One of the most beautiful women in Greek mythology, hers is a story filled with sadness and rage and acts both wonderful and dreadful. The priests used special vessels and holy symbols, and the people participated with rhymes. Persephone was the greek goddess of spring and the goddess of the Underworld in Greek Mythology. Demeter then hides Persephone in a cave; but Zeus, in the form of a serpent, enters the cave and rapes Persephone. Upon discovering that Hades had Persephoneand that Zeus himself had helped him kidnap herDemeter was justifiably furious: But grief yet more terrible and savage came into the heart of Demeter, and thereafter she was so angered with the dark-clouded Son of Cronos that she avoided the gathering of the gods and high Olympus, and went to the towns and rich fields of men, disfiguring her form a long while.[18]. Persephone is a Mount Olympus character in Greek Mythology. The myth of her abduction by Hades was frequently used to . The Gods of the Greeks. Exactly how the year was split up varied in ancient sources. Accompanied by the classic, sensual paintings of Fredric Lord Leighton and William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Santo portrays Persephone not as a victim but as a woman in quest of sexual depth and power, transcending the role of daughter, though ultimately returning to it as an awakened Queen. [57] In Arcadia, Demeter and Persephone were often called Despoinai (, "the mistresses"). Adonis chose to spend his own portion of the year with Aphrodite. [66], Adonis was an exceedingly beautiful mortal man with whom Persephone fell in love. 3. Persephone shared many other temples with Demeter, though she also had several temples of her own; the one at Epizephyrian Locris (a Greek colony in southern Italy) is an important example. Eventually, Zeus determined that Adonis would spend part of the year with Aphrodite and part of the year with Persephone.[26]. In a Linear B Mycenaean Greek inscription on a tablet found at Pylos dated 14001200 BC, John Chadwick reconstructed[a] the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse, daughter of Oceanus and found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone. https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the story is told of how Persephone was gathering flowers in the Vale of Nysa when she was seized by Hades and removed to the underworld. London: Methuen, 1929. The Homeric Hymn then tells of how Demeter, realizing her daughter was missing, began a desperate search. Featured in a variety of novels such as Persephone [152] by Kaitlin Bevis, A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair, Persephone's Orchard[153] by Molly Ringle, The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, The Goddess Letters by Carol Orlock, Abandon by Meg Cabot, 'Neon Gods' by Katee Robert and Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, her story has also been treated by Suzanne Banay Santo in Persephone Under the Earth in the light of women's spirituality. The Spring Witch by George Wilson (ca. According to some sources, Persephone vied with Aphrodite for the love of Adonis, an astonishingly handsome mortal man. Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 5.4.2. World History Encyclopedia. [91], The location of Persephone's abduction is different in each local cult. Early . [86], When Dionysus, the god of wine, descended into the Underworld accompanied by Demeter to retrieve his dead mother Semele and bring her back to the land of the living, he is said to have offered a myrtle plant to Persephone in exchange for Semele. In this guise, she was seen as a protectress in the after-life, although Hesiod repeatedly describes her as 'dread Persephone' in his Theogony. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/persephone/. [14][15], A popular folk etymology is from , pherein phonon, "to bring (or cause) death". The Rape of Proserpine by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1621/1622). [4], In the standard tradition, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and his sister Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Plato, for example, interpreted the name as she who touches things that are in motion (epaph tou pheromenou), a reference to Persephones wisdom (to touch things that are in motion implies an understanding of the cosmos, which is constantly in motion).[1]. Other attributes, such as the rooster, were more localized and tied to the iconography of specific cults. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. However, when Metaneira saw this, she raised an alarm. [79], Theophile was a girl who claimed that Hades loved her and that she was better than Persephone. One day she was walking in a beautiful meadow and gathering flowers to take . Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.9. [73] In another variation, Persephone met Adonis only after he had been slain by a boar; Aphrodite descended into the Underworld to take him back, but Persephone, smitten with him, would not let him go until they came to an agreement that Adonis would alternate between the land of the living and the land of the dead each year. Nestis means "the Fasting One" in ancient Greek.[31]. In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated. This tradition comes from her conflation with the very old chthonic divinity Despoina ("[the] mistress"), whose real name could not be revealed to anyone except those initiated into her mysteries. According to Greek mythology, Persephone was the beautiful young daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain. Persephone was a beautiful young lady, just entering womanhood. [132] The importance of the regionally powerful Locrian Persephone influenced the representation of the goddess in Magna Graecia. [5] But there were a handful of rival traditions surrounding Persephones parentage, including one in which she was the daughter of Zeus and Styx, an Oceanid who gave her name to one of the rivers of the Underworld. She is the niece and wife of Hades, therefore being the Queen of the Underworld. Demeter turned into a mare to escape him, but then Poseidon turned into a stallion to pursue her. Finally, as a compromise, it was decided that Persephone would be released but that she would have to return to Hades for one-third of the year (or in other accounts one-half). 8 CE). Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. The goose flew to a hollow cave and hid under a stone; when Persephone took up the stone in order to retrieve the bird, water flowed from that spot, and hence the river received the name Hercyna. The second constituent, phatta, preserved in the form Persephatta (), would in this view reflect Proto-Indo European *-gn-t-ih, from the root *gen- "to strike/beat/kill". [125] Representations of myth and cult on the clay tablets (pinakes) dedicated to this goddess reveal not only a 'Chthonian Queen,' but also a deity concerned with the spheres of marriage and childbirth. In other sources, it was Hades who negotiated the release of Theseus and Pirithous; sometimes, it was said that only Theseus was allowed to return, or, alternatively, that neither Theseus nor Pirithous was allowed to return. Clinton, Kevin. Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was the wife of Hades and the Queen of the Underworld. [134] In the Orphic religion, gold leaves with verses intended to help the deceased enter into an optimal afterlife were often buried with the dead. Books She was her mother's greatest . The cults of Persephone and Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries and in the Thesmophoria were based on old agrarian cults. [54] In this telling, Persephone as grain-maiden symbolizes the grain within the pithoi that is trapped underground within the realm of Hades. [88], Socrates in Plato's Cratylus previously mentions that Hades consorts with Persephone due to her wisdom. Later accounts place the abduction in Attica, near Athens, or near Eleusis. Locrian pinakes represent one of the most significant categories of objects from Magna Graecia, both as documents of religious practice and as works of art. Persephone, both individually and together with other gods, was also honored through festival and ritual at numerous other sites, including Mantinea, Argos, Patrae, Smyrna, and Acharaca. [125], For most Greeks, the marriage of Persephone was a marriage with death, and could not serve as a role for human marriage; the Locrians, not fearing death, painted her destiny in a uniquely positive light. Persephone is the Greek goddess of the springtime and vegetation. Fossum, "The Myth of the Eternal Rebirth," pp. [122], The temple at Locri was looted by Pyrrhus. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter mentions the "plain of Nysa". Mythopedia. The myth of a goddess being abducted and taken to the underworld is probably Pre-Greek in origin. Initially, she was known as Kore, "The Maiden," a reference to her determined virgin status and her role as Goddess of Spring. Archaeological finds suggest that worship of Demeter and Persephone was widespread in Sicily and Greek Italy. Graves, Robert. Persephone was known by numerous cult titles, including Steira (Savior) and Brim (Angry). [61] Afterwards, Rhea became Demeter. Persephone is mentioned frequently in these tablets, along with Demeter and Eukls, which may be another name for Plouton. Persephone had temples throughout the Greek world, many of them shared with Demeter. Finally, the myth of Hades' abduction may also reference the Greek practice of girls marrying in their early teens, a loss to their mothers as Persephone was to Demeter. 340 BCE). Persephone. In A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. [h] Nysion (or Mysion), the place of the abduction of Persephone was also probably a mythical place which did not exist on the map, a magically distant chthonic land of myth which was intended in the remote past.[115]. Her mythology tells of how she was abducted by her uncle Hades one day while picking flowers. [49], The abduction of Persephone is an etiological myth providing an explanation for the changing of the seasons. In her ritual and mythology, Persephone/Kore was also regarded as a goddess of all aspects of womanhood and female initiation, including girlhood, marriage, and childbearing. Zeus had hundreds of affairs in Greek mythology, almost all of which produced gods, heroes, and monsters. 'the maiden'), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. [78] In another version, Persephone's mother Demeter kills Minthe over the insult done to her daughter. 477480:"The Arcadian Great goddesses", The figures are unmistakable, as they are inscribed "Persophata, Hermes, Hekate, Demeter"; Gisela M. A. Richter, "An Athenian Vase with the Return of Persephone", Suidas s.v. Her cults included agrarian magic, dancing, and rituals. [61] Zeus then mates with Persephone, who gives birth to Dionysus. In Greek mythology, the goddess, as wife of Hades, is the Queen of the Underworld and takes her other name, Persephone. In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( / prsfni / pr-SEF--nee; Greek: , romanized : Persephn ), also called Kore or Cora ( / kri / KOR-ee; Greek: , romanized : Kr, lit. In the beginning of the autumn, when the grain of the old crop is laid on the fields, she ascends and is reunited with her mother Demeter. Persephone, witnessing that, snatched the still living Euthemia and brought her to the Underworld. In other versions of the myth, Persephone could have been released if she had not eaten anything in the underworld during her captivity, but at the last moment, Hades gave her a pomegranate seed. Eubuleus was feeding his pigs at the opening to the underworld, and his swine were swallowed by the earth along with her. The upper register of the body shows Zeus between Persephone and Aphrodite regarding Adonis. Hades and Persephone, one of the most well-known tales from Greek Mythology, is the Greek myth of the seasons. As a goddess of the underworld, Persephone was given euphemistically friendly names. [83] So entranced was Persephone by Orpheus' sweet melody that she persuaded her husband to let the unfortunate hero take his wife back. It was here, disguised as an old woman, that the goddess cared for Demophon (or Triptolemos, who would later give the gift of grain to humanity and teach farming), the only son of Metaneira, the wife of Keleos, king of Eleusis. Cartwright, Mark. 89 Bernab; Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 5.75.4; Hyginus, Fabulae 155; Hesychius, Lexicon, s.v. [22], In another story, Theseus agreed to help Pirithous abduct Persephone from the Underworld, but they were caught and held prisoner. World History Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. A view of the excavation of Eleusis, Greece. On the one hand, she was Persephone, wife of Hades and goddess of the Underworld, and thus a chthonic figure closely associated with the inevitability of death. When Alcestis husband Admetus was told that he could put off his death if he found somebody willing to die in his place, Alcestis bravely volunteered. The Persephone and Hades myth: summary. Mark is a full-time author, researcher, historian, and editor. On the Dresden vase, Persephone is growing out of the ground, and she is surrounded by the animal-tailed agricultural gods Silenoi.[105]. The so-called Persephone Krater, an Apulian red-figure volute-krater by the Circle of the Darius Painter (ca. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Zurich: Artemis, 1997. World History Encyclopedia. According to some accounts, she had a garden of ever blooming flowers (poppies) in the underworld. Persephone becomes pregnant and gives birth to Zagreus. Persephone frequently appears in all forms of Greek art and literature. Odysseus sacrifices a ram to the chthonic goddess Persephone and the ghosts of the dead who drink the blood of the sacrificed animal. Theoi Project. Virgil: Proserpina (the Roman equivalent of Persephone) appears a handful of times in the Georgics (29 BCE) and the Aeneid (19 BCE). The Rites of Eleusis, or the Eleusinian Mysteries, were the secret Greek Mythology: Gods and Heroes - Iliad - Odyssey, Persephone's Pathway: Wisdom, Magick & Growth, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. 340330 BCE). Persephone has continued to captivate the modern imagination as the virginal yet terrifying queen of the Underworld. [136] However, no known Orphic sources use the name "Zagreus" to refer to Dionysus. This is exactly what the archetype of the beauty and the beast is based upon. Thank you! Persephone's abduction by Hades was a popular subject in Roman sculpture too, especially on sarcophagi, and continued to be so for 18th and 19th-century oil painters. Daughter of Demeter. Were building the worlds most authoritative, online mythology resource, with engaging, accessible content that is both educational and compelling to read. For other uses, see, Empedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher who was a citizen of, In art the abduction of Persephone is often referred to as the ". Persephone frequently appears in all forms of . [49] A festival called the Koreia appears to have also been celebrated in Arcadia[50] and Syracuse[51] (though the Syracusean Koreia was likely simply the equivalent of the Thesmophoria). The place where the ruins of the Sanctuary of Persephone were brought to light is located at the foot of the Mannella hill, near the walls (upstream side) of the polis of Epizephyrian Locri. Because of this, Persephone could not leave Hades for good. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. [80][81], Once, Hermes chased Persephone (or Hecate) with the aim to rape her; but the goddess snored or roared in anger, frightening him off so that he desisted, hence her earning the name "Brimo" ("angry"). Stockholm: Swedish Institute in Athens, 1992. Plato, Symposium 179b; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15. She is unsuccessful, and Persephone ends up giving birth to one of the early Dionysuses. Myths similar to Persephone's descent and return to earth also appear in the cults of male gods including Attis, Adonis, and Osiris,[7] and in Minoan Crete. The earliest depiction of a goddess Burkert claims may be identified with Persephone growing out of the ground, is on a plate from the Old-Palace period in Phaistos. Persephone was known for her beauty and . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Omissions? Proserpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1821-1882, Tate Modern Art Gallery, London. [65] This was when she was abducted by Hades according to Boeotian legend; a vase shows water birds accompany the goddesses Demeter and Hecate who are in search of the missing Persephone. [1] Other gold leaves describe Persephone's role in receiving and sheltering the dead, in such lines as "I dived under the kolpos [portion of a Peplos folded over the belt] of the Lady, the Chthonian Queen", an image evocative of a child hiding under its mother's apron. 30 Apr 2023. Orphica frag. 2 vols. Inscriptions refer to "the Goddesses" accompanied by the agricultural god Triptolemos (probably son of Gaia and Oceanus),[116] and "the God and the Goddess" (Persephone and Plouton) accompanied by Eubuleus who probably led the way back from the underworld. However, Pausanias distinguishes this Despoina from the Persephone who was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter (writing that he dared not disclose this goddesss true name). A central figure in ancient mythology, Persephone has interactions with [62] Persephone was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed Persephone. So lovely was the music he played that it charmed Persephone and even stern Hades. Persephones Roman counterpart was called Proserpina or Proserpine. Apollodorus, FGrH 44 frag. Hesiod, Theogony 912ff. Persephone's story actually focuses more on her mother, Demeter, and what happens when Persephone disappears.The young goddess is also the daughter and niece of Zeus, and the wife and niece of Hades when she becomes the queen of the Underworld.. Hence, in Roman mythology she was called Proserpina, a name erroneously derived by the Romans from proserpere, "to shoot forth"[118] and as such became an emblematic figure of the Renaissance. Orphic Hymns: The Orphics were a Greek cult that believed a blissful afterlife could be attained by living an ascetic life. Sisyphus (or Sisyphos) is a figure from Greek mythology. The most important festival of Persephone and Demeter, the Thesmophoria, was celebrated by married women throughout the ancient Greek world. Persephone. [95] In historical times, Demeter and Kore were usually referred to as "the goddesses" or "the mistresses" (Arcadia) in the mysteries . Afterwards, Demeter gave birth to the talking horse Arion and the goddess Despoina ("the mistress"), a goddess of the Arcadian mysteries. [129] Although her importance stems from her marriage to Hades, in Locri she seems to have the supreme power over the land of the dead, and Hades is not mentioned in the Pelinna tablets found in the area. Meanwhile, Demeter searched the earth for her lost divine daughter and though Helios (or Hermes) told her of her daughter's fate, she, nevertheless, continued her wanderings until she finally arrived at Eleusis. [32] However, it is possible that some of them were the names of original goddesses: As a vegetation goddess, she was called:[33][35], Demeter and her daughter Persephone were usually called:[35][36], Persephone's abduction by Hades[f] is mentioned briefly in Hesiod's Theogony,[38] and is told in considerable detail in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In Greek mythology, Persephone ("Proserpina," in Latin) is the daughter of Zeus, the god of gods, and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. [59], In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),[60] Persephone is described as the daughter of Zeus and Rhea. In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone (/prsfni/ pr-SEF--nee; Greek: , romanized:Persephn), also called Kore or Cora (/kri/ KOR-ee; Greek: , romanized:Kr, lit. In Homer's epics, she appears always together with Hades and the underworld, apparently sharing with Hades control over the dead. She later stays in her mother's house, guarded by the Curetes. [20] In Orphic tradition, Persephone is said to be the daughter of Zeus and his mother Rhea, rather than of Demeter. She was also associated with spring, girlhood, and marriage. The god wears a chlamys cloak and petasos cap and holds a herald's wand ( kerykeion) in his hand. Though Hecate did not know where Persephone had been taken, she told Demeter to seek information from Helios, the charioteer of the sun, who was the only witness to the crime. She may appear as a mystical divinity with a sceptre and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the process of being carried off by Hades. The Roman author Gaius Julius Hyginus also considered Proserpina equivalent to the Cretan goddess Ariadne, who was the bride of Liber's Greek equivalent, Dionysus. There is evidence of a cult in Eleusis from the Mycenean period;[110] however, there are not sacral finds from this period. Persephone. Mythopedia, March 09, 2023. https://mythopedia.com/topics/persephone. Achilles The hero of the Trojan War, leader of the . After all, mythology is storytelling at its finest. Persephon). "Hermes and the Anodos of Pherephata": Nilsson (1967) p. 509 taf. According to one source, she was the one who allowed Orpheus to bring his dead wife Eurydice back from the Underworld, provided he did not look back while leading her up (a condition that Orpheus failed to meet). All Rights Reserved. [48], The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda introduces a goddess of a blessed afterlife assured to Orphic mystery initiates. There were, however, a handful of myths that challenged this persona. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Kapach, Avi. Alcaeus, frag. But Hades wouldn't accept her disapproval. Various local traditions place Persephone's abduction in different locations. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the National Museum of Magna Grcia in Reggio Calabria. [56], According to the Greek tradition a hunt-goddess preceded the harvest goddess. Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural communities. Her attribute was poppy and pomegranate fruit, so she was also associated with spring, flowers, life, and vegetation before becoming queen of the underworld. [96] A similar representation, where the goddess appears to come down from the sky, is depicted on the Minoan ring of Isopata. In another myth, Hades took a nymph named Minthe as his lover. As the two of them were led to the altar to be sacrificed, Persephone and Hades took pity on them and turned them into comets instead. The surnames given to her by the poets refer to her role as queen of the lower world and the dead and to the power that shoots forth and withdraws into the earth. Before giving her up though, the wily Hades put a pomegranate kernel in the girl's mouth, knowing its divine taste would compel her to return to him. The Homeric form of her name is Persephoneia (,[11] Persephoneia). [47] When Demeter and her daughter were reunited, the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but for some months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm. Accessed on 28 Apr. A Visual Who's Who of Greek Mythology. [87] On a neck amphora from Athens Dionysus is depicted riding on a chariot with his mother, next to a myrtle-holding Persephone who stands with her own mother Demeter; many vases from Athens depict Dionysus in the company of Persephone and Demeter. In the Arcadian mythos, while Demeter was looking for the kidnapped Persephone, she caught the eye of her younger brother Poseidon. After all, mythology is storytelling at its finest. By many, she was also known as Kore (the Maiden), the Greek goddess of spring. Persephone was born to Zeus, king of the gods, and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Burkert, Walter. 668670. Since Persephone had consumed pomegranate seeds in the underworld, she was forced to spend four months, or in other versions six months for six seeds, with Hades. Persephone was conflated with Despoina, "the mistress", a chthonic divinity in West-Arcadia. 152154; Linforth, Pausanias 1.14,1: Nilsson (1967), Vol I, pp. Lament for Bion 12324; Virgil, Georgics 4.486ff. Vol. Special interests include art, architecture, and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. She becomes the mother of the Erinyes by Hades. Persephone was characterized by several attributes and symbols, most notably torches, stalks of grain or ears of corn, and scepters. When Persephone was found, the ritual ended with celebration, torch throwing, and probably the sounding of a gong. [9][b] Persephon (Greek: ) is her name in the Ionic Greek of epic literature. In a Classical period text ascribed to Empedocles, c.490430BC,[d] describing a correspondence among four deities and the classical elements, the name Nestis for water apparently refers to Persephone: Of the four deities of Empedocles' elements, it is the name of Persephone alone that is taboo Nestis is a euphemistic cult title[e] for she was also the terrible Queen of the Dead, whose name was not safe to speak aloud, who was euphemistically named simply as Kore or "the Maiden", a vestige of her archaic role as the deity ruling the underworld. https://www.worldhistory.org/persephone/. Zeus agreed but told him that the girl's mother, Demeter, would never approve. Homeric Hymn 2.3, 2.77ff; cf. This belief system had unique characteristics, particularly the appearance of the goddess from above in the dance. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.31.1; scholia on Pindars Olympian Ode 7.153. Demeter, distraught, wandered the entire world in search of her daughter.
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