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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.
As hierophants, they popularized the cult and allowed many more to be initiated into the secrets of Demeter and Persephone. [ 1 ] The legendary genealogy of the Eumolpidae cast them as descendants of Eumolpus , one of the first priests of Demeter at Eleusis, through his second son, Herald-Keryx .
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.
In Mycenaean Pylos, Demeter and Persephone were probably called the "queens" (wa-na-ssoi). [63] Pompeiian relief of Demeter in her aspects of mother goddess and goddess of agriculture. Both Homer and Hesiod, writing c. 700 BC, described Demeter making love with the agricultural hero Iasion in a ploughed field during the marriage of Cadmus and ...
Thus, Demeter, in her sadness, neglects to nourish the earth for the months that Persephone is gone, only doing so when she returns, until the process repeats again. These episodic periods became the winter and spring seasons, with the "death" and "rebirth" of Persephone being allegorical for the cycle of life and the experience of all beings. [9]
Ephesos: Cult of Demeter and Kore, celebrated at night-time. [148] Priene: Cult of Demeter and Kore, similar to the Thesmophoria. [35] Sicily. Syracuse: There was a harvest festival of Demeter and Persephone at Syracuse when the grain was ripe (about May). [149] A fest Koris katagogi, the descent of Persephone into the underworld. [35] Libya
Azesia or Azosia (Ancient Greek: Ἀζησία) was a cultic epithet of one or more Greek goddesses, or in some cases was possibly a distinct goddess.Different sources disagree on who it was an epithet of exactly: Hesychius of Alexandria wrote that this was an epithet of Demeter, while the Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda describes it as an epithet of Persephone.
The cult of Demeter was benefited by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, as a way to unite the Greek population during his expansionism on Sicily. Gelon was the hereditary chief priest of Demeter's cult in Gela , a cult that was popular also in Syracuse and Camarina , and he used the Demeter cult as well as the fight against Carthage to unite Syracuse ...