Triptolemus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Triptolemus

9 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Triptolemus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Triptolemus was either the son of King Celeus of Eleusis and Metanira, or the son of the Titan gods Oceanus and Gaea, in Greek mythology. When the go... For the story in one place, read our article on Triptolemus.

Homer (1)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 2.395–495Hymn 2 to Demeter (5): reunion and the MysteriesPersephone tells her mother how she was seized and made to taste the seed, and mother and daughter spend the day in joy. Rhea brings Zeus's message, and Demeter agrees that Persephone will spend a third of the year below and the rest with the gods. Demeter makes the fields fruitful again and teaches her rites to the leaders of Eleusis, and the hymn closes with a blessing on those who have seen them.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.5.1–3Demeter and Persephone: Eleusis and TriptolemusHades (Pluto) carries Persephone off with Zeus's help, and Demeter searches for her until she reaches Eleusis in the likeness of a woman, where Iambe makes her smile and she nurses Metanira's child Demophon and tries to make him immortal in the fire. She gives Triptolemus a chariot of winged dragons and wheat to sow over the earth. When Zeus orders Persephone's release, a pomegranate seed binds her to spend a third of every year with Hades.

Aristophanes (1)

Aristophanes, The Acharnians 1–203Prologue: Dicaeopolis at the Assembly; Amphitheus and the treatiesDicaeopolis sits alone on the Pnyx, complaining that the Athenians crowd the market-place while the Assembly is empty, and says that he means to interrupt any speaker who talks of anything but Peace. When the Prytanes arrive, Amphitheus is dragged off for claiming that he alone can make peace with Sparta, and Dicaeopolis gives him eight drachmas to make a private treaty for him. After the Great King's envoys and the Thracians brought by Theorus have been paraded, Amphitheus returns, chased by angry Acharnians, and Dicaeopolis chooses the thirty-year treaty.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.572–678Arethusa; Triptolemus; the PieridesArethusa tells Demeter (Ceres) how she fled from the river god Alpheus under the earth and came up again in Sicily. Demeter sends Triptolemus in her chariot to teach men the use of grain, and he is nearly killed by King Lyncus, whom she turns into a lynx. Calliope ends her song, and the Muses tell how the Pierides who challenged them were turned into magpies.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.14.1–7Athens: Enneacrunus, Triptolemus, temple of Hephaestus, Heavenly AphroditeNear the Music Hall is the fountain Enneacrunus, with temples of Demeter and Kore and of Triptolemus. Pausanias gives the Argive and Athenian versions of the Triptolemus story and the variant parentages in Musaeus, Orpheus and Choerilus, but declines to describe the Eleusinium because of a dream. He also notes the statue of Epimenides, the temple of Good Fame, a temple of Hephaestus beside a blue-eyed Athena, and the sanctuary of Heavenly Aphrodite, a cult that came from the Assyrians through Paphos and Ascalon.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.18.1–13Patrae: early history and the Laphria festivalPausanias passes Olenus beside the river Pirus and reaches Patrae, describing its legendary founders Eumelus and Triptolemus, the cities of Aroe, Anthea and Mesatis, and the descent of Patreus. Patrae helped the Aetolians against the Gauls, then dwindled, until Augustus gathered its people back and freed it. He explains how the image of Artemis Laphria was brought from Calydon. He describes the annual Laphria festival, with its procession and sacrifice of living animals on a great altar of logs.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.38.1–9Eleusis: the Rhiti, Eumolpus, Triptolemus and EleutheraePausanias describes the salt streams called Rhiti, boundary between Eleusinians and Athenians, the palace of Crocon and the tomb of Eumolpus, with the war between Eleusis and Athens that fixed the mysteries’ arrangements. At Eleusis he notes shrines of Hippothoon and Zarex, the Cephisus where Theseus slew Procrustes, the temple of Triptolemus, the Callichorum well and the Rarian plain, but declines to describe the sanctuary itself. He ends with Eleutherae and the cave of the infant sons of Antiope.

Nonnus of Panopolis (2)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 19.0–96Book 19: Dionysos consoles Methe and Botrys; the harpers' contest beginsMethe laments Staphylos, and Dionysos consoles her and Botrys with wine, promising that Methe will give her name to drunkenness and Botrys and Staphylos theirs to the grape cluster and the bunch. He then holds a contest beside Staphylos' tomb, offering a bull and a goat as prizes to the harpers. Erechtheus of Athens sings first, of Demeter entertained by Celeos, comparing Dionysos' hospitality to it.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.0–115Book 47: Dionysos in Attica gives wine to IcariosAthens breaks into dance as Dionysos arrives in Attica, and the vines and flowers spring up everywhere. The god visits the old gardener Icarios, whose daughter Erigone is drawing goat's milk, and gives him wine. Icarios admires the new drink and shares it with his neighbours, and the countrymen drink it neat until they reel.