Curious Classical Characters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cassandra

Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Apollo desired her and offered her the art of prophecy to seduce her. But after she refused his romantic advances, Apollo tried to retract his gift - in vain. So he cursed her to meet unbelief everywhere she went. After the fall of Troy (which she correctly predicted), Ajax dragged her away in slavery. Ajax donated Cassandra to Agamemnon, and later on Agamemnon's wife and her lover killed Agamemnon and Cassandra. Early Greek depictions show Cassandra as a woman of good figure, with seductive curly hair. Soothsayers were regarded very highly in Greek myth. However, the need for equilibrium also was responsible for serious setbacks in their lives. For instance, Tiresias was "the blind who saw" - he prophesied, but otherwise he was totally blind.

Cephisso (Kephiso) was one of Apollo's daughters. Cymopoleia (Kymopoleia) was one of Poseidon's daughters in charge of the waves. Karpo was one of the Horae (seasons), responsible for ripe fruit.

Answer: Calypso

Calypso was the witch inhabiting the island of Ogygia. After the Trojan war, Odysseus crossed the Mediterranean in random directions, blown by Poseidon's wind, looking for a way home during ten years. One of Odysseus' adventures was landing on Ogygia, where Calypso enchanted him by singing. He stayed with her for seven years, at last set free after Athena intervened for him.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a famous oceanographer, named his principal exploration ship Calypso.

Circe was another sorceress who crossed Odysseus' path. She turned most of his sailors into swine, but Hermes came to Odysseus' rescue. Celaeno was of the winged harpies sent out to torture sinners. Cinyras was King of Cyprus, possibly the father of the beautiful young man Adonis.

Answer: Cadmus

Cadmus was a Phoenician prince wandering through Greece. The oracle of Delphi instructed him to follow a certain cow and found a city where the cow settled down to rest, exhausted. There Cadmus built a city, and sowed dragon's teeth around it. The teeth magically transformed into fierce warriors, and they would protect Thebes for many centuries. Herodotus ascribes the Greek alphabet to Cadmus, but at best Herodotus' claim is an oversimplification. The Greek alphabet gradually evolved with influences from at least four different dialects, so it is clearly not the invention of one single mind.

Castor and his twin brother Polydeuces (better known by his Roman name Pollux) were powerful heroes. Castor was mortal, while Polydeuces was immortal - but after Castor's death they shared Polydeuces' immortality. Coeus was a Titan representing the inquisitive spirits. As such he could be considered the patron of philosophy. Calchas was a seer, especially good at predicting events by studying bird's movements. He was the one who convinced Agamemnon to sacrifice the latter's daughter Iphigenia to obtain favourable winds before sailing unto Troy.

Answer: Cerberus

It was Cerberus who guarded the entrance and exit to the underworld. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna, and sported many heads (most sources claim he had three heads, some count up to one hundred heads) as well as several snakes. J.K Rowling modelled the guard dog Fluffy in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" upon Cerberus: Fluffy was a three-headed bloodhound. Only few people escaped from Cerberus. Heracles led him to the upper world as the last of his Twelve Works. Orpheus used his music to put Cerberus to sleep, so he could retrieve his beloved Eurydice. And Odysseus once consulted the spirit of the deceased Achilles while Cerberus watched closely.

Cyzicus was the king of a small monarchy near the Sea of Marmara. After giving the Argonauts a very friendly goodbye on their route to Colchis, Cyzicus saw an enemy boat returning to the coast. In the ensuing fight Cyzicus and many of his subjects were killed - by the Argonauts, victims of an unfavourable wind and treacherous fog. Corinthus, one of the numerous sons of Zeus, was the mythical founder of the city of Corinth. Cresphontes, a great-great-grandson of Heracles, king of Messene and conqueror of the Peloponnesus.

Answer: Clotho

Clotho is the first of the Moirai, also known (via the Roman tradition) as the Fates. Spinning the life thread also involved making several decisions, for instance where and when an individual was born. Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos were three sisters, but their parents are not ascertained. Hesiod first claimed they were the daughters of Nyx (night) and Erebus (darkness), and later that their parents were Zeus and Themis (Justice). Clotho revived Pelops when his father Tantalus had murdered him to feed the Gods. Tantalus was appropriately punished for this mischief.

Koalemos was the god of stupidity. Corymbus was the god responsible for the ivy bearing fruit. Clymene was the name of many characters in Greek myth. The most interesting was a Titaness, mother to Atlas and Prometheus.

Answer: Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was Agamemnon's wife. While her husband was absent for ten years during the Trojan war, Clytemnestra had a romantic affair with Aegisthus. After Agamemnon returned, with the beautiful Cassandra as concubine, Clytemnestra convinced Aegisthus to wield an axe and chop off Agamemnon's head (as well as Cassandra's). Needless to say this deed was avenged: Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, killed his mother and her lover, but was persecuted by the Furies.

Cylarabes was one of the kings of Argos. Kokytos was the weeping god guarding the eponymous underworld river. Carya was a nymph associated with the hazel or walnut tree.

Answer: Calliope

Calliope was one of the nine Muses, as most quizzers adept in Greek myth will know. Her name literally means "beautiful eye": the Greek word "kalos" means beautiful, and "ops" means view, sight or eye. According to Hellenistic tradition, Calliope was the patroness of epic poetry (such as the well-known Iliad and Odyssey). Her sisters were Clio (Muse of history), Erato (Muse of love poetry), Euterpe (Muse of lyrics), Melpomene (Muse of tragedy), Polyhymnia (Muse of hymns and sacred literature), Thalia (Muse of comedy), Terpsichore (Muse of dance) and Urania (Muse of geography and astronomy). Some sources mention other lists of Muses, perhaps with a different number of them.

Callirhoe (literally "she who makes flow lovely") was the name of several water nymphs. One of these wore the necklace of the Amazon Harmonia to her wedding, not knowing that this necklace would place a curse on her entire family.
Campe was a female dragon guarding the prison of the Hecatoncheires ("those with a hundred hands"). She was killed by Zeus in the war against the Titans.
Capheira was a sea nymph. She would have fostered the infant Poseidon.

Answer: Cronus

Greek myth can be quite confusing. Cronus was the youngest of the Titans, and yet he was their leader - while in most traditions it was the eldest son who would lead his siblings. Uranus and Gaia were the father and mother of the first generation of Greek deities - the Titans, as in the Judeo-Christian tradition Adam and Eve were the first men upon earth. Cronus was one of the many offspring of Uranus and Gaia, and his mother incited him to rebel against his father. Using a flint sickle, Cronus castrated his father (ouch!) and took control of the divine dwelling. But history repeated itself: Cronus' wife Rhea incited their youngest son Zeus to rebellion, and Zeus and his Olympians surpassed the Titans. Don't confuse Cronus the Titan (responsible for the harvest) with Chronos the personification of time (as the Romans later did: they merged the two into Saturn).

Kratos was the personification of authority and power. His name indeed literally means "Strength". Cyamites was a minor Athenian hero. Plutarch made him a bean merchant because Cyamites' sanctuary was in the vicinity of a bean market.
Cepheus was the name of several mythical kings, either some Ethiopian kings (grandfather and grandson) or the king of Tegea, a small town in lovely Arcadia.

Answer: Cybele

Cybele was the Phrygian all-mother we were looking for. She is almost the only Phrygian deity known to us, the other members of the Phrygian pantheon are almost forgotten - only some specialists in myths from the Levant still know other names. Phrygia (a small kingdom in Central Turkey) and Lydia (a Greek colony in present-day Turkey) went to war, and Lydia vanquished Phrygia. This was perhaps the first contact between the Greeks and Cybele. Some Greeks adopted Cybele as the Mother of All, others identified her with Gaia (mother Earth) or Rhea (a Titaness, mother to Zeus and other Olympians). The priests of Cybele (especially during the early Roman Empire) were eunuchs, because the few remaining legends state that Cybele's lover castrated himself before losing his mind completely.

Kakia was the goddess of vice. She could be recognised by a voluptuous figure, too much make-up and scanty clothing. Carme was a minor deity from Cretan descent. She assisted with the harvest of grain. Ceto was a sea monster, and most of her offspring were awful to behold: Echidna (a mix of lion, snake and goat), the Gorgons (including Medusa, who had snakes instead of hair) and the three Graeae (three old hags, who shared between them one eye and one tooth - this would really complicate feeding).

Answer: Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia was known for her vanity. She once boasted that her daughter Andromeda surpassed in beauty each and every one of the Nereids, the water nymphs dedicated to Poseidon. Poseidon was not amused at all and sent a sea monster to destroy Ethiopia. At the advice of an oracle, Cassiopeia decided to chain her daughter to a rock as a sacrifice for the dreadful sea monster. Luckily Perseus was in the neighbourhood, defeated the monster and unchained the (fully nude, according to Renaissance art) beautiful Andromeda. Poseidon was not quite satisfied with the outcome of this adventure. So finally Cassiopeia ended up in the starry sky, tied to a throne - and her name lives on in a constellation.

Kydoimos was the personification of battle tumult. Carmanor was the name of two minor deities, one of them being a semi-mortal love interest of Demeter. Clytie was the name shared by many Greek mythical female figures. One of them fell in love with Helios (the Sun), and killed her rival Leucothoe ("the white goddess").