Demeter

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (/dɪˈmiːtər/; Attic:

Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr [dɛːmɛ́ːtɛːr]; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́tēr) is the Demeter
Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, Goddess of the harvest, agriculture, fertility,
grains, food, and the fertility of the earth. Although Demeter is mostly and sacred law
known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, Member of the Twelve Olympians
and marriage, and had connections to the Underworld.[1] She is also called
Deo (Δηώ Dēṓ).[2]

In Greek tradition, Demeter is the second child of the Titans Rhea and
Cronus, and sister to Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Like her
other siblings except Zeus, she was swallowed by her father as an infant
and rescued by Zeus. Through Zeus, she became the mother of
Persephone, a fertility goddess and resurrection deity.[3][4] One of the most
notable Homeric Hymns, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, tells the story of
Persephone's abduction by Hades and Demeter's search for her. When
Hades, the King of the Underworld, wished to make Persephone his wife,
he abducted her from a field while she was picking flowers, with Zeus's
leave. Demeter searched everywhere to find her missing daughter to no
avail until she was informed that Hades had taken her to the Underworld.
In response, Demeter neglected her duties as goddess of agriculture,
plunging the earth into a deadly famine where nothing would grow,
causing mortals to die. Zeus ordered Hades to return Persephone to her
mother to avert the disaster. However, because Persephone had eaten food
from the Underworld, she could not stay with Demeter forever, but had to
divide the year between her mother and her husband, explaining the
seasonal cycle as Demeter does not let plants grow while Persephone is
gone.

Her cult titles include Sito (Σιτώ), "she of the Grain",[5] as the giver of
food or grain,[6] and Thesmophoros (θεσμός, thesmos: divine order,
unwritten law; φόρος, phoros: bringer, bearer), "giver of customs" or
"legislator", in association with the secret female-only festival called the
Thesmophoria.[7] Though Demeter is often described simply as the
Ancient marble statue of Demeter with right
goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sacred law and the cycle
hand extended. The head is a modern
of life and death. She and Persephone were the central figures of the
restoration. (National Roman Museum)
Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised the initiated a happy afterlife. This
religious tradition was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural Abode Mount Olympus
communities and predated the Olympian pantheon, probably having its Animals Pig, serpent, gecko, turtledove,
roots in the Mycenaean period c. 1400–1200 BC.[8] crane, scops owl
Symbol Cornucopia, wheat, torch, poppy,
Demeter was often considered to be the same figure as the Anatolian
bread
goddess Cybele, and she was identified with the Roman goddess Ceres.
Festivals Thesmophoria, Eleusinian
Mysteries, Lithobolia

Etymology Genealogy
Parents Cronus and Rhea
Demeter may appear in Linear A as da-ma-te on three documents (AR Zf 1
Siblings Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon,
and 2, and KY Za 2), all three dedicated to religious situations and all three Zeus
bearing just the name (i-da-ma-te on AR Zf 1 and 2).[9] It is unlikely that
Consort Zeus, Poseidon, Iasion, Mecon
Demeter appears as da-ma-te in a Linear B (Mycenean Greek) inscription
(PY En 609); the word 𐀅𐀔𐀳, da-ma-te, probably refers to Children Persephone, Despoina, Eubuleus,
"households".[10][11] On the other hand, 𐀯𐀵𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊, si-to-po-ti-ni-ja, Arion, Plutus, Philomelus, Iacchus,
"Potnia of the Grain", is regarded as referring to her Bronze Age Acheron, Hecate (Orphic)
predecessor or to one of her epithets.[12] Equivalents
Roman Ceres
Demeter's character as mother-goddess is identified in the second element
of her name meter (μήτηρ) derived from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) Egyptian Isis
*méh₂tēr (mother).[13] In antiquity, different explanations were already
proffered for the first element of her name. It is possible that Da (Δᾶ),[14] a word which corresponds to Gē (Γῆ) in Attic, is
the Doric form of De (Δῆ), "earth", the old name of the chthonic earth-goddess, and that Demeter is "Mother-Earth".[15]
Liddell & Scott find this "improbable" and Beekes writes, "there is no indication that [da] means 'earth' ", although it has also
been assumed in the name of Poseidon found in the Linear B inscription E-ne-si-da-o-ne, "earth-shaker".[16][17][18] John
Chadwick also argues that the dā element in the name of Demeter is not so simply equated with "earth".[19]

M. L. West has proposed that the word Demeter, initially Damater, could be a borrowing from an Illyrian deity attested in the
Messapic goddess Damatura, with a form dā- ("earth", from PIE *dʰǵʰ(e)m-) attached to -matura ("mother"), akin to the
Illyrian god Dei-paturos (dei-, "sky", attached to -paturos, "father"). The Lesbian form Dō- may simply reflect a different
colloquial pronunciation of the non-Greek name.[20]

Another theory suggests that the element De- might be connected with Deo, an epithet of Demeter[21] and it could derive
from the Cretan word dea (δηά), Ionic zeia (ζειά)—variously identified with emmer, spelt, rye, or other grains by modern
scholars—so that she is the mother and the giver of food generally.[22][23] This view is shared by British scholar Jane Ellen
Harrison, who suggests that Démeter's name means Grain-Mother, instead of Earth-Mother.[24]

An alternative Proto-Indo-European etymology comes through Potnia and Despoina, where Des- represents a derivative of
PIE *dem (house, dome), and Demeter is "mother of the house" (from PIE *dems-méh₂tēr).[25] R. S. P. Beekes rejects a
Greek interpretation, but not necessarily an Indo-European one.[17]

Iconography
Demeter was frequently associated with images of the harvest, including flowers,
fruit, and grain. She was also sometimes pictured with her daughter Persephone.
However, Demeter is not generally portrayed with any of her consorts; the
exception is Iasion, the youth of Crete who lay with her in a thrice-ploughed field
and was killed afterward by a jealous Zeus with a thunderbolt.

Demeter is assigned the zodiac constellation Virgo, the Virgin, by Marcus

Demeter on a Didrachme from Paros
Manilius in his 1st-century Roman work Astronomicon. In art, the constellation
island, struck at the Cyclades.
Virgo holds Spica, a sheaf of wheat in her hand and sits beside constellation Leo
the Lion.[26]

In Arcadia, she was known as "Black Demeter". She was said to have taken the form of a mare to escape the pursuit of her
younger brother, Poseidon, and having been raped by him despite her disguise, she dressed all in black and retreated into a
cave to mourn and to purify herself. She was consequently depicted with the head of a horse in this region.[27]

A sculpture of the Black Demeter was made by Onatas.[28]

Description
In the earliest conceptions of Demeter she is the goddess of grain and threshing, however her functions were extended
beyond the fields and she was often identified with the earth goddess (Gaia). Some of the epithets of Gaia and Demeter are
similar showing the identity of their nature. In most of her myths and cults, Demeter is the "Grain-Mother" or the "Earth-
Mother". In the older chthonic cults the earth goddess was related to the Underworld and in the secret rites (mysteries)
Demeter and Persephone share the double function of death and fertility. Demeter is the giver of the secret rites and the giver
of the laws of cereal agriculture. She was occasionally identified with the Great Mother Rhea-Cybele who was worshipped in
Crete and Asia Minor with the music of cymbals and violent rites. It seems that poppies were connected with the cult of the
Great Mother.

As an agricultural goddess
In epic poetry and Hesiod's Theogony, Demeter is the Grain-Mother,
the goddess of cereals who provides grain for bread and blesses its
harvesters. In Homer's Iliad, the light-haired Demeter with the help of
the wind separates the grain from the chaff.[29] Homer mentions the
Thalysia a Greek harvest-festival of first fruits in honour of Demeter
.[30] In Hesiod, prayers to Zeus-Chthonios (chthonic Zeus) and
Demeter help the crops grow full and strong.[31] This was her main
function at Eleusis, and she became panhellenic. In Cyprus, "grain-
harvesting" was damatrizein. Demeter was the zeidoros arοura, the
Homeric "Mother Earth arοura" who gave the gift of cereals (zeai or
deai).[32][33]

Most of the epithets of Demeter describe her as a goddess of grain.

Her name Deo in literature[34] probably relates her with deai a Cretan
Demeter, enthroned and extending her hand in a
benediction toward the kneeling Metaneira, who word for cereals. In Attica she was called Haloas (of the threshing
offers the triune wheat (c. 340 BC) floor) according to the earliest conception of Demeter as the Corn-
Mother. She was sometimes called Chloe (ripe-grain or fresh-green)
and sometimes Ioulo (ioulos : grain sheaf). Chloe was the goddess of
young corn and young vegetation and "Iouloi" were harvest songs in honour of the goddess. The reapers called Demeter
Amallophoros (bringer of sheaves) and Amaia (reaper). The goddess was the giver of abundance of food and she was known
as Sito (of the grain) and Himalis (of abundance ).[35] The bread from the first harvest-fruits was called thalysian bread
(Thalysia) in honour of Demeter.[36] The sacrificial cakes burned on the altar were called "ompniai" and in Attica the goddess
was known as Ompnia (related to corns). These cakes were offered to all gods.

In some feasts big loaves (artoi) were offered to the goddess and in Boeotia she
was known as Megalartos (of the big loaf) and Megalomazos (of the big mass, or
big porridge). Her function was extended to vegetation generally and to all fruits
and she had the epithets eukarpos (of good crop), karpophoros (bringer of fruits),
malophoros (apple bearer) and sometimes Oria (all the fruits of the season). These
epithets show an identity in nature with the earth goddess.[37][38][35][39]

The central theme in the Eleusinian Mysteries was the reunion of Persephone with
her mother, Demeter when new crops were reunited with the old seed, a form of
eternity.

According to the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates, Demeter's greatest gifts to

humankind were agriculture which gave to men a civilized way of life, and the
Mysteries which give the initiate higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.[40]

These two gifts were intimately connected in Demeter's myths and mystery cults.
Demeter is the giver of mystic rites and the giver of the civilized way of life
(teaching the laws of agriculture). Her epithet Eleusinia relates her with the
The Eleusinian trio: Persephone,
Eleusinian mysteries, however at Sparta Eleusinia had an early use, and it was
Triptolemus and Demeter (Roman copy
probably a name rather than an epithet.[41] Demeter Thesmophoros (law-giving) is dating to the Early Imperial period and
closely associated to the laws of cereal agriculture. The festival Thesmophoria was hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of
celebrated throughout Greece and was connected to a form of agrarian magic.[42] Art, of the Great Eleusinian Relief in the
Her epithet Damia (as paired with Auxesia for Persephone) was the center of the National Archaeological Museum,
festival called the Lithobolia. Near Pheneus in Arcadia she was known as Demeter- Athens, marble bas-relief from Eleusis,
440–430 BC.)
Thesmia (lawfull), and she received rites according to the local version.[43]

Demeter's emblem is the poppy, a bright red flower that grows among the barley.
As an earth and underworld goddess
In addition to her role as an agricultural goddess, Demeter was often worshipped
more generally as a goddess of the earth, from which crops spring up. Her
individuality was rooted to the less developed personality of Gaia (earth). In
Arcadia Demeter Melaina (the black Demeter) was represented as snake-haired
with a horse's head holding a dove and dolphin, perhaps to symbolize her power
over the Underworld, the air, and the water.[44][45] The cult of Demeter in the
region was related to Despoina, a very old chthonic divinity. Demeter shares the
double function of death and fertility with her daughter Persephone. Demeter and
Persephone were called Despoinai (the mistresses) and Demeters. This duality was
also used in the classical period (Thesmophoroi, Double named goddesses) and
particularly in an oath: "By the two goddesses".[46]

In the cult of Phlya she was worshipped as Anesidora who sends up gifts from the
Underworld.[47][48][49]

In Sparta, she was known as Demeter-Chthonia (chthonic Demeter). After each

death the mourning should end with a sacrifice to the goddess. Pausanias believes
that her cult was introduced from Hermione, where Demeter was associated with
Pelike. Plouton with a cornucopia and
Demeter with a sceptre and plough. By
Hades. In a local legend a hollow in the earth was the entrance to the underworld,
the Orestes Painter. 440-430 by which the souls could pass easily.[50] In Elis she was called Demeter-Chamyne
[Link] Archaeological Museum, (goddess of the ground),[35] in an old chthonic cult associated with the descent to
Athens Hades. At Levadia the goddess was known as Demeter-Europa and she was
associated with Trophonius, an old divinity of the underworld. The oracle of
Trophonius was famous in the antiquity.[51]

Pindar uses the rare epithet Chalkokrotos (bronze sounding). Brazen musical instruments were used in the mysteries of
Demeter and the Great-Mother Rhea-Cybele was also worshipped with the music of cymbals.[52]

In central Greece Demeter was known as Amphictyonis (of the

dwellers-round), in a cult of the goddess at Anthele near Thermopylae
(hot gates). She was the patron goddess of an ancient Amphictyony.
Thermopylae is the place of hot springs considered to be entrances to
Hades, since Demeter was a chthonic goddess in the older local
cults.[53]

The Athenians called the dead "Demetrioi",[24] and this may reflect a
link between Demeter and the ancient cult of the dead, linked to the
agrarian belief that a new life would sprout from the dead body, as a
new plant arises from buried seed. This was most likely a belief shared
by initiates in Demeter's mysteries, as interpreted by Pindar: "Blessed Attic white calyx crater 440-430 BC. Two female
is he who has seen before he goes under the earth; for he knows the figures, probably Demeter and Persephone.
Archaeological Museum of Agrigento.
end of life and knows also its divine beginning."[54]

In Arcadia Demeter had the epithets Erinys (fury) and Melaina (black)
which are associated with the myth of Demeter's rape by Poseidon. The epithets stress the darker side of her character and her
relation to the dark underworld, in an old chthonic cult associated with wooden structures (xoana).[39][35] Erinys had a similar
function with the avenging Dike (Justice).[55] In the mysteries of Pheneus the goddess was known as Cidaria.[56] Her priest
would put on the mask of Demeter, which was kept secret. The cult may have been connected with both the Underworld and
a form of agrarian magic.[57]

As a poppy goddess
Theocritus described one of Demeter's earlier roles as that of a goddess of poppies:
 For the Greeks, Demeter was still a poppy goddess
Bearing sheaves and poppies in both hands.

— Idyll vii.157
Karl Kerényi asserted that poppies were connected with a Cretan cult which was
eventually carried to the Eleusinian Mysteries in Classical Greece. In a clay
statuette from Gazi,[58] the Minoan poppy goddess wears the seed capsules,
sources of nourishment and narcosis, in her diadem. According to Kerényi, "It Drawing of a gold ring found at Mycenae
seems probable that the Great Mother Goddess who bore the names Rhea and showing a seated goddess bearing three
Demeter, brought the poppy with her from her Cretan cult to Eleusis and it is poppy seedcases
almost certain that in the Cretan cult sphere opium was prepared from
poppies."[59]

Epithets

See Category:Epithets of Demeter

Antaea (Ancient Greek: Ἀνταία): 'A goddess whom man may approach in prayers'. The epithet belongs not
only to Demeter but also to Rhea and Cybele.[60]
Amphictyonis (Ancient Greek: Ἀμφικτυονίς): A form of Demeter worshiped at Anthela because it was a
meeting place for the amphictyons of Thermopylae, where sacrifices were offered to her at the start of every
meeting.
Azesia (Ancient Greek: Ἀζησία): This epithet was the subject of several ancient Greek proverbs. One was
"Amaia looked for Azesia", with "Amaia" being an epithet for Demeter, and Azesia in this instance indicating
Persephone, and referring to Demeter's long search for her daughter after she had been kidnapped by Hades.
It was used to refer to someone who took a long time to do something.[61] Similarly, "Amaia has found Azesia"
was an expression used to indicate that something greatly missed and sought after has been found.[62]
Chloe (Greek: Χλόη): "Blooming", "fertility", "young, green foliage" or "shoots of plants in spring".[63] The
festival Chloeia or Chloia (Χλόεια or Χλοιά), was held in Athens in honor of her and she had a sanctuary near
the Acropolis. It was celebrated in the spring, on the sixth day of Thargelion, and marked the beginning of the
blooming season. The celebration included the sacrifice of a goat and was characterized by joyful festivities
and merrymaking.[64]
Chrysaoros (Greek: Χρυσαόρος): Demeter's epithet as "Lady of the Golden Blade", a reference to golden
blades of wheat.[65]
Chthonia (Ancient Greek: Χθονία). 'Of the earth'. It was an epithet of Demeter[66][67] and several other
chthonic goddess, such as Hecate,[68] Nyx[69].
Daduchos (Ancient Greek): δᾳδοῦχος "torch-bearer", from δᾶις+ἔχω): An epithet of Demeter seeking her lost
daughter Persephine with a torch. It was also an epithet of Hecate[70] and Artemis, two goddesses associated
with torches. It was also the title of the second priest (ranking after the Hierophant) at the Eleusinian
Mysteries. This title was given in the Rhodes Island in Greece.[70]

Worship

In Crete
In an older tradition in Crete the vegetation cult was related with the deity of the cave.[71] During the Bronze Age, a goddess
of nature dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cults. In the Linear B inscriptions po-ti-ni-ja (potnia) refers to the
goddess of nature who was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain chthonic apects. Some scholars believe that
she was the universal mother goddess.[72] A Linear B inscription at Knossos mentions the potnia of the labyrinth da-pu-ri-to-
jo po-ti-ni-ja. Poseidon was often given the title wa-na-ka (wanax) in Linear B inscriptions in his role as King of the
 Underworld, and his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne indicates his chthonic nature. He was
the male companion (paredros) of the goddess in the Minoan and probably
Mycenean cult.[72] In the cave of Amnisos, Enesidaon is associated with the cult
of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, who was involved with the annual birth of
the divine child.[73] Elements of this early form of worship survived in the
Eleusinian cult, where the following words were uttered: "the mighty Potnia had
born a strong son."

On the Greek mainland

Tablets from Pylos of c. 1400 –
c. 1200 BC record sacrificial goods
destined for "the Two Queens and
Poseidon" ("to the Two Queens and
the King":wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te).
The "Two Queens" may be related to
Demeter and Persephone or their
precursors, goddesses who were no
Terracotta Demeter figurine, Sanctuary of longer associated with Poseidon in
the Underworld Divinities, Akragas, 550– later periods.[74] In Pylos potnia
500 BC (mistress) is the major goddess of the
city and "wanax " in the tablets has a
similar nature with her male consort
in the Minoan cult. [72] Potnia retained some chthonic cults, and in popular
religion these were related to the goddess Demeter. In Greek religion
potniai(mistresses) appear in plural (like the Erinyes) and are closely related to
the Eleusinian Demeter.[75]

Major cults to Demeter are known at Eleusis in Attica, Hermion (in Crete), Demeter of Knidos, Hellenistic marble
Megara, Celeae, Lerna, Aegila, Munychia, Corinth, Delos, Priene, Akragas, Iasos, sculpture, around 350 BC
Pergamon, Selinus, Tegea, Thoricus, Dion (in Macedonia)[76] Lykosoura,
Mesembria, Enna, and Samothrace.

Probably the earliest Amphictyony centred on the cult of Demeter at Anthele (Ἀνθήλη), lay on the coast of Malis south of
Thessaly, near Thermopylae.[77][78]

Mysian Demeter had a seven-day festival at Pellené in Arcadia. The geographer Pausanias passed the shrine to Mysian
Demeter on the road from Mycenae to Argos and reports that according to Argive tradition, the shrine was founded by an
Argive named Mysius who venerated Demeter.[79]

Azes coin in India, with Demeter and

Hermes, 1st century BC

"Saint Demetra"
Even after Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica and banned paganism throughout the Roman Empire, people
throughout Greece continued to pray to Demeter as "Saint Demetra", patron saint of agriculture.[80] Around 1765–1766, the
antiquary Richard Chandler, alongside the architect Nicholas Revett and the painter William Pars, visited Eleusis and
mentioned a statue of a caryatid as well as the folklore that surrounded it, they stated that it was considered sacred by the
locals because it protected their crops. They called the statue "Saint Demetra", a saint whose story had many similarities to
the myth of Demeter and Persephone, except that her daughter had been abducted by the
Turks and not by Hades.[81] The locals covered the statue with flowers to ensure the fertility
of their fields.[82] This tradition continued until 1865,[80] when the statue was forcibly
removed by Edward Daniel Clarke and donated to the University of Cambridge.[81][82] The
statue is now located in the Fitzwilliam Museum, the art and antiquities museum of the
University of Cambridge.[83]

Festivals
Demeter's two major festivals were sacred mysteries. Her Thesmophoria festival (11–13
October) was women-only.[84] Her Eleusinian mysteries were open to initiates of any gender
or social class. At the heart of both festivals were myths concerning Demeter as the mother
and Persephone as her daughter.

Conflation with other goddesses

The statue of Saint Demetra,
In the Roman period, Demeter became conflated with the Roman agricultural goddess Ceres Fitzwilliam Museum
through interpretatio romana.[85] The worship of Demeter has formally merged with that of
Ceres around 205 BC, along with the ritus graecia cereris, a Greek-inspired form
of cult, as part of Rome's general religious recruitment of deities as allies against
Carthage, towards the end of the Second Punic War. The cult originated in southern
Italy (part of Magna Graecia) and was probably based on the Thesmophoria, a
mystery cult dedicated to Demeter and Persephone as "Mother and Maiden". It
arrived along with its Greek priestesses, who were granted Roman citizenship so
that they could pray to the gods "with a foreign and external knowledge, but with a
domestic and civil intention".[86] The new cult was installed in the already ancient
Temple of Ceres, Liber and Libera, Rome's Aventine patrons of the plebs; from the
end of the 3rd century BC, Demeter's temple at Enna, in Sicily, was acknowledged
as Ceres's oldest, most authoritative cult centre, and Libera was recognized as
Proserpina, Roman equivalent to Persephone.[87]
Terracotta plaque relief of Demeter in
profile wearing ears of corn, 1st century
Their joint cult recalls Demeter's search for Persephone after the latter's abduction
BC–AD, Archaeological Museum of
into the Underworld by Hades. At the Aventine, the new cult took its place
Amorgos, Greece.
alongside the old. It did not refer to Liber, whose open and gender-mixed cult
played a central role in plebeian culture as a patron and protector of plebeian rights,
freedoms and values. The exclusively female initiates and priestesses of the new "greek style" mysteries of Ceres and
Proserpina were expected to uphold Rome's traditional, patrician-dominated social hierarchy and traditional morality.
Unmarried girls should emulate the chastity of Proserpina, the maiden; married women should seek to emulate Ceres, the
devoted and fruitful mother. Their rites were intended to secure a good harvest and increase the fertility of those who partook
in the mysteries.[88]

Beginning in the 5th century BCE in Asia Minor, Demeter was also considered equivalent to the Phrygian goddess
Cybele.[89] Demeter's festival of Thesmophoria was popular throughout Asia Minor, and the myth of Persephone and Adonis
in many ways mirrors the myth of Cybele and Attis.[90]

Some late antique sources syncretized several "great goddess" figures into a single deity. For example, the Platonist
philosopher Apuleius, writing in the late 2nd century, identified Ceres (Demeter) with Isis, having her declare:

I, mother of the universe, mistress of all the elements, first-born of the ages, highest of the gods, queen of the
shades, first of those who dwell in heaven, representing in one shape all gods and goddesses. My will controls
the shining heights of heaven, the health-giving sea winds, and the mournful silences of hell; the entire world
worships my single godhead in a thousand shapes, with divers rites, and under many a different name. The
Phrygians, first-born of mankind, call me the Pessinuntian Mother of the gods; ... the ancient Eleusinians
Actaean Ceres; ... and the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning, honour me with the worship which is truly
mine and call me by my true name: Queen Isis.
 --Apuleius, translated by E. J. Kenny. The Golden Ass[91]

Mythology

Lineage, consorts, and offspring

Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC) describes Demeter as the second child of the
Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister of Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and
Zeus. Alongside the rest of her sisters and brothers with the exception of her
youngest brother Zeus, Demeter was swallowed as a newborn by her father due
to his fear of being overthrown by one of his children; she was later freed when
Zeus made Cronus disgorge all of his children by giving him an emetic. Zeus
then led his siblings in a war against their father and the other Titans. Cronus
was supplanted by this new generation of deities; and Demeter thus became one
of the Olympian gods, the new rulers of the cosmos, alongside her brothers and
sisters.[92]

Demeter is notable as the mother of Persephone, described by both Hesiod and

in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter as the result of a union with Zeus.[93] An
alternate recounting of the matter appears in a fragment of the lost Orphic
theogony, which preserves part of a myth in which Zeus mates with his mother,
Rhea, in the form of a snake, explaining the origin of the symbol on Hermes's
staff. Their daughter is said to be Persephone, whom Zeus, in turn, mates with
German illustration (ca. 1890) of a to conceive Dionysus. According to the Orphic fragments, "After becoming the
Pompeiian fresco of Demeter as a mother mother of Zeus, she who was formerly Rhea became Demeter."[94][95]
goddess and goddess of agriculture.
There is some evidence that the figures of the Queen of the Underworld and the
daughter of Demeter were initially considered separate goddesses.[96]
However, they must have become conflated by the time of Hesiod in
the 7th century BC.[90] Demeter and Persephone were often
worshipped together and were often referred to by joint cultic titles. In
their cult at Eleusis, they were referred to simply as "the goddesses",
usually distinguished as "the older" and "the younger"; in Rhodes and
Sparta, they were worshipped as "the Demeters"; in the Thesmophoria,
they were known as "the thesmophoroi" ("the legislators").[97] In
Arcadia they were known as "the Great Goddesses" and "the
mistresses".[98] In Mycenaean Pylos, Demeter and Persephone were
probably called the "queens" (wa-na-ssoi).[74]

According to Diodorus Siculus, in his Bibliotheca historica written in

Triptolemus, Demeter and Persephone by the
Triptolemos-painter, c. 470 BC, Louvre
the 1st century BC, Demeter and Zeus were also the parents of
Dionysus. Diodorus described the myth of Dionysus's double birth
(once from the earth, i.e. Demeter, when the plant sprouts) and once
from the vine (when the fruit sprouts from the plant). Diodorus also related a version of the myth of Dionysus's destruction
by the Titans ("sons of Gaia"), who boiled him, and how Demeter gathered up his remains so that he could be born a third
time (Diod. iii.62). Diodorus states that Dionysus's birth from Zeus and his older sister Demeter was somewhat of a minority
belief, possibly via conflation of Demeter with her daughter, as most sources state that the parents of Dionysus were Zeus and
Persephone, and later Zeus and Semele.[99]

In Arcadia, a major Arcadian deity known as Despoina ("Mistress") was said to be the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon.
According to Pausanias, a Thelpusian tradition said that during Demeter's search for Persephone, Poseidon pursued her.
Demeter turned into a horse to avoid her younger brother's advances. However, he turned into a stallion and mated with the
goddess, resulting in the birth of the horse god Arion and a daughter "whose
name they are not wont to divulge to the uninitiated".[100] Elsewhere, he says that
the Phigalians assert that the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter was not a horse,
but Despoina, "as the Arcadians call her".[101]

In Orphic literature, Demeter seems to be the mother of the witchcraft goddess

Hecate.[102]

Both Homer and Hesiod, writing c. 700 BC, described Demeter making love with
the agricultural hero Iasion in a ploughed field during the marriage of Cadmus
and Harmonia.[103] According to Hesiod, this union resulted in the birth of Plutus.

Demeter took Mecon, a young Athenian, as a lover; he was at some point

transformed into a poppy flower.[104]

The following is a list of Demeter's offspring, by various fathers. Beside each

Dionysus (Bacchus) and Demeter
offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the (Ceres), antique fresco in Stabiae, 1st
century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates. century

Offspring Father Source Date

Hes. [105]
Persephone 8th cent. BC
Theog.
Zeus
Dionysus Diod. Sic. 1st cent. BC [106]

Arion, Despoina Poseidon Paus. 2nd cent. AD [107]

Hes. [108]
Plutus 8th cent. BC
Theog.
Iasion
Hyg. De 1st cent. [109]
Philomelus
astr. BC/AD

Hecate Orphic frr. [102]

No father mentioned
Eubuleus Diod. Sic. 1st cent. BC [110]

Abduction of Persephone
Demeter searched for her missing daughter Persephone ceaselessly for nine
days, preoccupied with her grief. Hecate then approached her and said that
while she had not seen what happened to Persephone, she heard her screams.
Together the two goddesses went to Helios, the sun god, who witnessed
everything that happened on earth thanks to his lofty position. Helios then
revealed to Demeter that her brother Hades, god of the Underworld, had
snatched a screaming Persephone to make her his wife with the permission
of Zeus, the girl's father. Demeter was then filled with anger, and so the
seasons halted and all living things ceased their growth and began to die.[111]
Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus sent his messenger
Hermes to the Underworld to bring Persephone back to her mother. Hades
agreed to release her if she had eaten nothing while in his realm, but
Persephone had eaten a small number of pomegranate seeds. This bound her
to Hades and the Underworld for certain months of every year, most likely
the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought,[112]
despite the popular belief that it is autumn or winter.[113] There are several
Demeter drives her horse-drawn chariot variations on the basic myth; the earliest account, the Homeric Hymn to
containing her daughter Persephone-Kore at Demeter, relates that Persephone is secretly slipped a pomegranate seed by
Selinunte, Sicily, 6th century BC. Hades[114] and in Ovid's version,[115] Persephone secretly eats the
pomegranate seeds, thinking to deceive Hades, but she was discovered and
made to stay. Contrary to popular perception, Persephone's time in the
Underworld does not correspond with the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendar, nor her return to the upper world
with springtime.[116] Demeter's descent to retrieve Persephone from the Underworld is connected to the Eleusinian
Mysteries.[117]

The myth of the capture of Persephone seems to be pre-Greek. In the Greek

version, Ploutos (πλούτος, wealth) represents the wealth of the corn that was
stored in underground silos or ceramic jars (pithoi). Similar subterranean pithoi
were used in ancient times for funerary practices. At the beginning of the autumn,
when the corn of the old crop is laid on the fields, she ascends and is reunited
with her mother, Demeter, for at this time, the old crop and the new meet each
other.[118]

In the Orphic tradition, while she was

searching for her daughter, a mortal
woman named Baubo received
Demeter as her guest and offered her a
meal and wine. Demeter declined them
both because she mourned the loss of
Persephone. Baubo then, thinking she
had displeased the goddess, lifted her
skirt and showed her genitalia to the
Demeter rejoiced, for her beloved
goddess, simultaneously revealing daughter was by her side.
Iacchus, Demeter's son. Demeter was
most pleased with the sight and
delighted she accepted the food and wine.[119][120] This tale survives in the
account of Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian writer who wrote about
pagan practices and mythology. Several Baubo figurines (figurines of women
revealing their vulvas) have been discovered, supporting the story.
A Greek terracotta figurine of Baubo, of
the face-in-torso type Demeter at Eleusis
Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone took her to the palace of Celeus, the
King of Eleusis in Attica. She assumed the form of an old woman and asked him for shelter. He took her in, to nurse
Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira. To reward his kindness, she planned to make Demophon immortal; she
secretly anointed the boy with ambrosia and laid him in the hearth's flames to gradually burn away his mortal self. But
Metanira walked in, saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright. Demeter abandoned the attempt.[121] Instead, once
Persephone returned from the underworld, she and Demeter taught Triptolemus the secrets of agriculture, and he, in turn,
taught them to any who wished to learn them. Thus, humanity learned how to plant, grow and harvest grain.[121][122] The
myth has several versions; some are linked to figures such as Eleusis, Rarus and Trochilus. The Demophon element may be
based on an earlier folk tale.[121]

Demeter and Iasion

Homer's Odyssey (c. late 8th century BC) contains perhaps the earliest direct references to the myth of Demeter and her
consort Iasion, a Samothracian hero whose name may refer to bindweed, a small white flower that frequently grows in wheat
fields. In the Odyssey, Calypso describes how Demeter, "without disguise", made love to Iasion. "So it was when Demeter of
the braided tresses followed her heart and lay in love with Iasion in the triple-furrowed field; Zeus was aware of it soon
enough and hurled the bright thunderbolt and killed him."[123] However, Ovid states that Iasion lived up to old age as the
husband of Demeter.[124] In ancient Greek culture, part of the opening of each agricultural year involved the cutting of three
furrows in the field to ensure its fertility.[125]

Hesiod expanded on the basics of this myth. According to him, the liaison between Demeter and Iasion took place at the
wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia in Crete. Demeter, in this version, had lured Iasion away from the other revellers. Hesiod
says that Demeter subsequently gave birth to Plutus.[126]
Demeter and Poseidon
In Arcadia, located in what is now
southern Greece, the major goddess
Despoina was considered the
daughter of Demeter and Poseidon
Hippios ("Horse-Poseidon"). In the
associated myths, Poseidon represents
the river spirit of the Underworld, and
he appears as a horse, as often
happens in northern European
folklore. The myth describes how he
pursued his older sister, Demeter,
who hid from him among the horses
of the king Onkios, but even in the
form of a mare, she could not conceal
her divinity. Poseidon caught and
raped his older sister in the form of a
Roman copy of a 4th century BC Greek stallion. Demeter was furious at
bust of Demeter (National Roman Poseidon's assault; in this furious Demeter in mourning, marble relief from
Museum). Knossos, Archaeological Museum of
form, she became known as Demeter
Heraklion.
Erinys. Her anger at Poseidon drove
her to dress all in black and retreat
into a cave to purify herself, an act which was the cause of a universal famine. Demeter's absence caused the death of crops,
livestock, and eventually of the people who depended on them (later Arcadian tradition held that it was both her rage at
Poseidon and her loss of her daughter caused the famine, merging the two myths).[27] Demeter washed away her anger in the
River Ladon, becoming Demeter Lousia, the "bathed Demeter".[127]

"In her alliance with Poseidon," Kerényi noted,[128] "she was Earth, who bears plants and beasts, and could therefore assume
the shape of an ear of grain or a mare." Moreover, she bore a daughter Despoina (Δέσποινα: the "Mistress"), whose name
should not be uttered outside the Arcadian Mysteries,[129] and a horse named Arion, with a black mane and tail.

At Phigaleia, a xoanon (wood-carved statue) of Demeter was erected in a cave which, tradition held, was the cave into which
Black Demeter retreated. The statue depicted a Medusa-like figure with a horse's head and snake-like hair, holding a dove
and a dolphin, which probably represented her power over air and water:[130]

The second mountain, Mount Elaius, is some thirty stades away from Phigalia, and has a cave sacred to Demeter
surnamed Black ... the Phigalians say, they concluded that this cavern was sacred to Demeter and set up in it a
wooden image. The image, they say, was made after this fashion. It was seated on a rock, like to a woman in all
respects save the head. She had the head and hair of a horse, and there grew out of her head images of serpents and
other beasts. Her tunic reached right to her feet; on one of her hands was a dolphin, on the other a dove. Now why
they had the image made after this fashion is plain to any intelligent man who is learned in traditions. They say that
they named her Black because the goddess had black apparel. They cannot relate either who made this wooden
image or how it caught fire. But the old image was destroyed, and the Phigalians gave the goddess no fresh image,
while they neglected for the most part her festivals and sacrifices, until the barrenness fell on the land.

— Pausanias, 8.42.1–4 ([Link]

Demeter and Erysichthon

Another myth involving Demeter's rage resulting in famine is that of Erysichthon, king of Thessaly.[27] The myth tells of
Erysichthon ordering all of the trees in one of Demeter's sacred groves to be cut down, as he wanted to build an extension of
his palace and hold feasts there. One tree, a huge oak, was covered with votive wreaths, symbols of the prayers Demeter had
granted, so Erysichthon's men refused to cut it down. The king used an axe to cut it down, killing a dryad nymph in the
process. The nymph's dying words were a curse on Erysichthon. Demeter
punished the king by calling upon Limos, the spirit of unrelenting and insatiable
hunger, to enter his stomach. The more the king ate, the hungrier he became.
Erysichthon sold all his possessions to buy food but was still hungry. Finally, he
sold his daughter, Mestra, into slavery. Mestra was freed from slavery by her
former lover, Poseidon, who gave her the gift of shape-shifting into any creature
to escape her bonds. Erysichthon used her shape-shifting ability to sell her
numerous times to make more money to feed himself, but no amount of food was
enough. Eventually, Erysichthon ate himself.[131]

In a variation, Erysichthon tore down a temple of Demeter, wishing to build a

roof for his house; she punished him the same way, and near the end of his life, An Italian print (1603) of Demeter
she sent a snake to plague him. Afterwards, Demeter put him among the stars (the ordering Famine to strike Erysichthon.
constellation Ophiuchus), as she did the snake, to continue to inflict its
punishment on Erysichthon.[132]

In the Pergamon Altar, which depicts the battle of the gods against the Giants (Gigantomachy), survive remains of what
seems to have been Demeter fighting a Giant labelled "Erysichthon."[133] Demeter is also depicted fighting against the Giants
next to Hermes in the Suessula Gigantomachy vase, now housed in the Louvre Museum.[134] Usually, ancient depictions of
the Gigantomachy tend to exclude Demeter due to her non-martial nature.[135]

Wrath myths
According to Ovid, Demeter gave the Sirens, the companions of Persephone,
wings to search for her daughter when she was abducted by Hades.[136] However,
the Fabulae of Hyginus has Demeter cursing the sirens for failing to intervene in
the abduction of Persephone.[137][138]

While travelling far and wide looking for her daughter, Demeter arrived
exhausted in Attica. A woman named Misme took her in and offered her a cup of
water with pennyroyal and barley groats, for it was a hot day. Demeter, in her
thirst, swallowed the drink clumsily. Witnessing that, Misme's son Ascalabus
laughed, mocked her, and asked her if she would like a deep jar of that drink.[139]
Demeter then poured her drink over him and turned him into a gecko, hated by
both men and gods. It was said that Demeter showed her favour to those who
killed geckos.[140]

Demeter pinned Ascalaphus under a rock for reporting, as sole witness, to Hades
that Persephone had consumed some pomegranate seeds.[141] Later, after
Heracles rolled the stone off Ascalaphus, Demeter turned him into a short-eared
Demeter in an ancient Greek fresco from
Panticapaeum, 1st century Crimea. owl instead.[142] In other versions, Persephone was the one who transformed
Ascalaphus into the bird by sprinkling him with water of the river
Phlegethon.[143]

Before Hades abducted Persephone, he had kept Minthe as his mistress. But after he married Persephone, he set Minthe
aside. Minthe would often brag about being lovelier and more queenly than Persephone and say Hades would soon come
back to her and kick Persephone out of his halls. Demeter, hearing that insult towards her daughter, grew angry and trampled
Minthe; from the earth then sprang a lovely-smelling herb named after the nymph.[144] In other versions, Persephone herself
is the one who kills and turns Minthe into a plant.[145][146][147]

In an Argive myth, when Demeter travelled to Argolis, a man named Colontas refused to receive her in his house, whereas his
daughter Chthonia disapproved of his actions. Colontas was punished by being burnt along with his house, but Demeter took
Chthonia to Hermione, where she built a sanctuary for the goddess.[148]

Once, the Colchian princess Medea ended a famine that plagued Corinth by making sacrifices to Demeter and the
nymphs.[149]
Favour myths
During her wanderings, Demeter came upon the town of Pheneus; to the
Pheneates that received her warmly and offered her shelter, she gave all
sorts of pulse, except for beans, deeming it impure.[150] Two of the
Pheneates, Trisaules and Damithales, had a temple of Demeter built for
her.[151] Demeter also gifted a fig tree to Phytalus, an Eleusinian man, for
welcoming her in his home.[152]

Demeter gave Triptolemus her serpent-drawn chariot (one of the serpents

that drew this chariot was Kykreides) and seed and bade him scatter it
across the earth (teach humankind the knowledge of agriculture).
Triptolemus rode through Europe and Asia until he came to the land of
Lyncus, a Scythian king. Lyncus pretended to offer what's accustomed of
hospitality to him, but once Triptolemus fell asleep, he attacked him with
a dagger, wanting to take credit for his work. Demeter then saved
Triptolemus by turning Lyncus into a lynx and ordered Triptolemus to
return home airborne.[153] Hyginus records a very similar myth, in which
Demeter saves Triptolemus from an evil king named Carnabon who
additionally seized Triptolemus's chariot and killed one of the dragons, so
he might not escape; Demeter restored the chariot to Triptolemus,
substituted the dead dragon with another one, and punished Carnabon by Head of a statue of Demeter, marble, Roman
putting him among the stars holding a dragon as if to kill it.[154] imperial period, 2nd century CE

When her son Philomelus invented the plough and used it to

cultivate the fields, Demeter was so impressed by his good work
that she immortalized him in the sky by turning him into a
constellation, the Boötes.[155]

In the tale of Eros and Psyche, Demeter, along with her sister Hera,
visited Aphrodite, raging with fury about the girl who had married
her son. Aphrodite asks the two to search for her; the two try to talk
sense into her, arguing that her son is not a little boy, although he
might appear as one, and there's no harm in him falling in love with
Psyche. Aphrodite took offence at their words.[156] Sometime later,
Modern statue of Demeter by Greek sculptor Leonidas Psyche in her wanderings came across an abandoned shrine of
Drosis in the facade of the Academy of Athens, Greece.
Demeter, and sorted out the neglected sickles and harvest
implements she found there. As she was doing so, Demeter
appeared to her and called from afar; she warned the girl of Aphrodite's great wrath and her plan to take revenge on her. Then
Psyche begged the goddess to help her, but Demeter answered that she could not interfere and incur Aphrodite's anger at her,
and for that reason, Psyche had to leave the shrine or else be kept as a captive of hers.[157]

Hierax, a man of justice and distinction, set up sanctuaries for Demeter and received plenteous harvests from her in return.
When the tribe neglected Poseidon in favour of Demeter, the sea god destroyed all of her crops, so Hierax sent them instead
his own food and was transformed into a hawk by Poseidon.[158]

Besides giving gifts to those who were welcoming to her, Demeter was also a goddess who nursed the young; all of
Plemaeus's children born by his first wife died in a cradle; Demeter took pity on him and reared herself his son
Orthopolis.[159] Plemaeus built a temple to her to thank her.[160] Demeter also raised Trophonius, the prophetic son of either
Apollo or Erginus.[161]

Other accounts
Demeter seems to have accompanied Dionysus when he descended into the Underworld to retrieve his mother Semele in
order to visit her now married daughter, and perhaps lead her back to the land of the living for the remainder of the
year.[162][163] In many vases from Athens Dionysus is seen in the company of mother and daughter.[164]
Once Tantalus, a son of Zeus, invited the gods over for dinner. Tantalus, wanting to test them, cut his son Pelops, cooked him
and offered him as a meal to them. They all saw through Tantalus's crime except Demeter, who ate Pelops's shoulder before
the gods brought him back to life.[165]

Genealogy
Demeter's family tree[166]

Gaia

Uranus

Uranus's genitals Coeus Phoebe Cronus Rhea

Leto Zeus Hera Poseidon Hades DEMETER Hestia

Apollo Artemis a[167]

b[168]

Ares Hephaestus

Metis

Athena[169]

Maia

Hermes

Semele

Dionysus

Dione

a[170] b[171]

Aphrodite

See also
Ancient Greece
portal
Myths portal

Religion portal

Family tree of the Greek gods

Greek mythology in popular culture
Isis and Osiris
Demophon of Eleusis
Notes
1. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. 1995. p. 314 ([Link]
s?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA314). ISBN 9780877790426.
2. Δηώ ([Link]
3. Lorena Laura Stookey, Thematic Guide to World Mythology, p. 99.
4. Lee W. Bailey, "Dying and rising gods" in: David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden and Stanton Marlan (eds.)
Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion (2009) ISBN 038771801X Springer, pages 266–267
5. Σιτώ ([Link] Cf. σῖτος (http
s://[Link]/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=si=tos). Liddell, Henry George;
Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
6. Eustathius of Thessalonica, scholia on Homer, 265.
7. The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought - Volume 2: The Twentieth Century and Beyond (http
s://[Link]/books?id=HZYx__5mqZEC&q=thesmophoros+%22giver+of+customs%22&pg=PT661).
Broadview Press. p. 643.
8. John Chadwick, The Mycenean World, Cambridge University Press, 1976.
9. Y. Duhoux, "LA > B da-ma-te=Déméter? Sur la langue du linéaire A," Minos 29/30 (1994–1995): 289–294.
10. Y. Duhoux and A. Morpurgo-Davies, Companion to Linear B, vol. 2 (2011), p. 26. But see Ventris/Chadwick,
Documents in Mycenean Greek, p. 242, [Link] (2004), The origins of the Greek religion, Bristol Phoenix
Press, p. 172
11. "da-ma-te" ([Link]
b-sign-groups/da/da-ma-te/). Deaditerranean. Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Archived from the
original ([Link] on 18 March 2016.
Retrieved 13 March 2014. "PY 609 En (1)" ([Link]
[Link]. University of Oslo.
12. Inscription MY Oi 701."si-to-po-ti-ni-ja" ([Link]
[Link]/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/si/si-to-po-ti-ni-ja/). [Link]. Archived from the
original ([Link] on 20 March
2016. Retrieved 13 March 2014."The Linear B word si-to" ([Link]
16929). [Link]. "MY 701 Oi (63)" ([Link]
_id/5609). /[Link]. University of Oslo. Cf. σῖτος, Σιτώ.
13. "mother | Origin and meaning of mother by Online Etymology Dictionary" ([Link]
other). [Link].
14. Δᾶ ([Link] in Liddell and
Scott.
15. "demeter | Origin and meaning of the name demeter" ([Link] Online
Etymology Dictionary.
16. Δημήτηρ ([Link]
Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
17. R. S. P. Beekes. Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 324.
18. Adams, John Paul, Mycenean divinities ([Link] – List of handouts for
California State University Classics 315. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
19. Chadwick, The Mycenaean World, Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 87) "Every Greek was aware of the
maternal functions of Demeter; if her name bore the slightest resemblance to the Greek word for 'mother', it
would inevitably have been deformed to emphasize that resemblance. [...] How did it escape transformation
into *Gāmātēr, a name transparent to any Greek speaker?" Compare the Latin transformation Iuppiter and
Diespiter vis-a-vis *Deus pater.
20. West 2007, p. 176 ([Link] "The ∆α-, however,
cannot be explained from Greek. But there is a Messapic Damatura or Damatira, and she need not be
dismissed as borrowing from Greek; she matches the Illyrian Deipaturos both in the agglutination and in the
transfer to the thematic declension (-os, -a). (It is noteworthy that sporadic examples of a thematically declined
∆ημήτρα are found in inscriptions.) Damater/Demeter could therefore be borrowing from Illyrian. An Illyrian Dā-
may be derived from *Dʰǵʰ(e)m-"
21. Orphic Hymn 40 to Demeter (translated by Thomas Taylor: "O universal mother Deo famed, august, the
source of wealth and various names".
22. Compare sanskr. yava, lit. yavai, Δά is probably derived from δέFα :Martin Nilsson, Geschichte der
Griechischen Religion, vol. I (Verlag [Link]) pp 461–462.
23. Harrison, Jane Ellen (5 September 1908). "Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion" ([Link]
ils/prolegomenatostu00harr). Cambridge [Eng.] : The University press – via Internet Archive.
24. "Myths of Greece and Rome: Demeter and Persephone (Ceres and Proserpine)" ([Link]
mgr/[Link]). [Link].
25. Frisk, Griechisches Etymological Woerterbuch. Entry 1271
26. Stott, Carole (1 August 2019). Planisphere and Starfinder, pp. 69. Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN 978-0-
241-42169-7.
27. Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow, eds. The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization.
OUP Oxford, 2014; Pausanias, 8.42.1–4 ([Link]
eus-eng1:8.42).
28. Pausainias, 8.42.7 ([Link]
29. "Homer, Iliad, Book 5, line 493" ([Link]
seus:text:1999.01.0134). [Link].
30. Iliad 9.534 ([Link]
99.01.0134)
31. Hesiod Works and Days, 465 ([Link]
48-478)
32. Nilsson, (1967), Geschichte Vol I, 461–466
33. "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ζείδωρος" ([Link]
er/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=zei/dwros). [Link].
34. "Sophocles, Antigone, line 1115" ([Link]
120&lang=original). [Link].
35. Stalmith in GRBS48 (2008), 116-117
36. Nilsson, (1967), Geschichte Vol I, 468
37. Farnell, Lewis Richard (20 May 1907). "Cults Of The Greek States Vol.3" ([Link]
2015.56574) – via Internet Archive.
38. Nilsson(1967) Geschichte Vol I, 412, 467–478
39. Cole(1994) in Placing the gods 201–202
40. Isocrates, Panegyricus 4.28 ([Link] "When Demeter
came to our land, in her wandering after the rape of Kore, and, being moved to kindness towards our
ancestors by services which may not be told save to her initiates, gave these two gifts, the greatest in the
world – the fruits of the earth, which have enabled us to rise above the life of the beasts, and the holy rite,
which inspires in those who partake of it sweeter hopes regarding both the end of life and all eternity".
41. Robertson in GRBS37(1996), pp. 351, 377–378
42. Burkert(1985), 244
43. Stalmith in GRBS48 (2008), 127
44. Jeffery (1976), 23
45. Pausanias|8.42.1–4 ([Link]
46. Stalmith in GRBS48(2008) 118–119
47. Anesidora: inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum, B.M. 1881,0528.1, from
Nola, painted by the Tarquinia painter, ca 470–460 BC (British Museum on-line catalogue entry ([Link]
[Link]/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=461511&par
tid=1&searchText=Anesidora+Nola+Tarquinia&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearc
h%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=1))
48. Hesychius of Alexandria s.v.
49. Scholiast, On Theocritus ii. 12.
50. Farnell Cults III, 48–49 Farnell III,48 ([Link]
51. Farnell Cults III,30-31 Farnell III,30 ([Link]
52. Raubitschek-Jane Biers, in MVSE vol. 31–32 (1997–1998), 53. MVSE (1997–1998), 53 ([Link]
[Link]/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/83637/[Link]?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)
53. Jeffery (1976), The city states, 72-73
54. John Ernest Leonard Oulton (1954). Alexandrian Christianity The Library Of Christian Classics; Volume II (http
s://[Link]/details/alexandrianchris012826mbp/page/n51/mode/2up). Westminster Press. p. 48: "And
Pindar speaks of the Eleusinian mysteries as follows: "Blessed is he who has seen before he goes under the
earth; for he knows the end of life and knows also its divine beginning." "
55. C.M. Bowra (1957), 87, 169
56. Pausanias 8.15.3 ([Link]
57. Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I p. 477-478
58. Heraklion Museum, Kerényi 1976, fig. 15.
59. Kerényi 1976, p. 25.
60. Orphic Hymn to Mother Antaia (40), 1; Apollonius of Rhodes 1.1141; Hesychius of Alexandria, Ἀνταία.
61. Sheard, K. M. (2011). "Azesia" ([Link] Llewellyn's Complete
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63. χλόη ([Link] in Liddell, Henry
George; Scott, Robert (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Jones, Sir
Henry Stuart, with the assistance of McKenzie, Roderick. Oxford: Clarendon Press. In the Perseus Digital
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64. Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Chloeia ([Link]
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3Aentry%3Dchloeia-harpers)
65. Homeric Hymn 2 To Demeter ([Link]
137%3Ahymn%3D2)
66. Orphic Hymn 39 to Demeter 12
67. Apollonius Rhodius, 4.987
68. Apollonius Rhodius, 4.148; Orphic Hymn 35.9
69. Orphic Hymn 3 to Nyx 8
70. MORELLI, DONATO (1959). "Parte Prima: FONTI" ([Link] Studi Classici e
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71. Dietrich p. 169 ([Link]
72. Dietrich, pp. 181–185 ([Link]
73. Dietrich, p. 141 ([Link]
74. "Wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te, (to the two queens and the king). Wanax is best suited to Poseidon, the special
divinity of Pylos. The identity of the two divinities addressed as wanassoi, is uncertain ": George Mylonas
(1966) Mycenae and the Mycenean age" p. 159 :Princeton University Press
75. Dietrich, pp. 189-190 ([Link]
76. Cohen, A, Art in the Era of Alexander the Great: Paradigms of Manhood and Their Cultural Traditions,
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77. L. H. Jeffery (1976) Archaic Greece: The City States c. 700–500 BC. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge
pp. 72, 73, 78 ISBN 0-510-03271-0
78. The Parian marble. Entry No 5: "When Amphictyon son of Hellen became king of Thermopylae brought
together those living round the temple and named them Amphictyones; [1] ([Link]
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79. Pausanias, 7.27.9 ([Link]
80. Keller, Mara Lynn (1988). "The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone: Fertility, Sexuality, and
Rebirth" ([Link] Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 4 (1): 27–54.
ISSN 8755-4178 ([Link] JSTOR 25002068 ([Link]
25002068).
81. Cosmopoulos, Michael B. (2015). Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=BPkKCgAAQBAJ&dq=Saint+Demetra+of+Eleusis&pg=PA35). Cambridge University
Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-316-36823-7.
82. Sharma, Arvind (2005). Goddesses And Women In The Indic Religious Tradition ([Link]
oks?id=k6YrsMcVqS4C&pg=PA47). BRILL. p. 47. ISBN 978-90-04-12466-0.
83. "Upper part of a caryatid: GR.1.1865" ([Link] The Fitzwilliam
Museum. The University of Cambridge. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
84. Benko, Stephen, The virgin goddess: studies in the pagan and Christian roots of mariology, BRILL, 2004, note
111 on pp. 63 – 4, and p. 175.
85. Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia, The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215.
86. Spaeth, Barbette Stanley, The Roman goddess Ceres, University of Texas Press, 1996, pp. 4, 6–13, citing
Arnobius, who mistakes this as the first Roman cult to Ceres. His belief may reflect its high profile and ubiquity
during the later Imperial period and possibly the fading of older, distinctively Aventine forms of her cult.
87. Scheid, John, "Graeco Ritu: A Typically Roman Way of Honoring the Gods," Harvard Studies in Classical
Philology, 97, Greece in Rome: Influence, Integration, Resistance, 1995, p.23.
 88. Spaeth, Barbette Stanley, The Roman goddess Ceres, University of Texas Press, 1996, pp. 13, 15, 60, 94–97.
89. [Link].1301–45 and Melanippid.764PMG.
90. Kore / Persephone ([Link]
Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World: Asia Minor. [Link]
lemmaId=10541#noteendNote_11
91. Apuleius (1998). The Golden Ass. Penguin classics.
92. Grimal, s.v. Cronus ([Link]
93. Hesiod, Theogony 912 ([Link]
text%3A1999.01.0130); Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2) ([Link]
us%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2).
94. Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Cratylus 403 e (90, 28 Pasqu.) [=Orphic fr. 145 Kern ([Link]
ls/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater); West 1983, p. 217.
95. Kerényi 1976, p. 112.
96. Zuntz, G., Persephone. Three essays in religion and thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford, 1971), p. 75-83.
97. Martin Nilsson (1967) Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion pp.463, 477
98. Martin Nilsson (1967) Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion pp. 463–465
99. Diodorus Siculus, Book III ([Link]
100. Pausanias, 8.28.5–7 ([Link]
101. Pausanias, 8.42.1 ([Link]
102. Orphic frr. 400 I (I p. 334) [= fr. 41 Kern ([Link]
de/2up) = Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 3.467], 400 II (I p. 334) Bernabé [= fr. 42 Kern ([Link]
details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater) = Scholia on Theocritus, 2.12].
103. Homer, Odyssey 5.125 ([Link]
44); Hesiod, Theogony 969–974 ([Link]
1:963-1002).
104. Smith, s.v. Mecon ([Link]
abetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D14%3Aentry%3Dmecon-bio-1); Servius on Virgil's Georgics 1.212 (ht
tp://[Link]/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommlin
e%3D212)
105. Gantz, p. 64; Hesiod, Theogony 912–914 ([Link]
eus-eng1:901-937).
106. Smith, s.v. Demeter ([Link]
er-bio-1&highlight=demeter%2Cdionysus); Diodorus Siculus, 3.62.5 ([Link]
Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#62.5); Scholiast on Pindar, Pythian Odes 3.177.
107. Tripp, s.v. Arion or Areion, p. 101; Pausanias, 8.25.7 ([Link]
[Link]-eng1:8.25.7).
108. Morford, p. 339; Hesiod, Theogony 969—974 ([Link]
perseus-eng1:963-1002).
109. Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Philomelus (1); Hyginus, De astronomia 2.4.7 ([Link]
110. Diodorus Siculus, 5.76.3 ([Link]
6.3).
111. Kerényi 1951, pp. 232–241 and notes 784–798.
112. As in Burkert, Greek Religion (Harvard, 1985) p. 160.
113. "Martin Nilsson, The Greek popular religion, The religion of Eleusis, pp 51–54" ([Link]
a/gpr/). [Link].
114. "HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER" ([Link] [Link].
115. Ovid, Metamorphoses (Book V, ln. 533–571 ([Link]
116. Graf, "Demeter" in Brill's New Pauly
117. "The Eleusinian Mysteries: The Rites of Demeter" ([Link]
ries-the-rites-of-demeter/). World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
118. Martin Nilsson, Greek Popular Religion. ([Link] pp 48–50
119. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks 2.11 ([Link] Grimal, s.v.
Baubo.
120. Graves, p. 92.
121. Nilsson (1940), p. 50: "The Demophon story in Eleusis is based on an older folk-tale motif which has nothing
to do with the Eleusinian Cult. It is introduced to let Demeter reveal herself in her divine shape".
122. Siculus, Diodorus (1939). "The Library of History, Book V, 47-84" ([Link]
man/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html). [Link]. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
123. Homer, Odyssey 5.125 ff (trans. Shewring)
124. Smith, s.v. Iasion ([Link]
habetic+letter%3DI%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Diasion-bio-1); Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.421 ([Link]
[Link]/work/141#9.418)
125. "IASION - Greek Demi-God of the Samothracian Mysteries" ([Link]
[Link].
126. Hesiod, Theogony 969—974 ([Link]
3-1002); Gantz, p. 64; Tripp, s.v. Iasion; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Iasion.
127. Other ritually bathed goddesses were Argive Hera and Cybele; Aphrodite renewed her own powers bathing
herself in the sea.
128. Kerényi 1951, p. 185.
129. "In Arcadia, she was also a second goddess in the Mysteries of her daughter, the unnameable, who was
invoked only as 'Despoina', the 'Mistress'" (Kerényi 1967, pp. 31ff., citing Pausanias, 8.37.9 ([Link]
[Link]/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:[Link]-eng1:8.37.9).
130. L. H. Jeffery (1976). Archaic Greece: The Greek city states c. 800-500 B.C. (Ernest Benn Limited) p 23
ISBN 0-510-03271-0
131. Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.738–878 ([Link]
2.0028%3Abook%3D8%3Acard%3D728); Callimachus, Hymn VI to Demeter 34 ff. ([Link]
callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/126/mode/2up?view=theater).
132. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.14.4 ([Link]
133. McKay, p. 93 ([Link]
134. "Louvre S 1677 (Vase)" ([Link]
[Link]. Tufts University. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
135. Smith & Plantzos 2018, p. 409 ([Link]
136. Ovid, Metamorphoses V, 551.
137. Hyginus, Fabulae 141 ([Link]
138. Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 141 (trans. Grant).
139. Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.446-461 ([Link] Antoninus
Liberalis, Metamorphoses 24 ([Link] Tripp, s.v. Ascalabus.
140. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 24 ([Link]
141. Apollodorus, 1.5.3 ([Link]
t%3A1999.01.0022#note6).
142. Apollodorus, 2.5.12 ([Link]
xt%3A1999.01.0022#note6).
143. Ovid. Metamorphoses. Book V, 534.
144. Oppian, Halieutica 3.485 ff ([Link]
482)
145. Strabo, Geographica 8.3.14. ([Link]
s%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198)
146. Scholia ad Nicandri Alexipharmaca 375 ([Link]
147. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.728 ([Link]
148. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.35.4 ([Link]
oc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160)
149. Scholia on Pindar's Olympian Odes 13.74 ([Link]
erseus-grc1:13.74/)
150. Pausanias, 8.15.3 ([Link]
k%3D8%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D3).
151. Pausanias, 8.15.4 ([Link]
k%3D8%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D4).
152. Pausanias, 1.37.2 ([Link]
3A1999.01.0160); Grimal, s.v. Phytalus, p. 373.
153. Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.642-678 ([Link]
154. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.14.2 ([Link]
155. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.4.7 ([Link] Grimal, s.v. Philomelus, p. 366.
156. Apuleius, The Golden Ass 5.28-31 ([Link]
chor_Toc348436733)
157. Apuleius, The Golden Ass 6.1-4 ([Link]
or_Toc349118610)
158. Antoninus Liberalis, Collection of Transformations 3 ([Link]
159. Pausanias, 2.5.8 ([Link]
1999.01.0160).
160. Pausanias, 2.11.2 ([Link]
3A1999.01.0160).
161. Pausanias, 9.39.5 ([Link]
k%3D9%3Achapter%3D39%3Asection%3D5); Grimal, s.v. Trophonius, pp. 459–460.
162. Kerenyi 1967, pp. 42-43 ([Link]
er).
163. J. Paul Getty Museum 1983, p. 31, especially note 58 ([Link]
g=PA31).
164. J. Paul Getty Museum 1983, p. 30 ([Link]
165. Lycophron, Alexandra 152-155 ([Link]
=theater); Hyginus, Fabulae 83 ([Link] Grimal, s.v. Pelops.
166. This chart is based upon Hesiod's Theogony, unless otherwise noted.
167. According to Homer, Iliad 1.570–579 ([Link]
eng1:1.570), 14.338 ([Link]
Odyssey 8.312 ([Link]
Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
168. According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929 ([Link]
Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
169. According to Hesiod's Theogony 886–890 ([Link] of
Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus
impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp.
51–52, 83–84.
170. According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200 ([Link]
Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
171. According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374 ([Link]
greekLit:[Link]-eng1:3.374), 20.105 ([Link]
[Link]-eng1:20.105); Odyssey 8.308 ([Link]
perseus-eng1:8.308), 320 ([Link]
0)) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71 ([Link]
370)), see Gantz, pp. 99–100.

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External links
Hymn to Demeter, Ancient Greek and English text ([Link]
[Link]/demeter/[Link]), Interlinear Translation edited & adapted from the 1914 prose
translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, with Greek-English glossary, notes and illustrations.
Foley P. Helene, The Homeric hymn to Demeter: translation, commentary, and interpretive essays, Princeton
University Press, 1994 ([Link] with ancient Greek text and
English translation.
Text of Homeric Hymn to Demeter ([Link] translated by Gregory Nagy
Online book of Martin P. Nilsson, Greek Popular Religion ([Link]
"The Political Cosmology of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter" ([Link]
"The Sophian Prayer to Demeter" ([Link]
ayertodemeter)
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Demeter) ([Link]
tegory/vpc-taxonomy-000209)

Retrieved from "[Link]