Demeter

DEMETER




 * Facts**

-Roman Name: Ceres -Goddess of agriculture -Sister of Zeus -Mother of Persephone


 * Story**

Her daughter, Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow when the Earth opened up and Hades kidnapped her, brought her down into the Underworld, and made her his queen. Demeter was heartbroken, and wandered the whole length of the Earth in search of her daughter. While she did so, the crops and plants withered away, and it became perpetual winter. Eventually, Hades persuaded to have Persephone for half the year, Demeter having her for the other half. When Demeter has Persephone, the earth is plentiful, flowers bloom and the earth bears fruit. During that other half, coincides with the barren seasons.


 * Symbols**

-Often depicted carrying a sheaf of grain -Bread -Honey -Lions -Snakes -Sunflowers -Daisies -Ash and Oak Trees -Amber -Gold





Eleusinian Demeter & Plutus, Apulian red-figure loutrophoros C4th B.C., The J. Paul Getty Museum



Detail of a fresco with Ceres (Demeter) as an allegory for August, painted by Cosimo Tura