The -phoros compounds are numerous in the Greek language and refer to the fact of " porter " or " apporter " something. In the context of cults, priestly titles or titles of servants on this theme are legion : bearers of branches, bearers of baskets, and so on. The gods are not to be outdone : Apollo is Daphnēphoros in Evia, Dionysus is Thyllophoros in Cos, Athena is Nikēphoros in Pergamon, and Demeter is Thesmophoros throughout the Greek world.
From the classical period onwards, the word thesmos is primarily understood as " institution ", " rule ", " law ". And it's in this sense that Callimachus, in the 3rd century BC, defines Demeter's divine epiclesis in the hymn he dedicates to her : she is said to have brought mankind the principles of cereal cultivation. This civilizing vision of the goddess dates back at least to the5th century, in the Athenocentric vision of her action, through the teaching of agriculture and the mysteries to mortals. Modern interpreters are divided over the meaning of Demeter's epiclesis, some adopting the ancient vision of " purveyor of laws ", others considering that the thesmoi were the putrefied remains of piglets which, during the festival, " puiseuses " brought up from the pits where they had been thrown. But it's the servants of the cult that this interpretation makes thesmophoroi, not the goddess herself.
In an attempt to clarify this point, which has been debated for over a century, we look at the earliest uses of the term thesmos . The concrete scope of the word can be seen in the (rare) uses to which it is put in archaic poetry, but there is no question of " what is deposited ". The term seems to refer to a carefully assembled artefact preserving something precious. It is therefore likely that in the earliest times, the Thesmophoros was neither " the one who brings the laws ", nor " the one who brings "what is deposited" ", but rather the one who entrusted women with the secure container housing her orgia.
