Journeying to the Underworld- Greece

What were the Homeric Hymns?-

there were 33 homeric hymns dedicated to gods. the 1 were are studying is the homeric hymn to demeter. it's a poem. dedicated to demeter.

maybe homer composed them so we'll call the poet homer. they were part of the oral tradition and were from the 6/7th centuries bce.

there were also epithets- short phrases used to describe and identify the characters, ie 'demeter with the lovely hair'

Themes- 

there are 2 themes. i would say 'mythology' and 'the changing of the seasons' but APPARENTLY NOT. these themes are:

• the relationship between the gods- constant familial arguments
• the relationship between gods and men- the gods depended on men for sacrifice. men depended on gods for existence and not death.

THE STORY:

ok you do actually have to read the original, it's in the 'classical civilisation prescribed literary sources' book.

this is a handy review tho.

Persephone was the daughter…