Qtr. 3 Exam Review
English 9
Ms. Rodriguez
Why did ancient Greeks tell myths?
• The ancient Greeks told a lot of myths.
• It was a way for the ancient Greeks to explain
the unexplainable in a terrifying world.
• Myths helped to explain death, birth, and
natural disasters.
*Where do the gods live? What did
it inspire?
* All gods lived on Mt. Olympus which is
what inspired the ancient Greeks to create
the Olympics.
Zeus
• God of gods, goddesses, and humankind;
enforcer of justice; ruled the sky.
• Rhea tricked Cronus into swallowing a
rock wrapped in a baby’s blanket. She hid
him in a cave where he was secretly
raised until he grew up to be strong and
powerful so that he could overthrow his
father.
More Zeus
• Zeus was able to free his siblings by
secretly giving his father medicine that
made him throw up his fully grown
siblings.
• His symbols are lightning(thunderbolt) and
the eagle.
Cronus
Duties, Powers, god of/other:
• Cronus was a titan and the top god before the
Olympians.
• As prophesied, he became the top god after defeating
his father, the Sky.
• There was a prophecy that one of his kids would kill him
and take over.
• He swallowed all his children, except for Zeus because a
prophecy predicted one of his offspring would overthrow
him.
Cronus
Important Family Members:
• Cronus was the Son of mother Earth and the
Sky.
• His wife was the titan, Rhea.
• He was the father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera,
Hestia, Hades, and Demeter.
Appearance/Symbols:
• Most of the time he is shown swallowing a baby
or a rock.
• Cronus’ symbol is a scythe and is surrounded by
lightning.
Hephaestus
Birth Story:
1) One story goes that he was thrown off Mt. Olympus by Hera at birth
because he was ugly and deformed.
2) Another story says Hephaestus was born normal. Zeus threw him from
Mt. Olympus the one time he sided with his mother in a fight between
his parents.
*Both stories say he fell for a whole day and landed on an island where a
sea goddess nursed him back to health.
Important Family Members:
• Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera.
• He was half-brother to Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Athena,
Dionysus, and Hermes.
• His wife is Aphrodite.
Hephaestus
Appearance/Symbols:
• Hephaestus is usually depicted as being
crippled and not so handsome, but having
a strong muscular, upper body.
• He is also shown with a hammer or other
tools a blacksmith would use.
• His symbols are fire and tools associated
with blacksmiths like the hammer.
Hephaestus
Duties, Power, god of/other:
• Hephaestus was the god of fire, smithing,
and metalworking.
• He is associated with volcanoes which are
where his workshops are located.
• His wife, Aphrodite, had an affair with his
brother, Ares.
Apollo
Birth Story:
• Zeus impregnated the titan, Leto.
• Hera, Zeus’ jealous wife, chased Leto all over
the earth so she couldn’t find a place to give
birth.
• Leto gave birth to Apollo and his twin, Artemis,
on the floating island of Delos.
• Apollo was delivered by his twin sister, Artemis.
Apollo
Important Family Members:
• Son of Zeus and Leto, a titan.
• His twin sister was Artemis.
• His half siblings were Hermes, Athena, Ares, and
Dionysus.
Appearance/Symbols:
• Apollo is shown as a young, handsome, and
physically fit man with a rays of light emanating
from him.
• Symbols and he wears a laurel wreath in his
lightly long hair usually holding a bow and
arrows and/or a lyre.
Apollo
Duties, Powers, god of other:
• Apollo is the god of prophecy, oracles,
healing, disease, music, song, poetry, and
archery.
• He is the protector of male virgins.
• Both Apollo and his twin Artemis could bring
sudden death and disease to males and
females respectively.
Artemis
Birth Story:
• Same as her twin brother, Apollo.
Important Family Members:
• Same as Apollo’s.
Appearance/Symbols:
• Young physically fit woman wearing a toga,
holding a bow and arrows.
• She wearing crescent moon band in her hair.
• Appears with animals like a dog or deer.
• Symbols: bows, arrows, crescent moon.
Artemis
Duties, Powers, goddess of/other:
• Goddess of the hunt, wilderness and
wild animals, childbirth, protector of
female virgins.
• Could bring sudden death and
disease to females.
Poseidon
Birth Story:
• Poseidon was one of the children that
Cronus swallowed.
• Cronus throws up Poseidon and his
siblings after he is tricked into swallowing
poison.
• He joins Zeus and fights with his siblings
against Cronus and the titans. They win
and become the Olympians.
Poseidon
Important Family Members:
• Poseidon was the son of Cronus and Rhea.
• He was a brother to Hestia, Hera, Demeter, Hades, and
Zeus.
Appearance/Symbols:
• Shown as older man with long white hair and a long
white beard with a horse and/or dolphins whose face is
typically shown as angry and moody.
• The symbol Poseidon is always shown with is his trident
which is a spear with three points.
• He uses the trident to break rocks, to start and end
storms, to create earthquakes, and other natural
disasters.
Poseidon
Duties, Powers, god of/other:
• Poseidon is the god of the sea, rivers,
flood and drought, earthquakes, and
horses.
• He created horses.
• Poseidon is considered the friend or
foe of mariners.
Hermes
Duties, Powers, god/other:
• Hermes is the messenger god.
• He is also known as the god of animal
husbandry, roads, travel, hospitality, diplomacy,
trade, thievery, language, writing, persuasion,
trickery, athletic contests, gymnasiums, sleep,
astronomy, and astrology.
• Hermes was responsible for leading the souls of
the dead to the Underworld.
Hermes
Duties, Powers, god/other:
• While still a baby, Hermes ran away, stole some
of Apollo’s cows and killed them. He also found
a giant tortoise and killed it, too. He made the
first lyre from the tortoise shell and cow skins.
• When Apollo found out that Hermes killed some
of his cows he went after him but changed his
mind when he heard the lyre.
Demeter
• Parents are Cronus and Rhea. Siblings are
Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.
• Demeter was the goddess of the earth and of
agriculture. She also controlled the seasons.
• Her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped by
and forced to marry Hades. She is only allowed
to leave the Underworld to be with her mother 9
months out of the year. When Persephone has
to return to the Underworld, Demeter mourns
her loss which brings on season of winter.
Demeter
• Demeter is shown as a maternal figure who is
wearing a garland of corn-ears or a ribbon.
• Her symbols are a scepter, corn ears, a poppy
flower, torch, and/or a mystic basket which
represent agricultural harvest.
Ares
Duties, powers, god of/other:
• God of war.
• He had an affair with Hephaestus’ (his
brother) wife, Aphrodite.
• Loved chaos and destruction in war.
Would cry and run away if his side was
losing.
Aphrodite
• Goddess of love and beauty.
• She emerged as a fully grown goddess
from an opened shell, floating on the sea.
• She has no known parents.
• Aphrodite had an affair with her husband’s
(Hephaestus) brother, Ares.
Hera
• Wife of Zeus (See Poseidon for parents
and siblings).
• Hera is described as very jealous and vindictive
due to her husband’s frequent infidelities.
• Goddess of fidelity and guardian of married
women (probably because she understood the
difficulty of being with an unfaithful husband).
• Her symbols are the peacock and peacock
feathers.
Athena
• Zeus turned Metis into a fly while she was pregnant and
swallowed her. Nine months later Zeus started getting a
very bad headache. Hephaestus cracked Zeus’ head
open with an axe and Athena came out of his head fully
grown.
• Goddess of wisdom, war craft and skills. She would
rather have peace than war.Excellent strategist and
always dominated in war.
• She is shown with a shield and wearing a
helmet. Her symbol is an owl, which shows her
watchfulness and wisdom.
Hades
• Persephone is his wife. (See Poseidon for
Important Family Members).
• Drew the lot of ruling the Underworld.
• Hades could bring a person back to life
(remember “Orpheus and Eurydice”?).
• Hades is shown as being unhappy, holding keys
(like a jailer) and sometimes with a pitchfork.
Dionysus
• Semele wanted to see in his true form and prove
that he was god. Being human, Semele burned
to death but before she was fully consumed,
Zeus was able to rescue his unborn son and
sew him into his thigh.
• Known as the god of merriment (party god),
wine, and reincarnation.
Medusa
19. What was Medusa before she became a monster?
-A beautiful virgin priestess of Athena who
had many suitors.
20. What happened to Medusa?Was it her fault?Who
changed her into a monster?
-She was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s
temple even though it wasn’t her
fault.Instead of protecting Medusa,
Athena changed her into a monster.
More Medusa
21. What does Medusa look like after Athena
transforms her?
-Her
hair turns into snakes; skin, eyes,
tongue, and body resemble a human
corpse.
More Medusa
22. What is Athena’s curse?
-Men who looked upon her were turned into stone
and she would be alone for the rest of her life.
23. Who is the hero that goes out to kill
Medusa?
-Perseus
Grammar
• Nouns: person, place, thing, or idea
mom, San Francisco, table, love
• Verbs: Action words
to walk, walking, walked
• Adjectives: It’s describing word.
She is a sweet, happy person
More Grammar
*punctuation: End a sentence with a period,
question mark, or exclamation point.
*capitalization: Start your sentence with a
capital letter.
*comma: Use a comma to separate the day
and year when you write the date. Use
commas to separate items in a list.
Literary Terms
• Moral: Social and/or life lesson in the story.
• Myth: Traditional stories that usually explain a
belief or a natural phenomenon.
• Archetype: Very old patterns or images that
recur over and over again in literature such as
characters, plots, animals, or setting (i.e.
sacrificial hero).
Literary Terms
• Internal Conflict: A struggle between opposing
needs, desires or emotions within a person. For
example, Junior’s feelings of financial
inadequacy before, during and after the dance.
• External Conflict: A character’s struggle
against an outside force, i.e., Joker vs. Batman.
• Epic: A long narrative poem that tells the great
deeds of a hero, i.e., “The Odyssey.”
• Epic Hero: The main character of an epic, i.e.
Odysseus.