It is the lack of vegetable produce, which in addition to causing human starvation also deprives the gods of their sacrificial offerings, which prompts the gods to intervene, to bring Persephone back to Demeter, and for Demeter to gain additional honors once her mother Rheia returns her to the company of the gods on Olympus.

Demeter then reveals herself, and retreats to the safety of her temple in Eleusis, and it is only then that she removes the fertility from the earth. Demeter attempts to immortalize Demophoön, but is thwarted when Metaneira, the child’s mother, looks in on them and cries out in fear when she sees her child in the fire. She takes up residence as a nurse for the king of Eleusis, Keleos, and begins to look after his infant son, Demophoön.

Once Persephone is stolen by Hades, Demeter looks for information on where she has gone and what has become of her (with the help of Hekate and Helios), and then goes wandering the earth in disguise. However, this reading is at odds with the text itself, which Foley makes clear throughout her notes and discussions. The most common retellings and interpretations of the myth of Persephone’s rape by Hades and Demeter’s search for her daughter often interpret the entirety as a myth which gives the etiology for the change in seasons and the apparent “death” of nature in the fall and winter months of the year. There is a great deal about this volume which would make it a welcome addition to any modern polytheist’s library. While a variety of translations of the Homeric Hymns are available, the present version, with its parallel Greek text and English translation, extensive textual notes, and lengthy interpretive essay, is perhaps one of the most useful and comprehensive editions currently available. For all of its popularity and importance, however, it is also one of the most frequently misunderstood texts of Greek antiquity in existence, for reasons which will be detailed below.

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is perhaps best recognized as the “Persephone myth,” and this version of it is the oldest literate form known. Title: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays

Homeric hymn to demeter sparknotes