Question 1

It was the Romans who first named the days of the week after the sun, the moon and the five deities: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. We can still see the Latin influence in the names of the days in the Romance languages. However, the names we use in present day English were influenced by the Germanic tradition and Norse mythology. 

After which Norse god is Wednesday named? 

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Answer: 

Odin. Wednesday comes from Old English Wōdnesdæg/ Old Norse Odinsdagr - for the Germanic god Woden - Odin - the All-father.

Question 2

The archaic form of diamonds was a rock/ metal referred to by a specific term in classical mythology. It meant unconquerable and untameable and its variations find a mention in Virgil’s Aeneid, John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Marvel’s comics featuring Wolverine. 

In Greek mythology, Kronos famously castrated his father (a recurring motif) using a sickle made of this material. Identify this material that was also used to bind Prometheus.  

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Answer: 

Adamant, adamantine or adamantium.

The English word diamond is derived from adamas, via Late Latin diamas and Old French diamant. In ancient Greek the word was ἀδάμας (adamas). 

Question 3

The planets in our Solar System are named after Roman gods. The satellites are named after other mythological characters that were associated with gods (for example - the moons of Jupiter are named after characters close to the Greek equivalent - Zeus). The moons of Uranus are a special case - named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. 

When Arthur C Clarke envisioned a 50 by 20 kilometre cylindrical alien starship entering our Solar System, he named it after a god from a different pantheon. The name of this god is part of the name of his Hugo and Nebula award winning novel (that later became a series). Identify the name of the ship. 

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Answer: 

Rama from the book Rendezvous with Rama

Question 4

In Egyptian mythology, the god Set murdered his brother Osiris and cut up his body into little pieces that he then scattered far and wide. Isis - the wife (and sister) of Osiris found all the pieces and with the help of her jackal-headed son Anubis stitched all the pieces of Osiris back together. But something else needed to be done to bring Osiris back to life. What ritual did this give rise to? Anubis is worshipped for coming up with this ritual.

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Answer

Mummification - embalming the body and wrapping it in linen cloth. Osiris was the first mummy. The Egyptians believed that if the correct funeral rites like mummification were carried out, each of them could be granted immortality in the afterlife, just like Osiris.