The two great Gods of the Earth...Part 2

Demeter, to recapitulate, was the Goddess of the corn. She was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea and sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera and Hestia. This made her an Olympian by birth but she was not held to be an Olympian by the Ancient Greeks. She was a Goddess much more often found on earth than in Olympus. Demeter was a peoples’ deity. She helped the women as they sowed the seeds. She held the hands of the farmers as they harvested the corn. She was the Goddess who allowed the Greeks to live, to sustain. She did not make any extravagant demands. She asked for no great sacrifice. The simple thrashing floor was held to be her temple, the mere act of breaking corn-bread an offering to her. She was thus a more personable and real Goddess than the Olympians. The Greeks felt her presence in everyday life; they were directly affected by her power.

Another fact about Demeter that drew the Greeks closer to her was that she was a Goddess who knew real suffering. She had experienced doom and despair and fear and other human emotions that Gods and Goddesses were usually immune to. Demeter and Dionysus, the two Gods of the Earth, were held to be suffering Gods and thus in a class by themselves among the divinities.

The source of Demeter’s great suffering was her daughter, Persephone (Proserpine in Latin).   Persephone, being the daughter of the Goddess of corn and agriculture, was the Goddess of flowers. She and her handmaidens often went out in search of new and lovely flowers, roaming the Greek countryside in search of the wonderful blooms. When she was on one of these outings, she was sighted by Hades, the Lord of the underworld. Hades fell in love with her and sought to have her as his own. To this end he went to his brother, Zeus, and asked him for help in making Persephone his bride. Zeus created a beautiful flower, far beautiful than any other flower in existence, and made it bloom some distance away from Persephone and her handmaidens. The Goddess noticed it and was entranced by the lovely flower. She could not help but approach it and as soon as she was separated from her handmaidens Hades caused a chasm in the earth and flew up in his chariot. He grabbed Persephone and before her handmaidens could do anything but scream in horror he had descended below ground leaving no trace of his presence at the site.

Upon hearing of her daughters disappearance Demeter was devastated. She searched the earth and heavens for Persephone but could not find her anywhere. She sunk into a deep depression and wandered from place to place, not eating or drinking, just looking desperately for her daughter. The effect of her gloom was devastating upon the earth. The ground bore no fruits or flowers and became hard and parched and lifeless. Crops died and all humanity suffered terribly from starvation and thirst. Zeus sent emissary after emissary to talk to Demeter but she could not be appeased. She pined for her daughter and all creation suffered along with her. As her state worsened so did the condition of the earth and men and Gods alike. The warm and moist fields were replaced with dry, unyielding deserts. Trees began dying, ponds and lakes evaporated and breezes stopped blowing. All this time Demeter sat and brooded over Persephone’s disappearance.

Finally Zeus realized that there was only one solution to this terrible problem and he commanded Hades to release Persephone. Hades had no choice. He had to follow his brother’s order but he did so with an ill will and concocted a plan which would mean that he did not permanently lose his bride. He convinced Persephone, who longed for her mother as her mother longed for her, to consume a pomegranate seed before she ascended to Earth. He knew that this would ensure that Persephone would have to return to him for a large amount of time every year. So Persephone returned to Earth and was reunited with her mother and Demeter rejoiced at getting her daughter back though she despaired when she heard of the pomegranate seed. Still, Demeter got her daughter back and the earth became fertile again and the ground yielded bumper crops for several seasons to come.

However Demeter’s joy was not complete. Persephone was compelled to return to the underworld as Queen for four months every year. So Demeter suffered every year as she saw her daughter basically die every year. The fun-loving Goddess of flowers too was never the same again. She was the flower Goddess but she was also the Queen of the underworld for a third of the year every year. She was now a terrible Goddess; a Goddess of life among the dead; the Goddess who died every year. And every year when she died Demeter pined for her and the earth grew cold and unyielding until she came back four months later and brought spring and joy and happiness with her. That is how the Greeks explained the phenomenon of winter!