HOW OLD WAS DEMETER?

 

A Greek fresco depicting the goddess Demeter, from Panticapaeum in the ancient Bosporan Kingdom (a client state of the Roman Empire), 1^st century AD, Crimea.

By Sovenok212 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21242584 

I know you shouldn’t ask a woman’s age. (I live in southern California. Of course, I know that). But I think that, in this case, I might be pardoned for asking: Just how old was Demeter?

In answer, we know that Demeter was known to at least three ancient societies: the Minoans, the Egyptians, and the Arcadians. (Whoever they were. More on that later). So, if Demeter can be established as an integral part of those groups – that is, if they associated her with one of their goddesses, dedicated cult objects to her, and created cult centers for her – we can say that she belonged to those cultures and was very ancient, indeed. Let’s start with the Minoans and Mycenaeans.

Demeter’s name is found in conjunction with both Linear A and Linear B tablets. The first language, Linear A, corresponds to the Minoan era and remains undeciphered, the second to the later Mycenaeans, who may or may not have been Proto-Greeks. I’ll go into the tablets in a later post, but suffice it to say that, due to this evidence and the age of the societies in question, Demeter’s name – whatever it was originally – is old. Really old.

Let’s take a look at just what that name originally was. It appears to boil down to one of the following:

 

1.     Gaia

2.     Da-ma-te

3.     Dameter, or Damater

4.     Si-to-po-ti-ni-ja, or Sito Potnia

 

In turn, each of these names boils down to some combination of the below:

 

1.              *Dʰéǵ(ʰ)-, “Earth”, in Proto-Indo-European

2.              Gê, or Gaîa, also “Earth”, in Ancient Greek

3.              Ma-te-re, “Mother”, in Mycenaean Greek

4.              Méh₂tēr, “Mother,” in Proto-Indo-European

5.              Sîtos Po-ti-ni-ja, “Grain Goddess” in Ancient Greek and Mycenaean Greek, respectively

 

The name that stands out from the rest is Sito Potnia, the Grain Goddess mentioned on Mycenaean Greek tablets. The rest appear to be some derivative of the same name: all meaning “Earth Mother”, and all in Proto-Indo-European, Ancient Greek, or Mycenaean Greek. We’re dealing in ancient coin here, people: (way past) dead languages; writing so old it’s carved, not written; and archaic earth goddesses.

Which is what Demeter appears to be: an earth goddess. Most translations of her name render some combination of “Earth Mother”. Even Sito Potnia appears to be “Lady or Goddess of the Grain or Corn”. Po-ti-ni-ja, according to Wiktionary, “encompasses wheat and barley, the cereal grains used by ancient Greeks; bread [as opposed to meat]; food [as opposed to drink]”. These, in essence, are the “fruits of the earth”, so again, we are back to “Mother Earth”.

In the Iliad, Homer suggests that to placate the Earth (goddess), they offer the following sacrifice to Gaia (or Demeter): “Bring ye two lambs, a white ram and a black ewe, for Earth and Sun…” The white ram was offered to the male sun god, Helios, and the black ewe was offered to the female deity, Earth. Was the white in deference to the white rays of the Sun, and the black to the blackness of the rich, fertile soil of Earth?

Demeter and Gaia. Both earth goddesses. Both connected to the same cult centers. (More on Demeter’s cult centers in another post).

Gaia’s worshipers also offered black animals in sacrifice to her. Are the black animals another connection with the dark-cloaked, angry Black Demeter, mother of midnight-maned Arion? Could the ancient name of Demeter have derived from that of Gaia, an even older Earth goddess said to be Demeter’s grandmother?

To repeat the question: Just how old is this ancient Lady? To do a deeper dive on the Demeter carbon dating, let’s take a look at the places and time in which her name was first written…and the objects on which it was inscribed…

PHOTO:

A Greek fresco depicting the goddess Demeter, from Panticapaeum in the ancient Bosporan Kingdom (a client state of the Roman Empire), 1^st century AD, Crimea. The following quotation is provided by The Perseus Catalog (Tufts University, the University of Leipzig), extracted from Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L. McAlister, Marian Holland (1976). “PANTIKAPAIOM (Kerch) Bosporus,” in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press.

“The funerary architecture is monumental: a succession of kurgans 4^th c. B.C. – 2^nd c. A.D. – the Golden Kurgan, Royal Kurgan, Kul Oba and Melek Cesme – show the complete evolution of this type of tumulus tomb… The Demeter kurgan, which dates from the 1^st c. A.D., is much smaller than these and has a well-preserved fresco. In the center of the cupola is a medallion containing the head of Demeter. A frieze on the walls represents Pluto, Demeter, the nymph Calypso, and Hermes. The frescos in still later tombs show mainly battle scenes, gradually giving way to more schematic, geometric designs. The rich grave gifts in the tombs indicate the wealth of the city and its inhabitants.”

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Murray, A. T., and Homer. The Iliad. Vol. 3, Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1924.

Sovenok212, Unknown. “Demeter.” Wikipedia, Sovenok212, 12 Mar. 2008, 6:33:28, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Склеп_Деметры.JPG.

Unknown, Unknown. “Demeter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Nov. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter#Etymology.

Unknown, Unknown. “Γαῖα.” Wiktionary, 2 Oct. 2017, 22:59, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B3%CE%B1%E1%BF%96%CE%B1#Ancient_Greek.

Unknown, Unknown. “Γῆ.” Wiktionary, 11 Apr. 2019, 17:44, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B3%E1%BF%86#Ancient_Greek.

Unknown, Unknown. “Δημήτηρ.” Wiktionary, 25 Sept. 2019, 5:12, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%94%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%81#Ancient_Greek.

Unknown, Unknown. “Μήτηρ.” Wiktionary, 1 Sept. 2019, 23:23, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BC%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%81#Ancient_Greek.

Unknown, Unknown. “𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊.” Wiktionary, 18 Nov. 2019, 14:35, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%90%80%80%F0%90%80%AF%F0%90%80%B9%F0%90%80%8A.

Unknown, Unknown. “𐀡𐀴𐀛𐀊.” Wiktionary, 7 Mar. 2017, 21:38, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%90%80%A1%F0%90%80%B4%F0%90%80%9B%F0%90%80%8A#Mycenaean_Greek.

Unknown, Unknown. “𒋾𒄿𒀀𒄠𒈪𒅖.” Wiktionary, 26 Nov. 2019, 16:23, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%8B%BE%F0%92%84%BF%F0%92%80%80%F0%92%84%A0%F0%92%88%AA%F0%92%85%96.