#metaneira

[theia-mania-comics]

Queen of the Dead part 2, 126

[the-goddess-of-gays]

friendly reminder that the scene where Esperanza seizes Leo from the burning fireplace and screams at Hera for putting her baby in danger is a direct reference to the myth of Demophon, in which Demeter attempts to immortalise a newborn prince by anointing him in ambrosia and putting him to sleep in a fire several nights in a row.

interestingly, said myth ends when Metaneira, the boy's mother, snatches her baby from the fireplace on the final night as she thought Demeter was trying to murder her child. Demeter had been posing as a nursemaid when this interaction occurred. crucially, she never brought down her divine wrath upon Metaneira, despite the mortal queen's so-called 'disrespect'. notice any similarities?

[polypharmakoss]

Sometimes I just need to reread the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.

Demeter telling Celeus' daughters that she is Cretan is cinema in its purest form 🎥 it gives it that Odyssean touch… OH! wait, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

And Iambe "making her smile" ejejejej yeah... WAS MARVELLOUS.

[artbyanca]

Metaneira begging Demeter to give back her son.

[therkalexander]

Roses in the Rain

Persephone insists she stay until it’s over. As they place the man’s picture in the wreath of her white roses at the altar, she thinks back to how many haughty clients she’s smiled through, how many demands she’s endured, the thankless nights and days doing what she loves. But here every memory is sung and cared for, every lily is a star piercing the dark, a hope against the inevitable, the inexorable.

Updated!

[theia-mania-comics]

Queen of the Dead part 2, 123

[theia-mania-comics]

Queen of the Dead part 2, 125

In the Hymn, when speaking about Demophoon's everlasting honor, Demeter says: ... "the sons of the Eleusinians will join in war and dreadful battle against each other forever" (Athanassakis, 2004). It is thought that this refers to the Ballétys, a local festival involving a mock battle among the young men of Eleusis.

I drew the warriors in the last panel from the Chigi Vase.

[theia-mania-comics]

Queen of the Dead part 2, 124

In The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter herself takes Demophoon from the hearth and places him on the ground when Metaneira interrupts the ritual, which implies that this magic could only be worked in secret. It says nothing about the child dying. However, some scholars argue that the hymn-poet clearly alludes to his approaching death by using the word aspaironta for when he is left gasping on the floor, a word used elsewhere of dying heroes. In other versions of the story, the child is immediately burnt up in the fire when the ritual is interrupted (Apollodorus Bibliotheca 1.5.1 and Orphic frag. 49, 100ff). In Hyginus Fabulae it is the father, here named Eleusinius, who interrupts the ritual. He was killed by the angry goddess, but the child (who here is Triptolemus) was honored by Demeter and was given her chariot with flying serpents to spread the cultivation of grain to rest of humanity.

This was one of the hardest pages in part 2 to draw, because I really didn't want Demophoon to die. But at the same time I realized that his death was necessary to push Demeter into putting her second plan into action.