page_title: Persephone
section_title: Other local cults
hierarchical_section_title: Persephone / Worship / Other local cults
caption_attribution_description: English: Renaissance relief, Rape of Persephone. Italy. Renaissance relief, Rape of Persephone. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection (S03_06_01_020 image 2524).
context_page_description: In Greek mythology, Persephone, also called Kore, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation. Similar myths appear in the cults of male gods like Attis, Adonis, and Osiris, and in Minoan Crete.
  Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised the initiated a more enjoyable prospect after death. In some versions, Persephone is the mother of Zeus' son Dionysus. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural communities.
  Persephone was commonly worshipped along with Demeter and with the same mysteries. To her alone were dedicated the mysteries celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion. In Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed
  robed, often carrying a sheaf of grain.
context_section_description: Local cults of Demeter and Kore existed in Greece, Asia Minor, Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Libya.
  Attica:
  Athens, in the mysteries of Agrae. This was a local cult near the river Ilissos. They were celebrated during spring in the month Anthesterion. Later they became an obligation for the participants of the "greater" Eleusinian mysteries. There was a temple of Demeter and Kore and an image of Triptolemos.
  Piraeus: The Skirophoria, a festival related to the Thesmophoria.
  Megara: Cult of Demeter thesmophoros and Kore. The city was named after its megara .
  Aegina: Cult of Demeter thesmophoros and Kore.
  Phlya, near Koropi, in the mysteries of Phlya: These have very old roots and were probably originally dedicated to Demeter Anesidora, Kore, and Zeus Ktesios, who was the god of the underground stored grain. Pausanias mentions a temple of Demeter-Anesidora, Kore Protogone, and Zeus Ktesios. The surname Protogonos, indicates a later Orphic influence. It seems that the mysteries were related to the mysteries of Andania in Messene.
  Boeotia:
  Thebes, which Zeus is said to have given to her as an acknowledgement for a favour she had bestowed upon him. Pausanias records a grove of Cabeirian Demeter and the Maid, three miles outside the gates of Thebes, where a ritual was performed, so-called on the grounds that Demeter gave it to the Cabeiri, who established it at Thebes. The Thebans told Pausanias that some inhabitants of Naupactus had performed the same rituals there, and had met with divine vengeance. The Cabeirian mysteries were introduced from Asia Minor at the end of the archaic period. Nothing is known of the older cult, and it seems that the Cabeiri were originally wine-daemons. Inscriptions from the temple in Thebes mention the old one as Cabir, and the new one as son (pais), who are different. According to Pausanias, Pelarge, the daughter of Potnieus, was connected with the cult of Demeter in the Cabeirian (potniai).
  A feast in Boeotia, in the month Demetrios (Pyanepsion), probably similar with the Thesmophoria.
  Thebes: Cult of Demeter and Kore in a feast named Thesmophoria but probably different. It was celebrated in the summer month Bukatios.
  Peloponnese (except Arcadia)
  Hermione: An old cult of Demeter Chthonia, Kore, and Klymenos (Hades). Cows were pushed into the temple, and then they were killed by four women. It is possible that Hermione was a mythical name, the place of the souls.
  Asine: Cult of Demeter Chthonia. The cult seems to be related to the original cult of Demeter in Hermione.
  Lakonia: Temple of Demeter Eleusinia near Taygetos. The feast was named Eleuhinia, and the name was given before the relation of Demeter with the cult of Eleusis.
  Lakonia at Aigila: Dedicated to Demeter. Men were excluded.
  near Sparta: Cult of Demeter and Kore, the Demeters (Δαμάτερες, "Damaters"). According to Hesychius, the feast lasted three days (Thesmophoria).
  Corinth: Cult of Demeter, Kore, and Pluton.
  Triphylia in Elis: Cult of Demeter, Kore, and Hades.
  Pellene: Dedicated to the Mysian Demeter. Men were excluded. The next day, men and women became naked.
  Andania in Messenia (near the borders of Arcadia): Cult of the Great goddesses, Demeter and Hagne. Hagne, a goddess of the spring, was the original deity before Demeter. The temple was built near a spring.
  Arcadia
  Pheneos : Mysteries of Demeter Thesmia and Demeter Eleusinia. The Eleusinian cult was introduced later. The priest took the holy book from a natural cleft. He used the mask of Demeter Kidaria, and he hit his stick on the earth, in a kind of agrarian magic. An Arcadian dance was named kidaris.
  Pallantion near Tripoli: Cult of Demeter and Kore.
  Karyai: Cult of Kore and Pluton.
  Tegea: Cult of Demeter and Kore, the Karpophoroi, "Fruit givers".
  Megalopolis: Cult of the Great goddesses, Demeter and Kore Sotira, "the savior".
  Mantineia: Cult of Demeter and Kore in the fest Koragia.
  Trapezus: Mysteries of the Great goddesses, Demeter and Kore. The temple was built near a spring, and a fire was burning out of the earth.
  near Thelpusa in Onkeion: Temple of Demeter Erinys (vengef
caption: Italy. Renaissance relief, Rape of Persephone. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
exif: {"Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:03:09 12:39:27", "Image ExifOffset": "86", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "945"}