Demeter she is the Greek goddess of harvest, fertility, cultivated land, sacred right and holds the cycle of life and death.
She was the developer of agriculture for human beings and provided guidance on the cultivation of corn and wheat. Hence, she is also known as the goddess of agriculture.
She is worshiped as the "good goddess" of the Greeks and was honored by the fertility festival, with exclusively female participation.
In Roman mythology, Demeter is equivalent to the goddess Ceres.
Demeter representation
Demeter is represented with a crown made of corn cobs and her sacred animals were the serpent and the pig. Her best known symbol is a torch.
History
Daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Demeter was sister of Hestia, Hera, Poseidon and Zeus. She had a daughter with her brother Zeus named Persephone. The connection she had with her daughter directly influenced nature.
Demeter suffered when Hades, the god of the underworld, kidnapped his virgin daughter Persephone and raped her. The act had the consent of Zeus, who had promised his daughter to Hades.
Very saddened by the abduction, Demeter stopped the seasons of the year and there was immense desolation on Earth. She left Olympus and did not allow plants to produce.
Life was almost extinguished, the land was barren, the living beings faced starvation, and Zeus intervened in the episode by sending a messenger to the underworld to rescue his daughter.
Astute, Hades allowed the release of persephone, but ordered him to eat a pomegranate, the forbidden fruit. By this instrument he was attached to her for a third of the year.
Thus, in summer, autumn and spring, she was allowed to stay with her mother. In turn, winter is the season that points to Demeter's greatest suffering away from her daughter.
As such, she is considered the controller of the seasons, as the changes reflect her mood.
Read too:
- What is a myth?
- Greek mythology
- greek goddesses
- Greek gods
- Gods of Olympus
