| List of Illustrations | |
| Preface and Acknowledgments | |
| Pt. 1 | The Text and Translation, Commentary, and Background | 1 |
| Text and Translation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 2 |
| Commentary on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 28 |
| Background: The Eleusinian Mysteries and Women's Rites for Demeter | 65 |
| Pt. 2 | Interpretive Essay on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 77 |
| Interpreting the Hymn to Demeter | 83 |
| The "Theology" Of the Mysteries | 84 |
| Variants of the Myth and the Importance of the Version in the Hymn to Demeter | 97 |
| Female Experience in the Hymn to Demeter | 103 |
| Marriage | 104 |
| Gender Conflict and the Cosmological Tradition | 112 |
| The Mother/Daughter Romance | 118 |
| The Psychology of the Mysteries | 137 |
| The Hymn to Demeter and the Polis | 142 |
| Christianity and the Hymn to Demeter | 150 |
| The Influence of the Hymn to Demeter and Its Myth | 151 |
| App. Eleusis and Athens | 169 |
| App. The Hymn to Demeter as a Panhellenic Poem | 175 |
| Pt. 3 | Further Interpretation: Contributed Articles | 179 |
| Withdrawal and Return: An Epic Story Pattern in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in the Homeric Poems | 181 |
| Some Functions of the Demophoon Episode in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 190 |
| Concerning the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 198 |
| Politics and Pomegranates: An Interpretation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter | 212 |
| Family Structure and Feminine Personality | 243 |
| Bibliography | 267 |
| Index Locorum | 283 |
| General Index | 289 |
