Demeter

**Demeter** was the Greek goddess of the harvest, agriculture and fertility as well as sacred law and motherhood.

## Overview

### Background

Demeter was the daughter of the titans Cronus and Rhea, sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Hades and Hestia, and her most famous children were Persephone, who was usually known as *Kore* (the maiden) before he descent into the underworld, and sometimes Plutus, the god of wealth. She was usually depicted as a sitting woman, wearing a crown, carrying a corn on the cob and a torch, and also brought agriculture to humanity, first teaching the hero the demigod-hero Triptolemus, who in turn teacher the rest of the people.

Her lovers were varied: she had her daughter Persephone with Zeus, and she was raped by Poseidon in the shape of a horse, which the led to the birth of Arieon and a nameless daughter. One of the more famous consorts was the mortal Iasion, the founder of the mystic rites of Samothrace, whom she met at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia. Demeter had a secret affair with the mortal away from the wedding on a field. Demeter and Iasion later returned to the wedding, but Zeus noticed his sister's back was dirty, figured out what happened, got angry at the mortal boy, and killed him with a lightning bolt. Iasion was also usually seen as the father of Plutus, the before mentioned god of wealth, whom Zeus also blinded, so that he would give wealth and fortune more equally, instead of rewarding only the good and beautiful.

### Abduction of Persephone

One of her more famous myths was the abduction of Persephone by Hades, and wandered the earth looking for her missing daughter. She eventually arrived to the city of Eleusis in the shape of an old woman and was invited to the house of it's king, Celeus. Eleusis' queen, Metanira, trusted the disguised goddess to take care of her young son, Demophon, and Demeter decided to try to make the child immortal by dipping him into fire. Eventually Metanira noticed this and she was terrified by what she saw, which in turn angered Demeter, who revealed herself to the queen and the city. She demanded that a temple would dedicated to her in the city, where she could mourn the loss of her daughter (this likely serves as a mythical explanation on why Eleusis was an important centre to a mystery-cult dedicated to both Demeter and Persephone).

Demeter would stay at the temple and stopped to tend to her role as the goddess of the harvest and nature which in turn led to food-shortages and famine among the humans. Zeus was terrified at seeing the humans suffering and tried to convince Hades to return Persephone back to the living world, but it was also revealed that Persephone had already enjoyed pomegranate seeds, which would bind her temporarily to the underworld. She could spend half the year with her mother, while the other half she spend with her new husband, Hades. The coming and going of Persephone would also explain the changing of the seasons with her emergence from the underworld explaining spring and her descend explains autumn.

## Counterparts

* Ceres (Roman)
* Isis (Egyptian)

## References

1. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
2. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
3. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*
4. ↑ Castrén, Paavo. *Antiikin myytit*