The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays

by Foley, Helene P.

• ISBN13: 9780691014791
• ISBN10: 0691014795
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-11-29
• Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

Summary

The HomericHymn to Demeter, composed in the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.E., is a key to understanding the psychological and religious world of ancient Greek women. 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. Helene Foley presents the Greek text and an annotated translation of this poem, together with selected essays that give the reader a rich understanding of theHymn's structure and artistry, its role in the religious life of the ancient world, and its meaning for the modern world.

Author Biography

Helene P. Foley is Olin Professor of Classics at Barnard College, Columbia University

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
PART 1. THE TEXT AND TRANSLATION, COMMENTARY, AND BACKGROUND	1	(76)
Text and Translation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter	2	(26)
Commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter	28	(37)
Background: The Eleusinian Mysteries and Women's Rites for Demeter	65	(12)
PART 2. INTERPRETIVE ESSAY ON THE HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER	77	(102)
Interpreting the Hymn to Demeter	83	(1)
The ``Theology'' of the Mysteries	84	(13)
Variants of the Myth and the Importance of the Version in the Hymn to Demeter	97	(6)
Female Experience in the Hymn to Demeter	103	(1)
Marriage	104	(8)
Gender Conflict and the Cosmological Tradition	112	(6)
The Mother/Daughter Romance	118	(19)
The Psychology of the Mysteries	137	(5)
The Hymn to Demeter and the Polis	142	(8)
Christianity and the Hymn to Demeter	150	(1)
The Influence of the Hymn to Demeter and Its Myth	151	(18)
Appendix	169	(1)
Eleusis and Athens	169	(10)
The Hymn to Demeter as a Panhellenic Poem	175	(4)
PART 3. FURTHER INTERPRETATION: CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES	179	(87)
Withdrawal and Return: An Epic Story Pattern in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in the Homeric Poems	181	(9)
Mary Louise Lord
Some Functions of the Demophoon Episode in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter	190	(8)
Nancy Felson-Rubin
Harriet M. Deal
Concerning the Homeric Hymn to Demeter	198	(14)
Jean Rudhardt
Lavinia Lorch
Helene P. Foley
Politics and Pomegranates: An Interpretation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter	212	(31)
Marilyn Arthur
Family Structure and Feminine Personality	243	(23)
Nancy Chodorow
Bibliography	266	(15)
Bibliographical Addendum	281	(2)
Index Locorum	283	(6)
General Index	289