ENGB30 Lecture Notes - Eleusinian Mysteries, Hubris, Clytemnestra
Document Summary
Based largely upon hormeric hymn to demeter2 (7th to 6th centuries bce) Pits the power of demeter against the predominantly male alliance between zeus and hades: she is mainly motivated for her love toward her daughter and doesn"t want the distance between her and her daughter. Deadlock finally resolved through compromise: made a compromise with zeus, because without. Demetre"s help, there is no agriculture and no food for the people or sacrifices for the gods. Even persephone and demeter must abide by the rule that those who have eaten in the underworld cannot leave it entirely. Musician whose extraordinary talent gives him special powers: he makes the thin shades [weep] in sympathy and the torments of the great sufferers cease. He wins a special concession from hades to take his dead wife. Eurydice back to the upper world on one condition.
