EDITH HAMILTON

MYTHOLOGY
Guided Reading Questions

HOW THE WORLD AND MANKIND WERE CREATED

VOCABULARY
Directions: As you read the chapter, respond to the following questions.
Before you start your reading,
1. Who was first in existence before the gods appeared?
define these words to make
your reading easier.
2. What two children were born into nothingness?
1. Myth:

2. Exaggeration:

3. Personify:
3. Who are Night and Erebus and what do you know about them?
4. Personification: 4. Illustrate the birth of Love

5. Banish: 5. What was the process for the creation of the earth?

6. Dethrone: 6. Wha
t

things were personified by each storyteller? Provide two examples of the

ways they personified these things.

7. Who are Gaea and Ouranos?

8. Who are the titans? Name one good thing about them.

9. Who is Cronus and why is he a bad father?

10. Why did Cronus swallow his children?

11. Who is Zeus born to?

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12. What did Rhea do to her sixth son?

13. Why is there a night time and a day time?

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14. How did Zeus and his brothers and sisters become the undisputed lords of it all?

15. What did the earth look like according to the Greeks?

16. What prepared earth for mankind?

17. Who are Epimetheus and Prometheus, and what are their roles?

18. Of the two stories about the creation of man, which do you prefer? Why do you like this one more than the other?
Explain in detail.

19. Who is Pandora? Why was she created?

20. Which story about Pandora do you prefer? Explain why you prefer that story.

21. What does it mean when I say, “You have opened Pandora’s box”?

22. Who are the stone people? What is their story?

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Cupid and Psyche

Vocabulary
Part Two: Stories of Love and Adventure
ConsortingHomage

Thronged
Directions: as you read the story of Cupid and Psyche, respond to these questions.
Inexpressibly
Be sure to take detailed notes—indicate the page numbers—
Ardent
so that you may review them and study them for quizzes and exams.
Maze

Manifestly
1. Who is the only poet to tell this story?
2. Who is Psyche? Describe her Briars

Consent
3. Venus is known for her beauty. How do they compare Psyche to Venus?
Eminently
4. Why might Venus dislike Psyche? Suitable

5. Why you do believe that Psyche did not fall in love with a “horrible
wretch” or in love at all?

6. Who did Psyche’s father go to in order to find her a husband?

7. What did Apollo tell Psyche’s father?

8. How does Psyche show courage despite her fate?

9. Draw the scene of Psyche’s first day living out her fate below

10. Describe Psyche’s husband

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11. Why was Psyche unhappy?

12. What happens with Psyche and her sisters?

13. How does Psyche’s husband feel about her sisters visiting?

14. What do the sisters plot to do?

15. What do they do to ruin her?

16. What happens to Psyche after her sisters enact their plot?

17. Who is Psyche’s husband?

18. What does Psyche do when her husband flees?

19. What does the author mean when she says “She offered ardent prayers to them perpetually. . .” (Hamilton 128).

20. How are animals and nature personified in this story?

21. What are the tasks Venus sets out for Psyche and why does she do it?

22. Explain in detail how the last paragraph relates to the way we treat marriage today.

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Application
23. If you were Psyche’s husband, what would you have done? Explain. (4 sentences minimum)

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