There were several alternate forms of the name Persephone itself, including Persophatta or Persephatta (which may have been the original form of the name), Persephonei (the Homeric form), Pherrephatta, and Phersephon. Helios, the Sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened and at length she discovered where her daughter had been taken. The name Kore (Kor, Maiden) was commonly used as an alternative to Persephone and highlighted the goddesss role as the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture. [h] Nysion (or Mysion), the place of the abduction of Persephone was also probably a mythical place which did not exist on the map, a magically distant chthonic land of myth which was intended in the remote past.[115]. The Orphics, who called Persephone either Despoina[52] or the Chthonian Queen,[53] worshipped her primarily in connection with the Underworld. Thanks to the finds that have been retrieved and to the studies carried on, it has been possible to date its use to a period between the 7th centuryBC and the 3rd centuryBC. The Persephone and Hades myth: summary. Her mythology tells of how she was abducted by her uncle Hades one day while picking flowers. [103] A gold ring from a tomb in Isopata depicts four women dancing among flowers, the goddess floating above them. The Gods of the Greeks. [63] In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, the gods of Olympus were bewitched by Persephone's beauty and desired her. The cult was private and there is no information about it. Hades rules over the underworld, or Hell. Demeter was the Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest. [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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Nowadays, Persephones name is often thought to have Indo-European origins. Accessed on 28 Apr. [16], The epithets of Persephone reveal her double function as chthonic and vegetation goddess. Ovid, Fasti 4.583ff. Persephone - Wikipedia Hades told Hermes he would release Persephoneas long as she had not tasted food while in the Underworld. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. (2023, March 9). The earliest depiction of a goddess Burkert claims may be identified with Persephone growing out of the ground, is on a plate from the Old-Palace period in Phaistos. Here annual festivities celebrated Persephone's marriage and her picking of flowers. 474.13, 475.15, 488490.1 Bernab. The infant Dionysus was later dismembered by the Titans, before being reborn as the second Dionysus, who wandered the earth spreading his mystery cult before ascending to the heavens with his second mother, Semele. [43], Another festival, called the Chthonia, was celebrated annually at Hermione, a city in the Argolid. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. But in some Roman sources, she divided the year equally between her two homes (Ovid, Fasti 4.614, Metamorphoses 5.564ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 146). [96] A similar representation, where the goddess appears to come down from the sky, is depicted on the Minoan ring of Isopata. Rose, H. J. Persephone also appears many times in popular culture. Persephone: Greek Goddess of Spring & Queen of the Underworld old engraved illustration of pluto carrying off proserpina (proserpine). [59], In the Orphic "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),[60] Persephone is described as the daughter of Zeus and Rhea. 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. Hades, the son of Cronos, was the brother of Zeus (king of the gods in Greek myth) and Poseidon (god of the sea). It is on permanent display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Kernyi, Kroly. Gantz, Timothy. Persephone: Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld - TheCollector 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. Therefore, Persephone's time in Hades would not equate with winter in the agricultural season but, rather, with summer. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. [5] But there were a handful of rival traditions surrounding Persephones parentage, including one in which she was the daughter of Zeus and Styx, an Oceanid who gave her name to one of the rivers of the Underworld. [38] The Thesmophoria was also celebrated in other parts of Greece, such as the region of Boeotia. Stockholm: Swedish Institute in Athens, 1992. 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. 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. (British Museum, London) A tondo from a red-figure kylix depicting Persephone and Hades. Persephone shared many other temples with Demeter, though she also had several temples of her own; the one at Epizephyrian Locris (a Greek colony in southern Italy) is an important example. 340 BCE). The name pais (the divine child) appears in the Mycenean inscriptions. Homer memorializes the dance floor which Daedalus built for Ariadne in the remote past. 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. By many, she was also known as Kore (the Maiden), the Greek goddess of spring. Persephone was known by numerous cult titles, including Steira (Savior) and Brim (Angry). [21] The Orphic Persephone is said to have become by Zeus the mother of Dionysus, Iacchus, Zagreus,[16] and the little-attested Melino. The cults of Persephone and Demeter in the Eleusinian mysteries and in the Thesmophoria were based on old agrarian cults. [122], The temple at Locri was looted by Pyrrhus. [111] In the Mycenean Greek tablets dated 14001200 BC, the "two queens and the king" are mentioned. [35] The Greek god Poseidon probably substituted for the companion (Paredros, ) of the Minoan Great goddess[58] Nestis means "the Fasting One" in ancient Greek.[31]. Persephone: Greek Goddess Of The Coming Spring And Lady Of The Land Of The Homeric form of her name is Persephoneia (,[11] Persephoneia). In Greek mythology, the goddess, as wife of Hades, is the Queen of the Underworld and takes her other name, Persephone. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.[6]. Just as Persephone shared many of her temples with Demeter, she also shared many of her festivals with her. 2022 Wasai LLC. In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated. 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). Plato, Symposium 179b; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15. Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter in Greek mythology, appears in films, works of literature, and in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through the symbolic use of her name. A central figure in ancient mythology, Persephone has interactions with 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. A tondo from a red-figure kylix depicting Persephone and Hades. There is evidence that some practices were derived from the religious practices of the Mycenaean age. According to Burkert, the figure looks like a vegetable because she has snake lines on other side of her. [14][15], A popular folk etymology is from , pherein phonon, "to bring (or cause) death". [123] Diodorus Siculus knew the temple there as the most illustrious in Italy. In Roman mythology, she is identified with Proserpine. Featured in a variety of novels such as Persephone [152] by Kaitlin Bevis, A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair, Persephone's Orchard[153] by Molly Ringle, The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, The Goddess Letters by Carol Orlock, Abandon by Meg Cabot, 'Neon Gods' by Katee Robert and Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, her story has also been treated by Suzanne Banay Santo in Persephone Under the Earth in the light of women's spirituality. [124], The Italian archaeologist Paolo Orsi, between 1908 and 1911, carried out a meticulous series of excavations and explorations in the area which allowed him to identify the site of the renowned Persephoneion, an ancient temple dedicated to Persephone in Calabria which Diodorus in his own time knew as the most illustrious in Italy.[133]. When Sisyphus wanted to escape death, he came up with a clever trick. Virgil: Proserpina (the Roman equivalent of Persephone) appears a handful of times in the Georgics (29 BCE) and the Aeneid (19 BCE). The goddess of nature and her companion survived in the Eleusinian cult, where the words "Mighty Potnia bore a great sun" were uttered. The Fitzwilliam Museum - The Story of Demeter and Persephone Persephone & Hades (Illustration) - World History Encyclopedia He pursued the unwilling Rhea, only for her to change into a serpent. "To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer" . She becomes the mother of the Erinyes by Hades. third century BCE to second century CE), and the twenty-eighth is dedicated to her. [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. 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. Those representations thus show both the terror of marriage and the triumph of the girl who transitions from bride into matroness. Persephone was an important element of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Thesmophoria festival and so the goddess was worshipped throughout the Greek world. In some versions, Ascalaphus informed the other deities that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds. The Greek and Roman festivals honoring her and her mother, Ceres, emphasized Proserpine's return to the upper world in spring. They also associated her with salvation: it was believed that she would grant a blissful afterlife to those who had been properly purified. The premise of the play is that the women gathered at the Thesmophoria are plotting against the tragedian Euripides. Web. The so-called Persephone Krater, an Apulian red-figure volute-krater by the Circle of the Darius Painter (ca. 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. Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.9. In favour of this argument is that in Greece's climate seeds are sown in the autumn and quickly germinate to grow throughout the winter time. In a Linear B Mycenaean Greek inscription on a tablet found at Pylos dated 14001200 BC, John Chadwick reconstructed[a] the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse, daughter of Oceanus and found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone. Please support World History Encyclopedia. This seems to have been how Persephone was honored at her temple in Epizephyrian Locris. However, when Metaneira saw this, she raised an alarm. They were also involved in the Eleusinian mysteries, a festival celebrated at the autumn sowing in the city of Eleusis. In the religions of the Orphics and the Platonists, Kore is described as the all-pervading goddess of nature[19] who both produces and destroys everything, and she is therefore mentioned along with or identified as other such divinities including Isis, Rhea, Ge, Hestia, Pandora, Artemis, and Hecate. Persephone, like her mum, loved nature. But Hades wouldn't accept her disapproval. According to one source, she was the one who allowed Orpheus to bring his dead wife Eurydice back from the Underworld, provided he did not look back while leading her up (a condition that Orpheus failed to meet). [61] Zeus then mates with Persephone, who gives birth to Dionysus. Archaeological finds suggest that worship of Demeter and Persephone was widespread in Sicily and Greek Italy. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [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. These rituals, which were held in the month Pyanepsion, commemorated marriage and fertility, as well as the abduction and return of Persephone. Persephone emerges from a cleft in the earth. He caught her and raped her. [78] In another version, Persephone's mother Demeter kills Minthe over the insult done to her daughter. 30 Apr 2023. [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. The matter was brought before Zeus, and he decreed that Adonis would spend one third of the year with each goddess, and have the last third for himself. However, Pausanias distinguishes this Despoina from the Persephone who was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter (writing that he dared not disclose this goddesss true name). Pinax (sculpted votive tablet) from the temple of Persephone in Epizephyrian Locris showing Persephone, holding a cock and grain, sitting beside her husband Hades. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the National Museum of Magna Grcia in Reggio Calabria. Smith, William. 'the maiden'), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. In Athens, the mysteries celebrated in the month of Anthesterion were dedicated to her. Books 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. 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. Makariai, with English translation at. [88], Socrates in Plato's Cratylus previously mentions that Hades consorts with Persephone due to her wisdom. Demeter arrived at the palace disguised as an old woman, where she was treated kindly by Queen Metaneira and King Celeus. [89], Persephone was worshipped along with her mother Demeter and in the same mysteries. [154], This article is about the Greek goddess. Persephone | Relationships & Story | Britannica 2 vols. [1] As a result of his affair with Demeter, Persephone was born. [48], The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda introduces a goddess of a blessed afterlife assured to Orphic mystery initiates. We care about our planet! The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. She was her mother's greatest . [39] Demeter, when she found her daughter had disappeared, searched for her all over the earth with Hecate's torches. 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. Persephone - Greek Goddess of the Underworld and Flowers - Mythology.net [62] Persephone was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed Persephone. [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. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Persephone had temples throughout the Greek world, many of them shared with Demeter. Persephone is a Mount Olympus character in Greek Mythology. She is married to Hades who is also her uncle. In another myth, Hades took a nymph named Minthe as his lover. Article. The Homeric Hymn places it in Nysa, an ancient city in Asia Minor. . In Eleusis there is evidence of sacred laws and other inscriptions.[90]. She is unsuccessful, and Persephone ends up giving birth to one of the early Dionysuses. London: Methuen, 1962. 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. She wears a stephane crown and raises her hand in greeting. Persephone was often invoked on curse tablets under her Underworld title Despoina. [114] Poseidon appears as a horse, as usually happens in Northern European folklore. The myth of her abduction, her sojourn in the underworld, and her temporary return to the surface represents her functions as the embodiment of spring and the personification of vegetation, especially grain crops, which disappear into the earth when sown, sprout from the earth in spring, and are harvested when fully grown. [101][i], Walter Burkert believed that elements of the Persephone myth had origins in the Minoan religion. In another interpretation of the myth, the abduction of Persephone by Hades, in the form of Ploutus (, wealth), represents the wealth of the grain contained and stored in underground silos or ceramic jars (pithoi) during the Summer seasons (as that was drought season in Greece). This poem describes how Persephone was picking flowers in a meadow when she was abductedwith Zeus' permission by Hades, the god of the Underworld and the brother of Demeter and Zeus (and thus .

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