For several decades now, the Earth has been stubbornly reminding mankind that its anger is increasingly uncontained. According to Bruno Latour, Gaia must now be looked "in the face" (Face à Gaïa, 2015). The choice of a Greek term to designate the earth, which is, according to the author, neither "Mother Earth" nor "Nature", challenges the historian of ancient Greece. Who is Gê/Gaia for the Greeks themselves? How did they conceive their relationship with the earth, whose poetry makes them epichthonians ("those who walk on the ground") as well as "bread eaters"? How did they define the power of Gaia or Gê, the capitalized Earth, as a divine power? The issues outlined here are immense, and it's not our intention to cover them all. In this year's lecture, the figure of Demeter, Gaia's granddaughter in Hesiod's writings, will serve as a reactive tool.
Following a method already tried and tested for other divinities, both the narrative traditions concerning the goddess and some of the cults paid to her are analyzed. In the latter register, Demeter as Thesmophoros is privileged for two reasons: the cult title is specific to her, and she receives it throughout the Greek world. But what exactly does it mean? Its meaning deserves some clarification, since classical language refers to Demeter as "she who brings the laws". As for the festival celebrated in her honor, it was the exclusive preserve of female citizens. The Thesmophoria are as much about women's fertility and their place in the polis as they are about the fertility of the land. Proof that, even in ancient Greece, Gaia was more than just a passive, exploitable entity.