The 'Hymn' reflects both the crisis precipitated when marriage separates mother and daughter as well as the bonds that allow them to survive this transition. Helene Foley presents the Greek text and an annotated translation of this poem, together with selected essays on its historical context and its religious, literary, social, and psychological meaning. The poem tells how Hades, lord of the underworld, abducted the goddess Persephone and how her grieving mother, Demeter, the goddess of grain, forced the gods to allow Persephone to return to her for part of each year. The Homeric 'Hymn to Demeter', composed in the late seventh or early sixth century BCE, is a key to understanding the psychological and religious world of ancient Greek women.

3Further Interpretation: Contributed Articles Withdrawal and Return: An Epic Story Pattern in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in the Homeric Poems Some Functions of the Demophoon Episode in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Concerning the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Politics and Pomegranates: An Interpretation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Family Structure and Feminine Personality Bibliography Index Locorum General Index. The Hymn to Demeter as a Panhellenic Poem Pt.

2Interpretive Essay on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Interpreting the Hymn to Demeter The 'Theology' Of the Mysteries Variants of the Myth and the Importance of the Version in the Hymn to Demeter Female Experience in the Hymn to Demeter Marriage Gender Conflict and the Cosmological Tradition The Mother/Daughter Romance The Psychology of the Mysteries The Hymn to Demeter and the Polis Christianity and the Hymn to Demeter The Influence of the Hymn to Demeter and Its Myth App.

List of Illustrations Text and Translation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter Background: The Eleusinian Mysteries and Women's Rites for Demeter Pt.

Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.

Homeric hymn to demeter sparknotes