I. Elder Olympian Goddess of earth/vegetation, grain, seasons.II. “Great Mother” archetype.III. Symbols: sheath of grain (sitos), scepter, veil (instead of a crown like Hera), torchIV. Depictiona. mature woman in her prime, usually veiled.b. seated which usually indicates powerV. Mystery cult sanctuary at Eleusis.PersephoneI. Goddess of youth, bride of Hades, daughter of Demeter and Zeus.a. she represents a young woman who is at the age to become a woman but she has no desire to become a wife and mother like Demeter. Demeter wants to protect her, but Zeus intervenes and forces her to wed.b. akaKore: “young girl”. (Athena is also called this but she is more masculine and thus has more power.)II. Symbols:a. pomegranate (symbol of transition into adulthood/death), young plantsi. eating pomegranate seeds in the underworld exemplifies why she is in a frozen state.III. Depictiona. Young maidenIV. Eternal Maiden archetypea. Hades kidnaps her while she is picking flowers with her friends. This is one of the few times when Hades leaves the Underworld.b. Art depicts her with a smile but this only by stylistic convention of women, she is still resisting and is depicted as such.c. She stops aging when she is abducted.V. The rape of Persephonea. Homeric hymn to Demeter.b. Theories:i. etiological interpretation: origin of seasons, because she was taken while during a cycle.ii. allegorical interpretation: physical rebirth in the story is a metaphor for spiritual rebirthiii. feminist critical interpretation: matriarchy attempting to exert authority. When Demeter is angry that Zeus has promised Persephone to Hades without consulting her. The mother wants to have some last power of her daughter’s life by deciding who she is to marry. To the gods, Demeter’s anger seems displaced b/c Hades is a very powerful god. As retaliation, she removes the seasons and with holds the grains from humanity which means that mortals can not give their sacrifices to the gods.c. Archetypes:i. Great Mother/Eternal Maidenii. Sacred Marriage (heirosgamos) between Demeter (earth) and Zeus (sky). Heirosgamos doesn’t have to always be between earth and sky (i.e. Near eastern myths - salt water and fresh water).d. Ritual Interpretation: origin of the Eleusinian Mysteriesi. The cult promises a spiritual rebirth.VI. Eleusinian Mysteries ***a. The cult of Demeter at Eleusisb. Key names: Doso, Metaneira, Celeus, Iambe, Demophoon, Triptolemusc. Mystery Religions were important in Greek culture.i. Most Greeks praised the gods.ii. You had to choose to join the religions and once you joined it was your responsibility to keep the religion and its outcomes a secret.1. No texts on the cults. But info has been2. Promise of immortality that differed from Homer’s view of the underworld (as well as Virgil and Plato). You couldd. Important elements of the mystery cult:i. The members had a closer personal relationship to the gods than the average citizen. There was limited access to the gods due to religious personnel and temples, etc.ii. Purification: human beings could sin and do wrong, but by joining the cult you were purifying yourself.iii. You have to go through initiation and you have to follow the rules of the initiation exactly.iv. Hope for a better future. By purifying yourself, going through the initiation, and having a close relationship, you have a good hope for what will happen in your afterife.e. Relation to Persephone - Ritual Originsi. When Persephone is taken and Demeter hears her screaming, she doesn’t know what’s going on so she goes on a hunt. This creates the rituals.1. Withdrawal and fasting. She hunts for 9 days and 9 nights with a lit torch. This represents the first ritual. She removes herself from society. She withdraws the power of the seasons. Whens he removes herself, she removes the seasons and thus the ability for crops to grow. This causes a famine.2. Arrival at the sacred place. When Demeter arrives at Eleusis, she stops at the home of the king and queen (Celeus and Metanerira) and receives great hospitality. When Demeter see Met. with her child, this makes Deme even sadder.3. Telling racy jokes to initiates. Demeter is sad and Iambe tries to cheer her up by telling her racy jokes.4. Rejection of Food and Wine, instead drink Kykeon. Demeter rejects the king and queen’s offer for food and wine because she says that she can’t eat that right now. She instructs them to make a special drink for her. Kykeon: special drink of grain, water, and mint.5. Demophoon gets a special treatment where he is put into a fire and something is rubbed onto him and this is essentially burning off some of his humanity. The represents fire as a cleansing element. We don’t know how this applies to initiates.a. Metaneira stops Demeter from finishing this process because she is scared. However, Dem tells her that she is ignorant because Dem is a goddess and Met doesn’t realize it. When Dem reveals herself, she tells them that their son will not get to be immortal now because the ritual was stopped, but she does grant him special honor because of all they had done for her. Sacred objects (Hiera) given.6. Revelation of at the culmination at the ritual. Initiation into the cult would remove the fear of death. There was understanding that there was a chance that members would remember their previous lives after death and that they would be able to connect with family members.CC 303 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last Lecture I. Exam 1Outline of Current Lecture II. DemeterIII. Persephonea. Rituals of Mystery CultsCurrent LectureDemeterI. Elder Olympian Goddess of earth/vegetation, grain, seasons.II. “Great Mother” archetype.III. Symbols: sheath of grain (sitos), scepter, veil (instead of a crown like Hera), torchIV. Depictiona. mature woman in her prime, usually veiled. b. seated which usually indicates powerV. Mystery cult sanctuary at Eleusis.PersephoneI. Goddess of youth, bride of Hades, daughter of Demeter and Zeus.a. she represents a young woman who is at the age to become a woman but she has no desire to become a wife and mother like Demeter. Demeter wants to protect her, but Zeus intervenes and forces her to wed.b. akaKore: “young girl”. (Athena is also called this but she is more masculine and thus has more power.)II. Symbols:a. pomegranate (symbol of transition into