The Roman goddess Ceres is the Italian representation of the Greek goddess Demeter. Both women were the goddesses of harvest or agriculture, but the names are different in ancient Roman and Greek mythology. Other gods who were the same, but with different names in each of the two religions included Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman), and Hercules (Greek) and Heracles (Roman). It was common for Roman myths to be based on the Greek ones, but with different names for the gods and goddesses.
In the stories of Roman mythology, the Roman goddess Ceres was the daughter of Saturn and Ops. She was also Jupiters sister and she had a daughter named Proserpine, who was fathered by Jupiter. Jupiter is the Roman version of Zeus, as mentioned above, and Proserpine is the Roman equivalence of the goddess Persephone.
The story of the Roman goddess Ceres and her daughter is almost identical to the Greek story of Demeter and her daughter. The Greek god of the Underworld, Hades, is called Pluto in the Roman mythology. When Pluto took Proserpine, Ceres went to look for her. She soon found out that Jupiter actually gave Pluto permission to kidnap and marry their daughter. She grew very angry and made all of the plants stop growing, which caused a severe famine.
Story of Roman Goddess Ceres
Jupiter soon realized everyone was starving and worked out a deal with Pluto to let his daughter go back to her mother. Pluto was sneaky, however, and fed Proserpine a piece of fruit before she could leave. She was unaware that if you eat in the Underworld, you cannot leave. Jupiter worked out a negotiation to allow Proserpine to return to her mother for the spring and summer, but to go back to Pluto every winter. In Roman mythology, Ceress sadness of missing her daughter during the winter is the reason crops cannot grow at that time.
