Mythology

Dionysus and Demeter are the two great gods of the earth. Dionysus was the God of Wine and Demeter was the Goddess of Corn. These two are like no other gods or goddesses because they actually helped the human race, while the others had nothing to do with humans. Demeter brought a good harvest year after year, so humans had something to eat. Dionysus' gift to the human race was the grape for wine. Together these two gods gave the humans what they needed for their very survival, which was food and water.

They were happy during the summer, but during the winter, they grieved, and so did the earth. Demeter had one daughter, Persephone, who was kidnapped and forced into marriage with Hades, the God of the Underworld. With Zeus's help, Demeter went to get her daughter back. Hades, knowing that once they came down to get her, she would be gone forever, made her eat a pomegranate seed. Once someone ate anything in the Underworld, they were forced to stay there for some time out of the year. For four months a year, Persephone was forced to live with Hades in the underworld; during this time, Demeter grieved for the loss of her daughter and wouldn't grow anything on the earth. This story explains the four seasons.

The other great god was Dionysus, the God of Wine. He was the son of Zeus, but his mother was a mortal. He was the only god whose parents weren't both divine. His favorite city was Thebes because his mother was a Thebian princess. The miracle of his birth was quite amazing. Zues fell in love with Semele, and so Hera got jealous. Because Zeus was madly in love, he swore by the river of Styx that he would do whatever she asked him to do. Semele's wish was to see Zeus in his full magnificence as the King of Heaven and the Lord of the Thunderbolt.