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Loading ...Where do Dionysis and Dememter belong in Greek mythology?
Twelve gods and goddesses are usually considered the “Olympians.” But many stories vary as to who they are. Some, like Zeus and Athena, are always included, but Dionysis and Dememter may or may not be. Who are they really?
Posted in Goddess | 
Tags: athena, Dememter, Dionysis, gods and goddesses, greek mythology, mythology, Olympians, Zeus
7 Responses to “Where do Dionysis and Dememter belong in Greek mythology?”
Dionysis is the god of Wine and whatnot and Demeter is the seasons lady, I think.
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neeneeak is right, Demeter is the goddess of season, or harvest. The two have their own stories. Like Demeter’s daughter is married to Hades, the god of the underworld, but hades tricked her so for 6 months she lives in the underworld with hades. During that time Demeter is sad and upset and will not provide a harvest because she misses her daughter. This is supposed to be the winter season. When her daughter returns Demeter is happy and filled with love so things grow, this explains the spring and summer season.
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DEMETER IS THE SISTER OF ZEUS, which makes her one of the Elder Gods. She’s quite an important one too because she controls the seasons and harvest and she’s also an Earth Mother type of Goddess.
DIONYSIUS is teh party-animal of the bunch. He’s god of wine and is said to wallow in the merry-making that wine usually causes. He has followers called Maenads, female worshippers who literally go insane because of his posession.
Thw two are more or less connected since they both rule over fruits of the earth. Theyre not very visible on the Olympian scene though because they mainly keep to themselves and do not meddle with other god’s business (except on that Demeter’s-daughter-kidnapped-and-raped-by-Hades fiasco).
Although in fairness to them, they have a fairly large and loyal following among the greeks because of their agricultural natures. If you think about it, they are the two gods who REALLy affect the livelihood of the people. I mean, bread and wine? you cant get more basic than that right??
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dionysis was a minor god, and demeter is always included in the 12, she is the godess of the haverst
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There are twelve main gods and goddesses but you can find a lot more and then there are the demi-gods and goddesses and beyond that you have heroes who are usually mortals with some god lineage.
Dionysus is the god of wine, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest.
Athena is not always included and there is a story about how she stepped aside so that Hercules could be included in the twelve, making it male dominated in its later years.
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Dionysus is the god of wine, ecstasy, trance, debauchery, and transformation. His followers are called maenads, bacchantes, or bacchae. They would dance through the forests and often tear apart and eat animals, and sometimes, men, during the frenzy that came over them in their worship. Dionysus is not an Olympian.
Demeter is the goddess of vegetation, agriculture, and the harvest. I’m not certain of her status as an Olympian, though.
obsessive mythology-buff
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I am not going to repeat the good information that everyone else has already contributed, but I wanted to add some more neat bits of trivia.
The etymology of Dionysus’ name is difficult, but in it you see the word “Dion” which is a feminine form of “Dios” the Greek word for god. Dionysus was often portrayed as hermaphroditic (which is the blending of the names Hermes and Aphrodite) and this is seen even in his name.
Dionysus was brought into the Greek pantheon by the Phoenicians (sp?).
Demeter was worshipped before the 12 Great Olympians were all fully worshipped by the Greeks. The etymology of her name would probably be the combination of some form of ‘god’ (de) and ‘mother’ (meter). She may be another name of Gaea, the earth mother, which became its own identity.
obsessive mythology-buff
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