Week 10

Question 1

Jason and the argonauts

Answer 1

• collection of all the heros
• Jason is Royalty of Iolcus but his father is urspurped
• raised by centaur Chiron (same guy who raised achilles)
• pelias gets told he will be overthrown by someone with one sandal
• sent Jason to get the golden fleece (fleece of magical ram of poseidon that saved 2 people

Question 2

Jason and help

Answer 2

• Jason builds a ship named Argo by Argus (piece of wood can talk), helped by Athena
• brings heracles, Orpheus, castor and polydeuces (twin sons of Zeus and tyndareus and brothers of Helen of troy), zetes and calais, telamon, peleus (father of achilles), theseus of Athens, meleager, etc, etc

Question 3

Apollonius of Rhodes “the atgonautica”

Answer 3

• writing in 3rd century bc and head of the famous library of Alexandria, Egypt
• homeric scholar of the hellenistic period
• his version is meant to rival the homeric epics in style and subject matter
• references a lot of homer

Question 4

Jasons adventure

Answer 4

• has adventures on its way
• defeat the harpies plaguing Phineus (a blind seer who was fated to never eat)
• pass the clashing rocks that smash together and to release a dove, they can do it too if it doesn’t get crushed
• arrive at colchis on the black Sea ruled by aeetus
• sent Jason to yoke 2 firebreathing bronze-hoofed bulls, and sow the teeth of the teeth of the dragon killed by cadmus at thebes
• defeat the army that would arise from them
• helped by the daughter of the king, medea

Question 5

Passage of apollodorus of Rhodes

Answer 5

• written in 2nd c bc
• by apollodorus
• medea keeps the dragon happy and asleep and Jason goes to snatched the golden fleece

Question 6

Medea and brother

Answer 6

• she delays the king by cutting up her little brother and tossing him to the sea
• this offended the gods
• very difficult way home

Question 7

Jason and medea in Greece

Answer 7

• pelias has forced Jason’s parents to kill themselves and won’t relinquish the throne of Iolcus so medea tricks the daughters into killing him so they think they are rejuvenating him
• retold a lot of Athenian dramtists
• they drive them out and find sanctuary in corinth
• Jason gets a new wife, Glauce, princess of corinth
• she takes her revenge and kills the king and Glauce, and her own children
• she escapes to Athens with the help of the gods and king aegeus by a chariot
• Jason is killeewhen the rotton prow of the Argo ship falls on his head

Question 8

Theseus

Answer 8

• son of aethra, prince of Athens also the god of poseidon
• raised in secret until claimed birthright, lifted a heavy rock where the sword and sandals have been left by Aegeus
• set off to Athens to take his place with his father
• performs 6 labors

Question 9

Theseus labors

Answer 9

• theseus and periphetes (overcoming a local bandit)
• theseus and sinis (giant named sinis subjected to pine tree pulling)
• theseus and crommyonian sow (man eating pig, captures and kills pig)
• theseus and sciron (another bandit who got eaten by his own man eating turtle)
• theseus and cercyon (powerful wrestler he defeats)
• theseus and procrustes (bandit who cut off feet and defeats him)

Question 10

Athens and theseus

Answer 10

• medea, now wife of aegeus, gives theseus an impossible task, to kill the bull of marathon
• even more tied to heracles
• he even goes to kill the minotaur (he is helped by ariadne, daughter of minos)
• comes back but forgot to change the sails and his dad kills himself
• he becomes king of Athens and made the panathenaic games
• fights amazons and gets an Amazonian wife

Question 11

Pirithoos

Answer 11

• heroic friend, king of lapiths
• battle between lapiths and centaurs that take place at the wedding of pirithoos and hippodamia
• battle together and trapped in the underworld together and saved by heracles

Question 12

Theseus death

Answer 12

• he returns from the underworld and finds out he’s been usurped
• runs to scyros and murdered ignominiously

Question 13

Theseus political

Answer 13

• peisistratus becomes a tyrant in Athens in 561 bc
• he uses theseus as propaganda and said his own creations were creations of theseus, coinage, panatheniac festival
• hero cults of theseus when Persians took over, theseus helped apparently
• put in amazonomarchy and centauromachy

Question 14

Plutarch and theseus

Answer 14

• written by plutarch
• describes how theseus’ bones were brought back
• returned theseus to Athens and buried him and take over skyros

Question 15

Story of thebes

Answer 15

• one of stories slays a dragon, lives there, sows teeth, 5 family rules by cadmus
• Zeus seduced antiope, children return to thebes and avenge mom, become king in joint rule

Question 16

Oedipus

Answer 16

• when amphion and zethus died, it was ruled by laius
• laius was told he would be killed by his son, son (oedipus) was left to die on the mountain
• Shepard ordered to expose the child but people raised him
• told he will kill his father and marry his mother
• meets an arrogant stranger and he kills him (his father)
• city of thebes was being terrified by sphinx, she demands that someone answer a riddle
• he gets it right
• 4 legs, 2 legs, 3 legs
• becomes king and sphinx kills herself, married to mother. Plague hits and he finds out
• he finds out and blinds himself, mother kills herself