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Mother Demeter

By Laurel Reufner

Goddess of the earth, agriculture and fertility, Demeter was one of the original Olympians, daughter of Chorines and Rhea. She bore at least one child, her daughter Persephone, to Zeus. Depending on which myths you read, she may also have been the mother of Dionysus, Hecate, and maybe Iacchus. It was Persephone who definitely had her mother’s attention. The two were a close-knit pair, until one day, while picking flowers in a field, Hades carried the maiden off to the Underworld. Demeter dispaired of ever seeing her daughter again, and for a long time had no idea of what had happened to her. It is what happens during the course of her searching wanderings, plus her reunion with Persephone, that make up the vast majority of information available about Demeter. Much of this time period was also re-enacted in the Eleusinian Mysteries, the cult worship of Demeter centered in Eleusis.



The tale of the rape of Persephone is a fairly popular one. Hades lusts after the young girl and persuades her father, Zeus, to let him marry her. The earth opens up and he carries her off to his realm. Demeter laments her daughter’s disappearance, but doesn’t get really angry until Hecate and Helios tell her what has actually happened. THEN she gets really angry shunning the other gods and wandering the earth in mortal guise. Crops stop growing and horrible famine causes humanity to suffer terribly.



In her wanderings Demeter came to a well in Eleusis. There she met the daughters of King Celeus, who commended her to their mother. Following the maidens home, she refused to even sit down until the antics of a slave-woman named Iambe made her smile. She then accepted the hospitality of the royal home and became wet-nurse of the king’s infant son, Demophon. Demeter became quite fond of the boy and decided to bestow immortality on him, holding him each night in the fire to burn away the mortal parts. One night the king’s wife, Metanira, came across the pair while this was happening, screaming in terror at the sight of her baby in the flames. The goddess was startled and poor Demophon consumed by the flames. Demeter then revealed her true divine self to the household and as compensation for the death of Demophon gave honors to their eldest son, Triptolemus, making him her messenger to humanity. She commanded the king to build a temple in her honor and instructed him in the proper rites -- what would become the Mysteries.



However, Demeter still mourned her lost daughter and the earth still stood barren. Finally, faced with the prospect of humanity dying out completely, Zeus told Hades to return Persephone. As one source pointed out, while Demeter did abstain from food and drink for the majority of her search and mourning, she didn’t do so completely. And yet poor frightened Persephone was condemned to spend each winter in Hades’ realm because she had eaten a few pomegranate seeds. (1) It hardly seems fair.



The reunion of mother and daughter was a joyous one that caused the grains to grow and the flowers to bloom. Life had returned to the earth. And yet, each year as Persephone returns to the Underworld and her dark husband, Demeter goes into mourning once more and the plant life ceases to grow.



Notes:

See Bell’s Women of Classical Mythology, p. 158.



References:



Bell, Robert. Women of Classical Mythology. ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, 1991.



Grimal, Pierre. Dictionary of Classical Myth. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1991.



The Homeric Hymns, translated by Daryl Hine. Atheneum: New York, 1971.



Morford, Mark and Robert Lenardon. Classical Mythology. 3rd Ed. Longman, Inc.: White Plains, NY, 1985.

Amazons, the Daughters of Ares



Existing in art and in legend, no historical evidence of the Amazons has ever been found. These proud, beautiful women can only be examined within the context of mythology. (1)



Originating from near the Caucuses Mountains, the Amazons settled near the mouth of the Thermodon River, where it emptied into the Black Sea (Euxine), and founded Themiscrya. Their main activities involved those usually reserved for men: war, hunting, and conquest. Rumored to be the daughters of Ares himself, their weapons where the sword and shield. In fact, they could be identified by their distinctive ivy shaped shields. Mythology credits them with being the first warriors to ride astride, rather than be pulled behind in a chariot. Agriculture was limited to only what was necessary. Government was entirely female. Once a year the Amazons met with the Gargareans, a village of men living near them. These unions helped increase the population of both groups, with male children being returned to the Gargareans and female children staying with the Amazons.



Contrary to popular myth, the Amazons in all probability did not disfigure their breasts in any way. Contemporary art certainly doesn't show them in such a state. Doubtless this meaning comes from a- (without) mazos (breast) which could also be interpreted as meaning "not brought up by the breast" or even "with strong breasts," like a warrior. Another theory is a- (not) maza (bread), referring to their strong hunting tradition. Adrian Room believes it to have derived from an Iranian or Old Persian word meaning "warrior." (2) Whatever the origin, the Amazons did not practice such a form of self-mutilation. Ancient writers consistently refer to them as being quite beautiful, often stating the pride they had in themselves. (3)



The warrior Heracles crossed paths with the Amazons on several occasions. His ninth labor was to procure Queen Hippolyte's golden girdle. King Eurystheus’ daughter, Armete, had apparently fallen in love with it. Having sailed past the Amazon's country earlier when he was with Jason and the Argonauts, Heracles certainly knew the area. Upon arriving with his men, he was taken before the Queen, where he told her what he was after. Hippolyte had taken a fancy to the hero and offered to give him the girdle, a gift from her father Ares and a symbol of her position, as well as her bed. Heracles, being the epitome of manhood, certainly had no problem any of with this.



Unfortunately, rumor spread among her guards that she was under attack. Some sources claim it was Hera, trying to make Heracles’ life difficult yet again. Whatever source of the rumor, the Amazons came to the defense of their queen, turning on Heracles’ men and driving them back. Although the battle had gotten off to a great start for the women, the men eventually prevailed. (They were fighting the mightiest of heroes, after all!) Hippolyte was killed and her generals, Menalippe and Antiope were captured.



The son of Zeus released Menalippe upon her surrender of the girdle. Antiope was taken to Greece, where she became the wife of Theuses. Enraged, the warriors marched on Greece, battling their way to Athens and the Acropolis itself. There many of them died, including Antiope, still captive. It was a futile, heroic effort.



As a side note, this is merely one version of the story. Yet another has Hippolyte surviving Heracles? visit and going on to fight in Athens. After their defeat she fled to Megara, where she died of grief. Her tomb was identifiable by its ivy-shaped Amazon shield. There are also different versions of how Theuses wound up with Antiope. But then, numerous variations are par for the course when studying the Amazons.



Penthesileia, yet another Amazon queen, led her troops against the Greeks during the Trojan war. They must have still really hated the Greeks, since they had also done battle with the Trojans, who had been led by Priam, Troy’s current king. The Amazons’ appearance in Troy certainly helped bolster the men's flagging moral, giving greater credence to their reputation of being fierce warriors.



At dinner Penthesileia had boasted that she would kill the mighty Achilles. Come morning she led Trojan and Amazon armies upon the battlefield. During the course of the day many Greeks met their deaths. Achilles was finally alerted to the battle and the tide began to turn on the women. Finally Penthesileia was killed, along with her horse, by Achilles’ spear. While the Greeks set out to loot the corpses, as was customary, Achilles spared the warrior maiden such a dishonor. He had become smitten of her beauty and her fierce proudness. Her corpse was returned to Priam, who had her honorably buried. Even the Greek warriors mourned the deaths of the Amazon fighters, especially Penthesileia.



There was another group of Amazons, possibly predating Ares’ offspring, living on the island of Hespera, near Mt. Atlas’ shadow. They had a lifestyle much like their Black Sea counterparts. These women were also conquering warriors who came to rule a sizable chunk of their world.



Their queen, Myrina, led them against the cities of Hespera and then moved on to Atlantis. Their destruction of the city Cerne was so brutal that other towns quickly surrendered. Myrina built a new city on Cerne’s remains, naming it after herself.



After a time the Atlanteans requested that that Amazons conquer the Gorgons, another female tribe and their enemies. Once again, Myrina and her army were victorious. The mighty women took a few thousand prisoners and killed many thousands more. At some point the captives turned upon their captors, slaughtering hundreds. Great earthen hills, the Amazon Mounds, were raised as tombs.



Myrina next set out across Libya, conquering and subduing as she went. The Amazons claimed everything from the Atlantic Ocean to Egypt, who'd wisely signed a treaty with them. After Libya she moved on to Asia. There the Taurian area, as well as Syria, fell to the women warriors. They traveled down along the Mediterranean Coast, making the Caicus river their empire's boundary, venturing out only to claim the occasional island. This included the island of Lesbos, later made famous by Sappho’s poetry. Here Myrina found herself carried off by a storm. She washed ashore on an uninhabited island, naming it Samothrace. Here she erected altars to Cybele.



Everywhere they went Myrina would found new cities, naming them for women who'd led outstanding commands. This gave us Cyme, Pitana, and Priene. On Lesbos she built Mytilene, named for her sister.



So what happened to these successful warriors? Mopsus of Thracia and Sipylus of Scythia successfully battled them. Myrina was killed in the combating. Their queen dead, the surviving Amazons withdrew to Libya.



Later Dionysus, son of Ammon and Amaltheia, united them to fight against Cronus and the Titans. He then turned on them after his return from the West. The Amazons took refuge in the temple of Artemis, located at Ephesus, a temple they had founded on their march westward. Relentlessly Dionysus pursued them. Samos served as their final battleground, where so many died the site was called Panhaema (bloodland?). The few survivors became protectors of the Temple and eventually became part of the general populace.



A small tribe of Amazons still remained in Libya (or they were confused with the Black Sea Amazons). Tragically these women would also die, along with the Gorgons, slaughtered by Heracles. Robert E. Bell, in Women of Classical Mythology, puts it best: "Perhaps these famous landmarks [Heracles’ Pillars] could serve today as monuments to a combination of chauvinism and genocide, since Heracles slaughtered these women in the belief that in his role as savior of mankind he could ill afford to let any nation be under the rule of females."



Notes:

1. Archaeologists have found burial sites of women warriors in the Russian Steppes. Perhaps these provide some link to the historic Amazons. (If anyone can let me know which program on TLC told of these women, I'd appreciate it.)



2. Room's Classical Dictionary by Adrian Room. (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983)



3. I can't help by picture Barbie with a sword, the Barbie of my childhood able to be anything she wanted, just like the Amazons.



References:

Bell, Robert C. Women in Classical Mythology, ABC-CLIO, 1991.



Monaghan, Patricia Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines, Llewellyn Publishing,



Room, Adrian Room's Classical Dictionary, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.



Copyright May, 1998 Melinda M. Fulk. All rights reserved.