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Why Persephone?” Investigating the Unique Position of Persephone As a Dying God(Dess) Offering Hope for the Afterlife

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Why Persephone?” Investigating the Unique Position of Persephone As a Dying God(Dess) Offering Hope for the Afterlife “WHY PERSEPHONE?” INVESTIGATING THE UNIQUE POSITION OF PERSEPHONE AS A DYING GOD(DESS) OFFERING HOPE FOR THE AFTERLIFE. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS IN CLASSICS Of RHODES UNIVERSITY By GRANT GOODWIN December 2014 The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. Abstract Persephone’s myth is unique, as it was the central narrative of one of the most prominent ancient mystery religions, and remains one of the few (certainly the most prominent) ancient Greek myths to focus on the relationship of a mother and her daughter. This unique focus must have offered her worshippers something important that they perhaps could not find elsewhere, especially as a complex and elaborate cult grew around it, transforming the divine allegory of the changing seasons or the storage of the grain beneath the earth, into a narrative offering hope for a better place in the afterlife. To understand the appeal of this myth, two aspects of her worship and mythic significance require study: the expectations of her worshippers for their own lives, to which the goddess may have been seen as a forerunner; and the mythic frameworks operating which would characterise the goddess for her worshippers. The myth, as described in The Hymn to Demeter, is initially interpreted for its literary meaning, and then set within its cultural milieu to uncover what meaning it may have had for Persephone’s worshippers, particularly in terms of marriage and death, which form the initial motivating action of the myth. From this socio-anthropological study we turn to the mythic patterns and motifs the story offers, particularly the figure of the goddess of the Underworld (primarily in the influential Mesopotamian literature), and the Dying-Rising God figure (similarly derived from the Near East). These figures, when compared to the Greek goddess, may both reveal her unique appeal, and highlight the common attractions that lie in the figures generally. By this two-part investigation, on the particular culture’s expectations and the general mythic framework she exists in, Persephone’s meaning in her native land may be uncovered and understood. ii Table of Contents Introduction…………………………...…...……………………………………………..1 1. Myth & Cult. I. Introduction…………………..……………………………………………………5 II. The Myth of Persephone………………………………………..…………………5 i. The Hymn to Demeter………………………………….………………….7 ii. Inconsistencies between the Hymn and its variants…………..…………..12 III. Date of the Hymn and its Relation to Cult………………………………………..16 IV. The Cult of Eleusis……………………………………………………………….19 i. Sources for the Mysteries………………………………………………...23 V. Similarities to the Myth…………………………………………………………..27 VI. Differences and Omissions between Cult and Myth……………………………..29 VII. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………33 2. Hermeneutic Interpretation – Marriage. I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………36 II. Ancient Athenian Marriage Customs………………………………………...…..36 i. Separation: Mortal and Divine……………………………………...……43 ii. Marriage as Abduction………………………………………………..….45 iii. Fathers and Daughters…………………………………………...……….47 iv. Mothers vs Fathers……………………………………………………….50 III. The ‘Theogonic’ Level…………………………………………….……………..53 i. A Woman’s Story, but a Shared Opportunity………………………..…..56 ii. Order Re-established……………………………………………..………58 IV. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..…………61 3. Hermeneutic Interpretation – Death. I. Introduction……………………………………………………………..………..63 II. Marriage and Death…………………………………………………………...….63 III. What the Cult Offered……………………………………………………………66 IV. The Nature of the Soul’s Immortality……………………………………...…….71 V. Greek Death: Archaic and Homeric to Classical…………………….……….….74 VI. Journey to the Underworld……………………………………………………….82 VII. Bilocation of Persephone and the Soul…………………………………...….87 VIII. Demophoön’s Preservation…………………………………………………..90 IX. Immortality for the Child……………………………………………………..….94 X. Fears at the Prospect of Death………………………………………………...….96 XI. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..…………97 iii 4. Mythic Parallels – Infernal Goddesses I. Introduction………………………………………………………………...…….98 II. The Uneasy Twin Personae………………………………………………..........100 III. Influence from Mesopotamia……………………………………………..…….102 IV. Inanna as a Descending-Rising Goddess…………………………………..……104 V. Dumuzi’s Dream……………………………………………………….……….110 VI. Ereshkigal i. Ereshkigal in Ishtar/ Inanna’s Descent……………………………...…..115 ii. Ereshkigal in Ereshkigal and Nergal………………………………...….118 VII. Mesopotamian Influence on the Hymn to Demeter……………………..…..123 VIII. Northern Goddesses…………………………………………………...……126 IX. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..……..130 5. Mythic Parallels – The Dying-Rising Gods. I. Introduction………………………………………………………………..……132 II. The Dying-Rising God Motif………………………………………………...…132 i. Candidates………………………………………………………………141 III. Dionysus…………………………………………………………………..…….141 i. Dionysian Hopes for the Afterlife………………………………………150 IV. Adonis………………………………………………………………………..…153 i. Theocritus’ Heros………………………………………………….……156 ii. The Gardens of Adonis……………………………………………..…..160 iii. Christian Syncretism………………………………………………..…..162 V. Osiris………………………………………………………………………..…..164 i. Osiris as Dying, but not truly-Rising God…………………………..…..168 ii. Dead, but Sought For…………………………………………….……..170 iii. Osiris’ (and Isis’) Promise……………………………………..………..171 VI. The Influence of the Near Eastern Gods………………………………….…….174 VII. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..176 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….………179 Appendix 1: Mesopotamian Gods………………………………………………...184 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………….185 Primary Sources…………………………………………………………..……….194 iv To: Aidan, who supported me through all this; My supervisor, Daniel Malamis, who guided me through the whole thing; My parents and family, for giving me everything to get this far; Philippa, Lara and my friends, who would hear me rant and offer advice and sympathy; Kanyabu, who made sure we’d dance our thesis-stress away. v Introduction Persephone offers an intriguing insight into ancient Greek thought and belief. Although she was worshipped in various cults (Farnell, 1907: 119-26; Bräuninger, 1938: 960-6; Larson, 2007: 70-85), and was eventually incorporated into Roman religion as Proserpina, her persona rested on a single myth, her relationship with her mother, a relationship which is threatened when her uncle abducts her, (often) with her father’s assistance. The story of these goddesses becomes one of a feminine revolt against a patriarchal system which cares little for them, but it resolves this tension with a compromise rather than a revolution, as opposed to Hera’s attempted coup (Iliad XV.18- 30; Stesichorus, Frag.239). As Demeter was the patroness of the field, and her daughter became the sovereign of the Land of the Dead, these goddesses dominated two vital areas of life (Persson, 1942: 152). Their relationship, envisioned as a mother-daughter dyad, created an important link between these two facets of life, but one which was marked by compassion and sympathy rather than competition or aggression, as many of the male gods might endorse, or even the wild Artemis or jealous Hera could resort to. This relationship was more important than a compelling narrative favoured by a few poets, as it found a fervent following in cult. Eleusis was one of the most famous cult centres in Greece, expanding from a local family cult to a pan-Hellenic festival, eventually famous throughout the Roman empire (Mylonas, 1961: 7-8; Richardson, 1974: 17). This cult, whose rites remained secret, although probably similar to the other Mystery cults of the period, was dedicated to the mother-daughter pair, and appears to have offered its initiates hope for a better lot in the afterlife, which the joyous initiates appear to enjoy in Aristophanes’ Frogs, and the Hymn to Demeter1 promises. These rites, originally part of the series of seasonal festivals marking the agricultural cycle (Larson, 2007: 72-3), appear to have used this myth to suggest that the cycle of life could be discerned in the annual growth and harvest of the grain, and hope could be built upon this vegetative pattern against the grim prospect of death (Nilsson, 1940: 59-60). 1 All translations, translators, and ancient sources are detailed in the bibliography under primary sources. 1 To determine what allure Persephone held for her initiates, this thesis will undertake a two-tier investigation. After an initial analysis of her myth, as it is found in the Hymn to Demeter, and the cult this poem was closely associated with, this thesis will apply a sociological hermeneutic (Willis & Jost, 2007: 104) of the myth on two levels, marriage and death, followed by a comparative analysis of mythic parallels, which may uncover common and unique aspects of the myth. The analysis on these two tiers, each of which will be further divided into two parts, will aim to discern exactly what meaning Persephone’s myth offered to the ancient Greeks, grounding this analysis in her original cultural context and against contemporary and earlier mythic frameworks. Chapter One is an interpretation of the primary text, the Hymn to Demeter, which will be the point of departure for encapsulating the myth of Persephone’s abduction, and her mother’s grief and response. The variants of the myth will also be considered, to note potential omissions or exaggerations in the poem, and identify
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