Instructor's Class Notes for Greek and Roman Mythology 101

Cybele

*Also called Cybebe, Dindymene, Dindymenian Mother, and Agdistis.

*Greeks identified her with Rhea, but she is a goddess of Phrygian origin, from Asia Minor.

*Zeus once fell asleep and dreaming, ejaculated on the ground near Mt. Didymus. On that spot grew a god with male and female organs. The other gods were afraid of what kind of power a dual-gendered god might have when full-grown, so they cut off the male genitals.

*From the severed male genitals which had been cast aside on the ground grew an almond tree. The daughter of a river god picked some of the fruit and put one in her lap; it disappeared, and she became pregnant, giving birth to Attis. Cybele/Agdistis fell in love with Attis, but he was unaware of her love. She grew insanely jealous when he was betrothed to a local woman, and drove both Attis and his father-in-law mad. They castrated themselves in their insanity and Attis died. The evergreen pine is sacred to him, and thus associated also with Cybele.

*She is a chthonian deity; 'chthon' is Greek meaning of, in, or under the earth, and more specifically, the interior of the earth, and not the living surface, which is more often associated with Ge.

*She purified Dionysus and taught him his rites in Phrygia, and also taught the nymph Oenone prophecy.

*She is represented in art wearing a crown-shaped like a high city wall, and her chariot is pulled by lions. Her female attendants are similar to the Maenads of Dionysus, and she is also attended by Corybantes, like the Kouretes (Curetes) of boy-Zeus. Her priests castrated themselves.

Demeter

*Also called Deo by the Greeks, she is the goddess of grain and fertility, by association.

*In Krete (Crete) she is the Poppy Goddess.

*When Tantalus chopped up his son Pelops, attempting to fool the gods at a feast, she in her grief at the loss of Persephone, ate part of Pelops' shoulder. When the gods restored Pelops, she gave him a shoulder made of ivory.

*She met Harmonia's (mortal daughter of Ares and Aphrodite) brother Iason at Harmonia's marriage to Cadmus. They had two children together: Plutos, god of the wealth of the earth(later associated with Hades/Dis), and Philomenus, a poor mortal farmer who invented the wagon, and was made the constellation Bootes at his death.

*She held the bean in contempt as impure.

Persephone

*Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, or daughter of Zeus and the river Styx in one myth. Often called Kore, meaning maiden.

*As the father of Persephone and therefore in Greek law as her owner, Zeus agreed to Hades' marriage to Persephone but warned Hades to craft a plan, because Demeter would not agree.

*The nymph Arethusa and Hekate heard the abduction, and Helios saw it. Demeter searched 9 days and nights, refusing to eat or bathe. On the 10th day, Hekate found Demeter and told her what she'd heard, and together they went to Helios, who told them what he'd seen.

*The earliest account of the rape of Persephone was written in the 7th century B.C.E.

Demeter

*Was enraged, like Zeus predicted. She roamed the earth, neglecting herself.

*While in this condition, Poseidon tried and succeeded in raping her despite her attempt to hide by changing into a mare. He changed himself into a stallion, and she gave birth to Arion, the great horse, and a goddess known as Mistress, worshiped by the Arcadians, whose name was only revealed at her mysteries. The Arcadians worshiped a mare-headed Demeter and Poseidon in the form of a horse.

*In other parts of Greece she was said to have visited cities disguised as an old woman (crone). Where she was welcomed, she taught grain cultivation and other agricultural skills. Where she was shunned or shut out, she punished the inhabitants very severely.

Eleusis

*Demeter came and sat on a rock by a well. The 4 daughters of the king, granddaughters of the eponym, found her and invited her to the palace. She called herself Doso and offered to work at the types of tasks which were deemed traditionally appropriate for Crones (nursemaid, servant to the wife of the household, weaver/spinner). She was welcomed by queen Metaneira but sat in a corner weeping until a servant came and told jokes to try to make her smile. She then accepted a cup of kykeon (made of water, meal, and pennyroyal), and accepted the job of nursemaid to Demophon, son of the queen.

*Demeter loved Demophon like her own, annointing his forehead with ambrosia and putting him to sleep in the embers of the fire, as if he were a god. One night this was seen, and in anger, Demeter flung him from the fire and revealed herself. She later relented and taught the people of Eleusis her rites.

Demeter

*Meanwhile she is still upset at the loss of Persephone, and has caused a year of famine, so that men began to starve. After refusing a summons to Olympus, she was visited by all of the gods. She still refused to relent, so Hermes was sent to Hades to retrieve Persephone. Hades allowed her to go after giving her pomegranate seeds, knowing that once she ate she'd have to return.

*Zeus enjoined Rhea to visit her to stop the famine (odd if Demeter and Rhea are also associated as similar or the same entities).

*She rode about in a dragon-drawn chariot; once she lent it to Triptolemus, who flew it through the air sowing grain.

*She is a pre-Hellenic "earth mother," possibly reflected in her name. She has chthonian aspects.

*'Thesmophoria'=Lawgiver. The annual festival was to ensure continued fertility.

*Erysichthon cut down her sacred tree and was cursed with insatiable appetite.

1. Tripp, Edward. The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: New American Library, 1974.

2. Lefkowitz, Mary R. and Maureen B. Fant. Women's Life in Greece and Rome. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

3. Fantham, Elaine, et al. Women in the Classical World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.