In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Who Makes Demeter Smile Again

Narcissus Poeticus (Poet's Narcissus, an one-time globe bulb species)
Persephone as Peplos Kore (Κόρη), Acropolis Museum, Athens, 6th c. BCE Below: Meander pattern, ancient Greek amphora, Athens No one may enter hither who does non dearest geometry "What is the relationship betwixt the geometric pattern of the labyrinth and the structure of the myth? [...] The question is crucial when seeking the meaning of a 'way' that the ancient mysteries led to, because geometry has always been traditionally integrated with the esoteric tradition. The inscription above the gate of Pythagorus's schoolhouse — 'No one may enter here who does not know geometry' — is a sort of complement to that other dictum — 'know thyself' (γνῶθι σεαυτόν)." from "The Genesis and Geometry of the Labyrinth," p. 25, by Patrick Conty (2002)   ___ ___ ___ A female person writer? for the Hymn to Demeter "Co-ordinate to Ann Suter, a woman may have equanimous this bearding hymn. The focus on Demeter'due south power, Persephone'southward coming of age, and the mother-daughter relationship, as well every bit the de-emphasis of Zeus, may point in that direction. We know that female poets [during the 7th-6th c. BCE], such as Sappho and Korinna, composed dactylic hexameter verses. In examining the Hymn to Aphrodite, Richard Janko notes a number of verbal parallels between its opening and Sappho's epicizing narrative of the hymeneals of Hektor and Andromache. Korinna says she reworks 'stories from our fathers' time' and sings of 'heroes male and female.' It is possible that other women equanimous hymns or ballsy verse, although their operation venues certainly would exist more limited than those for traditional bardic poetry." from "The Homeric Hymns, Translation, Introduction & Notes," p. eleven, by Diane J. Rayor (2004) ___ ___ ___ Dearest as Myth-Weaver "Socrates says dearest is a Sophist; Sappho says a myth-weaver." ~ "Orations," Maximus of Tyre, (2d c.) "In full general, the attribution of deliberate choice to things incapable of it produces a pleasing effect, as when Sappho questions her lyre, and the lyre answers her: 'Come, divine lyre, speak to me and discover yourself a voice,' and the lines which follow." ~ Hermongenes, "Kinds of Style" (more than at Sappho's Word ) ___ ___ ___ Setting the Scene "Every bit often in early hexameter , the first word in the poem names its subject, Demeter. In the Greek text, lines 1-11 set the scene for this hymn in one long sentence which juxtaposes the peaceful and unknowing innocence of Demeter and her girl against the willfullness and raw power of Zeus and his blood brother. The collusion of the girl's great-grandmother, Gaia, in this forced wedlock, seems initially troubling, although her consent replaces that of the absent-minded Demeter and provides a hint of the ultimate reconciliation with which the hymn will end. [...] At Eleusis , worshippers gathered spring flowers in celebration of Persephone's return, but their actions also remember the scene of her abduction." from "The Homeric Hymns," pp. 33-34, past Susan C. Shelmerdine (1995) ___ ___ ___ How can Zeus exist "granting" if Hades is "abducting" (L-003)? "[In the Hymn to Demeter] the collocation of ἥρπαξεν [snatch away/abduct] and δῶκεν [granted/given] in the third line is both shocking and paradoxical. If Zeus gives his daughter in marriage, in accordance with his paternal perogatives, why must Hades conduct her off. The reasons go immediately manifest: not only Persephone's unwilingness merely too Demeter's resistance or lack of consent to the matrimony if she had known about it. [...] The hitting juxtapositon of giving and conveying off already contains the germ of the whole ensuing narrative." from "The Politics of Olympus," by Jenny Due south. Clay, p.209 (2006) ___ ___ ___ Illustration of Crocus Sativus, from Koehler's Medicinal Plants (Book 2, 1887) ___ ___ ___ Persephone (Περσεφόνη) every bit Establish-Hunter "The idyllic scene reflects the pre-agrarian historic period, when a young woman might well continue a 'hunt' for medicinal herbs and plants with magical properties (L-226-230). [As regards the plants nerveless] it is non clear in each example whether the flower was in fact the same equally that which bears the name in the mod world. Certainly, in the case of the hundred-blossomed narcissus, nosotros are dealing with a magical thing, not a botanical specimen." from "Persephone Unveiled: Seeing the Goddess and Freeing Your Soul," pp. 21-22, by Charles Stein (2006) ___ ___ ___ Persephone's Anthologia "The ἀνθολογἰα [anthologia, 'flower gathering'] of Persephone is a feature in most of the accounts of the rape. Information technology may take been introduced every bit a natural girlish act, and so have no mythological importance; [....] On the other hand, flowers play a considerable part in ritual connected with deities of vegetation, and then that the ἀνθολογἰα may exist paralleled by festivals such every bit the ὴροσάνθεια [erosantheia] (Heysch.), at which Peloponnesian women gathered flowers. At that place was an actual ἀνθολογἰα in the mysteries at Atra; see Svoronos p. 235." from "The Homeric Hymns," p.sixteen, by Thomas William Allen and Edward Ernest Sikes (1904) ___ ___ ___ Flowers and Korai "Among the most common flower-based activities associated with young women [in Attic Greece], all familiar from literature, are the gathering of flowers, the employ of gathered flowers to dye yarns for weaving, and the plaiting of flowers into garlands to wear on their heads or otherwise bedeck themselves, oftentimes for religious purposes. [...] The activity of immature women gathering brightly colored flowers and dropping them into the wide pocket ((kolpos) , formed past lifting up the overfold of the peplos, is a common image in Greek literature of all periods." from "The Poetics of Appearance in the Attic Korai," p.152, by Mary Clorinda Stieber (2004) ___ ___ ___ Divinities of the Countryside "Greek conceptions of space and time were shaped by ideas that identified the world of nature with the world of the gods. The gods were thought to command the forces of nature and were believed to take their ain identify in the natural world. The countryside was thought to have been the home of the gods long before the nascence of the first humans, and local political charter myths ever placed human struggle for survival or human competition for political authorisation in the context of the divine world." from "Placing the Gods: Sanctuaries and Sacred Infinite in Ancient Greece," p. 199, past Susan E. Alcock, Robin Osborne (1996) ___ ___ ___ Weaving Flowers & Scents "Weaving the names of the flowers [...], the writer sets Peresphone before us, herself like one of them — kalykôpis — like the budding calyx of a bloom — in a picture [...] which, in its mingling of a quaint freshness and simplicity, with a certain earnestness, reads like a description of some early Florentine Design, such equally Sandro Botticelli'south Allegory of the Seasons. Past an exquisite risk also, a common metrical expression [Fifty-013-14] connects the perfume of the newly created narcissus with the common salt scent of the ocean." from "Greek Studies, A Series of Essays," past Walter Pater, p. 52, (1875 / 1920) ___ ___ ___ 7th c. Greek Aryballos (Louvre) with mythic-journeying emblems — the circles of dots are phases of the moon, the equus caballus & bird are symbols of travel, the dots along the handle and around the top stand for footprints of the human journeying, and the petals may represent the flowering of the path. Author of the Hymn to Demeter, Not a Priest, but a Poet Initiated into the Mysteries "Dandy as is the poetical value of the hymn, possibly its main involvement lies in the fact that it is the about ancient and the about consummate document begetting on the Eleusinian mysteries. There is nil esoteric or official in its tone; the writer was not a priest, only a poet whose primary object was to describe, in plumbing fixtures language, the pathetic and beautiful story of Demeter and Persephone." [...] "The author was clearly familiar with the mythology and topography of Eleusis, and must accept been initiated into the mysteries. In no early on Greek document, mayhap, is 'local color' so clearly marked. [...] In language, the poem is more closely connected with the hymn to Aphrodite than with any other in the collection. The author was plain a close student of Hesiod. A passage containing the names of Ocean nymphs is borrowed from the Theogony. [...] "[T]here is no reason to suspect the presence of any interpolated passages; in that location is indeed no single line which may have not been original. The story moves in a uncomplicated and straightforward way from starting time to terminate, and all the episodes autumn into their proper places. [...] The theory that the Hymn is practically untouched is adopted in the present edition." from "The Homeric Hymns," (p.9ff), T. West. Allen, Edward E. Sikes (1904) ___ ___ ___ The Heroic Mysteries of Demeter "To the celebrant, participation in the [Demeter] Mysteries provided life without fear in the face of decease. Most likely originating in Crete, the Mysteries were open to all. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter offers a mythical caption for the institution of what later became the well-nigh exalted of the mystery cults of antiquity. [...] In its entirety, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter comprises a female version of the heroic quest that plays a cadre office in the Mediterranean and About Eastern epic from as early on as the Sumerian Gilgamesh. The Triumph in this drama was not merely nearly human survival and recovery from abduction and violation, but the overcoming of a specific vision of death that snatched abroad the immature, the barely begun, the withal maturing Persephone." from "Lost girls: Demeter-Persephone and the Literary Imagination, 1850-1930, p. 23, by Andrew D. Radford (2007) Head of Demeter, wreathed in grain, with triple pendant earring, and wearing a neckband, silver Tetradrachm money of Syros, ca. 200 BCE ___ ___ ___ Multi-Levels of Meaning in the Hymn to Demeter "The myth has many levels of meaning, including personal, sociological, archetypal, and ecological. It has been associated with the vegetal cycle, the mother-girl relationship, coming to terms with expiry, decease and rebirth, the rising and intrusion of patriarchal religions, and the suppression of the goddess-centered religions, and has been interpreted as a metaphor for the initiation of women moving from one developmental phase to another (puberty and old age) or from the function of mother or daughter into a more comprehensive identity." from "Initiation through trauma: A comparative study of the descents of Inanna and Persephone (Dreaming Persephone forward)," p. 238, by Hollie Jeanne Hannan (2005) ___ ___ ___ Daughters of Oceanus "Persephone'south relationship to Demeter, her youthfulness, and her association with flowers and 'springtime' in the Hymn supports the emblematic interpretation of Persephone every bit young vegetation, every bit the tender shoots of newly planted grain. Her association with the 'daughters of Oceanus' deepens her imagery as a goddess figure. The nymphs were deities of rivers, springs, and childbirth, and the local cults of Persephone oftentimes centered effectually springs and grottoes. There is evidence that the original site of worship of Persephone at Eleusis was located at the leap Parthenion and nearby cave at that place." from "Tales of Two Women: Comparative Study of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and the Book of Ruth," p.eighteen, 50. B. Daleen Leitner (1984) ___ ___ ___ Hundred-Headed Narcissus as a Trojan Horse? Similar the hero of our ancient myths, [in our dreams] we embark on an take a chance through a strange landscape to discover bizarre clues virtually our real identity, and therefore our destiny. Just equally the hero is presented with a paradox or puzzle to solve, the bizarre nature of our dreams becomes an important aspect in agreement how dreams help u.s. to move beyond our walls. [...] Remember the soldiers of Troy and how they allowed the Greek'due south wooden horse across their walls simply because it was not viewed as a threat? In the same way that we dismiss some symbols as nonsense, something profound has cleverly devised a way to fertilize the psyche past condensing a difficult and complex thought into frequently humorous symbolism. from "Why Dreams are Baroque," by Kari Hohne (2009) (online) "Persephone" is the Whole Myth with all its Ramifications "I take come to understand...through my involvement with this myth, the deviation betwixt relating to a myth and relating to a mythological effigy. it seems vitally of import no longer to identify with merely one character in the myth, Persephone, nor to focus on ane episode within the story, Persephone's forced abduction by Hades. This transformation was not something at which I deliberately aimed. There was rather a gradual and seemingly inevitable discovery how all of the elements of the myth necessarily belong together, then that I now run into that the myth is a mythos, the plot, the action, not the figure abstracted from it. Persephone is the ane about whom this story, with all its ramifications, is told." from "The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine," by Christine Downing, p.33 (1981/2007)	Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Δημήτηρ) Interlinear Translation edited & adjusted from the 1914 prose translation by Hugh M. Evelyn-White Art & Photograph Illustrations, Citations — — — — —
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	Homeric Hymn to Demeter Ομηρικοί Ύμνοι — Εἲς Δημήτραν English • Ancient Greek • Transliteration • Greek-English Glossary THE NARCISSUS : 001-014
	001 Demeter,* rich-haired, awesome* deity, I begin to sing — ___ Δήμητρ' ἠύκομον, σεμνὴν θεόν, ἄρχομ' ἀείδειν, ___ Dêmêtr' êukomon, semnên theon, arkhom' aeidein, 002 herself and her trim-ankled* daughter, she whom Hades ___ αὐτὴν ἠδὲ θύγατρα τανύσφυρον, ἣν Ἀιδωνεὺς ___ autên êde thugatra tanusphuron, hên Aidôneus 003 rapt abroad,* but granted* by heavy-thundering, all-seeing Zeus. ___ ἥρπαξεν, δῶκεν δὲ βαρύκτυπος εὐρύοπα Ζεύς, ___ hêrpaxen, dôken de baruktupos euruopa Zeus, 004 Apart* from Demeter, gold-bladed,* of glorious fruits* — ___ νόσφιν Δήμητρος χρυσαόρου, ἀγλαοκάρπου, ___ nosphin Dêmêtros khrusaorou, aglaokarpou, 005 she was playing with* the girls of Oceanus, deep-bosomed,* ___ παίζουσαν κούρῃσι σὺν Ὠκεανοῦ βαθυκόλποις ___ paizousan kourêisi lord's day Ôkeanou bathukolpois 006 and flowers gathering:* roses and crocuses, likewise lovely violets, ___ ἄνθεά τ' αἰνυμένην, ῥόδα καὶ κρόκον ἠδ' ἴα καλὰ ___ anthea t' ainumenên, rhoda kai krokon êd' ia kala 007 throughout the soft meadow,* irises as well and hyacinth ___ λειμῶν' ἂμ μαλακὸν καὶ ἀγαλλίδας ἠδ' ὑάκινθον ___ leimôn' am malakon kai agallidas êd' huakinthon 008 and the narcissus — prepare as a snare,* for the bloom-like* girl,* ___ νάρκισσόν θ', ὃν φῦσε δόλον καλυκώπιδι κούρῃ ___ narkisson th', hon phuse dolon kalukôpidi kourêi 009 by Gaia [Globe]* at the will of Zeus to please* the Host of Many. ___ Γαῖα Διὸς βουλῇσι χαριζομένη Πολυδέκτῃ, ___ Gaia Dios boulhsi carizomenh Poludekth, 010 Marvelous,* radiant* — it was a thing of awe* to see ___ θαυμαστὸν γανόωντα: σέβας τό γε πᾶσιν ἰδέσθαι ___ thaumaston ganoônta: sebas to ge pasin idesthai 011 whether for the deathless* gods or for mortals. ___ ἀθανάτοις τε θεοῖς ἠδὲ θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις: ___ athanatois te theois êde thnêtois anthrôpois: 012 And from its root* grew a hundred blooms,* ___ τοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ῥίζης ἑκατὸν κάρα ἐξεπεφύκει: ___ tou kai apo rhizês hekaton kara exepephukei: 013 smelling* most sweetly, so that all the wide heaven above ___ κὦζ' ἥδιστ' ὀδμή, πᾶς τ' οὐρανὸς εὐρὺς ὕπερθεν ___ kôz' hêdist' odmê, pas t' ouranos eurus huperthen 014 and the whole* Earth* laughed for joy* and the sea'due south salt swell. ___ γαῖά τε πᾶσ' ἐγελάσσε καὶ ἁλμυρὸν οἶδμα θαλάσσης ___ gaia te pas' egelasse kai halmuron oidma thalassês. Adjacent »»
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	001 Δήμητρ' / Dêmêtr' (Δημήτηρ) Demeter - "Mountain Mother" - Globe Goddess, see notes below and in-depth, etymology of Demeter'southward name at wikipedia 001 ἠύκομον / êukomon lovely-haired - rich-haired 001 σεμνὴν / semnên awesome - revered - august - holy (N.J. Richardson/1974 says the word is outset used here in ballsy, and particularly in relation to Demeter and Persephone, see also Lines 478 & 486, fem. pl., referring back to the goddesses) 001 ἄρχομ' / arkhom' (ἄρχω) begin - start out with - open a conversation 001 ἀείδειν / aeidein to sing - praise - gloat 002 τᾰνύ-σφῠρος / tanusphuron with long tapered ankles or feet 003 ἥρπαξεν / hêrpaxen rapt abroad - snatch away - acquit off - seize hastily - captivate - ravish - to exist a robber 003 δῶκεν / dôken grant - let - esp. in prayers - permit - provide - (various terms for Zeus' "assent" to the rape/abduction repeat at Lines 9, 30, 78, 91) 003 βαρύκτυπος / baruktupos (βᾰρῠ-κτῠπος) heavy-sounding - loud-thundering - epithet of Zeus, also of the sea 004 νόσφιν / nosphin apart - apart from - without consent of - [ run across also of Zeus in his temple at Fifty-27 ] 004 χρυσαόρου / khrusaorou of gilt-sword, or gold-bladed, as an epithet for Demeter, may refer to the Cretan double-axe or labrys, according to Emily Townsend Vermeule, Message of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 57, No. 307, 1959, pp. four-xvi [see notes beneath] 004 ἀγλαοκάρπου / aglaokarpou / (ἀγλαό-καρπος) of glorious fruits - bearing beautiful or goodly fruit - giver of the fruits of the earth [ see as well of olive copse at 50-23 ] 005 παίζουσαν / paizousan play with (acc.) - play like a child - sport - dance - play amorously - jest 005 βαθυκόλποις / bathukolpois deep-bosomed (depth of eye / loving kindness) 006 αἰνυμένην / ainumenên accept - take hold of - assemble - sieze - (as metaph. siezed by longng) 007 λειμῶν' / leimôn' meadow - any moist, grassy place - (after, freq. metaph. for any bright, flowery surface - an embroidered robe) 008 δόλον / dolon snare - bait - whatever trick or stratagem 008 καλυκώπιδι / kalukôpidi / (κᾰλῠκ-ῶπις) like a budding blossom in face - bloom/calyx-like - blushing - roseate 008 κούρῃ / kourêi Kore (κούρῃ, Κώρα) - girl - maiden - virgin - daughter (encounter at L-005) 009 χαριζομένη / carizomenh oblige - appease - requite graciously - please - indulge 010 θαυμαστὸν / thaumaston / (θαυμ-αστός) wonderful - marvellous - beauteous - splendid - in an extraordinary fashion, foreign - absurd 010 γανόωντα / ganoônta radiant - wait fresh and smiling - glorious - glitter - gleam 010 σέβας / sebas awe - reverential awe - reverence - worship - honor 011 ἀθανάτοις / athanatois deathless - immortal - undying - perpetual - the immortals 012 ῥίζης / rhizês root - base - foundation - origin 012 κάρα / kara head - face - top - crest - bloom 013 ὀδμή / odmê scent - scent - scent - perfume 014 πᾶσ' / pas' whole - wide - all 014 γαῖά / gaia country - country - potter's earth - earth (come across also capitalized and personified equally Planet Earth, Γαῖα / Gaia at L-nine) 014 ἐγελάσσε / egelasse laughed - a laugh being raised - laughed for joy [ run into 50-429 ] - made featherbrained [by the perfume, Burton Raffel (1970)]
	The Hymn to Demeter — Myth Summary — "Persephone, while gathering flowers on the Nysian plainly, is carried off past Hades, with the connivance of Zeus. Her weep reaches the ears of Hecate and Helios: Demeter, besides hears her voice, simply does not run into the rape, or know the name of the ravisher. Distracted with grief, the mother wanders for [nine] days seeking news of her girl. She meets Hecate, who does not know that Hades has done the deed; simply the two goddesses go together in quest of Helios, from whom they larn the truth. So Demeter, angry with Zeus, leaves Olympus and visits the globe in the guise of an old adult female. Reaching Eleusis, she meets the daughters of King Celeus, and is engaged to nurse their blood brother Demophon. She would brand the child immortal, but is thwarted by the curiosity of his mother Metaneira. She reveals herself to the Eleusinians, commands them to build her a temple, and departs from Eleusis. Simply she is nonetheless wrathful with the gods, and causes a groovy dearth, so that mankind is in danger of perishing from famine. And so Zeus sends Hermes to bring back Persephone from the underworld. Hades, however, has given the maiden a Pomegranate seed to eat, which binds her to him; and Demeter, after a blithesome meeting with her daughter, tells her she must at present stay with Hades for a third role of every twelvemonth. [Encouraged by her mother Rheia] the wrath of Demeter is at present appeased and she makes the fruits of the earth to grow again, and instructs the chiefs of Eleusis in the performance of her rites, the cognition of which is necessary for happiness [... in this globe and the adjacent]." adapted from "The Homeric Hymns," T. W. Allen and Edward East. Sikes (1904) Provenance of the Extant Manuscript "Until 1777 all of our manuscripts of the hymns opened with the Hymn to Apollo. It was so that Christian Friedrich Matthaei, a professor of Greek in Russia, found the book known equally Mosquensis (hereafter but "M") in the library of the Synod in Moscow, which begins instead with our simply copies of the hymns to Dionysus and Demeter. Based on the watermarks, it has been dated to the early on 15th century, and according to what Matthaei was told, it was establish in a stable, 'where it must have sat for many years among chickens and pigs.' At some point the manuscript was torn, leaving two damaged sections at lines 387-404 and 462-79, which a second scribe (known as "grand") attempted to repair from theorize, probably onetime in the 16th century. Other than Chiliad, there is only a minor amount of fragmentary show for the hymn, and, although at that place are some possible signs of the hymn's influence in classical times, the number of direct quotations is very pocket-size, and all of them are late, suggesting that it was best known in the Hellenistic menstruum (Richardson)." from "The Hymn to Demeter, p. 2, by Nicholas Smith, (Online Resource), 2007 Ann Suter: on The Female Poet of the Hymn to Demeter "Until at present, most work on female authorship in the aboriginal world has been on lyric poets, for the excellent reason that very little in other meters past women has survived to u.s.. But nosotros know that women composed in other meters; we know that they composed in the epic hexameter. We know that women entered musical competitions, and nosotros know that they composed for performance at women's festivals and for the cults of goddesses. There is, in brusk, no a priori reason why a adult female should not have composed the HDem. [...] "Richardson notes also, that '[m]any words and forms are found in the Hymn which practise not occur in Homer, Hesiod, or other early epic (Hymns, Cycle, inscriptions, etc.).' He lists peculiarities in wording, formulae, forms, usage, and the treatment of the digamma. Could this wide-ranging deviation from its companions in Archaic hexameter signal that the Hymn is part of a separate female tradition, some other strain of the oral tradition? Skinner suggests the possibility of such a female person poetic inheritance in the lyric tradition, and O'Higgins one for iambic verse. At that place mayhap existed such in the hexameter tradition also, if the HDem. is any guide. [...] "Information technology has long been noted, just never explained, that there are no articulate and unambiguous references to the Hymn in literature until the post-Classical menstruum, 'no direct mention of the Homeric Hymn and scarcely anything which can reasonably be identified fifty-fifty as a reminiscence or echo of it' in classical literature. Likewise, the myth of Persephone'south abduction and Demeter's wanderings in search of her seems unknown to Cranium vase painters until the second one-half of the 5th century, and even and so, references seem to exist to a version different from the Hymn's. If the Hymn, and the core story upon which information technology is based, were the work of women, and performed but at all-women's festivals, it is quite understandable that it would not be readily available to the eyes and ears of a male public and included in their creative productions, particularly given its depiction of Zeus." from "Beyond the Limits of Lyric, The Female Poet of the Hymn to Demeter," past Ann Suter, Kernos 18 (2005) The Greek Proem — The Song's Own Introduction [Lines ane-3] The poet states the bailiwick of the hymn, and gives a cursory summary of the story. The kickoff word of an epic poem often formed a kind of title giving the primary subject field. That is followed here past the attributes of the deity. In the second line the poet recapitulates [the principal] subject since information technology is in fact a double one, Demeter and Persephone [... and likewise does the aforementioned] at the end of the poem [Lines 492-3] and returns to the single field of study ["call up you"] in the traditional closing line." from "The Homeric Hymn to Demeter," past N. J. Richardson, p.136 (2002)
	Painted plaster lily sprays, Palace of Minos, Knossos, Crete
	The Organized religion of the Mysteries — Mystics & the "Not bad Goddesses" "[T]here were, in the most ancient days, two singled-out religions in ancient Greece [....] The starting time was the official religion, corresponding to the external and visible world; the 2d was the faith of the Mysteries, respective to the inner world of the soul. Information technology was, in a sense, the faith of the under-side of things, of the subterranean — that is to say, inner — realities, through which tin be opened the door of the invisible earth, of the Across. The first taught that the gods must be reverenced co-ordinate to consecrated rules and rites; the second introduced the soul of the mystic to monumental secrets and renewed its forces at the primordial springs of existence. Hence the name of 'Cracking Goddesses,' which was given only to Demeter and Persephone." [...] Demeter, the divine and universal Mother, was the oldest of the Greek divinities." from "The Invisible Hellenic republic: Demeter and Persephone" in "Selected Occult Writings" past Edouard Schure, p. 196, translated by Eva Martin from the French, (orig. pub. 1912/1928) Golden Double Axe (Labrys) Inscribed with a Proper noun For Demeter "The inscription on the Boston [Museum of Fine Arts] double-axe reads [equally the messages illustrated higher up] without any word dividers. The first sign does not occur in this class in [Greek] Linear B, just may be the prototype for i, no or se, nearly probably i. The last 3 signs are da, ma, te. Two interpretations leap to the middle: I-da-ma-te may be "(dedicatory prefix) Demeter," or "Ida Mater," the mother goddess of Mount Ida. Both interpretations suit Minoan religion nicely. Demeter, the Greek goddess of globe and its fruits, has her origin in the Aegean Statuary Age, and her cult eye at Eleusis is of tremendous artifact. She is exactly the type of mother-fertility goddess influencing the cycles of growth and decay, birth and death, which we await of Minoan religious imagination. Ida is a prominent mountain in Crete, and indeed the word "Ida" appears to mean "mountain" in the pre-Greek Mediterranean languages, then that with the second interpretation of the axe nosotros would find a familiar Minoan figure, "the mountain mother" or the goddess on the mountain whose presence is assured through gems. If the Boston axe names the goddess of the sacred cave at Arkalochori with one of these appropriate names, its importance for Aegean religion can inappreciably exist overestimated.  [...] "On coins of Heraklea Salbace i finds the attributes of Demeter — corn, grapes, cornucopia — on the obverse, and on the reverse the double axe itself, wreathed with a sacral fillet as so often in Minoan Art. Another coin shows the goddess carrying the axe." from "A Gold Minoan Double Axe" by Emily Townsend Vermeule, Message of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 57, No. 307, 1959, pp. 4-16 What are the Homeric Hymns? "The Homeric Hymns are distinguished from other hymnic poetry both by their meter, the dactylic hexameter, and by the formulae the poet employs at the kickoff and at the end of each poem. The ancients chosen these poems hymns and specifically, prooimia, preludes, that is, considering the poets used them as warm-up pieces for the singing or recitation of longer portions of the Homeric epics. Of the extant Homeric Hymns, iv, to Demeter, Apollon, Hermes and Aphrodite, are long enough to have been recited or sung independently. Yet, we cannot be sure that they besides were not used every bit preludes to fifty-fifty more ambitious compositions." from "The Homeric Hymns, Translation, Introduction, and Notes," p. xii, by Apostolos Due north. Athanassakis (1976)   What is Dactylic Hexameter? "The Homeric Hymns are equanimous in dactylic hexameter, which is the normal meter of Greek and Latin ballsy verse. Each line (hexameter) has six measures (= metra) or anxiety, which may be either dactyls (diagrammed — u u ),* or spondees (diagrammed — —) with dactyls predominating, expecially in the fifth foot, which is spondaic about one out of 20 times in the Iliad and Odyssey. Line 11 of this Hymn is such a "spondaic" verse. The first poetry of this Hymn is analyzed (or 'scanned') as follows." *[curt is u and long is —] Myth a "Breathing Entity" "A myth becomes a breathing entity simply when we strip it of its superficial covering and allow it to reveal its many layers of meaning and interpretation. It is only by penetrating to its hidden depths can nosotros begin to decipher the means in which the myth continues to address the perennial concerns of humankind." from "Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth," p.ii, by Tamara Agha-Jaffar (2002) ¯ ¯ ¯ ˘˘ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ¯   Δήμητρ' ἠύκομον σεμνὴν θεόν ἄρχομ' ἀείδειν from "The Homeric Hymn to Demeter," p. three, past Julia Haig Gaisser (1980) Hymn to Demeter as Educator "[T]he ultimate goal of the mimesis performed [by the ancient Greek poets] or their interpreters was to lead to the audience's identification with the beings evoked. From the kickoff, the drive to change the behavior of a mass of man beings posed an ethical and political claiming. This was where the existent stakes were located. Poets could exist looked upon every bit genuine educators considering they strove to alter the behavior of the public they were addressing by presenting the beings evoked as models. [...] As 'educator,' the poet gave form and transmitted that which constituted the identity of a community, that is, in a way, its very censor." from "How Philosophers Saved Myths: Allegorical Interpretation and Classical Mythologym," pp. 6-7, by Luc Brisson (1996/2004) Demeter & Goddess-Preeminent Neolithic "This Earth/Mother organized religion stands in marked contrast to the male-centered Mystery religions of Osiris, Dionysus, and Orpheus; or to the Hebrew and Christian stories of Isaac and Jesus; all of which involve a ritual sacrifice or disturbing death of a young male person son and/or god. The Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone embodies the values of the relatively peaceful farming and trading mother-clan societies of the Goddess-preeminent Neolithic, before the sacrifice of sons in war became common practice as patriarchal warrior clans forced their way to power. [...] "My reading of the testimonia and archeological data finds that the Mysteries of the mother and daughter goddesses were essentially mysteries of dear." [...] Demeter's rites flourished for almost two thousand years at Eleusis, a small boondocks 14 miles northwest of Athens." from "The Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone: Fertility, Sexuality and Rebirth," by Mara Lynn Keller, in "Journal of Feminist Studies in Faith," p.28 (Spring, 1988) Mortal/Immortal — Liberation "The Hymn to Demeter is shaped above all to explain the origin of the Mysteries. The poem suggests that the Mysteries emerge from a breakdown of the boundaries betwixt mortals and immortals. […] The religious experience provided by the Mysteries represented a significant notwithstanding manifestly complementary alternative to the relation between life and death, divine and homo familiar to us from the Homeric epics." from "Interpretive Essay on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter," by Helene P. Foley, in The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, ed. by Helene P. Foley, p. 150 (1993)
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