Chapter Two: The Two Great Gods of Earth

(from Mythology for Today ­­­Hamilton’s Mythology)

1. Demeter is the goddess of corn and the harvest; she is worshipped in daily acts of domestic work, rather than in bloody sacrifice. Dionysus is the god of wine, and he offers humankind joyful celebrations and respite from trouble, but also the dangerous loss of control that comes with drunkenness. 2. Zeus intervenes because Demeter, in her grief at losing her daughter, Persephone, has failed to let the seed grow or the harvest bear fruit. Zeus sends in Hermes to ask Hades to let his bride return to her mother. 3. The seasons of fall and winter correspond to the sorrow that the earth goddess feels when her daughter is in the underworld. During this time, Demeter’s sadness causes the bounty of the earth to dry up, and nothing will grow. When Persephone returns to the earth in spring and summer, Demeter’s joy causes the earth to bloom plentifully and beautifully. 4. Zeus promised Semele that he would do anything she wished. Her fateful wish was to see Zeus in his full splendor. Zeus knew that this would kill her, but he swore by the river Styx to obey her request. When Semele died, Zeus took her unborn child, Dionysus, and hid him from Hera in his side until it was time for his birth. 5. The Maenads are the worshippers of Dionysus. They are women who live in the woods. They are frenzied (drunk) with wine, and tear up wild beasts with their hands and devour them. 6. The Maenads’ connection with nature offers the freedom, beauty, and purity of life far from civilization—they bathe in clear streams, sleep on beds of leaves, and gather from the bounty of nature fruit and herbs. However, the darker side of their connection with nature reveals a wild savagery. An example would be when they tear up wild beats with their hands. It is unsurprising that the god of wine would inspire both joy and ecstasy, but also out‐of‐control savagery, since in small doses wine can lead one to feel content, but too much can lead to violence, rudeness, and other less‐than‐civilized behavior. 7. Pentheus refuses to heed Teiresias’ warning not to imprison Dionysus and his followers. The maidens of Dionysus escape the prison and go to revel in the forest, and they are joined by women of the village, including Pentheus’ mother and sister. When Pentheus goes to the forest to pursue the maidens, Dionysus makes the women mad, so that they believe Pentheus to be not a man, but a wild beast. The crazed band of women tear him “limb from limb,” regaining their sanity only after his death. Pentheus’ mother then realizes she has killed her own son. 8. The festival of Dionysus is held at a theater. The ceremony is in the form of a play. Dionysus was conceived as a god whose spirit filled men and women with inspiration to write and to perform. 9. Dionysus suffers because like the vine that he represents, he must die every winter before he can be reborn in the spring. 10. Dionysus is reborn in the spring from the dead‐seeming, withered grapevine; Persephone is reborn when she is permitted to leave the death of the underworld and come to the earth to be with her mother, Demeter.