Abstract
During the last 100 years, several interpretations of the Thesmophoria have been advanced. Following the typology of H.S.
Versnel, we can classify them as substantive, functionalist and cosmological. The three approaches can be seen as complementary, but in practice they are hardly ever pursued simultaneously.
In my article, I examine how they fit together. In particular, I re-examine the subject of fertility, asking how it fits in with the wider social and ideological issues which Detienne and others have drawn attention to and which to our mind have little connection with agriculture or human reproduction.
As an answer I offer a synthetic interpretation that places fertility in a wider cosmological context and shows it as interconnected with all the other levels of the festival.