The mythology of Greece and Rome, with special reference to its use in art

by Otto Seemann

It is not difficult to discover the meaning of this myth. It is simply an allegorical representation of the spectacle that is annually renewed before our eyes—the dying away and coming to life again of the vegetable world. Whilst Cora is dwelling during the winter months in the realms of Hades, Nature appears to wear a garb of mourning for her lost daughter. In the Eleusinian mysteries this inevitable decease and resurrection of the vegetable world was conceived as a symbol of higher meaning, setting forth the immortality of the soul. Every living being shares the fate of Cora; every life becomes the prey of cold, inexorable death, only to arise from the darkness of the grave more beautiful and glorious than before.

Closely connected with this beautiful and expressive myth is another which refers to the institution of the Eleusinian mysteries. When Demeter, after the loss of her daughter, was wandering over the earth in the guise of a poor old woman, she came to Eleusis. The daughters of Celeüs, the king of the city, found her sitting on a stone by the Maidens’ Well as they came thither to draw water, and offered the old woman service in their father’s house as nurse to their youngest brother Demophon. The goddess consented, and was kindly received in the house of Celeüs, where she was at once installed as nurse to the young prince. She became so fond of the child that she resolved to make him immortal by anointing him with ambrosia, and then laying him at night in the glow of the fire. She was discovered at her work, however, by the mother of the child, whose cries disturbed her, and thus prevented her from fulfilling her benevolent intention. She now revealed herself to Celeüs, and commanded him to build her a temple in Eleusis. When it had been hastily completed, with the help of the goddess, she initiated Celeüs and some other princes of Eleusis—Triptolemus, Eumolpus, and Diocles—in the solemn rites of her service. On Triptolemus, who is called the son of Celeüs, she imposed the task of disseminating a knowledge of agriculture and of her own worship throughout the earth, and for this purpose lent him her own chariot and dragons. On this he travelled through the countries of the earth, making known everywhere the blessings of agriculture, and uniting men in regular political communities. He was not well received in all places, and the goddess had sometimes to step in and punish those who contemned her benefits. Such was the case with the Scythian king Lynceus and the Thessalian prince Erysichthon; but at length her cause triumphed, and the worship of the bountiful goddess spread itself over the whole world.

The chief seat of her worship was the city of Eleusis, which was beautifully situated on the bay of Salamis. It retained this honour even after it had lost its independence and come into the possession of the Athenians. The Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated both here and at Athens, in honour of Demeter and the deities associated with her. They probably contained a symbolical history of Cora.

There was a distinction between the greater and lesser mysteries. The latter were celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion (February), and were a kind of preparation for the greater mysteries, which took place in September, and were celebrated during nine days, partly at Athens and partly at Eleusis. In these secret rites only those could take part who had been initiated. The chief feature of the festival was a great and solemn procession on the sixth day from Athens to Eleusis, a distance of about twelve miles. All those who took part in it—often as many as 30,000—were crowned with myrtle, and bore torches in their hands, as the procession started from Athens at the earliest dawn.

The festival of the Thesmophoria, which was celebrated at the beginning of November, in honour of Demeter in her character of lawgiver and goddess of marriage, was less important than the Eleusinia. It lasted for five days, and only married women were allowed to take part in it.

Fig. 44.—Demeter Enthroned. Painting from Pompeii. Naples.

The Ceres of the Romans, though undoubtedly an ancient Italian goddess, was the very counterpart of the Greek Demeter, with whom, after the successful introduction of her worship during the first years of the Republic, she was entirely identified.

The chief festival of Ceres and her associate deities, Liber and Libera, fell on the 19th of April, which, as the proper spring month, was especially dedicated by the inhabitants of Italy to deities presiding over agriculture. The Cerealia were opened by a grand procession, in which every one was clothed in white. It was further celebrated with solemn sacrifices and games in the circus, the management of which lay with the plebeian ædiles.

The usual sacrifice, both among Greeks and Romans, was the sow (the symbol of fruitfulness), but, besides this, cows and the first fruits of the trees and hives were offered to her.