Manon Sauvage-Cerisier

This PhD thesis studies the cults celebrating the goddess Demeter in the Peloponnese from the Arcaic Period (8th century BC) to the Imperial Period (5th century AD). The purpose of this study is to put in perspective the various forms of Demeter in the Peloponnese, depending on the region, the city-state, the cult or the population. The method includes analysing the cult mutations from one period or one region to another to define her position within the various Peloponnesian pantheons. Each cult of Demeter has to be compared to the others as well as to the cults of the other deities worshiped in the same place. Therefore this study allows to distinguish regional specificities as well as highlight the influence the Greek continent had, thanks to the research led on Demeter in the Mediterranean world. This PhD thesis takes into account all of the data at our disposal: archaeological, iconographical, literary and epigraphical.