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| The Fate of Persephone, 1877 - Walter Crane |
Content
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is an epic poem that tells the story of the abduction of Persephone by Hades and Demeter's struggle to bring her beloved daughter back (Foley, 1994, p. 79). Persephone was picking flowers when Hades carried her to the Underworld in his chariot. After Demeter discovered that Zeus had given Persephone to his brother to marry without the consent of the young woman, "she left the immortals who gathered together in council on the broad expanse of Olympus" (Lines 86 - 87) and travelled to the town of Eleusis disguised as an elderly woman. She was welcomed initially but after failing to turn a human baby immortal she commanded that a great temple be built in her honour and ragefully created a famine on earth. "Demeter might well have destroyed the whole of humankind by a famine" (Line 278) if not for Zeus commanding Hermes to bring Persephone back. Persephone had consumed a pomegranate seed, partially linking her to the Underworld, but she was still able to spend two-thirds of the year on Earth with her mother. Demeter ended the famine and the Hymn concludes with the founding of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Themes
Maidenhood and Motherhood
Although Persephone was a goddess and possessed powers that humans could only ever dream of, "Persephone's fate resembles that of Greek girls who, at age fourteen, were married to war-hardened men twice their age, who they scarcely knew." (Powell, 2012, p. 249). Just as Zeus allowed Hades to abduct and forcibly marry Persephone without her consent, fathers had the right to give their daughter away to whoever they liked without considering the thoughts or feelings of the girls.
In addition to the loss of virginity and childhood symbolised by Persephone's abduction, the Hymn connects meaningfully to mother-daughter relationships and the lived experiences of women in Ancient Greece. Unlike Homeric epics that focus on male heroic deeds, such as the Iliad or the Odyssey, "the Hymn puts female experience at the centre of the narrative by giving the privileged place to the point of view of the divine mother and daughter on their shared catastrophe." (Foley, 1994, p. 80). The other Homeric Hymns have a tendency to idealise marriage, to act as if a woman's value lies solely in their marriageability (Foley, 1994, p. 80), whereas the Hymn to Demeter takes a much more sympathetic approach to it. It engages with Demeter's grief at the loss of her child and validates it, a grief that embodies what many Greek mothers must have felt seeing their daughters be given away to a stranger. Relationships between mortals and gods
Through its themes the Homeric Hymn also provides a warning lesson on how to treat divinities, that is to say, show them respect, honour them, worship them, and trust that their word is law. In disguise as an old woman, Demeter attempts to turn a human child immortal by placing him into the fire. When his mother sees this she cries out in distress, "this stranger woman has plunged you deep in the flames and is causing me terrible sorrow and anguish" (Lines 222), clearly insulting Demeter and upsetting her even more than she was. For this egregious slight Demeter commands that a temple be built in her honour.
Another theme that the Hymn highlights is the fragility of human existence. Demeter’ rage at her daughter’s abduction and the human child's mother's disrespect causes the crops to wither and famine to almost destroy humanity. This helps to stress the warning about always worshipping and respecting the Gods, because you might happen to run into one in a bad mood and accidentally cause the starvation of humanity.
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| The Return of Persephone, c. 1891 - Frederic Leighton |
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