Deck 9: Land of No Return: The Gloomy Kingdom of Hades

Question 1

Sisyphus must roll a boulder uphill, watch it roll down, and roll it back up again in eternity because he smart-talked his way out of Hades once before.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In Homeric tradition, drinking from the river Lethe made them forget their previous lives.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Tityus's punishment is to suffer thirst and hunger but never to be able to reach water or food.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Greek heroes were willing to risk their lives for fame, since the Greeks believed that death was final and Hades was a grim place.

Question 5

Odysseus performs a ritual to summon the dead and communicate with them by preparing for them a sacrificial meal consisting of animal skins and bones.

Question 6

It was a Greek custom to bury people with coins in their hands or mouth to pay the ferryman Cerberus to ferry them across to Hades.

Question 7

Although Pythagoras taught the doctrine of transmigration of souls, he had to admit that he knew no one who had really been reincarnated.

Question 8

A heroic journey to the Underworld and back is known as a katabasis.

Question 9

Hades is also a place for monsters like Pluto, the hound of hell.

Question 10

In the Underworld, Achilles tells Odysseus that he would rather be king of the dead than a poor man's living slave.

Question 11

Heracles traveled to the Underworld to steal a dog.

Question 12

The ancient Hebrew netherworld resembles the Homeric Hades: the dead inhabit an underground region of inactivity, regardless of whether they have been good or evil in life.

Question 13

As Queen of the Underworld, the beautiful Persephone brought laughter and rays of sunlight to the realm of the dead.

Question 14

The Homeric Elysium is a form of paradise awaiting all good Greeks when they die.

Question 15

The great "sinners" who are punished in the Homeric Underworld have all overstepped their limits and intruded upon the divine prerogatives.

Question 16

The souls in Hades have lost memory, reason, and willpower.

Question 17

When Odysseus learns that he must descend into Hades's realm, he feels intense curiosity and excitement.

Question 18

According to several Platonic dialogues, the human being is a duality composed of an invisible eternal soul and a perishable material body, which succumbs to the natural processes of change and death.

Question 19

Orpheus didn't succeed in bringing Eurydice back to life, because he was tricked by Hermes.

Question 20

Morpheus (the god of sleep) and his son Hypnos (the god of dreams) also live in Hades.

Question 21

Orpheus was regarded as a source of knowledge

A) about the afterlife.
B) about Apollo and Dionysus.
C) about music.
D) about Greek philosophy.

Question 22

The Homeric view of Hades can be compared to a Freudian or Jungian dreamlike state of paralysis.

Question 23

Virgil portrays Odysseus's descent into the land of the dead as an exploration of the human subconscious.

Question 24

There are three explanations for the punishment of Tantalus. Which is not one of those explanations?

A) He stole ambrosia from the gods and gave it to humans.
B) He stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.
C) He divulged secret divine tabletalk.
D) He served up his son as food for the gods.

Question 25

As Queen of the Underworld, Persephone

A) was able to make her husband Hades more joyful.
B) spent two years with her husband and then one with her mother.
C) seems to have become as dark and sinister as her environment.
D) was unable to control Odysseus during his visit to the underworld.

Question 26

According to early Christian writers, Jesus entered the netherworld on Good Friday to retrieve righteous souls who died before he had opened the way to heaven.

Question 27

What is the name of the hound of hell?

A) Plato
B) Pluto
C) Charon
D) Cerberus

Question 28

Why did Hades and Persephone agree to let Orpheus try to bring his wife back from the dead?

A) They were moved by his music.
B) They were moved by his tears.
C) It was an evil scheme: They had no intentions of letting him get away with it.
D) They were moved by his beautiful smile.

Question 29

What is meant by "the harrowing of hell"?

A) Jesus descending to the land of the dead on Good Friday to collect the good souls
B) the rape and abduction of Persephone by Hades
C) Orpheus playing his music in Hades and moving everyone to tears
D) Demeter descending into Hades to fetch Persephone back

Question 30

What is the term for a heroic descent into the Underworld?

A) calabasas
B) sparagmos
C) katabasis
D) hieros gamos

Question 31

Why did Heracles descend into the Underworld?

A) to rescue his mother Semele and make her immortal
B) to kidnap the hound of hell
C) to speak to the wisest of the dead, Tiresias
D) to rescue his beloved wife, dead from a snakebite

Question 32

Greek philosophers came to believe that souls were dealt with after death according to whether they were good or evil in life.

Question 33

Who is the brother of Thanatos?

A) Hades
B) Minos
C) Morpheus
D) Hypnos

Question 34

Plato's "Myth of Er"

A) describes Orpheus in Hades and discusses ethical values.
B) describes Orpheus in Hades and the process of reincarnation.
C) describes a near-death experience and the process of reincarnation.
D) describes a near-death experience and discusses Christian themes.