Demeter and Persephone

Demeter and Persephone

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE. In the Homeric epics, no link is established between the two goddesses Demeter and Persephone, to whom later sources attribute a close mythical and ritual relationship, insofar as they are mother and daughter. In the Iliad (14.326), Demeter is presented as the bride of Zeus; elsewhere in the same poem (2.696) and in the Odyssey (5.125–129), her specific function as goddess of the harvest is also mentioned. Although Demeter appears to play a marginal role in the Homeric religious panorama, she is a figure of extreme antiquity, perhaps related to the Sitopotinja (mistress of the wheat) mentioned in the Linear B texts of Mycenae (twelfth century BCE), and she performs a fundamental role in the polytheistic Greek system. In Hesiod's Theogony, Demeter is one of the many brides of Zeus, and in the Erga (vv. 465ff.), the poet presents Demeter Chthonia, partnered with Zeus Chthonios, as the sovereign dispenser of the fruits of the land.

In both of Homer's epics, Persephone, daughter of Zeus (Odyssey 11.217), is referred to as queen of the underworld and bride of Hades. The fact that no link between the two goddesses is mentioned does not imply that such a link was unknown at the time of composition.

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