The Goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone are among the lesser known Greek Gods. Traditionally Demeter has been known as one of the twelve main Olympians, but in practice she is usually ignored. This phenomenon is actually odd, since she and Persephone rule over the growth and the death of the earth's vegetation. There are only few myths associated with these two goddesses, but the ones that exist are quite important to the continuing flourishment of the earth. Apparently, in the beginning, there was no separation of seasons, just never ending good crops. To fully understand the greatness of the duties of these two Goddesses, it is important to learn about their history. It even seemed that for a time, the power of continuing health and happiness for man lay in the hands of Demeter. She inherited many of her mother Rhea's characteristics, such as being an Earth-Mother-Goddess, becoming the Goddess of vegetation and fruitfulness, especially the corn. She represented the products of soil and seasons. Demeter was the Goddess of the harvest and she taught man to grow crops. Traditionally the first loaf of bread of the season was sacrificed to Demeter. She lived on the mountainous island of Sicily and was known as the protector of the fields, Demeter was also known as the fair haired earth Goddess who blesses all phases of the harvest. Hades' abduction of Persephone into the underworld The beautiful daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Persephone is the focus of the story resulting in the division of the seasons, giving us the sweetness of Spring and the bitterness of Winter. Hades did not woo the beautiful Persephone, he abducted her and took her to his underground kingdom. After much protest, Persephone came to love the cold blooded king of the underworld but her mother, Demeter, was consumed with rage and sorrow. She demonstrated her anger by punishing the earth’s inhabitants with bitter cold and blustering winds. Unless Persephone was returned to her mother’s side, the earth would perish. Hermes was sent to the house of Hades by Zeus to reason with Hades. He entered the kingdom of Hades and negotiated a compromise between the usually cold and selfish Hades and the usually loving and caring Demeter. Before Persephone could leave the underworld, Hades gave her a pomegranate seed to eat. By doing this he bound her to himself and his kingdom. When Demeter found out about the trickery she was angry but she was also resigned that there was nothing she could do. Her loving daughter was bound to the Lord of the Dead. With no alternative, it was agreed that Persephone would to spend part of the year with her husband Hades and part of the year in the sunlight with her mother Demeter. When Persephone is with Hades the earth is wracked by the sorrow of her mother. But, when Persephone returns from the underworld to walk the earth again, Demeter pours forth the blessings of Spring to welcome her beloved daughter home. As the goddess of grain and fertility, Demeter played an important, indeed essential role in ancient Greek society. The Greeks, like most ancient cultures, relied upon agriculture for their sustenance. As the patron deity of agriculture, Demeter was accordingly worshipped with festivals such as the Thesmophoria and other honors. Likewise, her association with grain also translated into a close relationship with human fertility, as this was another crucial part in our continuing survival. There are, many myths dealing with Demeter in her capacity as a fertility goddess. In addition to the myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, another intriguing tale that involves the Goddess of fertility is her affair with the mortal Iasion. According to the version told by the poet Hesiod, Demeter and Iasion coupled with passion on a field plowed three times, in the rich soil Crete. Apparently this legendary liaison with Iasion was quite a fruitful one, for Demeter became pregnant and eventually bore her human lover a son named Plutus. When Demeter disguises herself as an old woman, she is assuming the direct opposite identity of herself in that an old woman represents barrenness. The guise of the old woman also acts as an unwelcome reminder of human mortality. In this light, Demeter’s disguise could be perceived as a symbol of her decision to starve the mortals by holding back her fertile gifts. The Hymn perpetuates this symbolism in the following passage. “And she was like an ancient woman who is cut off from child bearing and the gifts of garland-loving Aphrodite, like the nurses of king's children who deal justice, or like the housekeepers in their echoing halls.” The image of barrenness is especially evident in the reference to the echoing halls, which could also allude to the emptiness a mother feels in her heart when her child is taken from her. In myth and legend the Crone is often seen as the third part of a deity, much like that of the Christians Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However in this Greek version of the trinity, The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone make up the three interrelated divine beings. Like the Christian trinity, this hierarchy of Greek Goddesses reinforces the need of human beings to visualize or relate to a divine force. From the Trilogy perspective, Persephone is Maiden or daughter, Demeter is Mother, and Hecate of the underworld is the Crone. Of course the viewpoint could also be taken that instead of the triad consisting of three separate beings, it actually is comprised of three distinct parts of Demeter herself. In this respect, Doso completes the Trinity in that Demeter was the Mother of Earth, who wept beside the Maiden Well, disguised as a crone. Therefore, Demeter’s disguise as an old woman, or the mortal version of a crone, was used to both conceal her true identity and to fulfill her destiny. The earth is Demeter's body created by her from chaos, and all who live on it are born of Demeter's womb. At death one returns to the mother, and the body of the earth, the fertile female, provides nourishment for the human, animal and plant life that live on it. Demeter is this nourishment. She is the basis of life, while her guise as an old woman is fundamentally a symbol of death.     Left: Demeter, Persephone and the Nymphs - Right: Demeter and the corn-sickle Demeter's Temple in the Antiquity