Persephone: Goddess Of Fertility And Queen Of The Underworld

Meet Persephone, the Greek goddess of fertility and the one who held the title of queen of the underworld, and discover her powers.

Persephone goddess

who was Persephone?

Persephone was the queen of the underworld. She was also the goddess of spring growth and fertility. She was worshiped together with her mother; this cult was based on agriculture. This goddess was usually depicted as a young goddess holding sheaves of grain and a flaming torch. She was sometimes shown in the company of her mother

Daughter of Demeter and Zeus, she was the wife of Hades and the Queen of the Underworld. She was a dual deity, since, in addition to presiding over the dead with intriguing autonomy, as the daughter of Demeter, she was also a fertility goddess. The myth of her abduction by Hades was often used to explain the cycle of the seasons. Along with her mother, she was the central figure of the Eleusinian mysteries.

The role of Persephone

Persephone was known by many different names in ancient Greece, but the current scholarly consensus is that they all suggest a pre-Greek origin for both the name and the goddess. On the other hand, the name of Persephone’s Roman counterpart, Proserpine, probably has a Greek dialectic origin, although the Romans believed it to be derived from the Latin proserpere, “to shoot/shoot,” a verb conveniently related to the germination of plants. As the daughter of Demeter, Persephone was also known as Kore, meaning simply“the girl” or “the maiden.”

Representation and symbolism

In classical Greek art, Persephone was depicted as a venerable queen, almost invariably robed and carrying a scepter and sheaf of wheat. When she is depicted with her mother (as is often the case), it is Demeter who typically carries the scepter and sheaf, while Persephone holds a special type of four-pointed torch that was used in the Eleusinian mysteries.

In some depictions, she holds a pomegranate or even a pomegranate seed; symbolizing her marriage to Hades and the Underworld. Another attribute linked to Persephone is the horn of plenty (cornucopia) representing her role as goddess of fertility.

Persephone’s epithets

Since she was the Queen of the Underworld and people were afraid of her, Persephone was given many euphemistic and friendly names. As mentioned above, some called her “The Maiden” and others “The Lady”. She was also known as “The Pure One,” “The Venerable One,” and “The Great Goddess.” She was so closely associated with her mother that she was often referred to as “The Two Demeter’s” or simply “The Two Goddesses”.

Myth of Persephone: the abduction by Hades

The most famous myth about Persephone is the story of her abduction. Hades, the ruler of the underworld, decided that he wanted to marry Persephone, the only daughter of his sister Demeter. One day, while picking flowers in the Nysian meadow with her maidens, she wandered away from the group caught by the sudden bloom of a fragrant and glorious flower (some say it was a daffodil).

As she reached it, the earth beneath her feet opened up and Hades, in his golden four-horse chariot, appeared before her in all his power and majesty. He abducted her and took her with him to the Underworld, to be his wife and queen.

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Needless to say, Demeter was not very happy when she learned from Hecate and Helios what had happened. Wounded and distressed, she began to wander aimlessly and felt so wronged that she neglected all her duties. And since she was the goddess of agriculture and fertility, the land was now barren, and the people starved.

The underworld

Seeing no way out, Zeus (who some say must have approved of Hades’ abduction in the first place) sent Hermes to the Underworld to bring Persephone back to her mother. The divine messenger did just that, and Demeter and Persephone were reunited again on Olympus.

However, either of her own free will or, more likely, after being tricked by Hades, Persephone had tasted a pomegranate seed before leaving the Underworld. This, according to the ancient laws, obliged her to remain in the Underworld.

Zeus proposed a compromise: Persephone would spend two-thirds of the year with her mother and one-third with her new husband. Everyone agreed, and this is how the seasons were born and the growth of crops was explained.

Like a seed, Persephone spends some months of the year under the earth. This is Demeter’s period of sorrow which coincides with the dark winter months. However, when the time comes for Persephone to return to her mother, Demeter brings back light and warmth and the earth rejoices in abundance.

Goddess Demeter trying to find Persephone

Demeter ran to where she had left her daughter and found only the river Cyane there with the other nymphs weeping. Worried as she was, she asked everyone about the whereabouts of her beloved daughter. No one could tell her anything and furious that they could not protect her child, she cursed all the nymphs to become abominable women with feathered bodies and scaly feet, called mermaids. Only the river Cyane helped her by washing Persephone’s belt, indicating that something very serious had happened.

Persefone greek

Demeter went mad and hunted her daughter everywhere. The myth says that she even disguised herself as an old woman and with flaming and burning hands she roamed the Earth for nine long days and nine long nights.

Finally, she met Hekate, the deity of magic, sorcery, spirits and crossroads, at dawn on the tenth day, who took pity on her sad condition and asked her to seek the help of all who saw Helios, the sun god. Helios told Demeter all about how Hades had dragged Persephone to the underworld.

Persephone in other myths

Although she spent most of her time in the living world, almost all myths related to Persephone occur in the Underworld.

History of Adonis

The story of Adonis closely mirrors the fate of Persephone. That is, once Aphrodite and Persephone fell in love with the same mortal, a handsome young man named Adonis. Since they could not agree with each other, Zeus divided their time between the upper world and the underworld. However, Adonis loved Aphrodite more and, when the time came, he refused to return to Persephone’s realm. Angry and wounded, the goddess of the underworld sent a boar to kill Adonis, who died in Aphrodite’s arms and was transformed into the flower of the anemone.

Persephone turns a nymph into a mint plant

Persephone most likely had no children with Hades, but unlike her celestial counterpart Hera, she also had no problem with her husband’s fidelity. One of the few half-baked exceptions is the story of the nymph Minthe, who may have been Hades’ lover before abducting Persephone.

When Minthe boasted that she was more beautiful than Hades’ new lover and that she would one day regain Hades, Persephone worried that such a thing would never happen and transformed her into the mint plant.

The influential queen and the visiting heroes

Interestingly, Persephone differed from Hera in an even more critical way. Unlike her, she was not only the consort of Hades, but also exercised considerable authority over the Underworld.

Persephone

So much so that she is reported in numerous myths as the one who makes vital decisions concerning mortals, whether it be allowing Orpheus to leave Hades with Eurydice, or Heracles and Cerberus. She is also the one who lets Syphus return to his wife, the one who accepts the soul-swapping of Admetus/Alcestis, and the one who grants Teiresias the privilege of keeping his intelligence in Hades.

Once, Piritoo, the king of the Lapps, tried to kidnap Persephone with the help of his friend Theseus. The plan went wrong, and he ended up almost stuck to a seat in Hades forever.

Celebrating the myth of Persephone

The disappearance and return of Persephone was the occasion of great festivals in ancient Greece, among them the Elephinian rites, whose secrets were so well kept that very little is known about them today.

Some experts believe that the rites or mysteries fostered the idea of a more perfect afterlife, and thus helped lay the groundwork for the advent of Christianity, which upholds the idea of eternal life.

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