The favour of Demeter was
believed to bring mankind rich harvests and fruitful crops, whereas her
displeasure caused blight, drought, and famine. The island of Sicily was
supposed to be under her especial protection, and there she was regarded with
particular veneration, the Sicilians naturally attributing the wonderful
fertility of their country to the partiality of the goddess.
Demeter is usually represented
as a woman of noble {52} bearing and majestic appearance, tall, matronly, and
dignified, with beautiful golden hair, which falls in rippling curls over her
stately shoulders, the yellow locks being emblematical of the ripened ears of
corn. Sometimes she appears seated in a chariot drawn by winged dragons, at
others she stands erect, her figure drawn up to its full height, and always
fully draped; she bears a sheaf of wheat-ears in one hand and a lighted torch
in the other. The wheat-ears are not unfrequently replaced by a bunch of
poppies, with which her brows are also garlanded, though sometimes she merely
wears a simple riband in her hair.