Demeter was the goddess of grain, the harvest, and fertility. Her Roman name was Ceres, from where we get the word “cereal.” She taught mortals the art of sowing and plowing.

Demeter was often portrayed as a solemn woman, often wearing a wreath of braided wheat. She was often pictured on a chariot, sometimes carrying a torch, referring to her search for her daughter Persephone. Sometimes she is pictured with Persephone. Her sacred animals were the snake and the pig (a symbol of fertility).

Mythology

Demeter was the sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, and the other children of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus swallowed her at birth like her siblings because of a prophecy, but disgorged them when Rhea fed him a powerful herb.

The central myth associated with Demeter is her relationship with Persephone, which is the heart of the Eleusinian Mysteries. This was a major festival associated with the cult of Demeter and Persephone based in Eleusis in Greece.

Because Demeter was the goddess of the harvest, she controlled all the seasons. When Hades abducted her beloved daughter Persephone to the underworld, Demeter searched and searched for Persephone but could not find her. Demeter was so angry that she created a famine on the land. Zeus, unwilling to let all mortal life die, had Hermes retrieve Persephone out of the underworld. Unfortunately, Hades deceptive tactics tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds.

This meant that Persephone had to return to the underworld for six months a year. This is during autumn and winter, the months when the earth is barren; for the other six months, spring and summer, Persephone is with her mother Demeter and so the land is fertile.

The Eleusinian Mysteries stem from this story. Demeter looked for Persephone in the form of an old woman called Doso. She was welcomed by Celeus, the king of Eleusis. To reward his hospitality Demeter intended to make one of his sons immortal by placing him each night in the hearth, to burn his mortal nature away. The spell was broken one night because the boy’s mother walked in on her while she was performing this ritual. Demeter taught Celeus’s other son the principles of agriculture.

Demeter in Popular Culture

• Demeter was also a character in the Walt Disney animated film Hercules, as well as the television series based on it, as one of the goddesses of Mount Olympus.

• In the album In Utero by the rock group Nirvana, Kurt Cobain thanks the goddess Demeter and pictures a sow, her sacred animal, on the back cover of the album.

• There is a fragrance company called Demeter with scents named Dirt, Grass, Tomato, and Sugar Cane.

• Demeter is a goddess in the computer game Zeus: Master of Olympus. If the player builds a temple sacred to Demeter, the goddess provides the city with arable farmland suitable for raising crops or livestock.

• Demeter Press is a book publisher that focuses specifically on the topic of motherhood.

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