Ceres

Family Tree

Origins

Ceres’ origins harkened back to the dawn of time, when the first gods and Titans were struggling to impose order upon a chaotic world. In the beginning of time, the cosmos was ruled by a god (or Titan) known as Caelus. Eventually, Caelus’s son Saturn overthrew him and took control of the universe for himself.

In time, Saturn mated with Ops, goddess of the elemental earth, and sired six children. As the children grew within Ops’ womb, Saturn learned of a prophecy predicting that one of his children would overthrow him as he had overthrown Caelus. Unsure of the usurper's identity, Saturn ate his first five children (Ceres included) as soon as they emerged from the womb. In an effort to preserve her progeny, Ops tricked Saturn into eating a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes in place of her final child, Jupiter. Unable to digest the rock, Saturn vomited the entire contents of his stomach back into the world. Ceres, along with her siblings Pluto, Neptune, Juno, and Vesta, were now free. Together with their brother Jupiter, the sibling deities brought order to the universe.

Ceres and Abduction of Proserpina

The mythology of Ceres centered on the abduction of her daughter, Proserpina, by the powerful chthonic deity, Pluto. It was one of the most famous mythological tales in the ancient world, one told by the Greeks, whose Eleusinian mystery cult focused on the story, and cherished by the Romans as well. In his first century works, the Metamorphoses and the Fasti, the great poet Ovid retold the story in the Roman style; it is from these works that the following summary is taken.

As lord of the underworld, Pluto spent his days in solitude and grew lonely. Venus, the goddess of love and sexuality, took pity on Pluto (referred to here by his traditional name, Dis) and sent her son Cupid to visit him. Cupid fired his arrows at Pluto, allowing him to feel love and lust that he had so long been denied. On his next trip to the surface world, he spied Proserpina, who was cavorting with a group of nymphs on the island of Sicily. Immediately, Pluto seized the young beauty and whisked her away in his chariot bound for the underworld.

Devastated by the loss of her daughter, and not knowing what really happened, Ceres set off in search of the missing girl. Though she traveled far and wide, and carried a torch to help her see clearly, her search was fruitless. At long last, Ceres made her way to Siciliy, where she found Prosperina’s belt made from delicate tears of nymphs. In her sorrowful anger, she put a curse on Sicily that blighted the city's crops and left its lands barren:

The goddess tore her dishevelled hair, and beat her breast again and again with her hands, as if she at last comprehended the rape. She did not know yet where Prosperine was, but condemned all the lands, and called them thankless and unworthy of her gift of corn.^[2]

Watching from on high, the other gods and goddesses realized that Ceres’ grief must be remedied. Seizing the moment, Jupiter sent Mercury to deliver a message to Pluto: the lord of the underworld was to release Proserpina immediately and return her safely to her mother. Though Pluto consented to Jupiter’s demands, he stated that he would only return Proserpina if she had not consumed the food of the underworld. As Proserpina had eaten seven pomegranate seeds from the fruit in Pluto’s subterranean garden, Pluto therefore refused to release the girl.

After much debate, a compromise was reached whereby Proserpina would divide her time between her mother and her abductor. The precise amount of time spent with each was presented differently in different traditions, but the time of the year Proserpina spent with Pluto corresponded to winter, when Ceres was too angry and distraught to allow growing things to flourish. Spring marked the return of Proserpina (and life itself) to the world.

Now Jupiter, intervening, between his brother and grieving sister, divides the turning year, equally. And now the goddess, Proserpina, shared divinity of the two kingdoms, spends so many months with her mother, so many months with her husband. The aspect of her face and mind alters in a moment. Now the goddess’s looks are glad that even Dis could see were sad, a moment ago. Just as the sun, hidden, before, by clouds of rain, wins through and leaves the clouds.^[3]

Ceres and the Roman State Religion

Ceres was a central figure of worship amongst the Romans until the widespread adoption of Christianity occurred in the fourth century CE. Overseeing the religious observation of Ceres was a priest known as the Flamen Cerialis. In the Roman state religion, Ceres was known to command a retinue of lesser gods representing the various aspects of agriculture and fertility.

The Romans devoted several festivals to the goddess of agriculture. One such festival was known as Feriae Sementivae. Beginning on February 2nd, the festival marked the beginning of the sowing season and featured ritual sacrifices to Ceres. The Romans would first give a propitiatory offering of grain before sacrificing a pregnant sow to the goddess. The Romans offered these sacrifices were in the hopes that Ceres would bless their crops and bring them fortune during the sowing season.

The Roman's main celebration of Ceres was the Cerealia, a raucous affair held each April when the crops were budding with new life. The Cerealia featured circus games and races in the Circus Maximus, the great Roman race track that ended beneath the Temple of Ceres on the Aventine Hill. The Cerealia was chiefly a plebeian affair, organized by plebeian magistrates and characterized by indulgence. The event ended with the releasing of foxes into the Circus Maximus; each fox had a torch attached to its tail.