Demeter

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For other uses, see Demeter (disambiguation).

Demeter

Goddess of the harvest, agriculture, fertility and sacred law

Member of the Twelve Olympians

A marble statue of Demeter, National Roman Museum

Other Sito, Thesmophoros

names

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 Ceres

equivalent

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In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Demeter (/dɪ

ˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr [dɛːmɛ́ːtɛːr]; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́ tēr) is the Olympian
goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over grains and the fertility of the
earth. Her cult titles include Sito (Σιτώ), "she of the Grain", [1] as the giver of food or grain,
[2]
 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.[3]
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.[4] Demeter was often considered to be the
same figure as the Anatolian goddess Cybele, and she was identified with the Roman
goddess Ceres.