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Demeter
"I
begin to sing about the holy goddess, Demeter of the beautiful hair, about her
and her daughter, Persephone of the lovely ankles, whom Hades snatched away;
loud-thundering Zeus, who sees all, gave her to him." So writes the anonymous
author of the ancient Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The goddess of
agriculture, Demeter here wears a crown of flowers and ears of wheat. Inside
the outer circle that frames her are eight axe blades. The eight blades are
thought to represent Persephone, whom Zeus decreed must spend eight months of
the year with her mother and the other four months with Hades, her husband and
god of the underworld.
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