STUDY GUIDE TEST TWO

Questions about the cult of Cybele:

	What kind of music was used in the cult of Cybele?
	What is Cybele's iconography?  Why does she carry the tympanum?  Why do lions sit at her feet?  Why does she wear a turreted crown (Lucretius explains this)?
	Pay attention to Catullus' passage on Attis and Cybele.  What happens at the end of the poem?  Is Attis glad to be a priest of Cybele?
	What, according to your book, are the major differences between Greek and Roman worship of Cybele?  Why did the Roman senate allow the cult of Cybele to enter Rome?  In what form did they bring her from Phrygia?
	What is the point of all those myths about Attis dying and the pine tree or almond tree growing?  What happened to Attis' body after he died?
	What is the symbolism behind the pomegranate?
	According to modern anthropologists, for what group would the cult of Cybele have been a haven?
	What is the taurobolium and why was it performed?
	Who were the Galli and from where did they get the name?
	What does "soteriological" mean?  How does it relate to the cult of Attis at Rome?
	Is there any connection between Cybele and Dionysus?

Questions about Demeter and Persephone

	What is the iconography of Demeter and Persephone?  (wheat or barley stalks, rooster [as the herald of the new day after the dark night], sceptre, torches [=light in the darkness of death; funerary rites; mysteries]).
	What kinds of things would the initiates into the cult of Demeter have seen inside her temple during the ceremonies?  What could people outside the temple see?
	What was the heart of the teachings of the mysteries of Demeter?
	Why did Demeter withdraw into her temple at Eleusis and what happened on earth when she did?  Why was she placing Demophoon in the hearth fire?
	How did Iambe cheer up Demeter?  What is kykeon?
	What makes the mother/daughter relationship a good paradigm for the way life works?  Note that sometimes Persephone is called "Kore," which is really just the Greek word for "daughter."
	What significance was attached to Persephone's eating of the pomegranate seeds?
	What were the prerequisites for becoming an initiate in Demeter's mysteries?
	Who is Triptolemus and what did he do?
	Why did Hecate send Demeter to talk to Helios about her daughter?
	What is a "mystes"?
	What is "ergot"?
	Why are pigs sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone?
	What is the significance of "flower gathering" festivals?
	Who awarded Persephone to Hades and what gave him the right to do that?

Questions about Aphrodite and Eros

	Why is Sappho called a "Lesbian" poet?  What does she have to do with Aphrodite?  What kinds of creatures does she say pull the chariot of Aphrodite?
	Why did Pygmalion make his own woman?  What is Aphrodite's connection to the island of Cyprus?
	How was Adonis born?  Who is Myrrha?
	What ritual did the women of Greece perform for Adonis and why?
	What was wrong with Priapus that made Aphrodite embarrassed?
	What is the "evil eye" and how did Priapus help avert it?
	Why is the donkey Priapus' animal of choice for sacrifices?
	Read what I said in the book about Aphrodite and Anchises.  What does this story represent?

Questions about Dionysus

	Why is Dionysus called "twice-born"?  Denditres?  Lyaeus?  Bromius?
	How did Dionysus escape the pirates on the way to Naxos?
	Who were the followers of Dionysus and how did they look?
	What are the sparagmos and omophagia?  Are there any modern parallels?
	What is the connection of drama to Dionysus (see your book concerning the City Dionysia?
	How did one achieve communion with Dionysus?  What was the psychological effect?  What modern celebration most closely resembles the worship of Dionysus?
	What happens when Dionysus returns to Thebes?
	What is Pentheus' problem in the Bacchae (he seems to have a voyeuristic streak, don't you think)?  What happens to him in the end?

Questions about Apollo

	What do we mean by "Smintheus" and how does that relate to Apollo as a god of medicine?
	What is the connection between Apollo and dolphins/wolves?
	What are all Apollo's spheres of influence?  What does "loxian" mean?
	Read the book's description of the Sibyl as she is overcome by Apollo?  Why is he possessing her?  In what manner does the possession come?
	What is a "kouros"?
	Why was Zeus angry at Asclepius?
	What was the Python?  Why is Apollo called "Pythian"?
	Know the failed love affairs of Apollo.  Who was Cassandra?  Who was Marpessa?  Who was Daphne?

5) Hades and Persephone