Demeter, (Ceres) was an ancient goddess of corn and of the earth's fertility. She and Dionysus, (Bacchus), were considered mankind's best friends. They each represented daily acts in life; breaking bread and drinking wine. Each experienced pain. Demeter lost her daughter to Hades, (Pluto). Dionysus died with the coming of the cold. He experienced a terrible death; he was torn to pieces, in some stories by the Titans, in others by Hera's order.

      Demeter presided over the crops, and over the grains in particular. For some reason she held the bean in contempt as impure. She was the goddess of agriculture. The grains sacred to her were the wheat, corn, millet, rye, and barley. Demeter is Greek for "barley mother." Poppies were her favorite flowers as they grew blood red among the barley. On her head she wore a modius or corn measure as a symbol of the fertility of the earth. Her sacrifice consisted of cows and pigs.

      By Zeus, Demeter had a daughter, Persephone a Greek word meaning "maiden," (Proserpina). Hades fell in love with her. Zeus agreed to the marriage, but warned Hades that Demeter probably would not approve of her daughter leaving for a sunless home in the Underworld. Zeus suggested Hades carry her off, and he assisted Hades by inducing Geae to send up, near where Persephone lived, a wonderous new flower the narcissus. One day while Persephone was out with her maidens picking flowers, she strayed too far enticed by the beautiful narcissus. Hades in his chariot drawn by coal-black steeds rose up through a chasm in the earth, grasped the maiden, and bore her away weeping down to the underworld. Demeter heard the echoes of her shrill cry. She quickly sped seeking the truth of her daughter. No one would tell. For nine days and nights Demeter wandered over the earth with torches, searching everywhere for her daughter, stopping not to taste ambrosia or drink the sweet nectar. On the tenth day she came to the Sun, others say Hecate met her, and told her that Persephone was down in the shadowy depths beneath the earth.

      Far from being comforted, Demeter refused to return to Olympus. She dwelt on earth disguising herself as an old woman and wandered the earth visiting many cities. Where she was welcomed, she taught the cultivation of corn. Where she was not shown proper honor, she punished the culprits severely. Many cities claim that Demeter came to them. The best known was the town of Eleusis, near Athens where the people built a temple and institute Demeter's Eleusinian Mysteries. Read about this in "Two Great Gods of Earth."

      But Demeter had not forgotten her daughter. She brought famine on the earth for an entire year. It seemed that the race of man would soon starve to death. Zeus realized that man's end would bring an end to his sacrifices to the gods. He sent Iris to summon Demeter to Olympus. She refused. Other gods became alarmed and implored Demeter to forget her anger and return to Olympus. Defeated, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to fetch Persephone. Hades consented after offering Persephone pomegranate seeds to eat. Hermes brought the girl to Eleusis. After a joyful reunion, Demeter learned of the pomegranate seeds, and grieved realizing she had been tricked, for anyone who tasted the food of Hades had to spend at least a third part of every year in the Underworld. Others claim that Persephone became so hungry that she ate six seeds secretly and Ascalaphus, son of the Underworld river-god Acheron, spied and told Hades. Demeter relented knowing she would have her daughter at least half of the year. She agreed to allow the grain to grown and with her daughter she returned to Olympus.

KEY TEST WORDS:
Demeter (Ceres, goddess of agriculture and harvest. Symbols: wheat, corn, barley, poppies. Mother of Persephone (Proserpina)

The Lesser Deities

The Underworld

Footnotes:
The best statue assigned to Demeter is found at Cnidus and now in the British Museum, which represents her seated, draped, and with a veil falling down the back of her head. On her head is neither the modius nor the crown. On a vase in the British Museum she appears beside Triptolemos, who is seated in the winged car which she gave him. On another vase, also in the national collection, we find the scene at the institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In the center is Triptolemos seated in the car; before him Persephone (here called Pherophatta, a more ancient form of her name), and a figure called Eleusis; behind him Demeter and Eumolpos. A marble relief, found at Eleusis, represents Demeter, Persephone, and the youthful Jacchos.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's "Mythology"
Edward Tripp's "Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology"
"Manual of Mythology" by Alexander S. Murray.
"Two Great Gods of Earth"