Mythology

Name: __________________________________________________________ Date: ________________

Part Six The Less Important Myths

Chapter 20 Midas and Others Chapter 21 Brief Myths

1. What wish did Bacchus grant to Midas, and what was the result?

2. For what was Aesculapius honored?

3. What wrong did the Danaids do, and what was their punishment?

4. What was Arachne’s misdeed, and what was her punishment?

5. Which human lover of Zeus’ was changed into the Great Bear and placed in the sky?

6. For what was the centaur Chiron know?

7. Why were the Myrmidons created?

8. Which great hunter was placed in the sky as a constellation?

9. Who were the Pleiades?

10. What did Sisyphus do, and how was he punished?

Pre-reading Vocabulary Worksheets - Mythology

Part Six The Less Important Myths

Chapter 20 Midas and Others Chapter 21 Brief Myths Arranged Alphabetically

Introduction Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Context Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence.

Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you
think the underlined words mean on the lines provided.

1. The fat old drunkard was found asleep in a bower of roses.

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2. She fled from him until she stood on a lofty promontory where she could safely watch him.

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3. Her story is the only one in which the good goddess Ceres appears cruel and vindictive.

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4. Erysichthon had the wicked audacity to cut down the tallest oak in a grove sacred to Ceres.

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5.&6. He learned in this way the art of divination as no one ever had, and he became a famous

soothsayer.

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7. Hera sent a fearful pestilence which destroyed the people by thousands.

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8. He found a pang of grief as he watched the maiden placed on the funeral pyre and the wild

flames roar up.

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9. This man was another illustration of how fatal it was for mortals to try to emulate the gods.

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Part Six Chapters 20 & 21 continued

Part II: Determining the Meaning Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

____ 1. bower                        A. a shaded, leafy recess or arbor

____ 2. promontory                B. to compete with successfully

____ 3. vindictive                   C. daring, boldness

____ 4. audacity                     D. a pile of things that can be used for burning corpses

____ 5. divination                   E. unforgiving, seeking revenge

____ 6. soothsayer                  F. a fatal epidemic disease

____ 7. pestilence                   G. the art of foretelling events by use of the supernatural

____ 8. pyre                            H. a high ridge of land that juts out into the water

____ 9. emulate                       I. a prophet