Chapter 2: Two Great Gods of Earth
from Mythology, by Edith Hamilton
Name ______/ Date______
  1. The two gods who were considered mankind's best friends were Demeter (Greek), ______(Roman), the Goddess of the ______, and Dionysus (Greek), ______(Roman), the God of ______.
  2. Why was it natural for Demeter to be the oldest? ______
    ______
  3. The fields and ______were Demeter's temples. Her chief festival came at ______time, (reaper's Thanksgiving). The great festival, in ______, came only every _____ years, but lasted _____ days. During this time (sacred days):
  4. Ordinary business life was ______
  5. ______took place.
  6. ______were held with
  7. ______and ______

The chief part of the ceremony took place in the ______. The great temple was at ______, a town near ______, and the worship was called the ______.

  1. Why was it natural to worship both Demeter and Dionysus together? ______
  2. Both gods were not always happy, or joyful. Each knew ______. Demeter lost her daughter, ______, each year. Dionysus' pain came through the treatment of the ______, his symbol.

DEMETER

Demeter means "barley-mother". (Barley was her favorite grain because she had a special drink, kykeon which was minted barley brew.)

  1. Demeter's and Zeus' daughter was ______(Greek) and ______(Roman). She was the maiden of ______. She was carried off to the underworld by ______. The wondrous bloom of the ______caused her to stray away from her ______. His chariot was drawn by coal-black ______.
    ______days Demeter wandered looking for her daughter. The ______told her about the "capture" of her daughter. She left Olympus and went to dwell on ______disguised as an old woman. She came to ______and sat near a well. The four daughters of Celeus asked her to come home with them. Their mother, ______, treated Demeter kindly. In return Demeter cared for her sick son, ______. Demeter planned to give him immortal youth by annointing him with ______and placing him in the ______at ______. Metaneria became uneasy and watched one night. Her screaming caused Demeter to cast ______and reveal______. Demeter made them build her a ______to win back ______.
  2. Because Demeter had neglected the care of the fields, ______had to take matters in hand. He told ______to go down to Hades and get Persephone back. Hades did not want her to leave so he made sure that she ate ______seeds.
  3. Zeus sent Rhea, his ______, to Demeter. The message explained how her daughter must spend ______of a year with Hades.

DIONYSUS

  1. Dionysus was the ______god to enter Olympus. The birthplace of Dionysus was ______. ______was his father and ______his mother. He was the only god whose parents were not both ______.
  2. Semele was Zeus' most unfortunate love, due to ______, his wife. Zeus loved Semele so much that he swore by the river ______to do whatever she asked him. Hera caused Semele to ask to see Zeus in ______as ______. Zeus knew that no ______could see him as Zeus and ______. Why did he do what Semele requested. ______
  3. As Semele burned Zeus snatched ______from her near birth and hid him in ______away from ______until it was time for him to be born.
  4. After Dionysus was "twice born," Hermes took him to the nymphs of ______. Afterwards, Zeus placed these nymphs in the sky as ______which brings ______when they near the ______.
  5. Therefore, Dionysus was born of ______and nursed by ______. As a man he wandered to strange lands teaching men the culture of the ______and the mysteries of his ______.
  6. Near Greece ______captured him and tied him to the ship. To their amazement the ropes ______. The ______cried out to set Dionysus free, that he was a god! But the ______mocked him. A wonder happened: ______ran in streams down the deck; ______spread over the sail. Then Dionysus became a ______and scared everyone causing them to ______, instantly changing them into ______except ______.
  7. In Thrace, King ______bitterly opposed this new worship. At first Dionysus ______but later came back and ______this king. Zeus struck Lycurgus ______.
  8. Dionysus married ______, princess of Crete, at Naxos, an island. She had once saved ______life in Crete against the Minotaur. Dionysus gave her a ______; when she died, he placed it ______.
  9. Semele, Dionysus' mother, was in Hades (remember the Greeks and the Romans believed that all the dead lived in Hades which was divided into different sections; sections for the bad and good). Dionysus defied ______and brought her up to ______where the gods made her ______.
  10. The ______, or Bacchantes, were the women followers frenzied with ______. They ran through the forest, waving ______. They would hunt down ______, kill them, eat the ______and drink ______. They had no temples. They went to the ______to worship. Dionysus gave them ______and ______: ______and ______and the milk of the ______.
  11. The worship of Dionysus was centered in two ideas: ______and ______.
  12. ______, King of Thebes, was a cousin of ______. He highly objected to this new worship. He ordered his guards to ______and ______both ______and ______. He was warned not to reject this ______by ______, the holy man of Thebes. He ordered his soldiers to put Dionysus in prison but prison could not ______. Dionysus went to Pentheus again to persuade him to welcome the new worship, but Pentheus refused. ______left him to his doom. Pentheus' ______and her sisters became ______. Dionysus made them all ______. The women thought Pentheus was a ______. They tore him limb from limb. Dionysus restored their ______. This showed the ugly and degrading side of wine-drinking.
  13. Why was Dionysus so different from one time to another? ______
  14. Were there followers of Dionysus who never drank wine? ______
  15. The worship service to Dionysus took place in the ______. It lasted ______days. Ordinary business was ______. No one could be put ______; ______were released. The place of worship was a ______, and the ceremony was a ______. These were written to honor ______. The people who took part in these plays were regarded as ______. The performances were ______. The spectators were engaged in an act of ______.
  16. The plays were first ______plays, never equaled until ______. ______were produced too but fewer.
  17. Dionysus experienced pain through his symbol the ______. Nothing else is ______away as much as a grape vine. Through the winter it looks seemingly ______of putting forth ______. His death is ______; ______to pieces. He dies and rises again. (represents the idea of resurrection)
  18. Resurrection at first was centered in ______who rose from the dead ______. But as ______of the underworld, she was happy. Resurrection later was centered in ______because he was never a ______in the underworld. Also, he rescued ______from the underworld.