AP Junior English: Allusions to Know

Greek & Roman History/Mythology

Acheron River: one of the rivers of the underworld

Achilles: dipped in the river Styx for immortality
• Neglected to dip heel- got shot there and died
Actaeon: a great hunter, punished by Artemis
• Saw Artemis naked in bath, got turned into stag, ripped apart by his own hounds
• (OR) boasted he was a better hunter than Artemis, was punished for hubris
• Son of Aristaeus + Autonoe
• Raised by the centaur Chiron
Aegeus: father of Theseus
Aegisthus: King of Mycenae
• Son of Thyestes + Pelopia
• Enticed by uncle Atreus to kill dad, instead killed uncle
• Seduced Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, drowned Aga in bath upon his return
Aeneas: Trojan hero
•
Agamemnon: king either of Mycenae or of Argo
• commander of the Achaeans in the ensuing Trojan War
• murdered by his wife Clytemnestra.
• Sacrificed daughter Iphigeneia so gods would create winds for ship
Ajax- strong but stupid warrior
• Carried Achilles’ dead body
• Swore to kill Agamemmon
• Struck by Athena with madness
• Committed suicide
Amazons: Warlike race of women fought with various heroes (Heracles, Theseus,
Achilles)
• Hostile towards men, had sex with them once a year
• Raised only girls
• Cut off right breasts (draw bows)
Andromache
Andromeda- translated to heavens as star
• Supposed to be sacrificed to sea monster
• Rescued by Perseus
• Daughter of Cepheus + Cassiopeia
Aphrodite (Venus)- Greek goddess of love/beauty
• Emerged from sea
• Zeus + Dione, wife of Hephaestus
Antigone
• daughter of the accidentally incestuous marriage between King Oedipus of Thebes and
his mother Jocasta
Apollo (Phoebus)- god of sun, healing
• chariot that pulled sun across sky (sunrise/set)
Arachne- arrogant mortal, good at weaving
• challenged Athena to spinning contest, won
• turned into spider by Athena
• weave and spin forever
Ares (Mars)- God of war, violence, bloodlust; symbolized by vulture, wolf, spear
•
Argonauts- 40 to 55 Greeks who sailed on the ship Argo
• Lolcus to Cochis, leadership of Jason
• Bringing golden fleece out of Aia
• many Greeks proclaim their ancestors to be Argonauts
Argus- 100 eyed giant, rewarded by Hera by having eyes placed on peacock’s tail
• Guarded nymph Io (Zeus’s affair)
• Hermes killed Argus
Ariadne- princess of Crete
• helped Thesus defeat minosaur
• kidnapped by Dionysus to be wife
Artemis (Diana)- Goddess of the Hunt, Forests and Hills, the Moon
• daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.
• often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows
• see: Actaeon, Adonis, Orion, Callisto, Niobe
Atalanta- lone woman in quest for Golden Fleece
• raised by bear, abandoned because girl
• super duper hunter
• shot people trying to rape her
• whoever beat her in foot race = husband
• Melanion asked Aphrodite for help
• Golden apples- threw while running, Atalanta lost time picking up
• Melanion forgot sacrifice to Aphrodite, lay with Atalanta in Zeus’s shrine and was
turned into lions
Atlantis- that one lost island that sank into sea
Atlas- condemned by Zeus to stand at the western edge of Gaia, the Earth and hold up
Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders to prevent the two from resuming their primordial
embrace
• symbol of strength or stoic endurance
• a name for collections of terrestrial maps and the modern understanding of the earth as a
sphere
Atropos- one of the three Moirae, Goddesses of fate and destiny
• the oldest of the Three Fates
• known as the "inflexible" or "inevitable."
• ended the life of each mortal by cutting their thread with her "abhorred shears."
Aurora- Goddess of Dawn
• husband Tithonus
• asked Zeus for Tithonus’s immortality, but forgot to ask for eternal youth as well
• Had lots of kids with many lovers
• Announced arrival of/accompanied Helios on his journey
Bellerophon- king of Corinth and Eurymede
• tamed the winged horse Pegasus
• slew the fire-breathing monster Chimera
Callisto- nymph of Artemis, Ursa Major
• Swore to remain virginal
• Zeus seduced her
• Turned her and baby into Big/Lil Bear
Calypso- loved Odysseus, but had to let him go
Cassandra- prophetess who would never be believed
• Prophecy granted by Apollo as marriage gift, curse of not-believing because she didn’t
want him
• Predicted fall of Troy
• Raped by Ajax (art)
Castor and Pollux- Gemini twins
Centaurs- half man, half horse
• Known for fighting, lustiness, wisdom
Cerberus- three-headed watchdog, guards entrance to hell
Charon- boatman on Styx who carried souls to hell
Charybdis- whirlpool monster
Chimaera-monster with parts of diff animals
Circe- sorceress, turned Odysseus’s men to swine
Clytemnestra- wife of Agamemmon, killed him
• Had affair with Agamemmon’s cousin
• Killed by her son eventually
Creon- ruler of Thebes
Cyclops- one eyed giants
• Polyphemus, blinded by Odysseus
Daedalus- inventor, built Labrynth
• Also built wooden cow for queen so she could mate w/bull
• Eventually was also imprisoned in Labrythn, escaped w/wings
Danae- princess of Argo, mother of Perseus
Danaids- daughters of Danaus, killed husbands at her command
Daphne- nymph chased by Apollo
• turned to laurel
Delphi- where the Oracle of Delphi lived
Demeter (Ceres)- goddess of grain, fertility, earth, agriculture, fertility, marriage ish
• bringer of seasons
• spring= Persephone returns; fall=she leaves
• daughter = Persephone
Dido- founder/queen of Cathrage, stabbed herself when Aeneas left her
Dionysus (Bacchus)- god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy
Echo- nymph, see: Narcissus
Electra
Elysian Fields- paradise
Eros (Cupid)- God of Love
• Arrows make people fall in love
• Cast nobody-will-love-you spell on Psyche because Aphrodite (his mom) was jealous
• Accidentally cast spell on himself too
• Married Psyche
Eteocles
Europa- pretty girl who had kids with Zeus
• Zeus disguised himself as white bull
• Europa rode on him to Crete
• Bull became Taurus
• daughter of King Agenon
Eurydice- wife of Orpheus
Furies- girl creatures representing anger of the dead
Galatea
Gorgons- 3 sisters with serpent hair
• Stethno, Euralye (immortal) , Medusa
• Brazen claws, wings of gold
Graces (3)- goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility
• Agalea (Beauty), Euphrosyne (mirth) and Thalia (Good cheer)
• River Cephissus was sacred to them
Hades (Pluto)- God of the Underworld and Riches
Harpies
Hecate
Hector
Hecuba
Helen
Hephaestus (Vulcan)- God of fire, a blacksmith
• Only deformed God
• Rejected son of Zeus+Hera
Hercules- 12 labors, amazingly strong
• Mortal son of Zeus
Hermes (Mercury)- god of physicians and thieves
• Messenger ofGods
Hestia (Vesta)- goddess of hearth
Hyacinth- boy loved by Apollo and Zephyr (West Wind)
• Ran to catch Apollo’s discus to impress him
• Struck by discus and died
• Zephyrus’s fault- he blew Apollo's discus off course
• Apollo turned hyacinth into flower, petals from his tears
Hydra- serpent with 9 heads, guarded Lake Lerna (entrance to hell)
• killed by Hercules as one of his Twelve Labors
Icarus- son of (see: ) Daedalus
• Escaped from labryinth with wings of wax
• Daedalus warned him not to fly too high
• Flew too high, sun melted wax
• Fell to his death
Iphigenia- sacrificed by dad so his ships would have wind
Iris- goddess of rainbow
Ixion- king who made love to Hera
• Punished by being bound to endlessly spinning wheel
Janus- god of gates/doors, symbolized by 2 faces
Jason- brought back the Golden Fleece
Jocasta-mother/wife of Oedipus
Laocoon-prince, warned against Trojan horse
Leda- mortal loved by Zeus in form of swan
Lethe River- river of Underworld
Medea- sorceress, helped Jason
Medusa- monster
Menelaus- king of Sparta
Mentor- friend of Odyssesus
Midas- everything he touched turned to gold
Minos- King of Crete
Minotaur- monster with body of a man and bull head
• King of Minos kept bull meant for sacrifice
• Gods punished him by making his wife fall in love with bull and have Minotaur
• King had Daedalus construct an intricate labyrinth to hide monster
• forced the Athenians to send as tribute seven youths and maidens every nine years to
feed monster
• Killed by Thesus
Morpheus- God of dreams (shaped/configure them)
• Lived in dark cave, often seen in poppy field
• son of Hypnos, the god of sleep
Muses (9)- Goddesses of development of arts/science
• great inspirations to all sculptors, painter, and philosophers
• often seen near wells/springs
• worshipped Apollo as leader, sang often of Zeus’s greatness
• Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and
Urania
Narcissus-the guy who was so hot he couldn’t stop looking at himself and then died
because he loved his reflection too much, flower grew in his place
Nausicaa- found Odyssesus when he got shipwrecked
Nemesis- goddess of vengeance
Niobe- changed to stone but wept for dead kids
Odysseus (Ulysses): legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of The Odyssey
Oedipus
• Abandoned at birth
• Prophecy that he would kill dad and marry mom
• Solved riddle of Sphinx
• Eventually had 3 kids w/mom
• Blinded self and went into exile
Olympus-mountain where gods live
Orestes- killed Clymestra, pursued by Furies until he was purified by Apollo
Orion- hunter, killed by Artemis, constellation
Orpheus- musician,
Pallas Athena (Minerva)
Pan- god of forests, flocks, and shepherds
• half man and half goat
• plays pipes
Pandora- first mortal woman, had box containing ills
• sent to Earth as punishment for Promethesus’ stealing fire
• hope at bottom of the box
Paris- marries Helen, causes Trojan War
• forced to award golden apple to Aphrodite/Hera/Athena
• Apple to Aphrodite who rewards him with love of the prettiest girl ever
Parnassus- home of the Muses
Pegasus- winged horse from the body of Medusa
Penelope- wife of Odysseus, waited for him
Persephone- tricked into marrying Hades
• Allowed to return for 6 months per year
• Ate 6 pomegranate seeds
•
Perseus- slew Medusa, married Andromeda
Polyneices- he and brother Etocles killed each other for throne
Poseidon (Neptune)- god of the sea, has a trident
Priam- king of Troy
Prometheus- created man from clay, stole fire from Zeus and gave to people
• Chained to rock and had liver eaten daily
• Eventually saved by Hercules
Proteus- sea god, changed shapes
Psyche- goddess of emotion
• Very beautiful, Venus was jealous
• Cupid loved her, hid his identity by only visiting her at night
• Eventually she snuck in light, found him out
Pygmalion- king of Cyprus
• Carved ivory statues of girl
• Aphrodite gave life, became Galatea
Pyramus- see: Thisbe
Scylla- monster in cave near Charbydis
Sirens- lured sailors to death with singing
Sisyphus- wealthy man who cheated others/gods
• Punished to push heavy boulder up a hill
• Boulder would roll back down right before it reached top
Sphinx- monster who told riddles, killed those who couldn’t answer
Stentor- herald in Trojan War, 50-man volume
Styx River- river dividing land of living and hell
Tantalus- punished to stand chin-deep in lake with fruit branches, couldn’t eat or drink
though
Telemachus- son of Odysesseus
Theseus- slew Minotaur, deserted Ariadne
Thetis- leader of Nereids
• Cared for Hepheastus when he was exiled
• Mother of Achilles
Thisbe- lover of Pyramus, “Romeo+Juliet-y”
• Forbidden marriage, conversed through hole in wall
• Arranged to meet at tomb of Ninus
• Thisbe’s garment soiled by lion’s kill’s blood
• Pyramus thinks she’s dead, kills himself
• Thisbe kills herself upon finding his body
Tiresias- turned male/female depending on serpent that he killed
• Hera/Zeus had argument about which gender had more fun
• Tiresias agreed with Zeus (women had more fun)
• Hera blinded him, Zeus gave him prophecy and long life
Triton- god of Sea ish, son of Poseidon
Zeus- king of Gods, father of gods , men
• Indo-European root, name= “shining”
• Hurls lightning/thunderbolts

AP Junior English: Allusions to Know

The Bible

Old Testament
Adam and Eve
-Garden of Eden: their home
-fig leaf: they make clothes from this
-apple: fruit from the tree of Wisdom
-serpent: tempts Eve to eat the apple
-curse: pain in childbirth and death
• Adam= image of God
• God not to eat from tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Cain and Abel
• First and second sons of Adam and Eve
• Cain’s offerings to God were not his best, and thus were rejected; Abel’s were not
• Cain murders Abel
-the mark of Cain: God curses Cain so he can no longer cultivate crops, and marks him as
a warning to others.
Noah and the Flood
-the dove: brings back a fresh olive leaf, and then the next time it doesn’t return.
Symbolizes hope.
-the rainbow: “put aside” by God, promise that such a flood would never be let loose on
the world again.
• God didn’t like how people=corrupt
• Agreement with Noah (nice guy)
Tower of Babel: Enormous tower in Babylon
• full of different languages/cultures
• Constructed to be dedicated to the glory of man, to get to heaven
• theme of competition between the Lord and humans
• God made them speak diff languages so couldn’t understand
• explains the origin of nations, of their languages, and of Babylon (Babel)
Abraham: traveled to the Land of Canaan at the command of God
-Sarah: barren wife, eventually was jealous of Hagar and Ishmael
-Hagar: wife’s servant
-Ishmael: husband and Hagar’s kid, ancestor of Muhammad the prophet
Lot and his Wife
• Lot= Abraham’s nephew
• Accompanied his uncle to Egypt and later to Canaan.
• Split ways- owned different lands (Lot=Sodom and Gomorrah)
• God later destroyed those areas, offered Lot and his family protection only if they
promised not to look back.
• Lot’s wife turned, became salt pillar
-Sodom and Gomorrah
Isaac and Rebecca
• Issac= “laughter”
• Married Rebecca, lied about relationship
• Offered to God as sacrifice
• Didn’t get sacrificed from God’s will
Jacob and Esau
• Twin sons of Issac+ Rebecca
• Birth prophecy, twins would fight
• Esau =hunter, dad’s boy; Jacob= simple man, a dweller in tents, mama’s boy
-mess of potage: Esau sold birthright (first-born title) for soup
• (Later) Issac was blind, wanted to bless Esau as firstborn but tricked into blessing Jacob
-ladder: Jacbob’s vision of a ladder or reaching into heaven with angels representing
nations rising and falling
Rachel and Leah
• Sisters- Leah, older; Rachel, younger
• Jacob loved Rachel, worked 7 years for her
• Shady dad (Laban) switched Leah as bride
• Jacob worked 7 more years for Rachel, loved her more
Joseph
-coat of many colors: symbolized him as family leader
-sold into Egypt: sold as slave by jealous brother Judas
-Potiphar’s wife: Polpitar buys Joseph as slave and makes him head of house; wife is mad
at seduction fail and accuses him of rape
-Pharoah’s dream: Joseph is better at interpreting dreams than Pharoaoh’s magicians;
foretold that seven years of abundance would be followed by seven years of famine
Moses-authorship of Bible
-bulrushes: Moses is set adrift on a river in a basket made of these, escapes from death
like this
-burning bush: form of God, in this form he tells Moses to lead Hebrews into Canaan
-Aaron’s rod
-Passover
-bricks without straw
-crossing the Red Sea
-Ten Commandments
Joshua
Samson- strong because he never cut his hair
• Mistress Delilah was from enemy tribe
• She cut off his hair while he slept
• Philistines captured/blinded him
• Later found enough strength to pull down pillars of temple that everyone was in, even
though it mean he’d die too
Ruth and Naomi- mother/daughter in law
• After Ruth’s husband dies she is loyal to Naomi
• Ruth marries Boaz, relative of Naomi
Saul- first king of Israelian monarchy
David
-Goliath, monster who gets killed
-Jonathon- Saul’s son; adores David
-Bathsheba- married woman with which David sleeps with, then murders her husband
and marries her
-Absalom: his son, rebels against him, and is killed
Solomon- king of Hebrews, very wise very wise
• 2 women claimed same baby was theirs, he orded it cut in half, the woman that
screamed was the mom
Ahab and Jezebel- king and queen
• Jezebel subjects people to tyranny
• She keeps ruling through her sons after Ahab’s death
• Eventually Jezebel is tossed out the window and eaten by dogs
Elijah
Job- lots of patience
Jonah
• a prophet who defied God's command to deliver a warning to the city of Nineveh,
instead fleeing on a ship to Tarshish.
• Means a person or thing who brings bad luck.
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Daniel
-writing on the wall
-lion’s den
New Testament

John the Baptist- baptized Jesus

-Herod captured John for being a follower of Jesus
-Salome- danced for Herod and was rewarded with the head of John on a silver platter
Nativity
-Mary and Joseph
-shepherds
-wise men
-Bethlehem
Marriage in Cana
Beatitudes
-Sermon on the Mount
Walking on water
Miracles
Mary
-Martha
-Lazarus
-Bethany
Prodigal Son
Feeding of the 5.000
Whited sepulcher- evil person who pretends to be good
Parable of the talents
Good Samaritan: parable to "Love thy neighbor as yourself".
Judas
-kiss: kiss of death, an act of betrayal (identified Jesus to soldiers by giving him a kiss)
-30 pieces of silver: blood money, paid for a bad deed
-hanged- killed self cause he felt bad
Last Supper- last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his
death
-bread and wine: represents rememberance of Jesus’s body and blood
• Jesus announced Judas would betray him during meal
• Intro to Eucharist
Garden of Gethsemane- where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his
crucifixtion
• Told disciples to stay awake but they kept sleeping
• commonly visited which allowed Judas to find Jesus on the night of his arrest
Pontius Pilate: a judge at Jesus' trial, authorized his crucifixion.
• governor of Roman province, “skilled with the javelin”
-what is truth: Pilates replies after Jesus describes his mission, " [I] came into the
world ... to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth, listen to [my]
voice"
-washing his hands: corpse reemerges from the waters and wash its hands.
Barabbas- prisoner released instead of Jesus
• violent guy who killed a Roman soldier
Calvary- where he was crucified
-Golgotha
-Christ’s Last Words: “It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Joseph of Arimathea
Mary Magdalene- symbol of absolute repentance by God, “favorite” disciple
• prostitute who came to hear Jesus preach
• "Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone,"
• Went to anoint Jesus’s body and found it gone
• Angel told of resurrection, Jesus appears to her
Road to Emmaus- first road Jesus seen walking on after resurrection
Doubting Thomas- disciple, didn’t believe resurrection
• Jesus appeared in front of him
• Thomas wept and believed forever
Peter- first pope of Christian church
• “In the name of Jesus get up and walk”
• Name means rock, figurative foundation
Pentecost- holiday celebrating Holy Spirit
Stephen- first Christian martyr
Saul / Paul- held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, Jesus appeared to him and he
converted