The Titans, Kronos (Cronos) and Rheia (Rhea), had six children: Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Histia (Hestia) and Zeus.
Demeter is the fair haired earth goddess who blesses all phases of the harvest. She walks the furrowed fields dressed in green and displays her kindness and wrath with abundance or famine.
Demeter was one of the three daughters of devious Kronos and, at her birth, was swallowed by Kronos because he was afraid that one of his children would challenge his authority and usurp his power. One by one, Kronos swallowed five of his children, three girls and two boys, until his wife and sister, Rheia, tricked the devious god and substituted a stone in place of her sixth child, Zeus. Rheia spirited Zeus safely away and he was allowed to grow to adulthood. To avenge his mother and free his brothers and sisters, Zeus ambushed Kronos. The attack was so violent that the five swallowed-up children were vomited forth and took their rightful places as gods and goddesses.
Many of the Immortals refused to accept the authority of Zeus and the other Olympians. A bitter ten year war ensued until the Olympians defeated all opposition and assumed dominion over heaven and earth. Demeter was allotted the fields and harvests as her province. She took her brother Zeus as her consort and gave birth to her only daughter, Persephone.
While at play with the beautiful daughters of Okeanos (Ocean), Persephone was picking flowers ... but these weren’t earthly flowers ... these flowers were the work of Zeus and put there for “a girl with a flower’s beauty.” The flowers were there to ensnare Persephone in a trap, a beautiful, divine trap. The trigger for the trap was an irresistible flower with one hundred stems of fragrant blossoms. When Persephone reached out with both hands to pluck the flower, the earth opened at her feet and Hades (lord of the Underworld) roared forth in his golden chariot and seized her before an alarm could be raised.
No mortal on the earth heard Persephone’s cries for help before she vanished into the Underworld. Of the Immortals, only two heard the faint cries of the abducted girl: Hekate (Hecate) and Helios (the Sun).
Demeter began searching in vain for her daughter. Her sorrow was so great that she denied herself all food, drink, and comfort for nine days. When Eos (Dawn) took to the skies on the tenth day, Hekate came to Demeter and told her that she had heard a voice but had not actually seen the abduction of poor Persephone. The two goddesses went to Helios because he sees all mortal and Immortal actions. Helios, indeed, knew the plot and the players. He told Demeter that the abduction was the work of Zeus and Hades. He further advised her to accept the situation because Hades was the Lord of Many and “not an unseemly bridegroom.” Demeter did not like his advice and choose a long, brooding path to regain her precious daughter.
In a strange act of revenge, Demeter, disguised as a mature woman, settled in the city of Eleusis and became the nanny for the infant son of Keleos and Metaneira. The boy, Demophoon, was raised to be noble and pure but Demeter seemed to be stealing the boy’s affection and loyalty away from his parents (just as her daughter had been stolen from her). One night she was caught transforming the young boy into an Immortal by placing him in the fireplace and cleansing him with fire, but before Demeter (still in disguise) could make Demophoon immortal, Metaneira recognized Demeter for the goddess she was and stopped the ceremony.
When Demeter cast her disguise away and revealed her divinity to all, Keleos and the other nobles of Eleusis were glad to oblige when Demeter demanded that a temple be built in her honor. After it was completed, she retreated into the temple and her brooding took on a deadly turn. The following year, no seed sprouted on the earth. No barley grew in the plowed fields. The mortals of the earth were doomed to famine and eventual destruction if Demeter did not lift her curse.
Zeus sent the goddess Iris to dissuade Demeter from her destructive course but Demeter was unmoved. In turn, all the Immortals came to Demeter’s temple and begged the goddess to change her mind and give life back to the earth. She refused them all.
Zeus then sent Hermes to the Underworld to speak with Hades and Persephone. Hermes explained the situation and suggested, with gentle words, that Persephone be returned to her mother. Hades was filled with compassion but he was also intent on keeping his bride. He offered Persephone a honey-sweet pomegranate seed as she departed and by tasting the seed she became eternally bound to Hades and the Underworld.
Demeter was joyous when she saw her darling Persephone again but her joy was tempered with the fact that Hades had tricked the innocent Persephone into the eating a pomegranate seed pomegranate seed and by doing so guaranteed that she must eventually return to him.
Now, in an effort to save the earth and appease his angry sister, Zeus sent Rheia, mother of the Olympians, and offered Demeter honors if she would only return to Mount Olympos and lift the curse that was killing the people of the earth. Zeus promised that Persephone could spend two thirds of the year with her mother but the remaining third of the year would be spent with her husband, Hades.
Demeter was moved by her mother’s plea and Zeus’ promises. The earth began to swiftly recover it’s vitality and became fruitful again. Demeter and Persephone ascended Mount Olympos and it is said that those on earth whom Demeter and Persephone gladly love are thrice blessed. It’s interesting to note that the year was divided onto thirds, just as the three brothers, Zeus (lord of the Sky), Hades (lord of the Underworld) and Poseidon (lord of the Sea), divided creation into thirds after the overthrow of Kronos.
When Persephone is with Hades the earth is wracked by the sorrow of her mother but when Persephone returns from the Underworld to walk the earth again, Demeter pours forth the blessings of Spring to welcome her beloved daughter home.
Her age old feud with her brother, Poseidon, might serve to explain why the edge of the sea is barren of crops. The origin of this feud is vague.
Erysichthon, the son of Triopas, was a proud and foolish man who encountered the goddess Demeter in her sacred grove in the land of Dotium. The sacred precincts were thick with elm, pear and apple trees ... the ditches were full of life-giving water ... the trees were so thick that an archer could not shoot an arrow through the teeming forest.
Erysichthon entered the grove with twenty of his attendants armed with axes and hatchets ... these were no ordinary men ... they were giants of men and they intended to inflict grievous damage to the trees of the sacred grove. One tree in particular, a poplar, was a favorite of the nymphs of the grove and when Erysichthon and his men hacked into the ancient tree, it cried out in pain ... Demeter heard the cry and hurried to the forest and, disguised as the priestess Nikippe (Nicippe), approached Erysichthon ... she begged him to stop the desecration of the holy forest and warned him that Demeter would be angered at the defiling of her holy place.
Erysichthon was unmoved by the pleas of the priestess and vowed to continue his work because he needed the trees to build a dwelling where he could entertain his companions and have pleasing banquets. His vanity and conceit were unbearable ... the goddess of Indignation, Nemesis, recorded his insulting words ... Demeter loosed her wrath and assumed her true appearance ... the earth trembled at her step and her head reached into the sky ... Erysichthon’s attendants fled in terror and Demeter let them run away ... they were only doing their master’s bidding and were blameless ... for Erysichthon, however, the goddess had a different fate ... she commanded that if he wanted banquets, he would have his fill and never tire of the feast.
From that moment on, Erysichthon was condemned to a life of unending gluttony ... Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) joined in the punishment and made Erysichthon thirst for wine to wash down the food he compulsively ate. When people would call to see Erysichthon, his mother and father would lie and say that their son was ill or traveling or injured ... they hid the fact that their son was consumed by a curse. Triopas, Erysichthon’s father, was descended from Poseidon and prayed for the curse of Demeter to be lifted but the lord of the Sea denied Triopas’ prayers. Although Erysichthon ate constantly, he never gained a pound ... in fact, he lost weight until he was nothing but sinews and bones.
Erysichthon’s affliction remained a family secret and his ravenous eating had no limit ... he ate until the fields were bare and the flocks were all eaten ... Erysichthon ate the mule and the heifer his mother had been feeding as a sacrifice for the goddess Histia (Hestia) ... he ate their racing horse, the war charger and even the cat ... finally, all was consumed and Erysichthon was forced to travel the public roads where he begged for scraps and crumbs until the end of his miserable life. (Kallimachus (Callimachus), Hymn VI, 24-117)
The Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated the return of Persephone after she had been abducted by her uncle, Hades. The festival of the Greater Mysteries was celebrated at the city of Eleusis which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Athens. The ceremonies and procession for the sacred event began in Athens on the fifteenth day of Boedromion (approximately the second week of September by our calendar) and lasted from seven to nine days.
The Eleusinian Mysteries included the worship of Demeter, Persephone and Iakchos (Iacchos) as Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine). Most of the ceremonies were public but only initiates were allowed to participate in the final rituals. The rites are called Mysteries because the Greek word Mystes means One Initiated. There were several stages of initiation. The rites of the Lesser Mysteries were held in the spring and dedicated to Persephone. The Lesser Mysteries involved the ritual purification of the candidates for initiation. The Greater Mysteries were held in the fall and dedicated to Demeter. The initiates were called Epoptes, i.e. One Who Has Seen. The only Greek citizens who were excluded from the ceremonies were people with Blood Guilt, i.e. those who had killed. Men, women and slaves were allowed to take part in the ceremonies. All Greek cities honored the sanctity of the celebration of the Eleusinian Mysteries by instituting a truce which would halt wars and conflicts. This would allow participants to travel to and from Athens and Eleusis without worrying about local and national disputes.
The rituals of the Greater Mysteries were scrupulously guarded and ancient writers who dared to expound on the subject were probably just guessing as to the actual rites performed at Eleusis. The rites performed in Athens were more public and conducted at the City Eleusinion which was a temple for Demeter and Persephone located between the Acropolis and the Agora. In preparation for the procession to Eleusis, sacred ritual objects were brought from the temple at Eleusis and stored in the Eleusinion.
After a ritual cleansing and purification, participants would gather at the Sacred Gates near the Kerameikos cemetery and then walk from Athens to Eleusis on what was called the Sacred Way. The priests and priestesses of Demeter would lead the procession carrying a wooden statue of Iakchos and other sacred objects hidden in wooden boxes destined for the Telesterion in Eleusis where the final and most secret rites were performed. The members of the procession chanted the name of Iakchos as they walked and would stop briefly at shrines of Apollon and Aphrodite along the road. Masked men were stationed along the Sacred Way to insult the participants and humble them before they reached Eleusis.
Upon reaching Eleusis, the participants would fast until the following morning. The initiates were then permitted to enter the Telesterion where the sacred objects were revealed. All that the initiates were permitted to say about the ceremonies was that things were spoken, seen and performed. Once the final rites were complete, a night of feasting and revelry began. A bull was sacrificed and libations were poured honoring the dead.
The historian, Diodorus Siculus (book 16.66), relates an interesting story concerning Demeter and Persephone. Circa 337 BCE, the Athenians mounted an invasion of Sicily to oust the tyrant Dionysus II. A man named Timoleon was selected to lead an army against Dionysus but the number of troops at his disposal was barely adequate to do the job. Timoleon was a man of sincere faith and stopped in Corinth to consult the priestesses of Demeter and Persephone and seek their blessings. The priestesses told him that they had received favorable dreams during the night and that the goddesses would guide and protect Timoleon and his fleet. As if on cue, a blazing torch appeared in the western sky. Timoleon and his men had no doubt that the goddesses would give them a victory in Sicily. The blazing torch remained visible until the fleet reached Sicily. This event was witnessed by nearly a thousand men. The only element of this story which is disputed is whether one of Timoleon’s ships was named The Sacred Ship of Demeter and Persephone before or after his visit to the temple of the goddesses.
The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Wyatt translations of The Iliad. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Lattimore (ISBN 0226469409); A.T. Murray/William F. Wyatt Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995791 and 0674995805); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374529051); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140275363)
The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Dimock translations of The Odyssey. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Richmond Lattimore (ISBN 0060931957); A.T. Murray/George E. Dimock Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995619 and 0674995627); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374525749); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140268863)
