Demeter

Family: Olympians · Role: goddess and mother of Persephone · First appears: Homeric Hymn II · To Demeter · Part 1

When Persephone was taken, Demeter heard her daughter’s cry and searched for her. For nine days she wandered the earth with torches, neither eating nor drinking. On the tenth dawn, Hecate told her what she had heard; Helios then revealed that Zeus had given Persephone to Hades, who carried her to his realm. Angered with Zeus, Demeter avoided Olympus and the gathering of the gods.

After a long while, disguised as an old woman, Demeter came to Celeus’s house at Eleusis. At Metaneira’s request, she agreed to nurse Demophoon and secretly tried to make him immortal, but Metaneira saw her at night. Demeter explained that the interruption had cost the boy immortality, though lasting honour would remain his; she then revealed herself and commanded the people to build her a temple and altar. Celeus summoned them to do so, and Demeter taught the kings her rites and mysteries.

Demeter withheld the seed, bringing famine upon mankind, and vowed that no fruit would grow until she saw Persephone. When they were reunited, Demeter declared that Persephone must spend one third of each year below and two thirds with her and the gods. Zeus agreed to this division and called Demeter back to join the gods, promising her the rights she chose. Demeter then made fruit spring up across the lands, restoring the earth’s fertility.