Ceres is the goddess of the origin of life and fertility. Demeter, Ceres, Cybele - the goddess of fertility Ceres in the myths of different peoples

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CERES, IN MYTHOLOGY

Roman goddess; belongs to the number of the most ancient gods of Rome (the so-called di indigetes). Its main function? protection of crops at all moments of its development; therefore, her most ancient cult is closely connected with the cult of the even more ancient goddess Tellus (earth). In the most ancient ideas of Rome, the cult of the earth goddess was imbued with the animistic foundations of the Roman worldview, the cult of souls (manes)? and this gave rise to details of an animistic nature observed in the cult of Ts. Holidays in honor of Tellus and Ts. fell on particularly important days in agriculture. These are the feriae sementivae, on the occasion of sowing: is it? a movable holiday, depending on the time of sowing. At the very beginning of sowing there is a sacrifice of Tellus and Ts., performed by flamen Cerialis, where Ts. was called under 12 different names, according to different moments of field work. On April 19, Cerialia was celebrated, in connection with the festival of Tellus-Fordicidia (April 15). At the beginning of the harvest, a sacrifice is organized again in honor of the same goddesses, and the first harvested ears of corn (praemetium) serve as the gift of Ts. Does the sacrifice of bodily animals play a prominent role in all ceremonies? cows and pigs. According to the Roman annals, in 496 BC, due to a crop failure and a stop in the supply of grain from neighboring countries, Rome promised and then built a temple to the Eleusinian triad: Demeter, Dionysus and Kore, according to the Greek model and by Greek craftsmen. This fact (there can only be doubt about its date) stands in connection with Greek imports, material and ideal, from Southern Italy and Sicily. This connection becomes even clearer if we take into account that the temple that arose then became the focus of the cult and political life of the Roman plebs? carrier of the commercial development of Rome. The new temple housed the archives of the plebs; The plebeian aediles received their name thanks to their primordial connection with the aedes of the new gods. The new gods, however, changed their names when moving to Rome: the main goddess of the triad, Demeter, merged with Ts.; Dionysus and Kore received the names Liber and Libera. Ceres played a predominant role in the triad and in Rome; the temple was called after her in abbreviated form aedes Cereris, the day of her feast (April 19) was the temple festival of the triad, sacerdotes publicae Cereri s populi Romani Quiritium were the names of her priestesses and the priestesses of the triad; Games were celebrated in honor of the triad and were named ludi Ceriales. As one of the most ancient Greek goddesses, the guardians of Greek cults in Rome and the Sibylline books adjoin Ts. Quindecemvirs sacris faciundis. By the time of the second Punic War we hear about a holiday in honor of Ts. purely Greek and mystical model (anniversarium Cereris). Only matrons took part in this holiday; it consisted of celebrating the marriage of Pluto and Proserpina (orci nuptiae), accompanied by a number of purely Greek ceremonies and abstinence from food and marital relations (castus Cereris). The same fast (iejunium) was celebrated from 191, in atonement for difficult signs, annually on October 4. On September 13, a lectisternius was celebrated in honor of Ts.; On December 21, a sacrifice was made to her together with Hercules, where a pig played an important role. In imperial times, Ts. was as much the goddess of rural life as the goddess of the grain supply, in this she became close to the goddess Annona. Of the provinces, bread-bearing Africa especially revered her.

Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. 2012

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what CERES is, IN MYTHOLOGY in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:

  • CERES in the Dictionary World of Gods and Spirits:
    in Roman mythology, the goddess who breathes life into all plants. Protects young shoots from bad weather, weeds and OTHER dangers. Together with …
  • CERES in the Dictionary Index of Theosophical Concepts to the Secret Doctrine, Theosophical Dictionary:
    (Lat.) In Greek: Demeter. As the feminine aspect of the Father of Ether, Jupiter, she is esoterically the fertile principle in the all-encompassing Spirit that animates every...
  • CERES in the Concise Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities:
    (Ceres). The goddess who corresponded among the Romans to the Greek Demeter and is identified with her. Her holiday, Cerealia, was considered a predominantly plebeian holiday. Sacrificial...
  • CERES in the Dictionary-Reference Book of Who's Who in the Ancient World:
    An ancient Italo-Roman goddess of fertility, worshiped in a temple on the Aventine, one of the seven hills on which Rome is located, with games...
  • CERES in the Lexicon of Sex:
    to Rome mythology goddess of agriculture and fertility. Corresponds to Greek. Demeter. C. is dedicated to the schwanks of Sachs, paintings by Rubens, Poussin, Watteau, ...
  • CERES in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
    one of the largest (diameter about 1000 km) small planets (N 1), discovered by G. Piazzi (Italy, 1801). Distance of Ceres from...
  • CERES
    Ceres - Roman goddess; belongs to the number of the most ancient gods of Rome (so-called di indigetes). Its main function is to protect crops...
  • CERES
    [Latin ceres (cereris)] 1) in ancient Roman mythology, goddess, patroness of agriculture; the same as Demeter in ancient Greek mythology; 2) in astronomy...
  • CERES in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
    , ы, zh., with a capital letter 1. soul. In ancient Roman mythology: goddess of fertility and agriculture; the same as in ancient Greek...
  • CERES
    CERES, one of the largest (diameter about 1000 km) small planets (No., discovered by G. Piazzi (Italy, 1801). Distance C. ...
  • CERES in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
    CERES, to Rome. mythology goddess of agriculture and fertility. Corresponds to Greek. ...
  • CERES in the Popular Explanatory Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Language:
    [r "e], -y, zh. In Roman mythology: goddess of fertility and agriculture. Etymology: Latin Ceres (Cereris). Encyclopedic commentary: Ceres as the goddess of cereals ...
  • CERES in the Dictionary for solving and composing scanwords:
    Small...
  • CERES in the New Dictionary of Foreign Words:
    (Latin ceres (cereris)) 1) in ancient Roman mythology - the goddess of fertility and agriculture; the same as Demeter in ancient Greek mythology...
  • CERES in the Dictionary of Foreign Expressions:
    [lat. ceres (cereris)] 1. in ancient Roman mythology - the goddess of fertility and agriculture; the same as Demeter in ancient Greek mythology; 2. ...
  • CERES in the Russian Synonyms dictionary:
    asteroid, goddess, marriage, Demeter, harvest, ...
  • CERES in Lopatin’s Dictionary of the Russian Language:
    Cer'era, ...
  • CERES in the Spelling Dictionary:
    cer'era, ...
  • CERES in the Modern Explanatory Dictionary, TSB:
    in Roman mythology, the goddess of agriculture and fertility. Corresponds to the Greek Demeter. - one of the largest (diameter approx. 1000 km) small...
  • AVRORIN in the Encyclopedia of Russian surnames, secrets of origin and meanings:
  • CERES, PLANET in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
    the first small planet (asteroid) to be discovered. Discovered by Piazzi on January 1, 1801 in Palermo and named by him in honor of ...
  • CERES, MYTH. in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron:
    Roman goddess; belongs to the number of the most ancient gods of Rome (the so-called di indigetes). Its main function is to protect crops during...
  • CERES, MINOR PLANET in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia:
    ? the first small planet (asteroid) to be discovered. Discovered by Piazzi on January 1, 1801 in Palermo and named by him in ...
  • AVRORIN in the Encyclopedia of Surnames:
    The surname is one of the artificial, invented ones. Usually this word creation was carried out by the seminary authorities. They accepted, say, a seminarian with the last name Lyubovnikov or...
  • HEROES
    In Greek mythology, the son or descendant of a deity and a mortal man. In Homer, a hero is usually called a brave warrior (in the Iliad) or...
  • DIONYSUS
  • DEMETER in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    In Greek mythology, the goddess of fertility and agriculture, daughter of Kronos and Rhea (Hes. Theog. 453), sister and wife of Zeus, from whom ...
  • GREEK MYTHOLOGY3 in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    Aristophanes in his comedies depicts the gods in a comic and mocking spirit, following the traditional permissiveness associated with the ritual origin of the theater. Ancient philosophers, ...
  • GREEK MYTHOLOGY2 in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    Subsequently, the idea of ​​the independence of these demons grew, which are not only different from things, but also capable of separating from them...
  • GREEK MYTHOLOGY1 in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    The essence of G. m. becomes understandable only when taking into account the peculiarities of the primitive communal system of the Greeks, who perceived the world as the life of one huge clan community...
  • GREEK MYTHOLOGY in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    . The essence of G. m. becomes understandable only when taking into account the peculiarities of the primitive communal system of the Greeks, who perceived the world as the life of one huge clan...
  • MOUNTAIN in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    . The mythological functions of G. are diverse. G. acts as the most common variant of transformation of the world tree. T. is often perceived as an image...
  • HERO in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    in Greek mythology, the son or descendant of a deity and a mortal man. In Homer, G. is usually called a brave warrior (in the Iliad) or ...
  • GERMAN-SCANDINAVIAN MYTHOLOGY in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology.
  • BULL in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    In a number of mythologies (Sumerian, Egyptian, etc.) various connections are found between the bull and the corresponding mythological image: their complete identity, the bull...
  • BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    a complex of mythological images, characters, symbols associated with the religious and philosophical system of Buddhism, which arose in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. in India, in...
  • BUDDHA in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    Skt. and Pali buddha, "enlightened one", lit. “awakened”) in Buddhist mythology: 1) a person who has reached the highest limit of spiritual development, 2) an anthropomorphic symbol, ...
  • BALTIC MYTHOLOGY in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology.
  • APOLLO in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    was born at seven months old between an olive tree and a date palm on Mount Kinthos (Island of Delos), he was in labor for nine days and after that Delos...
  • ATHENA in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    (?????) in Greek mythology, the goddess of wisdom and just war. The pre-Greek origin of the image of A. does not allow us to reveal the etymology of the name of the goddess, based on ...
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    myths about constellations, stars, planets (in a broader sense - also lunar myths and solar myths). In the typologically early group...
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  • ANTHROPOGONIC MYTHS in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
    myths about the origin (including creation) of man. A. m. is an integral part of cosmogonic myths. In A.M. it’s not always...
  • ESTONIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, TSB:
    Soviet Socialist Republic, Estonia (Eesti NSV). I. General information The Estonian SSR was formed on July 21, 1940. From August 6, 1940 in ...

She personified earthly fertility; With her power, she forced the earth to produce fruits and was considered the patroness of cereals. From Jupiter she had a daughter, Proserpina (for the Greeks, Persephone), who personified the plant kingdom.

Venus, Ceres and Bacchus. Painting by J. Bruegel the Younger

Ceres was a merciful and gracious goddess, she not only took care of cereals - the main food of people, but also cared about improving their lives. She taught people to plow the land, sow fields, and always patronized legal marriages and other legal institutions that contributed to the calm and settled life of peoples.

Many famous sculptors, including Praxiteles, depicted Ceres-Demeter in their works, but very few statues have survived to this day, and even then in destroyed or restored form. The type of this goddess is better known from pictorial representations preserved in Herculaneum; one of them, the most famous, represents Ceres in full height: her head is surrounded by radiance, in her left hand she has a basket filled with ears of corn, and in her right hand is a torch, which she lit from the flames of the volcano Etna when she was looking for her daughter.

Ancient art represents Ceres in the form of a majestic matron with meek, soft features, wearing long, loose robes; on her head there is a wreath of ears of grain, and in her hands there is a poppy and ears of grain. A basket of fruits and a pig are her attributes. It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish statues or images of Ceres from those of her daughter. They are both often given the same attributes, although Persephone is most often depicted as younger. Almost no authentic statues of these goddesses have survived to this day, but there are many coins with their images.

Ovid says that Ceres used the poppy to cure the insomnia of her son Keleus, and since then she is often depicted with a poppy head in her hand. On one of the Eleusinian coins, Ceres is depicted sitting on a chariot drawn by snakes; on the reverse side of the medal there is a pig - an emblem of fertility.

Among the Greeks and Romans, the cult of Ceres (Demeter) was very widespread; Great honors were given to her everywhere and abundant sacrifices were made. According to Ovid, this happened because “Ceres was the first to plow the earth with a plow; people owe it to her for the growth of all the fruits of the earth, which serve them as food. She was the first to give us laws, and all the benefits that we enjoy were given to us by this goddess. She forced the bulls to bow their heads under the yoke and obediently plow the hard surface of the earth with a plow. That is why her priests spare the working bulls and sacrifice a lazy pig to her.”

The most famous myth about Ceres is the one that tells of her wanderings in search of her daughter, Persephone, who was kidnapped by the god of the underworld of the dead, Hades. In ancient times, legends associated with it about Erysichthon And Triptolema.

Ceres- Roman goddess; is one of the most ancient gods of Rome. Its main function is to protect the crop at all moments of its development; therefore, her ancient cult is closely connected with the ult of the even more ancient goddess Tellus. In the most ancient ideas of Rome, the cult of the earth goddess was imbued with the animistic foundations of the Roman worldview, the cult of souls - and this gave rise to details of an animistic nature observed in the cult of Ceres. Holidays in honor of Tellus and Ceres fell on particularly important days in agriculture. These are the feriae sementivae, on the occasion of sowing: this is a movable holiday, depending on the time of sowing. At the beginning of the harvest, another sacrifice is organized in honor of the same goddesses, and the first harvested ears of corn are given to Ceres.

In Rome, a temple was built to the Eleusinian triad: Demeter, Dionysus and Kore, according to the Greek model and by Greek craftsmen. This fact stands in connection with Greek imports, material and ideal, from Southern Italy and Sicily. This connection becomes even clearer if we take into account that the temple that arose then became the focus of the cult and political life of the Roman plebs - the bearer of the commercial development of Rome. The new temple housed the archives of the plebs; The plebeian aediles received their name thanks to their primordial connection with the aedes of the new gods. The new gods, however, changed their names when moving to Rome: the main goddess of the triad, Demeter, merged with Ceres; Dionysus and Kore received the names Liber and Libera. Ceres played a predominant role in the triad and in Rome; the temple was called after her in abbreviated form aedes Cereris, the day of her feast was the temple festival of the triad, sacerdotes pablicae Cereris populi Romani Quiritium were the names of her priestesses and the priestesses of the triad; Games were celebrated in honor of the triad and were named ludi Ceriales.

As one of the most ancient Greek goddesses, Ceres is joined by the guardians of the Greek cults in Rome and the Sibylline books - the Quindecemvirs sacris faciundis. By the time of the Second Punic War we hear of a festival in honor of Ceres of a purely Greek and mystical model.

Ceres returned to Eleusis and, in memory of her long, painful search for her daughter, taught her former pupil Triptolemus various secrets of agriculture and gave him her chariot. She ordered him to travel around the world and teach people to plow, sow and reap, then she established Eleusinia, holidays held in her honor and in honor of her daughter in Eleusis.

Triptolemus fulfilled the goddess's instructions with honor - he traveled a lot on earth until he reached Linkh, king of Scythia, where the self-proclaimed monarch decided to kill him by deception. But Ceres intervened in time and turned the Scythian king into a lynx, a symbol of treachery.

Ceres is one of the most revered goddesses in Greece. Numerous festivals were celebrated in her honor throughout Greece. It is characteristic that in Homer’s poems the goddess Demeter seems to be relegated to the background. It can be assumed that the Greeks began to honor her as the greatest goddess when agriculture became their main occupation, and cattle breeding lost its former importance.

Ceres in ancient culture

Ceres was usually depicted as a beautiful mature woman, dressed in flowing robes, sometimes with a wreath of wheat ears on her head, with a sheaf and sickle in her hands, or a plow and a cornucopia, from which fruits and flowers fall at her feet. Groves were often dedicated to her, and any mortal who dared to cut down one of the sacred trees in it would certainly incur the wrath of Ceres, as happened with Erysichthon.

Many beautiful temples were dedicated to Ceres and her daughter Proserpina in Greece and Italy, in which festivals - Thesmophoria and Cerealia - were held annually with great pomp.

Along with the venerable Mother Earth, a minor goddess named Ceres existed for many centuries. Ceres is the ancient Roman and Italian goddess of the productive forces of the earth, the germination and ripening of cereals, the goddess of marriage and motherhood, who sends madness to people. She was considered the guardian of the rural paga, the protector of the harvest from robbers.

Subsequently, the goddess Ceres was considered the goddess of the harvest and cereals; she was revered by the peasants who celebrated cerealia dedicated to her, and invoked her during the festival of the pagi. During the era of the struggle between plebeians and patricians, Cecere was the head of the plebeian triad of gods. For this triad, Campanian craftsmen built a temple, which was located between the Aventine and Palatine. In the place where the plebeians revered the gods of agriculture Tutulina, Messiah, Segetia, Seia. There are opinions that the goddess Ceres was the goddess of the plebs, because her flamen was a plebeian, perhaps a priest of the plebeian community. The temple of the plebeian triad of gods was the center of the struggle of the plebeians with the patricians, a refuge for persecuted plebeians, an archive of plebeian magistrates, and bread was distributed in the temple. Even then, political and economic issues were raised. And you can read today's economic news from Ukraine. by going to the site. When a truce occurred between the patricians and the plebeians, Ceres was considered a common goddess.

So that no one would recognize her, Ceres took on the appearance of an ancient old woman. Here, by the road, the daughters of Kelei, the king of this country, saw her and began to question her sympathetically. Hearing a story about his daughter's disappearance. They took her to the palace and, knowing that nothing consoles a broken heart more than caring for children, they invited her to become a nanny for their little brother Triptolemus.

Ceres, touched by their participation, agreed, and when she arrived at the palace, the royal heir was entrusted to her care. She tenderly kissed the frail child on her thin cheeks, and, to the boundless surprise of the royal family and the entire court, from the touch of her lips the child became rosy and healthy.

At night, when Ceres was sitting by the boy’s crib, it occurred to her that she could give him immortality. She rubbed his arms and legs with nectar, whispered a spell and placed him on hot coals so that all elements subject to decay would leave his body.

But Queen Metaneira thought that it was inappropriate to leave the child alone with an unfamiliar woman, she silently entered his bedroom and, with a wild cry, rushed to the fire and, snatching her son from the fire, anxiously pressed her to her chest. Having made sure that he was safe and sound, she turned to reprimand the careless nanny, but the poor old woman disappeared, and instead of her the queen saw the shining goddess of agriculture in front of her.

Gently reproaching the queen for her careless intervention, Ceres explained what she wanted to gift her son with and disappeared, setting off again to wander through the fields and forests. Time passed and she returned to Italy. One day she was walking along the river bank, and the waters suddenly threw a sparkling object at her feet. Ceres quickly leaned over and saw her daughter's belt, which she was wearing the day she disappeared.

Ceres and the stream

Joyfully grabbing the belt, Ceres ran along the shore, thinking that she had picked up the trail of Proserpina. Soon she came to a source with the purest water and sat down to rest. Her head ached from fatigue and the unbearable heat, there were tears in her eyes, and she was already falling asleep, when suddenly the murmur of the source became louder. It dawned on Ceres that he was telling her something, but not the way mortals speak, but in his silvery dialect.

Ancient Roman legends indicate that cornflower was well known to the ancient Romans. One of them reports that the flower got its name - blue - from the name of one beautiful young man who was so captivated by its beauty that he devoted all his time to weaving garlands and wreaths from it.

This young man never left the fields as long as at least one of his favorite cornflowers remained on them, and he always dressed in a dress of the same blue color as them. Flora was his favorite goddess, and of all her gifts, the cornflower was the gift that most fascinated the young man. One day he was found dead in a grain field, surrounded by cornflowers. Then the goddess Flora, as a sign of her special affection for him, turned his body into a cornflower, and from then on all cornflowers began to be called cyanus.

Another Roman legend explains the reason for the constant presence of cornflowers among grain fields.

When Ceres, the goddess of harvest and agriculture, was once walking through the grain fields and rejoicing at the blessings and gratitude that humanity lavished on her for them, from the thicket of the ears of corn the plaintive voice of the cornflowers growing there suddenly rang out: Oh, Ceres, why did you order us to grow up among your grain fields? cereals that cover the whole country with their luxurious ears? The son of the earth only calculates the amount of profit that your grains will bring him, and does not deign us with even one favorable glance!

To this the goddess replied: No, my dear children, I did not place you among the rustling ears of grain so that you would bring some benefit to humanity. No, your purpose is much higher than what you assume and what man assumes: you must be shepherds among the great people - the ears of corn. That is why you should not, like them, make noise and bow your burdened head to the ground, but, on the contrary, you should bloom freely and cheerfully and look, like a pure image of quiet joy and firm faith, upward to the eternal blue sky - your place of residence deities. For the same reason, you have been given an azure, the color of the heavenly firmament, pastoral attire, to distinguish you as servants of heaven, sent to earth to preach faith to people and fidelity to the gods. Just have patience, the day of harvest will come when all these ears of corn will fall under the hands of reapers and reapers. The reapers will look for and tear you and, having made wreaths from you, will decorate their heads with them, or, having knitted bouquets from you, pin them on their chests. These words calmed the offended cornflowers. Filled with gratitude, they fell silent and rejoiced at their distinguished position and their high appointment.

And among the Slavs, cornflowers were always used to decorate personalized sheaves, which they brought home with songs. The sheaf, entwined with cornflowers, was displayed for a long time in the front corner of the hut.

Sources: www.bibliotekar.ru, www.mifyrima.ru, pagandom.ru, otvet.mail.ru

Ceres, depicted in the paintings, is a beautiful goddess, with wheaten hair, dressed in blue clothes. The sculptures that have survived to this day introduce the appearance of an impressive and respectable lady sitting on a throne. Homer attributed to her a sword made of gold and endowed her with a generous attitude towards people.

Who is Ceres?

She is one of the most revered goddesses on Olympus, her name sounds different - Demeter and is translated as “Mother Earth”. Ceres, goddess of agriculture and fertility, especially revered in Ancient Rome. In honor of Ceres, in ancient times, landowners from Rome organized magnificent festivities that began on April 12 and lasted a week. The Romans dressed in white clothes and decorated their heads with wreaths. After the series of sacrifices, entertainment and meals followed.

The goddess of fertility and agriculture in the myths of different peoples goes by different names.

  • Ceres - goddess of fertility and agriculture in Ancient Rome;
  • Demeter - goddess of fertility and agriculture in Ancient Greece;
  • Isis - goddess of fertility and motherhood in Ancient Egypt;
  • Merena is the goddess of the fertile land and the kingdom of the dead among the Slavs.

Ceres and Proserpine

On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, for more than 2000 years, there has been a widespread myth about the mother goddess, from whose grief all nature dies. Ceres is the mother of Proserpina, in Greek mythology she is known as Persephone, and (Zeus) is her father. The beautiful Proserpina was kidnapped by the god of the underworld Pluto (Hades) and forced to become his wife. The inconsolable Ceres looked for her daughter everywhere, and when she found her, she demanded to be returned, but Pluto refused. Then she turned to the gods, but she did not find support there either; she left Olympus, upset.

The goddess of fertility, Ceres, fell into sadness, and along with her grief, all of nature withered. People dying of hunger began to pray to the gods to have mercy on them. Then Jupiter ordered Hades to return his wife to earth, and that for two thirds of the year she should be among people and only the rest of the time in the kingdom of the dead. Happy Ceres hugged her daughter, and everything around blossomed and turned green. Since then, every year when Proserpina leaves the earth, all nature dies before her return.


Neptune and Ceres

Ancient Roman myths tell a beautiful love story between the god of the sea and the goddess of fertility. , aka Poseidon, fell in love with the beautiful Ceres with all his heart and helped her travel around the world and look for her missing daughter. Tired of the insistence of the young god, Ceres decided to hide from him and turned into a mare, but the admirer discovered her deception and turned into a horse.

As a result of this union, the Roman goddess Ceres gave birth to Neptune's son - an inspired, beautiful stallion, who was named Arion. The extraordinary horse could talk, and he was given to be raised by the Nereids, who taught him to drive Neptune’s chariot across the stormy sea. Hercules became the first owner of Arion, and Adrastus, participating in competitions on this horse, won all the races.

Ceres - interesting facts

The goddess was very loved and revered by the ancient Romans and Greeks. For a long time, magnificent festivities were held in her honor, which over time turned into the holiday of the “Bright Goddess.” Many secrets of Ceres and details of her life are described in myths and legends and form the basis of real teachings:

  1. Christian morality of the Middle Ages, based on myths, made Ceres the personification of the church. Those who have strayed from the path of truth are sought by the goddess armed with the Old and New Testaments.
  2. Ceres is a goddess, revered by everyone, so much so that her image was represented as really existing.
  3. The Eleusinian Mysteries of the Mediterranean held initiations on the day of the festival in honor of the goddess (April 12).
  4. In the world of antiquity, Ceres is the highest deity.
  5. This goddess is considered the guardian of all biological species; not a single blade of grass could be left without her attention.
  6. Ceres alone, of all, has a parallel in the teachings of Tao and in the philosophy of Buddhism.
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