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Demeter, Ceres, Cybele - the goddess of fertility. Ceres - interesting facts about the ancient Roman goddess of fertility Ceres mythology

Personified earthly fertility; with her power she forced the earth to produce fruits and was considered the patroness of cereals. From Jupiter she had a daughter, Proserpina (among the Greeks, Persephone), who personified the vegetable kingdom.

Venus, Ceres and Bacchus. Painting by J. Brueghel the Younger

Ceres was a merciful and gracious goddess, she not only took care of cereals - the main food of people, but also took care of improving their lives. She taught people to plow the land, sow the fields, she always patronized legal marriages and other legal institutions that contribute to the calm and settled life of peoples.

Many famous sculptors, including Praxiteles, depicted Ceres-Demeter in their works, but very few statues have survived to this day, and even then in a destroyed or restored form. The type of this goddess is better known from the picturesque representations preserved in Herculaneum; one of them, the most famous, represents Ceres in full growth: her head is surrounded by radiance, in her left hand she holds a basket filled with ears of corn, and in her right hand is a torch, which she lit from the flames of Mount Etna when she was looking for her daughter.

Ancient art presents Ceres as a majestic matron with meek, soft features, in long loose robes; on her head is a wreath of ears of corn, and in her hands are poppies and ears of corn. A basket of fruits and a pig are her attributes. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish statues or images of Ceres from those of her daughter. They are both often given the same attributes, although Persephone is most often portrayed as younger. Almost no authentic statues of these goddesses have survived to this day, but there are many coins with their images.

Ovid relates that Ceres cured the insomnia of her son Celeus with the help of the poppy, and since then she has often been depicted with a poppy head in her hand. On one of the Eleusinian coins, Ceres is depicted sitting on a chariot drawn by snakes; on the reverse side of the medal is a pig - the emblem of fertility.

Among the Greeks and Romans, the cult of Ceres (Demeter) was very common; great honors were paid to her everywhere and plentiful sacrifices were made. According to Ovid, this happened because “Ceres was the first to plow the earth with a plow, people are obliged to her for the growth of all the fruits of the earth that serve them as food. She was the first to give us laws, and all the benefits that we enjoy are given to us by this goddess. She made the bulls bow their heads under the yoke and obediently plow the hard surface of the earth with a plow. That is why her priests spare the laboring bulls, but sacrifice a lazy pig to her.”

The most famous myth about Ceres is the one that tells of her wanderings in search of her daughter, Persephone, abducted by the god of the underworld of the dead Hades. In ancient times, legends associated with it were also popular. Erysichtone and Triptoleme.

Ceres - so the ancient Romans called the goddess of the earth and fertility. Artists on their canvases depicted her as a beautiful, tall and majestic woman with green eyes, in whose thick wheaten hair scarlet poppies bloomed. The invariable attributes in the hands of the goddess were either a cornucopia, or a bowl filled with fruit, or an armful of poured wheat ears. Ceres was dressed in light, airy clothes, always of a bright blue color that emphasized her alabaster skin. The chariot of the majestic goddess was depicted harnessed by fire-breathing dragons or royal lions.

Ceres in the myths of different nations

Ceres is the goddess of fertility. Her name translates as "mother earth". Sometime in Ancient Rome she was honored more than other gods, since it was believed that the quantity and quality of the crop depended on her, and hence the prosperity of the farmers.

It was previously believed that Ceres was the patroness of the underworld, who sent madness to mortals. Along with this, she was credited with the patronage of the family and marriage. And it was believed that Ceres is the goddess of the origin of life. According to the laws of Romulus, half of the husband's property was offered to Ceres if he divorced his wife for no particular reason.

Also, the goddess Ceres patronized rural communities and was the protector of crops from thieves. The executions that were carried out on such robbers were also dedicated to her name. But subsequently, Ceres began to be considered only the goddess of crops and the earth.

Ceres is the goddess of Rome. However, different peoples had different names for it. For example, in ancient Greece, the goddess Ceres was called Demeter. The Greeks considered her the goddess of fertility and agriculture and also revered her very much. In ancient Egypt, Isis was the goddess of fertility and motherhood. And the Slavs called Ceres Merena, and she was considered the patroness of the fertile land and the kingdom of the dead.

Cerealia - festivities in honor of the beloved goddess

The goddess Ceres in ancient Rome was revered so much that magnificent festivities were held in her honor with games and sacrifices. These festivals were called ceralia. The Romans began to celebrate on April 12 and continued for another eight days.

The ceralia were especially zealously celebrated by the Roman plebeians, who strictly observed all the necessary ceremonies and customs. The peasants dressed up in all white, and their heads were decorated with magnificent wreaths.

The holiday began with sacrifices, which were honeycombs, various fruits, pigs and even pregnant cows. After that, races were held in the circus for several days in a row. In the open air, festive tables were laid, which were bursting with dishes.

Everyone who was nearby at that moment was invited to the tables, even passers-by passing by had to be escorted to the table. Thus, the Romans hoped to propitiate their goddess, so that the harvests would continue to be rich and life full.

Ceres and her daughter Proserpine

The Romans from ancient times to the present day have one interesting myth about the goddess Ceres and her immortal daughter Proserpina. Proserpina is called Persephone by the Greeks. Her father is Jupiter among the Romans, and Zeus in Greek myths.

According to this myth, the beauty of Proserpina captivated the god Pluto (Hades among the Greeks), who was the harsh ruler of the underworld of the dead. Pluto kidnapped the beautiful Proserpina and, using force, forced her to become his wife.

Ceres was inconsolable. She looked everywhere for her beloved daughter with two torches in her hands: one was the mind, and the other - emotions. The goddess found her in the underworld and demanded that Pluto return Proserpina back to Earth. When the vile god of the dead refused, the unfortunate mother prayed for the help of other gods, but they did not want to help her either.

Then Ceres, beside herself with grief, forgot about her duties, and all nature, together with her goddess, began to fade. People were dying of hunger and prayed to the gods to take pity on them. Only then did Proserpina's father Jupiter order Pluto to return his daughter to earth.

By agreement between the god of the dead and Jupiter, the beautiful Proserpina lived on earth for two-thirds of the year, and for the rest of the time she had to go down to her husband.

Ceres was happy next to her daughter for most of the year, and nature around her also blossomed and bore fruit, and when Proserpina left for her husband, along with the sadness of the mother goddess, wilting and death came to the earth. So myths explained the change of seasons on earth.

Strange love story

There is another interesting Roman myth. In it, the sea god Neptune (or Poseidon among the Greeks) passionately fell in love with the beautiful Ceres. Neptune even helped his beloved to search for her missing daughter Proserpine all over the world.

However, the young god of the sea was too intrusive in his persistent courtship, and Ceres, tired of him, decided to hide and turned into a mare. Soon the stubborn young man found his beloved and turned himself into a stallion. The result of all this was the birth of the goddess Ceres, the daughter of the nymph Despina and the son, who was named Arion.

Son of Ceres - Arion

Arion was a horse - dazzlingly beautiful, winged and fast as the wind. In addition, he had the gift of eloquence, that is, he knew how to speak beautifully in human language. At a young age, he was given to be raised by sea deities - the Nereid nymphs. The nymphs taught a fast horse to carry Neptune's chariot across the raging sea.

The first owner of Arion was the famous son of the god Jupiter Hercules. Then the king of Argos Adrastus, who in turn owned this horse, won all the races and races on it.

The Art of Agriculture from Ceres

The goddess Ceres, after a painful search for Proserpina, taught Triptolemus, her pupil, how to farm. In addition, she gave him another expensive gift - her wonderful chariot.

By order of Ceres, Triptolem traveled all over the world and taught people everything that he had learned from the great goddess. Also in honor of Ceres, the Eleusinian festivals were to be held.

So, according to ancient Roman myths, the great goddess of fertility not only taught mortals to plow, sow and harvest, but also to properly use what they had grown. For example, people have learned to grind grain into flour and bake wonderful bread from it.

Ancient militarized overregulated Rome didn't bother to come up with their gods interesting biographies and adventure. Only having captured Greece and transported the statues of the Greek gods to themselves, they at the same time took their wonderful stories. The Catholics, who conducted divine services in Latin, read Latin texts and introduced the whole world during the Renaissance. Therefore, we do not know Phoebe, but Apollo, not Artemis, but Diana, for example. A similar story happened to Ceres, the Italic goddess of fertility, who later received a beautiful biography of the Greek Demeter. Marble statues of Ceres, created from Greek copies of Demeter, have survived to this day. Here is an example - a statue of Ceres.

ancient italic beliefs

The cult of the earth was important for many peoples of antiquity. The Italian peoples who lived on Ceres were no exception - the goddess of the earth and fertility of Rome - one of the oldest deities. And initially she was associated in the minds of the Italic peoples with the even more ancient goddess of the earth Tellus. In the beginning, Ceres had one task - the protection of grain crops.

Time was devoted to this from the moment of sowing, then the germination of plants and their maturation. The ancients believed in the animation of all nature as a whole (both the tree and the stone, according to their ideas, were alive, they had a soul), and, naturally, Ceres, the goddess Tellus, were animated by them, filled with life in them. Ceres was believed to have taught people the cultivation of fields, and in addition, she was the goddess of the origin of life. Flowers and fruits are her animated gifts, her obligatory attributes. Therefore, she was depicted as severe, beautiful, majestic, with a crown of thorns on her head, a torch in one hand and a basket filled with grain and fruit. Her functions also included protecting motherhood and marriage and crops from robbers. She also protected the rural community, but she could also send madness on people.

Holidays in honor of the ancient goddesses

For the first time, the goddesses appeared, as suggested in Italy, on the Sicilian, the most fertile land (Tellus). Ceres, the goddess, received her fruits, mostly grain. On the most important days, for example, on the day of the first plowing and sowing, and this was a holiday that depended on weather conditions and therefore could move and have suspended sentences, Ceres, the goddess Tellus received bloody sacrifices. For them, most often pigs were slaughtered, but it happened that calf cows were also slaughtered. The holidays were called ceralia and began around (different sources give slightly different dates) April 11-12. They were called Ludi Cerealis and were very spectacular (there were fox-baiting, for example). The farmers dressed in white clothes, laid wreaths on their heads and held feasts and celebrations for eight days. By April 19, they were completed in honor of Ceres, Liber (Greek Dionysus) and Libera (Kora). For this, a temple was built on the Aventine hill between 493 and 495 BC. e. Ceres, the goddess of the plebeians, had twelve different additional names:

Mistress.
Chloe.
The one who gives gifts to the earth.
The one that gives apples.
Ruthless.
Warm and others.

They contacted various moments of the field work

temples

First, there was a temple in Rome, on the Aventine Hill. There was a statue of the deity. Now the statue of the goddess of fertility Ceres in Rome is in the Roman National Museum. More precisely, this is not a statue, but a Roman marble copy from the bust of Demeter, 4th century BC. e.

The next temple was in Paestum.

There is also a sanctuary in Lavinio. There they found a copper tablet with a text that says how to boil the insides of animals, so that they can then be offered to the goddess.

Confluence of Ceres and Demeter

From ancient Roman sources it is known that in 496 BC. e. there was a big crop failure. On this occasion, the Greek masters built a temple in Rome dedicated to the triad, consisting of Demeter, Dionysus and Kore. The new gods merged, as already mentioned, with the old ones and received

main role played by Ceres, goddess of fertility. Holidays began to be held according to Greek patterns. These were mysteries in which only married women took part. Girls and men were not allowed to the mystery orgies. They consisted of the feast of the marriage of Pluto and Proserpina.

Thus, the ancient Italic cults united with the Greek ones and became inseparable in the minds of the plebeian farmers, who most strongly revered this particular life-giving goddess.

Ceres, depicted in the paintings, is a beautiful goddess, with wheaten hair, dressed in blue clothes. Sculptures that have survived to this day introduce the image of an impressive and respectable lady who sits on a throne. Homer attributed to her a sword of gold and endowed her with a generous attitude towards people.

Who is Ceres?

She is one of the most revered goddesses on Olympus, her name sounds differently - Demeter and is translated as "Mother Earth". Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, especially revered in ancient Rome. In honor of Ceres, in ancient times, landowners from Rome held magnificent festivities that began on April 12 and lasted a week. The Romans dressed up in white clothes and decorated their heads with wreaths. After a series of sacrifices, entertainment and meals followed.

The goddess of fertility and agriculture in the myths of different nations, has different names.

Ceres - the goddess of fertility and agriculture in ancient Rome;
Demeter - the goddess of fertility and agriculture in Ancient Greece;
Isis - the goddess of fertility and motherhood in ancient Egypt;
Merena is the goddess of the fertile land and the kingdom of the dead among the Slavs.

Ceres and Proserpine

For more than 2000 years, a myth has been spread on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea about the mother goddess, from whose grief all nature dies. Ceres is the mother of Proserpina, in Greek mythology she is known as Persephone, and (Zeus) is her father. The beautiful Proserpina was kidnapped by the god of the underworld Pluto (Hades) and forced to become his wife by force. The inconsolable Ceres looked for her daughter everywhere, and when she found it, she demanded to return it, but Pluto refused. Then she turned to the gods, but she did not find support there either, upset she left Olympus.

The goddess of fertility, Ceres, fell into sadness, and along with her grief, all nature withered. People dying of hunger began to pray to the gods to have mercy on them. Then Jupiter ordered Hades to return his wife to earth, and that two-thirds of the year she should be among people and only the rest of the time in the kingdom of the dead. Happy Ceres hugged her daughter, and everything around blossomed and turned green. Since then, every year when Proserpina leaves the earth, all nature dies before her return.

Neptune and Ceres

Ancient Roman myths tell a beautiful love story between the god of the sea and the goddess of fertility. , he is Poseidon, fell in love with the beautiful Ceres with all his heart and helped her wander the world and look for her missing daughter. Tired of the persistence of the young god, Ceres decided to hide from him and turned into a mare, but the admirer revealed her deceit and turned into a horse.

As a result of this union, the Roman goddess Ceres gave birth to Neptune's son - a winged beautiful stallion, who was named Arion. The unusual horse could talk, and he was given to the education of the Nereids, who taught him to drive Neptune's chariot across the raging sea. Hercules became the first owner of Arion, and Adrastus, participating in competitions on this horse, won all the races.

Ceres - interesting facts

The goddess was very loved and revered by the ancient Romans and Greeks. In her honor for a long time arranged magnificent festivities, which eventually spilled over into the holiday of the “Bright Goddess”. Many secrets of Ceres and the details of her life are described in myths and legends, which form the basis of real teachings:

Christian morality of the Middle Ages, based on myths, made Ceres the personification of the church. Those who have strayed from the path of truth are looking for a goddess armed with the Old and New Testaments.
Ceres is a goddess, revered by everyone and any so much that her image was presented as a real one.
The Eleusinian mysteries of the Mediterranean on the day of the feast in honor of the goddess (April 12) arranged initiations.
In the world of antiquity, Ceres is the highest deity.
This goddess is considered the guardian of all biological species, not one blade of grass could remain without her attention.
Ceres alone, of all, has a parallel in the teachings of the Tao and in the philosophy of Buddhism.

CERES, IN MYTHOLOGY

Roman goddess; belongs to the ancient gods Rome (to the so-called di indigetes). Its main function? protection of crops at all moments of its development; therefore, the most ancient cult of her is most closely connected with the cult of the even more ancient goddess Tellus (earth). In the most ancient ideas of Rome, the cult of the goddess of the earth was imbued with the animistic foundations of the Roman worldview, the cult of souls (manes)? and this caused the details of an animistic nature observed in the cult of Ts. Holidays in honor of Tellus and C. fell on especially important agriculture days. These are the feriae sementivae, on the occasion of the sowing: is this? movable feast, depending on the time of sowing. At the very beginning of the sowing there is a sacrifice of Tellus and C., performed by flamen Cerialis, where C. was called under 12 different names, according to different moments of field work. April 19th was Cerialia, in connection with the Tellus-Fordicidia (April 15th). At the beginning of the harvest, a sacrifice is once again arranged in honor of the same goddesses, and the first harvested ears (praemetium) serve as a gift to Ts. Does sacrificial animals play a prominent role in all ceremonies? cows and pigs. According to the Roman annals, in 496 BC, due to a crop failure and a stoppage in the delivery of grain from neighboring countries in Rome, a temple was promised and then built to the Eleusinian triad: Demeter, Dionysus and Kore, according to the Greek model and Greek masters. This fact (there can only be doubt about its date) stands in connection with Greek imports, material and ideal, from southern Italy and Sicily. This connection becomes even more clear if we take into account that the temple that arose then became the center of worship and political life Roman plebs? bearer of the commercial development of Rome. The new temple housed the archives of the plebs; the plebeian aediles received their name from their primordial connection with the aedes of the new gods. The new gods, however, changed their names when they moved to Rome: the main goddess of the triad, Demeter, merged with Ts.; Dionysus and Kore were given the names Liber and Libera. The predominant role in the triad and in Rome was played by Ceres; the temple was abbreviated after her as aedes Cereris, the day of her feast (April 19) was a temple festival of the triad, sacerdotes publicae Cereri s populi Romani Quiritium were the names of her priestesses and priestesses of the triad; in honor of the triad, games were celebrated that received the name ludi Ceriales. As one of the oldest Greek goddesses, guardians adjoin Ts. Greek cults in Rome and the Sibylline Books? Quindecemvir sacris faciundis. By the time of the second Punic War, we hear of a feast in honor of Ts. of a purely Greek and mystical pattern (anniversarium Cereris). Participation in this holiday was taken exclusively by matrons; it consisted in the celebration of the marriage of Pluto and Proserpina (orci nuptiae), accompanied by a number of purely Greek ceremonies and abstinence from food and conjugal intercourse (castus Cereris). The same fast (iejunium) was celebrated from 191, in expiation of heavy signs, annually on October 4th. On September 13, in honor of Ts., a lectisternius celebrated; On December 21, a sacrifice was made to her together with Hercules, where a farrowing pig played an important role. In imperial times, Ts. was as much the goddess of rural life as the goddess of the grain delivery, drawing closer in this to the goddess Annona. Of the provinces, grain-bearing Africa especially honored her.

Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. 2012