The Homeric hymn to Demeter : translation, commentary, and interpretive essays

297 Pages·1994·20.2 MB·English

by  (divinité grecque) Demeter

THE HOMERIC
HYMN TO DEMETER

THE HOMERIC
HYMN TO DEMETER
TRANSLATION, COMMENTARY, AND
INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS
Edited by
Helene P. Foley
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
COPYRIGHT © 1994 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
"POLITICS AND POMEGRANATES" COPYRIGHT © 1977 BY MARILYN A. KATZ
PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 41 WILLIAM STREET,
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08540
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS,
CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX
LIBRARTOF CONGRESS CAJALOGING-IN-PUBUCATIONDA1A
THE HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER: TRANSLATION, COMMENTARY, AND
INTERPRETIVE ESSAYS / HELENE P. FOLEY.
P. CM.
INCLUDES A TRANSLATION, THE GREEK TEXT, A LITERARY COMMENTARY, A
DISCUSSION OF THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RELATED CULTS OF DEMETER,
AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY H. P. FOLEY, AND 5 PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
ARTICLES ON THE POEM AND RELATED ISSUES.
INCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEX.
ISBN 0-691-06843-7 — ISBN 0-691-01479-5
1. HYMN TO DEMETER. 2. HYMNS, GREEK (CLASSICAL)—TRANSLATIONS
INTO ENGLISH. 3. HYMNS, GREEK (CLASSICAL)—HISTORY AND CRITICISM.
4. DEMETER (GREEK MYTHOLOGY) IN LITERATURE. 5. ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
IN LITERATURE. 6. DEMETER (GREEK MYTHOLOGY)—POETRY. I. FOLEY,
HELENE P., 1942- . II. HYMN TO DEMETER. ENGLISH & GREEK. 1993.
PA4023.H83H66 1993
883'.01—DC20 93-761
THIS BOOK HAS BEEN COMPOSED IN GALLIARD
THE PAPER USED IN THIS PUBLICATION MEETS THE MINIMUM
REQUIREMENTS OF ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997)
{PERMANENCE OF PAPER)
THIRD PRINTING, WITH BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ADDENDUM, AND FIRST
PRINTING IN THE MYTHOS SERIES, 1999
HTTP://PUP.PRINCETON.EDU
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
7 9 10 8
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-01479-1 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-691-01479-5 (pbk.)
For Nicholas Foley

CONTENTS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
PART 1. THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION,
COMMENTARY, AND BACKGROUND 1
TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF THE HOMERIC
HYMN TO DEMETER 2
COMMENTARY ON THE HOMERIC
HYMN TO DEMETER 28
BACKGROUND: THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES
AND WOMEN'S RITES FOR DEMETER 65
PART 2. INTERPRETIVE ESSAY ON THE
HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER 77
INTERPRETING THE HTMN TO DEMETER 83
THE "THEOLOGY" OF THE MYSTERIES 84
VARIANTS OF THE MYTH AND THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE VERSION IN THE HTMN TO DEMETER 97
FEMALE EXPERIENCE IN THE HYMN TO DEMETER 103
MARRIAGE 104
GENDER CONFLICT AND THE COSMOLOGICAL TRADITION 112
THE MOTHER/DAUGHTER ROMANCE 118
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE MYSTERIES 137
THE HYMN TO DEMETER AND THE POLIS 142
CHRISTIANITY AND THE HYMN TO DEMETER 150
THE INFLUENCE OF THE HYMN TO DEMETER AND ITS MYTH 151
APPENDIX 169
Eleusis and Athens 169
The Hymn to Demeter as a Panhellenic Poem 175
viii CONTENTS
PART 3. FURTHER INTERPRETATION:
CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES 179
WITHDRAWAL AND RETURN: AN EPIC STORY
PATTERN IN THE HOMERIC HYMN TO
DEMETER AND IN THE HOMERIC POEMS 181
MARY LOUISE LORD
SOME FUNCTIONS OF THE DEMOPHOON EPISODE
IN THE HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER 190
NANCY FELSON-RUBIN AND HARRIET M . DEAL
CONCERNING THE HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER 198
JEAN RUDHARDT; TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
LAVINIA LORCH AND HELENE P. FOLEY
POLITICS AND POMEGRANATES:
AN INTERPRETATION OF THE HOMERIC
HYMN TO DEMETER 212
MARILYN ARTHUR,
WITH A PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
WRITTEN TWENTY YEARS LATER
FAMILY STRUCTURE AND FEMININE
PERSONALITY 243
NANCY CHODOROW
BIBLIOGRAPHY 266
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ADDENDUM 281
INDEX LOCORUM 283
GENERAL INDEX 289
ILLUSTRATIONS
After p. 75
1. Hades' abduction of Persephone. Apulian red-figure hydria of the fourth century
B.C.E. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Miss Matilda W.
Bruce, 1907 (07.128.1).
2. Marble relief of Demeter and Kore (or Hekate?) with torches. Ca. 460 B.C.E.
Eleusis Museum 5085. Photo German Archaeological Institute at Athens, Ele-
usis 298.
3. The Torre Nova Sarcophagus. Palazzo Borghese, Rome. Photo courtesy of the
German Archaeological Institute, Rome.
4. The Return of Persephone: Persephone rising from the earth in the presence of
Hermes, Hekate, and Demeter. Attic red-figure bell-krater, attributed to the
Persephone painter. Ca. 440 B.C.E. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher
Fund, 1928 (28.57.23).
5. Demeter's Return to Olympus. Attic black-figure hydria. Ca. 520 B.C.E. Martin
Von Wagner Museum 308, University of Wurzburg. Photo: K. Oehrlein.
6. General Plan of the Sanctuary at Eleusis (by John N. Travlos), illustration 17
from Carl Kerenyi, Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter, trans.
Ralph Manheim (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), Bollingen
Series 65.4.
7. Attic clay stand from Eleusis depicting Demeter enthroned with a polos and
garland, Kore wearing a polos and holding a branch, and a procession of
worshipers. Athens, National Museum 501. Ca. 500 B.C.E.