More About Goddesses: Demeter, Greek Goddess (New Essay)

More About Goddesses: Demeter, Greek Goddess (New Essay)

by Tim Kavi

Demeter is known as the Greek goddess of the harvest and fertility. She is known as a goddess of origin, divine order and giver of food. She is also frequently associated with ruling over unwritten law, the law of nature which defines agriculture and civilized society. This can be implied that she helps to control the cycle of life and death, though not all interpretations of the myth of Demeter include this interpretation. Much of the association with Demeter and life and death stems from the myth of her daughter, Persephone who is featured along with Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries.

The religious writing around Demeter shows her as taking on a variety of different religious functions.  In ancient history, many worshiped her as the “mother earth” or the Great Goddess who oversees the function of agriculture. Many harvesters would worship her, hoping that Demeter would offer her blessing for the work that they completed. Some areas of Greece have found earlier descriptions of Demeter acting as a poppy goddess with the belief that she was responsible for bringing poppies to Eleusis in Crete.

Demeter’s daughter Persephone was said to have been kidnapped by Hades who was looking for a queen to rule beside him in the underworld. Upon realizing that her daughter had been taken, Demeter fell into a deep sense of grief, causing all life on earth to begin dying. To prevent extinction, Zeus sent Hermes to return Persephone to her mother. To prevent this, Hades tricked Persephone into eating a pomegranate which bound her to the underworld. It was agreed that Persephone would spend a third of the year with Hades in the underworld and the remaining time on earth with her mother. This corresponds to the changing of the seasons. As Persephone leaves to perform her duties in the underworld, Demeter falls sad and life dies away in the winter months.

There were several cults that honor Demeter throughout Greece, Sicily and Crete. The ancient cult of Amphictyony on the coast of Thessaly was one of the most well-known of these cults. There is also the festival of Demeter of Mysia. This festival lasts for seven days and passes the shrine to Demeter as the parade moves from Mycenae to Argos. Only a few ancient texts describing this festival have been found so it is unclear how the deity was honored during the festivities.

Another interetsing fact about Demeter as she is presented in mythology (Demeter, who was also known in other terms as 'Ceres') is that she  never wanted to make her abode with other goddesses on Olympus. Rather, she wanted to be down to Earth and abide with her followers and those close to her, in her own temples, as a goddess with them.--TK

The image above is artwork from the work of a contemporary and interesting artist; Howard David Johnson --who draws goddesses, beautiful women, and mythological figures. ~~TK

More About Goddesses: The Greek Goddess Hera

More about Goddesses: The Greek Goddess Hera

by Tim Kavi

Hera acts as the reigning queen of the gods in Greek mythology due to her role as Zeus’s wife. (Her counterpart is the Roman Goddess Juno). Hera also acts as the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Because Zeus is also the god of philanderers, their natures would frequently clash. This has led to Hera being depicted as a quarrelsome and jealous goddess that can be a force to be reckoned with. In spite of her place as Zeus’s bride, the worship of Hera is actually much older than that of her husband, stemming back to the days when the Greeks believed that any single entity associated with divinity must take the form of a woman. Her role is believed to have changed when the male’s role in procreation became more understood, leading to Hera’s worship as a mother figure rather than an all-encompassing deity.

Much of Hera’s jealousy was directed toward women that Zeus seduced or had affairs with, though one of the most common legends associated with Hera is her jealousy toward the hero Hercules. This jealousy stemmed from the fact that Zeus fathered Hercules with the mortal Alcmene, a mortal. Hera went as far as to send snakes to kill Hercules when he was a baby. She also stirred the Amazons against him while he was on a quest.

Another famous legend associated with Hera has to do with the judgment of Paris. At the wedding between Peleus and Thetis (the later parents of Achilles) many gods and goddesses were invited to the ceremony. Eris, the goddess of discord, threw a golden apple among some of the goddesses, and only the fairest was to own the apple. Since Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite claimed to be the most beautiful goddess, a decision had to be made as to which goddess should own the apple. The goddesses brought the question before Zeus, but Zeus was wise enough to leave the choice of who was the most beautiful up to Paris, a Trojan prince. So the three Goddesses, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite came before Paris, but he could not decide. Finally, each of them offered Paris a gift to try to persuade him. It is said that Athena offered him great fame and glory in battle, Hera offered him control over all of Asia and Europe, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful mortal woman in the world. Because of this he chose Aphrodite, which absolutely enraged the other two goddesses, especially Hera. Of course, the most beautiful woman in the world at that time was Helen of Troy who was already married to the King of Sparta. So after the abduction of Helen by Paris, there was a great war (partially stirred up by the jealous goddesses); and this was called the Trojan war.

There is some debate surrounding Hera’s familial roles. Some origin stories depict Hera’s parents as the Titans Rhea and Cronos, making her Zeus’s sister. Given these close family ties, there is some debate on whether or not Zeus and Hera produced children together. Hera is known as the lone parent of Hephaestus. Ares and Hebe are often depicted as the children of Zeus and Hera, but in some traditions Ares is seen to have been conceived from a flower in the field of Olenus and Hebe fathered by a lettuce. These tales may have been invented to avoid adding scandal to Hera’s myth.

In any regard, the Greek goddess Hera is a major part of goddess mythologies and motifs. She is not only a fierce mother image, but also that of the fierce, powerful wife, and symbolizes both a wifely devotion towards her husband, and respect for the protection of marriage.