Despoina
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
, Despoina, Despoena or Despoine, was the daughter of Demeter
and Poseidon
and sister of Arion
. She was the goddess of mysteries
of Arcadia
n cults worshipped under the title Despoina,"the mistress" alongside with her mother Demeter,one of the goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries
. Her real name could not be revealed to anyone except those initiated to her mysteries. This name is consequently unknown. She was later conflated with Kore
(Persephone
) the queen of the underworld in the Eleusinian mysteries
who was probably originally daughter of Demeter and Poseidon rather than of Demeter and Zeus
as it appears in ancient literature. The cult of Despoina is very important for the study of ancient mystery religion
s.
In the primitive myth, Poseidon saw Demeter, the Earth mother and desired her. To avoid him, she took her archaic form of a mare, but he took the form of a stallion and mated with her. From this union Demeter bore a daughter Despoina and a fabulous horse Arion
. Due to her anger at this turn of events, Demeter took on the epithet Erinys, or raging.
*dem/*dom "build, house",Greek "domos" and potni "lady,mistress", Greek "potnia". The masculine form is despotes , "master of the household. Related words are the Mycenean Greek potnia
and Posedao (Poseidon
), which were inherited in classical Greece with the same meaning. Demeter is probably a relative word interpreted as "mother of the house" (from PIE
*dems-mater).
Despoina became worshipped in a sanctuary at Lycosura
west to the town of Megalopolis. This is a very important site for the study of ancient mystery religion
s, although this cult remained regional than panhellenic. Despoina was later conflated with Persephone. First in that place there was a temple of Artemis Hegemone (the leader) with a bronze image (apparently Hecate). From this place there was an entrance to the sacred enclosure of Despoine. In the portico there was a tablet with the inscriptions of the mysteries. In front of the temple there was an altar to Demeter and another to Despoine, after which was one of the Great Mother. Demeter carried a torch in her right hand and her other hand was laid upon Despoine. By the side of Demeter stood Artemis (probably also identified with Hecate). By the image of Despoine stood Anytos, one of the Titans. The Arcadians believed that Despoine was brought up by Anytos
and Artemis was not the daughter of Leto
but of Demeter. Besides the temple there was the hall where the Arcadians celebrated the mysteries and beyond it a grove sacred to Despoine and altars of Poseidon Hippios (horse) and other gods too.
Despoine was her surname among the many, just as they surnamed Demeter's daughter by Zeus
Kore (the maiden).
Demeter was a second goddess under her daughter, the unnameable "Despoina". It seems that the myths in isolated Arcadia were connected with the first Greek-speaking people who came from the north during the bronze age
. The two goddesses had close connections with the rivers and the springs. They were related with the god of the rivers and the springs Poseidon
and especially with Artemis
, who was the first nymph. Her epithet "the mistress" has its analogue in Mycenean Greek inscriptions found at Pylos
in southern Greece and Knossos
in Crete
. Despoina was later conflated with Kore
(Persephone), the goddess of the Eleusinian mysteries
in a life-death-rebirth cycle. Karl Kerenyi
asserted that the cult was a continuation of a Minoan
Goddess
worship.
, Persephone
, Demeter
and Hecate
. Persephone and Demeter were the goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries
, identified as the two potniai (mistresses) in a Linear B
inscription at Pylos
. At Olympia
they were called Despoine (: the mistresses). The epithet may recall the unnameable mistress of the labyrinth.
was dedicated in the temple. Coins from Megalopolis, from the Severan period in the early 3rd century appear to depict the cult statue group.
There is a small museum at the archaeological site, housing small finds as well as part of the cult group,while the remains of the cult statues of Despoina and Demeter are displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
. The most significant is the veil of Despoina with a complex decorative program, probably representative of the types of embroidered woven materials able to be created by contemporary artists. The heads of Artemis, Demeter and Anytus
and a Tritoness from the throne are also displayed.
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Despoina, Despoena or Despoine, was the daughter of Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
and Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
and sister of Arion
Arion (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Arion or Areion is a divinely-bred, extremely swift immortal horse which, according to the Latin poet Sextus Propertius, was endowed with speech....
. She was the goddess of mysteries
Mysteries
Mysteries may refer to:* Sacred mysteries in ancient esoteric religions* Mysteries , a 1975 jazz album* Mysteries , an 1892 psychological novel* The Mysteries, a 1977 English play cycle...
of Arcadia
Arcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
n cults worshipped under the title Despoina,"the mistress" alongside with her mother Demeter,one of the goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
. Her real name could not be revealed to anyone except those initiated to her mysteries. This name is consequently unknown. She was later conflated with Kore
Kore
Kore is an energy drink distributed by GNC in 250 mL cans.-Ingredients:Water, Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Glucuronolactone, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caffeine, Sodium Benzoate, Inositol, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine...
(Persephone
Persephone
In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
) the queen of the underworld in the Eleusinian mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
who was probably originally daughter of Demeter and Poseidon rather than of Demeter and Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
as it appears in ancient literature. The cult of Despoina is very important for the study of ancient mystery religion
Mystery religion
Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
s.
In the primitive myth, Poseidon saw Demeter, the Earth mother and desired her. To avoid him, she took her archaic form of a mare, but he took the form of a stallion and mated with her. From this union Demeter bore a daughter Despoina and a fabulous horse Arion
Arion (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Arion or Areion is a divinely-bred, extremely swift immortal horse which, according to the Latin poet Sextus Propertius, was endowed with speech....
. Due to her anger at this turn of events, Demeter took on the epithet Erinys, or raging.
Etymology
The word Despoina "mistress" is derived from the Mycenean Greek *des-potnia which is interpreted as "lady or mistress of the house", from PIEPie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
*dem/*dom "build, house",Greek "domos" and potni "lady,mistress", Greek "potnia". The masculine form is despotes , "master of the household. Related words are the Mycenean Greek potnia
Potnia
Potnia , Ancient Greek for "Mistress, Lady", title of a goddess. The word was inherited by Classical Greek from Mycenean Greek with the same meaning and it was applied to several goddesses. A similar word is the title Despoina, "the mistress", which was given to the nameless chthonian goddess of...
and Posedao (Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
), which were inherited in classical Greece with the same meaning. Demeter is probably a relative word interpreted as "mother of the house" (from PIE
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
*dems-mater).
Sanctuary at Lycosura
Lycosura
Lycosura was a city of Arcadia said by Pausanias to be the oldest city in the world, though there is no evidence for its existence before the fourth century BCE...
west to the town of Megalopolis. This is a very important site for the study of ancient mystery religion
Mystery religion
Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
s, although this cult remained regional than panhellenic. Despoina was later conflated with Persephone. First in that place there was a temple of Artemis Hegemone (the leader) with a bronze image (apparently Hecate). From this place there was an entrance to the sacred enclosure of Despoine. In the portico there was a tablet with the inscriptions of the mysteries. In front of the temple there was an altar to Demeter and another to Despoine, after which was one of the Great Mother. Demeter carried a torch in her right hand and her other hand was laid upon Despoine. By the side of Demeter stood Artemis (probably also identified with Hecate). By the image of Despoine stood Anytos, one of the Titans. The Arcadians believed that Despoine was brought up by Anytos
Anytos
In Greek mythology, Anytos was one of the Titans. He was supposed to have raised Despoina, and in Arcadia during Pausanias' time the two were represented by statues in a temple near Acacesium....
and Artemis was not the daughter of Leto
Leto
In Greek mythology, Leto is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe. The island of Kos is claimed as her birthplace. In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes of Zeus...
but of Demeter. Besides the temple there was the hall where the Arcadians celebrated the mysteries and beyond it a grove sacred to Despoine and altars of Poseidon Hippios (horse) and other gods too.
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
Kore (the maiden).
Origins
In the mysteriesMysteries
Mysteries may refer to:* Sacred mysteries in ancient esoteric religions* Mysteries , a 1975 jazz album* Mysteries , an 1892 psychological novel* The Mysteries, a 1977 English play cycle...
Demeter was a second goddess under her daughter, the unnameable "Despoina". It seems that the myths in isolated Arcadia were connected with the first Greek-speaking people who came from the north during the bronze age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
. The two goddesses had close connections with the rivers and the springs. They were related with the god of the rivers and the springs Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
and especially with Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, who was the first nymph. Her epithet "the mistress" has its analogue in Mycenean Greek inscriptions found at Pylos
Pylos
Pylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...
in southern Greece and Knossos
Knossos
Knossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
in Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
. Despoina was later conflated with Kore
Kore
Kore is an energy drink distributed by GNC in 250 mL cans.-Ingredients:Water, Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Glucuronolactone, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caffeine, Sodium Benzoate, Inositol, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine...
(Persephone), the goddess of the Eleusinian mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
in a life-death-rebirth cycle. Karl Kerenyi
Karl Kerényi
Károly Kerényi was a Hungarian scholar in classical philology, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology.- Hungary 1897–1943 :...
asserted that the cult was a continuation of a Minoan
Minoan
Minoan may refer to the following:*The Minoan civilization**The Eteocretan language**The script known as Linear A**Minoan pottery*Minoa, name of several bronze-age settlements in the Aegean....
Goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
worship.
Epithet
Despoina was also used as an epithet for several goddesses, especially AphroditeAphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
, Persephone
Persephone
In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
, Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
and Hecate
Hecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
. Persephone and Demeter were the goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance...
, identified as the two potniai (mistresses) in a Linear B
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
inscription at Pylos
Pylos
Pylos , historically known under its Italian name Navarino, is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It was the capital of the former...
. At Olympia
Olympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...
they were called Despoine (: the mistresses). The epithet may recall the unnameable mistress of the labyrinth.
Archeology
At the time of Pausanias visit in the 2nd century BE, the sculptures would have been three hundred or more years old. In the 2nd century CE, a statue of the emperor HadrianHadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
was dedicated in the temple. Coins from Megalopolis, from the Severan period in the early 3rd century appear to depict the cult statue group.
There is a small museum at the archaeological site, housing small finds as well as part of the cult group,while the remains of the cult statues of Despoina and Demeter are displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
National Archaeological Museum of Athens
The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek...
. The most significant is the veil of Despoina with a complex decorative program, probably representative of the types of embroidered woven materials able to be created by contemporary artists. The heads of Artemis, Demeter and Anytus
Anytos
In Greek mythology, Anytos was one of the Titans. He was supposed to have raised Despoina, and in Arcadia during Pausanias' time the two were represented by statues in a temple near Acacesium....
and a Tritoness from the throne are also displayed.
| Elements of the cult sculptural group in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum in Athens houses some of the most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity. It is considered one of the great museums in the world and contains the richest collection of artifacts from Greek... |
|---|
 |
| From L-R,Artemis,Demeter,Veil of Despoina,Anytus,Tritoness from the throne. |
Other Uses
- In Orthodox church the title "despoina" is given to the mother of God.
- In Byzantine Greek 'despoina' was a feminine court title meaning "lady", while the masculine 'despotes' meant "lord".
- In Modern GreekModern GreekModern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
the title "despoinis" means "Miss" and can be used to address young ladies and waitresses amongst others.
- DespinaDespina (moon)Despina , also known as Neptune V, is the third closest inner satellite of Neptune. It is named after Despoina, a nymph who was a daughter of Poseidon and Demeter....
, a satellite of NeptuneNeptuneNeptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
, was named after the goddess Despoina.