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Character List
Odyssey, Oedipus, Ovid, and JC Characters
107
Literature
9th Grade
12/12/2010

Additional Literature Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Odysseus
Definition

  • King of Ithaka
  • Goes to Trojan War
  • Gets stuck on Ogygia, Island of Kalypso for 20 years
  • Finally returns home to son and wife and defeats evil suitors.

Term
Telemakhos
Definition

  • Son of Odysseus
  • Wimp in the beginning
  • Gains confidence as the story goes on 
  • (Clear-minded Telemakhos)
  • with Athena, goes out to find father
  • helps him defeat Mother's evil suitors

Term
Aigisthos
Definition

  • steal Klytemnestra from Agammenon
  • helps her kill him
  • is killed by her son, Orestes

Term
Agamemnon 
Definition

 

  • brother of Menelaos
  • king of Mycenae
  • is killed by wife and her lover
  • meets Odysseus in underworld and tells him that women are not trustworthy
  • stayed behind in Troy to make a sacrifice to Athena instead of leaving right away

 

Term
Athena 
Definition

 

  • chose Odysseus and Telemakhos as her favored champions
  • persuaded Zeus to help Odysseus
  • epithet- grey-eyed goddess

 

Term

Mentes

 

Mentor

Definition

 

  • disguises Athena uses
  • Ruler of Taphos
  • Family friend

 

Term
Antinoos
Definition

 

  • leader of the suitors
  • most powerful of them
  • first to be killed by Odysseus

 

Term
Eurymakhos
Definition

  • second most important suitor
  • set to marry Penelope

Term
Nestor
Definition

  • King of Pylos
  • knows little of Odysseus whereabouts and is little help to Tele.

Term
Achilles
Definition

  • Trojan War Hero
  • not very important
  • is mentioned when Odysseus arrives in the underworld and was talking to Agamemnon.

Term
Menelaos
Definition

  • "Red Haired" King of Sparta
  • husband of Helen (of Troy)
  • doesn't stay to worship Athena with Agamem. and is stranded in Egypt.
  • traps the Sea God, Proteus, who tells him how to get home from Egypt.
  • Son of Atreus and Brother of Agamem.

Term
Helen
Definition

 

  • Wife of Menelaos and Queen of Sparta
  • Causes Trojan War
  • tries to trick soldiers inside the Wooden Horse by calling their names in the voices of their wives; Odysseus is able to prevent the men from calling out.

 

Term
Proteus
Definition

  • Sea God; shape shifter
  • captured by Menelaos, who was covered in seal skin.
  • tells him how to return home

Term
Eidothea
Definition

  • tells Menelaos how to defeat Proteus
  • ?daughter of Proteus?
  • gave Menelaos the seal skins

Term
Akhaians
Definition

  • people who fought in the battle of Troy

Term
Orestes
Definition

  • Son of Agamem.
  • Avenges his death by killing his mother, Klytemenestra and her lover, Aigisthos
  • Easily compared to Telemakhos

Term
Laertes
Definition

  • father of Odysseus
  • Odysseus is told by his mother in the underworld that he is alive, but is depressed and is living like a peasant.

Term
Eurykleia
Definition

  • nurse of Odysseus and Telemakhos
  • first to figure out that Odysseus is back in Ithaka, when she was washing his feet and saw a familiar scar.
  • he threatens to kill her if she tells anyone that he has returned. 

Term
Antikleia
Definition

  • mother of Odysseus
  • dies because she misses him so much
  • she gives him news of Ithaka when he visits her in the underworld.

Term
Kalypso
Definition

  • Obsessed Enchantress 
  • captures Odysseus and forces him to stay on her island, Ogygia, and love him.
  • finally lets him leave with request of the Gods.

Term
Hermes
Definition

  • sent by the Gods to talk to Kalypso
  • persuades her to release Odysseus
  • is amazed that Odysseus is miserable on Ogygia because it is paradise.

Term
Ino
Definition

 

  • Sea Nymph
  • gives Odysseus a veil that will help him get to the Island of the Phaiakians.
  • At first he does not trust her, but gives in quickly b/c he is about to drown.

 

Term
Phaiakians
Definition

  • the people of the island that Odysseus first washes up on.

Term
Alkinoos
Definition

  • King of the Phaiakians
  • favors Odysseus and listens to his story.
  • gives him passage home

Term
Kikones
Definition

  • the villagers that Odysseus's sailors unfairly rade and kill.

Term
Nausikaa
Definition

  • daughter of Alkinoos 
  • finds Odysseus when he washes up on shore and takes him to her parents.
  • she trusts him

Term
Polyphemus
Definition

  • traps Odysseus and his sailors in his cave.
  • starts to eat them
  • Odysseus tricks him and stabs his eye to make him almost blind. 
  • they escape but Polyphemus tells his father, Poseidon, who begins to punish Ody.

Term
Aiolos
Definition

  • King of Winds
  • gives Odysseus a bag of winds to make his travels faster. 
  • Ody's sailors open the bag and the winds take them back to Aiolos.
  • Aiolos will not help them when they return b/c he thinks that they are cursed.

Term

Kirke/ Circe

pronounced either way

Definition

  • Sorceress who turns men into pigs.
  • gives Ody food and stuff when he triumphs over her with his plant from Hermes, Molu.
  • advises them not to go to Thrinakia

Term
Elpenor
Definition
  • falls of the roof at Aiaia and dies.
  • Odysseus sees him in the Underworld and he asks Ody to go back and give him a funeral.
Term
Eurylokhos
Definition

  • the sailor that did not enter the house of Kirke
  • he convinced the other sailors to rade eat the cows of Helios at Thrinakia.

Term
Thrinakia
Definition

  • Land of the Cows of Helios

Term
Scylla and Kharbydis
Definition

 

  • Scylla: smaller multi dragon-headed monster that picks sailors off of passing boats andats them.
  • Kharbydis: a large whirlpool that sucks in boats and then spits them back out.

 

Term
Sirens
Definition

  • Women who tempt men to come on their island with their voices. 
  • Odysseus is tied to a post so that he is able to hear their voices but not be able to go on the island

Term
Eumaios
Definition

  • loyal swineherd that offers shelter to Ody when he is disguised as a beggar.

Term
Arnios/ Iros
Definition

  • An arrogant man who challenges Ody to a boxing match because he thinks that Ody is a weakling.

Term
Orpheus
Definition

  • storyteller(poet) loses his wife.
  • he goes into the underworld to save her but when he hesitates and looks back to see her she disappears.
  • was killed by followers of Dionysus

Term
Pygmalion
Definition

  • wants a perfect woman so he sculpts one for himself
  • then he plays to Aphrodite (Venus) to make her a real woman.

Term
Cadmus
Definition

  • gets banished by his father
  • then he founds the city of Thebes by killing the serpent and planting the teeth in the ground
  • those teeth turn into new men
  • at the end of his life, he and his wife turn into serpents.

Term
Minos
Definition

  • King of Crete
  • Son of Europa

Term
Acteon
Definition

  • Grandson of Cadmus
  • goes hunting and sees Diana naked
  • to punish him, she transforms him into a deer
  • his friends unknowingly let the hunting dogs tear the "deer" to pieces.

Term
Aracne
Definition
  • a woman that is amazing at weaving
  • she challenges Minerva to a contest
  • when she wins, Minerva turns her into a spider.
Term
Pentheus
Definition

  • King of Thebes
  • does not believe in the children that are half god/half human
  • was a vocal opponent of the worship of Dionysus (Bacchus)
  • killed by his own mother

Term
Perseus
Definition

  • Son of Jove 
  • kills Medusa and the sea monster
  • Saves Andromeda and throws her out; showing off his father's place.

Term
Pyramus
Definition

  • Romeo

Term
Narcissus
Definition

  • rejects Echo
  • falls in love with his own reflection and dies
  • narcissistic = love of oneself

Term
Andromeda
Definition

  • A princess of Libya
  • her mother bragged too much about her beauty so her father punished Andromeda
  • saved by Perseus

Term
Procne
Definition

  • Wife of Tereus, Sister of Philomela
  • came up with idea of killing her son and feeding him to her husband
  • turns into a bird to runaway from her husband.

Term
Phaeton
Definition

  • Son of Helios
  • to prove himself to his peers, demands to drive the Sun Chariot
  • is killed in the process and burns most of the world

Term
Acoetes
Definition

  • shipmaster and priest of Bacchus
  • tries to convince Pentheus to worship Bacchus

Term
Daedalus
Definition

  • inventor; invented the Labyrinth which is a maze that stores the Minotaur
  • builds wings for himself and his son, Icarus, to escape
  • the glue melts off Icarus's wings and he dies in the sea. 

Term
Pyrrha
Definition

  • Wife of Deucalion; Daughter of Epimetheus
  • one of the two survivors of the Great Flood
  • narrow-minded

Term
Semele
Definition

  • woman who has an affair with Jove
  • is tricked by Juno and is accidentally killed by Jove
  • Mother of Bacchus

Term
Deucalion
Definition

  • Wife of Pyrrha; Son of Prometheus
  • other survivor of Great Flood
  • has open-mindedness that saves the world

Term
Thisbe
Definition

  • Juliet

Term
Icarus
Definition

  • Son of Daedalus
  • the glue from his wings melt off and he falls into the sea and dies.

Term
Europa
Definition

  • taken away by Jove disguised as a bull
  • took her to Crete
  • Mother of Minos w/ Jove

Term
Atalanta
Definition

  • huntress known for her speed
  • marries the only man who beats her in a race

Term
Autonoe
Definition

  • daughter of Cadmus; mother of Acteon; aunt of Pentheus
  • unknowingly rips off Pentheus's arms.

Term
Midas
Definition

  • Phrygian King
  • Praises Bacchus and is given the golden touch.
  • washes it away in a magical spring when it goes bad.
  • is a bad musical critical so Apollo gives him ears of a donkey

Term
Myrrha
Definition

  • falls in love with her father, Cinyras
  • tricks him into sleeping with her
  • turns into a tree that weeps Myrrh
  • gives birth to Adonis

Term
Hephaestus/Vulcan/Mulciber
Definition

  • Husband of Aphrodite
  • God of Fire and Metal Working
  • thrown off of Mt. Olympus by Hera

Term
Aphrodite/Venus
Definition

  • Wife of Hephaestus
  • affair with Ares
  • Goddess of love and beauty

Term
Ares/ Mars
Definition

  • God of War
  • affair with Aphrodite

Term
Zeus/Jove
Definition

  • God of the Sky, Clouds, and Lightning
  • cheats on his wife, Hera, a lot

Term
Poseidon/ Jupiter
Definition

  • God of the Sea
  • Brother to Zeus and Hades

Term
Hestia
Definition

  • Goddess of the Hearth
  • One of the three virgin goddesses

Term
Hades/ Pluto
Definition

 

  • God of the Underworld and Wealth
  • Brother of Zeus and Poseidon

 

Term
Hera/ Juno
Definition

 

  • Goddess of Marriage
  • always trying to catch Zeus' mistresses

 

Term
Artemis/ Diana
Definition

 

  • Goddess of the Hunt
  • another virgin goddess
  • twin of Apollo
  • daughter  of Jove and Latona

 

Term
Apollo
Definition

  • God of Archery, Healing, and Art
  • twin of Artemis
  • Son of Jove and Latona

Term
Athena/ Minerva
Definition
  • Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy
  • last of the virgin goddesses
Term
Hermes
Definition

  • God of Thieves 
  • Messenger of God
  • has winged sandals that allow him to fly

Term
Dionysus/ Bacchus
Definition

  • God of Wine
  • usually connected to irrational feeling and emotion

Term
Omphalos
Definition

  • Naval of the world
  • found in Delphi
  • said to be the center of the world because Zeus sent one eagle from either side of the Earth and the met at this point

Term
Pythia
Definition

  • the oracle at Delphi
  • the original was picked by Apollo after he defeated the Python

Term
Lycaeon
Definition

  • tries to test the godliness of the Jove by feeding him humans and killing him in his sleep.
  • turned into a wolf by Jove
  • exterior is changed but interior remains the same

Term
Daphne
Definition

  • chased by Apollo
  • runs away from him b/c she was shot by Cupid's stone arrow and wants to stay chased. 
  • turns into a laurel tree and Apollo's tree is the laurel.

Term
Io
Definition

  • daughter of a river god
  • turned into a cow by Jove to hide her from Juno
  • Hermes kills her guard named Argus by telling him the story of Pan and Syrinx and make him fall asleep
  • eventually is changed back

Term
Argus
Definition

  • 100 eyed monster
  • guarded Io when she was a cow
  • was killed by Hermes when he fell asleep because of the Pan/Syrinx story
  • Hermes put his eyes on the tail of the peacock.

Term
Syrinx
Definition

  • dryad who is chased by Pan
  • refuses his advances and asks the other gods for help
  • turns into reeds and Pan uses them to create the reedpipes

Term
Pan
Definition

  • God of Nature and Wild Places/ Things
  • only mentioned during the Story of Jove and Io and also the music competition with Apollo where he loses
  • is a satyr

Term
Tiresias
Definition

  • has been both man and woman
  • chosen to by Jove and Juno to be their judge
  • Juno gets angry with his decision and makes him blind
  • Jove feels bad and gives him the "sight" of the future.
  • also part of Oedipus Rex

Term
Echo
Definition

  • Nymph that was punished by Juno so that she could only repeat the last things that someone says
  • falls in love with Narcissus but is rejected
  • her body dies in a cave but her voice becomes the "echo"

Term
Niobe
Definition

  • very rich woman who has 14 children
  • tells the people of her town that they should not worship Latona because she only has 2 children and that they should worship her
  • Apollo and Artemis (Niobe's children) kill all of her children because they disrespected their mother
  • when all of her sons die, her husband kills himself
  • when all of her daughters die, she turns to marble and is carried by the winds up to the mountains where she still cries.

Term
Latona
Definition

  • Lover of Zeus; Mother of Artemis and Apollo
  • banished from all places by Juno
  • takes refuge on the island of Delos
  • her children kills Niobe's children because Niobe has disrespected her

Term
Pelops
Definition

  • Brother of Niobe
  • cut to pieces by his father
  • Gods put him back together
  • unable to find the piece for his shoulder so they fill it in with marble

Term
Marsyas
Definition

  • satyr that was beaten by Apollo at playing the flute
  • Apollo skinned him alive, exposing all the nerves
  • Many cried for his pain; these tears created the water for the clearest of the Phrygian rivers

Term
Pandion
Definition

  • King of Athens; father of Procne and Philomela
  • lets Tereus take Philomela to Thrace to visit Procne
  • asks him to take good care of her

Term
Tereus
Definition

  • Husband of Procne; King of Thrace
  • goes to recieve Philomela so that he can bring her to Thrace
  • instead he locks her in a cottage and rapes her multiple times
  • when she threatens to tell everyone, he cuts off her tongue
  • unknowingly eats pieces of his son Itys.
  • turns into a fighting bird to chase after Philomela and Procne

Term
Philomela
Definition

  • Daughter of Pandion; Sister of Procne
  • is captured, raped, and gets her tongue ripped out by Tereus
  • is found by Procne, who is disguised as a follower of Bacchus
  • helps Procne feed Itys to Tereus
  • turns into a bird

Term
Itys
Definition

  • Son of Procne and Tereus
  • is killed by his mother b/c he looks so much like his father
  • fed to Tereus

Term
Nisus
Definition

  • father of Scylla; king of Lelegian Shores
  • has one lock of purple hair that he must keep if he wants to keep his kingdom
  • turns into an osprey

Term
Scylla
Definition

  • Daughter of Nisus; falls in love with Minos
  • to help Minos win war, gives him her father's purple lock
  • denied by Minos because of her disloyalty to her own country
  • swims after a Cretan ship and clings to it; attacked by the osprey and loses hold
  • turns into Ciris (bird; word means shearer)

Term
Minos
Definition

  • king of Crete
  • traps the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus in the Labyrinth
  • denies Scylla
  • tried to sacrifice Ariadne to the Minotaur
  • one of the judges of the dead

Term
Perdix
Definition

  • Nephew of Daedalus; sent by mother to be his apprentice
  • creates first compass and saw
  • is pushed off of a high point from Daedalus
  • turns into a patridge (bird that only likes lows places)

Term
Cyparissus
Definition

  • loves the stag
  • accidentally kills the stag
  • turned into a Cypress tree (tree of mourning)

Term
Hyacinthus
Definition

  • loved by Apollo; lived in Sparta
  • hit in the face by a discus that Apollo throws and dies
  • turned in to the Hyacinth flower (sacred to Spartans)

Term
Cupid/Eros
Definition

  • God of Love
  • Represented as a flying, blindfolded, baby
  • part of the story of Daphne and Apollo

Term
Charon and Cerberus
Definition

  • ferryman that takes dead to the underworld
  • 3 headed dog that guards the gate to the underworld

Term
Lauis
Definition

 

  • King of Thebes; Father of Oedipus
  • killed before the play begins
  • hears prophecy and tries to kill his child by leaving him on the side of a mountain

 

Term
Jocasta
Definition

 

  • Wife and Mother of Oedipus..ew
  • Queen of Thebes
  • hangs herself in the end
  • doesn't want Oedipus to keep trying to find out who killed Lauis

 

Term
Oedipus
Definition

 

  • King of Thebes (after Lauis)
  • Husband and Son to Jocasta
  • thinks that Merope and Polybus are his parents
  • real parents: Jocasta and Lauis
  • defeats the Sphinx
  • kills Lauis
  • stabs eyes out with Jocasta's pin

 

Term
Merope
Definition

  • Queen of Corinth; Adoptive Mother of Oedipus
  • is given Oedipus by a sheperd when he is a baby

Term
Polybus
Definition

  • Husband of Merope; Adoptive Father of Oedipus
  • King of Corinth
  • given Oedipus by a sheperd

Term
Creon
Definition

  • Brother of Jocasta
  • Takes throne in the end of the play
  • is accused of killing Laius by Oedipus

Term
Antigone
Definition

  • deformed daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta
  • Oedipus asks Creon to take care of her when he banishes himself

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