This celebration also involved dancing in the Rharian field where the first grains were grown. The myth was told in three phases of a decent, the search and the ascent, describing Demeter’s sorrow and her joy as she became reunited with Persephone. Originally, the festival was celebrated in the autumn during the seasonal sowing in the city of Eleusis. During the reign of King Erechtheus of Athens is when Demeter’s worship came to Eleusis. It is an important life and death ritual with Persephone in her role as a vegetation goddess and Demeter having important roles where they are worshiped together. The Eleusinian mysteries were an annual religious celebration that predates the Olympian pantheon. Sometimes Demeter is shown sitting alone wearing a wreath of braided ears of grain. Another scene that Demeter is shown in is that of Athena’ birth. Demeter is often associated with imagery of the harvest, flowers, fruit, grain and sometimes seen in the company of her daughter Persephone where they are both wearing crowns and hold a torch and scepter or stalks of grain. In Homer’s Odyssey, Demeter is described as a blond-haired goddess who separates the chaff from the grain.ĭemeter doesn’t often appear in art before the 6 th century B.C.E. that depicts “two mistresses and the king” that are thought to possibly be Demeter, Persephone and Poseidon. Symbols: Cornucopia, Scepter, Wheat, Torch, Bread Early Greek Depictionsįound in Pylos, there is a set of Linear B Mycenean Greek tablets that dates from between 1400 to 1200 C.E. Sphere of Influence: Growth, Seasonal Cycles, Harvest, Sacred Law

Both Demeter and her daughter Persephone were the central figures in the Eleusinian Mysteries. Demeter is an ancient goddess whose worship predates the Greeks. In addition, Demeter ruled over the cycles of life and death as well. She specializes in the cultivation of grains and is a fertility goddess. In Greek mythology, Demeter is the Olympian goddess of agriculture and the harvest. Another alternative from Proto-Indo-European etymology is that De is derived from Despoina and Potnia where Des- means house or dome, making in this case, Demeter mean “mother of the house.” In this respect, Demeter is the giver of food. Making it that Demeter means “Mother Earth.” The root word of De has also been linked to the name Deo, from the Cretan word for emmer, spelt, rye and other grains. Now, the first part to Demeter’s name, De originates as Da, becoming Ge in Attic and then De in Doric. It’s generally agreed that the second part to Demeter’s name, “meter” comes from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning mother. The meaning of the name is unclear, though it does denote a name for a goddess whom people could approach in prayer. “The Queens” in Mycenaean Pylos.Īntaea – This name and epitaph is one that is applied equally to Cybele, Demeter and Rhea by the Greeks. When paired with Persephone, she and Demeter are called: “the Older” and “the Younger” in Eleusis, Demeters in Rhodes and Sparta, the Thesmophoroi or “the Legislators” in Thesmophoria, The Great Goddesses and The Mistresses in Arcadia. Other Names and Epithets: Achaea, Achaiva (“Sorrowing,”) Aganippe (“the Mare who Destroys Mercifully”, “Night-Mare,”) Anesidora (“Sender of Gifts,”) Antaea, Chloe (“the Green Shoot,” Chthonia (“In the Ground,”) “Corn-Mother,” Daduchos (“Torch Bearer,”) Demeter Lousia, “the Bathed Demeter”, Demeter Erinys, Demeter Melaine “Black Demeter,” Despoina (“Mistress of the House,”) Epipole, Erinys (“Implacable,”) Europa (“Broad Face or Eyes,”) Kidaria, Lusia (“Bathing,”) Malophoros (“Apple-Bearer” or “Sheep-Bearer,”) “Mistress of the Labyrinth,” “Mother-Earth,” Potnia “Mistress,” Thermasia (“Warmth,”) “Green,” “The Giver of Gifts,” “The Bearer of Food,” and “Great Mother.” Other names: Amphictyonis, Sito (“She of the Grain,”) Thesmophoros (“Law Bringer”)

Variations on anesidora