View source for Triptolemus

{{Short description|Greek mythological character}}
{{For|the moth|Hemeroplanes triptolemus}}
{{redirect2|Buzyges|Dysaules|the insect genera|Buzyges (butterfly)|and|Dysaules (mantis)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Triptolemos Kore Louvre G452 full.jpg
| caption = Triptolemus and Persephone, tondo of a red-figure Attic cup,  ca. 470 BC–460 BC
| name = Triptolemus
| abode = [[Eleusis]], [[Elysium]], [[Hades]]
| mount = Dragon-drawn chariot
| parents = [[Oceanus]] and [[Gaia]], or [[Celeus]] and [[Metanira]]
| god_of = Patron of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]<br />Founder of [[Agriculture]]<br />Judge of the [[Judgement (afterlife)|Afterlife]]
}}

'''Triptolemus''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|r|ɪ|p|ˈ|t|ɒ|l|ᵻ|m|ə|s}} ({{langx|grc|Τριπτόλεμος|translit=Triptólemos|lit=Tripartite warrior}}), also known as '''Buzyges''' ({{Langx|grc|Βουζύγης|translit=Bouzýgēs|lit=Bull-hitcher}}), was a hero of [[Eleusis (Boeotia)|Eleusis]] in [[Greek mythology]], central to the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]] and is worshipped as the inventor and patron of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plato, Laws, Book 6, section 782b |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0166:book=6:section=782b&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Epictetus, Discourses, book 1, Of progress or improvement. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0236:text=disc:book=1:chapter=4&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Triptolemus is credited with being the first to sow seed for cultivation<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 14 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=14&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> after being taught by Demeter and is credited for the use of oxen and the plough.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK VII. 1 MAN, HIS BIRTH, HIS ORGANIZATION, AND THE INVENTION OF THE ARTS., CHAP. 57. (56.)—THE INVENTORS OF VARIOUS THINGS. 1 We here enter upon the third division of Pliny's Natural History, which treats of Zoology, from the 7th to the 11th inclusive. Cuvier has illustrated this part by many valuable notes, which originally appeared in Lemaire's Bibliotheque Classique, 1827, and were afterwards incorporated, with some additions, by Ajasson, in his translation of Pliny, published in 1829; Ajasson is the editor of this portion of Pliny's Natural History, in Lemaire's Edition.—B. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=7:chapter=57&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Xenophon claims that Peloponnesus was the first place Triptolemus shared Demeter's agricultural gift<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Xenophon, Hellenica, Book 6, chapter 3 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0206:book=6:chapter=3&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=24 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> while Pausanias claims the Rharium plane near Eleusis was the first place to be sown for crops.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 38 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=38&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Triptolemus is depicted as a young man with a branch or diadem placed in his hair, usually sitting on his chariot, adorned with [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpents]]. His attributes include a plate of grain, a pair of wheat or barley ears and a [[scepter]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=TRIPTOLEMUS (Triptolemos) - Greek Demi-God of Sowing, Milling & the Eleusinian Mysteries |url=https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/EleusiniosTriptolemos.html |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

==Mythology==

=== Origin of Triptolemus' Agricultural Gifts ===
Triptolemus' first introduction to Demeter is during Demeter's search for her daughter following [[Rape of Persephone|the abduction of Persephone]]. While [[Demeter]], in the guise of an old woman<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hymn 2 to Demeter, line 87 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=2:card=87 |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> named Doso,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hymn 2 to Demeter, line 118 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=2:card=118 |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> was searching for her daughter [[Persephone]] (Kore), who had been abducted by [[Hades]] (Pluto),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hymn 2 to Demeter, line 40 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=2:card=40 |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> she received a hospitable welcome from [[Celeus]], the King of Eleusis. He asked her to nurse [[Demophon of Eleusis|Demophon]]—"killer of men", a counterpart to Triptolemus— and Triptolemus, his sons by [[Metanira]].

Demeter saw Triptolemus was sick and fed him her breast milk and placed him under the hot coals of a fire.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |author=William Godwin |year=1876 |title=Lives of the Necromancers |url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog |page=37}}</ref> Not only did this recover his strength but he grew instantly into manhood.<ref name=":1" /> As a gift to Celeus, in gratitude for his hospitality, Demeter secretly planned to make Demophon immortal by placing him in the flames of the hearth to strip him of his mortal flesh.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Apollodorus, Library, book 1, chapter 5 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=1:chapter=5&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> With each day Demophon grew but she was unable to complete the ritual because she was discovered burying the babe in the fire.<ref name=":0" />[[File:F0466 Louvre Legende Triptoleme Ma3571 detail rwk.jpg|thumb|Triptolemus on a 2nd-century Roman sarcophagus ([[Louvre Museum]]).|alt=|left|241x241px]]Instead, [[Demeter]] gifted Triptolemus a chariot drawn by winged dragons or serpents<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Hyginus |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Mary |title=Fabulae |url=https://topostext.org/work/206 |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=topostext.org |publisher=University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies}}</ref> and wheat, representative of the gift of agriculture.<ref name=":0" /> Demeter taught Triptolemus the art of agriculture and shared with him how to conduct her rites and taught him her mysteries.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Hymn 2 to Demeter, line 449 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=2:card=449&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> From Triptolemus, the rest of Greece learned to plant and reap crops as he flew across the land on his chariot wafting the wheat through the air to sow crops across the inhabitied earth.<ref name=":0" /> Demeter and Persephone, once restored to her mother, cared for him, and helped him complete his mission of educating the whole world in the art of agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siculus |first=Diodorus |year=1939 |title=The Library of History, Book V, 47-84 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

In the [[Homeric Hymn to Demeter|Homeric ''Hymn to Demeter'']]'','' Triptolemus is not a son of Celeus and Metanira but rather known as a king of Eleusis who served justice,<ref name=":2" /> and Demeter is asked to nurse their only son Demophon.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Hymn 2 to Demeter, line 213 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=2:card=213 |access-date=23 May 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Rather than nurse Demophon, Demeter anoints him with [[ambrosia]], the food of the gods, breathes on him gently while holding him to her chest, and places him within the flames of fire during the night, all in an effort to make him immortal.<ref name=":3" /> Demeter is foiled in her plan in this retelling as well.

Triptolemus was equally associated with the bestowal of hope for the afterlife associated with the expansion of the Eleusinian Mysteries.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Kerenyi |first=Karl |title=Eleusis; archetypal image of mother and daughter |publisher=Bollingen Foundation |year=1967 |isbn=9780691019154 |edition=3rd, Translated from the original manuscript of the author |location=New York, NY |pages=120–130 |translator-last=Manheim |translator-first=Ralph}}</ref>

=== Spreading the Art of Agriculture ===
[[File:Triptolemos chariot relief 04.jpg|thumb|249x249px|Marble relief of Triptolemus, [[Demeter]], and [[Persephone]] at the [[Archaeological Museum of Eleusis]], Greece]]
Triptolemus traveled to [[Scythia]] on his dragon drawn chariot to teach King [[Lyncus]] and the [[Scythians]] the art of agriculture. Bearing the gifts of Demeter, he scattered seeds across Scythia so the realm may yield a large harvest of good food.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses, Book 5, line 572 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028:book=5:card=572&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Lyncus grew envious of Triptolemus and his gift of agriculture, so he planned to murder Triptolemus while he slept, hoping that he could receive the praise for the harvest instead. Before Lyncus could enact his plan he was thwarted by Demeter who turned him into a lynx as punishment and sent Triptolemus back into the sky in her chariot.<ref name=":8" />

Triptolemus also traveled to the kingdom of [[Getae]] where he intended to continue to spread the art of agriculture and share grain with the people. The king of Getae, [[Charnabon]] (also spelt [[Carnabon]]) made an attempt at Triptolemus' life, seized him and ordering  one of the chariot dragons to be killed keep Triptolemus from escaping. Again Demeter came to Triptolemus' rescue, returning the chariot to him and replacing the lost dragon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyginus |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Mary |title=Astronomica Book 2 |url=https://topostext.org/work/207 |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=topostext.org |series=no. 34 |publisher=University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies}}</ref>

Traveling from [[Attica]], Triptolemus went to the [[Patras|city of Patrae]] located near the river [[Peiros|Peirus]] and the river [[Glafkos (river)|Glaucus]]. The land was ruled by [[Eumelus]], who was said to be indigenous to the land, and he was king over few subjects.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Achaia, chapter 18 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=7:chapter=18&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Triptolemus shared with him cultivated corn and taught him how to found a city, which Eumelus named [[Aroi, Patras|Aroe]] from the tilling of soil or fertile land.<ref name=":11" /> The son of Eumelus, Antheias, attempted to sow the seed of agriculture himself by using the dragon drawn chariot while Triptolemus slept, but Antheias fell from the car and was killed.<ref name=":11" /> Eumelus and Triptolemus then founded another nearby city and named it [[Antheia, Patras|Antheia]] for his lost son.<ref name=":11" />

Triptolemus is credited with teaching the cultivation of crops to the Pelasgian later known as the Arcadians. He taught [[Arcas]], the son of [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]] and the King of [[Pelasgia]] (later [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]]) following the death of [[Nyctimus]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Arcadia, chapter 4 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=8:chapter=4 |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>
=== Eleusinian Mysteries ===
[[File:Ten_marble_fragments_of_the_Great_Eleusinian_Relief_MET_DT203390.jpg|thumb|Roman copy of the [[Great Eleusinian Relief]] depicting a scene of young Triptolemus standing between Demeter and Persephone. Demeter is handing Triptolemus ears of grain (now lost), [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].]]The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece".<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref>

In the archaic [[Homeric Hymns#List of the Homeric Hymns|Homeric ''Hymn to Demeter'']], Triptolemus is briefly mentioned as one of the original priests of Demeter, one of the first men to learn the secret rites and mysteries of [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]: [[Diocles (mythology)|Diocles]] driver of horses, the mighty [[Eumolpos]], [[Celeus]] leader of peoples, and [[Polyxeinus]] were the others mentioned as some of the first priests.<ref name=":2" /> According to [[Xenophon]], Triptolemus first shares the rites of Demeter and Persephone with Heracles, the traditional ancestor of the Spartan kings, and the [[Castor and Pollux|Dioscuri]], twin deities [[Castor and Pollux]].<ref name=":5" /> Celeus or the peasant [[Dysaules]] may be substituted for Triptolemus as the primordial Eleusinian recipient of the first gifts of the Mysteries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Corinth, chapter 14 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=14&highlight=triptolemus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Triptolemus' role at Eleusis is unique as he was one of the first men to learn the mystic rites and was a pupil of Demeter who was charged with bringing agriculture to humankind. Separate from the Mysteries, Triptolemus was thought to have a cult of his own<ref name=":4" /> as he had a temples dedicated to him in Athens and Eleusis.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> It is said that temples and alters were erected in his honor because he gave the people food by cultivation and shared with them the way to not only live but to live well.<ref name=":9" /> In the 5th-century bas-relief in the National Museum, Athens (''illustration''), which probably came from his temple, the boy Triptolemus stands between the two Goddesses, [[Demeter]] and the [[Persephone|Kore]], and receives from Demeter a golden ear of grain (now lost).

Triptolemus was given three commandments to living a simple and pious life: "Honor your parents", "Honor the gods with fruits"—for the Greeks, this includes grains—and "Spare the animals".<ref name=":4" />

=== Judge of the Afterlife ===
[[Socrates]] names Triptolemus as one of the judges in the afterlife along with three sons of [[Zeus]], [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Aeacus]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plato |others=Translated by Benjamin Jowett |title=Apology |url=https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=classics.mit.edu |publisher=The Internet Classics Archive}}</ref> Each of the judges had their own roles in the afterlife: Aeacus was the doorkeeper and judged the deceased of Europe,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 12 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=3:chapter=12&highlight=aeacus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Rhadamanthus was the Lord of [[Elysium]] and judged the deceased of Asia,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Homer, Odyssey, Book 4, line 554 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=4:card=554&highlight=rhadamanthus |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> and Minos was to be the deal breaker if any indeceasion was reached. Triptolemus was said to have rule over the deceased who were initiated into the mysteries.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Atsma |first=Aaron J. |title=MINOS, RHADAMANTHYS & AEACUS - The Judges of the Dead of Greek Mythology |url=https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Rhadamanthys.html |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

=== Parentage ===
Triptolemus' parentage is highly debated across sources: He was either a mortal prince and the eldest son of King [[Celeus]] of [[Eleusis]] and [[Metanira]] or according to [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], [[Panyassis|Panyasis]] believed he was the son of Eleusis, while [[Pherecydes of Syros|Pherecydes]] believed he was the son of the divine son of [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and [[Oceanus]] (Ocean and Earth).<ref name=":0" /> Multiple other parentage combinations have been mentioned by other authors as seen in the comparative table. Triptolemus was said to be the ancestor to a royal [[priestly caste]] of the Eleusinian Mysteries, who claimed to be [[:el:Βουζύγοι|Buzygae]] (Βουζύγαι), that taught agriculture and performed secret rites and rituals, of which [[Pericles]] was its most famous descendant.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bloch |first=René (Berne) |title=Buzygae |date=1 October 2006 |work=Brill's New Pauly |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/buzygae-e222050 |access-date=27 July 2023 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+<big>Comparative Table of Triptolemus' Parentage and Siblings According to Different Sources</big>
! rowspan="2" |Relation
! rowspan="2" |Names
!
! colspan="11" |Sources
!
|-
|''Schol. on [[Hesiod]]''<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Hesiod]], ''Works and Days'', 1, p. 28</ref>
|''Orphic Fragment''<ref name=":6" />
|''[[Pherecydes of Athens]]''
|''[[Musaeus of Athens]]''
|''[[Choerilus (playwright)|Choerilus]]''<ref name=":6" />
|''Panyasis''
|''[[Ovid]]''
|''Sch. on [[Statius]]''
|''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]]''<ref name=":0" />
|''[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]''<ref name=":10" />
|''[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]''<ref name=":6" />
|''[[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]]''
|[[Athenians]]<ref name=":6" />
|-
| rowspan="12" |''Parentage''
|Cheimarrhoos and Polymnia
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Dysaules
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Oceanus]] and [[Gaia]]
|
|
|✓
|✓
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Rarus]] and daughter of [[Amphictyon]]
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Celeus]]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|✓
|-
|Celeus and Metanira
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|Celeus and Polymnia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|[[Eleusis (mythology)|Eleusis]]
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|-
|Eleusis and Hyona
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
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|-
|[[Eleusis (mythology)|Eleusis]] and Cothonea
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
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|-
|[[Eleusis (mythology)|Eleusis]] and Cyntinea
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|-
|[[Trochilus (mythology)|Trochilus]] and Eleusinian woman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |''Siblings''
|[[Eubuleus]]
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Cercyon of Eleusis|Cercyon]] (half-brother)
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
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|-
|[[Diogeneia]]
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|✓
|
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|-
|Pammerope
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|[[Saesara]]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Triptolemus}}
*[[Indra]]
*[[Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinsian Mysteries]]
*[[Eleusis (mythology)|Eleusis]]

== References == 
{{Reflist}}

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Chthonic beings]]
[[Category:Children of Gaia]]
[[Category:Children of Oceanus]]
[[Category:Consorts of Demeter]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Eleusinians]]
[[Category:Primordial teachers]]
[[Category:Deeds of Demeter]]