Persephone

Zeus fathered Persephone with Demeter, and Demeter gave birth to the maiden. She was also known as Kore, meaning Girl or Maiden, and as Cora and Phersephone. Her name appeared in the Attic form Pherrephatta. Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and she was a grain goddess like her mother. Demeter ruled the earth, harvest, and fertility, while Persephone grew up among flowers and fertile fields.

Hades desired Persephone as his bride and queen. He went to Zeus, his brother, and asked for her hand in marriage. Zeus knew that Hades would care for her, but he feared Demeter’s anger and sorrow. He neither granted nor refused permission. Encouraged by this answer, Hades went to the place where Persephone gathered flowers. He seized her as she picked them, and a great chasm opened in the earth. Hades placed her under his arm, and his horses carried them into the dark world below.

Demeter did not realise at once that Persephone had vanished. After many hours, she understood that her daughter was gone, and she began to search for her. She rejected Zeus, avoided the council of the gods, and wandered in grief and anger. On the tenth day, Hecate told her that Persephone had been abducted, but she did not know by whom. Helios then told Demeter that Hades had taken her. While Demeter searched and mourned, nothing grew. Seeds failed to sprout, people starved, and the gods received none of their customary offerings.

Demeter found Persephone in the Underworld, but Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds there. Zeus therefore arranged that she would marry Hades and live with him as queen of the Underworld for part of each year. The stories gave either four or six months for this stay. Persephone spent the rest of the year in the upper world with Demeter, and she and Hades acted together when she ruled among the dead.

Persephone broke the fast she had kept in the Underworld and nibbled at pomegranate seeds. Hades had offered her the fruit as she prepared to leave, calling it a token of his love and esteem. She accepted it and ate. At once, darkness fell upon her. Demeter was waiting just beyond the gates, but she could not reach her daughter. A chasm opened between them, and neither could cross it. Food or drink from the land of Hades bound the one who consumed it to that realm.

Demeter had already learned what had happened to Persephone. She returned to Olympus and confronted Zeus. He agreed that their daughter should be allowed to return. Hermes went down to the Underworld and ordered Hades to release his bride. Persephone had been sitting beside Hades and longed for her mother, so she rose gladly when Hermes spoke. Hades obeyed Zeus, prepared his golden car, and sent her towards the earth.

When Demeter heard that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate, her grief deepened. She refused to return to Olympus and continued to withhold her favour from the land, which would not flower or bear fruit. Zeus was ashamed of his part in the matter and concerned about the state of the earth. He therefore sought a settlement between Demeter and Hades.

Rhea, the mother of Zeus, Demeter, and Hades, pleaded with Demeter to end her anger. A compromise was reached. Persephone would spend three months each year with Hades in the Underworld as Queen of Tartarus, under the name Persephone, and the remaining nine months with Demeter. Hecate agreed to watch over the arrangement. Demeter then consented to return home.

A child fell from the split trunk of a myrrh tree. The child was Adonis, born after Myrrha, also called Smyrna, had been transformed into the tree. In one account, Aphrodite had caused Myrrha to desire her father, King Cinyras. When he discovered the truth, he pursued her with a sword. Aphrodite changed her into the tree before he could kill her. In another account, Myrrha sought transformation after the discovery of the incestuous relationship, and Lucina helped Adonis emerge from the tree.

Aphrodite placed the infant in a chest and entrusted him to Persephone, queen of the Underworld. The accounts differ on her reason. She may have regretted punishing Myrrha, or she may already have loved the child. Persephone opened the chest and found Adonis inside. She was struck by his beauty, brought him into her palace, and raised him there.

When Aphrodite came to reclaim him, Persephone refused to surrender him. The two goddesses quarrelled over custody. Zeus settled the dispute in one account. In another, the Muse Calliope gave the judgment. Adonis was to spend one third of his time with Persephone, one third with Aphrodite, and one third by himself.

A different telling says that Aphrodite used her magic girdle to persuade Adonis to give her his own portion as well. Persephone, angered by this, told Ares that Aphrodite preferred a mortal to him. Ares then took the shape of a wild boar and killed Adonis while he was hunting on Mount Lebanon. Some say Apollo was the boar. Anemones grew from Adonis’s blood, and his soul went down to Tartarus. In another settlement, Adonis spent one third of the year with Persephone and two thirds with Aphrodite. A later appeal by Aphrodite led to a division between the gloomier part of the year and the summer months.

The earth opened beneath Persephone as she bent to pick a beautiful flower. Hades, god of the Underworld, drove up in a chariot, seized her, and carried her away. He wanted her as his wife. Zeus, Hades’ brother, had neither permitted nor refused the request because he knew that Demeter would reject the marriage. Hades took Persephone into the Underworld, which also bore his name.

Demeter heard Persephone’s cry and began searching for her. She wandered across the whole world, carrying flaming torches, fasting, and driven by grief and anger. On the tenth day, Hecate told her that Persephone had been abducted, though she did not know by whom. Helios then told Demeter that Hades had taken her. Demeter returned to Olympus and confronted Zeus. While she grieved, the earth became barren. Nothing grew, and the land refused to flower or bear crops.

Zeus sent word to Hades that Persephone had to return to her mother. Hades reluctantly agreed to release his young bride. Before she left, he offered her a pomegranate as a token of his love and esteem. Persephone ate several seeds, ending the fast she had kept in the Underworld. Darkness fell upon her, and Demeter, standing just beyond the Underworld’s gates, could not reach her. A chasm separated mother and daughter. Any mortal who ate or drank in Hades’ land had to remain there forever.

Zeus was ashamed of his part in the matter and concerned about Demeter’s neglect of the earth. A settlement was made: Persephone spent half of each year with Demeter on the earth’s surface, during spring and summer, when plants, flowers, and crops grew. She spent the remaining half in the Underworld. During her absence, Demeter mourned, and fall and winter brought cold, barrenness, and the death of plants. Persephone’s return began the growing part of the year.