ysatis
Demeter and Persephone..
THE MYTH OF AUTUMN
Demeter (/diˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́tēr) is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains and the fertility of the earth.
According to the myth, Demeter's virgin daughter Persephone was abducted to the underworld by Hades. Demeter searched for her ceaselessly, preoccupied with her loss and her grief.
The seasons halted living things ceased their growth, then began to die.
Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back.
Hades agreed to release her, but gave her a pomegranate. When she ate the pomegranate seeds, she was bound to him for one third of the year, either the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought or the autumn and winter.
Persephone's time in the underworld corresponds with the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendar, and her return to the upper world with springtime.
Demeter's descent to retrieve Persephone from the underworld is connected to the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece.
Demeter at Eleusis
Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone took her to the palace of Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica. She assumed the form of an old woman, and asked him for shelter.
He took her in, to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira.
To reward his kindness, she planned to make Demophon immortal.
She secretly anointed the boy with ambrosia and laid him in the flames of the hearth, to gradually burn away his mortal self.
But Metanira walked in, saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright.
Demeter abandoned the attempt. Instead, she taught Triptolemus the secrets of agriculture, and he in turn taught them to any who wished to learn them.
Thus, humanity learned how to plant, grow and harvest grain.
The Eleusinian mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with the main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother.
Demeter and Persephone..
THE MYTH OF AUTUMN
Demeter (/diˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́tēr) is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains and the fertility of the earth.
According to the myth, Demeter's virgin daughter Persephone was abducted to the underworld by Hades. Demeter searched for her ceaselessly, preoccupied with her loss and her grief.
The seasons halted living things ceased their growth, then began to die.
Faced with the extinction of all life on earth, Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to the underworld to bring Persephone back.
Hades agreed to release her, but gave her a pomegranate. When she ate the pomegranate seeds, she was bound to him for one third of the year, either the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought or the autumn and winter.
Persephone's time in the underworld corresponds with the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendar, and her return to the upper world with springtime.
Demeter's descent to retrieve Persephone from the underworld is connected to the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece.
Demeter at Eleusis
Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone took her to the palace of Celeus, the King of Eleusis in Attica. She assumed the form of an old woman, and asked him for shelter.
He took her in, to nurse Demophon and Triptolemus, his sons by Metanira.
To reward his kindness, she planned to make Demophon immortal.
She secretly anointed the boy with ambrosia and laid him in the flames of the hearth, to gradually burn away his mortal self.
But Metanira walked in, saw her son in the fire and screamed in fright.
Demeter abandoned the attempt. Instead, she taught Triptolemus the secrets of agriculture, and he in turn taught them to any who wished to learn them.
Thus, humanity learned how to plant, grow and harvest grain.
The Eleusinian mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with the main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother.