Demeter
	Representation of Demeter, Artist Unknown.

Demeter is the Goddess of harvest, fertility and wheat. It is with her participation that all crops grow. She is therefore extremely important in the scheme of human existence. She is also associated with fertility.

Demeter had many lovers, including her brother Zeus. By him, she bore her daughter Persephone. Zeus later killed another of Demeter's lovers, Iasion, with a thunderbolt. Demeter also visited revenge upon her enemies, usually in the form of famine. She punished Erysichthon in this way for having cut down an oak tree; also upon the Thessalian King Triopas for destroying an ancient temple.

The most important legend involving Demeter is found in the abduction of her daughter, Persephone. Hades desired to marry Persephone and sough permission from Zeus. Zeus replied that he neither objected nor agreed to the union. This was enough for Hades. One day as Persephone picked flowers in a meadow, Hades came in his chariot and carried her off sobbing to the underworld. Demeter was grief stricken and for many days did not know about her daughter's whereabouts. It was Hecate, who had witnessed the abduction, who relayed the news. For a period of time, Demeter refused to let anything grow on Earth. A famine was threatening to starve humankind to extinction.

Zeus eventually dispatched Hermes with two separate messages, one to Demeter and one to Hades. He promised Demeter that Persephone could return, provided she had not tasted the fruit of Tartarus. He demanded that Hades return Persephone to her mother under the same condition. Unfortunately, Persephone had eaten three seeds of a pomegranate while with Hades, ensuring that she could not stay away from him. (The consumption of these seeds is said to be symbolic of the consummation of their marriage.) Demeter, grief-stricken, refused to accept her daughter's fate. Eventually, with Hecate's help, a deal was struck which saw Persephone return to Hades six months of every year. The other six she would spend with her mother.

During the six months that Persephone sits on the throne next to Hades, Demeter continues to forbid growth on Earth. It is for this reason that we have winter. Demeter, not wanting humankind to starve, taught us the art of agriculture. There is evidence of a cult to Demeter which existed in ancient Greece and ceremonies celebrating the return of Persephone from Hades each spring.

In Roman mythology, Demeter is referred to as Ceres.

Genealogy: Demeter is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She is the sister of Zeus (God of the Sky), Poseidon (God of the Sea), Hades (God of the Underworld), Hestia and Hera. Demeter had a daughter, Persephone, by her brother Zeus.

Symbols: Torch, Crown, Sceptre, Wheat.