Myth about Demeter and Her Daughter Persephone - Term Paper Example

 Greeks and Romans associated all of nature’s attributes to a god or a goddess. Many pertained to Mother Nature and feminism, one of the most prominent ones being Demeter. Her Roman equivalent is Ceres. Demeter was the goddess of harvest, seasons, marriage, the sacred law and the cycle of life and death (Foley, Helene). She is also known as the corn goddess since she was the goddess of agriculture, grains, crops, initiation and evolution. She was also the guardian of women, maternity and matrimony in general. Demeter and her daughter Persephone were the main characters of the Eleusinian mysteries. These mysteries stemmed from a myth as recounted in one of the Homeric Hymns where Demeter’s daughter gets kidnapped and Demeter struggles on getting her back(Willoughby, Harold). Persephone was thought to be gathering flowers with friends when her uncle Hades who was the god of death and the underworld kidnapped her. Her father Zeus knew all about it. Persephone was taken by Hades to his underworld kingdom. Demeter then strives to get back her daughter. She then searches for Persephone everywhere and when she eventually finds out that Zeus has control of her daughter, she causes a terrible drought in the area. This was meant to be a means for forcing Zeus to give back her daughter. This drought was so severe that people began to starve badly. The intent of this was to take away the gods of sacrifice and worship. Afraid of the consequences, Zeus gives in to Demeter and decides to let free her daughter. The myth explains how Demeter travelled long distances searching for Persephone; she also had a number of adventures throughout her way. Demeter was the one who, on her journey seeking for her daughter, met Triptolemus, and she taught him the secrets of agriculture. Finally, when Zeus gives Demeter her daughter back, she brought the earth back to its former prosperity and abundance of food and crops. Since it was Zeus’s rule that whoever ate in the Underworld once, he would be doomed till eternity there, therefore Persephone couldn’t be rescued that easily. Hades then forced Persephone to have pomegranate seeds there in Underworld which forced her to return there for a season each year. Thus Persephone could stay with Demeter for only six months in a year and in the remaining months she had to turn back to Hades. This irked Demeter since she could not see her daughter for half the year every year so she decided not to cultivate the earth during that part of the year and let it wither with time. When Persephone returned, she used to be happy and started to care for the earth again. These periods now seem to correspond to the Mediterranean climate of Ancient Greece with a few months of growth and abundance followed by a few months of no productivity at all. The Eleusinian mysteries were thus narrated and later written to include the celebration of Persephone’s return and the return of plants and life to earth which were a consequence of Persephone’s return to Demeter. While Demeter was looking for Persephone, she disguised herself as an old woman called Doso. She received a grand welcome from Celeus who was the king of Eleusis. He asked her to nurse his sons Demophon and Triptolemus. Since Celeus had been very hospitable to Demeter, she decided to make Demophon a god too. She wanted to make Demophon immortal and so set him on fire as a ritual but Metanira, Demophon’s mother, saw her son on fire and screamed in shock. Demeter then had to stop the ritual which angered her from within. She cursed the mortals who failed to understand the rituals of the gods(Wason, Gordon). When she couldn’t turn Demophon into an immortal, she decided to teach Triptolemus agriculture. And it was from him, that the rest of the Greece learnt this art of planting and reaping crops. Demeter loved two divine creatures and three mortal creatures. Amongst the divine loves of Demeter were Poseidon and Zeus – Sea’s great got was Poseidon. He pursued Demeter while she was looking for her daughter, Persephone. The goddess took the form of a horse and was hiding among the herds of Arkadian Onkois when Poseidon found her. He assumed the form of a stallion and raped the goddess. Demeter bore him two children, the horse Areion and the goddess Despoine. She also loved Zeus who was the king of the gods. They mated in the form of intertwining serpents. Persephone, the goddess whom Demeter loved the most was born from this union. Demeter loved three mortals as well, Iasion and Karmanor. Iasion was the prince of the island of Krete. He was thunderbolt by Zeus who was aggravated to see Demeter and Iasion laid out on a field. She had two sons Ploutos and Philomelos from Iasion. She also loved Karmanor who was a lord of Krete. She bore him a son called Eubouleos and a daughter called Khrysothemis. Lastly, she also loved Mekon, who was later metamorphosed by Demeter into a poppy flower(Kurth, Steve). Demeter was given many titles for the unique services that she could provide as a goddess. She was called Chloe, meaning the green shoot because she possessed the powers of fertility and eternal youth. Greeks believed that married women should worship Demeter when they wanted children. Additionally, she was the goddess of marriage; she had powers to protect breaking marriages and the power of making a marriage successful. She was also the goddess of motherhood because she was an excellent mother to Persephone herself. She was also called Potnia, meaning the mistress in the Homeric Hymn. She was called Anesidora meaning the gift giver because she gave crops to the earth and children to women. She was also called Mallophora meaning wool bearing. Other names like Kidaria, Chthonia, Erinys, Lusia, Thermasia and Kabeiraia were also dedicated to Demeter for the gifts that she possessed. She spent all her time saving her daughter and other females, that is why she is most remembered as the goddess for the women. Demeter taught the mankind how to sow seeds, how to plough fields and how to harvest the crops. She taught mankind the art of agriculture in its true essence. She was extremely popular with rural folk at that time because it was the fieldsmen and the villagers who directly benefitted from her grace(Meyer, Marvin). In the Roman era, a sow used to be sacrificed to Demeter following a death in the family in order to purify the household after the death. Demeter was also known to have said some of the worst curses ever. She set the world on a deadly famine when looking for her daughter. It was so severe that the world would have perished without food. Then on another instance, she turned a child called Ascalabus into a gecko as he said that she was so thirsty that she should drink water from a tub or a large well. The Greeks then believed that whoever kills a gecko will be loved by the goddess(Reif, Jennefer). When Erysichthon cut down a sacred oak, Demeter was aggravated. She wanted to give him the most severe punishment of all. So in turn, she gave him an endless desire to eat. As much as he ate, so much did he desire to have more. His desire for food was unlimited, so much so that in the end, he ate himself and died. Triopas who was the king of Thessalians was given a similar punishment. He broke Demeter’s temple while trying to roof his own house. Severe hunger was brought on him and he was never contended of the food that he consumed. Even sirens are said to be created as Demeter’s curse. It is believed that sirens were made out of flying creatures that didn’t help Persephone when instigated. Thus Demeter was a goddess special to nature and women. She taught the world the art of agriculture. She taught women the secrets of marriage and sound motherhood. She was there to help women with their household problems. She was special to the world as without her, there would be no food and no children, and subsequently no lifel. She was worshipped by the Greeks for all issues pertaining to marriage like the fixing of marriages, their sound working and divorce also; alongside, the added responsibility was bring the goddess of motherhood and fertility. Women who desired children used to worship her and decorate her temple in the earnest of having children. It is said that no one left Demeter’s temple unheard. She fulfilled all the pleadings brought forward to her. References Foley, Helene(1993). The Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Princeton University Press. Reif,Jennefer(2000). Mysteries of Demeter. Weiser Books. Meyer, Marvin(1999). The Ancient Mysteries. The University of Pennsylvania Press. Wason, Gordon ; Hofmann, Albert and Ruck, Carl(2008). The road to Eleusis: Unveiling the secret of mysteries. North Atlantic Books. Willoughby, Harold(2009). The Eleusian Mysteries explained. Samhain Press. Kurth, Steve and Fontes, Justine(2008). Demeter and Persephone. Graphic Universe Read More