Demeter

One of the great divinities of the Greeks. The name Demeter is supposed by some to be the same as γῆ μήτηρ (gē mētēr), that is, mother earth, while others consider Deo, which is synonymous with Demeter, as connected with δαίς (dais) and δαίνμυι (dainmui), and as derived from the Cretan word δηαί (dēai, "barley") so that Demeter would be the mother or giver of barley or of food generally. These two etymologies, however do not suggest any difference in the character of the goddess, but leave it essentially the same.

Demeter was the Olympian goddess of agriculture, grain and bread who sustained mankind with the earth's rich bounty. She presided over the foremost of the Mystery Cults which promised its intiates the path to a blessed afterlife in the realm of Elysium. Demeter was depicted as a mature woman, often wearing a crown and bearing sheafs of wheat or a cornucopia (horn of plenty), and a torch.