𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐀 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒

ㅤㅤ⇆ . 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 | 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

𝐍𝐚𝐦e: Demeter
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Goddess of Grain and Agriculture
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭s: Cronus (Time) and Rhea (Fertility)

𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧:
Demeter's name consists of two parts, the second of which (-meter) is almost invariably linked with the meaning "mother," which conveniently fits with Demeter's role as a mother-goddess. However, there are still debates over the meaning of the first part (De-), which most scholars associate with "Ge," i.e., Gaea (making Demeter "Mother Earth"); others, however, prefer to link it with "Deo," which is a surviving epithet of Demeter and may have been, in an earlier form, the name of one of few grains.

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧:
Plutus (Wealth), Philomelus, Despoena, Arion, Persephone (Nature)

𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐬:
Sceptre, Cornucopia, ears of corn, a sheaf of wheat, torch, a crown of flowers

𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐬: Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, fell in love with Demeter's virgin-daughter and decided to take her into marriage. So, one day, as she was gathering flowers with her girlfriends, he lured her aside using a fragrant and inexpressibly beautiful narcissus, and then snatched her up with his chariot, suddenly darting out of a chasm under her feet.

Inconsolable, Demeter walked the earth far and wide for nine days to find her daughter - but to no avail. And then, on the tenth day, Hecate told her what she had seen and Helios, the All-Seeing God of the Sun, confirmed her story. Demeter wasn't just brokenhearted anymore. She was now angry as well. And with everybody! Especially with Zeus who, the rumours claimed so, had approved the whole operation and even aided Hades throughout.

So, Demeter left Mount Olympus and went to grieve her daughter among the mortals, disguised as an old woman. She ended up at the court of King Celeus of Eleusis, where his wife Metanira hired her to be the nurse to her baby son, Demophon. Iambe, the old servant woman of the house, cheered her with her jokes, and Demeter laughed for the first time in many weeks. In gratitude for the kindness, Demeter devised a plan to make Demophon immortal, so she started bathing him in fire each night, thus, burning away his mortality.

However, one day, Metanira witnessed the ritual and, not realising what was happening, started screaming in panic and alarm. This disturbed Demeter's strategy, so she revealed herself at once and told Metanira that the only way that the Eleusinians will ever win her kindness back is by building a temple and establishing a festival in her glory.