Persephone was at the same time the queen of the underworld and the representation of the fertility of the earth’s fertility. She was the goddess of the harvest, and possessed such great beauty that everyone wanted her.

Mythology

Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. As a young girl, Persephone had been pursued by the likes of Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus. Demeter hid her daughter from them among the gods of Olympus, where Persephone lived undisturbed for many years.

One day, Persephone was picking flowers in a field in Enna, in the company of nymphs, Artemis, and Athena, when Hades burst through a fissure in the earth and abducted her. With Persephone’s disappearance, life came to an abrupt stop and the earth began to wither.

Zeus was eventually able to persuade Hades to return Persephone, and he sent Hermes to escort her back. Before Hades released her, he tricked Persephone into eating pomegranate seeds, which bound her to the underworld where she was forced to return for one season each year.

Once Persephone had been reunited with Demeter, the earth was joyous and began to prosper. Flowers bloomed, grass grew, and the sun shone. Every year when Persephone was forced to return to Hades, the earth grew bleak and barren, and nothing would grow until she returned once again.

While she was the queen of Hades, Persephone found the music of Orpheus so incredibly sad that she agreed to release his wife Eurydice from the underworld. The only stipulation to Persephone’s gift was that Orpheus was not to look at Eurydice’s face until they had once again reached the surface of the earth. At the end of their journey, Orpheus broke his promise and looked back at his wife to make sure she was still with him, and with that she was pulled back into Hades forever.

During another of Persephone’s visits to the underworld, Pirithous and Theseus plotted to kidnap Persephone after agreeing they would both marry daughters of Zeus. They traveled to Hades, where they were offered a feast. When they sat down to eat, snakes bound them to their chairs. Heracles was able to travel to the underworld to save Theseus, but Pirithous was forced to remain in Hades forever.

When Adonis was born to Aphrodite he had been given to Persephone to watch over. Just as Aphrodite had been enthralled with Adonis’ beauty, so had Persephone been entranced by him. When Aphrodite asked to have Adonis back, Persephone refused. A quarrel ensued, which was eventually settled by Zeus. Aphrodite and Persephone agreed that Adonis would spend four months of each year with each of the women, and four months alone to do as he wished.

Persephone is the representation of the life/death/rebirth cycle, and many believe our observance of the changing of the seasons correlates with her cycle of moving between earth and Hades, as well as the cycle of Adonis’ time spent between Persephone and Aphrodite. For these reasons she is viewed by some as a goddess who represents the cycle of life.

Back to Ancient Greek Myths

Comments(0)