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Tantalus
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He killed his son, committed crimes, even though the gods bestowed gifts on him. Condemned in Hades to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink and beneath fruit that receded when he reached for it
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Aeolus
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god of the winds in ancient mythology
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Apollo
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Phoebus:god of sun/music/poetry/medicine:lyre,arrows,sun chariot
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The Three Furies
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goddesses of vengeance-persue and torture wandering souls
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Grey Sisters
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Told Perseus were the Hesperides where, shared an eye and a tooth. Perseus got them to tell by holding the eye away until they did.
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Maenads
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female followers of Dionysus, usually possessed by thier god, also called Bacchae who were very drunk and ran around forests killing everything in their path
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Hermes
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Mercury:god of commerce/theft:winged cap,winged sandals, caduceus
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Gorgons
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three ugly sisters with scales, claws and fangs; turn man into stone; dwell the earth and one was Medusa
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Pandora
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first woman created by Zeus; opens a box full of evil things that are now on the earth; given to Epimetheus
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Tiresias
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The blind prophet of Thebes who revealed to Oedipus that Oedipus had murdered his father and married his mother. He also said to Hera that it was 9 times more hard to be a woman but women have more fun
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Delphi
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an ancient city in central Greece, in Phocis: site of an oracle of Apollo
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Lyre
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a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment
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Poseidon
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Neptune:god of sea/horses/earthquakes:trident,dolphins,horses
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The Titans
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The original gods, children of Heaven and Earth, and parents of the six original Olympians. Defeated by Zeus and his siblings in a war for control of the universe, most of the Titans are imprisoned in the bowels of the earth. Prometheus, who sides with Zeus, and his two brothers, Epimetheus and Atlas, are not imprisoned. Atlas is forced to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders forever.
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Prometheus
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(Greek mythology) the Titan who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to mankind. Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock where an eagle gnawed at his liver until Hercules rescued him
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Zeus
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Jupiter:king of gods/ruler of mankind:eagle,oak,thunderbolts
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Charon
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(Greek mythology) the ferryman who brought the souls of the dead across the river Styx or the river Acheron to Hades
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Demeter
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Ceres:goddess of agriculture:wheat,poppies,cornucopia
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The River Styx
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The river of hate
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Persephone
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Daughter of Demeter, wife of Hades, and queen of the underworld.
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Creon
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(Greek mythology) the brother of Jocasta and uncle of Antigone who became king of Thebes after the fall of Oedipus
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Zephyr
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The west wind
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Hera
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Juno:queen of gods/patroness of married women:pomegranate,peacock,cuckoo
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The Danaids
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49 young women who killed their husbands. They were sent to Tartarus to forever water Hades' garden with sieves for buckets.
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Athena
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Minerva:goddess of wisdom/weaving/war:aegis,owl,shield,olive tree
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Europa
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the daughter of the king of Phoenicia. Zeus morphed into a bull to kidnap her because he loved her. He took her to Crete, and eventually she married the king. The continent Europe was named after her.
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Ixion
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sentenced to the underworld for trying to seduce Hera, tied to a flaming wheel
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Perseus
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(Greek mythology) the son of Zeus who slew Medusa (with the help of Athena and Hermes) and rescued Andromeda from a sea monster
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Elysian Fields
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(Greek mythology) the abode of the blessed after death
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Tartarus
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the darkest, deepest part of the underworld controlled by Hades
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Hestia
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Vesta:goddess of hearth/home:hearth fire
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Three Judges of the Dead
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Three judges (Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aecus) who tell the dead which place to go to
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Artemis
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Diana:goddess of moon/hunting/patroness of maidens:crescent,stag,arrows
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Gaea
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(Greek mythology) goddess of the earth and mother of Cronus and the Titans in ancient mythology
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Cadmus and Harmonia
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On Cadmus' quest to find Europa he meets Harmonia (a fairy princess who lived on Samothrace) and they get married. They then build Thebes together, died and went to Elysian Fields
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Asphodel Fields
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A grey, boring place after death where people who had not been very good or very bad in their earthly life drifted around aimlessly in the shade, waiting for offerings from the land of the living to cheer them up.
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Ares
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Mars:god of war:sword,shield,dogs,vultures
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Sisyphus
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(Greek legend) a king in ancient Greece who offended Zeus and whose punishment was to roll a huge boulder to the top of a steep hill
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Andromeda
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a maiden that Perseus had met on his voyage home; he saved her from a serpent, by turning it to stone, that was supposed to eat her and they got married
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Oedipus
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as was prophesied at his birth, he unwittingly killed his father and married his mother and, in penance, blinded himself and went into exile
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Danae
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Perseus's mother; Zeus had come to her in her brass chamber; Her father King Acrisius did not want her to bear a migthtier son than he
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Deucalion and Pyrrha
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two most virtuous and good people that repopulated the world after the Great Flood
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Epimetheus
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was a stupid Titan (Prometheus's Brother) whose name means "afterthought." He accepted the gift of Pandora from Zeus; and Pandora, the first woman, unleashed all the evils of the world on mankind.
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Uranus
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(Greek mythology) god of the heavens
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Eos
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Aurora:goddess of dawn
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Cronos
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Saturn:god of agriculture:sickle
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Hades/Pluto
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Dis:god of underworld/minerals/wealth:cerberus,cypress,bident
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Selene
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(Greek mythology) goddess of the moon in ancient mythology
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Arachne
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A woman who thought she could outweave Athena. She challenged her and Athena let her win, but turned her into a spider for insulting the gods
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Arcadia
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a region or setting of rural pleasure and peacefulness
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Satyrs
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male spirits of nature, part man, part goat, who follow Dionysus
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Eros
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Cupid:god of love:heart pierced with arrow
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Sphinx
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(Greek mythology) a riddling winged monster with a woman's head and breast on a lion's body. Her riddle was, "What creature, with only one voice, has four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the eventing; and yet is weakest when it has most?" (man)
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Pan
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Faunus:god of nature:goats,satyrs
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Typhon
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(Greek mythology) a monster with a hundred heads and one of the whirlwinds
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Semele
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daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, loved by Zeus and destroyed by his full glory, Zeus saved thier unborn child, Dionysus
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Cerberus
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(Greek mythology) 3-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades
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Lethe
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The river of oblivion
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Medusa
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(Greek mythology) a woman transformed into a Gorgon by Athena, she was slain by Perseus
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Rhea
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fertility goddess in ancient Greek mythology
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Hephaestus
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Vulcan:god of fire/metal working:anvil,forge
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Tityus
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Man who offended Zeus, his punishment: have two vultures tear and eat his liver eternally
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Silenus
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the chief satyr in the service of Bacchus
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Baucis and Philemon
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hosted zeus and Hermes and were granted the wish of dying together and when they died they both became trees
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Acheron
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The river of woe
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Dionysus
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Liber:god of wine/drama/revelry:ivy,grapes,leopards
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Cyclopes
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One-eyed children of Mother Earth and Father Heaven
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Heracles
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(classical mythology) a hero noted for his strength, performed 12 immense labors to gain immortality
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Aphrodite
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Venus:goddess of love/beauty:doves,sparrows
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