Divine Women

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, what is the fate of Persephone?

Hades wished for Persephone to become his wife, and thus he asked Zeus to help kidnap her and take her to the underworld. So, after Zeus plants a flower[1], Persephone notices it and goes to pluck it to bring it back to her mother; Demeter. Once having touched the flower, Hades rides up from the underworld and kidnaps Persephone, bringing her back to the underworld. Having spent time with Hades however, Persephone is torn between being his wife and seeing her mother. Hades, knowing that he has to keep Persephone in the Underworld, gives her pomegranate seeds and thus sealing her fate, Persephone cannot always stay in the above with her mother. So now, when Persephone is above, it is spring and when Persephone is in the Underworld it is winter as Demeter is in mourning. However, Persephone is enjoying her time as Hades Queen, guiding lost souls to the next adventure of their death.

Why does Demeter go to Eleusis? Why does she want to make the child Demophon immortal? Why does she fail?

During her search for Persephone, Demeter is spent of all her godly power[2] she searches high and low for her daughter. Finally, appearing old and ungod like she comes across the town Eleusis. Here, she rests near a fountain and is found by a family of females. They take her home and look after her, not knowing she is the Goddess Demeter. Missing her daughter and seeing that there is a little boy called Demophon, she agrees to look after him as thanks and lodging. Demeter decides to make the child immortal by giving him the drink of the Gods[3] and sticking him in the fire. However, because the family do not know she is the Goddess Demeter, and all they see is their little boy being burnt alive, they take Demophon away from Demeter, and she curses their name. Her strength comes back in her anger and she is then in remembrance of her daughter, she also makes herself known to Metaneira; Demophon’s mother. As a result, they beg for forgiveness and beg for the chance that Demophon becomes immortal. However, Demeter is in a deep depression over her missing daughter, having remembered what she was doing prior and drove the land into a dark deep winter[4]

Why does Demeter demand a ritual at Eleusis? What is the purpose of the ritual?

Demeter asks for a ritual and a temple to be built, so they can worship and teach the world the secret to immortality.  In her mourning, Zeus tells his brothers and sons to visit her and cheer her up, this is symbolic of the rituals of mourning a lost one, that family and friends can help you through it. While Persephone is with Hades, Demeter refuses the plants to grow, thus bringing on the seasons[5]

Explain the relevance of this myth to agricultural communities.

The Myth of Demeter and Persephone is the explanation of death and life, of family and friends and of the seasons of the world. It explains why there is a spring, summer, autumn and winter. It explains how family come together to help each other[6]

To what extent do the 'charter' and 'ritual' theories of myth help us to understand the myth of Demeter?

Because the myth of Demeter and Persephone is about the changing of seasons, it helps to give reason to the rituals which the ancient Greeks practiced, when it came time to harvest, since Demeter is the Goddess of agricultural fertility. When looking at the myth, Persephone must be with her husband and rule the Underworld, which at such time it is then autumn and winter. The other two-thirds of the cycle she is with her mother and it is the time of spring and summer, when flowers and crops are in bloom.

Bibliography

Foley, H.P., (ed.), The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: translation, commentary and interpretive essays, (Princeton: Princeton U.P.), 1994, pp. 79-84.

Graf, F., 'Eleusinian Mysteries,' in T. Whitmarsh (ed.), Oxford Classical Dictionary, (Oxford: Oxford U.P.), 2017.

Kerenyi, K., Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter, (Princeton: Princeton U.P.), 1991, pp. 45-66.

Parker, R., ‘Hymn to Demeter and the Homeric Hymns,' Greece and Rome 38, 1991, pp. 1-17.

Tzanetou, Angeliki. "Something to Do with Demeter: Ritual and Performance in Aristophanes' Women at the Thesmophoria." The American Journal of Philology 123, no. 3 (2002): 329-67. www.jstor.org/stable/1561692.

[1] Zeus plants a flower, he knew that Persephone would want it, and devised a plan that as soon as she touches it that Hades would come and take her.

[2] During her search Demeter does not drink the drink of gods, and thus her powers are spent

[3] Dêmophôn, who was born to well-girded Metaneira, /was nourished in the palace, and he grew up like a daimôn, / not eating grain, not sucking from the breast. But Demeter / used to anoint him with ambrosia, as if he had been born of the goddess, / and she would breathe down her sweet breath on him as she held him to her bosom. / At nights she would conceal him within the menos of fire, as if he were a smoldering log, / and his philoi parents were kept unaware. But they marvelled / at how full in bloom he came to be, and to look at him was like looking at the gods. (Hymn to Demeter 234-241) 

[4] She made that year the most terrible one for mortals, all over the Earth, the nurturer of many. / It was so terrible, it makes you think of the Hound of Hades. The Earth did not send up / any seed. Demeter, she with the beautiful garlands in her hair, kept them [the seeds] covered underground. / Many a curved plough was dragged along the fields by many an ox—all in vain. / Many a bright grain of wheat fell into the earth—all for naught. / At this moment, she [Demeter] could have destroyed the entire race of meropes humans / with harsh hunger, thus depriving of their tîmê. (Hymn to Demeter 305-311)

[5] Persephone with hades means there is winter, Persephone with Demeter means it is spring

[6] “Demeter! Zeus, the one who has unwilting [a-phthi-ta] knowledge, summons you / to come to that special group, the company of the immortal gods. / So then, come! May what my words say, which come from Zeus, not fail to be turned into action that is completed.” / So she spoke, making an entreaty. But her [Demeter’s] thûmos was not persuaded. / After that, the Father sent out all the other blessed and immortal gods. / They came one by one, / they kept calling out to her, offering many beautiful gifts (Hymn to Demeter 321-337)