Hymn To Demeter

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells the story of Demeter, the goddess of fertility of grain. Demeter has a daughter with Zeus by the name of Persephone. The hymn explains the strong bond between Demeter and Persephone and how distraught Demeter is when her daughter is abducted. This traumatic event causes Demeter to live among mortal men disguised as an old woman and withdraw the fertility of the earth. In this paper, I will examine how the Homeric Hymn to Demeter operates as a charter myth, or narrative that explains modern practices, and how successful the hymn is in conveying the modern practice.

Demeter’s inability to rescue her daughter from Hades’ clutches diminishes the power of female will. She is unable to even discover where her daughter is until Helius, a male god, takes pity on her and tells her what has happened (The Homeric Hymn to Demeter 70-77). The image of the matriarchy is not good enough to solve her own problems and must rely on a man to do so for her. Again, this sentiment is echoed towards the end of the story, when Zeus is the one to rescind his order to Hades. This order is given under duress, but the fact that Demeter must once again rely on a male god to rescue her child is an obvious depiction of male dominance

Hesiod’s gods lost their carelessness and gaiety of the Homeric gods, became the moral forces, severe guardians of order and justice, born of Zeus. The role of gods according to Hesiod belongs not only the Olympian gods with human form, like Zeus or Apollo, but the Earth, Sky, Star, Wind, Fight, Lies, Victory, Wisdom, violence, etc. Zeus as for Hesiod is not just carrier of the power, as Uranus and Kronus, but also the embodiment of a long-awaited order, keeper and guardian of ethics. The desire to have a better life and a constant feeling of dissatisfaction are natural for people, and the gods tend, on the contrary, to complicate people’s lives and create new difficulties. Thus, the Hesiod’s style of poetry is close to Homer’s one, but because of the general didactic orientation Hesiod’s poetry is almost out of bright Homeric metaphors, similes and epithets.

In contrast to the father, the mother had a connection with their children, often leading to an overthrow of the husband. This materialistic love is easily shown in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. “ The joy of Demeter’s eternal lifetime was her daughter, Persephone, whom she had borne to Zeus “ ( Rosenberg Demeter 94). After Persephone was taken away, Demeter became infuriated and even “ withdrew her life sustaining powers,.. she broke the plows, killed oxen, and caused the earth to shrivel” ( Rosenberg Demeter 96). Seen from Demeter’s reaction to the situation, the bond between mother and child was very strong compared to that of the father. When Persephone returns, she takes comfort in her mother rather than her father. Children usually took the mother’s side and went against their father’s will. In the creation myth of the Greeks, there were two generations in which the mother wanted to protect her children from the grasps of the father. Gaea was afraid of what Uranus would do to their fearful children, and sought to protect them ( Rosenberg Creation 86). The wives of Cronus and Uranus both schemed the overthrow of their husbands,

Holding great influence over both gods and mortals, Aphrodite could have anyone or anything she wanted. Using her unique powers, she could charm and convince her various desired lovers for much more than love and romance. Many have said that she was the goddess of lust, desire, trickery and sex appeal. Either way, Aphrodite had an assortment of engagements with other mortals and immortals. Her most recognized encounter was with the notorious Ares, who later went on to take the actual title of being her husband.

Throughout The Iliad, Homer offers us a glimpse into the lifestyles of the ancient Greeks and their beliefs. They are a very spiritual and in many ways superstitious people. The main thing to note throughout The Iliad is the interaction between the gods and the humans. Any way one looks at the situation, they can immediately see that humans are mere pawns to the gods in their game of chess. The success and failures of the humans depends on what god would be helping which group and at what particular time. This essay will explain the three main reasons the gods in The Iliad intervened with humans: Firstly, gods who act on their own personal motives, secondly, gods who act as favors to other gods, and finally gods who act as favors to

Zeus is the highest form of power among the gods, the ruler of both mortals and immortals. Through The Iliad, Zeus thinks he is in charge, but he is afraid of prophecies and fate. In the backstory of The Iliad, most know that Zeus wanted to have sex with Thetis, but he was afraid that the child they would bear together would be stronger than himself, as the prophecy stated ‘the first son of Thetis will be stronger than his father’. Dictated by his fate, Zeus refrained from having sex with her and married her off to another man so they would have a child together. Zeus is constantly expression that he is afraid of being undermined, but he is also to arrogant at points to admit that he’s not as powerful as he portrays himself. He’s fearful that someone will uncover his weaknesses and not respect him. By the start of The Iliad, Zeus is still afraid of people viewing him negatively, mortals and gods alike.

Demeter looked for her daughter for months, but tired and sad she sat on a rock for 9 days and nights. Looking as a sad old woman a farmer 's daughter asked for why 's she was sitting on the rock alone. Her father begging his daughter to come back, then the goddess spoke.

In Ovid Metamorphoses, the Roman literature described the ruthless act of Pluto of rape, to seize and carry away Proserpine without the consent of Ceres and in parallel in the Homeric Hymns of Demeter; Persephone was seized and carried away by Hades without the consent of Demeter. The invariant theme that was identified in both the Greek and Roman literature was the loss of innocence of Persephone/Proserpine. Despite the various differences the story was presented, it reinforced the innocence that was stolen from the god of the underworld, Hades or also known as Pluto. Throughout this paper, it will discuss the similar characteristics of the two myths such as the motive that led and encouraged the god of the underworld to kidnap

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter addresses the fate of Persephone is in the hands of others and is removed from freedom of choice as she is portrayed as a minor. In effect, it is symbolic of the power family holds as the actions of her mother, her father Zeus and her husband Hades determine her path. The text accustoms nickname Persephone throughout the passage as the ‘Core’, the ‘Girl’, or ‘Virgin’. These nicknames assume her role as an underage girl not responsible for her life decisions. The Hymn begins with highlighting the role of the patriarch in a family Zeus as both the head of the family and the other gods who must defer to him as he arranges Hades to take Persephone against her will. As Demeter struggles with the mourn and loss of her child she begins to abandon her reproduction responsibilities and Persephone is ordered to go to the side of your dark robed mother. However, Hades persuades Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds, representing the loss of her innocence as it spiritually bounds her to Hades. Zeus accustomed to be acknowledges as the father of justice and good government rectifies the issue with the arrangement that Persephone remains with Hades however returns to her mother and the Gods for 2 thirds of the year. The Fate of Persephone portrays the common marriage cycle that pertained in Ancient Greece whereby it held the connotation of death for the maiden and submission and adaptation into their Fathers orders.

Another example of Zeus’ predisposition for not having control over his more human needs is the fact that Aphrodite has power over him. Aphrodite, the very powerful goddess of love and lust, flaunts about her alleged power over Zeus. This, however, angered Zeus and led to a very stern punishment for Aphrodite. Zeus was growing tired of Aphrodite’s arrogance, so he punished her by making her fall in love with a mortal named Anchises.

There has long been a fashion among critics and historians, including Sir James Frazier and Graham Hancock, to insist upon taking the account of Odysseus' voyage to Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey at near face-value as a description of people and places familiar to a Greek audience of Homer's day. Both linguistics and comparative history have been employed to discover exactly how accurately this originally oral epic conveys this gritty realism. Something, however, is not right with this purely empiric approach. What is missing is an examination through the lens of ancient religious practices. Surely a literary work so teeming with deities-wise Athena, spiteful Poseidon, impish

One of the issues in Homers The Odyssey is understanding the role and function of the goddess Athena. The problem is most pronounced when examining Athena’s duality. She provides Odysseus both her counsel and assistance throughout the story yet she’s also the entity that keeps him exiled from his home. Athena’s role, similar to the other gods, is to correct apparent injustices. “Oh father Zeus and gods and bliss forever let no man holding scepter as a king think to be mild the fatherhood and mercy through his reign. Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon the island of the nymph…” Book 5 lines 9-21. These lines show that Athena is concerned about the injustice that surrounds Odysseus and his son. This suggests that gods can become active in the role of mortals and may aid them to correct inequity through their fate. This paper will explore the obligations Athena had to ensure Odysseus’ voyage home safely as well as the thematic importance of fate in The Odyssey and the intervention and the power of the gods and goddesses. Fate is one of the occurring themes throughout the Odyssey, where the intervention of the gods and goddesses is common due to the triumphs of men and women.

In this week's text, Ovid and the many nameless authors of the Homeric Hymns help readers cast an interestingly subtle light on Zeus that is both consistent across these texts as well as beyond that which was previously seen in Hesiod's Theogony. Such light subtly alludes to Zeus as more than just ruler of the gods, but as an arbitrator of mortal sexuality and one to endow women with properties of mortal sexual beings. The first and most obvious indicator of this is the story of Persephone in which, "by the design of Zeus" (Homeric Hymns 170), Hades entices Persephone with a flower of extreme beauty. Later in the story, after Zeus orders Hades to return Persephone to Demeter to restore fertility to men, Hades' trick of an offer of pomegranate keeps her to himself for one third of every year (Homeric Hymns 177). Hades' flower, a possible symbol of the innocence and chastity of Persephone, can be seen past physical bait as one of baiting the sexuality and exploration of Persephone. She is deflowered by the god of the underworld usually symbolizing death, which is often seen as a euphemism for an orgasm in french literature. Following this, we can see the pomegranate as symbolic of blood, the beginning of Persephone's womanhood and entrance into her menstrual cycle which is accompanied by a wrath amongst men (that of Demeter). The idea of this first blood eternally binding her to a cycle of temporary death that comes with infertility of the land for men by the design of the god

“Why? Why would Hades invite me to be in such a horrible event? It’s Athena you want, my sister. She’s the warrior, not me.” Zeus smiled and shook his head, being the third person that day to flat out laugh in my face, and I’d about had it. I, Persephone, daughter of Kidaria and Sebastian and most passive woman on this Earth, was about to have her first mental breakdown.