Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. Her counterpart is the Greek goddess Demeter. She was also a member of the Dii Consentes, the twelve key deities of the Roman Empire.
Description[]
Ceres held power over all agriculture and ensured the bounty of the annual harvests. Generally thought to be a young woman, Ceres was usually presented as an adult of child-bearing age. She often carried a staff as a symbol of her authority, but would sometimes carry a torch as well. The latter item served both as an allusion to her search for her daughter Proserpina and as a symbol of enlightenment. She was also commonly depicted holding grains of wheat (or some other cereal crop) and pulling a plow.
History[]
Origins[]
She was a daughter of Saturn and Ops, as sister to Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno and Vesta. Unsure of the usurper's identity, Saturn ate his first five children (Ceres included) as soon as they emerged from the womb. In an effort to preserve her progeny, Ops tricked Saturn into eating a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes in place of her final child, Jupiter. Unable to digest the rock, Saturn vomited the entire contents of his stomach back into the world. Ceres, along with her siblings Pluto, Neptune, Juno, and Vesta, were now free. Together with their brother Jupiter, the sibling deities brought order to the universe.
Abduction of Prosperina[]
Her daughter was the goddess Proserpina. The mythology of Ceres centered on the abduction of her daughter, Proserpina, by the powerful chthonic deity, Pluto. It was one of the most famous mythological tales in the ancient world, one told by the Greeks, whose Eleusinian mystery cult focused on the story, and cherished by the Romans as well.
Devastated by the loss of her daughter when Pluto kidnapped her, and not knowing what really happened, Ceres set off in search of the missing girl. Though she traveled far and wide, and carried a torch to help her see clearly, her search was fruitless. At long last, Ceres made her way to Siciliy, where she found Prosperina’s belt made from delicate tears of nymphs. In her sorrowful anger, she put a curse on Sicily that blighted the city's crops and left its lands barren.
After much debate, a compromise was reached whereby Proserpina would divide her time between her mother and her abductor. The precise amount of time spent with each was presented differently in different traditions, but the time of the year Proserpina spent with Pluto corresponded to winter, when Ceres was too angry and distraught to allow growing things to flourish. Spring marked the return of Proserpina (and life itself) to the world.
Links []
- Ceres - Wikipedia
- Ceres - Gods & Goddess Wiki
- Ceres - Unnatural World Wiki