Persephone: Greek Goddess Of The Coming Spring And Lady Of The Land Of The Dead

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Persephone is a goddess of the Land of the Dead and sprouting grain and fruit in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology, she is identified with Proserpine.

Her attribute was poppy and pomegranate fruit, so she was also associated with spring, flowers, life, and vegetation before becoming queen of the underworld.

Persephone Goddess. Credit: Adobe Stock - Amelie

Loved by all, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and her companions were Athena, Artemis, and the nymphs, the Oceanids.

She liked Zeus' brother Hades who ruled the Land of the Dead. Zeus promised to give him Persephone as his wife.

Hades Appears In A Golden Chariot

One day, she was playing in the meadow, picking flowers like lilies and daffodils. Suddenly, she saw a flower of unexpected beauty. However, it was not an ordinary flower, but the one which was grown by the earth goddess Gaia at the special request of Hades. When Persephone grasped the flower, the god Hades appeared before her in a golden chariot drawn by four dark horses.

He grabbed Persephone, lifted her onto the chariot, and disappeared into the underworld. No one saw this abduction of Persephone, except for the Sun god – Helios.

This abduction, however, was not evildoing because Hades did it with the consent of Persephone's father, Zeus.

Persephone with Hades. Credit: Fabien Bièvre-Perrin - CC BY-SA 4.0

According to one very popular story, the abduction of Persephone took place in Sicily on a meadow, more specifically the field of Enna. But, Homer wrote, the incident happened in the plain of the Nysa, in Asia Minor (the abduction is not mentioned in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Other sources say Eleusis, an island near Spain called Coonus, Hermione, or Pisa.

As the goddess in the Land of the Dead, Persephone and her husband live in an underground palace. Sitting on the throne next to Hades, she commands the underworld's demons and breaks the last ties of the dying with the living.

Unhappy Demeter Searches For Her Daughter

Dressed in dark robes, Demeter wandered the earth for nine days, searching for her daughter. She looked everywhere but could not find her anywhere. Finally, she turned to the Sun god Helios and asked him for help. Unfortunately, the Sun God told her that Persephone was not on earth anymore because Zeus gave her in marriage to his brother Hades. As it happened without Demeter's consent, she was very angry with Zeus. So she left Olympus, assumed the appearance of a mortal, and wandered among the ordinary people for a long time.

The earth began to suffer, there was a terrible drought on the planet, and everything stopped growing because Demeter forbade the plants to grow until her lovely daughter was found.

Zeus did not want people to die, so he sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods Hermes, to Hades, to release Persephone. Hades obeyed the order, but before doing so, he gave Persephone a few pomegranate seeds, and she ate them. Doing so, she condemned herself to return to the Land of the Dead. Legend has it, anyone who has tasted food on the other side of the river Styx will return.

The Return of Persephone by Frederic Leighton (1891). Credit: Public Domain

Persephone returns while spring, flowers, and green appear again on earth, and fertility is restored.

From now on, Persephone spends some months with Hades and then returns to the earth. Every year, she leaves her mother, and winter is coming. All nature falls asleep until Persephone returns. Thus, Persephone would live with her mother on Olympus for two-thirds of the year and then return to Hades for one-third.

The myth of the goddess's abduction by Hades and her continuous return home to Olympus symbolizes the change of seasons, a necessary process to keep the earth alive.

Popular Cult Of Persephone

The cult of Persephone was flourishing in the Greek city of Pylos in the Mycenaean times. Her worship was strengthened by her constant association with her mother, the greatest goddess of agriculture, Demeter. However, this beautiful goddess was also revered for her own great values, as the protector of marriage and family relations, which was particularly appreciated among the women of Greece.

Updated on January 17, 2024

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

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