Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, grain and fertility was a daughter of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea, sibling of the goddesses, Hestia and Hera and to the gods Poseidon, Hades and Zeus. Demeter was also a mate to Zeus (and others) and together Demeter and Zeus had a much beloved “white armed” daughter names Persephone, who was also very beautiful. She loved to play on Mount Aetna with the other young goddesses and collect and smell the beautiful flowers.
Suddenly, at the moment that she picked a beautiful narcissus from the ground, Persephone disappeared. Demeter could not understand how it could happen when Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena and Demeter only took their eyes off of Persephone momentarily. Demeter was grief stricken and left Mount Olympus while she wandered searching for her daughter for 9 days and 9 nights, desperate to know if she was dead or alive. Demeter took out her anger and frustration by sporadically setting fire to the earth. Hekate, the 3-faced goddess revealed to her that she heard Persephone’s cries at the time of her disappearance, but was not able to see what had happened to her. Demeter decided to ask the sun god, Helios, as surely he would know what happened to her beloved daughter as he sees everything that occurs on the earth during daylight. Helios did have an explanation for Demeter and that was that Zeus had given over Persephone to Hades in the underworld. It was incredulous to Demeter that Zeus would betray her in that way! Her extreme anger eventually turned to depression.
She was insulted by Ascalabus, who she turned into a gecko as punishment. Demeter continued her travels as an old woman for an additional 15 miles when she arrived in Eleusis and sat down at a well and cried her eyes out in extreme frustration. She was introduced to the mother of a local chieftain, Metaneira, who in her pity gave her a job as a nurse maid to care for her baby son. Demeter was so grateful for her new job that she set out to make the baby immortal by immersing him in ambrosia and fire. One night Metaneira discovered Demeter in the midst of raising her son over fire and was alarmed. Demeter stopped what she was doing and then demanded they make a temple in the town in her honor.
Once the temple was built, Demeter continued to grieve over the loss of her daughter and still refused to grow grains or to feed the earth. Zeus seeing this decided it was time for him to arrange for Persephone to be returned to her mother, at least part of the time, by sending Hermes to Hades. Persephone knew that if she ate while in the underworld that she would not be able to leave the darkness and return to her mother. Hades arranged a last farewell meal and momentarily, Persephone lost her presence of mind because of Hades’ kindness and accidentally ate a pomegranate seed.
This food consumption while in the underworld doomed her to have to return to Hades and live in the underworld. It was arranged that Persephone would be able to live in the light with her mother for two thirds of her life and then return to the underworld to live the remaining months with her husband. Demeter accepted this arrangement with great happiness and in her joy; she then allowed seeds to grow on the earth for all but three months out of each year. This became the season of winter and was the time that Persephone went back to live with her husband, Hades, in the underworld. Furthermore, spring came back to the earth every year while Persephone with her mother. Demeter showed her gratitude to man by teaching Triptolemus lessons in growing crops, plowing and harvesting and gave him the first seed of corn. Triptolemus shared this gift of knowledge by traveling the world and sharing
that knowledge of agriculture with mankind. I love this myth because Demeter never gave up on looking for her daughter and left the comfort of Mount Olympus to do so. She endured great tribulation and eventually Zeus took pity on her pain and arranged for Persephone to return to her mother. This compromise that was finally arranged by Zeus, gave us the beauty and diversity of four seasons as well as agriculture which was essential to the progress of the world.
Persephone - Daughter of Demeter
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