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Although Demeter is mostly known as a grain goddess, she also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage, and had connections to the Underworld. [1] She is also called Deo (Δηώ Dēṓ). [2] In Greek tradition, Demeter is the second child of the Titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister to Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Like her ...
"Despoina" was an epithet for several goddesses, especially Aphrodite, Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate. [32] [33] Persephone and Demeter are two of the three goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries. They are perhaps the "Two Queens" referred to in various Linear B inscriptions. [34] At Olympia they were called Despoinai (Δέσποιναι). [35]
A votive plaque known as the Ninnion Tablet depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, discovered in the sanctuary at Eleusis (mid-4th century BC). The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, romanized: Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece.
One particularly distinctive epithet she bore was Demeter Melaina (Ancient Greek: Δημητηρ Μελαινα), meaning “Black Demeter” and referring to an Arcadian version of her mythology. The ancient Greek travel writer Pausanias records a myth where, whilst searching for her lost daughter Kore, Demeter was pursued by the god Poseidon .
The Sanctuary comprised structures sprawled out over twenty miles and divided into three primary structures: the Lower, Middle and Upper Sanctuaries. [2] The archaeological remains of the walled complex span approximately 850 years of religious activity, dating from ca. 600 BC through the mid third century AD.
Demeter was the central deity in fertility rites held in classical Greece. Her rites included celebrating the change of seasons. [ 2 ] Most women's festivals related in some way to woman's proper function as a fertile being (believed to allow women to promote the fertility of crops). [ 3 ]
Married to the Nereid Amphitrite; although, as with many of the male Greek gods, he had many lovers. His symbols include the trident, horse, bull, and dolphin. Demeter: Ceres: Goddess of the harvest, fertility, agriculture, nature and the seasons. She presided over grains and the fertility of the earth. The middle daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
The Thesmophoria (Ancient Greek: Θεσμοφόρια) was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honor of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone.It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was associated with the harvest instead – and celebrated human and agricultural fertility.