In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (/dɪˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr [dɛːmɛ́ːtɛːr]; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́tēr) is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth.

In response, Demeter neglected her duties as goddess of agriculture, plunging the earth into a deadly famine where nothing would grow, causing mortals to die.

She and her daughter Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a religious tradition that predated the Olympian pantheon and which may have its roots in the Mycenaean period c. 1400–1200 BC.

It is possible that Da (Δᾶ),[14] a word which corresponds to Gē (Γῆ) in Attic, is the Doric form of De (Δῆ), "earth", the old name of the chthonic earth-goddess, and that Demeter is "Mother-Earth".

[15] Liddell & Scott find this "improbable" and Beekes writes, "there is no indication that [da] means "earth", although it has also been assumed in the name of Poseidon found in the Linear B inscription E-ne-si-da-o-ne, "earth-shaker".

[20] Another theory suggests that the element De- might be connected with Deo, an epithet of Demeter[21] and it could derive from the Cretan word dea (δηά), Ionic zeia (ζειά)—variously identified with emmer, spelt, rye, or other grains by modern scholars—so that she is the mother and the giver of food generally.

However, Demeter is not generally portrayed with any of her consorts; the exception is Iasion, the youth of Crete who lay with her in a thrice-ploughed field and was killed afterward by a jealous Zeus with a thunderbolt.

She was said to have taken the form of a mare to escape the pursuit of her younger brother, Poseidon, and having been raped by him despite her disguise, she dressed all in black and retreated into a cave to mourn and to purify herself.

In the older chthonic cults the earth goddess was related to the Underworld and in the secret rites (mysteries) Demeter and Persephone share the double function of death and fertility.

[64] Major cults to Demeter are known at Eleusis in Attica, Hermion (in Crete), Megara, Celeae, Lerna, Aegila, Munychia, Corinth, Delos, Priene, Akragas, Iasos, Pergamon, Selinus, Tegea, Thoricus, Dion (in Macedonia)[65] Lykosoura, Mesembria, Enna, and Samothrace.

[69] Around 1765–1766, the antiquary Richard Chandler, alongside the architect Nicholas Revett and the painter William Pars, visited Eleusis and mentioned a statue of a caryatid as well as the folklore that surrounded it, they stated that it was considered sacred by the locals because it protected their crops.

[74] The worship of Demeter has formally merged with that of Ceres around 205 BC, along with the ritus graecia cereris, a Greek-inspired form of cult, as part of Rome's general religious recruitment of deities as allies against Carthage, towards the end of the Second Punic War.

My will controls the shining heights of heaven, the health-giving sea winds, and the mournful silences of hell; the entire world worships my single godhead in a thousand shapes, with divers rites, and under many a different name.

[83] An alternate recounting of the matter appears in a fragment of the lost Orphic theogony, which preserves part of a myth in which Zeus mates with his mother, Rhea, in the form of a snake, explaining the origin of the symbol on Hermes' staff.

In their cult at Eleusis, they were referred to simply as "the goddesses", usually distinguished as "the older" and "the younger"; in Rhodes and Sparta, they were worshipped as "the Demeters"; in the Thesmophoria, they were known as "the thesmophoroi" ("the legislators").

[63] Both Homer and Hesiod, writing c. 700 BC, described Demeter making love with the agricultural hero Iasion in a ploughed field during the marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia.

Diodorus also related a version of the myth of Dionysus' destruction by the Titans ("sons of Gaia"), who boiled him, and how Demeter gathered up his remains so that he could be born a third time (Diod.

This bound her to Hades and the Underworld for certain months of every year, most likely the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought,[103] despite the popular belief that it is autumn or winter.

Contrary to popular perception, Persephone's time in the Underworld does not correspond with the unfruitful seasons of the ancient Greek calendar, nor her return to the upper world with springtime.

[109] In the Orphic tradition, while she was searching for her daughter, a mortal woman named Baubo received Demeter as her guest and offered her a meal and wine.

To reward his kindness, she planned to make Demophon immortal; she secretly anointed the boy with ambrosia and laid him in the hearth's flames to gradually burn away his mortal self.

"So it was when Demeter of the braided tresses followed her heart and lay in love with Iasion in the triple-furrowed field; Zeus was aware of it soon enough and hurled the bright thunderbolt and killed him.

The myth describes how he pursued his older sister, Demeter, who hid from him among the horses of the king Onkios, but even in the form of a mare, she could not conceal her divinity.

The statue depicted a Medusa-like figure with a horse's head and snake-like hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, which probably represented her power over air and water:[120] The second mountain, Mount Elaius, is some thirty stades away from Phigalia, and has a cave sacred to Demeter surnamed Black ... the Phigalians say, they concluded that this cavern was sacred to Demeter and set up in it a wooden image.

[27] The myth tells of Erysichthon ordering all of the trees in one of Demeter's sacred groves to be cut down, as he wanted to build an extension of his palace and hold feasts there.

[121] In a variation, Erysichthon tore down a temple of Demeter, wishing to build a roof for his house; she punished him the same way, and near the end of his life, she sent a snake to plague him.

[129][130][131] In an Argive myth, when Demeter arrived in Argolis, a man named Colontas refused to receive her in his house, whereas his daughter Chthonia disapproved of his actions.

[138] During her wanderings, Demeter came upon the town of Pheneus; to the Pheneates that received her warmly and offered her shelter, she gave all sorts of pulse, except for beans, deeming it impure.

[143] When her son Philomelus invented the plough and used it to cultivate the fields, Demeter was so impressed by his good work that she immortalized him in the sky by turning him into a constellation, the Boötes.

[148] Demeter seems to have accompanied Dionysus when he descended into the Underworld to retrieve his mother Semele in order to visit her now married daughter, and perhaps lead her back to the land of the living for the remainder of the year.