When the goddess Persephone was abducted by Hades and was brought to the Underworld, her mother Demeter turned into an old woman named Doso and started searching for her daughter. Still in disguise, she reached the court of Celeus, where she was warmly welcomed and was asked to nurse the two sons of Celeus and Metanira, Demophon and Triptolemus. Triptolemus was sickly and Demeter decided to feed him her breast milk, which not only healed him but also instantly turned him into an adult. Wanting to further thank her hosts for their hospitality, Demeter also tried to make Demophon immortal by burning his mortal self in the flames every night; however, she was disrupted by Metanira at some point and stopped the ritual, infuriated that the mortals did not understand the divine methods. Instead, Demeter taught Triptolemus the art of agriculture, who then spread the knowledge throughout Greece.
Triptolemus later became one of the first priests of Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult in honour of Demeter and Persephone, that kept its rituals secret from the non-initiated.
Triptolemus was either the son of King Celeus of Eleusis and Metanira, or the son of the Titan gods Oceanus and Gaea, in Greek mythology. When the goddess Persephone was abducted by Hades and was brought to the Underworld, her mother Demeter turned into an old woman named Doso and started searching for her daughter.
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