An Overview of Greek Mythology

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Across
  1. 2. a woodland god depicted with goat's ears, horns, legs / causes terror during battle, hence "panic"
  2. 5. goddess of Athens, wisdom, arts and crafts / protectress of civilization and a war deity more popular with the ancient Greeks than Ares / principal attributes are the owl, the helmet, and the spear
  3. 7. god of war / an unpleasant and unpopular figure in Greek mythology because the ancient Greeks generally disliked war
  4. 8. kills the minotaur in Crete / became King of Athens
  5. 10. first generation of gods to rule the world, before the Olympians - the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth) / were overthrown as part of the Greek succession myth, which tells how Cronus seized power from his father Uranus and ruled the cosmos with his fellow Titans before being in turn defeated and replaced as the ruling pantheon of gods by Zeus and the Olympians in a ten-year war
  6. 14. goddess of agriculture / her name means "earth mother" / worshipped by a mystery cult in the city of Eleusis / with the kidnapping of her daughter Persephone by Hades, her emotions and actions directly affect the cycle of the seasons
  7. 15. Apollo's twin sister and his antithesis / goddess of hunting / major attribute is the bow and arrow
  8. 17. messenger of the gods / Zeus' illegitimate son who is sometimes denounced as his father's "lackey" / god of lower-class working people: merchants, athletes, gamblers, and thieves
  9. 19. god of fire and the forge / at birth, he was so ugly that his mother flung him off Mount Olympus causing him to become lame / associated with volcanoes and the creator of several (metallic) inventions
  10. 22. kills Medusa, a monster with snakes for hair who could turn anyone to stone who looked into her eyes / son of Zeus and Danaë, the daughter of the king of Argos - as an infant, he was cast into the sea in a chest with his mother by his grandfather, who had been told that he would kill him
  11. 23. god of wine-making and theatre / youngest of the Olympian gods / in Greek art, he is depicted as an Easterner - his cult was imported from Asia Minor and he brings Eastern things and ideas to Greece (e.g. cymbals, wine and the vine)
  12. 24. torch-bearing female earth-demons / depicted with blood dripping from their eyes and snakes instead of hair / their principal function is to avenge murder, especially the murder of a parent by a child / originally part of a cult based on ghost worship
  13. 25. fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city - Thebes - and family
  14. 26. raised by the centaur Cheiron after his uncle kills his father / leads the Argonauts and recovers the Golden Fleece - a symbol of authority and kingship
Down
  1. 1. depicted as three old women spinning thread - they include Clotho ("I spin"), Lachesis ("allotment"), and Atropos ("inflexible) / a metaphor for birth, destiny, and death
  2. 3. god of the dead, the collector and keeper of souls / not a god of death like the Grim Reaper nor a demon like the Devil / his abduction of Persephone explains the seasons / his name means the "Unseen One" / also called Pluto ("Rich")
  3. 4. his father is the Titan Cronus - he usurps the throne of heaven from his father / attributes are the lightning bolt, the eagle, and a shield called the aegis ("protection")
  4. 6. goddess of beauty / wed to the blacksmith god Hephaestus, but she cheats on him often - Greek authors often treat her with contempt / originally imported into Greece from the Near East / Ishtar, the primary female deity in Mesopotamia, had a major influence on the development this goddess
  5. 9. kills many chthonic beasts (e.g. the Hydra, the Nemean Lion) / became identified with the Phoenician God Melqart / associated with Thebes
  6. 11. a catch-all category of minor female divinities / usually associated with ecological niches: trees, springs, rivers, seas / often attend a more important deity (e.g. Artemis)
  7. 12. became Zeus' wife after a long courtship - finally, Zeus tricked her into marrying him by turning into a pitiful sparrow / a suspicious wife, especially vengeful against Zeus' extramarital consorts and their offspring (e.g. Heracles)
  8. 13. goddess of the hearth / was responsible for tending to the fire in every mortal home and the divine hearth of the Olympians / also associated with food preparation and baking
  9. 16. returns to Ithaca after twenty years abroad (ten years of war at Troy and ten years of wandering) / known for his cunning, intelligence, and versatility
  10. 18. personifications of poetic and scientific inspiration / their name means "the reminders"
  11. 20. god of the sea / father of many lesser sea deities (e.g. Oceanids - the sea-nymphs) / carries a trident with which he stirs up tidal waves and causes earthquakes
  12. 21. son of Zeus and Leto, who Hera sent the Python - a giant serpent - after / god of many things: the sun, wisdom, prophecy, music, flocks, wolves, mice, plagues, medicine / center of worship for this god is Delphi - the Delphic oracle is famous for misleading oracles