2011 Medusa Mythology Exam Syllabus- Old School Olympians

Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus

This syllabus is intended to help guide you in your preparation for the exam. It is not the be all,
end all; there can be information on the exam which is not explicitly detailed on this syllabus.
The material found here is a starting point for study and should help you understand the scope of
the exam and gauge the difficulty of the material which could be on the exam.

I. Births
A. Parents:
1. Cronus- son of Gaia and Uranus, whom he castrated; Cronus had been warned
his offspring would dispose him
2. Rhea- daughter of Gaia and Uranus; wanted to protect her offspring
B. Consumption: Cronus ate his children as they were born
C. Rhea hid Zeus (the youngest) in a cave and gave Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling
clothes
D. Freedom via regurgitation:
1. Metis gave the grown up Zeus a drug to cause Cronus to vomit the siblings
2. After the 5 siblings were freed, they fought Cronus and the Titans
3. Zeus freed the Cyclopes and Hecatonchieres (100-handed) to help
4. Cyclopes gave:
a. Zeus his lightning and thunder bolts
b. Hades his helmet of invisibility
c. Poseidon his trident
E. Division of realms:
1. by some accounts, they cast lots
2. by other accounts, all the other gods wanted Zeus to be in charge

II. Demeter/ Ceres

A. Domain: earth, fertility, and corn
B. spouses and offspring:
1. Iasion- Plutus and Philomelus
2. Zeus- Persephone
3. Poseidon- Arion
C. Major Myth- the search for Persephone
1. Persephone is kidnapped by Hades
2. Demeter searches until Helios, Arethusa, etc tell her where she is
3. while searching, she encounters many different characters (e.g. Ascalabus,
Demophoon, etc) in and around Elusis
4. Zeus finally mediates and settles the dispute so that Persephone is with
Demeter for part of the year
5. while Persephone is away from Demeter, nothing grows
D. Minor Myths:
1. Triptolemus
2. eating Pelops’ shoulder
E. Symbols and Associations:
1. the cornucopia
2. Elusis
 2011 Medusa Mythology Exam Syllabus- Old School Olympians
Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus

III. Hades/ Pluto/ Dis

A. Domain: the dead and the Underworld
B. Spouses:
1. Persephone
2. Menthe
C. Major Myth: the kidnapping of Persephone
1. had asked to marry her but was denied
2. kidnapped her from Sicily while she was picking flowers
3. held her hostage and fed her pomegranate seeds (the number varies)
4. must let her return for part of the year (exact numbers vary)
D. Minor Myths:
1. Orpheus and the return of Eurydice
2. Theseus and Pirithuous in the Chairs of Forgetfulness
3. Herakles shooting him with an arrow
E. Symbols and Associations:
1. helmet of invisibility
2. bident
3. Cerberus
4. Charon

IV. Hera/ Juno

A. Domain: marriage, childbirth, and the queen of the gods
B. Spouse and Offspring:
1. Zeus- Ares, Hebe, and Eileithyia; Hephaestus (by some accounts)
2. bore Hephaestus all on her own (by some accounts)
C. Major Myths:
1. Birth of Hephaestus-
a. bore him; thought he was ugly, so she threw him off Mt. Olympus
b. Hephaestus made a throne which trapped Hera
2. the Judgment of Paris-
a. offered power and wealth
b. was denied
3. Punishment of Zeus’ Affairs (there are more, but here are the major ones)-
a. Io
b. Alcmene
c. Callisto
d. Aegina
e. Semele
f. Leto
4. Herakles’s torment-
a. delayed his birth
b. while nursing him, breast-milk was spilt and formed the Milky Way
c. she drove him mad, and he killed his family
d. she sent a giant crab to attack him while he was fighting the Hydra
 2011 Medusa Mythology Exam Syllabus- Old School Olympians
Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus
e. she had to marry him to her daughter Hebe post his mortem
5. Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece-
a. Jason carried H. across a river while she was disguised as an old woman
b. she was punishing Pelias by helping Jason bring Medea to Greece
6. Aeneas-
a. she was angry at Aeneas for things he did not do
b. she used storms, wars, and Dido to delay him from settling in Italy

D. Minor Myths:
1. Ixion’s attempted rape of Hera
2. Revenge against women who do not respect her enough-
a. Side
b. daughters of Proeteus
c. Antigone (the daughter of Laomedon)
3. placing of Argus’ eyes into the peacock’s feathers
4. her dispute with Zeus which Tiresias settled
5. her dispute with Poseidon over the city of Argos
E. Symbols and Associations:
1. the peacock
2. Argos
3. Carthage

V. Hestia/ Vesta
A. Domain: the hearth and home
B. No Spouses nor offspring
C. Myths:
1. she refused to marry Poseidon and Apollo, who both pursued her
2. was nearly raped by Priapus, but a donkey warned her
D. Symbols and Associations:
1. the hearth
2. Vestal Virgins in Roman religion

VI. Poseidon/ Neptune

A. Domain: the seas, earthquakes, and horses
B. Spouses and Offspring
1. Famous Relationships/ Progeny-
a. Amphitrite- no progeny
b. Aethra- Theseus
c. Demeter- Arion
d. Medusa- Pegasus and Chrysaor
e. Eurynome- Bellerophon
2. Obscure Relationships/ Progeny-
a. Halia- 6 sons and the daughter Rhodus
b. Amymone- Nauplius
 2011 Medusa Mythology Exam Syllabus- Old School Olympians
Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus
c. Alope- Hippothous
d. Tyro- Pelias and Neleus
e. Iphimedeia- the Aloadae
f. Caenis/ Caeneus
g. Gaia- Antaeus
h. far too many more to mention
C. Major Myths:
1. his dispute with Athena over the city of Athens
2. his harassment of Odysseus
D. Minor Myths:
1. his and Apollo’s building of the walls of Troy and punishing of Laomedon
2. his attentions to Pelops and gifts to him
3. his giving a beautiful bull to Minos
4. his dispute with Hera over the city of Argos
5. his blinding of his own son Phineus, the seer
E. Symbols and Associations:
1. the trident
2. the horse

VII. Zeus/ Jupiter/ Jove

A. Domain: the sky and king of the gods
B. Spouses and Offspring (a sampling, there are many more):
1. Hera- Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia; Hephaestus (by some accounts)
2. Metis- Athena
3. Themis- the Seasons
4. Dione- Aphrodite
5. Leto- Apollo and Artemis
6. Demeter- Persephone
7. Eurynome- the Graces
C. Major Myths/ Affairs:
1. Callisto (in form of Artemis)- Arcas
2. Europa (in form of bull)- Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon
3. Leda (in form of swan)- Helen and Polydeuces/ Pollux
4. Danae (in form of golden rain shower)- Perseus
5. Aegina (in form of flame)- Aeacus
6. Alcmene (in form of her husband)- Heracles
7. Io (in form of hot guy)- Epaphus
8. Ganymede (in form of eagle)- no children genetically possible
D. Minor Myths:
1. circumstances surrounding his birth-
a. hidden in a cave on Crete- possibly Mt. Ida or Dicte
b. nursed by Amalthea, a goat, whom he skinned to make the aegis
c. the Curetes made noise to drown out his cries
2. floods-
a. Deucalion and Pyrrha (sole survivors)
 2011 Medusa Mythology Exam Syllabus- Old School Olympians
Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, and Zeus
b. Baucis and Philemon (saved after hosting him and Hermes)
3. disputes-
a. with Hera, settled by Tiresias
b. between Aphrodite and Persephone over Adonis
c. between Poseidon and Athena over Athens
d. between Apollo and Herakles
e. between Apollo and Idas over Marpessa
E. Symbols and Associations:
1. lightning and thunder bolts
2. the aegis
3. the eagle
4. Crete

VIII. Myths involving multiple or all of these gods

A. the War with the Titans
B. the War with the Giants
C. the Trojan War

Sources:

Primary-
Homer’s Iliad
Homer’s Odyssey
Hesiod’s Theogony
Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica
Ovid’s Metamorphoses (especially Book 5 for the Persephone episode)
Vergil’s Aeneid

Secondary-
The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology
Grimal’s Classical Mythology