Demeter and Persephone

There are already articles on Demeter and Persephone, but I haven't told the whole story, which I will complete here.

The myth explained the origin of the changes in seasons and the introduction of a new agriculture religion.

My main source for Demeter and Persephone comes from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, however, I have supplemented some parts from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

• Abduction of Persephone

• Demeter at Eleusis

• Forced to Compromise

• Mother and Daughter, Life and Death

Abduction of Persephone

Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Persephone was the goddess of spring and flowers.

Persephone was playing with her own companions, the daughters of Oceanus, known as the Oceanids. They were playing and picking flowers.

Hades, the brother of Zeus and Demeter, the god of the dead and the Lord of the Underworld, rarely left his dark domain. But that day, Hades saw Persephone and he fell in love with the beautiful maiden. It was her great beauty that moved the cold, emotionless god to love. Hades had Zeus' consent to take the girl, without Demeter's knowledge.

Hades made a beautiful flower grow suddenly. When the amazed maiden saw the flower bloom before her eyes, she reached out to take the flower. Suddenly the earth yawned open before her, and Hades in his chariot drawn by immortal horses sprang out of the gaping hole.

Hades took the reluctant maiden on his chariot, before driving back to his own domain. Of her companions, only one of them heard Persephone's cry for help. The only other people to hear her cry were Hecate and the sun god Helius.

According to the Metamorphoses, one water nymph saw Hades (Pluto) carrying off Persephone (Prosperina) in his chariot. Her name was Cyane, and she dwelt in the spring near Syracuse, in Sicily. Cyane bravely barred Hades' path, hoping to rescue the distressed goddess. Hades was angry with the nymph, and opened a path to the Underworld by dropping his sceptre into the bottom of the pool. Hades escaped from the determined nymph. Cyane was distraught that she couldn't save the goddess, and began to weep in sorrow and despair. Her weeping and lamentation continued unabated. She filled the spring with her tears, until she wasted away, her body dissolving into water. When Demeter came by this spring one day, still searching for his daughter, Cyane could have told the corn goddess where her daughter had vanished, but couldn't speak since she had no mouth or tongue, only water.

Demeter was distraught over her daughter's disappearance. She began searching for her daughter for nine days, without success. On the tenth day, Hecate took pity on Demeter and told the distraught mother that she had heard Persephone's cry but hadn't seen what had occurred. Hecate advised her that she should seek out Helius, who saw everything during daytime.

Together, Demeter and Hecate visited the sun god. Taking pity on Demeter, Helius told her that he had seen her brother take the reluctant Persephone to his domain. Demeter learned of Hades' intention to make her daughter his wife and consort.

In Ovid's version, it was another water nymph named Arethusa who informed Demeter of her daughter's whereabouts.

This news so distressed and angered the corn goddess that she refused to return to Olympus and began her long wandering. Demeter wandered the earth in human form, visiting towns and villages of men. She allowed age to mar and deform her beauty.

Sometime during her wandering in Arcadia, Poseidon lusted after his sister when he saw her bathing on the river Ladon, which was the reason why she was known as the Washing Demeter. Poseidon pursued the distressed Demeter. Demeter tried to hide herself by transforming into a mare. As a mare, Demeter mingled with a large herd of horses belonging to Oncius, hoping that her brother would not find her. Oncius was a son of Apollo and founder of Oncion. and king of Thelpousa.

However, Poseidon not only found his sister, he changed into a stallion. Poseidon mounted Demeter and impregnated her. Demeter gave birth to a girl named Desponia, the goddess of horses. However, Desponia's name was so holy that no one must speak of it to any uninitiated. Demeter was also said to have given birth to an immortal horse called Arion; the same divine horse that Heracles would give to Adrastus, king of Argos. Adrastus used this horse to flee after his forces were defeated at Thebes during the Seven Against Thebes.

Here, she was known as Demeter Erinyes or "Demeter the Fury". Demeter was now both angry after her rape and sorrowful over the loss of her daughter; she hid herself in a cave at Phigaleia, wearing only a black dress, hence she became known as the "Black Demeter". Her solitude in the cave brought famine to Arcadia and elsewhere in Greece. Apparently she was so well-hidden in her cave that even the gods didn't know where to find her until the woodland god Pan spotted her near the cave. Zeus sent the Fates to the angry goddess, until she relented because of the urging of the Fates.

The Arcadians, particularly the Thelpousans, worshipped her at Oncion, where she was called Demeter the Fury and the Washing Demeter, and at Phigaleia, Phigalians called her the Black Demeter.

Demeter at Eleusis

One day she reached the farm of Celeus, who was lord of Eleusis. Celeus' four daughters met Demeter. Demeter introduced herself as Doso and explained how she had escaped pirates who would have sold her into slavery. She also told them how she sought work and would like to nurse a newborn child or do housekeeping chores. Moved by the old woman's story, the daughters asked her to come to their home.

Their father (Celeus) and mother Metaneira welcomed the ancient woman to their home. At first, Demeter was silent, because of her grief over her lost daughter, but a woman named Iambe made her laugh with her ready quips and jests. Iambe sat in front of Demeter, exposing her vulva to the goddess.

Metaneira offered the old woman her infant son (Demophon) to nurse. Demeter rewarded the mother by giving Demophon a charm that would protect him from teething problems and witchcraft.

Demeter did more than nurse Demophon. During the day, Demeter would anoint him with ambrosia, and at night she would burn away his mortal part in a flame, that would make him immortal. But one night, Metaneira interrupted the rite. She had thought the old woman was trying to burn her son to death. Angry at the interruption, Demeter threw Metaneira's child on the ground and revealed her true identity. (According to Apollodorus, Demeter allowed Demophon to be consumed by the fire.)

Demeter told Metaneira that she would teach Celeus and the men of Eleusis the rites to honour her and her daughter Persephone, known as the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Metaneira was stunned by the revelation. The daughters took care of their brother as well as trying to appease the angry goddess. Celeus and the men of Eleusis immediately began to build a temple to honour the goddess.

Then Demeter was appeased. Demophon grew and became godlike.

Forced to Compromise

Demeter was still overcome with grief over Persephone's abduction, had not returned to Olympus. Her anger over her brothers, Hades and Zeus, caused global famine. No crops whatsoever would grow. The race of man was facing extinction from starvation.

It was only then that Zeus decided to intervene. Zeus sent Iris to fetch Demeter and bring the corn goddess to Olympus. Demeter was not moved. Then Zeus and the other gods pleaded with her to return to Olympus. No gifts or words would make her return to Olympus. She threatened to let the whole world starve unless her daughter was returned to her.

Seeing no alternatives, Zeus sent Hermes to the Underworld, to fetch Persephone and return her to her mother.

Hades had readily agreed to Zeus' command and told Persephone that she could return to her mother. Persephone was overjoyed that she would be reunited with her mother. However, Hades had secretly slipped some pomegranate seeds into her mouth.

When Demeter was finally reunited with her daughter, she realised something was wrong. When Demeter questioned her, Persephone admitted that Hades had forced her to eat the pomegranate seeds. If a person ate any food in the Underworld, then that person must return to the Underworld.

(There are variations of how Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds. According to Apollodorus, Persephone innocently ate the seeds given to her by Hades. Ascalapus witnessed this and told Demeter. Demeter punished Ascalapus by burying him under a heavy rock.

According to Ovid, Ascalapus witnessed Persephone walking through a garden when seven pomegranate seeds fell near her feet. Persephone placed seven seeds in her mouth. When Demeter heard this, she transformed Ascalapus into a large owl, a harbinger of doom and woe.)

Zeus decreed that Persephone was to spend a third of a year with her new husband in the Underworld, while two-thirds of the year was to be spent with her mother either in Olympus or on earth. Zeus then sent his mother, Rhea, with this news.

Rhea told her daughter Demeter of Zeus' decree. Demeter agreed to the compromise, so Persephone spent part of time with her mother and the other with her husband. Her living in the Underworld coincided with the changing of the seasons.

With this compromise and assurance from Zeus and her mother Rhea, Demeter restored the natural order of the world, allowing the crops to grow and ending the famine and starvation.

From Persephone's marriage to Hades, she bore a son named Plutus who became the god of wealth. The wealth doesn't necessarily mean gold and precious stones, but the crops that grow from the soil.

(Note that in other sources, Plutus was the son of Demeter and Iasion, not of Hades and Persephone. Iasion was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra, and brother of Dardanus.)

Mother and Daughter, Life and Death

Of all the myths in Greece and Rome, none of them portrayed an immortal mother and daughter in such a human fashion except in the myth about Demeter and Persephone. The goddesses, particularly Demeter, reacted like any human mother would do if she lost her daughter. Demeter experienced loss, sorrow, despair, and even anger, just like any human woman would.

As for their names, Demeter meant "mother", and Korē and "daughter" (or "girl" or "maiden"). Demeter was known as the corn mother, while her daughter was the corn spirit.

Much of the myths we know of come from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter which detailed Persephone's abduction, Demeter's sorrow and wandering, and the compromise between Demeter and Hades before she was reunited with her daughter. The myth also explained the cycles of the seasons that are linked to agriculture.

There is probably a deeper meaning in the myth that also explained the recycle of life in general, where all things experienced life, death and rebirth.

In the beginning, Persephone was life itself, enjoying her days with her companions. Here, she represented the spring, where not only flowers bloomed, but creatures usually mated in this season. When Hades abducted her and brought her to his domain, the World of the Dead, her absence upon the surface also signified winter and death. Demeter allowed the crops to die and writhe. Persephone's reunion with her mother signified spring and rebirth. However, the cycle the seasons and that cycle of life/death would now continue endlessly.

Ironically, the seeds usually represented birth and a new life, but Persephone had to experience death in each cycle. where she had to return to her husband in the Underworld because she had eaten some pomegranate seeds. The pomegranate seeds ensured that she stayed in the Underworld for at least one third of a year. There are several versions of how she came upon eating the seeds. Some said that Hades forced them upon her, while others said that she ate them voluntarily or she was duped into eating the seeds. Whatever caused her to eat the seeds, she was a grain maiden for only part of the year, and the rest of the year she was Queen of the Underworld.

The separation from her mother not only symbolised death, when she was living in the Underworld. It was also loss for Persephone, such as her innocence. Her marriage was forced, and Hades took away her virginity. Persephone, herself, became a mother. She was said to have borne a son named Plutus, which means "wealth" from the earth. Though, most authors usually said that Plutus was the son of Demeter by Iasion.

In Eleusis, Demeter not only disclosed the secret of corn and agriculture to Celeus, whose family gave hospitality to her, Demeter tried to bestow immortality to an infant named Demophon, the son of Celeus and Metaneira. Like Thetis trying to immortalize her son Achilles, Demeter anointed Demophon's body in ambrosia and used the fire to burn away the mortal parts. The mother's interruption had cost Demophon immortality, and in some versions, his life. Only then did Demeter reveal her true identity. (In the case with Achilles, his body became invulnerable except for his heels, not immortal, because Thetis was similarly interrupted by her husband.)

Since we don't know the inner secrets of the Eleusinian Mysteries, we can only speculate that part of the practice and knowledge was that mankind could hope for an afterlife or that immortality could be bestowed upon them, from the myths.

The mystery religion in Eleusis was held in honour of Demeter and Persephone, or Kore, as she was often known. Basically, the ceremonies, rites and festivals held in Eleusis had to do with celebrating the changing seasons and agriculture. Special festivals were held for sowing and harvesting. In honour of the goddesses, they would re-enact Demeter's loss and reunion with her daughter.