For the many of you still dreading this cold weather and are in eager anticipation of spring and the warmer weather that comes with it, let me tell you about Demeter, the Greek Goddess of Agriculture and Plants, along with her daughter Persephone, the goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld. The birth of Demeter was one of tragedy and cruelty. The father the Titan King Kronos received a prophecy that one of his children would one day overthrow him like he did his father so he decided the only possible way to make sure this wouldn’t happen was not to have any children. Just kidding – he had six kids and ate five of them.

It started with his eldest daughter Hestia, then Demeter to Hera, then Hades – finally was Poseidon. Rhea Demeter’s mother devised a plan to trick her husband when her youngest Zeus was born. She had Zeus taken to Mount Ida on Crete and tricked Kronos by giving him a rock to swallow, thinking it was Zeus. When Zeus came of age, he posed as a cup bearer on Mount Othrys in order to infiltrate his father’s home. From there, he offered Kronos a drink of mustard and wine. Kronos accepted and drank but the substance disturbed his stomach, resulting in him puking up his five kids. The six gods escaped and reunited with their mother, where they all appointed Zeus as their leader.

To help them in their war against the Titans, the gods planned to  free their uncles, the elder cyclopes and the hundred-handed fifty-faced Hekatonkheires. Zeus managed to talk to  the Cyclopes Brontes and convinced him to make powerful weapons in secret. Afterwards, cyclopes made weapons for the brothers, a master bolt for Zeus, a trident for Poseidon, and finally a helm for Hades. Zeus used his master to kill the guardian of the six uncles and Poseidon used his trident to break their chains.

I always find it weird that the cyclopes never made weapons for the daughters of Kronos. Did the cyclopes run of out material? Did they not have enough time to make weapons for all six gods? Or are they just sexist towards females? If they are, that’s pretty offensive considering they saved them from being imprisoned for all of eternity. With the help from the six brothers and several other Titans of the time, such as Prometheus and Epimetheus, the gods were able to defeat the Titans and imprison them in Tartarus. As for Kronos, Zeus used his scythe and cut him into pieces and threw him into Tartarus. The three brothers – Zeus, Poseidon and Hades drew for what realm they would rule while their sisters were not involved. I know it was standard that men were the superior in those times but what about those three older sisters – you would think they would have a say in the matter!