Demeter is best known as a fertility goddess associated with the harvest and agriculture. However, she was also a Mother Earth goddess associated with childbirth, and linked to the underworld and the secret rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Demeter’s Olympian Mythology
Demeter was one of the six gods born to the Titans Rhea and Cronus. She was one of the children swallowed by Cronus in fear that they would eclipse him, and then regurgitated up to join her brother Zeus among the Olympian gods.
With Zeus, who was also married to their other sister, Hera, Demeter was the goddess of Persephone, another goddess of both fertility and the underworld. Hades fell in love with Persephone and kidnapped her to be his wife in the underworld. Some sources suggest that he asked Zeus if he could marry her, and he advised Hades to kidnap her, knowing that Demeter would never agree.
Not knowing where her daughter was, Demeter searched the world desperately until Helios finally took pity on her and told her that he had seen Hades take her to the underworld. This cast Demeter into a deep depression, and she neglected her duties, causing famine and hardship. This forced Zeus to order Hades to return Persephone. He agreed, but before she left, he persuaded her to eat some pomegranate seeds. If you eat the food of the underworld, you are bound to it, so a deal had to be struck for Persephone to divide her time between the underworld and the upper realm. Whenever Persephone is absent, Demeter becomes sad and neglectful, causing winter.
While Demeter had lovers, she was also depicted independently and not as a consort. She was sometimes shown with Iasion, a Cretean youth who lay with her in a thrice-ploughed field, but he was killed by Zeus in jealousy. Nevertheless, Demeter was never depicted as the consort of Zeus. She was usually depicted with symbols associated with the harvest, such as flowers, fruit, and grains. She was specifically associated with grain and, therefore, organized agriculture.
Another myth suggests that she was pursued by Poseidon during her search for Persephone. He tricked her by taking the form of a stallion and then raping her. She was so angry afterwards that she dressed all in black and retreated to a cave to purify herself, which caused the universal famine. She later gave birth to the goddess Despoina and a horse named Arion.
Mother Goddess
It seems likely that Demeter was originally considered a mother goddess, as the etymology of her name is “earth goddess.” As an extension of this, she was often associated with the great mother goddess Gaia, and they shared many epithets.
In the Orphic Hymn 40 to Demeter, she is calledthe universal mother and associated with childbirth.
“To Demeter Eleusinia. O universal mother, Deo famed, august, the source of wealth, and various named: great nurse, all-bounteous, blessed and divine, who joyest in peace; to nourish corn is thine. Goddess of seed, of fruits abundant, fair, harvest and threshing are thy constant care. Lovely delightful queen, by all desired, who dwellest in Eleusis’ holy vales retired. Nurse of all mortals, who benignant mind first ploughing oxen to the yoke confined; and gave to men what nature’s wants require, with plenteous means of bliss, which all desire. In verdure flourishing, in glory bright, assessor of great Bromios [Dionysos] bearing light: rejoicing in the reapers’ sickles, kind, whose nature lucid, earthly, pure, we find. Prolific, venerable, nurse divine, thy daughter loving, holy Koure [Persephone]. A car with Drakones (Dragon-Serpents) yoked ’tis thine to guide, and, orgies singing, round thy throne to ride. Only-begotten, much-producing queen, all flowers are thine, and fruits of lovely green. Bright Goddess, come, with summer’s rich increase swelling and pregnant, leading smiling peace; come with fair concord and imperial health, and join with these a needful store of wealth.”
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were a secret initiation cult focused on Demeter and Persephone, with rites believed to reenact their reunion. This was a chthonic cult, which it was believed could bring a person to a better afterlife. As a result, both Persephone and Demeter became Chthonic deities who could guide people on their journey to the next life.
Despoina was also part of the Eleusinian mysteries, and it was believed that her name, which means “mistress,” should never be uttered outside those mysteries.
This also manifested in her local cults. In Phyla, she was worshipped as Anesidora, who sends u gifts from the underworld. In Sparta, sacrifices were made to her at the end of the mourning period after each death.
Demeter and Persephone were often worshipped together and referred to with joint cultic titles. They were sometimes called just “the goddesses,” differentiated as the older and the younger. In Rhodes and Sparta, they were called “the Demeters,” and in Arcadia, they were called the “great goddesses” and “the mistresses.”
In Orphic tradition, Demeter is also the mother of Hecate, a triple goddess associated with witchcraft. Together, Demeter, Hecate, and Persephone can form the triple goddess, assuming the positions of the maiden, mother, and crone.
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