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Triptolemus (), also known as Buzyges (), was a hero of Eleusis in Greek mythology, central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and is worshipped as the inventor and patron of agriculture. Triptolemus is credited with being the first to sow seed for cultivation after being taught by Demeter and is credited for the use of oxen and the plough. Xenophon claims that Peloponnesus was the first place Triptolemus shared Demeter's agricultural gift while Pausanias claims the Rharium plane near Eleusis was the first place to be sown for crops.
Triptolemus is depicted as a young man with a branch or diadem placed in his hair, usually sitting on his chariot, adorned with serpents. His attributes include a plate of grain, a pair of wheat or barley ears and a scepter.
Demeter saw Triptolemus was sick and fed him her breast milk and placed him under the hot coals of a fire. Not only did this recover his strength but he grew instantly into manhood. 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. With each day Demophon grew but she was unable to complete the ritual because she was discovered burying the babe in the fire.).|alt=|left|241x241px]]Instead, Demeter gifted Triptolemus a chariot drawn by winged dragons or serpents and wheat, representative of the gift of agriculture. Demeter taught Triptolemus the art of agriculture and shared with him how to conduct her rites and taught him her mysteries. 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. 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.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter , Triptolemus is not a son of Celeus and Metanira but rather known as a king of Eleusis who served justice, and Demeter is asked to nurse their only son Demophon. 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. 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.
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.
Traveling from Attica, Triptolemus went to the Patras located near the river Peiros and the river Glaucus. The land was ruled by Eumelus, who was said to be indigenous to the land, and he was king over few subjects. Triptolemus shared with him cultivated corn and taught him how to found a city, which Eumelus named Aroe from the tilling of soil or fertile land. 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. Eumelus and Triptolemus then founded another nearby city and named it Antheia for his lost son.
Triptolemus is credited with teaching the cultivation of crops to the Pelasgian later known as the Arcadians. He taught Arcas, the son of Callisto and the King of Pelasgia (later Arcadia) following the death of Nyctimus.
In the archaic 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 driver of horses, the mighty Eumolpos, Celeus leader of peoples, and Polyxeinus were the others mentioned as some of the first priests. According to Xenophon, Triptolemus first shares the rites of Demeter and Persephone with Heracles, the traditional ancestor of the Spartan kings, and the Dioscuri, twin deities Castor and Pollux. Celeus or the peasant Dysaules may be substituted for Triptolemus as the primordial Eleusinian recipient of the first gifts of the Mysteries.
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 as he had a temples dedicated to him in Athens and Eleusis. 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. 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, 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".
| +Comparative Table of Triptolemus' Parentage and Siblings According to Different Sources ! rowspan="2" | Relation ! rowspan="2" | Names ! ! colspan="11" | Sources ! | |||||||||||
| Schol. on HesiodScholia on Hesiod, Works and Days, 1, p. 28 | Orphic Fragment | Pherecydes of Athens | Musaeus of Athens | Choerilus | Panyasis | Ovid | Sch. on Statius | Pseudo-Apollodorus | Hyginus | Pausanias | Servius | Athenians | ||
| Parentage | Cheimarrhoos and Polymnia | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Dysaules | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Oceanus and Gaia | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Rarus and daughter of Amphictyon | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Celeus | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Celeus and Metanira | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Celeus and Polymnia | ||||||||||||||
| Eleusis | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Eleusis and Hyona | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Eleusis and Cothonea | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Eleusis and Cyntinea | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Trochilus and Eleusinian woman | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Siblings | Eubuleus | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Cercyon (half-brother) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Diogeneia | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Pammerope | ✓ | |||||||||||||
| Saesara | ✓ |
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