Praise-singer (?), Palace of Nestor
Late Bronze Age fresco, reconstructed by Piet de Jong
Myths and Legends of the Trojan War
FINAL EXAM:
Read / study the excerpt from Apollodorus' Library (download here). It is not great literature. It is part of an ancient mythological handbook, a summary of the complete Epic Cycle from the original curse on the House of Atreus down through the homecomings from Troy.
Much of it will be familiar territory by now. It reviews the contents of the Iliad and Odyssey and several of the tragedies we read. It also has several long catalogues which you can ignore (ships 3.11–14; Trojans 3.34–35: but just for laughs check out the catalogue of Penelope's suitors at 7.26–30).
The exam will be on the list of characters below. In parentheses I give you the section that contains the details which may appear on the test. There won't be questions on events from the Iliad or Odyssey themselves). So, for example, the numbers next to Odysseus don't deal with his homecoming, but such episodes as his feigned madness to avoid joining the expedition against Troy; his stealing of the palladium in Troy; and his marriage to Callidice after Penelope.
I know it looks like alot of names. But I think you'll find much of it familiar, and if you go through the passage several times the whole story will come together. (If you want further information about any of the names, a good resource is the Oxford Companion to World Mythology, online at BH here)
The format will be the familiar matching lists, but obviously a pretty long one.
Download the list here (PDF).
Tantalus is not included in Apollodorus, but since he was the origin of the curse on the House of Atreus, you should know the following:
"He was condemned to suffer eternal thirst and hunger [in the underworld], refreshment being always just tantalizingly out of reach. There are several stories about the reasons for this harsh punishment. It was said by some that he revealed certain of Zeus's secrets. Others said he stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods. The most commonly held belief was that he tested the gods' powers of knowledge and perception by inviting them to dinner and serving up his dismembered and cooked son, Pelops. The gods understood immediately what the dinner was made of, brought Pelops back to life, and condemned his father" .
Pelops (2.3–9, 5.10–11)
Oenomaus (2.4–7)
Hippodameia (2.4–9)
Atreus (2.10–14)
Aerope (2.10–12)
Thyestes (2.10–16)
Aegisthus (2.14)
Tyndareus (2.15–16)
Clytaemnestra (2.15–16)
Helen(e) (5.9, 13, 19)
Tantalus II (see 2.16)
Electra (6.28)
Iphigenia (3.21–22)
Eris (3.2)
Hera (3.(3.2–3)
Athena (3.2–3)
Aphrodite (3.2–3)
Menelaus (3.28–9, 6.1, 29–30)
Hermione (3.3, 6.28)
Alexander/Paris (5.4)
Proteus (3.5, 6.30)
Palamedes (3.7, 6.7–11)
Odysseus (3.7, 28–9, 5.13, 7.34–7)
Nauplius (3.7, 6.7–11)
Calchas 3.15
Achilles (3.16, 5.3–5)
Telephus (3.17)
Apollo (3.20)
Philoctetes (3.27, 5.8)
Protesilaus (3.29–30)
Medea (Medeia) 5.5
[Troilus] 3.32
Aeneas (Aineias) (3.32, 5.21)
Penthesileia (5.1)
Memnon (5.3)
Deiphobus (5.9, 22)
Helenus (5.9–10)
Neoptolemus (5.10–11, 24, 6.12–14)
Diomedes (5.13)
Epeius (5.14)
Sinon (5.15, 19)
Cassandra (5.17, 22, 24)
Laocoon (5.17–18)
Priam(us) (5.21)
Aias/Ajax (5.6–7)
Astyanax (5.23)
Polyxene (5.24)
Mopsus (6.2–4)
Aias/Ajax II (Locrian or Oilean)(5.22, 25, 6.5–6)
Idomenus (6.10–11)
Pylades (6.24–8)
Thoas (6.27)
Callidice (7.34–5)
Telegonus (7.36–7)
Penelope (7.37–9)