Deck 3: In the Beginning: Hesiods Creation Story

Question 1

One of the nine muses of the arts is the muse of astronomy.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The term cosmogony means a theory of the creation or origin of the universe.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In many mythological accounts, the cosmos begins with a separation of earth from sky.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The monster snake, slain by the young god as he fights to establish his power, may be a patriarchal perversion of the wise serpent, which symbolized the Great Goddess.

Question 5

The watery environment in which the Genesis 1 creation account opens is also a common motif in other creation accounts in the ancient Near East.

Question 6

Since Hesiod's story of the origins of world origins is essentially religious, it has no special political or social functions.

Question 7

The theme of the separation of earth and sky to produce the known universe is unique to Greek mythology.

Question 8

To avoid Cronus's fate, Uranus devours his children.

Question 9

There is strong evidence that the ziggurat was a place of human sacrifice.

Question 10

The battle between Zeus and the monster snake may be a faint memory of some geological disaster.

Question 11

Zeus castrates his father, Cronus, and throws his genitals into the sea.

Question 12

The shared function of the Tower of Babel, the Sumerian ziggurats, and Jacob's ladder was to support the weight of the sky.

Question 13

Aphrodite rises out of the sea, born of the severed phallus, semen, and sea foam.

Question 14

The earliest known literary work that includes a mythological account of universal origins is the Babylonian creation myth, Enuma Elish.

Question 15

Zeus is the grandson of Gaea and Cronus.

Question 16

The Greek mythic model of the cosmos was created in close collaboration with Greek scientists of the era.

Question 17

Some scholars speculate that the castration myth reflects an ancient ritual in which the primal goddess's consort was killed and perhaps eaten.

Question 18

Gaea engineers a confrontation between Zeus and her own child, the monster Hephaestus.

Question 19

The fact that Aphrodite is born earlier than Zeus and the Olympians reflects the importance of her power in the Greek universe.

Question 20

Hera gives birth to the monster Hephaestus, who defeats Zeus in a great battle.

Question 21

Hesiod and his fellow Greeks probably learned the Near Eastern myths

A) by traveling back to Mesopotamia.
B) because they had slaves who came from Mesopotamia.
C) by reading copies of the Mesopotamian documents that were published in Greece.
D) piecemeal, gathering narrative fragments from travelers who came to the eastern Mediterranean for commercial and other purposes.

Question 22

What is the name of the monster snake slain by Zeus?

A) Typhoeus
B) Hephaestus
C) Tiamat
D) Tartarus

Question 23

In a passage in the Theogony, a god is creating the first woman at the request of Zeus. His name is not mentioned, but can you identify him from this description? "The famous lame smith took clay and, through Zeus's counsels, gave it the shape of a modest maiden."

A) Apollo
B) Hephaestus
C) Hermes
D) Prometheus

Question 24

Since Hesiod wanted to describe the Greek world in which he lived,

A) he could only use stories which he himself had made up.
B) he could only use stories which originated in Greece.
C) he needed to transform any stories which he imported from outside.
D) none of the above.

Question 25

Who devoured his children?

A) Typhoeus
B) Cronus
C) Zeus
D) Uranus

Question 26

Hesiod's account of origins in Theogony can be interpreted as a charter myth which supports the political and social relationships in the Greek world of Hesiod's experience.

Question 27

There are nine Muses. Which one of these four is not a Muse?

A) Clio
B) Urania
C) Rhea
D) Thalia

Question 28

Why is Uranus castrated?

A) Gaea is resentful toward him for not letting her give birth to her children.
B) Gaea is resentful toward him for having had sexual relationships with other female deities.
C) Gaea is resentful toward him for having had sexual relationships with mortal women.
D) Tartarus is appalled because Uranus has married his own mother.

Question 29

The myth of Aphrodite's birth, as related in Theogony,

A) indicates that Aphrodite was the youngest of the gods.
B) reveals a characteristic Greek ambivalence about sexual love.
C) associates her with Hermes, the trickster god.
D) gives assurance that good always triumphs over evil.

Question 30

Who is the mother of the Muses?

A) Mnemosyne
B) Clio
C) Hera
D) Athene

Question 31

Several themes mentioned in the text are common to the cosmogony of Hesiod and the Near Eastern myths. Which of the following is not one of those themes?

A) Several generations of gods successively rule the cosmos before the young male sky god takes over.
B) A snakelike monster is slain by the young male god.
C) The older god is castrated by a younger god.
D) The older generation of gods perishes in a global flood.