Mythology: Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

The twelve Olympians were not very useful to the average human, and in fact they often caused more trouble than not. There were two important gods who lived on Earth and helped mankind, however: Demeter (Ceres), the Goddess of Corn, and Dionysus, also called Bacchus, the God of Wine.

Demeter is the older of the two. She provides fruitful harvests, is a friend of women, and protects the threshing-floor. Demeter was celebrated at harvest time every five years with a nine-day festival. Her great temple was at Eleusis, and her worship was a central part of daily life. There were mysterious rites that took place in Demeter’s temple which we still do not know about, as they were protected by vows of silence.

Dionysus later came to be worshipped at Eleusis as well, which was fitting as both were gods that brought gifts of the earth, and were also yearly defeated by winter. Both Demeter and Dionysus were gods of sorrow as well as joy – unlike the blissful Olympian gods, they knew yearly grief. The early humans used stories about Demeter and Dionysus to explain winter, when everything died and the earth seemed sad.

Demeter had only one child, Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades, lord of the dead, to be his queen. Demeter disguised herself as a mortal and wandered the earth in grief and despair. Eventually she came to Eleusis, and there she was taken in by a hospitable family. They accidentally offended her one night and then Demeter revealed herself, and she told Metaneira, the mother, to build her a temple nearby to win back her favor.

Once her temple was built Demeter lived there, but the earth began to die as her grief continued. Nothing would grow, and it seemed that mortals would starve to death. Finally Zeus sent Hermes to try and make amends. Hermes convinced Hades to let Persephone visit her mother, but first Hades made her eat a magic pomegranate seed that would make her return to him.

Persephone and Demeter greeted each other joyfully, but were saddened by their inevitable parting. Eventually Zeus sent his mother, Rhea, to make a compromise. Persephone would stay with Hades for a third of the year and with Demeter for the other two thirds. Demeter was sorrowful, but she agreed. When Persephone returns to Hades, Demeter grieves and makes the world barren with winter, but when she returns each spring Demeter makes the earth blossom with her joy.

Hamilton emphasizes the importance of sorrow in the story of Demeter and Persephone. They are both goddesses of life and beauty, but it is a fragile beauty that knows also the power of death. Mortals could find more comfort with Demeter and Persephone – goddesses who understood sadness and death – than with the Olympians, who knew neither.

Dionysus was the last god to enter Olympus, and the only god who had a mortal parent. Zeus was his father, but his mother was a Theban princess called Semele. Zeus loved Semele passionately and promised to grant her any wish. The angry, jealous Hera made Semele wish to see Zeus’s full glory. Zeus was forced to show himself (as he had sworn by the river Styx), and his glory killed Semele, but Zeus saved her unborn child and hid it in his own side to protect it from Hera.

When the baby, Dionysus, was born, Hermes carried him away to be raised by the nymphs of the magical valley of Nysa. Dionysus then wandered the earth, teaching mortals about the secrets of wine and his worship. He was usually accepted as a god, but once a group of pirates kidnapped him and would not let him go despite his obvious divinity. Eventually he transformed into a lion and changed the pirates into dolphins.

Dionysus also punished a Thracian king, Lycurgus, who insulted him. In Crete, Dionysus saved and fell in love with Ariadne, who had been cruelly abandoned by the Athenian hero Theseus. Dionysus always longed for Semele, his mother, and eventually he defied Hades himself to save her from death and bring her up to Olympus, where she became an immortal.

Dionysus was one of the gods most contradictory in his nature, as was fitting for the lord of wine. He could be kind and generous, but he was also the god of madness and insane violence. His followers were the Maenads, women driven mad by wine who tore apart and devoured wild animals. They worshipped in the wilderness rather than in a temple. Dionysian worship was made of these two components: freedom and wild joy, and uncontrollable brutality.

Dionysus’ cruelest deed took place in Thebes, where Pentheus, the king (and Semele’s nephew), refused to worship him and even imprisoned Dionysus. As punishment Dionysus drove Pentheus’ mother and sisters mad, so that they thought Pentheus was a mountain lion and tore him apart with their bare hands.

Dionysus’ double nature came naturally, as the Greeks knew that wine could make men friendly and happy but also angry and violent. Dionysus eventually became one of the most important gods, representing not just drunken joy but also holy inspiration. The first theater was performed at the festival in his honor. The greatest poetry in Greece was written for Dionysus, and in this way he became an unrivaled deity.

Like Demeter, Dionysus was also a god that understood suffering and death. Every winter he died like Persephone, but his death was more brutal – he was torn to pieces. Then he rose again every spring, and it was his resurrection that the theater celebrated. He was the “tragic god,” and so the god of the great Greek tragedies. He became a symbol of hope for the immortality of the soul, and for life beyond death.