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Chapter Nine, Lecture One

Chapter Nine, Lecture One. Demeter. Myths of Fertility. Greeks saw female fertility as a continuing force of creation No one female deity Aspects of fertility divided among different goddesses Demeter the closest to a single great goddess. Demeter. De (?) meter (mother)

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Chapter Nine, Lecture One

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  1. Chapter Nine, Lecture One Demeter

  2. Myths of Fertility • Greeks saw female fertility as a continuing force of creation • No one female deity • Aspects of fertility divided among different goddesses • Demeter the closest to a single great goddess

  3. Demeter • De (?) meter (mother) • Daughter is Persephonê • aka korê • The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is the foundation of the mystery cult of Demeter at Eleusis

  4. Hymn to Demeter • Persephonê is abducted by Hades • Helius tells Demeter who took her • Demeter travels to the Well of the Maiden at Eleusis, where she is found by the daughters of the King and Queen • She is brought to the palace and made the nanny of the infant prince, Demophoön

  5. Hymn to Demeter • Demeter is caught trying to make Demophoön immortal • She reveals herself and instructs the people of Eleusis to establish her cult in their city • Demeter now withdraws her power from the land • Hermes is sent to Hades to retrieve Persephonê

  6. Hymn to Demeter • Hades offers to let her go, but invites her to eat one pomegranate seed • She is reunited with Demeter but must spend 1/3 of her time in Hades because of this one seed • Demeter understands and brings life back to the earth • She explains her rituals

  7. Hymn to Demeter • “Blessed is he who has viewed the mystery’s ritual . . .”

  8. The Hymn • Cannot be an agricultural metaphor • Does not correspond with the weather patterns in Greece • Is it an allegory for the coming of age of young girls? • The grieving mother who “loses” her daughter? • The Mater Dolorosa?

  9. The Hymn • More generally the grieving at the loss of any child • The inevitability of death

  10. Next The Eleusinian Mysteries Ancient Parallels

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