Editing Demeter (section)

===Lineage, consorts, and offspring===
[[File:Demeter MKL1888.png|thumb|left|260px|[[Pompeii]]an relief of Demeter in her aspects of [[mother goddess]] and goddess of agriculture]]

Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]'' (c. 700 BC) describes Demeter as the second child of the Titans [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], and the sister of [[Hestia]], [[Hera]], [[Hades]], [[Poseidon]], and [[Zeus]]. Alongside the rest of her sisters and brothers with the exception of her youngest brother Zeus, Demeter was swallowed as a newborn by her father due to his fear of being overthrown by one of his children; she was later freed when Zeus made Cronus disgorge all of his children by giving him an emetic. Zeus then led his siblings in a war against their father and the other Titans. Cronus was supplanted by this new generation of deities; and Demeter thus became one of the Olympian gods, the new rulers of the cosmos, alongside her brothers and sisters.<ref>Grimal, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/115/mode/2up?view=theater Cronus].</ref>

Demeter is notable as the mother of [[Persephone]], described by both Hesiod and in the ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'' as the result of a union with Zeus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+912&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130 912]; [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2 ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'' (2)].</ref> An alternate recounting of the matter appears in a fragment of the lost [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] theogony, which preserves part of a myth in which Zeus mates with his mother, Rhea, in the form of a snake, explaining the origin of the symbol on [[Hermes]]' staff. Their daughter is said to be Persephone, whom Zeus, in turn, mates with to conceive [[Dionysus]]. According to the Orphic fragments, "After becoming the mother of Zeus, she who was formerly Rhea became Demeter."<ref>[[Proclus]], ''Commentary on Plato's Cratylus'' 403 e (90, 28 Pasqu.) [=Orphic [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/188/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 145 Kern]; West 1983, p. 217.</ref><ref>Kerényi 1976, p. 112.</ref>[[File:Triptolemos Louvre G187.jpg|thumb|left|320px|[[Triptolemus]], Demeter and Persephone by the Triptolemos-painter, c. 470 BC, [[Louvre]]]]

There is some evidence that the figures of the Queen of the Underworld and the daughter of Demeter were initially considered separate goddesses.<ref>Zuntz, G., Persephone. Three essays in religion and thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford, 1971), p. 75-83.</ref> However, they must have become conflated by the time of Hesiod in the 7th century BC.<ref name="Persephone_asia_minor" /> Demeter and Persephone were often worshipped together and were often referred to by joint cultic titles. In their cult at Eleusis, they were referred to simply as "the goddesses", usually distinguished as "the older" and "the younger"; in [[Rhodes]] and [[Sparta]], they were worshipped as "the Demeters"; in the Thesmophoria, they were known as "the thesmophoroi" ("the legislators").<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967) ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion'' pp.463, 477</ref> In Arcadia they were known as "the Great Goddesses" and "the mistresses".<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967) ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion'' pp. 463–465</ref> In [[Mycenaean civilization|Mycenaean]] Pylos, Demeter and Persephone were probably called the "queens" (wa-na-ssoi).<ref name="Mylonas159">"Wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te, (to the two queens and the king). Wanax is best suited to Poseidon, the special divinity of Pylos. The identity of the two divinities addressed as wanassoi, is uncertain ": George Mylonas (1966) Mycenae and the Mycenean age" p. 159 :Princeton University Press</ref>[[File:Villa Carmiano triclinio 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Dionysus (Bacchus) and Demeter (Ceres), antique fresco in [[Stabiae]], 1st century]]According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], in his ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' written in the 1st century BC, Demeter and Zeus were also the parents of Dionysus. Diodorus described the myth of Dionysus' double birth (once from the earth, i.e. Demeter, when the plant sprouts) and once from the vine (when the fruit sprouts from the plant). Diodorus also related a version of the myth of Dionysus' destruction by the Titans ("sons of [[Gaia]]"), who boiled him, and how Demeter gathered up his remains so that he could be born a third time (Diod. iii.62). Diodorus states that Dionysus' birth from Zeus and his older sister Demeter was somewhat of a minority belief, possibly via conflation of Demeter with her daughter, as most sources state that the parents of Dionysus were Zeus and Persephone, and later Zeus and Semele.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html Book III].</ref>

In Arcadia, a major Arcadian deity known as Despoina ("Mistress") was said to be the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon. According to Pausanias, a [[Thelpusa|Thelpusian]] tradition said that during Demeter's search for Persephone, Poseidon pursued her. Demeter turned into a horse to avoid her younger brother's advances. However, he turned into a stallion and mated with the goddess, resulting in the birth of the horse god [[Arion (mythology)|Arion]] and a daughter "whose name they are not wont to divulge to the uninitiated".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.5 8.28.5–7].</ref> Elsewhere, he says that the [[Phigalia]]ns assert that the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter was not a horse, but Despoina, "as the Arcadians call her".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.42.1 8.42.1].</ref>

In [[Orphic literature]], Demeter seems to be the mother of the witchcraft goddess [[Hecate]].<ref name="fr. 41 Kern">Orphic frr. 400 I (I p. 334) [= [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/112/mode/2up fr. 41 Kern] = [[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 3.467], 400 II (I p. 334) Bernabé [= [https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft/page/112/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 42 Kern] = Scholia on [[Theocritus]], 2.12].</ref>

Both [[Homer]] and Hesiod, writing c. 700 BC, described Demeter making love with the agricultural hero [[Iasion]] in a ploughed field during the marriage of [[Cadmus]] and [[Harmonia]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:5.92-5.144 5.125]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:963-1002 969–974].</ref> According to Hesiod, this union resulted in the birth of [[Plutus]].

Demeter took [[Mecon (mythology)|Mecon]], a young Athenian, as a lover; he was at some point transformed into a poppy flower.<ref>Smith, s.v. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D14%3Aentry%3Dmecon-bio-1 Mecon]; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Georgics]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D212 1.212]</ref>

The following is a list of Demeter's offspring, by various fathers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates.

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
! scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Offspring
! scope="col" style="width: 95pt;" | Father
! scope="col" style="width: 55pt;" | Source
! scope="col" style="width: 70pt;" | Date
! class="unsortable" scope="col" style="width: 10pt;" |
|-
| [[Persephone]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Zeus]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Gantz, p. 64; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 912&ndash;914].</ref>
|-
| [[Dionysus]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=demeter-bio-1&highlight=demeter%2Cdionysus s.v. Demeter]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#62.5 3.62.5]; [[Scholia]]st on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' 3.177{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}.</ref>
|-
| [[Arion]], [[Despoina]]
| [[Poseidon]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Tripp, s.v. Arion or Areion, p. 101; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.7 8.25.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Plutus]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Iasion]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Morford, p. 339; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:963-1002 969—974].</ref>
|-
| [[Philomelus]]
| Hyg. ''[[De astronomia|De astr.]]''
| data-sort-value=16 | 1st cent. BC/AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Philomelus (1); Hyginus, ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.4.7 2.4.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Hecate]]
| rowspan="2" | ''No father mentioned''
| [[Orphic]] frr.
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref name="fr. 41 Kern"/>
|-
| [[Eubuleus]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#76.3 5.76.3].</ref>
|}