Vocabulary.com - 44 Greek Mythology word content feature

11 Mythology puzzles and 44 Greek Mythology words plus the stories behind each word.
Everything in the feature is reproducible with attribution to Vocabulary.com.

P#1 (Puzzle #1) - aegis, epicurean, mentor, chimerical

P#2 (Puzzle #2) - labyrinth, palladium, museum, narcissism

P#3 (Puzzle #3) - odyssey, meander, stoical, protean

P#4 (Puzzle #4) - Herculean, laconic, zephyr, nemesis

P#5 (Puzzle #5) - Flora, ambrosia, hermetic, promethean

P#6 (Puzzle #6) - Nectar, sibylline, tantalize, Delphic

P#7 (Puzzle #7) - Halcyon, platonic, draconian, calypso

P#8 (Puzzle #8) - Amazon, siren, mercurial, procrustean

P#9 (Puzzle #9) - Aurora, iridescent, panacea, lethargy

P#10 (Puzzle #10) - Gorgons, harpies, hydra, lycanthrope

P#11 (Puzzle #11) - Martial, sophistry, fauna, stentorian

These 44 words alphabetically:
aegis, Amazon, ambrosia, aurora, calypso, chimerical, Delphic, draconian, epicurean, fauna, flora, gorgons, halcyon, harpies, Herculean, hermetic, hydra, iridescent, labyrinth, laconic, lethargy, lycanthrope, martial, meander, mentor, mercurial, museum, narcissism, nectar, nemesis, odyssey, palladium, panacea, platonic, procrustean, promethean, protean, sibylline, siren, sophistry, stoical, stentorian, tantalize, zephyr

Puzzle #1
aegis - The piece of defensive armor or protective shield carried by Zeus, the sight of which filled enemies with horror.
epicurean - Epicurus, the founder of a school of philosophy, believed the supreme goal in life should be pleasure.
mentor - Faithful adviser to whom Odysseus entrusted the education of his son, Telemachus, while he fought at Troy.
chimerical - Chimera, a fire-breathing monster with a lion head, goat body and dragon tail.

Puzzle #2
labyrinth - Built to contain the monster Minotaur (cleverly killed by Theseus), this maze was a masterpiece of confusion.
palladium - The statue of Pallas was prophesied to protect the city of Troy as long as it remained inside the city's walls.
museum - The Muses, nine Greek goddesses, presided over arts and literature. This structure was the name of their temple.
narcissism - Narcissus fell in love with himself after seeing his own reflection in a pool. He pined away and died of despair.

Puzzle #3
odyssey - Homer's hero had adventures with Calypso, Circe and The Cyclops, among others, before returning to Troy.
meander - A Turkish river which was proverbial in ancient times for its crooked and wandering course.
stoical - A Greek philosophical school believing that one should avoid joy, grief and passions in order to obtain wisdom.
protean - This sea-god would reveal the secret of getting home, but he had to be caught first before he changed forms.

Puzzle #4
Herculean - Hera, wife of Zeus, arranged for Hercules to be given penance of performing twelve, apparently impossible, tasks.
laconic - The disciplined and militaristic Spartans were known for being blunt and using words sparingly.
zephyr - This mild westwind is the harbinger of spring and always supplants the cold northerly winds of winter.
nemesis - This goddess doled out rewards for noble acts but vengeance for evil ones. Punishment wasn't always immediate.

Puzzle #5
flora - The name of the goddess of spring and flowering plants, esp. wild flowers and plants not raised for food.
ambrosia - Homer, in the Illiad, said that Zeus sent out his workers every day to bring back this delicious substance.
hermetic - Hermes was the god who conducted souls to the judges of the Underworld where one's afterlife was determined.
promethean - Prometheus protected the human race from Zeus and taught them all the arts and skills to make humans unique.

Puzzle #6
nectar - Beverage of the gods like the divine food, ambrosia, conferring immortality on any mortal lucky enough find it.
sibylline - In the Aeneid, a priestess delivered a prophesy that led Aeneas to his father in the Underworld.
tantalize - Tantalus so offended the gods that he was condemned in the afterlife to an eternity of hunger and thirst.
Delphic - The oracle of Apollo in Delphi made pronouncements that would be the right answer regardless of the outcome.

Puzzle #7
halcyon - This is the Greek word for kingfisher, a bird of classical legend, that the Greeks believed could nest at sea.
platonic - The Greek philosopher, Plato, believed that physical objects are weak representations of their ideal form.
draconian - Draco, an Athenian legislator in the 600s B.C., was noted for the severity of his code of laws.
calypso - She was the sea nymph who detained Odysseus for seven years on her lush and hidden island of Ogygia.

Puzzle #8
Amazon - In Homer's Illiad, this race of female warriors was known for being extremely fierce fighters.
siren - These sweet-voiced sea nymphs would lure sailors onto the rocks with their enchanting songs.
mercurial - In Greek he was called Hermes. He was fleet of foot and was the messenger to other gods and mortals.
procrustean - This bandit either stretched or amputated a traveler's legs to make the body fit the length of his bed.

Puzzle #9
aurora - Eos was the Greek goddess of the dawn. She and Tithinus had a son named Memnon.
iridescent - Iris, Zeus' messenger, traveled through the skies wearing a sparkling, rainbow-colored cloak.
panacea - One of two sisters, her name is derived from the words "pan" (all) and "akeisthal" (to heal).
lethargy - Ancient Greeks believed that drinking water from the Lethe would remove all memories and allow reincarnation.

Puzzle #10
gorgons - Medusa, the best-known of the three sisters (Stheno and Euryale), was beheaded by Perseus.
harpies - The Greek word means "snatch." These vultures would swoop down and steal food from their victims.
hydra - Hercules, as one of his labors, was sent to slay this ferocious beast whose home was in the water.
lycanthrope - When Lycaon tried to trick Zeus into eating a meal of human flesh, Zeus turned him into a wolf.

Puzzle #11
martial - March, the first month of the Roman calendar, was named after this god of war and fertility.
sophistry - One of a class of famous teachers who earned a bad reputation for subtle methods of arguing.
fauna - This minor god looked like a man but also had the ears, horns, tail and, sometimes, legs of a goat.
stentorian - Stentor, a Greek herald in the Trojan War, supposedly had a voice as loud as fifty men.

• The "Mythology Matrix Link" features 44 words in 11 puzzles. While there is NO Puzzle #12, we added these 12 additional Greek mythology words for the students and teacher. WE WANT YOU TO LOOK THEM UP!

  ***Pyrrhic Victory, Gordian Knot, Pandora's Box, Cassandra, Damocles, Achilles, Oedipus, Midas, Hades, Spartan, Titanic, Marathon

• The following 44 words from Puzzle #1 - Puzzle #11 (Weeks #1 through #11) are in the "matrix" along with the mythical stories!
  aegis, Amazon, ambrosia, aurora, calypso, chimerical, Delphic, draconian, epicurean, fauna, flora, gorgons, halcyon, harpies, Herculean, hermetic, hydra, iridescent, labyrinth, laconic, lethargy, lycanthrope, martial, meander, mentor, mercurial, museum, narcissism, nectar, nemesis, odyssey, palladium, panacea, platonic, procrustean, promethean, protean, sibylline, siren, sophistry, stoical, stentorian, tantalize, zephyr

How did we choose these 44 words?
ANSWER: We used multiple references for this information both on the internet and in print. The following resources for mythology should be helpful to you in discovering details about mythology.

• From Achilles' Heel to Zeus's Shield by Dale Corey Dibbley, 1993
  
• Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder by Mary Wood Cornog, 1998
  Internet url: http://www.m-w.com/vocab/mytholog.htm
• Classical Mythology Online-Word/Phrases Glossary
  Internet url: http://www.oup-usa.org/sc/0195143388/glossaries/phrase_s.html
• Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts by D.L. Ashliman, Univeristy of Pittsburgh, 2001
  Internet url: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
• Bulfinch's Mythology - The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch
  Internet url: http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/welcome.html
• Mythology by Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster, 2000-2005
  Internet url: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0777436.html
• The Book of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Other Characters of Mythology by P.J. Criss, 2000
  Internet url: http://www.cybercomm.net/~grandapa/gdsindex.html