The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

90 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[073]hero first and foremost. Even beyond the limits of the Greekworld, all men, we are told, founded sanctuaries and erectedaltars in his honour because he had bestowed on them the gift ofthe corn. 257 His very name has been plausibly explained both inancient and modern times as “Thrice-ploughed” with referenceto the Greek custom of ploughing the land thrice a year, 258 andthe derivation is said to be on philological principles free fromobjection. 259 In fact it would seem as if Triptolemus, like Demeterand Persephone themselves, were a purely mythical being, anembodiment of the conception of the first sower. At all events inthe local Eleusinian legend, according to an eminent scholar, whohas paid special attention to Attic genealogy, “Triptolemus doesnot, like his comrade Eumolpus or other founders of Eleusinianpriestly families, continue his kind, but without leaving offspringwho might perpetuate his priestly office, he is removed fromthe scene of his beneficent activity. As he appeared, so hevanishes again from the legend, after he has fulfilled his divinemission.” 260S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy, ii. (Cambridge,1905), No. 9, p. 24.257 Arrian, Epicteti Dissertationes, i. 4. 30.258 Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, xviii. 483; L. Preller, Demeter und Persephone,p. 286; F. A. Paley on Hesiod, Works and Days, 460. The custom of ploughingthe land thrice is alluded to by Homer (Iliad, xviii. 542, Odyssey, v. 127)and Hesiod (Theogony, 971), and is expressly mentioned by Theophrastus(Historia Plantarum, vii. 13. 6).259 So I am informed by my learned friend the Rev. Professor J. H. Moulton.260 J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie (Berlin, 1889), pp. 138 sq. However,the Eleusinian Torchbearer Callias apparently claimed to be descended fromTriptolemus, for in a speech addressed to the Lacedaemonians he is said byXenophon (Hellenica, vi. 3. 6) to have spoken of Triptolemus as “our ancestor”(ὁ ἡμέτερος πρόγονος). See above, p. 54. But it is possible that Callias washere speaking, not as a direct descendant of Triptolemus, but merely as anAthenian, who naturally ranked Triptolemus among the most illustrious of theancestral heroes of his people. Even if he intended to claim actual descent fromthe hero, this would prove nothing as to the historical character of Triptolemus,for many Greek families boasted of being descended from gods.