Demeter is the Greek goddess of harvest, grain and fertility in Greek mythology. She is one of the 12 Olympian gods living on Mount Olympus. Because she was the goddess of the harvest, she was very important to the farmers and peasants of Greece.
Who was Demeter?
She was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, she was the Greek goddess of corn and agriculture, one of the original twelve Olympians. Her sorrow for her daughter Persephone who has to spend a third of the year with her husband Hades in the Underworld, is the reason there is winter; her joy when she recovers coincides with the fertile months of spring and summer. Demeter and Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous secret religious festival of ancient Greece.
.Origin of Demeter
She was one of the six children of Cronus and Rhea, his middle daughter, and his second child in general, born after Hestia, but before Hera and her brothers: Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. Like all her siblings, she was swallowed and then, after an intervention by Zeus, regurgitated by her father.
The consorts of Demeter: Iasion, Poseidon and Zeus
He did not have many mates and was rarely portrayed with a male consort. The mortal Iasion and her brothers Poseidon and Zeus are the most notable exceptions, if not the only ones.
Demeter’s Role in Greek Mythology
The name Demeter consists of two parts, the second of which (meter) is almost invariably linked with the meaning “mother,” which fits conveniently with Demeter’s role as mother-goddess. However, there is still debate about the meaning of the first part (De-), which most scholars associate with “Ge,” i.e., Gaia (making Demeter “Mother Earth”); others, however, prefer to link it with “Deo,” which is a surviving epithet of Demeter and may have been, in an earlier form, the name of one of the few grains.
Representation and symbolism
She is usually portrayed as a fully clothed, matronly-looking woman, either enthroned and seated regally or standing proudly with one hand outstretched. She is sometimes depicted riding in a chariot containing her daughter Persephone, who is almost always near her. The goddesses, as they were affectionately called, even share the same attributes and symbols: scepter, cornucopia, ears of corn, a sheaf of wheat, torch and, occasionally, a crown of flowers.
what special powers and abilities did she have?
Like all the Olympian gods, she was immortal and very powerful. She had control over the harvest and the growing of grain, and could make plants grow (or not) and had control over the seasons. This goddess also had some control over the weather and could make people starve.
Epithets of Demeter
She was known primarily as the Giver of Food and Grain, or “She of the Grain,” for short (Sito). However, since she presided over something as vital as the cycles of plants and seasons, the ancient Greeks also referred to her as Thesmophoros, or “The Law Bearer,” and organized a women-only festival called Thesmophoria to celebrate her as such. Other epithets include “Green,” “The Gift Giver,” “The Food Bearer,” and “The Great Mother.”
Iasion and Demeter
Early in her life, Demeter fell in love with a mortal named Iasion. She seduced him at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia and slept with him in a thrice-plowed field. Zeus did not think it appropriate for such a respected goddess to have a relationship with a mortal, so he struck Iasion with a thunderbolt. But, by then she was already pregnant with twins: Ploutos and Philomelus, the former the god of wealth, and the latter the patron of the plow.
Demeter and Poseidon
Then, Demeter’s brother, Poseidon, forced himself upon her (once transformed into a stallion), and the goddess, once again, became pregnant with two children: Despoina, a nymph, and Arion, a talking horse.
Demeter was the wife of Zeus
Eventually, she became Zeus’ fourth wife. From their union was born Demeter’s best-known child, Persephone.
Myth about Demeter
Demeter and Persephone. The most important myth involving Demeter has to do with the abduction of her daughter Persephone by Hades and Demeter’s subsequent wanderings.
The abduction of Persephone
Hades, the Lord of the underworld, fell in love with his virgin daughter and decided to marry her off. So one day, while she was picking flowers with her friends, he lured her aside using a fragrant and inexpressibly beautiful daffodil, and then grabbed her with his chariot, suddenly emerging from an abyss beneath her feet.
Demeter learns
Disconsolate, Demeter walked the earth for nine days to find her daughter, but without success. And then, on the tenth day, Hecate told her what she had seen and Helios, the all-seeing Sun God, confirmed her story. Demeter was no longer heartbroken. Now she was also angry – and with everyone! Especially with Zeus who, according to rumors, had approved the whole operation and had even helped Hades all along.
So Demeter left Mount Olympus and went to mourn her daughter among the mortals, disguised as an old woman. She ended up at the court of King Celeus of Eleusis, where his wife Metanira hired her to be the nurse of her son Demophon. Iambe, the old maid of the house, encouraged her with her jokes, and Demeter laughed for the first time in many weeks. In gratitude for the kindness, she devised a plan to make him immortal, so she began to bathe him in fire every night, thus burning away his mortality.
One day, however, Metanira witnessed the ritual and, unaware of what was happening, began to scream in panic and alarm. This disturbed Demeter’s strategy, so she immediately revealed herself and told Metanira that the only way for the Eleusinians to regain their goodness is to build a temple and establish a festival in her glory.
The return of Persephone and the establishment of the cycles
King Celeus did exactly that, and Demeter spent a whole year living in her newly built temple, grieving and, in her grief, neglecting all her duties as goddess of fertility and agriculture. As a consequence, the land became barren and the people began to starve.
After unsuccessfully sending all the gods, one by one, to Demeter with gifts and pleas, Zeus realized that he would have to bring Persephone back to her mother if he did not want to see humanity disappear from the planet. So he sent Hermes to Hades, and the divine messenger brought Persephone to her mother.
However, the gods soon realized that Demeter’s daughter had already eaten a pomegranate seed in the underworld, forcing her to remain in the underworld. Knowing that Demeter would not allow such a thing to happen, Zeus proposed a compromise: Persephone would spend one-third of the year with Hades and the other two-thirds with Demeter.
The former, Demeter’s period of mourning, corresponds to the winter months of the year when the earth is barren and bare; the latter, when she rejoices, overlaps with the bountiful months of our springs and summers. The myth also explains the cycle of plant growth. The grain, like Persephone, must die and be buried underground to bear much fruit above it.
Sources
The best sources for the main myth of Demeter are the “Second Homeric Hymn” and the fifth book of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”, where, naturally, the names of the main protagonists are changed to those of their Roman counterparts: Ceres, Pluto and Proserpina.