Singing Demeter : theHomeric Hymn (2)

The analysis of the theogonic components of theHomeric Hymn to Demeter continues with the figure of Demophon, the young child of the rulers of Eleusis whom the goddess undertakes to immortalize. The episode depicts the first consequence of Demeter's wrath, before the grain strike. The plot thus creates a mirror image between Persephone's abduction and Demeter's treatment of the little man : in both cases, it's a question of crossing a boundary that is in principle unbridgeable, between the world of the living and that of the dead for Persephone, and between mortal and immortal status for Demophon. Demeter's attempt fails, and she demands the construction of a temple and altar where she will reveal her rites. The boundary between human mortality and divine immortality is not broken, but rituals performed by men to honor Demeter will have a role to play in softening its radicality. In this case, it's the special relationship between a divine mother and her divine child that mitigates the inevitability, for mortals, of crossing the boundary into the realm of Hades. Whereas the mothers of the two previous generations sided with the son against the father (Gaia armed Kronos against Ouranos and Rheia shielded Zeus from Kronos' voracity), with the Kronides, maternal power no longer passes through the royal wife - in this case Hera, who, unlike her forebears, contributes to the stability of her husband's power - but through Dēmētēr, the deity " mother ", more than any other concerned by the mortality of men.