English spelling of the name of the goddess Ceres. The meaning of Ceres, in mythology in the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. Ancient Italic Beliefs

Ceres Ceres

(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. The pig was considered the sacrificial animal of Ceres.

(Source: " Brief dictionary mythology and antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)

(Ceres), the oldest Italian and Roman chthonic goddess of the productive forces of the earth, the growth and ripening of cereals, as well as underworld, who sent madness to people, as well as the goddess of motherhood and marriage (according to the law of Romulus, half of the property of a husband who divorced his wife without reason was dedicated to her). She was revered as the guardian of the rural community (paga), the protector of its harvest from robbers (a person executed for stealing the harvest at night was dedicated to her). Subsequently, Ts. was considered only the goddess of grains and harvests, enjoying great honor as such, especially among the peasants who celebrated cerealias dedicated to her and called on her during paganalia - the festival of the pagi. During the era of the struggle between patricians and plebeians, C. headed the plebeian triad (C., Liber and Libera) of gods, which in 493 BC. e. A temple was built by Campanian craftsmen in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine, where the plebeians had long revered the agricultural gods Seya, Segetia, Messiah, and Tutulina, whom C. replaced, and where there was an underground altar of Cons. There is an opinion that Ts. was always the goddess of the plebs, because her flamen was a plebeian, perhaps a priest of the plebeian community, and the cerealia were included in the Numa calendar in connection with the introduction of some of the plebeians to the Roman community. The temple of the plebeian triad of gods became the center of the struggle plebeians with patricians, an archive of plebeian magistrates, a refuge for persecuted plebeians, a place for distributing bread to them (C. was identified with the goddess Panda or Empanda, in whose temple they fed the hungry; Aul. Gell. XIII 22; Serv. Verg. Georg. I 7). After the reconciliation of the patricians and plebeians, Ts. began to be revered as a common goddess, but her old role revived with the aggravation of contradictions between the people and the nobility, when Ts. was opposed to the goddess of nobility Cybele. Ts. together with Tellus The holidays of the harvest were dedicated, as well as winter sowing (sementiva, December 13) and cerealia (April 19). Cerealia were accompanied by circus and stage games, baiting foxes, to which burning torches were tied, and scattering nuts (Ovid. Fast. IV 681 next), which was supposed to protect crops from the heat and stimulate their growth. In the 3rd century. BC e. Ts. gets closer to Demeter, Libera with Proserpine - Persephone. The cult of Ts. is Hellenized, the female mysteries of Ts. appear, the celebration of the meeting of Ts. with her daughter returning from Pluto, which was preceded by nine days of fasting and abstinence (Serv. Verg. Georg. I 344). The invention of agriculture and the introduction of laws that introduced people to civilization are associated with Ts. (as well as with the Greek Demeter).
Lit.: Le Bonniec N., Le culte de Gères a Rome. Des origines a la fin de la République, P., 1958.
E. M. Shtaerman.

(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)

The goddess of the harvest, the patroness of fertility, Ceres was deeply revered by Roman farmers. In her honor, solemn celebrations were held - cerealias, which began on April 11 or 12 and lasted 8 days. Cerealia were observed especially zealously by the lower classes - the plebeians. They dressed up in white clothes (as opposed to ordinary work clothes), decorated themselves with wreaths, and after ceremonial sacrifices (they offered pigs, fruits, honeycombs), they had fun with horse racing in the circus for eight days. The Roman people hosted festive meals, inviting everyone passing by to appease Ceres, who provided hearty food. Gradually, the cult of the goddess Ceres merged with the cult of the “Bright Goddess” (Tellura) and the Greek Demeter, but the festival of Cerealia with its fun and wide hospitality was preserved.

(Source: “Legends and Tales of Ancient Rome.”)

in Roman mythology, the goddess who breathes life into all plants. Protects young shoots from bad weather, weeds and OTHER dangers. Together with Tellura, she sent a light warm wind and rain that nourished the roots of plants to help the crops. In honor of Ceres, solemn celebrations were held - cerealia, starting on April 11 or 12 and lasting 8 days. These celebrations were especially zealously observed lower classes- plebeians. They dressed in snow-white clothes, decorated themselves with wreaths, and after the solemn sacrifices, they entertained themselves with circus races for eight days. Ceres was offered pigs, fruits, and honeycombs. On these days, the Romans hosted meals at their place, inviting everyone passing by to taste the festive dishes. It was believed that cordial hospitality was especially pleasing to Ceres. In the temple of the goddess there was an archive of the commoner class. Every year, worthy people were chosen from this list to take care of the temple. Ceres was always accompanied by the god and goddess of viticulture - Liber (his other name is Bacchus or Bacchus) and his wife - the kind and beautiful Libera.

(Source: “Dictionary of spirits and gods of German-Scandinavian, Egyptian, Greek, Irish, Japanese, Mayan and Aztec mythologies.”)

Marble.
III centuries BC e.
Rome.
National Museum.

See what "Ceres" is in other dictionaries:

- (Latin ceres, Greek Demeter, i.e. mother of the earth). 1) the goddess of agriculture and grain fruits, whose festivities were distinguished by mysterious rituals. 2) an asteroid, discovered in 1801. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Ceres- Ceres. Marble. 2 1st centuries BC. National Museum of Rome. Ceres. Marble. 2 1st centuries BC. National Museum of Rome. In the myths of the ancient Romans, Ceres is the goddess of fertility, as well as the underworld, sending madness to people, the goddess of motherhood and marriage.... ... encyclopedic Dictionary"The World History"

Demeter, harvest, goddess, motherhood, marriage Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Ceres noun, number of synonyms: 10 asteroid (579) ... Synonym dictionary

In Roman mythology, the goddess of agriculture and fertility. Corresponds to the Greek Demeter...

One of the largest (diameter about 1000 km) minor planets (N 1), discovered by G. Piazzi (Italy, 1801). The distance of Ceres from the Sun varies from 2.55 to 3.05 AU. e... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

In the myths of the ancient Romans, the goddess of fertility, as well as the underworld, sending madness to people, the goddess of motherhood and marriage. Identified with the Greek goddess Demeter... Historical Dictionary

CERES, the largest ASTEROID, the first discovered by scientists, was discovered by Giuseppe PAZZI on January 1, 1801. Its diameter is 913 km. It moves in orbit in the main asteroid belt, its average distance to the Sun is 414 million km, which coincides with... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

I in Roman mythology, the goddess of agriculture and fertility. Corresponds to the Greek Demeter. II one of the largest (diameter about 1000 km) minor planets (No. 1), discovered by G. Piazzi (Italy, 1801). The distance of Ceres from the Sun varies from 2.55 to... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Roman goddess; belongs to the number ancient gods Rome (as called di indigetes). Its main function is to protect the crop at all moments of its development; therefore, her most ancient cult is closely connected with the cult even more ancient goddess Tellus... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

This term has other meanings, see Ceres (meanings). Ceres ... Wikipedia

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• Slave, Warrior, Queen, Morgan Rice. Seventeen-year-old Ceres, a beautiful, poor girl in the Empire city of Delos, lives the hard and merciless life of a commoner. During the day, she takes the weapon forged by her father to the palace training ground, and at night...

Usually gods simply personify some kind of impersonal supernatural force. In mythological tales the supernatural is given a name and an image, so that the anonymous miraculous intervention becomes a god with a name and a role... Collier's Encyclopedia

The mythology and religion of the ancient Romans never had an end. systems. The remnants of ancient beliefs coexisted with myths and religions. ideas borrowed from neighboring peoples (Etruscans, Greeks, etc.). About D. m. and r. period tribal system… … Soviet historical encyclopedia

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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 ancient ideas 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.

Like one of the oldest greek goddesses, guardians are adjacent to Ceres Greek cults in Rome and the Sibylline books - 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 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 every mortal who dared to cut down one of them sacred trees in it, would certainly incur the wrath of Ceres, as happened with Erysichthon.

Many were dedicated to Ceres and her daughter Proserpina in Greece and Italy. beautiful temples, in which the festivals of 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 boundless surprise, royal family and the whole yard, 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 approached the source with pure 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 the same dress as them. of blue color. 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

Demeter, Ceres, Cybele - goddess of fertility and agriculture, teacher and mother
Roles and aspects of Demeter in a woman’s life
Demeter (Ceres among the Romans) is the goddess of fertility and agriculture, the daughter of Kronos and Rhea, one of the most revered Olympian deities.

She was described in Homer's Hymn to Demeter as a "benevolent goddess of a beautiful appearance, with hair the color of ripe wheat... and with a golden sword" (probably a poetic allusion to the sheaf of ripened wheat, which was her main symbol).
She was depicted as a beautiful woman with golden hair, dressed in blue robes, or (mostly in sculptures) as a venerable, imposing woman sitting on a throne.
Cerere by Democrito Gandolfi at Porta Venezia (Milan)

Part of Demeter's name, meter, appears to mean "mother", but it is not entirely clear what the particle "de-" or, formerly, "da-" refers to.* She was worshiped as a mother goddess, especially as the mother of grain and the mother of the girl Persephone (among the Romans - Proserpina).

Demeter's life began as darkly as Hera's. She was the second child of Rhea and Kronos - and the second he swallowed. Demeter became the fourth royal consort of Zeus (Jupiter), who was also her brother. She preceded Hera, the seventh and last. The union of Zeus and Demeter produced an only child, their daughter Persephone, with whom Demeter was associated in myth and cult.

The story of Demeter and Persephone, beautifully told in Homer's lengthy Hymn to Demeter, centers around Demeter's reaction to Persephone's abduction by Demeter's brother Hades, lord of the underworld.

The myth became the basis of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the most sacred and important cult rituals Ancient Greece for more than two thousand years, until the 5th century AD, when the sanctuary at Eleusis was destroyed as a result of the Gothic invasion.
Demeter in Neustrelitz

Demeter is the archetype of motherhood. She represents maternal instinct, carried out through pregnancy, through physical, psychological or spiritual nourishment and education of others. This powerful archetype can determine the subsequent direction of a woman's life, has a significant influence on those close to her, and also determines a woman's tendency to depression if her need to nurture and nurture is denied - or something interferes with its fulfillment.

Demeter represented the mother archetype on Olympus. Her most important roles there were the roles of mother (daughter - Persephone), one who nourishes (goddess of fertility), and giver of spiritual food (Eleusinian Mysteries). Although other goddesses were mothers (Hera and Aphrodite), Demeter's connection with her daughter was the most significant. She was also more involved in cultivation and education than other goddesses.

Ceres, Latin, Greek Demeter - Roman goddess of grains and harvests, around the 5th century. BC e. identified with Greek.

Ceres was one of the oldest Italian and Roman goddesses; according to tradition, it had a special priest (flamin) already in the royal era. In Rome, a temple was dedicated to Ceres, built in 493 BC. e. on the slope of the Aventine hill, in which honors were paid to both Ceres herself and the gods close to her: the married couple and Libera. The temple was built in the Etruscan style after a fire in 31 BC. e. was restored in the Corinthian style; During the Republic, it housed the resolutions of the Senate. Of the remaining temples of Ceres, the most famous was the temple at Ostia, the remains of which have survived. The festivities in her honor - cerealia (April 19) - were of a peasant and plebeian character. At cerealias, people dressed in white clothes, and the poor were offered refreshments at state expense. Her cult, especially widespread among women, acquired certain mystical features over time, although not to the same extent as, for example, the Eleusinian mysteries.

In the illustration: a fragment of the painting “The Goddess Ceres Reclining in the Background of a Forest Landscape” by Adrian Van Stalbeemt. Photo: Ceres statue in Milan, Italy.

Few statues and paintings depicting Ceres have survived; their artistic level is relatively low, with the exception of “Ceres” from the National Museum in Rome. Of the few paintings by European artists, Watteau’s “Ceres” (1712) and Vouet’s large painting “Ceres with the Fruits of the Harvest” (c. 1640) are considered the best.

Allegorically Ceres, “fruits of Ceres” - food:

“Moreover, Ceres and Bacchus, so to speak,
Venus is helped to win…” (i.e. wine and food).
- J. Byron, “Don Juan.”

Ceres is also the closest dwarf planet to Earth.