Download Summer Reading Test – The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Name ________________________________
Period ______
Date _____________
Edith Hamilton’s Mythology
Study Guide
Directions: Answer the following questions completely. You should answer in
complete sentences.
Chapter 2: The Two Great Gods of Earth
1. Why was Demeter, the divinity of grain, thought of as a goddess and not a god?
2. How was the harvest celebrated? How did the celebration change over time?
3. Who was Persephone? Tell the story of her abduction and rescue. How did this
incident explain the seasons to the early Greeks?
4. With what city was Dionysus associated? Why? What was unique about
Dionysus and his parentage?
5. Dionysus was widely accepted by people in foreign lands. But in Greece, some
refused to believe he was a god and so defied him. Describe what happened to
the pirates and Lycurgus.
6. Who were the maenads, or bacchantes? What was their connection to
Dionysus? In what way do they represent the dual power of wine?
7. Who was Pentheus? Why was he doomed by Dionysus? What fate did he
suffer?
8. What was Dionysus’s connection to Greek drama?
9. How did resurrection come to be associated with Dionysus?