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Mythology

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Mythology

Edith Hamilton

Quiz

1. What is given to Cronus to eat instead of his son, Zeus?

(A) A bull

(B) His twin brother

(D) His son, cooked by his wife

2. How does Prometheus anger the gods?

(A) Giving fire to humankind and tricking Zeus

(B) Seducing Zeus's wife Hera

(D) Rejecting Aphrodite's love

3. How does Odysseus escape Polyphemus's cave?

(A) A cap of invisibility and winged sandals

(B) Wine, a very sharp stick, and lots of rams

(D) A winged horse and a magic spear

4. In what practice do the flower myths of Hyacinth and Adonis probably have their roots?

(A) Human sacrifice

(B) Homosexuality

(D) Cannibalism

5. How does Psyche betray Cupid?

(A) Cheating on him with another god

(B) Stealing his magic bow and arrows

(D) Seeing what he looked like

6. What famous couple does the story of Pyramus and Thisbe most closely resemble?

(A) Anthony and Cleopatra

(B) Pygmalion and Galatea

(D) Napoleon and Josephine

7. Without whose help would Jason not have gotten the Golden Fleece?

(A) Hercules'

(B) Perseus's

(D) Teiresias's

8. How does Signy avenge her father's death?

(A) Poisoning her brother

(B) Enchanting the murderer in a ring of fire

(D) Locking her husband and their children in a burning house

9. What does Bellerophon foolishly try to do?

(A) Fly up to Olympus

(B) Duel with Apollo

(D) Drive the Sun's chariot

10. What is the name of Daedalus's son?

(A) Theseus

(B) Minos

(D) Icarus

11. For what is Perseus most famous?

(A) Killing the Minotaur

(B) Killing Medusa

(D) Killing the Hydra

12. How does Theseus cause his father's death?

(A) Poisoning his robe

(B) Accidentally hitting him with a discus

(D) Angering King Minos

13. What does Theseus supposedly invent?

(A) Democracy

(B) The Labyrinth

(D) The constellations

14. Which of the following does Hercules not accomplish?

(A) Killing the Nemean lion

(B) Saving Theseus from Hades

(D) Removing all the feces from the Augean Stables

15. From which three goddesses does Paris have to choose the fairest?

(A) Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera

(B) Demeter, Hera, and Persephone

(D) Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena

16. Which of the following were all great Greek heroes in the Trojan War?

(A) Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas

(B) Hector, Priam, and Cadmus

(D) Menelaus, Agamemnon, and Ajax

17. Why is Achilles killed by an arrow in his heel?

(A) His heel armor had been stolen by Apollo

(B) The arrow that killed him was dipped in Hector's poison

(D) His mother had been holding him by the heel when she dipped him in the River Styx

18. Why did the Trojans take the gigantic wooden horse within the city's walls?

(A) If they did not, they would offend Aphrodite

(B) The Greeks expected them to leave it outside the gates, which would offend Athena

(D) Zeus himself had given it to them

19. Whose heart does Aeneas break?

(A) Lavinia

(B) Psyche

(D) Dido

20. About how long is Odysseus away from Ithaca?

(A) Two years

(B) Ten years

(D) Fifty years

21. The myths served many functions for the Greeks. Which of the following purposes did they not serve?

(A) Literature, functioning as entertainment and pure fantasy

(B) Science, explaining the mechanics of the physical world

(D) Religion, explaining the role of gods and morality in everyday life

22. What is Odysseus the only man ever to do and survive?

(A) Sailing past Scylla and Charybdis

(B) Descending to Hades and safely returning

(D) Attracting Circe's love

23. Of what city is Aeneas is considered the “real” founder?

(A) Rome

(B) Byzantium

(D) Thebes

24. In Norse mythology, on what day is the world destined to end?

(A) Woden's day

(B) Yggdrasil

(D) Asgard

25. With whose help does Clytemnestra slaughter her husband, Agamemnon?

(A) Orestes

(B) Aegisthus

(D) Electra

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