Deck 10: Heroes of Myth: Man Divided Against Himself

Question 1

Theseus's relationships with women are generally quite harmonious.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

As a condition for giving Jason the fleece, the king of Colchis demands that he sow a field with dragon's teeth and fight the dragons that germinate from the teeth.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

One of Heracles's Twelve Labors is bringing back the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyte.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Theseus's father kills himself because he erroneously assumes that his son is dead.

Question 5

Like the Graiae-hags, Medusa represents the Great Goddess.

Question 6

Although the hero must possess great warrior skills, he is never impulsively violent.

Question 7

Like Perseus and his Andromeda, Theseus settles down to a happy marriage with the woman he loves, Ariadne.

Question 8

Perseus is the quintessential Greek hero, performing heroic tasks and having severe problems relating to women.

Question 9

Most mothers of heroes do not live happily as consorts of gods.

Question 10

The hero may become, in times of peace, a danger to the very civilization he is supposed to protect.

Question 11

Through the magic eye of the Graiae, Perseus sees that Andromeda is in trouble and rushes to save her.

Question 12

Following his return, Perseus accidentally kills his grandfather with a discus throw.

Question 13

When Perseus offers to bring King Polydectes any gift of his choice as a substitute for his mother, Polydectes demands the head of Medusa.

Question 14

Jason is raised by the same centaur who taught Asclepius the art of medicine.

Question 15

Heroes often visit both Mt. Olympus and the Underworld.

Question 16

In Freudian theory, decapitation is an unconscious image of castration.

Question 17

Perseus's mother was imprisoned by her husband in his jealousy over her relationship with Zeus.

Question 18

Even if Heracles is several generations older than Jason, he still joins Jason and the Argonauts on their voyage.

Question 19

The twelve Labors are Heracles's punishment for killing his wife Medea, after she killed their two children.

Question 20

Medusa assumes the form of a winged horse.

Question 21

How does Perseus avoid being turned into stone by Medusa?

A) He closes his eyes when she turns around and then cuts off her head.
B) He looks at her reflection in his shield and then cuts off her head.
C) He throws the magic pouch over her head and then cuts it off.
D) He approaches her flying backward on his winged sandals, closes his eyes as he turns, and cuts off her head.

Question 22

Theseus's adventures may be interpreted as a recapitulation of an Athenian rite of passage or initiation into adulthood.

Question 23

What lesson are we supposed to learn from the story of Phaethon?

A) Even a semidivine being must observe limits.
B) Being strong does not guarantee that you are also wise.
C) A job worth doing is worth doing well.
D) Moderation is a virtue.

Question 24

Medea kills and dismembers her younger brother, tossing the pieces into the sea so that her father will be delayed by funeral rituals.

Question 25

Why did Theseus go to Crete?

A) He was captured and sent to Crete as a sacrifice to the Minotaur, and nobody believed he was the son of the king.
B) He volunteered as a sacrifice in order to stop the killing of young Athenian men and women.
C) He had been told by the Oracle at Delphi that a great love waited for him on Crete.
D) He went to rescue Ariadne, who was to be sacrificed.

Question 26

How did Heracles die?

A) A ship's beam fell on his head and killed him.
B) He was pushed or fell down a cliff to his death, mimicking the death of his own father.
C) His wife made an ointment that was supposed to ensure his commitment to her, but the ointment ate through his skin and killed him.
D) Trick question: He is a god and cannot die.

Question 27

Theseus was the Athenian civilizing hero because his stories were only told in Athens.

Question 28

The hero understandably prefers his "good" human father to his "bad" divine one, whom he rarely sees.

Question 29

According to Freudian analysis, the hero was often threatened by his human father because

A) as a child, the hero behaved badly.
B) Greek fathers abused their sons badly.
C) Greek boys needed to grow up quickly.
D) myth represents the Oedipal tensions between the father and the son, who sees in him a rival for the mother's affections.

Question 30

Perseus receives three magical weapons to slay Medusa. Which of the following is not one of them?

A) a pair of winged sandals
B) a sword that cuts through stone
C) a cape of invisibility
D) a pouch

Question 31

The moral of the story of Phaethon: even a semidivine being must observe limits.