Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Often, characters in Greek myths are cursed by the gods and that causes them to act out in horrifying ways. In one myth, a wife of Theseus, cursed to fall in love with Theseus' son Hippolytus by a previous marriage, accuses the young prince of having assaulted her. Which of Theseus' wives is this?
2. Roman mythology often features political origin stories. In one such legend, Romulus and the citizens of his newly-created city of Rome were hoping to marry their men to the women of a neighboring people, so they could start building a home. The people said no, so Romulus and his Roman comrades *abducted* the women in an incident known as what?
3. Before the Trojan War, Agamemnon committed a horrible crime, which the gods had essentially dared him to do - on the gods' orders, he sacrificed his youngest daughter, a crime for which he eventually paid with his life. Which daughter did he sacrifice?
4. Another story of Roman origin: according to Roman historical legend, the Republic was founded when the Tarquin king's son raped a respectable Roman woman who committed suicide after revealing who had wronged her, precipitating a revolt that ushered in the Republican age. Which woman was this?
5. In a Greek and Roman myth, a woman named Philomela was violated by her cruel brother-in-law, and when she told her attacker she would tell the world of his crime, he cut out her tongue so she could not speak. Who was this cruel man, who was eventually severely punished for his crimes?
6. This founding king of Ephyra was a shrewd, criminal wonder whose most famous crime was holding the god of death captive so no humans could die for that period of time. As a punishment for his crimes, in death he was forced to roll a stone up a hill for all time. Who was this?
7. Another Roman creation myth (there are a lot of those): Romulus is known as the founding father of Rome (hence the name), but to get to found his namesake city he did have to kill his brother - what was that brother's name?
8. One famous Greek mythological reprobate was a man who killed his son Pelops and offered him as a meal for the gods whom he invited to his table. The gods were not pleased with this, and the man was sentenced to a famous eternal punishment in Tartarus - he stands in a pool with fruit hanging right above his head, but the water or the fruit recedes from him when he tries to eat or drink any. Which man is punished in this manner?
9. Hercules, a figure of Greek and Roman mythology, was a positively-connoted figure in most myths, but when visited with madness by Juno, committed horrible crimes, including killing his first wife and their two children. Who was his first wife?
10. You can't talk about Greek and Roman characters behaving awfully without discussing the promiscuity of Zeus. King of the gods and father to almost everyone in Greek mythology, Zeus often tricked his way into seducing the women with whom he fathered his children. Which of these female figures did he not seduce after turning himself into some other form?
Source: Author
merylfederman
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
looney_tunes before going online.
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