Editing Demeter (section)

==Description==
In the earliest conceptions of Demeter she is the goddess of grain and threshing, however her functions were extended beyond the fields and she was often identified with the earth goddess ([[Gaia]]). Some of the epithets of Gaia and Demeter are similar showing the identity of their nature. In most of her myths and cults, Demeter is the "Grain-Mother" or the "Earth-Mother". In the older chthonic cults the earth goddess was related to the Underworld and in the secret rites (mysteries) Demeter and [[Persephone]] share the double function of death and fertility. Demeter is the giver of the secret rites and the giver of the laws of cereal agriculture. She was occasionally identified with the ''Great Mother'' [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]-[[Cybele]] who was worshipped in [[Crete]] and [[Asia Minor]] with the music of cymbals and violent rites. It seems that poppies were connected with the cult of the Great Mother.

===As an agricultural goddess===
[[File:Eleusinian hydria Antikensammlung Berlin 1984.46 n2.jpg|thumb|left|320px|Demeter, enthroned and extending her hand in a benediction toward the kneeling [[Metaneira]], who offers the [[wikt:triune|triune]] wheat ({{circa|340 {{small|BC}}}})]]

In epic poetry and [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Demeter is the Grain-Mother, the goddess of cereals who provides grain for bread and blesses its harvesters. In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', the light-haired Demeter with the help of the wind separates the grain from the chaff.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+5.499&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134|title=Homer, Iliad, Book 5, line 493|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Homer mentions the [[Thalysia]] a Greek harvest-festival of first fruits in honour of Demeter .<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+9.534&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 9.534]</ref> In Hesiod, prayers to Zeus-Chthonios (chthonic [[Zeus]]) and Demeter help the crops grow full and strong.<ref>[[Hesiod]] ''[[Works and Days]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng1:448-478 465]</ref> This was her main function at [[Eleusis]], and she became panhellenic. In [[Cyprus]], "grain-harvesting" was ''damatrizein''. Demeter was the ''zeidoros arοura'', the Homeric "Mother Earth [[arura|arοura]]" who gave the gift of cereals (''zeai'' or ''deai'').<ref>Nilsson, (1967), Geschichte Vol I,  461–466</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=zei/dwros|title=Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, ζείδωρος|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Most of the epithets of Demeter describe her as a goddess of grain. Her name ''Deo'' in literature<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0011,002:1120&lang=original|title=Sophocles, Antigone, line 1115|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> probably relates her with ''deai'' a Cretan word for cereals. In [[Attica]] she was called [[Haloa]]s (of the threshing floor) according to the earliest conception of Demeter as the Corn-Mother. She was sometimes called ''Chloe'' (ripe-grain or fresh-green) and sometimes ''Ioulo'' (ioulos : grain sheaf). ''Chloe'' was the goddess of young corn and young vegetation and "Iouloi" were harvest songs in honour of the goddess. The reapers called Demeter ''Amallophoros'' (bringer of sheaves) and ''Amaia'' (reaper). The goddess was the giver of abundance of food and she was known as ''Sito'' (of the grain) and ''Himalis'' (of abundance ).<ref name=Stalmith116>Stalmith in GRBS48 (2008), 116-117</ref> The bread from the first harvest-fruits was called ''thalysian bread'' ([[Thalysia]]) in honour of Demeter.<ref>Nilsson, (1967), Geschichte Vol I, 468</ref> The sacrificial cakes burned on the altar were called "ompniai" and in Attica the goddess was known as ''Ompnia'' (related to corns). These cakes were offered to all gods.
[[File:Roman copy of the Great Eleusinian relief hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|right|240px|The [[Eleusinian mysteries|Eleusinian trio]]: [[Persephone]], [[Triptolemus]] and Demeter (Roman copy dating to the Early Imperial period and hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of the [[Great Eleusinian Relief]] in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]], marble bas-relief from [[Eleusis]], 440–430 BC.)]]

In some feasts big loafs (''artoi'') were offered to the goddess and in [[Boeotia]] she was known as
''Megalartos'' (of the big loaf) and ''Megalomazos'' (of the big mass, or big porridge). Her function was extended to vegetation generally and to all fruits and she had the epithets ''eukarpos'' (of good crop), ''karpophoros'' (bringer of fruits), ''malophoros'' (apple bearer) and sometimes ''Oria'' (all the fruits of the season). These epithets show an identity in nature with the earth goddess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56574|title=Cults Of The Greek States Vol.3|first=Lewis Richard|last=Farnell|date=20 May 1907|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>Nilsson(1967) Geschichte Vol I, 412, 467–478</ref><ref name=Stalmith116/><ref name= Cole201>Cole(1994) in Placing the gods 201–202</ref>

The central theme in the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] was the reunion of [[Persephone]] with her mother, Demeter when new crops were reunited with the old seed, a form of eternity.

According to the Athenian [[rhetorician]] [[Isocrates]], Demeter's greatest gifts to humankind were agriculture which gave to men a civilized way of life, and the Mysteries which give the initiate higher hopes in this life and the afterlife.<ref>[[Isocrates]], ''Panegyricus'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Isoc.+4+27 4.28]: "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".</ref>

These two gifts were intimately connected in Demeter's myths and mystery cults. Demeter is the giver of mystic rites and the giver of the civilized way of life (teaching the laws of agriculture). Her epithet ''Eleusinia'' relates her with the Eleusinian mysteries, however at [[Sparta]] ''Eleusinia'' had an early use, and it was probably a name rather than an epithet.<ref>Robertson in GRBS37(1996), pp. 351, 377–378</ref> Demeter ''Thesmophoros'' (law-giving) is closely associated to the laws of cereal agriculture. The festival [[Thesmophoria]] was celebrated throughout Greece and was connected to a form of agrarian magic.<ref>Burkert(1985), 244</ref> Her epithet {{ill|Damia (Greek mythology)|ca|Dàmia (mitologia)|lt=Damia}} (as paired with [[Auxesia (Greek mythology)|Auxesia]] for Persephone) was the center of the festival called the ''[[Lithobolia (festival)|Lithobolia]]''. Near [[Pheneus]] in Arcadia she was known as Demeter-''Thesmia'' (lawfull), and she received rites according to the local version.<ref>Stalmith in GRBS48 (2008), 127</ref>

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

===As an earth and underworld goddess===
[[File:NAMA 16346 Cornucopia.JPG|thumb|left|240px|Pelike. Plouton with a [[cornucopia]] and Demeter with a sceptre and plough. By the Orestes Painter. 440-430 BC.[[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]
In addition to her role as an agricultural goddess, Demeter was often worshipped more generally as a goddess of the earth, from which crops spring up. Her individuality was rooted to the less developed personality of [[Gaia]] (earth). In [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] Demeter ''Melaina'' (the black Demeter) was represented as snake-haired with a horse's head holding a dove and dolphin, perhaps to symbolize her power over the Underworld, the air, and the water.<ref>Jeffery (1976), 23</ref><ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]|[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.42 8.42.1–4]</ref> The cult of Demeter in the region was related to [[Despoina]], a very old chthonic divinity. Demeter shares the double function of death and fertility with her daughter Persephone. Demeter and Persephone were called ''Despoinai'' (the mistresses) and ''Demeters''. This duality was also used in the classical period (''Thesmophoroi'', ''Double named goddesses'') and particularly in an oath: "By the two goddesses".<ref>Stalmith in GRBS48(2008) 118–119</ref>

In the cult of [[Phlya]] she was worshipped as ''Anesidora'' who sends up gifts from the Underworld.<ref>Anesidora: inscribed against her figure on a [[White ground technique|white-ground]] ''[[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]]'' in the British Museum, B.M. 1881,0528.1, from Nola, painted by the Tarquinia painter, ''ca'' 470–460 BC ([https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=461511&partid=1&searchText=Anesidora+Nola+Tarquinia&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=1 British Museum on-line catalogue entry])</ref><ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] ''s.v.''</ref><ref>[[Scholiast]], ''On [[Theocritus]]'' ii. 12.</ref>

In Sparta, she was known as Demeter-''Chthonia'' (chthonic Demeter). After each death the mourning should end with a sacrifice to the goddess. Pausanias believes that her cult was introduced from [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]], where Demeter was associated with [[Hades]]. In a local legend a hollow in the earth was the entrance to the underworld, by which the souls could pass easily.<ref>Farnell Cults III, 48–49 [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56574/page/48/mode/2up Farnell III,48]</ref> In [[Ancient Elis|Elis]] she was called Demeter-''Chamyne'' (goddess of the ground),<ref name=Stalmith116/> in an old chthonic cult associated with the descent to Hades. At [[Levadia]] the goddess was known as Demeter-''[[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]]'' and she was associated with [[Trophonius]], an old divinity of the underworld. The oracle of Trophonius was famous in the antiquity.<ref>Farnell Cults III,30-31 [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56574/page/29/mode/2up Farnell III,30]</ref>

[[Pindar]] uses the rare epithet ''Chalkokrotos'' (bronze sounding). Brazen musical instruments were used in the mysteries of Demeter and the Great-Mother [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]-[[Cybele]] was also worshipped with the music of cymbals.<ref>Raubitschek-Jane Biers, in MVSE vol. 31–32 (1997–1998), 53. [https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/83637/muse1997-98v31-32p53-67.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y MVSE (1997–1998), 53]</ref>
[[File:Attic white calyx crater, 440-430 BC, side B, AM Agrigento, 120965x.jpg|thumb|right|320px|Attic white calyx crater 440-430 BC. Two female figures, probably Demeter and Persephone. Archaeological Museum of Agrigento.]]

In central Greece Demeter was known as [[Temple of Demeter Amphictyonis|Amphictyonis]] (of the dwellers-round), in a cult of the goddess at [[Anthele]] near [[Thermopylae]] (hot gates). She was the patron goddess of an ancient [[Amphictyony]]. Thermopylae is the place of hot springs considered to be entrances to [[Hades]], since Demeter was a chthonic goddess in the older local cults.<ref>Jeffery (1976), The city states, 72-73</ref>

The Athenians called the dead "Demetrioi",<ref name="sacred-texts.com"/> and this may reflect a link between Demeter and the ancient cult of the dead, linked to the agrarian belief that a new life would sprout from the dead body, as a new plant arises from buried seed. This was most likely a belief shared by initiates in Demeter's mysteries, as interpreted by [[Pindar]]: "Blessed is he who has seen before he goes under the earth; for he knows the end of life and knows also its divine beginning."<ref>{{cite book|author=John Ernest Leonard Oulton|author-link=John Oulton|year=1954|title=Alexandrian Christianity The Library Of Christian Classics; Volume II|url=https://archive.org/details/alexandrianchris012826mbp/page/n51/mode/2up|publisher=Westminster Press|quote=And Pindar speaks of the Eleusinian mysteries as follows: "Blessed is he who has seen before he goes under the earth; for he knows the end of life and knows also its divine beginning."|quote-page=48}}</ref>

In Arcadia Demeter had the epithets ''Erinys'' (fury) and ''Melaina'' (black) which are associated with the myth of Demeter's rape by Poseidon. The epithets stress the darker side of her character and her relation to the dark underworld, in an old chthonic cult associated with wooden structures (xoana).<ref name=Cole201/><ref name=Stalmith116/> [[Erinyes|Erinys]] had a similar function with the avenging [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] (Justice).<ref>C.M. Bowra (1957), 87, 169</ref> In the mysteries of [[Pheneus]] the goddess was known as ''Cidaria''.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.15.3 8.15.3]</ref> Her priest would put on the mask of Demeter, which was kept secret. The cult may have been connected with both the Underworld and a form of agrarian magic.<ref>Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I p. 477-478</ref>

===As a poppy goddess===
[[File:Mycenae gold ring.jpg|thumb|Drawing of a gold ring found at Mycenae showing a seated goddess bearing three poppy seedcases]]
[[Theocritus]] described one of Demeter's earlier roles as that of a goddess of poppies:
{{poemquote|For the Greeks, Demeter was still a poppy goddess
Bearing sheaves and poppies in both hands.|''Idyll'' vii.157}}

[[Karl Kerényi]] asserted that poppies were connected with a Cretan cult which was eventually carried to the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] in [[Classical Greece]]. In a clay statuette from Gazi,<ref>Heraklion Museum, Kerényi 1976, fig. 15.</ref> the [[Poppy goddess|Minoan poppy goddess]] wears the seed capsules, sources of nourishment and narcosis, in her diadem. According to Kerényi, "It seems probable that the Great [[Mother Goddess]] who bore the names [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] and Demeter, brought the [[poppy]] with her from her Cretan cult to Eleusis and it is almost certain that in the Cretan cult sphere [[opium]] was prepared from poppies."<ref>Kerényi 1976, p. 25.</ref>