CLAS 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Vestal Virgin, Germination, Thesmophoria
28 Sep 2016
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Demeter: when persephone was abducted, demeter could not find her and thus fell into a depression, and because of this the agricultural cycle was disrupted. The gods became worried because if the mortals died of starvation, they will no longer be honoured. Zeus demands hades to release persephone: hades reluctantly agrees, but he tricked her by giving her pomegranate that would tie her to the underworld, forces her to come back to the underworld for 3 months every year. Sitos: wheat, food: demeter is almost associated with persephone, wheat was a basic staple of the greek diet. She also has a certain relation with the dead: greeks would sow corn on graves. Special festival in honour of demeter and persephone. The festival"s purpose was to pray for good harvest and crops. There are not a lot of preserved writings about this festival, probably due to the status of women.
