Godess Demeter

Godess Demeter is the deification of the Cretan Queen Deo.

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Demeter originated from the ancestor cult of the Cretan Queen Deo or Doso established in Greece in 1420 BC, which was adapted from the Eleusian version of the Hera cult, brought from Argos in 1530 BC.

Deo lived at the same time as Arcas the king of Arcadia who was also a contemporary of Triptolemos. As queen of Crete at this time Demeter, Deo or Doso was probably based on the same historical account that the story of Europe who was abducted by Zeus in 1438 BC was based on. The Homeric hymn to Demeter says that in the form of Doso she was abducted and taken to Eleusis.

Demeter is said to have been raped by Iasion the brother of Dardanus who reigned in 1440 BC. Persephone was probably their daughter. Minos who was said to be the son of Zeus was probably the son of either Iasion who met an early death for his crime or Astereus the king of Crete.

The Argive version of the Demeter story places her in 1520 BC by referring to Pelasgus who was king at the time and the enmity between Trochilus the priest of the mysteries (of Hera) and Agenor the son of Ecbasus the son of Argus. A Sicyonian story places her in 1480 BC. If the Argive Demeter had a 16 year old daughter these two accounts are unlikely to be linked to the same person unless Demeter was well into her late 70’s by then.

Hades (Aidonis) who abducted Persephone was Adonis the king of Cyprus son of Phoenix since Adonis is said to have fallen in love with both Persephone and Aphrodite and the story goes that he made a deal to spend 1/3 of the year with Persephone and 1/3 with Aphrodite and the other 1/3 he had for himself so he chose to spend it with Aphrodite. That meant the Persephone had to spend the other 9 months of the year with her mother. The deal reached by Demeter with Hades was that Persephone would spend 9 months with her and 3 with Hades, so it looks like two versions of this story existed. The Cypriot version that has been mixed up with about 3 generations Adonis cults and the Greek version, which was recorded by the Eleusians where Demeter established an agricultural school, preserved her memory and that of her daughter.

The Orphic version of the Demeter story moves all of the events to the time of Dysaules and Eumolpus in 1284 BC but this cannot be the original source since the Demeter cult was already in Athens at the time of Pandion I in 1374 BC according to Apollodorus.

Thus the most probable story is that in about 1517 BC Adonis the son of Phoenix arranged for Persephone to be his wife. Her mother Deo was not pleased at Adonis having two wives and went to Argos to stop the marriage but was informed by Chrysanthis that she had already been taken. Trochilus the priest of the mysteries of Hera was then forced to migrate to Eleusis by Agenor and established the Argive Hera cult there and became the father of Eubuleus and Triptolemus by an Eleusian woman and so created the royal line. In 1480 BC Deo might have gone to Sicyon to nurse the children of Plemnaaus. By 1440 BC Celeus was now king of Eleusis and Iasion of Troy raped Doso a Cretan queen or princess and was put to death and this became the source of the story of the rape of Demeter by Zeus. Doso was then abducted from Crete in about 1420 BC during a raid by pirates and was taken to Eleusis and became nurse to the children of Celeus and thought them the art of Agriculture and because of this she was identified with Demeter. Orpheus then merged the stories together and moved the events to 1284 BC.

Keres was a standard Greek epithet for Demeter meaning goddess of the seasons deriving form the Greek Kairos season.