In Hesiod's Theogony, Demeter is a goddess of the generation of Zeus : daughter of Rhea and Kronos, granddaughter of Gaia and Ouranos. In accordance with the genealogical principle that divine children specialize the functions of their parents, the six children of the couple formed by Kronos and Rhea will, as it were, " realize " some of the potentialities of their progenitors. After analyzing the implications of this principle for Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, Hestia and Hera, the case of Demeter is examined through the children attributed to her in the Theogony: Persephone, born of Zeus, taken from her mother to be given to Hades, king of the dead, and Ploutos, born of the goddess's union with the hero Iasion in a field at rest, thrice ploughed. The fate of Persephone, who becomes queen of the underworld, makes Demeter a vector of sovereignty : along with Zeus, she is a genealogical conveyor belt of the skills of her parents, who rule the cosmos. As for Ploutos, he is the fruit of the first union in the catalog that closes the Theogony, when the Muses are invited to sing " the goddesses, the immortals, who have entered the bed of mortal men, who have begotten them children like the gods " (v. 965-968). However, Ploutos' status is singular within a list that produces epic heroes like Achilles, Aeneas, Geryon and Memnon, or heroines like Inô and Sémélè. He is closely related to the figure of Phaethon, born of the union of the goddess Éos and the mortal Kephalos, then kidnapped by Aphrodite to make him a divine daimōn in her temples. Ploutos is a " daïmonic " being of this type. Where Phaethon manifests the divine power of Aphrodite, Ploutos is the specific manifestation of that of Demeter.
11:00 - 12:00
