Demeter

Demeter
Goddess of the harvest, agriculture, fertility and sacred law
Member of the Twelve Olympians
A marble statue of Demeter, National Roman Museum
Other names	Sito, Thesmophoros
Abode	Mount Olympus
Symbol	Cornucopia, wheat, torch, bread
Festivals	Thesmophoria, Eleusinian Mysteries
Personal information
Parents	Cronus and Rhea
Siblings	Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Chiron
Consort	Iasion, Zeus, Poseidon
Children	Persephone, Despoina, Arion, Plutus, Philomelus, Iacchus
Roman equivalent	Ceres

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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 grains and the fertility of the earth. She was also called Deo (Δηώ).^[1]. Her cult titles include Sito (Σιτώ), "she of the Grain",^[2] as the giver of food or grain,^[3] and Thesmophoros (θεσμός, thesmos: divine order, unwritten law; φόρος, phoros: bringer, bearer), "giver of customs" or "legislator", in association with the secret female-only festival called the Thesmophoria.^[4]

Though Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. 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.^[5] Demeter was often considered to be the same figure as the Anatolian goddess Cybele, and she was identified with the Roman goddess Ceres.

Etymology[]

It is possible that Demeter appears in Linear A as da-ma-te on three documents (AR Zf 1 and 2, and KY Za 2), all three apparently dedicated in religious situations and all three bearing just the name (i-da-ma-te on AR Zf 1 and 2).^[6] It is unlikely that Demeter appears as da-ma-te in a Linear B (Mycenean Greek) inscription (PY En 609); the word