Mythology
October 30, 2006
Demeter and Persephone: Reflections of Female Experience
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Homeric hymn with the most focus on females
Demeter: Goddess of fertility and protector of marriage in ancient mythology;
counterpart of Roman Ceres
Persephone: Daughter of Zeus and Demeter; made queen of the underworld by
Pluto in ancient mythology; identified with Roman Proserpina
Demeter is the goddess of the grain, agricultural harvest
Inherits the attributes of Gaea; most like her out of Zeus’ sisters
‘meter’ in her name means mother
Sheaves of wheat, torches
Demeter and Persephone are a mother/daughter dyad (Two items of the same
kind)
Kore: daughter; maiden
Hades (Dis)
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Zeus of the Underworld
Receiver or host of many, He “of many names”
Ancient Greeks almost seem unwilling to call him by his real name
Like Zeus and Poseidon, mature male (shown with a beard), often enthroned
Hades is also the name for the underworld; dark, shadowy, mournful
Katabasis
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Descent to the Underworld
To descend and return to the land of the dead is a sign of heroic achievement
(Herakles descended at least three times)
Persephone is a female who experiences Katabasis
Compare her Katabasis with those of male heroes
Homeric Hymn to Demeter (ca 700 BC)
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Author unknown
One of a series of hymns to the gods written in epic style (Homeric)
Persephone’s experience of marriage to her uncle Hades (Dis; death)
Power of female fertility
o Demeter feels violated by the abduction of her daughter
o By withholding her fertility, negotiates the return of her daughter
o Her fertility also represents the fertility of the earth
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Cycle of seasons
Demeter’s foundation of the Eleusinian Mysteries
Eleusinian mysteries
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Important religious cult honouring Demeter and Persephone, celebrated annually
Based in Eleusis (20 km from Athens)
Procession from Athens, obscenity, all night feasting
Initiation (purification, fasting, and ordeal)
Secret rituals (darkness, noises, movement, confusion), then a dazzling light
Initiates expected a blessed afterlife
Did not need to be a citizen to participate; men and women
Hymn to Demeter
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Said of Persephone that you could only see her bare ankles; sign of virtue
Persephone is seized by Hades
Also said that Zeus gave her to Hades which follows format of Greek weddings
Done to increase union between two houses
Gave her without the consent of Demeter; no official role in marriage ceremony
Playing with the deep-breasted daughter of Ocean
Marks her as similar to the daughter of Ocean; virgin; at the age to be married
They were picking flowers in a meadow (similar to Io’s dreams to go into a
meadow)
Meadow is a luminal space – neither wild not civilized
Picking flowers is an act one might do if one is thinking about getting married
soon to make garlands to offer to Artemis
Narcissus flower – grows this flower as a snare for Hades; on Zeus’ side
Persephone is very much like this flower
Stretched out to pick the flower; marks her as still being a child
Parallels between the flower and Pandora – beautiful, but a trap
The earth opens up and Hades rose up on her with his horses
Snatches her into his golden chariot
Persephone yells out for the help of her father
Hecate hears the calls; she is a goddess associate with the affairs of women
Also the god Helios sees this
Finally Demeter hears the calls, goes into mourning, puts a dark cloak on and
searches for her daughter
For nine days roams the earth holding torches, no one will tell her what has really
happened
Hecate is the first to help Demeter; suggest they go to ask Helios
Helios says Persephone has been given to Hades as her fertile wife; only Zeus is
to blame
Agricultural symbolism – a daughter is a field in which to plow children
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Helios tells Demeter to give up her lamenting; Hades is a powerful, prestigious,
and wealthy husband
Demeter is made more angry for this; she withdraws from the council of gods on
Olympus
Hides her beauty from the earth; disguised as a human being
Gods and goddesses did not cross the boundary of the Underworld
The only god that goes down is Hermes (his essential nature – a boundary god);
his job is to bring people to the underworld
Demeter has no access to Persephone since she is in the Underworld
Marks her as different from other divine mothers
More like the experience of a human mother; weddings often seen as a day of
grieving in the real world because a bride could be taken far away from her
father’s home
Demeter in disguise of an old women comes to the town of Eleusis
Meets the daughters of the royal household of Eleusis at a well
Similar in age to Persephone; like goddesses in the flower of their youth
Do not recognize Demeter; ask her what she is doing there
Makes up a story about how she was kidnapped and escaped her captors
The girls offer to have her come to their palace – their parents have just given
birth to a young child and their mother is looking for a nurse