Demeter

* Regular
* Mortal

**Demeter** (Ancient Greek Δημήτηρ, *Dēmḗtēr*, the -mḗtēr part means "mother") is the Greek goddess of the harvest, grains, fertility, agriculture, the cycle of life, and sacred law. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Ceres.

## Overview

Demeter is one of the Twelve Olympians, daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and mother to the gods Persephone (by Zeus), Despoina and the talking horse Arion (by Poseidon) and Plutus (by the mortal Iasion). She's mostly known for her role in the myth of Persephone's abduction by Hades, where the goddess reacted to her daughter's loss by refusing to let anything grow, bringing famine and winter to the world, until Persephone was returned to her. She does however have some other myths beyond that.

## Miscellaneous Myths

### The Theogony

After Cronus defeated Ouranos and took his sister Rhea to wife, he was warned that one of his children would overthrow him like he had done to his father. To avert this, Cronus would eat each of his children after being born, Demeter included. The only one to escape was Zeus, who, when grown up, would give Cronus a drink that made him throw up all the children he had eaten. Demeter then, along with her other siblings, sided with Zeus against Cronus and his allies. The young Olympians emerged victorious, leading to a new era of gods.

### Hades and Persephone

Demeter was intimately associated with the seasons. Zeus allowed Hades to take Persephone and make her his wife, knowing that Demeter would never allow this. When Persephone was eventually abducted by Hades, Demeter, panicked and ill with worry searched the Earth for her daughter. To her aid came Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, who informed her that she had heard, though not seen, Persephone screaming.

Together, the two goddesses went to find the sun god Helios who knew what had happened since he sees all that transpires on the planet. Upon reaching Helios, the sun god revealed to her that Hades was the one who took Persephone and was allowed to wed her by Zeus' approval and blessing. Demeter, however, was enraged by this but Helios attempted to calm her down by telling her that Hades is the best candidate for a son-in-law since he is the oldest son of Cronus and thus the world is his by birthright but this did not soothe Demeter in the least.

In a fit of anger and sorrow at her daughter's loss, Demeter neglected her duties to the world that caused plants to wither and die, and the land to become desolate. At some point before this, she took some time off and disguised herself as an old woman, becoming a nurse to the royal family of Eleusis. Demeter tended to the infant prince Demophon by setting him on fire to burn his mortality away, only to be discovered by a horrified Metanira (the boy's mother) which disrupted the ritual and angered Demeter. Demeter revealed her true identity and ordered the family to build a temple in her name and honor as recompance. There, she took residence in the temple and sulks in misery over the loss of her daughter.

Zeus, alarmed for the barren earth, at first sent Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, to summon Demeter but she refused, he then ordered the gods to send gifts to Demeter in an attempt to appease her but again none of them worked. Desperate, he sought for Persephone's return, and sent Hermes to the Underworld to fetch her. Demeter was overjoyed to have her daughter back; however, because she had eaten the cursed pomegranate while in the underworld, Hades had a claim on her. Therefore, it was decreed that Persephone would spend four months each year in the underworld. During these months Demeter would grieve for her daughter's absence, withdrawing her gifts from the world, creating winter. Her return brought the spring.

The video goes on to explain Demeter and Persephone's origins; both goddesses are Mycenaean in origin, both being attested in Mycenaean records, as do Zeus and Poseidon, but not Hades. Poseidon, under his epithet 'the King' (*wanax*) was frequently mentioned alongside 'the Queens' (*wanassoin*), possibly Demeter and Persephone, implying that perhaps those three were worshipped together in some form. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, our main source of the myth, was enacted yearly at the cult of Persephone and Demeter in Eleusis their cult center, and while this cult was a mystery one, it might have derived from an agrarian ritual from Mycenaean times. Hades doesn't seem to have originally been as important in cult or myth, the story being mostly about the two goddesses.

Persephone and Demeter were also very important in Arcadian cult, again without the presence of Hades, where they were worshipped under the epithet 'Despoinai', the *mistresses*. There Persephone was also worshipped as Despoina, who some times is a distinct goddess from Persephone; she is the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon, who chased Demeter while she was looking for Persephone. Demeter turned into a mare to avoid him, and so he turned into a horse, leading to the birth of the goddess Despoina and her horse brother Arion. Demeter and Poseidon having Persephone/Despoina together does connect to the possible Mycenaean trio of Poseidon, Demeter and Persephone.

No matter who this 'Despoina' was, her and Demeter's worship was very old; it might long pre-date any Greek presence in Arcadia, perhaps the two being some Hellenized version of ancient, terrifying goddesses

### Tantalus

Once, one of Zeus' mortal sons Tantalus invited the gods over for dinner, and served them his own son Pelops. All the gods saw through this and were disgusted by Tantalus' actions; all except Demeter who didn't notice and ate a chunk of Pelops' shoulder, being too distracted by her grief over Persephone missing during winter.

### The Zodiac

Sometimes, Virgo is said to represent her, though others associate Virgo with Dike instead.

### The Wrath of Demeter

One day while cutting down Demeter's sacred grove, the king Erysichthon decided to personally cut down the old oak tree in the center. It turned out to be a dryad and was a favorite of Demeter. Erysichthon on response said that he would not hesitate to chop down a sacred tree, even if it was Demeter herself. After getting the news of the dryad's death, Demeter spends a good amount of time debating what to do with Erysichthon.

She eventually decided to send a dryad to Limos, the goddess of starvation. Demeter requesting that Limos curse Erysichthon for what he did to the sacred tree. Doing as requested, Limos gives Erysichthon the curse of eternal hunger whilst giving him dreams of great feasts. When it became time to eat, he would do so but his hunger would never be satisfied. Eventually losing his fortune in order to buy more food; which also made him even more hungry and ravenous every time he ate.

Red ends the episode by suggesting that this would likely be Demeter's favorite story to tell whenever Hades and Persephone come for tea. Considering how much she dislikes Hades as a son-in-law and how much she loves her daughter, it's an accurate statement.

## Legends Summarized

### Underworld Myths

In this old video, a brief telling of the myth detailed in *Miscellaneous Myths: Hades and Persephone* is given; "Now the first and better known one is the story of Hades and Persephone. And that one boils down to: Hades is lonely and kidnaps Persephone to be his wife, Persephone's mom Demeter objects and refuses to let anything grow until she's returned, something something pomegranate, something something 6 months of winter."

## Physical appearance

Being the goddess of agriculture, Demeter is bright green-coloured. When came out of Cronus' stomach, she had shoulder-length hair, but it time she kept it even shorter. Her brooch has a wheat symbol on it. In her mortal old woman form, she has green eyes.

## Appearances

Underworld Myths

Dionysus (cameo)

The Theogony

Aphrodite (cameo)

Tantalus

The Zodiac

Hades and Persephone

The Wrath of Demeter