Homeric Hymn to Demeter PDF

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Summary

These notes cover the theme of marriage and death and give an overview of the Hymn to Demeter. This class was taught by professor Beecroft....

Description

Greek Mythology: Homeric Hymn (Demeter) 

Marriage and Death o Major theme: marriage is a kind of death  For 13 year old brides it was an end to ht ehappy part of their life  Uncertain future o Persephone begins by gathering flowers with her friends o Earth opens and she is kidnapped o Agriculture vs gathering o Marriage hymns as laments o Demeter cirles the earth looking for her o Sun tells her the truth but doesn’t understand wy she is so upset o Themes: mysteries and ritual  Demeter cant rescue Persephone  Revenge: withholds fertility from men’s fields causing rops to wither and die  Killing mankind would mean no more sacrifices for gods  Zeus forces Hades to return Persephone  Hades feeds pomegranate seeds to Persephone which traps her in the underworld for 1/3 year  Leaves the earth unfertile in this time  Demeter teaches Triptolemus how to farm properly o Eleusinian Mysteries  Remain mysterious  ancient sources kept them secret

 What we know comes from early Christian writers  Did not believe in them (unsympathetic account)  “mystery” comes from Greek word “muô”  press lips together, signifying silence or a secret  to be initiated you had to speak Greek and could not have shed any blood  2 levels of initiation  revealed secrets of cult of Demeter  9 days of ritual/year (September)  Procession form Eleusis carrying statue of the boy-god Lacchus  Sacred marriage between priest and priestess  Ensured success of harvest 

Thesmophoria o Another secret agricultural festival o Held in October o Women only o Athenians held it in Acropolis (high hill) o 3 days  procession  fasting  piglet sacrifice  bones tossed in snake-filled chasm  bones from previous year brought up from same pit o ensured fertility of crops and humans

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Demophon

o While grieving her daughter Demeter disguises herself as an old woman o King Celeus of Eleusis hires her as a nurse for his son Demophon o Tries to make him immortal  Feeds him ambrosia (food of gods)  Hides him in the fire every night o His mother, Metaneira, catches her and fires her o Demophon is not immortal but receives kleos (eternal fame/worship in cult) and annual festival o Parallels with Persephone 

Iambê o At Demophon’s home o Demeter refuses food/drink and only sits on a humble chair o Serving girl Iambe makes obscene joke in verse o Gives Demeter beverage made of water, grain, and pennyroyal mint o Obscene jokes become part of fertility ritual

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