Meta Description: Join Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe in Ad Navseam Episode 127 as they explore the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Dave’s Greek travels, and resources to master the Latin language.
Introduction: Hellenic Heatwaves and Cinematic Disappointments
Welcome back, classical gourmands, to Episode 127 of the Ad Navseam Podcast! Broadcasting directly from the subterranean depths of Vomitorium South, your hosts, Dr. David Noe and Dr. Jeff Winkle, return to the microphones for another delectable discussion of Greco-Roman civilization.
The episode opens with Dave throwing around the “E-word” (excitement), having just returned from a spectacular ten-day trip to Greece with his twelve-year-old daughter. Dave shares several highlights from his Mediterranean travels, including discovering ancient painted wooden panels at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. This sparks Jeff’s true-crime aficionado instincts when Dave mentions the late-1990s robbery of the Archaeological Museum in Corinth, an event the hosts immediately flag for a future “Night at the Museum” style episode.
Dave’s journey was not without its brutal physical challenges. While ascending Mount Parnassus to view the ruins of Delphi, they braved a blistering 107-degree dry heat accompanied by forty-to-fifty-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Attempting to beat the massive summer crowds at the Athenian Acropolis, they arrived at 8:10 AM. While they successfully beat the initial rush, Dave notes that by 9:00 AM, over 3,000 tourists were swarming the sacred hill. He humorously laments the absolute uselessness of modern “skip-the-line” ticket schemes, joking that Americans are perpetual suckers for the illusion of convenience. The trip concluded with beautiful evenings eating souvlaki in the Venetian city of Nafplio and enjoying relaxing beach days in Amarynthos on the island of Evia.
Meanwhile, Jeff is gearing up for his fall classes. Alongside Classical Mythology, he is teaching a World Religions course, which prompts a fascinating discussion about modern, neo-pagan groups performing earnest rituals near the Arch of Hadrian in Athens. Jeff is also teaching American Cinema; while Barbie is definitely on the syllabus, he notes that James Cameron’s recent Avatar sequel will be entirely excluded, as the horrific dialogue forced Dave to turn the movie off three minutes into his return flight.
Listener Mail: Loading the Homiletic Cannons
Opening the mailbag, Dave delivers an enthusiastic shout-out to Matthew Everhard, a pastor, author, and Jonathan Edwards scholar from South Butler, Pennsylvania.
Matthew writes to express his deep appreciation for the podcast, noting that he maintains extensive “Edwardsian” notebooks filled with philosophical and rhetorical insights. He recently utilized the hosts’ rhetorical advice from their “Loading the Cannons” episode. By employing a classic refutatio—anticipating and heading off theoretical objections from theoretical opponents—Matthew successfully lightened the mood of a particularly heavy sermon regarding the wrath of God. Dave is absolutely thrilled to see classical Greco-Roman rhetoric actively deployed in modern homiletics.
Demeter, Doso, and the Tollbooth Camera
The primary academic focus of Episode 127 resumes the podcast’s deep dive into the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. To set the stage, Jeff reads a dense quote from Larry Alderink’s 1982 article in the journal Numen. Alderink argues that the hymn establishes a delicate, unprecedented balance between the divine and the mortal spheres. Unlike the Odyssey, where the gods only assist elite aristocratic heroes, the Hymn to Demeter opens the door for ordinary, everyday humans to achieve a meaningful relationship with the divine.
The narrative resumes with Demeter and the witch-goddess Hecate visiting Helios, the sun god, to discover the whereabouts of the abducted Persephone. Because Helios acts as the inescapable, all-seeing “tollbooth camera” of the ancient cosmos, he reveals that Hades stole the girl with Zeus’ explicit permission. Furious and betrayed by her own Olympian family, Demeter abandons the heavens.
She disguises herself as an old, grieving mortal woman named “Doso” (a name cleverly translating to “I shall give,” hinting at the mysteries to come). Arriving at a well in the backwater town of Eleusis, the disguised goddess is discovered by the daughters of Queen Metaneira. Showcasing proper Greek xenia (hospitality), they bring the old woman to the palace. Astonishingly, Queen Metaneira hires the wandering stranger to act as the primary wet-nurse for her infant son, Demophon, completely neglecting to run a background check. Dave contrasts this reckless ancient childcare arrangement with the biblical story of Miriam offering Moses’s own mother as a nursemaid to Pharaoh’s daughter.
Apotropaic Laughter and Barley Gruel
Upon entering the palace, Demeter’s divine presence is palpable. Metaneira is struck by a sense of holy awe (aidos) and offers the disguised goddess a splendid, luxurious chair. The grieving Demeter stubbornly refuses to sit until a servant named Iambe provides a simple, fleece-covered wooden stool.
Iambe proceeds to lift the mourning goddess’s spirits by telling a series of bawdy jokes. Jeff explains that Iambe’s name is the mythological root of the “iambic” meter, a poetic rhythm traditionally associated with comedy and mockery. This comedic intervention introduces the ancient concept of apotropaic magic—warding off evil spirits at dangerous, liminal thresholds. The hosts compare Iambe’s ritualistic laughter to the terrifying bronze griffins mounted on tripods at Delphi, or the ubiquitous blue “evil eye” trinkets dangling from the rearview mirrors of modern Greek tour buses.
Continuing her subversion of luxury, Demeter refuses the queen’s offer of honey-sweet red wine. Instead, she explicitly demands kykeon, a peasant’s gruel made of water, barley, and pennyroyal. Jeff compares this chunky, unappetizing beverage to choking down a bowl of gravelly Grape-Nuts smothered in Sriracha.
The Fire Ritual and the Pomegranate
Acting as Demophon’s nurse, Demeter attempts to bestow immortality upon the infant without the parent’s knowledge.. Every night, she anoints the child with ambrosia and plunges him directly into the roaring hearth fire to burn away his mortal parts. When Queen Metaneira inadvertently catches the nanny roasting her baby, she panics. That’s understandable.
Furious that her divine ritual has been ruined by mortal ignorance, Demeter drops her disguise. She reveals her true, nine-foot-tall, brilliant goddess form and demands the city build her a massive temple at the foot of the Acropolis. Though Demophon will remain mortal, Demeter promises to establish the Eleusinian Mysteries, allowing ordinary humans to partake in divine rebirth.
To force Zeus’s hand, Demeter causes a catastrophic global famine. Just as the gods panicked in the Epic of Gilgamesh when the flood wiped out their food supply, Zeus realizes the Olympians will starve without the fragrant smoke of human sacrifices. Zeus dispatches Hermes to the underworld to retrieve Persephone.
Hades complies, but deviously slips Persephone a pomegranate seed before she departs. Jeff notes the extreme difficulty and messiness of eating a massive, volleyball-sized Greek pomegranate, pointing out that Greek folk tradition views the fruit’s clustered interior as a literal map of the underworld. Because she consumed the food of the dead, Persephone is permanently bound to the underworld for one-third of the year, providing a useful etiology for the Mediterranean winter and the cyclical rebirth of the seasons.
Sponsors: Fueling the Classical Renaissance
Before sharing the parting shot, the hosts extend their gratitude to the generous sponsors keeping the bunker fully operational.
- Ratio Coffee: Jeff is currently obsessively tracking the delivery package containing his new “hulking flagon”—a double-walled thermal carafe designed to keep Ratio-brewed coffee piping hot for hours without a scorching heat pad. Dave, meanwhile, recalls the horror of surviving on instant coffee in Greece that resembled pulverized envelope dust. Upgrade your morning routine at ratiocoffee.com and enter the promo code ANCO3N for a 15% discount.
- Hackett Publishing: For 51 years, Hackett Publishing has provided high-quality, incredibly affordable translations spanning classical history, philosophy, and literature. Build a phenomenal personal library at hackettpublishing.com and use the code AN2023 to receive a 20% discount and free shipping on your entire order.
- LatinPerDiem & MossMethod: For listeners inspired to master the Latin language and ancient Greek, Dave offers the perfect educational solution. Go from neophyte to erudite in Greek, or explore latinperdiem.com/llpsi to tackle Hans Ørberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata. Both asynchronous courses offer direct access to Dave through weekly live “Moffice hours”. Use the code 10PLUS for a 10% discount.
The Gustatory Parting Shot
To officially close out Episode 127, the podcast features an original song titled “Persephone,” written and performed by former student Michael Kornelis alongside his brothers Darren and Kevin. The song captures the mythological narrative from the lonely, heartbroken perspective of Hades.
Jeff then delivers an absurd Gustatory Parting Shot courtesy of the comedian Rita Rudner.
Rudner offers this quirky, heliotropic observation regarding plant-based diets:
“I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight.”
A special thanks goes out to Mishka the sound engineer for her rapid turnaround times. Musical gratitude is for Scott Van Zen, who plays the blistering lead guitar on the intro track “Stay By My Side,” and to Ken Tamplin, who composed the rhythm section and bumper music. Next week, the hosts plan to tackle Neal Bierling’s work on the Mycenaeans and the Philistines in “Giving Goliath His Due”. Check out the “Lurch with Merch” section on the website, beware of unvetted nannies, and keep taking in the classics. Valete!
