Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Demēter

(Dêmêtêr). The daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Her name signifies Mother Earth, meaning that she was goddess of agriculture and of the civilization based upon it. Her children were: by Iasion, a son Plutus, the god of riches, [p. 484] and by her brother Zeus, a daughter Persephoné. Round Demeter and this daughter centre her worship and the fables respecting her. Hades carried off Persephoné, and Demeter roamed for nine days over the earth seeking her, till on the tenth day she learned the truth from the all-seeing Sun. She was angry with Zeus for permitting the act of violence; visited Olympus, and wandered about among men in the form of an old woman under the name of Deo, or the Seeker, till at length, at Eleusis, in Attica, she was kindly received at the house of King Celeus, and found comfort in tending his newly born son Demophoön. Surprised by his mother in the act of trying to make the

Demeter. (Mural Painting from Pompeii.)

child immortal by putting it into the fire, she revealed her deity, and caused a temple to be built to her, in which she gave herself up to her grief. In her wrath she made the earth barren, so that mankind were threatened with destruction by famine, as she did not allow the fruit of the earth to spring up again until her daughter was allowed to spend two thirds of the year with her. On her return to Olympus she left the gift of corn, of agriculture, and of her holy mysteries with her host, as a token of grateful recollection. She sent Triptolemus the Eleusinian round the world on her chariot, drawn by serpents, to diffuse the knowledge of agriculture and other blessings accompanying it--the settlement of fixed places of abode, civil order, and wedlock. Thus Demeter was worshipped as the goddess of agriculture and founder of law, order, and especially of marriage, in all places where Greeks dwelt, her daughter being usually associated with her. (See Thesmophoria.) The most ancient seats of her worship were Athens and Eleusis, where the Rharian plain was solemnly ploughed every year in memory of the first sowing of wheat. She was also much worshipped in Sicily, which from its fertility was accounted one of her favourite places of abode. (See Eleusinia.) As the goddess of fertility, Demeter was in many regions associated with Poseidon, the god of fertilizing water. This was particularly the case in Arcadia, where Poseidon was regarded as the father of Persephoné. She was also joined with Dionysus, the god of wine; and as mother of Persephoné and goddess of the earth, to which not only the seed, but the dead are committed, she is connected with the lower world under the name of Chthonia. In later times she was often confused with Gaea and Rhea or Cybelé. Besides fruit and honeycombs, the cow and the sow were offered to her, both as emblems of productivity. Her attributes are poppies and ears of corn (also a symbol of fruitfulness), a basket of fruit, and a little pig. Other emblems had a mystic significance--e. g. the torch, and the serpent, as living in the earth, and as symbolizing a renewal of life by shedding its skin. The Romans identified her with their own Ceres (q.v.).

This text is based on the following book(s):
Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.