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DEMETER GODDESS ΔΗΜΗΤΗΡ

GENERAL INFO

I) What was Demeter the goddess of?

II) What were her symbols, attributes,
sacred plants and animals?

III) Who were the family & attendants of Demeter?

IV) Where and how was she worshipped?

V) What were some of the popular myths about Demeter?

PICTURES

I) Depictions of Demeter in Greek Vase Painting

These images of Demeter come from Ancient Greek Vases, painted approximately 2,500 years ago. NB Click on thumbnails to view full-size images.

II) Other Classical Depictions of Demeter

Demeter was also depicted in classical statues, stone reliefs, frescoes and coins.

SELECTED MYTHS (short versions)

I) Demeter and the Rape of Persephone

"Plouton [Haides] fell in love with Persephone, and with Zeus’ help secretly kidnapped her. Demeter roamed the earth over in search of her, by day and by night with torches. When she learned from the Hermionians that Plouton had kidnapped her, enraged at the gods she left the sky, and in the likeness of a woman made her way to Eleusis. She first sat upon the rock that has come to be called Agelasttos after her, beside the well called Kallikhoron. Then she went to the house of Keleus, the current ruler of the Eleusinians. After the woman inside invited her to sit with them, one old granny named Iambe joked with the goddess and got her to smile. For this reason they say that the women at the Thesmophoria joke and jest.
Metaneira, the wife of Keleus, had a baby, which was given to Demeter to nurse. Wishing to make it immortal, she would set the baby in the fire at night and remove its mortal flesh. But because Demophon (the baby’s name) grew so wondrously each day, Metaneira kept an eye on him, and when she spied him being buried in the fire she screamed. The child was thereupon destroyed by the fire, and the goddess revealed her true identity.
For Triptolemos, the elder of Metaneira’s sons, Demeter prepared a chariot of winged Drakones, and she gave him wheat, which he scattered all over the populated earth as he was carried along through the sky ...
When Zeus commanded Plouton to send Kore [Persephone] back up, Plouton gave her a pomegranate seed to eat, as assurance that she would not remain long with her mother. With no foreknowledge of the outcome of her act, she consumed it. Askalaphos, the son of Akheron and Gorgyra, bore witness against her, in punishment for which Demeter pinned him down with a heavy rock in Hades’ realm. But Persephone was obliged to spend a third of each year with Plouton, and the remainder of the year among the gods." Source: Apollodorus, The Library 1.29

II) Demeter and the Lust of Poseidon

"When Demeter was wandering in search of her daughter, she was followed, it is said, by Poseidon, who lusted after her. So she turned, the story runs, into a mare, and grazed with the mares of Ogkios [in Arkadia]; realising that he was outwitted, Poseidon changed into a stallion and enjoyed Demeter ... Afterwards, they say, angry with Poseidon and grieved at the rape of Persephone, she put on black apparel and shut herself up in this cavern for a long time. But when the fruits of the earth were perishing, and the human race dying yet more through famine, no god, it seemed, knew where Demeter was hiding, until Pan, they say, visited Arkadia.. Roaming from mountain to mountain as he hunted, he came at last to Mount Elaios and spied Demeter, the state she was in and the clothes she wore. So Zeus learnt this from Pan, and sent the Moirai to Demeter, who listened to the Moirai and laid aside her wrath, moderating her grief as well." Source: Pausanias, Guide to Greece 8.25.5 & 8.42.1

III) Demeter and the Hunger of Erysikhthon

"Erysichthon’s axe once violated Nemus Cereale’s [Demeter’s] grove, his blade profaned her ancient holy trees. Among them stood a giant oak, matured in centuries of growing strength, itself a grove; around it wreaths and garlands hung and votive tablets, proofs of prayers fulfilled ... Yet even so that wicked man refused to spare his blade, and bade his woodsmen fell that sacred oak, and when he saw them slow to obey he seized the axe himself, and cried ‘Be this the tree the goddess loves, be this the goddess’ very self, its leafy crown shall touch the ground today’, and poised his axe to strike a slanting cut. The holy tree shuddered and groaned, and every leaf and acorn grew pale and pallor spread on each long branch. And when his impious stroke wounded the trunk, blood issued, flowing from the severed bark ... Heartbroken by their loss - the grove’s loss too - her sister Dryades, clad in mourning black, going to Ceres [Demeter], prayed for punishment on Erysichthon. That most lovely goddess assented and the teeming countryside, laden with harvest, trembled at her nod. A punishment she planned most piteous, were pity not made forfeit by his deed - hunger to rack and rend him ... When he woke, and peace had fled, a furious appetite reigned in his ravenous throat and burning belly. At once whatever sea or land or air can furnish he demands, and when the board groans he complains he's starving; while he feasts calls for more courses; more he crams his guts, the more he craves. And as from every land the rivers flow to fill the insatiate sea, which never fills; or as fire never refuses fuel and, ravening, burns logs beyond counting, and the more it gets the more it wants and, glutted, grows on greed; so wicked Erysichthon’s appetite with all those countless feasts is stoked - and starves; food compels food; eating makes emptiness ... And when his wicked frenzy had consumed all sustenance and for the dire disease provision failed, the ill-starred wretch began to gnaw himself, and dwindled bite by bite as his own flesh supplied his appetite." Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.739

FURTHER INFO (9 detailed pages on Demeter)

PART 1: INDEX & ILLUSTRATIONS
Index of Demeter pages
Illustrations from Greek Vase Paintings
Descriptions, Hymns

PART 2: DEMETER GODDESS OF
Quotes - describing in detail her various divine functions

PART 3A: MYTHS GENERAL 1
Quotes - general stories about Demeter

PART 3B: MYTHS GENERAL 2
Quotes - general stories about Demeter

PART 4: MYTHS WRATH
List of those Punished
Quotes - stories of those punished by the goddess

PART 5: MYTHS FAVOUR
List of those Favoured
Quotes - stories of heroes blessed or assisted by the goddess

PART 6: MYTHS LOVES & FAMILY
List of Lovers and Children
Quotes - stories of the men and gods loved by Demeter

PART 7: ESTATE & ATTENDANTS
Lists of divine Possessions and Attendants
Quotes - items owned by the goddess; sacred plants and animals
Quotes - attendants of the goddess

PART 8: CULT OF DEMETER
List of Cult Titles
Quotes - cult of the goddess organised by region

PAGE BORDER: Derived from on an ancient Greek vase painting