MYTHOLOGY 1. Acheron River- River in the underworld 2.

Achilles- Greek hero who fought in the Trojan War; invulnerability = his Achilles heel 3. Aphrodite (Venus)- Goddess of love and beauty; born from the foam in the ocean (which was from the blood of another god) 4. Apollo- God of the Sun; rode in a golden chariot; son of Zeus and Leto and Artemiss twin, he is the god of Light and Truth, the master of Poetry and Music, and the god of Archery 5. Arachne- challenged Athena to a weaving competition; when she lost, her punishment turned into spider 6. Ares (Mars)- A vicious god, Ares is hated by both his father, Zeus, and mother, Hera; the god of War 7. Artemis (Diana)- powerful goddess of hunting and goddess of the moon; Apollos twin sister 8. Athena (Minerva)- Goddess of strategic war and wisdom; virgin goddess; born from Zeuss head his favorite daughter 9. Atlas- Titan; when overthrown, his punishment = hold world on his shoulders 10. Bellerophon- greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles; greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail: "her breath came out in terrible blasts of burning flame 11. Calypso- a nymph in Greek mythology; lived on the island of Ogygia; she detained Odysseus for a number of years; daughter of the Titan Atlas 12. Centaurs- half man, half horse 13. Cerberus- 3-headed dog in the underworld 14. Charon- the dead need to pay him in order to get through the River Styx to the underworld (proper burial) 15. Cocytus- river in the underworld; flows into the river Acheron 16. Daedalus and Icarus- story of the father and son who escape the prison with wings; son flies to close to the sun glue melts, he dies 17. Demeter (Ceres)- goddess of corn and harvest; sad b/c Hades has taken her daughter, Persephone, as his reluctant bride; she lies in mourning for four months of the year, leaving the fields barren 18. Dionysus (Bacchus)- god of wine 19. Elysian Fields- equivalent of heaven; best part of the underworld 20. Furies- a.k.a the Erinyes, the Furies are three horrible sistersTisiphone, Megaera, and Alectowho torment evildoers and punish them for their sins 21. Gorgons- terrifying female creatures; any of three sisters who had hair of living, venomous snakes, and a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld it to stone 22. Galatea- statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion; he falls in love with it and Venus brings the statue to life 23. Hades (Pluto)- God of the Underworld 24. Harpies- the winged sisters best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas 25. Hephaestus (Vulcan)- Venuss husband; least attractive of all gods; works with armor and weapons; blacksmith 26. Hera (Juno)- very envious goddess; she is married to Zeus; Goddess of marriage and childbirth 27. Heracles (Hercules)-really strong; son of Zeus; hero; mortal

28. Hermes (Mercury)- Zeuss son; messenger god; the guide who leads the dead from Earth to Hades 29. Hestia (Vesta)- first daughter of Cronus and Rhea; virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. 30. Janus- god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two faces on his head, facing opposite directions 31. Jason and the Argonauts- Jason was the Hero who obtained the Golden Fleece from the Land of Colchis with the Argonauts 32. Lethe---River of Forgetfulness- flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness 33. Medea- one of two famous sorceresses in Greek myth. Medea selflessly helps Jason defeat her own father and obtain the Golden Fleece. After Jason turns on her, she kills his new wife and then her own children. 34. Minotaur- creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man 35. Muses- the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts 36. Nemesis- spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to arrogance before the gods; goddess of revenge 37. Niobe- The daughter of Tantalus who, after boasting that she had more children than Leto, suffered the killing of her own children by Artemis and Apollo, and turned to stone while bewailing their loss 38. Orpheus- son of one of the Muses, Orpheus is the greatest mortal musician who has ever lived; most famous exploit is his journey to Hades to retrieve his dead wife, Eurydice; loses her forever by ignoring Hades orders and turning to make sure she is behind him 39. Persephone- beautiful daughter of Demeter whom Hades kidnaps to be his wife 40. Phlegethon- one of the five rivers in the infernal regions of the underworld; described as "a stream of fire, which coils round the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus 41. Poseidon (Neptune)- The god of the sea, Poseidon is Zeuss brother and second only to him in power 42. Phsche & Cupid (Eros)- story about how Cupid falls in love with Physche, who Venus asks him to deal with, because her beauty is taking the attention away from Venus 43. Sirens- three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island 44. Sisyphus- king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder vunderval up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity 45. Styx River- river that formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld; it circles the Underworld nine times 46. Theseus- mythical founder-king of Athens; he was an Athenian founding hero, considered by them as their own great reformer 47. Titans- The original gods, children of Heaven and Earth, and parents of the six original Olympians; defeated by Zeus and his siblings in a war for control of the universe 48. Teiresias- blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years 49. Ulysses (Odysseus)- king of Ithaca and a great warrior in the Trojan War but is best known for his decade-long trip home from the war 50. Zeus (Jupiter/Jove)- The sky-god Zeus rules Mount Olympus. His weapon is the thunderbolt, and his bird is the eagle.