The so-called Persephone Krater, an Apulian red-figure volute-krater by the Circle of the Darius Painter (ca. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [13], The etymology of the word 'Persephone' is obscure. Persephone/Kore. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. Were building the worlds most authoritative, online mythology resource, with engaging, accessible content that is both educational and compelling to read. London: Penguin, 1955. Persephone in Greek Mythology | Story of Persephone & Hades - Video She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.[6]. Demeter, distraught, wandered the entire world in search of her daughter. Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 5.2.3. As a goddess of the underworld, Persephone was given euphemistically friendly names. In other dialects, she was known under variant names: Persephassa (), Persephatta (), or simply Kor (, "girl, maiden"). [57] In Arcadia, Demeter and Persephone were often called Despoinai (, "the mistresses"). Hades told Hermes he would release Persephoneas long as she had not tasted food while in the Underworld. Whatever the exact significance, the association between Persephone and agriculture is firmly established in rituals, literature, and ancient art. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. The cults of Persephone and Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries and in the Thesmophoria were based on old agrarian cults. They represent darkness and light as, if one were to oversimplify their roles, Hades is the god of death and Persephone is the goddess of life. Stockholm: Swedish Institute in Athens, 1992. Hyginus: The Fabulae, a Latin mythological handbook (first or second century CE), includes sections on the myths of Persephone/Proserpina. Homeric Hymn 2.3, 2.77ff; cf. Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was the wife of Hades and the Queen of the Underworld. When Demeters efforts to impart immortality failed (the boys mother, Metaneira, inadvertently interrupted the process when she saw Demeter holding the child in a fire), Demeter commanded the Eleusinians to build her a temple. [98] In Eleusis, in a ritual, one child ("pais") was initiated from the hearth. Aristophanes: The comedy Women at the Thesmophoria (411 BCE) parodies the Thesmophoria festival, celebrated at Athens in honor of Demeter. Persephone, Kore. In Brills New Pauly, edited by Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F. Salazar, Manfred Landfester, and Francis G. Gentry. Accessed on 28 Apr. Diodorus of Sicily: The Library of History, a work of universal history covering events from the creation of the cosmos to Diodorus own time (mid-first century BCE), contains references to the myths of Persephone. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Article. Dance floors have been discovered in addition to "vaulted tombs", and it seems that the dance was ecstatic. Please donate to our server cost fundraiser 2023, so that we can produce more history articles, videos and translations. Special interests include art, architecture, and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Clinton, Kevin. [96] A similar representation, where the goddess appears to come down from the sky, is depicted on the Minoan ring of Isopata. 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 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. Cite This Work Later accounts place the abduction in Attica, near Athens, or near Eleusis. 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. Her cults included agrarian magic, dancing, and rituals. Persephone was usually regarded as the only child born to Zeus and Demeter, but both gods had children with other consorts. [22] The first, "Orphic" Dionysus is sometimes referred to with the alternate name Zagreus (Greek: ). 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. When Demeter at last located Persephone in the Underworld, she demanded that her daughter be returned. Kapach, Avi. Orphica frag. [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. Afterwards, Demeter gave birth to the talking horse Arion and the goddess Despoina ("the mistress"), a goddess of the Arcadian mysteries. "To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer" . [103] A gold ring from a tomb in Isopata depicts four women dancing among flowers, the goddess floating above them. 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]. [95], In Greek mythology Nysa is a mythical mountain with an unknown location. Zeus also turned himself into a serpent and raped Rhea, which resulted in the birth of Persephone. Other attributes, such as the rooster, were more localized and tied to the iconography of specific cults. Zeus approved. Zeus, however, did not care for Persephone, and left them both. According to Greek mythology, Persephone was the beautiful young daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain. Plato: There is a brief summary of Persephones involvement in the myth of Alcestis in Platos philosophical dialogue the Symposium (fourth century BCE). Apollodorus, Library 3.14.4; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.7. She becomes the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. This seems to have been how Persephone was honored at her temple in Epizephyrian Locris. [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 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. Accessed October 29, 2021. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D15%3Aentry%3Dpersephone-bio-1. [83] So entranced was Persephone by Orpheus' sweet melody that she persuaded her husband to let the unfortunate hero take his wife back. [62] Persephone was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed Persephone. Revisiting the Nature of Persephone in the Gold Leaves of Magna Graecia", "Locri Epizephyrii, The Archaeological Site Persephoneion, the Sanctuary of Persephone", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. One day she was walking in a beautiful meadow and gathering flowers to take . The Fitzwilliam Museum - The Story of Demeter and Persephone Apollodorus, FGrH 44 frag. The god then carried her off in his chariot to live with him in the dark Underworld. She has appeared in a handful of modern adaptations of Greek mythology, including Rick Riordans Percy Jackson and the Olympians franchise, the 1990s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and even the video game Assassins Creed: Odyssey. She was conceived after Zeus transformed himself into a snake to have sex with Rhea. [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. World History Encyclopedia, 24 Mar 2016. [95] In historical times, Demeter and Kore were usually referred to as "the goddesses" or "the mistresses" (Arcadia) in the mysteries . It establishes the relationship of Hades and P. 118119; West (1983) pp. Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy. In Greek mythology, Persephone ("Proserpina," in Latin) is the daughter of Zeus, the god of gods, and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. According to Homer, she also possessed sacred groves on the western edge of the world, near the entrance to the Underworld.[3]. Alcaeus, frag. The combined sense would therefore be "she who beats the ears of corn", i.e., a "thresher of grain". 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. According to several strands of Orphism, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and his mother, the Titan Rhea (rather than Demeter). The abduction from Hades. Published online 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.4880. 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. [g] Hermes is sent to retrieve her but, because she had tasted the food of the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year (the winter months) there, and the remaining part of the year with the gods above. Persephone: Greek Goddess Of The Coming Spring And Lady Of The Land Of Terrified, Rhea refused to nurse the child and fled. 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. [130] Many pinakes found in the cult are near Epizephyrian Locri depict the abduction of Persephone by Hades, and others show her enthroned next to her beardless, youthful husband, indicating that in Locri Persephone's abduction was taken as a model of transition from girlhood to marriage for young women; a terrifying change, but one that provides the bride with status and position in society. In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated. Eventually, Demeters wanderings brought her to Eleusis, a town in the region of Attica, just northwest of Athens. Another alternate name, Despoina (Mistress), focused on Persephones role as the wife of Hades and queen of the Underworld. https://www.worldhistory.org/persephone/. [132] The importance of the regionally powerful Locrian Persephone influenced the representation of the goddess in Magna Graecia. World History Encyclopedia. Were building the worlds most authoritative, online mythology resource, with engaging, accessible content that is both educational and compelling to read. Persephone - Wikipedia Gantz, Timothy. According to mythology, Hades, god of the Underworld, fell in love with beautiful Persephone when he saw her picking flowers one day in a meadow. Submitted by Mark Cartwright, published on 24 March 2016. [42] Every year in the Sicilian city of Syracuse, Persephone was honored with the sacrifices of smaller animals and the public drowning of bulls. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter mentions the "plain of Nysa". [14][15], A popular folk etymology is from , pherein phonon, "to bring (or cause) death". Persephone was a beautiful young lady, just entering womanhood. Persephone frequently appears in all forms of . Another interpretation of the Persephone myth may be that it represents when the Greeks stored their grain underground for part of the year in order to protect it from summer heat. Persephone. Published online 20002017. Her Roman name is Proserpine. Persephone, like her mum, loved nature. [49], The abduction of Persephone is an etiological myth providing an explanation for the changing of the seasons. Persephone, in her guise as Queen of the Underworld, was often appealed to in curse tablets and on the inscribed gold leaves buried with the dead followers of Orphism which gave instructions on how to conduct themselves in the after-life. The Thesmophoria was a Greek-wide celebration of the goddess and her mother. [106][107] It is possible that some religious practices, especially the mysteries, were transferred from a Cretan priesthood to Eleusis, where Demeter brought the poppy from Crete. Last modified March 24, 2016. Graves, Robert. Perseus Digital Library. 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. Ammonius Grammaticus, On the Differences of Synonymous Expressions 279. The Rape of Proserpine by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1621/1622). [40] At Megara, similarly, worshippers reenacted Persephones abduction by a sacred rock called Anaklthris, where Demeter was believed to have called back (anekalesen in Greek) Persephone when she passed by it during her search. 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. London: Thames and Hudson, 1951. The story of Demeter, Hades and Persephone was perhaps symbolic of the changing seasons and the perennial change from life to death, to life once more, or in other words, the changes from the summer to winter months and the return of life in spring as seen in agriculture. In Eleusis there is evidence of sacred laws and other inscriptions.[90]. It is possible that the association between the two was known by the 3rd centuryBC, when the poet Callimachus may have written about it in a now-lost source. [97] The beliefs of these cults were closely-guarded secrets, kept hidden because they were believed to offer believers a better place in the afterlife than in miserable Hades. Vol. 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. He told his wife not to bury him; then, when he arrived in the Underworld, he convinced Persephone (though in some versions it was Hades) to let him return to the world of the living to punish his wife for neglecting his funeral.[25]. 2 vols. [124] During the 5th centuryBC, votive pinakes in terracotta were often dedicated as offerings to the goddess, made in series and painted with bright colors, animated by scenes connected to the myth of Persephone. Greek Religion. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. [79], Theophile was a girl who claimed that Hades loved her and that she was better than Persephone. Persephone was not slow to notice, and in jealousy she trampled the nymph, killing her and turning her into a mint plant. 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. [21] The Orphic Persephone is said to have become by Zeus the mother of Dionysus, Iacchus, Zagreus,[16] and the little-attested Melino. [43] With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year. Hades, living alone in the dark underworld, happened to glimpse up one summer day to see Persephone frolicking in the fields with her friends and fell instantly in love. He caught her and raped her. She also had a handful of epithets. Persephone becomes pregnant and gives birth to Zagreus. Ancient authors sometimes sought creative etymologies for the name Persephone (Greek , translit. After all, mythology is storytelling at its finest. The Homeric Hymn then tells of how Demeter, realizing her daughter was missing, began a desperate search. This Macaria is asserted to be the daughter of Hades, but no mother is mentioned. On an Attic red-figured bell krater of c. 440 BC in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Persephone is rising as if up stairs from a cleft in the earth, while Hermes stands aside; Hecate, holding two torches, looks back as she leads her to the enthroned Demeter. Persephone, often known simply as Kore (Maiden), was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Greek Gods / 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, Latin Proserpina or Proserpine, in Greek religion, daughter of Zeus, the chief god, and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture; she was the wife of Hades, king of the underworld. Demeter then hides Persephone in a cave; but Zeus, in the form of a serpent, enters the cave and rapes Persephone. 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. There were two sides to Persephone. Persephone: Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld - TheCollector Pinakes, terracotta tablets with brightly painted sculptural scenes in relief were founded in Locri. Persephone was often invoked on curse tablets under her Underworld title Despoina. The Greek and Roman festivals honoring her and her mother, Ceres, emphasized Proserpine's return to the upper world in spring. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [12] On 5th century Attic vases one often encounters the form () Plato calls her Pherepapha () in his Cratylus, "because she is wise and touches that which is in motion". This also explains why Persephone is associated with Spring: her re-emergence from the underworld signifies the onset of Spring. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. Virgil: Proserpina (the Roman equivalent of Persephone) appears a handful of times in the Georgics (29 BCE) and the Aeneid (19 BCE). Hesiod, Theogony 912ff. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. 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 ". On either side of the vegetable person there is a dancing girl. In other sources, Hades, rather than Persephone, was the one who gave Eurydice to Orpheus and set these terms. Persephone (aka Kore) was the Greek goddess of agriculture and vegetation, especially grain, and the wife of Hades, the ruler of the Underworld. [74], After a plague hit Aonia, its people asked the Oracle of Delphi, and they were told they needed to appease the anger of the king and queen of the underworld by means of sacrifice. Persephone In Greek Mythology. In the Roman world the goddess was known as Proserpina. Several scenes from Persephones mythologyespecially her abduction by Hadeswere popular among ancient artists. [41], In Sicily, sometimes said to have been the island from which Hades had abducted the goddess, Persephone was honored in a number of different festivals and rituals. 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. 340 BCE). [35] The Greek god Poseidon probably substituted for the companion (Paredros, ) of the Minoan Great goddess[58] 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 name pais (the divine child) appears in the Mycenean inscriptions. As the wife of Hades, Persephone was 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. [64], It was said that while Persephone was playing with the nymph Hercyna, Hercyna held a goose against her that she let loose. She becomes the mother of the Erinyes by Hades. [75], Minthe was a Naiad nymph of the river Cocytus who became mistress to Persephone's husband Hades. https://mythopedia.com/topics/persephone, Avi Kapach is a writer, scholar, and educator who received his PhD in Classics from Brown University. Persephone | Greek Myth Wikia | Fandom [27] Groves sacred to her stood at the western extremity of the earth on the frontiers of the lower world, which itself was called "house of Persephone".[28]. Homeric Hymn 2.58ff; cf. Persephon). [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. Edmonds, Radcliffe G., III (2011) "Orphic Mythology," [in], Nilsson, pp. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Martin Nilsson. In Orphic myth, Zeus came to Persephone in her bedchamber in the underworld and impregnated her with the child who would become his successor. The priests used special vessels and holy symbols, and the people participated with rhymes. Achilles The hero of the Trojan War, leader of the . There were, however, a handful of myths that challenged this persona. 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. To reward the family for their kindness, Demeter set about making Demophon immortal by placing him on a fire every night. 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. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the National Museum of Magna Grcia in Reggio Calabria. 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). The myth of her abduction by Hades was frequently used to . 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. The Spring Witch by George Wilson (ca. Related Content Kapach, A. [98] [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. [c], In mythology and literature she is often called dread(ed) Persephone, and queen of the underworld, within which tradition it was forbidden to speak her name.

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