CLST 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Eleusinian Mysteries, Metanira, Roman Mythology
Demeter and Persephone
● Goddess of Corn and Fertility
● Sister of Zeus
● Closely linked with her daughter Persephone [Kore] (worshipped as ‘the two goddesses’)
● Important role in development of civilization
● Often carries a sceptre, ears of corn and a poppy, or torches
● Religious calendar is closely tied to agricultural year
Hymn to Demeter
● Structure - rape of Persephone (figurative term - greek root word means abduction)
sanctioned by Zeus
● Nobody notices when she is carried off
● Hecate is a witch goddess, Helios sun god
● Helios ignores it, Hecate does not.
● Demeter removes herself from the Gods because Zeus allowed Hades to have
Persephone
● Demeter visits Celeos, and Metaneira
● Metaneira asks Demeter to take care of Demophon
● She feeds him ambrosia, she was going to make him immortal but Metaneira saw one
night
● Demeter lectures Metaneira and demands that she builds a temple for her
● Her son is not going to be immortal because she got angry
● Lack of faith results in punishment
● Western religious idea of faith - blind trust, benefit of the doubt
● Withdrawal of fertility from the earth - calls this famine
● Nobody is able to sacrifice to the Gods
● Zeus is matched in this respect - he cannot reverse the effect only Demeter can
● Zeus relents and Persephone is returned
● Motif: If you eat something in an otherworldly place, you are bound there forever
● Transiting between worlds there are rules and if you break them you are stuck forever
● Persephone reveals she has eaten a pomegranate seed
● Zeus establishes the rules: 6 months underground with Hades, 6 months with Demeter -
explains the seasons
● Demeter restores fertility, introduces Eleusinian Mysteries
● Date: 600 BCE
● 2 interrelated stories - rape of Persephone and explanation of the seasons, and
Foundation of the Eleusinian Mysteries
● Most serious of all the hymns
● Lining up of gender roles: goddesses v.s. gods
● Demeter, Hecate, Rheia v.s. Zeus, Hades, Helios
● Titans v.s. Gods recap of titanomachy
● Paradigm for how the greeks thought of marriage
● Loss of virginity is equated to death
● Any sort of right of passage is equated to a death of a part of you
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Document Summary
Closely linked with her daughter persephone [kore] (worshipped as the two goddesses") Often carries a sceptre, ears of corn and a poppy, or torches. Religious calendar is closely tied to agricultural year. Structure - rape of persephone (figurative term - greek root word means abduction) sanctioned by zeus. Nobody notices when she is carried off. Hecate is a witch goddess, helios sun god. Demeter removes herself from the gods because zeus allowed hades to have. Metaneira asks demeter to take care of demophon. She feeds him ambrosia, she was going to make him immortal but metaneira saw one night. Demeter lectures metaneira and demands that she builds a temple for her. Her son is not going to be immortal because she got angry. Western religious idea of faith - blind trust, benefit of the doubt. Withdrawal of fertility from the earth - calls this famine. Nobody is able to sacrifice to the gods.
