Demeter
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The Cat and the Owl
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{{otheruses1|the Greek goddess}}
[[Image:Cosmè Tura 005.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ceres (Demeter), allegory of August: detail of a fresco by [[Cosimo Tura]], Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1469-70.]]
In [[Greek mythology]] '''Demeter''' ({{pronEng|dɨˈmiːtɚ}}; [[Greek language|Greek]]: '''{{polytonic|Δημήτηρ}}''', possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *''dheghom'' *''mater'', also called simply '''Δηώ''') is the [[goddess]] of [[cereal|grain]] and fertility, the pure nourisher of the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of [[marriage]] and the sacred law. She is invoked as the "bringer of [[season]]s" in the [[Homeric hymn]], a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]]. The [[Homeric Hymn]] to Demeter has been dated to about the seventh century BC.<ref>Nilsson, p.45: "We have a document concerning the Eleusinian cult which is older and more comprehensive than anything concerning any other Greek cult, namely, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter composed in Attica before Eleusis was incorporated into the Athenian state, not later than the end of the seventh century B.C. We know that the basis of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] was an old agrarian cult celebrated in the middle of the month Boedromion (about October) and closely akin to the Thesmophoria, a festival of the autumn sowing celebrated by the women not quite a month later. I need not dwell upon this connection, which is established by internal evidence as well as by direct information."</ref> She and her daughter [[Persephone]] were the central figures of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] that also predated the Olympian pantheon.
Her [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] equivalent is '''[[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]]''', from whom the word "cereal" is derived.
Demeter is easily confused with [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] or [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], and with [[Cybele]]. The goddess's [[epithet]]s reveal the span of her functions in Greek life. Demeter and Kore ("the maiden") are usually invoked as ''to theo'' ('"The Two Goddesses"), and they appear in that form in [[Linear B]] graffiti at [[Mycenaean civilization|Mycenaean]] [[Pylos]] in pre-[[Classical Greece|classical]] times. A connection with the goddess-cults of [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Crete]] is quite possible.
According to the Athenian [[rhetorician]] [[Isocrates]], the greatest gifts which Demeter gave were [[cereal]] (also known as [[Wiktionary:corn|corn]] in modern Britain), which made man different from wild animals; and the Mysteries which give man higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.<ref>[[Isocrates]], ''Panegyricus''[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Isoc.+4+27 4.28]: "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".</ref>
==Titles and functions==
[[Image:Ceres Vatican.JPG|thumb|220px|Colossal Statue of [[Ceres]], [[Vatican Museums]], [[Rome]], [[Italy]]. Demeter and Ceres are identified in art as holding a tuft of grain.]]
In various contexts, Demeter is invoked with many [[epithets]], which offer clues to her roles:
'''Potnia''' ("mistress") in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]'' is an ancient epithet which appears in Mycenaean inscriptions in [[Linear B]]. [[Hera]] especially, but also [[Artemis]] and [[Athena]], are addressed as "Mistress". As '''Erinys''' ("implacable"),<ref>Pausanias 8.25.50.</ref> a stern Demeter is invoked: the [[Erinyes]] or furies, were the implacable agents of retribution; in a similar sense, Demeter could be invoked as '''Thesmophoros''' ("giver of customs" or even "legislator") a role that links her to the even more ancient goddess [[Themis]]. This title was connected with the [[Thesmophoria]], a festival of secret women-only rituals in [[History of Athens|Athens]] connected with marriage customs.
'''Chloe''' ("the green shoot")<ref>In Pausanias 1.22.3.</ref> invokes her powers of ever-returning fertility, as does '''Chthonia''' ("in the ground").<ref> Pausanias 3.14.5.</ref> '''Anesidora''' ("sending up gifts from the earth") applied to Demeter in Pausanias 1.31.4, also appears inscribed on an Attic ceramic as a name for [[Pandora]].
Demeter might also be invoked in the guise of
*'''Malophoros''' ("apple-bearer" or "sheep-bearer", Pausanias 1.44.3)
*'''Kidaria''' (Pausanias 8.13.3),
*'''Lusia''' ("bathing", Pausanias 8.25.8)
*'''Thermasia''' ("warmth", Pausanias 2.34.6)
*'''[[Cabiri|Kabeiraia]]''', a pre-Greek name of uncertain meaning that links Demeter as patroness to the [[Kabeiroi]].
*'''Achaea''', the name by which she was worshipped at [[Athens]] by the Gephyraeans who had emigrated from [[Boeotia]].<ref>[[Herodotus]], v. 61;[[Plutarch]] ''Isis et Osiris'' p. 378, d</ref><ref name="dgrbm">{{Citation
| last = Smith
| first = William
| author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)
| contribution = Achaea (1)
| editor-last = Smith
| editor-first = William
| title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]
| volume = 1
| pages = 8
| publisher =
| place = Boston
| year = 1867
| contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0017.html }}</ref>
*'''Thesmophoros''' ("giver of customs" or even "legislator", a role that links her to the even more ancient goddess [[Themis]]. This title was connected with the [[Thesmophoria]], a festival of secret women-only rituals in [[History of Athens|Athens]] connected with marriage customs.)
[[Theocritus]] remembered an earlier role of Demeter:
:''For the Greeks Demeter was still a poppy goddess''
:''Bearing sheaves and poppies in both hands.'' — ''Idyll'' vii.157
In a clay statuette from Gazi (Heraklion Museum, Kereny 1976 fig 15), the Minoan poppy goddess wears the seed capsules, sources of nourishment and narcosis, in her diadem. "It seems probable that the Great [[Mother Goddess]], who bore the names Rhea and Demeter, brought the poppy with her from her Cretan cult to [[Eleusinian mysteries|Eleusis]], and it is certain that in the Cretan cult sphere, opium was prepared from poppies" (Kerenyi 1976, p 24).
In honor of Demeter of Mysia a seven-day festival was held at Pellené in [[Arcadia]] (Pausan. 7. 27, 9). Pausanias passed the shrine to Demeter at Mysia on the road from [[Mycenae]] to [[Argos]] but all he could draw out to explain the archaic name was a myth of an eponymous Mysius who venerated Demeter. She is the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
Major sites for the [[cult (religion)|cult]] of Demeter were not confined to any localized part of the Greek world: there were sites at [[Eleusis]], in [[Sicily]], [[Hermion]], in [[Crete]], [[Megara]], [[Celeae]], [[Lerna]], [[Aegila]], [[Munychia]], [[Corinth]], [[Delos]], [[Priene]], [[Akragas]], [[Iasos]], [[Pergamon]], [[Selinus]], [[Tegea]], [[Thorikos]], [[Dion]], [[Lycosura|Lykosoura]], [[Mesembria]], [[Enna]], and [[Samothrace]].
She was associated with the [[Roman mythology|Roman]] goddess [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]]. When Demeter was given a genealogy, she was the daughter of [[Cronos]] and [[Rhea]], and therefore the elder sister of [[Zeus]]. Her priestesses were addressed with the title [[Melissa]].
Demeter taught mankind the arts of agriculture: sowing seeds, ploughing, harvesting, etc. She was especially popular with rural folk, partly because they most benefited directly from her assistance, and partly because rural folk are more conservative about keeping to the old ways. Demeter herself was central to the older religion of Greece. Relics unique to her cult, such as votive clay pigs, were being fashioned in the Neolithic. In Roman times, a sow was still sacrificed to Ceres following a death in the family, to purify the household.
==Demeter Erinys: Vengeful Demeter==
===Demeter and Poseidon===<!-- This section is linked from [[Epona]] -->
Demeter and [[Poseidon]]'s names are linked in the earliest scratched notes in [[Linear B]] found at Mycenaean [[Pylos]], where they appear as <small>PO-SE-DA-O-NE</small> and <small>DA-MA-TE</small> in the context of sacralized lot-casting. The '<small>DA</small>' element in each of their names is seemingly connected to an [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root relating to distribution of land and honors (compare Latin ''dare'' "to give"). Poseidon (his name seems to signify "consort of the distributor") once pursued Demeter, in her archaic form as a mare-goddess. She resisted Poseidon, but she could not disguise her divinity among the horses of King [[Onkios]]. Poseidon became a stallion and covered her. She bore to Poseidon a [[Despoina|Daughter, the "Mistress"]] whose name might not be uttered outside the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], and a steed named [[Arion]], with a black mane.
In [[Arcadia]], Demeter was worshiped as a horse-headed deity into historical times:
{{Quotation|The second mountain, Mt. Elaios, is about 30 stades from [[Phigalia|Phigaleia]], and has a cave sacred to Demeter Melaine ["Black"]... the Phigalians say, they accounted the cave sacred to Demeter, and set up a [[Xoanon|wooden image]] in it. The image was made in the following fashion: it was seated on a rock, and was like a woman in all respects save the head. She had the head and hair of a horse, and serpents and other beasts grew out of her head. Her [[Chiton (costume)|chiton]] reached right to her feet, and she held a dolphin in one hand, a dove in the other. Why they made the ''[[xoanon]]'' like this should be clear to any intelligent man who is versed in tradition. They say they named her Black because the goddess wore black clothing. However, they cannot remember who made this xoanon or how it caught fire; but when it was destroyed the Phigalians gave no new image to the goddess and largely neglected her festivals and sacrifices, until finally barrenness fell upon the land.|[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]| Description of Greece ''8.42.1ff.}}
===Demeter Erinys===
As for Demeter, she was literally furious (''Demeter [[Erinys]]'') at the assault, but washed away her anger in the River [[Ladon]], becoming ''Demeter Lousia'', the "bathed Demeter".<ref>Other ritually bathed goddesses were Argive [[Hera]] and [[Cybele]]; [[Aphrodite]] renewed her own powers bathing herself in the sea.</ref> "In her alliance with Poseidon," [[Karl Kerenyi]] noted,<ref>Kerenyi, ''The Gods of the Greeks'', 1951:185.</ref> "she was [[Gaia|Earth]], who bears plants and beasts, and could therefore assume the shape of an ear of [[Grain|corn]] or a mare." In her period of eclipse, the Grain Goddess brought desiccation and death to the croplands of which she was the patroness. Pausanias explicitly connects the neglect of her festival with the barrenness of Phigalia. The rites at Phigaleia noted by Pausanias remained local; by contrast, the specifically [[Eleusis|Eleusinian]] mythic theme of Demeter and Persephone, accounting in another way for the annual eclipse of Demeter, was given the widest conceivable currency through the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] that celebrated and recreated it, and passed into the mainstream tradition, as it was carried by literary sources.
==Demeter and Persephone==
[[Image:FredericLeighton-TheReturnofPerspephone(1891).jpg|right|thumb|190px|''The Return of Persephone'' by [[Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton|Frederic Leighton]], (1891).]]
The central myth of Demeter, which is at the heart of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], is her relationship with [[Persephone]], her daughter and own younger self. In the Olympian pantheon, Persephone became the consort of [[Hades]] (Roman [[Pluto (god)|Pluto]], the underworld god of wealth). Demeter had a large scope of abilities. Besides being the goddess of the harvest, she also controlled the seasons, and because of that she was capable of destroying all life on earth. In fact, her powers were able to influence Zeus into making Hades bring her daughter Persephone up from the underworld. Persephone became the goddess of the underworld when Hades abducted her from the earth and brought her into the underworld. She had been playing with some nymphs, whom Demeter later changed into the Sirens as punishment for having interfered, and the ground split and she was taken in by Hades. Life came to a standstill as the depressed Demeter searched for her lost daughter.
Finally, Zeus could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to return Persephone by sending [[Hermes]] to retrieve her. But before she was released, Hades tricked her into eating six [[pomegranate]] [[seeds]] (the number varies in various versions; one, three, four, or even seven according to the telling), which forced her to return for six months each year. When Demeter and her daughter were together, the earth flourished with vegetation. But for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. Summer, autumn, and spring by comparison have heavy rainfall and mild temperatures in which plant life flourishes. It was during her trip to retrieve Persephone from the underworld that she revealed the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. In an alternate version, [[Hecate]] rescued Persephone. In other alternative versions, Persephone was not tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds but chose to eat them herself, or ate them accidentally, that is, not knowing the effect it would have or perhaps even recognize it for what it was. In the latter version it is claimed that Ascalaphus, one of Hades' gardners, claimed to have witnessed her do so, at the moment that she was preparing to return with Hermes. Regardless, the result is the occurrence of the unfruitful seasons of the ancient [[Greek calendar]]s.
According to [[Robert Graves]], Persephone is not only the younger self of Demeter, she is in turn also one of three guises of Demeter as the [[Triple Goddess]]. The other two guises are Kore (the younger one, signifying green young corn, the maiden) and Hecate (the elder of the three, the harvested corn, the crone) with Demeter in between, signifying the ripe ears, the nymph, waiting to be plucked, which to a certain extent reduces the name and role of Demeter to that of groupname. Before Persephone was abducted by Hades, an event witnessed by the shepherd Eumolpus and the swineherd Eubuleus (they saw a girl being carried of into the earth which had violently opened up, in a black chariot, driven by an invisible driver), she was called Kore. It is when she is taken that she becomes Persephone ('she who brings destruction'). Hekate was also reported to have told Demeter that she had heard Kore scream that she was being raped. (Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, 24. p 94-95, ISBN 0-14-001026-2)
==Demeter's stay at Eleusis==
[[Image:Eleusis2.jpg|thumb|170px|left|The [[Eleusinian mysteries|Eleusinian trinity]]: [[Persephone]], [[Triptolemos]] and Demeter, on a marble [[bas-relief]] from [[Eleusis]], 440-30 BCE.]]
Demeter was searching for her daughter Persephone (also known as Kore). Having taken the form of an old woman called [[Doso]], she received a hospitable welcome from [[Celeus]], the King of [[Eleusis]] in [[Attica, Greece|Attica]] (and also [[Phytalus]]). He asked her to nurse [[Demophon]] and [[Triptolemus]], his sons by [[Metanira]].
As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter planned to make Demophon as a god, by coating and anointing him with [[Ambrosia]], breathing gently upon him while holding him in her arms and bosom, and making him immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth every night. She put him in the fire at night like a firebrand or ember without the knowledge of his parents.
Demeter was unable to complete the ritual because his mother Metanira walked in and saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright, which angered Demeter, who lamented that foolish mortals do not understand the concept and ritual.
Instead of making Demophon immortal, Demeter chose to teach Triptolemus the art of agriculture and, from him, the rest of Greece learned to plant and reap crops. He flew across the land on a winged [[chariot]] while Demeter and Persephone cared for him, and helped him complete his mission of educating the whole of Greece in the art of agriculture.
Later, Triptolemus taught [[Lyncus]], King of the [[Scythia]]ns the arts of agriculture but he refused to teach it to his people and then tried to murder Triptolemus. Demeter turned him into a [[lynx]].
Some scholars believe the Demophon story is based on an earlier prototypical folk tale.<ref>Nilsson, 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 in order to let Demeter reveal herself in her divine shape".</ref>
==Children==
*[[Persephone]] (by [[Zeus]])
*[[Zagreus]] (by [[Zeus]])
*[[Despoina]] (by [[Poseidon]])
*[[Arion (mythology)|Arion]] (by [[Poseidon]])
*[[Plutus]] (by [[Iasion]])
*[[Philomelus]] (by [[Iasion]])
*[[Eubolus]] by ([[Carmanor]])
*[[Amphitheus I]](by Triptolemus)
==Portrayals==
*Demeter was usually portrayed on a chariot, and frequently associated with images of the harvest, including flowers, fruit, and grain. She was also sometimes pictured with Persephone.
*The Black Demeter, a sculpture made by [[Onatas]].
*Demeter is not generally portrayed with a consort: the exception is Iasion, the youth of Crete who lay with Demeter in a thrice-ploughed field, and was sacrificed afterwards – by a jealous Zeus with a thunderbolt, Olympian mythography adds, but the Cretan site of the myth is a sign that the Hellenes knew this was an act of the ancient Demeter. {{Fact|date=May 2007}}
*Demeter placed [[Aethon]], the god of famine, in [[Erysichthon]]'s stomach, making him permanently famished. This was a punishment for cutting down trees in a sacred grove. {{Fact|date=May 2007}}
==Demeter in astronomy==
'''[[1108 Demeter|Demeter]]''' is a [[asteroid belt|main belt]] [[asteroid]] 26km in diameter, which was discovered in [[1929]] by [[K. Reinmuth]] at [[Heidelberg]].
==Demeter in popular culture==
*In [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s [[In Utero]] liner notes, [[Kurt Cobain]] lists the people he thanks, including 'the goddess Demeter'. On the back of the album there are some symbols related to Demeter.
*In [[Bram Stoker]]'s novel ''[[Dracula]]'', the sailing ship ''Demeter'' is taken over and its crew killed by the Count before running aground on the [[England|English]] coast.
*Demeter appeared in the 1997 Disney movie, ''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'' and the [[Hercules: The Animated Series|animated series]] based on it, as one of the gods upon Mount Olympus.
*Demeter is also one of the poems in [[Carol Ann Duffy]]'s collection ''[[The World's Wife]]''.
*Demeter (together with [[Dionysius]]) was used as an archetype for the character Tori by contemporary artist [[Tori Amos]] in her [[2007]] album ''[[American Doll Posse]]''. Amos created five personalities for the album, each representing a different Greek god or goddess.
*In the computer game [[Zeus: Master of Olympus]], Demeter is one of the gods to whom the player can build a temple. The completion of the sanctuary to Demeter provides the city with arable farmland suitable for raising crops or livestock; the goddess provides blessings and sanctification of buildings associated with produce, and can be appealed to for a supply of food.
*In the Konami game for the MSX computer [[The Maze of Galious]], Demeter is one of the gods the player can visit to buy artifacts which gives extra powers.
*The band [[Paris Motel]] have a track on their [[2007]] album ''[[In the Salpêtrière]]'' entitled "My Demeter".
==References==
{{reflist}}
*[[Walter Burkert]] (1985) ''Greek Religion,'' Harvard University Press, 1985.
*[[Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire]], ''D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths'', 1962. An illustrated book of Greek myths retold for children.
*[[Jane Ellen Harrison]], ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,'' 1903
*[[Karl Kerenyi]], ''Eleusis: archetypal image of mother and daughter,'' 1967.
*[[Karl Kerenyi]], ''Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life,'' 1976
*Martin P. Nilsson, ''Greek Popular Religion'', 1940. [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gpr/]
*[[Carl A. P. Ruck|Carl Ruck]] and Danny Staples, ''The World of Classical Myth,'' 1994.
==External links==
{{Commonscat|Demeter}}
*[http://uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html Text of Homeric Hymn to Demeter]
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/gpr/ Online book of Martin P. Nilsson, ''Greek Popular Religion'']
{{Greek myth (chthonic olympian)}}
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Animal goddesses]]
[[Category:Eleusinian Mysteries]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Primordial Teachers]]
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