The Homeric Hymn to Demeter

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells the story of Demeter's journey to retrieve her daughter Persephone after being kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld, Hades.1 It is attributed to Homer and thought to be written in the early 6th or late 7th-century BCE.1

 

The Hymn aids our understanding of the religious and psychological world that ancient Greek women lived in and experienced, and how it corresponds to its influence in the modern world.1

 

In this post, we will look at the content, themes, and style of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the roles that Demeter and Persephone played in Greek religion, and the connections between the Hymn and religious practices.

 

 

The Roles of Persephone and Demeter in Greek Religion

 

 

In ancient Greek society, a woman’s maturation was considered an important milestone.  The saying “brides of Hades” arose to refer to young girls who passed away before marriage.7  To protect the journey into womanhood, many worshipped Demeter, who was considered the ‘archetypal mother’ in Greek religion.2 Demeter was also referred to as the goddess of grain. 1 She was strongly associated with agriculture and blessing one’s afterlife to be filled with happiness.2 She was featured frequently on attic pots, some of which have survived until today.3

 

 

On the left is a 470 BCE vase accredited to the Syleus Painter, featuring Demeter and Persephone encircling Triptolemos, who is sitting in a winged chariot on his way to give advice about the cultivation of wheat.4 On the right is a ~440 BCE bell-krater; a terracotta bowl for mixing water and wine accredited to the Persephone Painter, featuring Persephone being guided by deities Hermes and Hekate. Demeter is seen at the right of the bowl anticipating the return of her daughter.5

 

Demeter was a popular goddess. She had festivals in her honor in which women were permitted (and encouraged!) to behave in a way that opposed their day-to-day gender roles in the household, and would traditionally be deemed improper in ancient Greece, for example, performing sacrifices.2 We will look at this in greater depth later in the post.

 

Persephone was a ‘maiden playing among maidens’.6 In ancient Greek religion, as a virgin, Persephone was viewed as a beautiful, tender, and innocent girl. Another name Persephone goes by is ‘Kore’, which literally translates to ‘girl’.2  She was referred to as “Kore” in a ritual setting, as the goddess was so revered that to call her by her name Persephone was considered to be too powerful an invocation.2   

 

 

The Style, Themes, and Content of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter

 

 

The content of the Hymn tells the tale of Persephone being abducted by Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, as her father, Zeus, wished to marry her off.7 The Hymn highlights the strife her grief-stricken mother, Demeter, faced in order to bring her daughter back from the realm of the dead.7  Persephone, who is tricked by Hades to eat the seeds of a pomegranate, was bound to spend a portion of the year by the side of her husband in the underworld; one month for each pomegranate seed she had eaten.7 Her resurfacing is associated with the season of spring.

 

Persephone and Hades Kylix, ~430 BCE, accredited to the Codrus Painter.8

 

The Homeric Hymn is a short poem written in an ‘epic’ style.7  An epic tells a heroic story of either a singular figure or group of people. In the case of the Hymn, Demeter undertakes an arduous journey in order to find and rescue her daughter, using her powers over grain to instigate a famine along the way to pressure Zeus into granting the return of her daughter.7 Mortals are starved of food, and gods are starved of sacrifice. The Hymn adopts a pattern of storytelling that was previously seen in earlier epics and other hymns.7 The Hymn is an aetiological poem; this means it serves as an explanation, particularly of the founding of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and the roles of Demeter and Persephone.7

 

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is multi-dimensional and can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on the perspective of the reader. To focus on a core aspect, a key theme within the Hymn is the separation of mother and daughter, which is as relevant in ancient times as it is in today’s modern world. Daughters grow up and each developmental milestone is a source of joy and sadness for their mothers until they eventually move away from their family of origin, to begin new lives with their spouses, in time creating their own family.

 

Arranged marriage was common at the time; fathers would often decide on the future husband for their daughter.  Zeus approved Persephone’s marriage to Hades without Demeter’s knowledge, and Persephone was abducted against her own will to reside in the underworld as Queen with the Lord of the Dead. The Hymn focuses on the perspective of Demeter and strongly conveys her feelings of grief and loss as in this excerpt from the translation of The Homeric Hymns (1973) by Thelma Sargent (lines 40-44):

 

“Sharp pain stabbed at the heart of Demeter

And her hands tore at the veiling over her ambrosial hair;

Then tossing around her shoulder a dusky blue shawl,

She sped like an eagle in flight over dry land and water,

Frenzied in search of her child.” 9

 

A sarcophagus depicting Persephone being abducted by Hades, ~200-225 AD.8

 

 

Connections between the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and Religious Practices

 

 

The Homeric Hymn of Demeter is the primary central story that the goddess features in.2 However, there were no rules in ancient Greece insisting that a myth had to have its own cult, festival, or ritual.2 Despite this there were many religious practices, particularly those performed at religious festivals held in Demeter’s honor. In return, there was hope that Demeter would grant the maturation of a woman (human fecundity), agricultural success, and a joyful afterlife.2 Furthermore, these festivals provided a safe space for women to indulge in “improper” behavior.2

 

The Thesmophoria is one of the oldest and most widespread Greek festivals.2 To participate, women had to be married, and the rituals performed inside were shrouded in secrecy.2 Men funded their wife's attendance at the annual festival, and those with wealthy husbands had to financially contribute to wives of lower socioeconomic status so that they could attend too.2 This made the festival more equal and inclusive as attendance was not only reserved for the wealthy.

 

The Thesmophoria by Francis David Millet (1894-1897).10

 

It was customary for the women to reject sexual advances and the normal comforts of life, opting to sleep in tents at night and fast during the day.2  As part of the festival, women immersed themselves in the emotion of grief, as Demeter did at the loss of her daughter, Persephone.2 This experience would likely be an emotionally liberating one, letting out repressed feelings as well as allowing them to place themselves in Demeter’s shoes to deepen their connection to her.

 

Some of the activities that took place at the Thesmophoria would be described as vulgar in a modern context. Young pigs were placed into pits to represent Persephone’s descent into the underworld, where selected women would bundle the remains of the pigs up and placed them on an altar with the selected seed corn for the coming year in order for Demeter to bless the harvest.2 The women attending would also make genitalia models out of bread as part of the festivities. 2

 

The Hymn ends with Demeter founding the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were held annually in the town of Eleusis, 14 miles from Athens.2 The Eleusinian Mysteries were set up by Demeter as a commemoration of the return of her daughter.

 

Similar to the Thesmophoria, initiates would fast for a day, then break their fast with a beverage called ‘kykeon’ as Demeter did when she was grieving. 2  Kykeon was considered a ‘secret potion’ as it had psychoactive properties, prompting initiates who consumed it to enter a trance-like state and experience ‘marvelous hallucinogenic visions’.11 Its effects were further exacerbated by a day of fasting.11 Kykeon is made from a mixture of water and barley, often infused with a variety of other ingredients.11 It is hypothesized that alkaloids found in the ergot fungus that contaminated the barley grown around Eleusis are what lend kykeon its psychoactive properties.11

 

Little is known about the rituals that took place in the Mysteries once initiates entered the underground temple as members were sworn to secrecy.2 From what is known, members would immerse themselves into the life of Demeter while she was on her journey to find and rescue Persephone.2 Persephone favors initiates into the Mysteries after the initiates had passed through into the underworld. 2  In going down into the earth the initiates were re-enacting the journey of Persephone into the underworld and, like her story in the myth, they sought re-birth.

 

 

Paul Sérusier’s “The Eleusinian Mysteries” (1888).12

 

References:

 

(1)

“The Homeric Hymn to Demeter.” 2019. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691014791/the-homeric-hymn-to-demeter.

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(2) 

Johnston, Sarah I. 2013. “Demeter, Myths, and the Polyvalence of Festivals.” History of Religions 52 (4): 370–401. https://doi.org/10.1086/669646.

 

(3)

Lewis, Sian. 2011. “Women and Myth.” A Companion to Greek Mythology, April, 443–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444396942.ch23.

 

(4)

“Attic Red-Figure Footed Dinos (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection).” n.d. The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103WH8.

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(5)

Metmuseum.org. 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/252973.

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(6)

Makowski, John F. 1985. “Persephone, Psyche, and the Mother-Maiden Archetype.” The Classical Outlook 62 (3): 73–78. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43934919.

 

(7)

Foley, Helene P. 1994. “The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays.” Princeton University Press. http://www.jstor.com/stable/j.ctt3fgxdk.9.

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(8)

Witte, Rachel. 2018. “Persephone and the Pomegranate: Art in Ancient Greece.” DailyArtMagazine.com - Art History Stories. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/art-in-ancient-greece/.

 

(9)

Sargent, Thelma. 1973. “The Homeric Hymns; a verse translation.”  New York, Norton.

 

(10)

Vakkas, Christina. 2021. “The Thesmophoria: Women’s Ritual in the Ancient World.” Hellenic Museum. October 7, 2021. https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/the-thesmophoria-women-s-ritual-in-the-ancient-world

(11)

Carod-Artal, Francisco J. 2013. “Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Greece.” Neurosciences and History, 1(1), pp.28-38.

(12)

“The Missive.” n.d. The Missive. https://influx.themissive.com/post/149141627471/paul-serusier.

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