Demeter

**Demeter** is the Greek goddess of the harvest, grain, and fertility. Her Roman counterpart is **Ceres**.

## History

### Birth and Rescue

Demeter was the second child of Kronos, the Titan King of Mount Othrys, and his sister-wife, Rhea. Since Demeter was a goddess (a member of a more beautiful and powerful race of immortals than the Titans), Kronos, fearing that Demeter would one day overpower him and his father's prophecy will be true, he quickly proceeded to swallow her whole, to the horror of Rhea. Demeter, thus, spent her childhood undigested in her father's stomach along with four of her other siblings: her older sister, Hestia, her younger sister, Hera, and her younger brothers, Hades and Poseidon, all of whom were also swallowed shortly after their birth. As a result, Kronos became known as "King Cannibal." Rhea pleaded with Kronos to spare their children but with no success. However, Rhea soon gave birth to her final child, Zeus, whom she secretly raised on Crete (this was advised by Gaea), far away from Mount Othrys.

After growing up, Zeus successfully infiltrated Kronos' palace on Mount Othrys as the Titan King's royal cup bearer. Demeter was finally released during the final drinking competition that Kronos had with his Titanic brothers and nephews. Zeus poured an extremely powerful emetic (made from nectar mixed with mustard) into Kronos' goblet, which caused the Titan King to disgorge all of the contents of his stomach, in reverse order of swallowing: first the boulder, then Poseidon, followed by Hades, Hera, Demeter, and finally Hestia. Zeus also prepared powerful knock out potions to the other titans so they could flee unopposed. Since they were immortal gods, they were unable to die despite being trapped in their father's stomach, and therefore had grown to their maturity undigested.

Zeus quickly introduced himself to his elder siblings, and all of them (including Demeter) promptly escaped Mount Othrys, before their Titanic uncles and cousins came to their senses. Shortly thereafter, Demeter and the other gods accepted Zeus as their leader as he was the one to release them, and reached a unanimous consensus on declaring war against their tyrannical father. Demeter was particularly bitter towards Kronos, and vowed that she would never forgive her father. However, since the Titans were well-armed and the gods still had no weapons, Demeter agreed to help Zeus release their Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheire uncles from Tartarus first.

### Rescuing the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires

Demeter's brother, Hades, was very skilled in navigating under the earth, and therefore was able to lead them all into Tartarus (through a network of Underworld tunnels). There, imprisoned in the maximum-security zone, surrounded by huge bronze walls, and a lava moat, guarded by fierce demons, were the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires. Their guardian, Kampê, was the most ferocious and fearsome monster in all of Tartarus, and even Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades initially shuddered with horror when they saw the infernal monster for the first time. However, the gods overcame their fear, and were able to sneak in. Zeus managed to talk to the Cyclopes Brontes, and convinced him to forge powerful weapons for him and his siblings behind Kampê's back. The three Elder Cyclopes forged three incredibly powerful weapons: the Master Bolt (for Zeus), the Trident (for Poseidon), and the Helm of Darkness (for Hades). With these new weapons, Zeus killed Kampê using his Master Bolt, and Poseidon shattered the chains of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, releasing them. Afterwards, Hades safely guided his siblings and uncles back out of Tartarus. In return, for their release, all six of Demeter's uncles agreed to fight on her side in the upcoming war with the Titans.

### The First Titan War

Shortly after their return from Tartarus, Demeter and her siblings officially declared war on Kronos and the other Titans, which resulted in the terrifying 11-year-long Titanomachy. The Elder Cyclopes soon forged a mighty golden sword for Demeter, which she bravely wielded in battle against the Titans. The Titans initially had the upper hand, since they were well-armed and much more experienced and skilled warriors. However, as the years of the war passed, the gods quickly became skilled warriors as well, and with the help of their new extremely powerful weapons, as well as the aid of the Elder Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires (their huge strength and excellent forging skills proved to be very helpful), the gods finally prevailed.

While preparing for the final battle of the war, Demeter and her siblings ascended to Mount Olympus (the tallest mountain in Greece after Mount Othrys. During the final battle, Zeus used his Master Bolt to shear off the top of Mount Othrys, and hurl Kronos from his black throne, defeating the Titan King. Shortly thereafter, the gods invaded the ruins of Mount Orthys, and finally overwhelmed Atlas, Hyperion, Iapetus, Krios, and Koios.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Elder Cyclopes chained up all of the defeated Titans, while the Hekatonkheires forced them to kneel before Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Zeus took his father's Scythe, and sliced Kronos into a thousand pieces, before casting him into Tartarus, along with the rest of his followers (except for Atlas, who was forced to hold the Sky).

### After the War

The gods chose Mount Olympus as their official residence, and the Elder Cyclopes build magnificent palaces there for them all. As a result, the gods started to call themselves the Olympians. Shortly thereafter, Demeter's brothers (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) divided the world between themselves: Hades received the Underworld, Poseidon seized the seas, and Zeus claimed the skies as his domain, becoming the King of Mount Olympus as well as the Olympians.

As for Demeter herself, she became the Goddess of Agriculture, Harvest, and Fertility, and would often visit mortals and teach them the necessary skills of agriculture. She traveled in a golden chariot pulled by twin dragons, and she also carried a gleaming gold sword (which she either used to cut wheat or to fight if need be) at her side. Since her older sister, Hestia, chose to remain an eternal virgin, she was the first goddess who caught the romantic attentions of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, especially since she was beautiful in her own right, kind-hearted, and was an excellent cook.

However, Demeter turned down all their proposals of marriage (though she still had children with Zeus and Poseidon), for she preferred to devote herself to her duties as the goddess of the harvest and fertility. She also presided over the foremost of the Mystery Cults, which promised its initiates the path to a blessed afterlife.

### Relationship with Zeus

However, there came a time where Zeus (who had just ended his marriage with the Titaness Themis) was determined to court Demeter. Despite a shape-shifting struggle between the two, Zeus successfully seduced Demeter after transforming into a serpent. They enjoyed a relationship that resulted in Demeter's first child: a very beautiful daughter named Persephone. Though the affair later ended, Demeter was still happy, for she loved her daughter dearly.

Persephone grew up without want, always by the side of her mother, who shared some of her power over the earth with her, and she eventually became the Goddess of Springtime and Flowers. In fact, Demeter loved Persephone so dearly that she viewed her as the light of her life, and took to spending all of her time with her.

### Relationship with Poseidon

A few years after Persephone's birth, Demeter decided to take a vacation to the beach. As she walked along the beach, she was noticed by her brother, Poseidon.

The god of the sea appeared before her, dressed in his best green robes, with a crown of seashells on his head and his trident in his hand, and tried to court her. Spurning his advances, Demeter tried to hide herself among a nearby herd of wild horses by transforming herself into a white mare. However, Poseidon not only possessed the power of shape-shifting as well, but was also "The Father of Horses", and therefore had perfect knowledge of and divine control over them. He quickly transformed into a strong white stallion himself, and galloped after her. He caught up with the herd, and made the horses part before him and surround Demeter, after which he successfully impregnated her.

Shortly thereafter, Demeter gave birth to twins: Despoina (a goddess), and Arion (an immortal stallion who could run faster than anything in the world). Despoina would later become a minor goddess of fertility, and looked after Demeter's temples as a high priestess after reaching maturity. However, her twin brother, Arion, played a far more prominent role in mythology, given how he often come to the aid of demigod heroes (such as Hercules).

### Relationship with Iasion

Shortly thereafter, Demeter fell head-over-heels in love with Iasion, a handsome and well-mannered mortal prince of Crete. Iasion had a great respect for agriculture, and always looked out for the local farmers of Crete, which touched Demeter's heart. They enjoyed an intense and passionate love affair which, unfortunately, ended in abrupt tragedy. Upon seeing the mutual love shared between Demeter and Iasion, Zeus was overcome with jealousy, and promptly killed him with a thunderbolt.

A devastated Demeter proceeded to lock herself in her Olympian private chambers for months. By the time that she had chosen to come out again, she had given birth to Ploutos, a minor god who presided over aricultural wealth. Ploutos would often travel all over Greece, and would reward the most hard-working farmers with sacks of money.

### Punishing Erisikhthon

Erisikhthon, an arrogant Prince of Thessaly, intended to build himself a magnificent mansion. However, the only building materials that he deemed fitting were the massive trees from Demeter's sacred grove. While Erisikhthon and fifty of his burly friends set out to chop down the trees, Demeter herself appeared before them, in the guise of a maiden. While she tried to reason with them, Erisikhthon completely disregarded her advice, and mocked Demeter. However, before he could chop down a single tree, the infuriated goddess removed her disguise, and grew over 100 feet tall. As the Goddess of Harvest and therefore the Mistress of Food, Demeter inflicted Erisikhthon with insatiable hunger and thirst. After a couple of weeks, Erisikhthon's hunger induced him to exhaust his riches and even sold his own daughter into slavery. However, the girl was saved by Poseidon, who took her to Atlantis, and made her his housekeeper. Erisikhthon himself finally perished in poverty and excruciating pain.

### Pandora

When Zeus decided to create the irresistible Pandora (in order to punish the titan Epimetheus for his brother Prometheus's actions), Demeter taught the girl how to successfully tend to a garden.

### Athena's Flute

When a proud Athena performed with her newly invented flute before Demeter, Hera, and Aphrodite, the goddesses began giggling and whispering to each other, with Demeter being the one to point out that Athena's facial features comically contort while she plays. An embarrassed Athena fled in humiliation, and hurled the flute off of Olympus, cursing it to give the worst fortune to the next person to play it, which ended up being the satyr Marsyas.

### Abduction of Persephone

While Demeter loved all of her children dearly, Persephone remained her favorite child of all, the one whom she took to spending whatever free time she had with. Due to her great beauty, Persephone was often desired by many gods, but Demeter would never allow it.

However, Persephone came to be noticed by Hades himself. Although he was distanced from his Olympian family, Hades was lonely and desired a wife to fill the void. After seeing the beautiful young goddess, Hades fell madly in love with her, to the point that, for the first time, he became sloppy in his duties as Lord of the Dead. However, he knew that Persephone's overprotective mother, Demeter, would refuse to even consider the marriage, so decided to speak with her father instead. Zeus sympathized with his lovesick brother, and agreed to help him kidnap Persephone behind Demeter's back. One day, while Demeter was busy, leaving Persephone in the care of her companion nymphs, Hades managed to abduct her. Persephone's terrified scream was only heard by the minor goddess, Hecate.

Demeter eventually realized that her beloved daughter was missing, and started an epic tale of searching for her. Her search would have been fruitless, had not Helios (who saw everything due to his' being the Titan of the Sun) ultimately told her of what had happened. As a result of this, a grief-stricken and wrathful Demeter commanded the earth to become barren and infertile until her daughter was returned to her (this in turn induced autumn, and then winter). Upon seeing the starvation and anguish of the mortals due to Demeter's curse on the earth, Zeus was forced to order Hades to return Persephone to her mother.

Hades complied with his brother's wish, but before Persephone was taken back up by Hermes (the only god who can go freely to the Underworld), Hades' gardener gave her a pomegranate, and persuaded her to eat six seeds. Hence, Persephone has to stay within the Underworld for six months out of the year. This came at a cost, as Demeter never could accept that her daughter had married Hades, and left her. Demeter's nagging increased with this action, but Persephone got to stay with her husband (with whom she had fallen in love) this way.

### Rewarding Triptolemus

Triptolemus, a prince of Eleusis who directed Demeter to Helios (and subsequently, helped her find Persephone), was justly rewarded by the goddess: she gifted him with a beautiful red-and-gold winged chariot (pulled by two pythons), and taught him the arts of agriculture. Afterwards, Demeter sent him on a mission to educate the whole of Greece. When Triptolemus taught Lynkos, king of Scythia (and demigod son of Hades), the arts of agriculture, Lynkos refused to teach it to his people and then tried to murder Triptolemus. As a result, Demeter turned him into a lynx, and made Triptolemus the immortal God of Farming.