A Prayer to the Immortals Trivia Quiz

Answer: The thighs and some fat

An animal sacrifice is an elaborate affair. Some rituals of purification and prayer must precede the actual sacrifice. A lock from the animal's head is cut off and thrown in the fire, as a sign that it is now consecrated to the gods of the Underworld and doomed to die.

Only then can the ritual slaughter take place. The beast is first struck on the neck, then its throat is cut. The blood must be collected in a bucket so that it does not soil the ground. The thighs are burnt for the god to feast upon, after which the rest of the meat is eaten by the sacrificers.

"[Athena] herself came to the sacrifice. Nestor gave out the gold, and the smith gilded the horns of the heifer that the goddess might have pleasure in their beauty. Then Stratius and Echephron brought her in by the horns; Aretus fetched water from the house in a ewer that had a flower pattern on it, and in his other hand he held a basket of barley meal; sturdy Thrasymedes stood by with a sharp axe, ready to strike the heifer, while Perseus held a bucket. Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling the barley meal, and he offered many a prayer to [Athena] as he threw a lock from the heifer's head upon the fire.

When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley meal Thrasymedes dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with a stroke that cut through the tendons at the base of her neck, whereon the daughters and daughters-in-law of Nestor, and his venerable wife Eurydice (...) screamed with delight. Then they lifted the heifer's head from off the ground, and Pisistratus cut her throat. When she had done bleeding and was quite dead, they cut her up. They cut out the thigh bones all in due course, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fire and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with five-pronged spits in their hands. When the thighs were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest of the meat up small, put the pieces on the spits and toasted them over the fire." (Translated by S. Butler)

Answer: Apollo

This episode is fraught with consequences, because it triggers the wrath of Achilles and his subsequent withdrawal from battle.

Chriseis, the daughter of a priest of Apollo, Chrises, is a captive of Agamemnon, who won't release her or let her be ransomed. "I have set my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and feature, in understanding and accomplishments. Still I will give her up if I must, for I would have the people live, not die; but you must find me a prize instead, or I alone among the Argives shall be without one. This is not well; for you behold, all of you, that my prize is to go elsewhither." (Translated by S. Butler) It is primarily a matter of honour: King Agamemnon refuses to be slighted. Achilles must be slighted instead, because Agamemnon seizes his own favourite captive, Briseis. The plague is averted, but the Greeks' best warrior retires in his tent and won't come out until the death of Patroclus.

Apollo and his sister Artemis are both archers and bringers of disease, especially sudden death and plague. People are stricken quickly and die, as a sign of divine punition, as if struck by arrows. In the Middle Ages, a correlation was still seen between the plague and arrows, because Saint Sebastian, a protector of plague victims, was depicted as pierced by arrows.

Answer: Zeus

"Father [Zeus]", he cried, "that rulest in Ida, most glorious in power, and thou oh Sun, that seest and givest ear to all things, Earth and Rivers, and ye who in the realms below chastise the soul of him that has broken his oath, witness these rites and guard them, that they be not vain. If Alexandrus kills Menelaus, let him keep Helen and all her wealth, while we sail home with our ships; but if Menelaus kills Alexandrus, let the Trojans give back Helen and all that she has; let them moreover pay such fine to the Achaeans as shall be agreed upon, in testimony among those that shall be born hereafter. And if Priam and his sons refuse such fine when Alexandrus has fallen, then will I stay here and fight on till I have got satisfaction."(Translated by S. Butler)

The single combat is interrupted because Aphrodite soon removes her son Paris from the fight.

Answer: The Erinyes

The gods themselves swear upon the Styx, the river of the Underworld. That is the most formidable oath, with terrible consequences for the oathbreaker.

In Book 19 of "The Iliad", we find an example of oath: "Agamemnon looked into the vault of heaven and prayed saying, "I call [Zeus] the first and mightiest of all gods to witness, I call also Earth and Sun and the Erinyes who dwell below and take vengeance on him who shall swear falsely, that I have laid no hand upon the girl Briseis, neither to take her to my bed nor otherwise, but that she has remained in my tents inviolate. If I swear falsely may heaven visit me with all the penalties which it metes out to those who perjure themselves." (Translated by S. Butler)

Answer: By hiding them in a cloud and removing them from battle

This occurs quite often, when a warrior meets an inferior opponent who is not yet fated to die. Poseidon rescued Aeneas from Achilles in this fashion.

"[Poseidon] went into the battle amid the clash of spears, and came to the place where Achilles and Aeneas were. Forthwith he shed a darkness before the eyes of the son of Peleus, drew the bronze-headed ashen spear from the shield of Aeneas, and laid it at the feet of Achilles. Then he lifted Aeneas on high from off the earth and hurried him away. Over the heads of many a band of warriors both horse and foot did he soar as the god's hand sped him, till he came to the very fringe of the battle where the Cauconians were arming themselves for fight. (...)
The god (...) at once removed the darkness from before the eyes of Achilles, who opened them wide indeed and said in great anger, "Alas! what marvel am I now beholding? Here is my spear upon the ground, but I see not him whom I meant to kill when I hurled it. Of a truth Aeneas also must be under heaven's protection, although I had thought his boasting was idle." ("The Iliad", Book 20, translated by S. Butler)

Answer: Athena

Athena and Hera are on the Greek side. Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis and Poseidon are on the Trojan side. Zeus does not favour one side in particular and at some point even forbids the gods to meddle further in the conflict. He stands for the fulfillment of fate.

Athena and Hera have been slighted in the Judgment of Paris and resent Paris ever since. "For of a truth we two, I and Pallas [Athena], have sworn full many a time before all the immortals, that never would we shield Trojans from destruction, not even when all Troy is burning in the flames that the Achaeans shall kindle." (Translated by S. Butler)

Answer: Poseidon

Ulysses is fated to wander the seas for ten years after the Trojan war is over, and to be the only one of his travelling companions to survive. Polyphemus prays thus: "On this he lifted up his hands to the firmament of heaven and prayed, saying, 'Hear me, great [Poseidon]; if I am indeed your own true-begotten son, grant that Ulysses may never reach his home alive; or if he must get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in sore plight after losing all his men, let him reach his home in another man's ship and find trouble in his house.' (...) [Poseidon] heard his prayer." (Translated by S. Butler) However, Poseidon cannot cause his death because Ulysses is under the protection of the other gods.

Answer: The sacrifice of the youngest member of Ulysses' crew

No human sacrifice takes place, yet fate claims a victim: unbeknownst to Ulysses, young Elphenor falls from a roof while drunk and breaks his neck. Ulysses meets him in the Underworld before he even knows of his death.

Once the dead have drunk from the blood of the sacrifice, they can answer his questions, then leave. "When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cut the throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping up from Erebus- brides, young bachelors, old men worn out with toil, maids who had been crossed in love, and brave men who had been killed in battle, with their armour still smirched with blood; they came from every quarter and flitted round the trench with a strange kind of screaming sound that made me turn pale with fear. When I saw them coming I told the men to be quick and flay the carcasses of the two dead sheep and make burnt offerings of them, and at the same time to repeat prayers to Hades and to [Persephone]; but I sat where I was with my sword drawn and would not let the poor feckless ghosts come near the blood till Tiresias should have answered my questions." (Translated by S. Butler)

Answer: Zeus

"King [Zeus]," he cried, "lord of Dodona, god of the Pelasgi, who dwellest afar, you who hold wintry Dodona in your sway, where your prophets the Selli dwell around you with their feet unwashed and their couches made upon the ground- if you heard me when I prayed to you aforetime, and did me honour while you sent disaster on the Achaeans, vouchsafe me now the fulfilment of yet this further prayer."
"(...)[Zeus] granted that Patroclus should thrust back war and battle from the ships, but refused to let him come safely out of the fight." (Translated by S. Butler)

There was a shrine at Dodona which is considered the oldest Hellenic oracle. The priests and priestesses interpreted the rustling of the leaves in the sacred oak grove. They had to remain unwashed and sleep directly on the ground in order to stay in contact with the earth, the source of prophecy.

There was also an oracle at Delphi, that was dedicated to Apollo. The Pythia was the priestess there. She sat on a tripod over a chasm in the earth and entered in a state of trance, then prophesied.

Answer: four slave girls

Achilles has a vision of the ghost of Patroclus, who announces that his death is near, and requests from Achilles that they be buried in a single urn.

It was believed that the soul of the departed could only reach the Underworld when the body had been destroyed by flame.

Patroclus's huge funeral pyre burns all night, after Achilles has secured the help of the winds Boreas and Zephyr. "All night long did they blow hard and beat upon the fire, and all night long did Achilles grasp his double cup, drawing wine from a mixing-bowl of gold, and calling upon the spirit of dead Patroclus as he poured it upon the ground until the earth was drenched." (Translated by S. Butler)