Test Your Knowledge of Greek Mythology

The Sphinx had the head of a woman and the body of a cat. When passersby encountered her, she would ask them a riddle and destroy them if they did not answer correctly. However, Oedipus correctly answered the sphinx’s riddle and became king of Thebes.

Tricked into killing his own family by Hera, Hercules was sent to the oracle at Delphi to atone for his sins. The oracle told him to become a servant to King Eurystheus, who told Hercules he had to complete 12 seemingly impossible tasks, known as the Labours of Hercules, to be absolved of his wrongdoings and set free. The first act was to slay a Nemean lion. Hercules completed the 12 labours and was set free.

According to myth, Hermes used the Caduceus — an ancient Greek wand — to separate two fighting snakes. The reptiles then coiled themselves around the staff, turning the Caduceus into Hermes’ staff. Today, the Caduceus is a symbol of medicine, which was formally adopted by the U.S. military medical department in 1902.

Calliope was the eldest child of Mousai, the goddess of music, dance, and song. Calliope was the goddess of eloquence, who often bestowed her gifts on kings and princes. In the classical era, when nine muses were assigned specific artistic realms, Calliope was the patron of epic poetry. She is often portrayed holding a tablet and a scroll, or a lyre.

Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaë. King Polydectes wanted to marry Danaë but knew he wouldn’t be able to as long as Perseus was in the picture. So, he tricked Perseus into bringing him the head of Medusa — a gorgon with snakes for hair and the ability to turn others to stone — hoping she would kill him instead. Luckily for Perseus, he was able to slay Medusa with the help of Hermes, Hades, and Athena.

Written around the same time as the “Odyssey,” the “Iliad” by Homer tells the story of the Trojan War. In the epic poem, the city of Troy is conquered by the Greek army led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae. At the end of the 10-year war, he came to the city to retrieve Queen Helena of Sparta after she was abducted by Paris, the son of Troy’s King Priam. However, after Agamemnon returned home, he was killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus.

Homer’s “Odyssey” is an epic poem written in the seventh or eighth century BCE. It narrates the story of Odysseus, who embarks on a journey home to the island of Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War. His journey becomes perilous after he incurs the wrath of Poseidon. Upon reaching home, Odysseus kills his wife’s suitors and claims the throne of Ithaca.

Known as a trickster, Prometheus was a Titan and the god of fire. The Greek poet Hesiod told the principal myth of Prometheus stealing fire from Hephaistos’ workshop and giving it to humans. As punishment, Zeus ordered him to be nailed to a mountain and for an eagle to eat his liver.

In Greek mythology, Marsyas is a satyr who is credited with inventing the music of the flute — but things went downhill for Marsyas from there. When he first found the flute, it had been thrown away by Athena because she didn’t like how her face looked while playing it. Marsyas got too cocky with his flute-playing abilities, and challenged Apollo to a contest, which he lost when he tried and failed to play the flute upside down. As punishment, Apollo and the rustic gods turned Marsyas into a stream.

Zeus tasked a nymph named Echo with distracting his wife Hera from his many affairs, and Echo obliged by constantly flattering Hera, the goddess of women, marriage, and childbirth. Once Hera discovered why Echo was always engaging her in conversation, she punished the mountain nymph by taking away her ability to speak at all, unless she was repeating the words someone else said. This condition is partially how we get the meaning of the word “echo.”

The city that became Athens was the center of a dispute between Athena and Poseidon, and you can tell who won by the city’s name. Both gods wanted guardianship over the capital, and they decided to have a gift-giving competition to see who could earn the honor. Poseidon gave a spring, but the water was salty and could not be used for drinking. Athena gifted an olive tree, which provided food, oil, and wood. Atop the Acropolis, there is an olive tree said to have descended from Athena’s gift.

After Jason’s uncle took the throne from his father, Jason was raised by a centaur named Cheiron. Once he reached the age of 20, he began the trek to regain the throne, which involved a series of tasks, including the retrieval of a Golden Fleece that was located in what would now be modern-day Georgia, and then called Colchis. The Argonauts were a team of heroes Jason brought together for the mission, so named because they sailed on a ship called the Argo.

The Titans were the OGs, the original gods, or at the very least the older gods when compared with the Olympians, who were the newer, younger deities. Uranus led the Titans, Zeus led the Olympians, and the two groups battled to decide who would rule the universe. According to Greek myth, Zeus and the Olympians came out on top after 10 years of battle.

At the ancient Olympics, a flame burned permanently at the altar of Hestia, a virgin goddess who served Mount Olympus. Hestia was the goddess of hearth and home, and never let the flame in the hearth go out. Today’s Olympic flame is lit where the Temple of Hera once stood in Olympia, as Hestia is the sister of Hera.

Satyrs refer to creatures that are represented as part man, part beast, but they are always closely associated with Dionysus (the god of wine). Satyrs were frequently shown in art alongside nymphs, often in pursuit of maenads (female followers of Dionysus). In different texts and works of art, satyrs were depicted as part horse, and sometimes part goat. Their ties to Dionysus are frequently shown through their rude tricks with wine cups.

Eros, the god of love, passion, and fertility, is frequently depicted as a young, mischievous boy. To the ancient Romans, he was known as Cupid, who today is still seen as a universal symbol of love. By tradition, Eros is the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Legend says that Eros scraped himself with one of his own arrows and fell in love with Psyche, who became his wife for eternity.

The mythological King Minos of Crete charged the architect Daedalus with creating a complex labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, a beast with the body of a human man and the head of a bull. The king would force his mortal enemies to enter the labyrinth to meet their doom. Theseus, son of King Aegeus of Athens, famously volunteered to enter the labyrinth and succeeded in killing the Minotaur.

Athena was a symbol of power and strength. As the goddess of wisdom, reason, and war, she was a brilliant tactician, and was known to be ruthless against her enemies. Born in a full set of armor, she did not have a mother, springing out of Zeus’ head instead. The ancient Greeks thought that she protected mortals, and they built her a temple, the Parthenon, in Athens, the city named in her honor.

The Nike swoosh bears some resemblance to the wings of Nike, who is the Greek goddess of victory. Nike is the daughter of the giant Pallas, and the River Styx. In ancient art, Nike was frequently depicted being carried in the hand of Athena and Zeus. Athletes in ancient Greece would worship Nike before a competition, and in Rome, Nike was referred to as Victoria.

Asclepius was the son of Apollo and Coronis, and he is a god of medicine. In Greek art, Asclepius is often seen holding a rod with a snake wrapped around it, and that symbol can be seen today associated with many hospitals, medical schools, and healthcare associations. The five children of Asclepius follow in their father’s footsteps: Hygieia is the goddess of health, Iaso is the goddess of recovery from illness, Aceso is the goddess of healing, Aegle is the goddess of good health, and Panacea is the goddess of universal remedy.

After angering Zeus, Sisyphus — the mythological king of Ephyra (Corinth) — was forced to push a boulder up a hill in Hades, for eternity. Sisyphus had angered the gods by cheating death, twice, although he ended up with a fate that was arguably even worse. Today, the term “Sisyphean” is used to describe a continuous, futile task that can never be completed.

Following their defeat at the hands of Zeus, many Titans were banished to the underworld or given cruel punishments. Due to his leadership in the war, Atlas was famously condemned to hold up the heavens on his shoulders for eternity. Atlas also took part in the legendary 12 Labors of Heracles, helping him steal apples while Heracles took his spot and held the world on his shoulders. The term for a collection of maps (an atlas) comes from 16th-century Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who used an image of the Titan holding the world in his book of maps.

Hades, the formidable god of the underworld, was given immense responsibility over all the souls of the dead. To help with his grim duty, Hades posted Cerberus, a grisly dog with three heads and a serpent’s tail, at the entrance to the underworld. According to legend, the monstrous beast devoured anyone who tried to leave the underworld without permission.

When the Trojan War hero Achilles was born, it was prophesied that he would die at a young age. To save him, his mother took him to the magical River Styx in the Underworld and dipped Achilles into the water, holding onto him by his heel. The powerful waters granted him invulnerability, but the one part of his body that did not touch the water remained his biggest weakness.

Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned on the island of Crete for helping Theseus escape the Labyrinth. While they were locked in a tower, Daedalus fashioned wings made of feathers and wax for the pair to use to escape to Sicily. However, Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted. As a result, he fell into the sea and drowned.

Narcissus’ greatest attribute ultimately led to his undoing. The mythical young man was so handsome he could never find a suitable suitor. After breaking many hearts, Narcissus walked past a pool of water and found what he was looking for: himself. He fell deeply in love with his reflection, and could not be pulled away from the pool. He eventually died of thirst and was turned into a flower.

The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses, each with their own powers and domains. The most prevalent gods were called the Olympians, and the 12 of them lived together on Mount Olympus in lavish temples guarded by golden gates. From up in the clouds, they could view all of mankind. The gods could take many forms, and frequently came down from Mount Olympus to interact with mortals.

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman on Earth. Zeus created her as a punishment to mankind for stealing his fire, but Pandora was given many gifts by the gods, including a jar that contained misery and evil. Pandora was warned never to open the box, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her, and evil was released onto the Earth.

These mythological creatures are half-man and half-horse, and lived in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. Born from King Ixion and the cloud nymph Nephele, centaurs are often portrayed as savage and drunken. The exception is Chiron, a legendary centaur who served as a tutor to heroes and died fighting alongside Hercules.

The legendary Amazon warriors were a mythical group of powerful women who often clashed with the Greeks and lived in a distant, undiscovered land. They took part in the Trojan War, where they were led by one of their best-known queens, Penthesilea. Her sister Hippolyta was also the queen of the Amazons for a time and possessed a magical girdle given to her by Ares, the god of war.