Demeter is one of the twelve Olympian Immortals. She did not inherit her authority nor was it given to her freely. The Immortals who currently occupy Mount Olympos fought a bitter ten-year war with the Titans to gain possession of the sacred mountain.
When the Titans Kronos and Rhea began to have children, Kronos was given a prophecy by Ge (Earth) and Ouranos (Heavens) that one of his children would take his throne and usurp his power. Thinking he could defy his destiny, Kronos began to swallow his children as they were born ... Demeter was swallowed along with Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia. When it came time for her sixth child to be born, Rhea substituted a stone for the infant and Kronos was tricked into swallowing the stone instead of the child ... thus Zeus was hidden from Kronos and allowed to secretly grow to maturity on the island of Krete. To avenge the mistreatment of his mother and free his brothers and sisters, Zeus ambushed Kronos. The attack was so violent that Demeter and her brothers and sisters were vomited forth.
Kronos and the other Titans immediately understood the threat Demeter and her siblings represented ... the War of the Titans began. After the dust and fire subsided, Zeus, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia ascended Mount Olympos and established their domination of heaven and earth. Demeter became the goddess of the harvest ... she gave men the seeds and knowledge to make their crops grow ... also, to make it possible for men and women to live in harmony with each other and with nature, Demeter implemented laws ... for that reason, she was given the name Thesmophoros (Law-Giver).
It's obvious from the writings of some of the ancient authors that the age and origin of Demeter was a matter of confusion. Demeter has been confused with Ge, the original goddess of the earth but the confusion was based on semantics and not parentage. Demeter was born many ages and generations after Ge but as the goddess of the harvest, Demeter has much in common with Ge.
With the introduction of grain and fruit trees, mortals were faced with new problems and situations they had never encountered as 'hunter gatherers.' Living in farming communities made it necessary for men and women to cooperate in new ways ... they needed to work together in order to sow and harvest the crops that Demeter had given them. Demeter enacted laws to govern the new farming communities ... she was thus called Thesmophoros, the Law-Giver. The laws she set forth are not recorded specifically but it's obvious from the results that they were effectively obeyed.
There was a festival called the Thesmophoria that honored Demeter as the Law-Giver. The rites of that ancient festival were probably the basis for the Eleusinian Mysteries. Of all the gods and goddesses, the rites that accompanied the worship of Demeter were the most secret and therefore still unknown to us.
Demeter and Persephone
Demeter became the consort of her brother Zeus ... their daughter Persephone became the focus of a potentially disastrous schism between Demeter and the other Immortals. Powerless and alone, Demeter vented her wrath on the mortals living on the earth.
While at play with the beautiful daughters of Okeanos (Ocean), Persephone was picking flowers ... but these weren't earthly flowers ... these flowers were the work of Zeus and put there for "a girl with a flower's beauty." The flowers were there to ensnare Persephone in a trap, a beautiful, divine trap. The trigger for the trap was an irresistible flower with one hundred stems of fragrant blossoms. When Persephone reached out with both hands to pluck the flower, the earth opened at her feet and Hades (lord of the dead) roared forth in his golden chariot and seized her before an alarm could be raised.
Demeter heard an indistinct cry and knew her daughter was in trouble but had no idea what had actually happened. Two other Immortals heard the plaintive voice of the abducted girl—Hekate and Helios (Sun).
Demeter began searching in vain for her daughter. Her sorrow was so great that she denied herself all food, drink, and comfort for nine days. When Eos (Dawn) took to the skies on the tenth day, Hekate came to Demeter and told her that she had heard a voice but had not actually seen the abduction of poor Persephone. The two goddesses went to Helios because he sees all mortal and Immortal actions. Helios, indeed, knew the plot and the players. He told Demeter that the abduction was the work of Zeus and Hades. He further advised her to accept the situation because Hades was the Lord of Many and "not an unseemly bridegroom." Demeter did not like his advice and choose a long, brooding path to regain her precious daughter.
In a strange act of revenge, Demeter, disguised as a mature woman, settled in the city of Eleusis and became the nanny for the infant son of Keleos and Metaneira. The boy, Demophoon, was raised to be noble and pure but Demeter seemed to be stealing the boy's affection and loyalty away from his parents ... just as her daughter had been stolen from her. One night she was caught transforming the young boy into an Immortal by placing him in the fireplace and cleansing him with fire, but before Demeter (still in disguise) could make Demophoon immortal, Metaneira interrupted the bazaar ritual and stopped the ceremony.
Demeter cast her disguise away and revealed her divinity. Keleos and the other nobles of Eleusis were glad to oblige when Demeter demanded that a temple be built in her honor. After the temple was completed, Demeter retreated into the inner sanctum to indulge her inconsolable grief. The following year, no seed sprouted on the earth. No barley grew in the plowed fields. The mortals of the earth were doomed to famine and eventual extinction if Demeter did not lift her curse.
Zeus sent the goddess Iris to dissuade Demeter from her destructive course, but Demeter was unmoved. In turn, numerous Immortals went to Demeter's temple and begged the goddess to change her mind and give life back to the earth. She refused them all.
Zeus then sent his son Hermes to the Underworld to speak with Hades and Persephone. Hermes explained the situation and suggested with gentle words that Persephone be returned to her mother. Hades was filled with compassion, but he was also intent on keeping his bride. Hades devised a clever poly whereby he could appease Demeter but still bind Persephone to the Underworld. He offered Persephone a honey-sweet pomegranate seed as she departed and by tasting the seed, she became eternally bound to him.
Demeter was joyous when she saw her darling Persephone again, but her joy was tempered by the fact that Hades had tricked the innocent Persephone into the eating a pomegranate seed and by doing so guaranteed that she must eventually return to him. Demeter resented the blatant trickery and let the starvation continue.
In an effort to save the earth and appease his angry sister, Zeus sent their mother Rhea to offer Demeter honors if she would only return to Mount Olympos and lift the curse that was killing the people of the earth. Zeus promised that Persephone could spend two thirds of the year with her mother but the remaining third of the year would be spent with her husband, Hades.
Demeter was moved by her mother's plea and Zeus's promises. The earth began to swiftly recover its vitality and become fruitful again. Demeter and Persephone ascended Mount Olympos and it was said that those on earth whom Demeter and Persephone gladly love, are thrice blessed. It's interesting to note that the year was divided onto thirds, just as the three brothers, Zeus (lord of the sky), Hades (lord of the dead), and Poseidon (lord of the sea), divided creation into thirds after the overthrow of the Titans.
When Persephone is with Hades the earth is wracked by inclement weather but when Persephone returns from the Underworld to walk the earth again, Demeter pours forth the blessings of Spring to welcome her beloved daughter home.
Demeter reluctantly chose to be satisfied with her arrangement with Hades, but she was less inclined to be magnanimous with her brother Poseidon.
When Demeter began her search for Persephone, she noticed that she was being followed by her brother Poseidon. It soon became obvious that Poseidon was not simply following her, he was pursuing her. With no regard for her sorrow and grief, Poseidon would not relent. Demeter managed to evade him but when she reached Arkadia it became evident that he eventually would catch her.
In a moment of desperation, Demeter transformed herself into a horse and tried to blend in with a nearby herd ... Poseidon changed into a stallion and mated with her. Demeter was furious with her brother and thus earned the surname Fury ... as her temper cooled, she bathed in the Ladon River and assumed the surname Bather. The Arkadians built a temple for Demeter and furnished it with statues of Demeter as Fury and Bather.
Demeter and Poseidon had a daughter who was only referred to as "Mistress" and a son named Arion. The rites of Demeter as practiced in Arkadia were kept secret from non-initiates thus, the name of the divine daughter of Demeter and Poseidon was never made public.
Arion became famous as the steed of King Adrestos of Sikyon. After the infamous King Oedipous fled the city of Thebes, a bitter rivalry began between Oedipous's sons, Eteokles and Polyneikes. Adrestos rode Arion in the first attack on Thebes and was the only commander to survive the attack. When the second attempt was made to capture Thebes, Adrestos again rode Arion but this time the assault was successful ... the city was captured but Adrestos's son Aigialeus was the only commander killed ... astride Arion, Adrestos returned home and died of grief.
Arion was also the name of the chariot horse of Herakles when he fought a son of Ares named Kyknos ... it's unclear whether Herakles's Arion was the original son of Demeter and Poseidon.
Because of the transformation into a horse by Poseidon in his desire for Demeter, the Arkadians were the first to give Poseidon the surname Horse.
Triptolemos is credited as the first man to sow seeds. Regardless of who his parents might have been, Triptolemos was given his knowledge and inspiration by Demeter.
There are several accounts of Triptolemos's birth that we must consider. His birth was in prehistorical times and therefore we have no conclusive records to document the event.
Argive Descent—A priest of the Mysteries of Demeter named Trokhilos fled Argos and came to Attica where he married a woman named Eleusis ... they had two children named Eubuleus and Triptolemos.
Athenian Descent—The fact that Triptolemos was born in Athens was never doubted by the Argives but the parentage of Triptolemos was hotly disputed because of Triptolemos's contribution to the welfare of the human race. The Athenians were quite sure that Triptolemos was the son of an Athenian man named Keleos.
Immortal Descent—A poet named Musaeus recorded an account naming Okeanos (Ocean) and Ge (Earth) as the parents of Triptolemos.
Questionable Descent—The traveler-historian Pausanias related what he considered to be doubtful account of Triptolemos's origins. The story was ascribed to the legendary musician, Orpheus.This account stated that Eubuleus and Triptolemos were sons of Dysaules and the knowledge of sowing grain was given to Triptolemos because the two boys gave information to Demeter about the abduction of her daughter, Persephone.
Secret Descent—Pausanias related another interesting but brief account of the origins of Triptolemos. An Athenian man named Khoerilus wrote a play called Alope in which Kerkyon and Triptolemos were brothers ... their mother was the daughter of Amphiktyon but each had a different father ... Triptolemos was the son of Rarus ... Kerkyon was the son of Poseidon. Pausanias originally intended to go further into the story and describe the contents of Demeter's sanctuary at Athens, called the Eleusinium, but had a dream indicating that he should say no more about the mysteries of the temple because it was unlawful to write about such things.
Erysikhthon, the son of Triopas, was a proud and foolish man who encountered the goddess Demeter in her sacred grove in the land of Dotium. The sacred precincts were thick with elm, pear, and apple trees ... the ditches were full of life-giving water ... the trees were so thick an archer could not shoot an arrow through the teeming forest.
Erysikhthon entered the grove with twenty of his attendants armed with axes and hatchets ... these were no ordinary men ... they were giants of men and they intended to inflict grievous damage to the trees of the sacred grove. One tree in particular, a poplar, was a favorite of the Nymphs of the grove and when Erysikhthon and his men hacked into the ancient tree, it cried out in pain ... Demeter heard the cry and hurried to the forest and, disguised as the priestess Nikippe, approached Erysikhthon ... she begged him to stop the desecration of the holy forest and warned him that Demeter would be angered at the defiling of her holy place.
Erysikhthon was unmoved by the pleas of the "priestess" and vowed to continue his work because he needed the trees to build a dwelling where he could entertain his companions and have pleasing banquets. His vanity and conceit were unbearable ... Nemesis, the goddess of Indignation, recorded his insulting words. Demeter loosed her wrath and assumed her true appearance ... the earth trembled at her step and her head reached into the sky ... Erysikhthon's attendants fled in terror and Demeter let them run away ... they were only doing their master's bidding and were blameless ... for Erysikhthon, however, the goddess had a different fate ... she commanded that if he wanted banquets, he would have his fill and never tire of the feast.
From that moment on, Erysikhthon was condemned to a life of unending gluttony ... the god Dionysos joined in the punishment by making Erysikhthon thirst for wine to wash down the food he compulsively ate. When people would call to see Erysikhthon, his mother and father would lie and say their son was ill or traveling or injured ... they hid the fact that their son was consumed by a curse. Triopas, Erysikhthon's father, was descended from Poseidon and prayed for the curse of Demeter to be lifted but the lord of the sea denied Triopas's prayers. Although Erysikhthon ate constantly, he never gained a pound ... in fact, he lost weight until he was nothing but sinews and bones.
Erysikhthon's affliction remained a family secret even though his ravenous eating had no limit ... he ate until the fields were bare and the flocks had been eaten. Erysikhthon ate the mule and the heifer his mother intended to sacrifice to the goddess Hestia ... he ate their racing horse, the war charger, and even the cat. Finally, everything at his homestead was consumed and Erysikhthon was forced to travel the public roads begging for scraps and crumbs until the end of his miserable life.
The Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated Persephone's ascent from the Underworld and her reunion with Demeter. The festival of the Greater Mysteries was celebrated at the city of Eleusis, which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Athens. The ceremonies and procession for the sacred event began in Athens on the fifteenth day of Boedromion (approximately the second week of September by our calendar) and lasted seven to nine days.
The Eleusinian Mysteries included the worship of Demeter, Persephone, and Iakkhos as Bakkhos (a.k.a. Dionysos). Most of the ceremonies were public but only initiates were allowed to participate in the final rituals. The rites were called Mysteries because the Greek word Mystes means One Initiated. There were several stages of initiation.
The rites of the Lesser Mysteries were held in the spring and dedicated to Persephone. The Lesser Mysteries involved the ritual purification of the candidates for initiation. The Greater Mysteries were held in the fall and dedicated to Demeter. The initiates were called Epoptes, i.e. One Who Has Seen.
Men, women, and slaves were allowed to take part in the ceremonies. The only Greek citizens to be excluded were people with Blood Guilt, i.e. those who had killed. All Greek cities honored the sanctity of the Eleusinian Mysteries by instituting a truce that would halt wars and conflicts. This would allow participants to travel to and from Athens and Eleusis without worrying about local and national disputes.
The rituals of the Greater Mysteries were scrupulously guarded. Ancient writers who dared to expound on the subject were probably not really initiates and therefore just guessing as to the actual rites performed at Eleusis. The rites performed in Athens were more public and conducted at the City Eleusinion, which was a temple for Demeter and Persephone located between the Acropolis and the Agora. In preparation for the procession to Eleusis, sacred ritual objects were brought from the temple at Eleusis and stored in the Eleusinion.
After a ritual cleansing and purification, participants would gather at the Sacred Gates near the Kerameikos cemetery and then walk from Athens to Eleusis on what was called the Sacred Way. The priests and priestesses of Demeter would lead the procession carrying a wooden statue of Iakkhos and other sacred objects hidden in wooden boxes destined for the Telesterion in Eleusis where the final and most secret rites were performed. The members of the procession chanted the name of Iakkhos as they walked and would stop briefly at shrines of Apollon and Aphrodite along the road. Masked men were stationed along the Sacred Way to insult the participants and humble them before they reached Eleusis.
Arriving at Eleusis, the participants would fast until the following morning. The initiates were then permitted to enter the Telesterion where the sacred objects were revealed. All that the initiates were permitted to say about the ceremonies was, "things were spoken, seen, and performed." Once the final rites were complete, a night of feasting and revelry began. A bull was sacrificed, and libations were poured honoring the dead.
The historian Diodorus of Sicily related an interesting story concerning Demeter and Persephone. Circa 337 BCE, the Athenians mounted an invasion of Sicily to oust the tyrant Dionysus II. A man named Timoleon was selected to lead an army against Dionysus but the number of troops at his disposal was barely adequate to do the job. Timoleon was a man of sincere faith and stopped at Korinth to consult the priestesses of Demeter and Persephone and seek their blessings. The priestesses told him they had received favorable dreams during the night and the goddesses would guide and protect Timoleon and his fleet. As if on cue, a blazing torch appeared in the western sky. Timoleon and his men had no doubt that the goddesses would give them a victory in Sicily. The blazing torch remained visible until the fleet reached Sicily. This event was witnessed by nearly a thousand men. The only disputed element of this story was whether one of Timoleon's ships was named The Sacred Ship of Demeter and Persephone before or after his visit to the temple of the goddesses.
Pyrrhus was a descendant of Achilles at least fifteen generations removed. He had proven himself to be brave and generally, buy not always, victorious in battle. While fighting in Argos on the Peloponnesian Peninsula circa 272 BCE, Pyrrhus was killed by a roof-tile thrown by a 'woman' ... in actuality, the tile was thrown by Demeter. Pyrrhus was buried where he died and at the command of an oracle, a temple of Demeter was built on the spot where Pyrrhus died ... Pyrrhus's shield was dedicated and hung over the door.
Like most of the Olympians, Demeter frequently assumed the guise of a mortal to mingle with the earthly population. On one occasion, she was wandering in Attica near the sacred precinct of a hero named Lakios when a local man named Phytalus welcomed the goddess into his home. As a reward for his hospitality, Demeter gave Phytalus the fig tree, which was unknown to mortal men at the time. A temple of Demeter was built, and an inscription documented the event:
Near the Town Hall of the city of Megara was a rock where Demeter once stood and called for the return of her abducted daughter, Persephone. The rock was named Anaklethris, meaning Recall. As late as 160 CE, the women of Megara conducted performances at the Anaklethris, imitating Demeter's desperate plea for Persephone's return.
The port city of Nisaea had a curious and confusing surname for Demeter ... Demeter Malophorus. According to the traveler-historian Pausanias, Malophorus might have meant Sheep-Bearer or Apple-Bearer. Pausanias offered the explanation that those who first reared sheep at Nisaea gave Demeter the surname Malophorus ... however, Demeter was always associated with grains and fruits but rarely with animals ... Pausanias thought it might be more logical to assume the goddesses' surname meant Apple-Bearer.
Plemnaeus was an unfortunate man who seemed to be cursed ... all the children born to Plemnaeus and his wife died the first time they cried. Demeter took pity on Plemnaeus and in the guise of a strange woman, became the nurse of Plemnaeus's newborn son, Orthopolis. While being cared for by the goddess, Orthopolis did not cry and therefore lived to have a child of his own ... her name was Khrysorthe. She became the consort of Apollon and had a son named Koronos. Plemnaeis built a sanctuary of Demeter as a thank-offering to the goddess for rearing of his son and allowing him to have a grandson.
While Demeter was traveling in Argolis, she encountered three men—Kolontas, Atheras, and Mysius. Atheras and Mysius showed the greatest respect for the goddess but Kolontas offered no hospitality or respect.
Kolontas's daughter Khthoia disapproved of her father's insulting behavior but Kolontas would not yield to her protestations. Demeter was quick to exact her punishment ... Kolontas was burned alive while he was still astride his horse. Now that Khthoia had no father, Demeter took the young woman to the city of Hermion and had her establish a sanctuary for the Hermionians ... Demeter's surname at the sanctuary became Thermasia (Warmth).
The rituals and rites performed in the sanctuary of Demeter by the Hermionians were for women only. In front of the temple were statues of women who served as priestesses to the goddess. Inside the temple were statues of Athene and Demeter that could be seen by men and women. There were seats inside the temple for older women so they could watch as sacrificial cattle were driven in one by one. As to what happened during the sacrifice, no man was allowed to see, and the women would not tell.
Khthoia was also associated with the worship of Demeter by the Lakedaemonians as Demeter Khthonia (Demeter of the Lower World). The traveler-historian Pausanias believed that the Lakedaemonians simply copied the rites performed at Hermion but the Spartans insisted that their rites were given to them by the legendary musician, Orpheus.
Circa 685 BCE, the town of Aigila in Lakonia was attacked by the Messenian hero Aristomenes during the course of the second Messenian revolt against the Spartans. Aristomenes had proved himself to be a man of high moral character prior to his attack on Aigila but his actions there were shameful and, more importantly, disrespectful to Demeter.
Aristomenes knew that the women of Aigila were having a festival of Demeter and contrary to all civilized conduct, attacked anyway. The goddess inspired the women to take up whatever weapons came to hand to defend themselves ... they took up the knives they used on the sacrificial victims and the spits they used to roast the meat. Many of the Messenians were killed ... Aristomenes was beaten with torches and taken alive but escaped during the night. A priestess of Demeter named Arkhidameia was accused of helping Aristomenes escape because she loved him, but she maintained her innocence. After Aristomenes escaped, Demeter apparently let the matter drop ... we might assume that his defeat and humiliation at the hands of Demeter's priestesses was punishment enough.
There is a story stating that Demeter inadvertently ate the flesh of a man named Pelops, the eponymous founder of the Peloponnesian Peninsula. Pelops's father Tantalos was a self-indulgent man who was severely punished in the Underworld for offending the Immortals.
Tantalos was accused of killing his son Pelops but his crime did not stop there ... he tried to feed the dead child to the Immortals. He apparently cooked the child in such a way as to disguise its true nature ... Demeter was the only Immortal to eat the false meal ... she supposedly ate Pelops shoulder. The god Hermes restored Pelops to life and replaced the shoulder Demeter had eaten with ivory.
Hymn to Demeter
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Theogony
Works and Days
Catalogues of Women and the Eoiae
Catalogue of Women
Shield of Herakles
Hymn to Demeter
The Histories by Herodotos
Library of History by Diodorus of Sicily
Description of Greece by Pausanias