Deck 4: Alienation of the Human and Divine: Prometheus, Fire, and Pandora

Question 1

Among the ages of history mentioned by Hesiod are the Age of Iron and the Age of Copper.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In Genesis, a serpent persuades Eve to eat from the Tree of Life.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Gilgamesh, the savage male, is tamed by a sexual encounter with Enkidu, a priest of Ishtar.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The Greek and Judeo-Christian traditions agree on seeing woman as the catalyst of humanity's historical decline.

Question 5

Pandora, the first woman, is created to punish man.

Question 6

When Pandora catches Hope before it flies out of the jar, she closes the lid, thus sealing off hope from the human heart forever.

Question 7

The fire that Prometheus gave to humans is a metaphor for all the arts of civilization.

Question 8

Prometheus is chained to a rock by Zeus as punishment for tricking Zeus to accept bones of sacrificial animals.

Question 9

One of the signs that the end of the world is near is that newborns will have gray hair.

Question 10

During the Age of Gold, men were immortal in both body and soul.

Question 11

One of the key elements in Hesiod's Works and Days is the story of the global flood, which Deucalion and Pyrrha survive in an ark.

Question 12

Hesiod may have created a revised version of an older myth in which Pandora was originally an earth goddess called "Giver of All."

Question 13

The Age of Heroes is one of the ages of history mentioned by Hesiod, even though it has no corresponding metal.

Question 14

Enkidu, the savage male, is tamed through a sexual encounter with a priestess.

Question 15

During the Age of Silver, men's childhood lasted a hundred years.

Question 16

The forbidden fruit is the biblical counterpart of the Promethean fire: enlightenment and cultural separation from nature.

Question 17

Hesiod mentions four ages of history, corresponding to the four main metals.

Question 18

In Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, Prometheus is simply a trickster who takes joy in causing trouble for humanity and the gods.

Question 19

Hesiod saw cosmos permeated with two forms of Strife: mindless aggression and healthy competition.

Question 20

There is a mythological connection between the appearance of Pandora and using fire for cooking.

Question 21

An eponymous ancestor is the person for whom a group is named.

Question 22

The young woman Io was being stung by a gadfly sent by Hermes.

Question 23

Pandora's jar can be seen as a sybmol of the womb.

Question 24

Zeus, in Aeschylus's interpretation, is omnipotent as well as omniscient.

Question 25

Hubris means to "miss the mark" when target shooting.

Question 26

According to Hesiod, the trickster mentality was critical in the shaping of the universe and human society.

Question 27

Prometheus Bound is the first part of a trilogy; the other two parts remain only in fragments: Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire-Eater.

Question 28

The poet Shelley interpreted Prometheus as an image of the human mind, remaining free despite its physical bondage.

Question 29

A character who represents the trickster archetype is cuning and witty and, since he loves to cause trouble for everyone, he can never be considered heroic.

Question 30

Hesiod claims that Prometheus is a second-generation Titan; Aeschylus identifies him as a son of Gaea.

Question 31

Why did Prometheus give the fire to humans, according to Aeschylus?

A) to spite the gods
B) to alleviate human suffering
C) in response to a wager with Hermes
D) by accident, accentuating Zeus's lack of a sense of justice

Question 32

Why might Zeus's reconciliation with Prometheus be compared to his swallowing of Metis?

A) Both are false reconciliations: Zeus does not allow anyone to best him; he would rather swallow him up.
B) Both are examples of true, bonding love: you absorb the one you love.
C) Both are examples of Zeus assimilating the qualities of the other.
D) The comparison is mistaken; there is no common ground.

Question 33

Because of an oath sworn by Zeus that he wouldn't release Prometheus, the Titan must wear a fragment of the rock attached to a steel ring.

Question 34

Aeschylus interprets Prometheus as a tyrant, whereas Hesiod sees him as a heroic rebel.

Question 35

Deucalion and Pyrrha survive the flood in an ark, according to Greek tradition, and repopulate the earth by throwing stones over their shoulders.

Question 36

Aeschylus' association of Prometheus with Gaea and Themis links him with feminine wisdom.

Question 37

The chorus sides with Prometheus against Hermes and Zeus, although the Greek chorus usually takes a mediating position.

Question 38

Prometheus's virtue of intellectual honesty brings about his suffering.

Question 39

Zeus allows Heracles to kill the eagle that is feasting on Prometheus's liver.

Question 40

Prometheus's defiance gives Zeus an opportunity to save himself from a future downfall at the hands of Prometheus's son.

Question 41

In the Bible as well as in Greek mythology, humanity pays a price for knowledge in terms of losing something precious. Which loss shouldn't be on the list?

A) a loss of innocence
B) a loss of paradise
C) a loss of eternal life
D) a loss of peace

Question 42

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of the universal flood

A) ends with the survival of Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh's relative.
B) begins when Enkidu is "tamed" by the priestess of Ishtar.
C) does not appear at all.
D) describes the end of an entire race.

Question 43

What quality brings about the suffering of Prometheus?

A) his virtue of intellectual honesty
B) his virtue of divine courage
C) his virtue of modesty
D) his virtue of divine curiosity

Question 44

What does hamartia mean?

A) overconfidence
B) missing the mark
C) I have found it!
D) All artists are hams.

Question 45

A structuralist might interpret Prometheus Bound as a representation of a clash between two opposites. They are:

A) established order and the force of conscience and critical intelligence.
B) good and evil.
C) deceptive women and gullible men.
D) life and death.

Question 46

Which age does Hesiod identify as representing his own time and that of the audience?

A) the Age of Heroes
B) the Age of Bronze
C) the Age of Copper
D) the Age of Iron

Question 47

Hesiod mentions five ages of history. Which of the following is one of these ages?

A) Trick question: Hesiod mentions four ages of history, not five.
B) the Age of Mercury
C) the Age of Iron
D) the Age of Copper

Question 48

Hermes is the divine trickster par excellence who

A) is the father of another famous trickster.
B) loves to cause all kinds of trouble.
C) is central to the universe under the governance of Zeus.
D) all of the above.

Question 49

Aeschylus transformed the myth of Prometheus by making him

A) a wily trickster
B) an agent of tyranny
C) a saviour of humankind
D) a violent warrior

Question 50

Why was Prometheus chained to a mountain, with an eagle eating from his liver?

A) as punishment for tricking Zeus to accept bones from sacrificial animals
B) as punishment for creating the first woman, thus letting evil loose in the world
C) as punishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to men
D) for no good reason: the story shows that the wrath of Zeus is illogical

Question 51

According to Apollodorus, when the centaur Chiron is wounded by Heracles's poisoned arrow, he

A) takes Prometheus down to Hades.
B) dies and gives Prometheus his immortality.
C) kills the eagle that feeds on Prometheus's liver.
D) places Prometheus in the sky as a constellation.