Demeter

Persephone was gathering wild flowers when Hades abducted her into the Underworld. Demeter searched for her and came to Eleusis, where she stayed in disguise as nursemaid to the infant Demophon. She placed the child in fire as part of an attempt to make him immortal. When the rite was discovered and interrupted, Demeter dropped the boy and revealed her divine form. She commanded Celeus and the people of Eleusis to build a temple and altar in her honour. They obeyed.

Demeter did not end her mourning. She rejected gifts from the gods and remained in grief for a full year. No crops grew. People starved, and the gods received no sacrifices. Zeus then persuaded Hades to release Persephone. Hades agreed, but Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds, so she was required to spend part of each year with him in the Underworld. One account assigns her the winter months, while another gives her one third of the year.

After revealing herself, Demeter commanded Celeus, Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles to establish rites in her honour. She revealed the mysteries of agriculture to the Eleusinians through Triptolemus. Their central theme was the fertility associated with Persephone’s return, first understood through agriculture and later connected with spiritual fertility and hopes for a blessed afterlife.

The mysteries remained partly secret. Their initiation rituals involved animal sacrifice, purification by fire, a bath in the sea, and a fast. The rites preserved Demeter’s connection with the return of Persephone and with the fertility of the earth.

Demeter wandered over the earth, carrying torches by night and day, while searching for her daughter Persephone. Hades had secretly abducted Persephone with Zeus’s help. After learning from the people of Hermion that Hades had carried her away, Demeter abandoned heaven in anger at the gods. She continued her search in grief.

Poseidon pursued Demeter while she was searching for Persephone. She changed herself into a mare to escape him. Poseidon recognised the deception and changed himself into a stallion. In that form he mated with her and achieved his desire. Demeter became enraged afterwards, and for this reason she received the title Erinys, meaning Fury. Her worship as Demeter Erinys was associated with Thelpusa.

The union produced the immortal horse Areion, also called Arion. The horse later passed into the possession of Heracles and then of the hero Adrastus. Another tradition says that Demeter and Poseidon had a daughter as well. This daughter is left unnamed in one account, while Arcadian tradition calls her Despoina. The stories also connect Poseidon closely with horses. He was worshipped as Poseidon Hippios, or Horse Poseidon, and was honoured as a tamer of horses and a rescuer of ships. Some traditions also credited him with creating the horse, inventing the bridle, or instituting horse-racing, although Athena was said to have invented the bridle. His claim to have instituted horse-racing was not disputed.

Demeter came to Eleusis and took charge of the newborn Demophon, the brother of Triptolemus. At night, she placed the child in a fire to make him immortal. Metaneira discovered what she was doing and cried out. The child was consumed by the flames. Demeter then gave Triptolemus compensation for the loss of his brother.

She gave him a chariot drawn by winged serpents and seeds of wheat. She also taught him the cultivation of grain. Triptolemus became the inventor of the plough and of agriculture, through which human civilisation arose. Before leaving Eleusis, Demeter instructed Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Celeus. Triptolemus was a royal hero and a central figure in the Eleusinian mysteries.

Triptolemus travelled in the serpent-drawn chariot and taught the art of agriculture to people across the Greek world and, in some accounts, to all humankind. He carried the seeds with him and spread the cultivation of grain. His journeys extended across the ancient Mediterranean. Through this work, the knowledge of farming passed from Demeter to human communities.

Another account says that Triptolemus first sowed barley in the Rharian plain. From there, he spread grain cultivation throughout the earth. An altar and a threshing floor connected with Triptolemus were later shown in that place. Demeter’s worship was established at Eleusis, where Triptolemus was honoured with temples and statues. He was represented as a youthful hero, sometimes wearing a broad-brimmed hat, riding in a dragon-drawn chariot, and holding a sceptre and ears of corn.

Cronus swallowed the potion prepared for him, and soon began to vomit up the children he had swallowed. The stone that Rhea had wrapped in swaddling clothes came out first. Demeter followed, with her brothers and sisters, freeing them from Cronus’s stomach. Zeus had escaped this fate because Rhea had hidden him and given Cronus the stone instead.

Cronus had swallowed his children because he had heard that one of his sons would overthrow him. Rhea had saved Zeus, who was raised by nymphs and cared for chiefly by Amalthea. The Curetes masked the sound of his cries by dancing and striking their spears and shields together, so Cronus would not discover him. When Zeus had grown strong, he planned to overthrow his father with the Oceanid Metis, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Metis supplied the potion that would make Cronus disgorge the swallowed gods.

The plan succeeded. Cronus brought up all his children, including Demeter, and the stone that had deceived him. Demeter was therefore released and joined Zeus and the other younger gods, who became known as the Olympians. Zeus later led them in a ten year war against the Titans. The conflict shook heaven, earth, and sea. With the aid of the Hecatoncheires, Zeus defeated the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartarus, where the Hecatoncheires guarded them.

Hades asked Zeus for Persephone’s hand in marriage. Zeus knew that Hades would care for her, but feared Demeter’s anger and felt sorrow at losing his daughter to the Underworld. He therefore refused to give clear permission or refusal. Encouraged by this answer, Hades seized Persephone while she rested in a peaceful place. The earth opened, and Hades carried her with his horses into the darkness below.

Demeter did not realise at once that Persephone had vanished. When she understood, she mourned, rejected Zeus, and refused to attend the council of the gods. She summoned Hecate, and together they went to Helios, who sees everything. They made him admit that Hades had taken Persephone, with Zeus’s doubtful connivance. Demeter then continued to wander across the earth. She forbade the trees to bear fruit and the herbs to grow. No crops appeared, people starved, and the gods received no sacrifices.

Zeus first sent Iris to Demeter with a message, but she ignored it. He then sent the Olympian gods as a deputation. They brought conciliatory gifts and asked her to accept his will. Demeter refused the gifts and would not return to Olympus. She swore that the earth would remain barren until Persephone was restored. Zeus then sent Hermes to Hades with a warning that all would be ruined if Persephone was not returned. He also sent Demeter a message telling her that she might have her daughter back.

Hades agreed to release Persephone. Before she left, however, he tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds. This meant that she had to spend part of each year with him in the Underworld. Zeus’s intervention therefore ended the famine, but Persephone did not remain permanently with Demeter. The months she spent below became the winter season.

As Persephone bent to pick a beautiful flower, the earth opened beneath her. Hades charged out in a chariot, seized her, and carried her into the underworld. Demeter heard her daughter’s cry and searched for her across the earth. She travelled with untied hair, carrying flaming torches, fasting, and driven by grief and anger. Hecate joined her, and together they questioned Helius, who sees everything. He told them that Hades had taken Persephone, with Zeus’s knowledge or agreement.

Demeter refused to return to Olympus. She prevented the trees from bearing fruit and the herbs from growing. The earth became barren, and humanity faced extinction. Zeus first sent Iris to her, but Demeter ignored the message. He then sent the Olympian gods with gifts and pleas for reconciliation. Demeter refused them. She swore that the earth would remain barren until Persephone was restored.

Zeus sent Hermes to the underworld and ordered Hades to let Persephone return to her mother. Hermes found Hades and Persephone sitting together. Persephone had longed for Demeter and rose gladly when Hermes spoke. Hades knew that Zeus’s command had to be obeyed, but before Persephone left, he gave her a pomegranate seed. He knew that anyone who ate the food of the dead would have to return. Hades prepared his golden chariot, and Hermes drove the black horses to Demeter’s temple.

Demeter ran to meet her daughter and embraced her. When she learned that Persephone had eaten from the pomegranate, she refused again to lift her curse. Zeus then arranged a compromise. Persephone would spend part of the year with Hades in the underworld and the rest with Demeter. In one account, she spends three months with Hades and nine with Demeter. Hecate agreed to watch over the arrangement. Demeter finally consented to return home.

Each night, Demeter placed the infant Demophon in the fire. She had come to Eleusis while searching for her lost daughter and had taken the role of his nursemaid. Her purpose was to free the child from old age and death, making him immortal. She anointed him with ambrosia, breathed sweetly upon him, held him close to her breast, and hid him in the flames as though he were a burning brand. The fire was meant to purge his mortality.

Metaneira became uneasy and watched through the night. When she saw Demeter lay the child in the fire, she screamed in terror and interrupted the rite. Demeter was angered. She seized Demophon and cast him to the ground. The process had failed, and he remained mortal. She told Metaneira that the child would have escaped old age and death if the rite had not been disturbed. Since he had lain upon her knees and slept in her arms, however, he would receive honour throughout his life.

Demeter then revealed herself. Beauty and a sweet fragrance surrounded her, and light filled the house. The women recognised that their nursemaid was a goddess. Demeter ordered them to build a great temple for her near the town, so that they might regain her favour. Metaneira fell speechless to the ground, while those present trembled with fear. In the morning, they told the people what had happened.

Demeter later revealed the mysteries of agriculture to the Eleusinians through the prince Triptolemos. The rites included animal sacrifice, purification by fire, a bath in the sea, and fasting. Their central theme was the fertility associated with the return of Demeter’s daughter, first in agriculture and later with hopes for a blessed afterlife. Rites and honours were also given to Demophon after the failed attempt to make him immortal.

Hades fell in love with Core, whom Demeter later called Persephone, and asked Zeus for leave to marry her. Zeus gave no clear consent or refusal. Hades then seized the girl while she was picking flowers in a meadow. The meadow is variously placed at Sicilian Enna, Attic Colonus, Hermione, Crete, Pisa, Lerna, Arcadian Pheneus, Boeotian Nysa, or another location. Demeter lost her gaiety and began searching for Core.

Her search brought her to Eleusis, which her own priests identified as the place connected with Core’s abduction. There, Demeter’s grief kept her from ordinary human company. She could not eat, and she did not speak with the household. The goddess remained withdrawn while the people around her continued their household life.

Iambe then approached Demeter. She used comic and obscene jokes to break through the goddess’s grief. Her words made Demeter laugh. The change restored Demeter’s ability to eat and to speak with the household at Eleusis.

Iambe, Demeter, and Baubo form a familiar triad of maiden, goddess, and crone. Iambe is also connected with songs in iambic metre, performed to relieve emotional tension at the Eleusinian Mysteries. In another Eleusinian tradition, joyful shouts, songs, torches, and the figure of Iacchus belonged to the rites associated with Demeter and Core.