Zeus was filled with desire for his mother, Rhea, intending to marry 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). She was also called Kore, which means "maiden" and grew up to be a lovely girl attracting the attention of many gods. Ancient authors sometimes sought creative etymologies for the name Persephone (Greek , translit. She is unsuccessful, and Persephone ends up giving birth to one of the early Dionysuses. Article. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. True to her double nature, Persephone was imagined as having two homes: one on Olympus with her mother, Demeter, and the other in the Underworld with her husband, Hades. Edmonds, Radcliffe G., III (2011) "Orphic Mythology," [in], Nilsson, pp. We want people all over the world to learn about history. [96] A similar representation, where the goddess appears to come down from the sky, is depicted on the Minoan ring of Isopata. Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. Thus, Persephones half-siblings included Demeters other children (Arion, Corybas, and Plutus) as well as the numerous children of the promiscuous Zeus (including Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Heracles, Perseusand many, many others). Persephone was not slow to notice, and in jealousy she trampled the nymph, killing her and turning her into a mint plant. Lament for Bion 12324; Virgil, Georgics 4.486ff. [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. License. Cartwright, Mark. Homeric Hymn 2.3, 2.77ff; cf. [55][52][53] This interpretation of Persephone's abduction myth symbolizes the cycle of life and death as Persephone both dies as she (the grain) is buried in the pithoi (as similar pithoi were used in ancient times for funerary practices) and is reborn with the exhumation and spreading of the grain. [108] Besides these similarities, Burkert explains that up to now it is not known to what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenean religion. Because of this, Persephone could not leave Hades for good. old engraved illustration of pluto carrying off proserpina (proserpine). Demeter then hides Persephone in a cave; but Zeus, in the form of a serpent, enters the cave and rapes Persephone. In the cave of Amnisos at Crete, Eileithyia is related with the annual birth of the divine child and she is connected with Enesidaon (The earth shaker), who is the chthonic aspect of the god Poseidon. Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany. Persephone. Mythopedia, 9 Mar. The Gods of the Greeks. Because Persephone had eaten a single pomegranate seed in the underworld, however, she could not be completely freed but had to remain one-third of the year with Hades, and spent the other two-thirds with her mother. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.[6]. 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. The focus of the poem is one of the most renowned narratives from Greek mythology - the rape of Persephone by Hades, the god of the Underworld, and the response of Demeter to her loss. After all, mythology is storytelling at its finest. More than 5,000, mostly fragmentary, pinakes are stored in the National Museum of Magna Grcia in Reggio Calabria and in the museum of Locri. These include Persephassa () and Persephatta (). [56], According to the Greek tradition a hunt-goddess preceded the harvest goddess. In most versions, she forbids the earth to produce, or she neglects the earth and, in the depth of her despair, she causes nothing to grow. There were, however, a handful of myths that challenged this persona. In some versions, Ascalaphus informed the other deities that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds. Plato, Symposium 179b; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15. Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.35.5ff; Aelian, On the Nature of Animals 11.4. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural communities. Cf. "Persephone." Persephone was often worshipped alongside her mother, Demeterfor example, in the Eleusinian Mysteries. When Persephone was born, she had a monstrous form, with numerous eyes, an animals head, and horns. Her Roman counterpart is Proserpina. Those representations thus show both the terror of marriage and the triumph of the girl who transitions from bride into matroness. [119] In 205BC, Rome officially identified Proserpina with the local Italic goddess Libera, who, along with Liber, were closely associated with the Roman grain goddess Ceres (considered equivalent to the Greek Demeter). In Orphic myth, Zeus came to Persephone in her bedchamber in the underworld and impregnated her with the child who would become his successor. [21], Persephone also featured in the myths of a handful of heroes and mortals who descended to and returned from the Underworld. Please support World History Encyclopedia. [95] Demeter is united with her, the god Poseidon, and she bears him a daughter, the unnameable Despoina. 474.13, 475.15, 488490.1 Bernab. After wandering the entire earth, Demeter finally learned the truth from Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, who had happened to hear Persephone cry out before she disappeared. The Sicilians, among whom her worship was probably introduced by the Corinthian and Megarian colonists, believed that Hades found her in the meadows near Enna, and that a well arose on the spot where he descended with her into the lower world. 'the maiden'), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. The most important festival of Persephone and Demeter, the Thesmophoria, was celebrated by married women throughout the ancient Greek world. A Summary and Analysis of the Persephone and Hades Myth [6] The Orphic version of Persephone, on the other hand, was a daughter of Zeus and Rhea,[7] while an Arcadian version of Persephone called Despoina was the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon.[8]. We care about our planet! The famous Eleusinian Mysteries, religious rites honoring Demeter and Persephone/Kore, were performed there. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [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. Hades and Persephone, one of the most well-known tales from Greek Mythology, is the Greek myth of the seasons. It is on permanent display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Guthrie, W. K. G. The Greeks and Their Gods. However, Demeter had an obsessed love for her only . World History Encyclopedia. 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. In some accounts, Zeus had given his consent to the abduction, the location of the crime being traditionally placed in either Sicily (famed for its fertility) or Asia. Her mythology tells of how she was abducted by her uncle Hades one day while picking flowers. Other attributes, such as the rooster, were more localized and tied to the iconography of specific cults. She becomes the mother of the Erinyes by Hades. As the drought claimed ever more victims, Zeus finally sent Hermes to persuade Hades to release his ill-gotten bride. The Cult of Demeter and the Maiden is found at Attica, in the main festivals Thesmophoria and Eleusinian mysteries and in a number of local cults. In his 1985 book on Greek Religion, Walter Burkert claimed that Persephone is an old chthonic deity of the agricultural communities, who received the souls of the dead into the earth, and acquired powers over the fertility of the soil, over which she reigned. [93][h] Demeter found and met her daughter in Eleusis, and this is the mythical disguise of what happened in the mysteries.[95]. The Homeric Hymn places it in Nysa, an ancient city in Asia Minor. Persephone - Mythopedia [85], When Echemeia, a queen of Kos, ceased to offer worship to Artemis, the goddess shot her with an arrow. The existence of so many different forms shows how difficult it was for the Greeks to pronounce the word in their own language and suggests that the name may have a Pre-Greek origin. Makariai, with English translation at. Eubuleus was feeding his pigs at the opening to the underworld, and his swine were swallowed by the earth along with her. As soon as . Though dreaded, she did sometimes listen to and grant requests. Farnell, Lewis R. The Cults of the Greek States. 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. A famous relief slab from Eleusis depicts Demeter and Persephone (holding a torch) either side of Triptolemos; it dates to the 5th century BCE. Persephone becomes pregnant and gives birth to Zagreus. The abduction from Hades. Gntner, Gudrum. Apollodorus: The Library, a mythological handbook from the first century BCE or the first few centuries CE, summarizes the myths of Persephone. Jimnez San Cristbal, Ana Isabel. [126] While the return of Persephone to the world above was crucial in Panhellenic tradition, in southern Italy Persephone apparently accepted her new role as queen of the underworld, of which she held extreme power, and perhaps did not return above;[127] Virgil for example in Georgics writes that "Proserpina cares not to follow her mother",[128]though it is to be noted that references to Proserpina serve as a warning, since the earth is only fertile when she is above. Privacy Policy, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.4880, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D15%3Aentry%3Dpersephone-bio-1, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e914950, https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html. As she wasn't one of her father's favorite children, she had no position at Olympus and used to live far away with her mother's . Vol. . There is evidence of a cult in Eleusis from the Mycenean period;[110] however, there are not sacral finds from this period. Persephone. In this guise she is most often referred to as Kore, signifying both 'daughter' and 'maiden'. Persephone also appears many times in popular culture. There were local cults of Demeter and Kore in Greece, Asia Minor, Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Libya. In Athens, the Thesmophoria lasted three days and involved several rituals, including one in which the rotten remains of a slaughtered pig were dug up and placed on the altars of the goddesses. Stockholm: Swedish Institute in Athens, 1992. [123] Diodorus Siculus knew the temple there as the most illustrious in Italy. In her iconography, Persephone was represented as a young woman, modestly clad in a robe and wearing either a diadem or a cylindrical crown called a polos on her head. Persephone was the daughter to Zeus and Demeter, both of whom are Olympian gods . Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE. Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.9. Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised the initiated a happy afterlife. [83] So entranced was Persephone by Orpheus' sweet melody that she persuaded her husband to let the unfortunate hero take his wife back. This aspect of the myth is an etiology for the relation of pigs with the ancient rites in Thesmophoria,[45] and in Eleusis. The Greek popular religion, THE RAPE OF PERSEPHONE from The Theoi Project, The Princeton Encyclopedia of classical sites:Despoina, Flickr users' photos tagged with Persephone, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persephone&oldid=1152093316, Pomegranate, seeds of grain, torch, flowers, and deer, Athanassakis, Apostolos N.; Wolkow, Benjamin M. (29 May 2013), This page was last edited on 28 April 2023, at 04:35. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. Several scenes from Persephones mythologyespecially her abduction by Hadeswere popular among ancient artists. Here annual festivities celebrated Persephone's marriage and her picking of flowers. Persephone, often known simply as Kore (Maiden), was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Persephone is mentioned frequently in these tablets, along with Demeter and Eukls, which may be another name for Plouton. [117], The Romans first heard of her from the Aeolian and Dorian cities of Magna Graecia, who used the dialectal variant Proserpin (). [43] With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year. Persephone | Relationships & Story | Britannica But Hades had tricked Persephone into eating somethinga handful of pomegranate seedswhile she was in the Underworld. Corrections? [137] In Orphic myth, the Eumenides are attributed as daughters of Persephone and Zeus. Upon learning of the abduction, her mother, Demeter, in her misery, became unconcerned with the harvest or the fruitfulness of the earth, so that widespread famine ensued. [64], It was said that while Persephone was playing with the nymph Hercyna, Hercyna held a goose against her that she let loose. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. To reward the family for their kindness, Demeter set about making Demophon immortal by placing him on a fire every night. Theognis, Elegiac Poems 1.70112; cf. Persephone, Kore. In Brills New Pauly, edited by Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F. Salazar, Manfred Landfester, and Francis G. Gentry. Later accounts place the abduction in Attica, near Athens, or near Eleusis. Persephone is featured in several of the Orphic Hymns (ca. Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.31.1; scholia on Pindars Olympian Ode 7.153. [21] The Orphic Persephone is said to have become by Zeus the mother of Dionysus, Iacchus, Zagreus,[16] and the little-attested Melino. For example, she allowed the prophet Tiresias to keep his reasoning and prophetic abilities even in death. According to a recent hypothesis advanced by Rudolf Wachter, the first element in the name (Perso- (-) may well reflect a very rare term, attested in the Rig Veda (Sanskrit para-), and the Avesta, meaning 'sheaf of corn'/'ear (of grain)'. Homeric Hymn 2.9094, trans. Initially, she was known as Kore, "The Maiden," a reference to her determined virgin status and her role as Goddess of Spring. Her attribute was poppy and pomegranate fruit, so she was also associated with spring, flowers, life, and vegetation before becoming queen of the underworld. Nestis means "the Fasting One" in ancient Greek.[31]. 2022 Wasai LLC. 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. 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. Persephone - World History Encyclopedia In some Sicilian cities[45] and in the Locrian colony of Hipponion,[46] there were festivals celebrating Persephones wedding. Zeus agreed but told him that the girl's mother, Demeter, would never approve. Clinton, Kevin. On the other hand, she was Kore, the maiden daughter of the agricultural goddess Demeter, an alternate guise that brought her into the sphere of agriculture and fertility. Related Content Demeter arrived at the palace disguised as an old woman, where she was treated kindly by Queen Metaneira and King Celeus. The Rise of Persephone (Virgo) and the Spring | Berkshire Museum While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. According to Greek Mythology, Persephone, the queen of the underworld, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of harvest and fertility. Nonnus: In Book 6 of the epic poem Dionysiaca (fifth century CE), which relates the travels of the young god Dionysus, Demeter tries to prevent Zeus from sleeping with her daughter Persephone. The Spring Witch by George Wilson (ca. 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 goddess of fertility. But when Persephone got a glimpse of the beautiful Adonisfinding him as attractive as Aphrodite didshe refused to give him back to her. On Persephone in ancient art, see Gudrum Gntner, Persephone, in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich: Artemis, 1997), 8:95678. Gantz, Timothy. Pinax (sculpted votive tablet) from the temple of Persephone in Epizephyrian Locris showing Persephone, holding a cock and grain, sitting beside her husband Hades. [82], The hero Orpheus once descended into the underworld seeking to take back to the land of the living his late wife Eurydice, who died when a snake bit her. Smith, William. Hades and Persephone: Discover the Real Story (Updated 2022) It establishes the relationship of Hades and P. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. World History Encyclopedia, 24 Mar 2016. John Chadwick believes that these were the precursor divinities of Demeter, Persephone and Poseidon. Persephone | Greek Mythology Wiki | Fandom Perseus Digital Library. Persephone is most commonly known today by her Greek name meaning " Destroy-Slay," but she was also known by many other monikers and titles throughout Greek and Roman mythologies. A view of the excavation of Eleusis, Greece. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. Curse tablets were engraved texts that called upon a god, usually a chthonian god associated with the Underworld (such as Hecate, Hermes, or Gaia), to punish or harm an enemy, who would generally be named in the text. Persephone was born to Zeus and harvest-goddess, Demeter, and became the queen of the Underworld. [84], Sisyphus, the wily king of Corinth managed to avoid staying dead, after Death had gone to collect him, by appealing to and tricking Persephone into letting him go; thus Sisyphus returned to the light of the sun in the surface above. But in some Roman sources, she divided the year equally between her two homes (Ovid, Fasti 4.614, Metamorphoses 5.564ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 146). When Persephone's time is over and she would be reunited with her mother, Demeter's joyousness would cause the vegetation of the earth to bloom and blossom which signifies the Spring and Summer seasons. Frescoes in the 4th-century BCE royal tomb at Aegae (Vergina) in Pieria, Macedon show Hades abducting the goddess and explain the popular 'Tomb of Persephone' label. [66], Adonis was an exceedingly beautiful mortal man with whom Persephone fell in love. Greek Religion. [99][100] The idea of immortality which appears in the syncretistic religions of the Near East did not exist in the Eleusinian mysteries at the very beginning. Orphica frag. Wanax is best suited to Poseidon, the special divinity of Pylos. This poem describes how Persephone was picking flowers in a meadow when she was abductedwith Zeus permission[14]by Hades, the god of the Underworld and the brother of Demeter and Zeus (and thus Persephones uncle). 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". In return, she nursed their sick child, known as Demophon in most versions of the myth,[19] and tried to make him immortal. Zeus therefore intervened, commanding Hades to release Persephone to her mother. Zeus, it is said, permitted Hades, who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to abduct her as her mother Demeter was not likely to allow her daughter to go down to Hades. [39] Demeter, when she found her daughter had disappeared, searched for her all over the earth with Hecate's torches. Martin Nilsson (1967) Vol I, pp. When Persephone found out, she jealously trampled Minthe and turned her into a plant: garden mint.[27]. Hermes escorts Persephone from the underworld. On Attic red-figure pottery throughout the Classical period, Persephone is often shown seated on her throne in Hades. [67][68][69] After he was born, Aphrodite entrusted him to Persephone to raise. Plutarch writes that Persephone was identified with the spring season,[18] and Cicero calls her the seed of the fruits of the fields. Upon learning of the abduction . [103] A gold ring from a tomb in Isopata depicts four women dancing among flowers, the goddess floating above them. The story that Persephone spent four months of each year in the underworld was no doubt meant to account for the barren appearance of Greek fields in full summerafter harvest, before their revival in the autumn rains, when they are plowed and sown. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. [92] The locations of this probably mythical place may simply be conventions to show that a magically distant chthonic land of myth was intended in the remote past. [24], At least one person tried to take advantage of Persephones amenable nature. 340330 BCE). [16], The epithets of Persephone reveal her double function as chthonic and vegetation goddess. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. [75], Minthe was a Naiad nymph of the river Cocytus who became mistress to Persephone's husband Hades. [23] As goddess of death, she was also called a daughter of Zeus and Styx,[24] the river that formed the boundary between Earth and the underworld. Persephone/Kore. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th ed., edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow, 110910. Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial water jug) attributed to the Darius Painter (ca. The cult of Persephone in the Greek religion was especially strong in Sicily and southern Italy, and besides the Eleusinian Mysteries at Eleusis there were sanctuaries to the goddess across the Greek world, most notably at Locri Epizephyrii, Mantinea, Megalopolis, and Sparta. The Kors Katagg (Descent of Kore), for example, commemorated Hades taking Persephone (Kore) down to the Underworld. This Macaria is asserted to be the daughter of Hades, but no mother is mentioned. The Orphics, an ancient Greek religious community that subscribed to distinctive beliefs and practices (called Orphism, Orphic religion, or the Orphic Mysteries), had their own unique mythology of Persephone. Robert Beekes and others have connected it to two Indo-European roots: *perso- (sheaf of corn) and *-gn-t-ih (hit, strike). Were building the worlds most authoritative, online mythology resource, with engaging, accessible content that is both educational and compelling to read. 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. After she was taken against her will by Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, Persephone went on to become the Queen of the Underworld. In another myth, Hades took a nymph named Minthe as his lover. Strabo: There are references to Persephone, her myth, and her cult in the Geography, a late first-century BCE geographical treatise and an important source for many local Greek myths, institutions, and religious practices from antiquity. One of the most beautiful women in Greek mythology, hers is a story filled with sadness and rage and acts both wonderful and dreadful. She was also associated with spring, girlhood, and marriage. 'the maiden'), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. [29] At other sites, including Teithras in Attica,[30] Acrae in Sicily,[31] and the island of Thasos,[32] Persephone had a separate sanctuary called a Koreion. 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]. Zurich: Artemis, 1997. They were produced in Locri during the first half of the 5th century BC and offered as votive dedications at the Locrian sanctuary of Persephone. 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. 110b; Lactantius, Divine Institutions 23. The Rape of Proserpine by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1621/1622).
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