Despina - The Abandoned Daughter of Demeter - The Winter Goddess of Greek Mythology - See U in History Art: Marcus Aquino Color: Rod Fernandes #GreekMythology #Mythology #SeeUinHistory #History #MythologyExplained
That's a happy ending. Despite being rejected by by both parents, Despina was able to befriend her Sister and bag herself a compatible and loving husband.
Sadly half of this myth was completely made up. Despoina wasn't a winter goddess, she didn't destroy Demeter's crops, she wasn't married to Boreas and she wasn't "neglected and and angry". The only myths she is in is the story of how Poseidon assaulted Demeter while she was mourning and searching for Persephone and where Demeter entrusts an minor oceanic god to raise and take care of Despoina just like Demeter and her sisters were fostered by some Titan's during the titanomachy. Otherwise we know nothing of her, we don't even know what her role was in Demeter's cult or what she even was the goddess of
@@serronserron1320 I am well aware that there are different variations and versions of myths depending on the region. What's your point? There is no classical text, evidence or proof of almost anything in this video. The only things we know of Despoina was what I listed in my comment, unless you can cite a classical source that proves that Despoina was a vengeful goddess of winter, married to the god of winter that kills her mother's crops cause Demeter hated her?
I heard that from OSP’s video about Hades and Persephone. It’s almost like Persephone was worshipped in a particular group and her true name wasn’t allowed to be used outside of said group.
As far as I can tell, and what I have seen. Persephone and Despina are in fact the same goddess, along with Kore, which is the polite name you use when talking about Persephone. It feels that Persephone and her mother likely predate the Olympian gods and whent through a lot of changes as the generations of story tellers whent on. This version is likely to explain Poseidon's connection as he was originally the one who took Persephone not Hades, as Poseidon was both king of the sea and underworld. So when Hades rose to be the king of the underworld, he also gained the story with Persephone. Likely the Poseidon part was then shifted to that of being the father of Persephone, then later when it was retold that Zuse was the father, then did they take the name of Despina and made it into a new Goddess.
Glad to see Persephone dose acknowledge Despina, and despite being the favorite daughter even that can be suffocating to where the mother wants you to be a child forever and not be your own person. Yeah, Demeter was terrible to both of them.
We don't know if she does cause we literally only have the myth about Despoinas birth while Demeter was looking for Persephone and her Demeter giving her to a minor oceanic god to be raised. Otherwise we know nothing about her, she's not even the goddess of winter, we don't know what she was the goddess of! The crops dying were because of Demeter not "Despoinas rage at her being neglected"
Nice to see a happy ending in a Greek legend for a change, a lonely and neglectful daughter, finds a man to love and forms a loving sibling relationship with her sister.
Mă bucur că încă mai sunt oameni de bine interesați de miturile Greciei antice! O zi bună și frumoasă ca binecuvîntatele zile de demult ale Heladei vă doresc!
@@LiliLili-dv4qc Hobby-ul meu este mitologia de orice fel, am Inceput cu mitologia greaca si am trecut la mitologiile nordica, egipteana si azteca ca si favorite. Si oricate carti as lua cu acest subiect tot timpul mai descopar cate o zeitate noua iar la egipteni si azteci sunt cu sutele dar in ce priveste mitologia greaca sunt cam putine lucruri noi pe care le descopar .
Hades , looking at his siblings Posiden: had control issues Zeus: father of pretty much half of Greek characters Hera: hates the formers habits but doesn’t blame him for them and screws over people Demeter: obssesoce and neglective parent Edit : I know I forgot hestia, but she’s too sensible for those shenanigans Edit 2 : aparantly my Olympian roast has turned into a hestia love pool
A lot of myths I’ve read suggest Despina and Persephone were the same person. In Mycenaean Greek mythology, didn’t have a Hades but rather a Persephone and Demeter. It was stated that Persephone was Poiseidon’s and Demeter’s child as Poseidon was actually king of the gods in Mycanaean Greek culture rather than Zeus. Then later on Zeus was switched in the mythos as being king. In Mycanaean Greece Persephone was often categorized as the same person as Despoina. This suggests that originally the mythos was that they were on person and then in later years as mythos and stories were lost Persephone and Despoina were separated. On top of that Hades didn’t exist in Mycanaean Greek myth instead only Poseidon and Zeus did. Zeus was the god of the Sky but Poseidon was the god of the dead, the sea, and the king. And the earlier depictions of Persephone suggest she was always a goddess of death and not just from her marriage in later mythos to Hades.
@@sarahgilliss3503 despina/despoina meant mistress. persephone and her were once the same goddess it's just that over time, they separated into different deities
@@J1P2K So changing the entire Greek culture and religion? Boreas has a wife, there are already a bunch of deities responsible for the seasons and there is already a reason for Demeters crops dying during winter
@@Floweramon Well, you realise there are different versions of the same myths. Just because you know one version does not invalidate the other version this video may be based off of, so before you call any myth 'inaccurate' do take in consideration it may not be the variation you know. :)
Yeah, would've been cool if we had a source to half of this myth. Only Despoina's birth myth and her being fostered by an minor oceanic god is mentioned in myth. We literally don't even know what she was the goddess of
People talk about how terrible Zeus and Poseidon can be, and I’m certainly not saying they aren’t, but people tend to forget how terrible Demeter and the rest of the female gods can be too. Demeter never (to the best of my knowledge) acknowledged Despina, which caused trauma to her and death on a massive scale. Athena created Medusa (although, depending on which version of that tale you believe actually makes sense, if any of them, this could have been a blessing), Aphrodite and her MANY petty, torturous, spiteful plans. Oh. And for those people who are going to say “Demeter was hurt, that makes it ok/understandable,” sorry, no. There is not a god in that pantheon that hasn’t had to deal with trauma, and still do his or her’s job. Demeter is the only one who neglects her duties every year because of “empty nest syndrome.” Causing winter to happen in an age before central heating spoiled humanity can not be explained away with Separation Anxiety. To be clear. It’s not that I don’t sympathize with her. It’s the double standard I hate.
Athena didn't created Medusa except in the romans myths were she is used as a criticism for the emperor court. You also have to remember that the Greeks didn't have the same perception of traumas, if any, than us nor did they even think that marrying girls against their consent was bad. The gods are not ideals or models to follow, they are embodiement of reality. Since reality is mostly harsh and terrible, so must be the gods that incarnate it.
I've never heard this story before, I always love to hear the more obscure ones! And it goes to show people with opposite opinions/jobs/etc. really CAN get along successfully and be respectful to each other if they make an effort.
Theres no evidence for Despoina hating her mother, being the goddess of winter or even being married to Boreas. Boreas is married to Khione. Despoina was given to a minor titan deity to be raised while Demeter continued her search for Persephone. Otherwise we have nothing about Despoina, not even her true name or her domain besides the mysteries of the Eleusinian mysteries. Most of the content in this video was made up for views, there's no basis for in in classical mythology
Sorry to say that this is probably a debatable version of the story and at best still is very misinforming as Despoina is a character from the Mycenaean era. In Mycenaean Greece, Despoina is thought to be the original version of Persephone much in the same way Pan is Hermes-- Despoina was often referenced as Persephone or "the maiden" (Kore) because people were afraid of grabbing her attention. Poseidon didn't force himself on Demeter by most accounts of the known stories of the Mycanaean era, although a lot of the myths lines are blurred thanks to time, but it is known he was considered the Lord of the Underworld and sea and the two were amicably married, at least at first, although in fairness, not much is known about the percieved personalities of most of the Pantheon from that time. It was when Classical Greeks rewrote the Pantheon that a:) Zeus, who had previously been a minor diety by Mycanaean standards became king of the gods and top D-bag, Poseidon got downgraded to the Sea God and Hades replaced both Demeter and Despoina as a Death God (at least until Persephine became his queen in later stories.) Their personalities are definitely more twisted in the "newer" classical Greek myths by comparison to Mycanaean Greece, given how their culture and society sadly came to view women over time. As for the bit about Persephone and Despoina becoming friends-- that sounds more like it was pulled from Eastern European Mythos about a different pair of sister goddesses if I'm being honest. What was the source for this?
What is the source of this story? "Despoina" is a generic term to define several female divinities: Artemis, Hecate, Demeter ... Including Persephone. The latter refers to the temple of Despoina in Lykosoura, in which the goddess has been assimilated into a native one. Cambridge University has a database on this. No authoritative or ancient source speaks of this divinity. I'd like to know the source, thanks! Excuse me if my English is not good: it is not my native language and I had to use Google to write this message 😅😂
There is evidence that. while searching for Persephone after she was stolen, Demeter was r*ped by Poseidon (who was possibly a horse-shaped diety of the Underworld/Underworld river in very early stories (Poseidon was in the place of Hades before the Greek Dark ages, Hades appeared in texts afterward)) and gave birth to Despoina and her twin brother Arion (horse). Originally, according to some sources, they were both horses. Either way, there is evidence that there were three goddesses, the clearest source I can think of being Pausanias. He said that Kore (meaning "girl", essentially) was Persephone (you don't say her name because she's SCARY (scarier than Hades if you believe Orpheus)) and he did not identify Despoina's name. The only ones allowed to say Despoina's name were initiated into her cult, so no one actually knows the name. This leads ME to believe that she not any goddess we know the name of, but I suppose she could be. Either way, she isn't Persephone because they explicitly have different dads (Zeus and Poseidon). Theoretically, she could be anyone with Poseidon for a dad. No matter what, mythology was never stagnant so she could be a million different goddess, existing now or not. Also, your English seems great.
@@KT-wv2io Thank you very much for the final compliment and for the information given. Carrying out a search on the figure of Arion, I found what you said, also the quotations from Pausanias. I didn't find the story that is specifically told in the video, but as you said there are infinite variations of the same myth. Where I live (Italy) the myths even change from city to city. In Sicily there was a strong cult of Persephone, who would have united with Zeus. In the country where I live even in the affair between Adonis and Aphrodite Artemis is "thrown in the middle". For the common imagination, she would be the last deity to think about such intrigues 😂
He did this with Medusa too. And someone else I think. It’s so strange because I grew up idolizing Poseidon and especially from the Percy jackson series and other things. Maybe not all stories are true in Greek mythology, but it still hurts a lot realizing as an adult what he did. So now I don’t know how to feel because I don’t know if they are true or false, so I have mixed feelings but i guess we’ll never know
Medusas transformation into a monster is a Roman myth. The only thing they say about it in Greek mythology is that they laid in a field of flowers. Some historians did suggest that Demeter Erinyes an her assault by Poseidon may of been the blueprint for the Medusa myth. As Demeter turns into a mare headed snake haired monster that terrorizes towns and cities and starved the world
She was never abandoned by Demeter! She has her own cult, worshipped alongside her mother and sister, and her real name is never revealed except to those initiated in her mysteries. Despina/Despoina/Despoena are just titles meaning mistress.
This isn't a real myth. They completely made it up. I have no problem with them writing their own mythological fan-fics, but I don't think it's ok that they're trying to peddle it as facts belonging to the real surviving mythology. The only real things we basically now about Despoina is the myth of her conception, that she had a mystery cult in Arcadia, that her statue was represented as veiled and that she was probably a local version of Persephone. The whole Boreas thing and goddess of winter nonsense was just purely made up by them 😠
Is there a source for this? Despoina is a goddess from Arcadia and is commonly seen as a daughter of Demeter and Poseidon, but I don't think 'Despina' is a real goddess.
Interesting tale, where does your sources come from? what i found about Despina doesn't cover half of this video and only mention her as a goddess that no one speak the name, not as a goddess of winter. The Seasons have their own goddesses and it's neither Kore or Despina but the Horae.
At least she found love and reunited with her sister. Maybe she even reunited with her mother eventually. What was the winged horses name? I've never heard of him.
I’d like to see her reunite with Demeter. Despite how the myth paints her, I don’t think she was the bad guy. It’s more likely that she was in shock as a result of her trauma and never learned to deal with it properly.
one daughter was neglected and the lack of mother love turned her into a cold hearted godess. The other was recieving to much motherly love that it became toxic and made her run away to the hands of the king of underworld. its natural both sisters love eachother and had that strong bond.....both suffered on their own way for their mother's lack/excesive of love.
I can’t find these myths in any Ancient Greek sources, anyone have a source for all of this? The only stuff I’ve found is that Despina/Despoina/Despoine was the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon, and that she was worshipped heavily in Arkadia. No mention of being abandoned by Demeter, meeting Persephone, being Boreas’ wife, causing winter/freezing….
The Percy Jackson wiki is really the only place where I found more or less matching details (under the name Despoina in the character list), and it wasn’t a 100% match. Most mythology sites don’t seem to have this story at all, or just fragments of the story told in this video.
Her name isn't known,the despoina thingy is just her title not her actual name,there was a cult in arkadia that addresses her as despoina,means mistress. Her true name are only given to those who worshiped her. Maybe everything about her is unknown since she isn't famous enough,and maybe that's what she really is,mystery. If i were a demigod,i want her to be my godly parent,she's snow,secret,shadow almost everything I love.
@@cemetiere That’s a good point, that what we call her isn’t even her name, which we don’t know. As for the snow thing, that’s one of the things mentioned in this video that I can’t find a source for, none of the Ancient Greek authors say anything about that. I can’t really speak to Percy Jackson, as I don’t read those books.
@@russergee49 Yeah,it's a such a confusing situation where we don't know anything about something,persephone as spring goddess and despoina as winter might just really a thing about siblings in greek myths,y'know like anteros and eros,unrequited and requited love,always opposite,and the other is the favorite.
She wasn't married to Boreas, she wasn't the goddess of winter, she wasn't cruelly abandoned by Demeter and she wasn't angry or vengeful. The only myths about her is her birth where Poseidon assaults a mourning grieving Demeter while she was searching for Persephone and where Demeter entrusts an minor rustic oceanic god to raise and take care of Despoina just like Demeter and her sisters were fostered by some Titans during the titanomachy. We literally know nothing about despoina or her role in the religion, we don't even know her real name
I'm 38 and I've loved mythology all my life. It's amazing that I can still learn about interesting gods and goddesses that I've never heard of. Plus I've always loved Ice and winter based powers. So when I saw a Greek goddess of winter.. instant click to watch lol.
We don't know what Despoina's nature was. She wasn't the goddess of winter, she wasn't married to Boreas, she doesn't destroy Demeters crops and she wasn't angry or neglected. The only myths she appears in the story if her birth where Poseidon assaults a mourning grieving Demeter while she was looking for Persephone and where Demeter entrusts an minor rustic oceanic god to raise and take care of Despoina just like Demeter and her sisters were fostered by some Titans during the titanomachy. Despoina was a mystery goddess, we don't even know her real name or the role she filled. Half of the mythology was made up
I find this pairing the cutest. Icy winds and the winter season. Perfectly made for each other. Unless there's more to their lore which is incredibly messed up
The actual mythology for Despoina is much more interesting to me, especially since she was the subject of a mystery cult, potentially the original Persephone, and much more associated with the underworld than with nature. Fun fact, Persephone is never referred to as a goddess of Spring. Demeter brings Spring because of being happy to see her daughter, Persephone is referred to as Dread Persephone and shares ruling the underworld with her husband. Based on her mythological roots she may have held that responsibility before Hades entered Greek mythology. (He's actually more recent than Persephone)
Could we get the source material for this one? I’d love to read it, because it’s an interesting story. I know what happened with Poseidon and Demeter was in the myths, and some mention an abandoned child and a horse child, but I can’t find the rest of the story as you told it (apart from on the Percy Jackson wiki under Despoina, which does give some details).
Sorry to tell you, but this story is not necessarily "accurate" in terms of Greek Mythology. Despoine is the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon yes but there is not much to her story besides that. She is said to have been an Arcadian Goddess of Mysteries--her name Despoine is just a title and not her real name, and the only person (aside from her mother) that had anything to do with her was a rustic god (or Titan?) by the name Anytos who took care of her when she was younger.
Does anyone else know the original source for this mythology, because whilst I know of Despina, I've not seen a mythology story of her being the winter goddess.
The saddest stories in greek mythologies often has great endings... But for medusa, she never deserved that punishment. Athena cant punish poseidon because of heirarchy amongst the gods.
no in one version demeter had a choice and said if posidon made a horse she would marry him by the time posidon made it tho he lost intrest edit: why did i start my sentence with no lol
First time seeing this. Nice story even if its made up as I am sure Boreas have different wife and a daughter who is a snow goddess/nymph. Nevermind, still if Despoina Isn’t her Real name but a title, what do ya all think her Real name could be? Since Kore means Lady and was only title for Persephone whose name mean Bringer of Death, what could Despoina’s Real name possibly be?
So because Despoina was often conflated with Persephone, a lot of what we know about Despoina, like pretty much almost all of it save one fragmented thing from Callimachus, is from Pausanias Depiction of Greece. As Pausanias wrote, "Demeter, they say, had by Poseidon a daughter [Despoine (Despoena)], whose name they are not wont to divulge to the uninitiated, and a horse called Areion (Arion)." Basically, if you aren't part of the mystery cult in Arcadia, you don't get to know. A lot of people think because they were conflated, that Despoina was probably a title for Persephone because Chthonic deity names were not spoken because in ancient Greece, you speak their name, you risk getting their attention and you did not want that because it put you much closer to death. A theory on why Despoina is listed as Poseidon's child rather than Zeus is that is probably carryover coming from Mycenean Greece, where Poseidon was the head of the Pantheon instead of Zeus at the time and he also fulfilled the king of the Underworld role. OSP's Miscellaneous Myths: Hades and Persephone covers the history stuff surrounding Persephone, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, and Despoina pretty well. They point out that Despoina could be an offshoot of whatever scary ancient eldritch Underworld deity that Persephone originally came from. Reason why I buy into this theory is there are a TON of queens of the Underworld: Persephone, Ereshkigal, Hel, Hine-nui-te-pō, and Izanami, just to name a few of them, and I find it very interesting that women are so prominently tied to ruling over the land of the dead and I really want to know where that stemmed from.
*sigh* We already know Demeter can be a smothering parent at times, but this is a whole new level. Even for Greek Deity standards. I'm glad I rooted for Typhon to destroy all of them
@@rossalbertdelacruz6751 Mycenean records, whom some are translated and others not, but yet there hasn't been a single one recording her story, and if there is, then go ahead and pull up those sources, because the only thing resembles the vid is what was told in the percy Jackson books, not real mythology
But doesn't Boreas already have a wife, the immortal princess Oreithyia. Also Chione is the Goddess of Winter (well snow but it counts) and as far as I know Despoena/Despoina is a semi agricultural mystery goddess at least that is what I have read.
Well if they do I'd suggest that you research the deities on your own time cause half of this mythology was made up. Despoina isn't the goddess of winter, she didn't destroy Demeter's crops, she wasn't married to Boreas and she wasn't cruelly neglected or abandoned by Demeter. The only myths about her is her birth Where Poseidon assaults a mourning grieving Demeter while she was searching for Persephone and where Demeter entrusts an minor rustic oceanic god to raise and take care of Despoina just like Demeter and her sisters were fostered by some Titans during the titanomachy
I don't usually enjoy Greek myths but this one was really good. Also I love the art in your videos. It's really great. It could be like a graphic novel series
In my personal opinion, Despina's story shows the double standards of Demeter by how she treated her daughters even though they kind of were created by the same horrible way. In the most famous versions of the myth, Persephone was created in a forced and traumatizing manner the same way Despina was, the only differences between the two of them is that Demeter left Despina while she took care of Persephone and that they have different fathers. In fact, in some versions of the story, Demeter left Despina as a baby, without even giving her a name, it was actually another god who raised and gave her a name. I'm happy that this version of the story has quite a good and hopeful ending for the sisters.
Demeter being assaulted by Zeus doesn't exist in any myth, except where its Rhea and Zeus where they mated as snakes and Rhea becomes Demeter. But that is a super niche old version. Demeter was assaulted by Poseidon while looking for Persephone, she didn't abandon Despoina she entrusted a minor oceanic god to care for her similar to how Demeter and her sisters were fostered by some Titan's during the titanomachy. Despoina isn't the goddess of winter, she doesn't destroy Demeters crops, she isn't married to Boreas and she doesn't feel neglected or angry. We know literally nothing about her
Demeter was sister to both Zeus and Poseidon. Some say that Zeus and Persephone were Dionysus' parents. And of course, Zeus and Hera were brother and sister. Lol, this drama makes Game of Thrones look like a tale for kindergarteners.
I didn't know demeter had another daughter. And another child with Poseidon. I know Poseidon was attracted to her and presude her and forced her when she turned into a horse and he turned into one too to find her. That's they had a son Arsion. It's just like how Hera rejected and abandoned Hephaestus, on how Detemer abandoned this daughter of her. Also Depmina's life is very similar to Hephaestus. They both were abandoned by their judgement parents and when they grew up they got vengeance on them. Hephaestus trapping his mom in a chair and Depmina freezing her mother's crops. But he got revenge on her dad too.
Half of this myth doesn't exist. Despoina destroying her mother's crops doesn't appear in mythology it's literally Demeter that kills the crops, bother does her anger or her being the goddess of winter or any marriage to Boreas. She's literally just mentioned in the story of her birth after Demeter was assaulted while looking for Persephone, and her being given to an minor oceanic god to be raised. That's all
Poor Despoina. At least, she finally found her husband who chose and loved her, she punished both of her parents for their evil, and she was civil and became friends with her half sister Persephone.
0:50 0:53 It looks like the black hair girl looked like a short hair boy, It breaks my heart, brings sorrow to see the baby cry when her mother who didn't want her left her.
It’s interesting that she’s the goddess of Winter because that fits nicely with the Mesopotamian myth of the Seasons. In the Ishtar myth when Ishtar returns from the Underworld she discovers that her husband Tammuz has been unfaithful to her. Tammuz is the god of growing things (ie the god of Spring). In rage she condemns Tammuz to the Underworld, but his sister who is essentially the Ice Queen (ie the goddess of Winter) volunteers to swap places with him for part of the year. This is how the Sumerians/Babylonians explained the Seasons.
This actually reminds me of Rapunzel and Cassandra in the tangled series. They have a bit in common and I’m not related by blood they still remain friends and sisters.
