The Gods of the Neokoroi - Demeter
Image of altar piece dedicated to Demeter (modern temple)
This page maintained by Suz
Blessings:
Demeter is the quintessential Mother Goddess, tender and loving, fierce and protective. She is the Grain Goddess, presiding over the fertility, growth and harvest of the fields. Her domain is the rich dark earth, what lies beneath it and what is called for from it. Her cult at Eleusis with her daughter Persephone endured for over two thousand years, with countless initiates. Together they rule the cycles of life, death and transformation.
Epithets:
Megala Thea - Great Goddess
Megala Meter - Great Mother
Panagia - All-Holy
Melaina - The Black
Erinyes - Raging
Anesidora - Who sends up gifts
Evalosia - Of good harvest
Khloe - The Verdant
Antaia - Besought by prayers
Anassa - Queen
Thesmophoros - Of sacred law
Hagnos - The Pure
Kthonia - Of the earth
Plutodoteria - Wealth-bestower
Symbols:
torch, crown, stalks of grain
Animal(s):
horse, snake
Sacrifices:
grain, poppy, sunflower, cypress, storax, myrrh, civet, olibanum
Primary Cult Center(s):
Agrigentum, Cnidos, Priene, Sicily, Siris, Lokroi, Athens, and especially Eleusis
Festivals:
Epikleidia: (date unknown)
The Greater Mysteries: Boedromion 14-21 (September-October)
Halao: 26 Poseidon (December-January)
Skira: 12 Skiraphorion (June-July)
Stenia: 9 Puanepsion (October-November)
Thesmophoria: 9, 11-13 Puanepsion (October-November)
Ways to honor:
Plant and care for a garden. Even a small plant in a pot will help you connect with her, as you watch it grow and nourish it. Support the rights of farmers and migrant workers in orachards. Theirs is not an easy life, and yet without their toil our country would grind to a halt. Donate money or time to rape crisis counsiling. Give of your time and gifts to children, who are so very important.
For more information:
Apollodorus' Library 1.1.5-1.2.1, 1.5.1-3, 1.6.1, 2.5.12, 2.6.1,
3.12.2, 3.6.8, 3.7.1, 3.12.1, 3.14.7
Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica 4.986-990
Aristophanes' Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria
Euripides' Helen 1301-1368
Hesiod's Theogony 453-506, 910-914, 965-974
Homer's Odyssey 5.125-128
Homeric Hymn to Demeter 2, 13
Homeric Hymn to Dionysos 1.5.3
Hyginus' Fabulae 83, 141, 146, 147
Hyginus' Poetica Astronomica 2.4, 2.25
Ovid's Metamorphoses 5.341-571, 6.118-119, 8.738-878, 9.422-423
Pausanias' Description of Greece 1.13.8, 1.14.3, 1.37.2, 2.5.8,
8.15.1-4, 8.25.2-8, 8.37.6, 8.42.1-13
Articles:
Coming soon!
Links
Demeter at Encylopedia Mythica
Demeter at a Glance on Mythography
Demeter - page on Theoi.com