suitable to the Asiatic than to the Greek earth-goddess. Although
the goddess of agriculture is naturally inclined to peace and
averse from war, the memory of the time when her land was won
and kept by the sword still lingers in the epithets χρυσάορος and
ξιφηφόρος and in the name Triptolemus, which probably means
“thrice fighter” rather than “thrice plougher.”
Another important aspect of Demeter was that of a divinity of the under-world; as such she is χθονία at Sparta and especially at Hermione in Argolis, where she had a celebrated temple, said to have been founded by Clymenus (one of the names of Hades-Pluto) and his sister Chthonia, the children of Phoroneus, an Argive hero. Here there was said to be a descent into the lower world, and local tradition made it the scene of the rape of Persephone. At the festival Chthonia, a cow (representing, according to Mannhardt, the spirit of vegetation), which voluntarily presented itself, was sacrificed by three old women. Those joining in the procession wore garlands of hyacinth, which seems to attribute a chthonian character to the ceremony, although it may also have been connected with agriculture (see S. Wide, De Sacris Troezeniorum, Hermionensium, Epidauriorum, Upsala, 1888). The striking use of the term δημήτρειοι in the sense of “the dead” may be noted in this connexion.
The remarkable epithets, Ἐρινύς and Μέλαινα, as applied to Demeter, were both localized in Arcadia, the first at Thelpusa (or rather Onkeion close by), the second at Phigalia (see W. Immerwahr, Die Kulte und Mythen Arkadiens, i. 1891). According to the Thelpusan story, Demeter, during her wanderings in search of Persephone, changed herself into a mare to avoid the persecution of Poseidon. The god, however, assumed the form of a stallion, and the fruit of the union was a daughter of mystic name and the horse Areion (or Erion). Demeter, at first enraged, afterwards calmed down, and washed herself in the river Ladon by way of purification. Demeter “the angry” (ἐρινύς) became Demeter “the bather” (λουσία). An almost identical story was current in the neighbourhood of Tilphossa, a Boeotian spring. In the Phigalian legend, no mention is made of the horse Areion, but only of the daughter, who is called Despoina (mistress), a title common to all divinities connected with the under-world. Demeter, clad in black (hence μέλαινα) in token of mourning for her daughter and wrath with Poseidon, retired into a cave. During that time the earth bore no fruit, and the inhabitants of the world were threatened with starvation. At last Pan, the old god of Arcadia, discovered her hiding-place, and informed Zeus, who sent the Moirae (Fates) to fetch her out. The cave, still called Mavrospēlya (“black cave”), was ever afterwards regarded as sacred to Demeter, and in it, according to information given to Pausanias, there had been set up an image of the goddess, a female form seated on a rock, but with a horse’s head and mane, to which were attached snakes and other wild animals. It was clothed in a black garment reaching to the feet, and held in one hand a dolphin, in the other a dove. The image was destroyed by fire, replaced by the sculptor Onatas from inspiration in a dream, but disappeared again before the time of Pausanias.
Both μέλαινα and ἐρινύς, according to Farnell, are epithets of Demeter as an earth-goddess of the under-world. The first has been explained as referring to the gloom of her abode, or the blackness of the withered corn. The second, according to Max Müller and A. Kuhn, is the etymological equivalent of the Sanskrit Saranyu, who, having turned herself into a mare, is pursued by Vivasvat, and becomes the mother of the two Asvins, the Indian Dioscuri, the Indian and Greek myths being regarded as identical. According to Farnell, the meaning of the epithet is to be looked for in the original conception of Erinys, which was that of an earth-goddess akin to Ge, thus naturally associated with Demeter, rather than that of a wrathful avenging deity.
Various interpretations have been given of the horse-headed form of the Black Demeter: (1) that the horse was one of the forms of the corn-spirit in ancient Greece; (2) that it was an animal “devoted” to the chthonian goddess; (3) that it is totemistic; (4) that the form was adopted from Poseidon Hippios, who is frequently associated with the earth-goddess and is said to have received the name Hippios first at Thelpusa, in order that Demeter might figure as the mother of Areion (for a discussion of the whole subject see Farnell, Cults, iii. pp. 50-62). The union of Poseidon and Demeter is thus explained by Mannhardt. As the waves of the sea are fancifully compared to horses, so a field of corn, waving in the breeze, may be said to represent the wedding of the sea-god and the corn-goddess. In any case the association of Poseidon, representing the fertilizing element of moisture, with Demeter, who causes the plants and seeds to grow, is quite natural, and seems to have been widespread.
Demeter also appears as a goddess of health, of birth and of marriage; and a certain number of political and ethnic titles is assigned to her. Of the latter the most noteworthy are: Παναχαία at Aegium in Achaea, pointing to some connexion with the Achaean league; Ἀχαία,[1] “the Achaean goddess,” unless it refers to the “sorrow” of the goddess for the loss of her daughter (cf. Ἀχέα in Boeotia); and, most important of all, Ἀμφικτυονίς, at Anthela near Thermopylae, as patron-goddess of the Amphictyonic league, subsequently so well known in connexion with the temple at Delphi.
The Eleusinia and Thesmophoria are discussed elsewhere, but brief mention may here be made of certain agrarian festivals held in honour of Demeter.
1. Haloa, obviously connected with ἅλως (“threshing-floor”), begun at Athens and finished at Eleusis, where there was a threshing-floor of Triptolemus, in the month Poseideon (December). This date, which is confirmed by historical and epigraphical evidence, seems inappropriate, and it is suggested (A. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athen, p. 365 foll.) that the festival, originally held in autumn, was subsequently placed later, so as to synchronize with the winter Dionysia. Dionysus, as the god of vines, and (in a special procession) Poseidon φυτάλμιος (“god of vegetation”) were associated with Demeter. In addition to being a harvest festival, marked by the ordinary popular rejoicings, the Haloa had a religious character. The ἀπαρχαί (“first fruits”) were conveyed to Eleusis, where sacrifice was offered by a priestess, men being prohibited from undertaking the duty. A τελετή (“initiatory ceremony”) of women by a woman also took place at Eleusis, characterized by obscene jests and the use of phallic emblems. The sacramental meal on this occasion consisted of the produce of land and sea, certain things (pomegranates, honey, eggs) being forbidden for mystical reasons. Although the offerings at the festival were bloodless, the ceremony of the presentation of the ἀπαρχαί was probably accompanied by animal sacrifice (Farnell, Foucart); Mommsen, however, considers the offerings to have been pastry imitations. Certain games (πάτριος ἀγών), of which nothing is known, terminated the proceedings. In Roman imperial times the ephebi had to deliver a speech at the Haloa.
2. Chloeia or Chloia, the festival of the corn beginning to sprout, held at Eleusis in the early spring (Anthesterion) in honour of Demeter Chloë, “the green,” the goddess of growing vegetation. This is to be distinguished from the later sacrifice of a ram to the same goddess on the 6th of the month Thargelion, probably intended as an act of propitiation. It has been identified with the Procharisteria (sometimes called Proschaireteria), another spring festival, but this is doubtful. The scholiast on Pindar (Ol. ix. 150) mentions an Athenian harvest festival Eucharisteria.
3. Proërosia, at which prayers were offered for an abundant harvest, before the land was ploughed for sowing. It was also called Proarcturia, an indication that it was held before the rising of Arcturus. According to the traditional account, when Greece was threatened with famine, the Delphic oracle ordered first-fruits to be brought to Athens from all parts of the country, which were to be offered by the Athenians to the goddess Deo on behalf of all the contributors. The most important part of the festival was the three sacred ploughings—the Athenian ὑπὸ πόλιν, the Eleusinian on the Rharian plain, the Scirian (a compromise between Athens and Eleusis). The festival itself
- ↑ O. Gruppe (Griechische Mythologie, ii. 1177, note 1) considers it “certain” that Ἀχαία = Ἀχελωία, although he is unable to explain the form.
