The gate of the year

Figure on the left:

Marble statue of Demeter, Roman copy from a Greek original of the IV century B.C., now in the National Museum (Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps), Rome. The goddess Demeter, one of the great divinities worshiped all through Greece, was an ancient personification of the Earth, patroness of all that grows on it, particularly vegetation and crops. The mythological tradition associated her with her daughter Persephone, born from her intercourse with Zeus. Persephone was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld. Upset by the abduction, Demeter began to wander searching for her daughter, forgetting her own duties, and provoking in this way the withering of the lands and a lack of harvests. As had occurred in the case of Adonis, for the intercession of Zeus, it was permitted to Persephone to spend one period of the year with her mother and another period with her husband, in the Underworld. Death and regeneration are in this case strictly associated with the seasonal cycle, governing and arranging the growth of crops, but also the destiny of mankind, for whom death does not prevent the continuity of life. The two goddesses were also united in the worship celebrated in Eleusis, the most prominent mystery cult of the ancient world. Though only few details of the Eleusinian ceremonies are known, it seems that the main focus was on the evocation of the generative power and in the symbolism of new life (Sfameni Gasparro 2005; Graf 2005d).

[Source: http://www.lamythologie.fr/mythologie-grecque/dieux-olympiens/demeter/sculptures/]

Figure on the right:

Detail of a lekythos (oil vase), representing Demeter and her daughter Persephone (450-425 B.C.), in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The domain of Demeter, patroness of the harvest, extended to the borders of the cultivated fields, where the reign of Artemis, of the hunt and of wilderness, began. The illustration shows the goddess holding in her hand ears of wheat, symbolizing the association with the fertility of the earth, the cycle of the seasons and the agricultural rituals. The symbol of the ear of wheat appears also during the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, devoted to the two goddesses, ceremonies about which the ancient sources remain rather fragmentary and inaccurate (Graf 2005d).

[Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]




Female Symbols

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Figure on the left: Marble statue of Demeter, Roman copy from a Greek original of the IV century B.C., now in the National Museum (Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Altemps), Rome. The goddess Demeter, one of the great divinities worshiped all through Greece, was an ancient personification of the Earth, patroness of all that grows on it, particularly vegetation and crops. The mythological tradition associated her with her daughter Persephone, born from her intercourse with Zeus. Persephone was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld. Upset by the abduction, Demeter began to wander searching for her daughter, forgetting her own duties, and provoking in this way the withering of the lands and a lack of harvests. As had occurred in the case of Adonis, for the intercession of Zeus, it was permitted to Persephone to spend one period of the year with her mother and another period with her husband, in the Underworld. Death and regeneration are in this case strictly associated with the seasonal cycle, governing and arranging the growth of crops, but also the destiny of mankind, for whom death does not prevent the continuity of life. The two goddesses were also united in the worship celebrated in Eleusis, the most prominent mystery cult of the ancient world. Though only few details of the Eleusinian ceremonies are known, it seems that the main focus was on the evocation of the generative power and in the symbolism of new life (Sfameni Gasparro 2005; Graf 2005d). [Source: http://www.lamythologie.fr/mythologie-grecque/dieux-olympiens/demeter/sculptures/] Figure on the right: Detail of a lekythos (oil vase), representing Demeter and her daughter Persephone (450-425 B.C.), in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The domain of Demeter, patroness of the harvest, extended to the borders of the cultivated fields, where the reign of Artemis, of the hunt and of wilderness, began. The illustration shows the goddess holding in her hand ears of wheat, symbolizing the association with the fertility of the earth, the cycle of the seasons and the agricultural rituals. The symbol of the ear of wheat appears also during the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, devoted to the two goddesses, ceremonies about which the ancient sources remain rather fragmentary and inaccurate (Graf 2005d). [Source: http://library.artstor.org/library/]