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge ), La Belle au bois dormant y), Le Chat botté, Cendrillon , Barbe Bleue , Le Petit Poucet, Les Fées. |
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| Two German authors of the early nineteenth century, remembered mostly for their collection of fairy tales. It includes “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and many others. |
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| In classical mythology, one of the rivers of Hades, across which Charon ferried the souls of the dead. The gods occasionally swore by the river ------. When they did so, their oath was unbreakable. |
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| A king in classical mythology who, as punishment for having offended the gods, was tortured with everlasting thirst and hunger in Hades. He stood up to his chin in water, but each time he bent to quench his thirst, the water receded. There were boughs heavy with fruit over his head, but each time he tried to pluck them, the wind blew them out of reach. |
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