Demeter - goddess of harvest and fertility.

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Demeter, fair-haired earth Goddess

The Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. She is invoked as the "bringer of seasons" in the Homeric hymn, a subtle sign that she was worshiped long before she was made one of the Olympians

Demeter is the fair haired earth goddess who blesses all phases of the harvest. She walks the furrowed fields dressed in green and displays her moods with feast and famine.

 

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Of Demeter, the lovely haired and august goddess, and of her daughter, the fair Persephone, I begin to sing. ~~ Homeric Hymn to Demeter

 

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

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Demeter, State Hermitage Museum 

Museum Collection: State Hermitage Museum,
St Petersburg, Russia
Class: Free-standing statue
Material: Marble

Demeter stands holding sheafs of wheat in one hand, and a fruiting cornucopia in the other. She is crowned with a wreath of fruit.

Greek Mythology 

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The Myth of Demeter 

The calendar design is process-intensive, duplicating many favorite features from the book, including tipped on envelope and booklet. In the early nineteenth century, an English gentleman embarked on a tour of the sites of ancient Greece. He brought with him Mythology: Greek Gods, Heroes, and Monsters, a guide to Greek myths purportedly written by Lady Hestia Evans. Mythology is a recent addition to the best-selling Ology series of books and is the basis for this calendar, which features many of the same lavish illustrations, paper crafts, flaps, foldouts, and other surprises. It also includes a set of knowledge cards. This calendar is a mythical exploration fit for the gods.

 

Theoi Project  

DEMETER : Greek goddess of agriculture & grain ; mythology ; pictures : CERES
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the agriculture, is described over 15 detailed pages which include an ENCYCLOPEDIA summary, quotes from Greek and Roman literature, and dozens of PICTURES from ancient art

Orphic Hymn 40 to Demeter 

(trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :

Eleusinian Demeter & Plutus, Apulian red-figure
loutrophoros C4th B.C., The J. Paul Getty Museum

"To Demeter Eleusinia. O universal mother, Deo famed, august, the source of wealth, and various named: great nurse, all-bounteous, blessed and divine, who joyest in peace; to nourish corn is thine.

Goddess of seed, of fruits abundant, fair, harvest and threshing are thy constant care.

Lovely delightful queen, by all desired, who dwellest in Eleusis' holy vales retired.

Nurse of all mortals, who benignant mind first ploughing oxen to the yoke confined; and gave to men what nature's wants require, with plenteous means of bliss, which all desire. In verdure flourishing, in glory bright, assessor of great Bromios [Dionysos] bearing light : rejoicing in the reapers' sickles, kind, whose nature lucid, earthly, pure, we find.

Prolific, venerable, nurse divine, thy daughter loving, holy Koure [Persephone].

A car with Drakones yoked 'tis thine to guide, and, orgies singing, round thy throne to ride.

Only-begotten, much-producing queen, all flowers are thine, and fruits of lovely green.

Bright Goddess, come, with summer's rich increase swelling and pregnant, leading smiling peace; come with fair concord and imperial health, and join with these a needful store of wealth."

"She is invoked as the "bringer of seasons", a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of the Olympians."

Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth 

Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth

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Demeter From Wikipedia 

Category: File - :Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPG|thumb|285px|Demeter drives her horse-drawn chariot containing her daughter Kore, at Selinunte, Sicily, 6th century BC

Demeter (; Greek: '''', lit. "Earth-Mother" from the Doric D? form of Greek De "Earth" and Meter "Mother"http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Demeter. Or possibly "distribution-mother" from the noun of the Indo-European mother-earth *dheghomThe d? element is not so simply equated with "earth" as John Chadwick showed in The Mycenaean World (Cambridge University Press) 1976, p 87: "Every Greek was aware of the maternal functions of Demeter; if her name bore the slightest resemblance to the Greek word for mother', it would inevitably have been deformed to emphasize that resemblance.... how did it escape transformation into *G?m?t?r, a name transparent to any Greek speaker?". *mater, also called simply ???), in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of grain and fertility, the pure nourisher of the youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, dated to about the seventh century BC.Nilsson, Martin P. (1940). Greek Popular Religion. p.45: "We have a document concerning the Eleusinian cult which is older and more comprehensive than anything concerning any other Greek cult, namely, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter composed in Attica before Eleusis was incorporated into the Athenian state, not later than the end of the seventh century BC. We know that the basis of the Eleusinian Mysteries was an old agrarian cult celebrated in the middle of the month Boedromion (about October) and closely akin to the Thesmophoria, a festival of the autumn sowing celebrated by the women not quite a month later. I need not dwell upon this connection, which is established by internal evidence as well as by direct information." she is invoked as the "bringer of seasons", a subtle sign that she was worshipped long before she was made one of the Olympians. She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon.

Her Roman equivalent is Ceres.

Demeter is easily confused with Gaia or Rhea, and with Cybele. The goddesss epithets reveal the span of her functions in Greek life. Demeter and Kore ("the maiden") are usually invoked as to theo ('"The Two Goddesses"), and they appear in that form in Linear B inscriptions at Mycenaean Pylos in pre-classical times. A connection with the goddess-cults of Minoan Crete is quite possible.

According to the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates, the greatest gifts which Demeter gave were cereal (also known as Category: Wiktionary - :corn|corn in modern Britain), which made man different from wild animals; and the Mysteries which give man higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.Isocrates, Panegyricus4.28: "When Demeter came to our land, in her wandering after the rape of Kore, and, being moved to kindness towards our ancestors by services which may not be told save to her initiates, gave these two gifts, the greatest in the world ? the fruits of the earth, which have enabled us to rise above the life of the beasts, and the holy rite, which inspires in those who partake of it sweeter hopes regarding both the end of life and all eternity".

Demeter's emblem is the poppy, a bright red flower that grows among the barley.

Demeter 

Flickr Photo by Zaqarbal

Statue of Demeter of the "Madrid-Capitol" type, at the Prado Museum (Madrid, Spain). Roman copy, sculpted in marble in the early 3rd century CE, of a Greek original made for the Eleusis sanctuary circa 425-420 BC. Head and arms are Baroque additions.

Learn More About Demeter From These Sites 

Classical Myth: Demeter: Images
Demeter is the giver of grain. She is also known as Ceres (Roman) and sometimes Deo. Her attributes in iconography can include a torch, a crown, a sceptre, and stalks of grain. She is often portrayed with her daughter, Persephone/Kore. ImagesAncient SourcesDemeter, Persephone, and Triptolemos: Over
Mythography | The Greek Goddess Demeter in Myth and Art
Learn about the Greek goddess Demeter in mythology and art, with recommended books and resources
Demeter, Greek Mythology Link.
Greek Mythology Link - by Carlos Parada, author of Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology Demeter Demeter Demeter, whose nurse was Eirene 1 (Peace), is the goddess of fertility, and the mother of the corn. For she,
Demeter * The Immortals * Greek Mythology: From the Iliad to the Fall of the Last Tyrant
Demeter, the goddess of the Harvest; the daughter of Kronos (Cronos) and Rheia (Rhea).
Demeter and Persephone
Demeter and Persephone
Demeter is the Greek goddess of grain, and her daughter Persephone is Spring personified. Persephone's husband is Hades, god of the underworld, and she is compelled to spend part of each year with him. The time she spends with him is winter.
In Orphic theology, Demeter is the
Mircea Eliade "From Primitives to Zen"
Demeter and the founding of Eleusinian Mysteries from Mircea Eliade's "From Primitives to Zen"('The Homeric Hymns': To Demeter,11, 185-299)Hades has carried off Demeter's daughter, Kore. After vainly searching for her, Demeter comes to Eleusis, in disguise as an old woman, and there is received into the house of King Celeus.Soon they came to the house of heaven-nurtured Celeus and went thro

"She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that also predated the Olympian pantheon."

Add These Greek Mythology Books To Your Library 

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Long Journey Home: Revisioning the Myth of Demeter and Persephone for Our Time

Long Journey Home: Revisioning the Myth of Demeter and Persephone for Our Time

The story of the mother-and-daughter goddesses Dem more...1 point

Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Vol. 1 by Timothy Gantz

Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Vol. 1 by Timothy Gantz

Early Greek Myth is a much-needed handbook for sch more...1 point

The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine by Christine Downing

The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine by Christine Downing

In a series of chapters each focusing on a differe more...1 point

Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths by Charlene Spretnak

Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths by Charlene Spretnak

"Charlene Spretnak has succeeded extremely we more...0 points

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Demeter in Photos 

Temple of Demeter, Greece by bisonlux

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Hats Off To (Tori) A...

visiting Persephone by alicepopkorn

visiting Persephone

World's Columbian Exposition: general view, Chicago, United States, 1893. by Brooklyn Museum

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Temple of Demeter ruins by Navin75

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Deméter tipo Madrid-Capitolio (Museo del Prado) 01 by Zaqarbal

Deméter tipo Madrid...

300g of discontinued merino by storebukkebruse

300g of discontinued...

Demeter Familie by MNachtsheim

Demeter Familie

Went to an organic farm this weekend - Demeter cows by storebukkebruse

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Serious Fate by Roberta Maria

Serious Fate

Harvest-time Putto & Mascaron at the Royal Arcade (London, UK) by takomabibelot

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Demeter

Old Museum, Berlin by maha-online

Old Museum, Berlin

Temple of Demeter ruins by Navin75

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Autumn

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Eleusinian Mysteries 

From Wikipedia

The Eleusinian Mysteries () were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. These myths and mysteries, begun in the Mycenean period (c. 1600 BC) Newton, Joseph Fort, The Builders, 1915. Cf. p.24. "The Grecian or Eleusinian Mysteries, established 1800 BC, represented Demeter and Persephone, and depicted the death of Dionysus with stately ritual which led the neophyte from death into life and immortality"Cf. Mylonas, 1961, p.24. "Again, from legends we learn of the arrival of the Cult of Demeter at Eleusis in the fifteenth century BC --- an event that must of course have had a profound influence on the life and activities of the site." and lasting two thousand years, were a major festival during the Hellenic era, later spreading to Rome.Ouvaroff, M. (alternatively given as Sergei Semenovich Uvarov, or Sergey Uvarov, 1786-1855) (Translated from the French by J. D. Price) Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis, London : Rodwell and Martin, 1817 (Reprint: USA: Kessinger Publishing, 2004). Ouvaroff does write that fixing the earliest foundation date to the Eleusinian Mysteries is fraught with problems. The name of the town, Eleusís, is a variant of the noun ???????, éleusis, arrival.

The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret, as initiation was believed to unite the worshipper with the gods and included promises of divine power and rewards in the afterlife.Tripolitis, Antonia. Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, November 2001. pp. 16-21. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents.Wasson, R. Gordon, Ruck, Carl, Hofmann, A., The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1978.

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