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Persephone (Proserpina)
In Greek mythology, Persephone was the queen of the Underworld. Her Roman equivalent was Proserpina. She was a goddess of vegetation.
706 Questions
Persephone is the Goddess of Springtime, and The Queen & Goddess of the Underworld.
Where did Persephone spend 9 mouths of the year?
It depends on what time of the year these months are during. Winter and Autumn are associated with the Underworld, while Spring and Summer are associated with Persephone returned to Earth.
How was goddess Persephone worshipped?
Persephone was worshipped in ancient Greece as a goddess of agriculture, fertility, and the underworld. Her cult rituals often involved offerings of grains, flowers, and libations to honor her role in the changing seasons and the cycle of life and death. Persephone's worship was also linked to mystery cults, where her transformative journey from the underworld to the world above symbolized regeneration and renewal.
Demeter and Persephone represented what to the Greeks?
Demeter was the goddess of the earth and the crops, and thus represented the fertility of summer and the autumn harvest; Persephone was the goddess of the new plants and the promise of spring. Persephone's abduction and Demeter's wandering were the winter, when the earth is cold and barren; Persephone's return was the return of the spring.
Also, it has been theorised that the myth is an explanation- or at least origin- of some of the stranger Greek marriage traditions (i.e., the ritual "abduction" of the bride by the groom.)
How much of the year does Persephone spend with her mother?
This varies a bit in different versions of the story. Half with Hades and half with her mother Demeter is the most common .
Core (Persephone) was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the cornfield. But, when Hades, the ruler of Tartarus (the underworld), caught sight of the young goddess, he fell in love and resolved to have her as his wife. He rose out of the ground in his chariot one day, while Core was picking flowers, and kidnapped her.
Demeter searched for her wildly, and once she heard the news of her daughter's kidnapping, she ran to Zeus. She begged the Ruler of All Gods to force his brother, Hades, to release Core. Zeus refused, so Demeter decided to strike. She would force Zeus' hand by refusing to preform any of her duties as the goddess of the fields. She would not let any plants grow, so the animals starved, which caused the humans to starve, as well. The entire human race was dangerously close to extinction. Zeus could not deny Demeter any longer. He ruled that, as long as no Food of the Dead had passed through Core's lips, she could return to her mother. However, if she had eaten, she would reside in Tartarus as Hades' wife.
Meanwhile, in Tartarus, Core had been attempting to punish Hades by refusing to eat. He tried to make her feel more comfortable, and he brought her the finest meals to feast on. But still she fasted. Neither Hades nor Core had any idea what was going on with the other gods.
Zeus sent Hermes to bring Core up from Tartarus, but only if she hadn't eaten any food. Hades was helping Core climb into the chariot when one of his gardeners, Ascalaphus, announced that he had witnessed Core grabbing a pomegranate from Hades' orchard and eat seven seeds. When the group reached Olympus, the informed Zeus about the fruit. Demeter declared that she would never return to Olympus, and would continue to halt the growth of plant-life on earth if her daughter was not freed. Zeus consulted with Rhea (the mother of all three: Hades, Demeter, and Zeus) and together they reached a compromise: Core would marry Hades, take the name Persephone, and live in Tartarus for three months out of each year. The other nine months would be with her mother, Demeter.
In conclusion of this little tale, Persephone is the Queen of Tartarus. She spends her time in that realm during what we now call "Winter", and the rest of the year is spent on Olympus with Demeter.
Where and how was Persephone born?
Persephone was born to her father Zeus and her mother Demeter, on Mt Olympus.
Did hades have any children with Persephone?
It depends on the myth, since there are multiple versions Persephone is the mother of Zagreus and Melinoe, but they are her children by Zeus, who either raped her to produce Zagreus and tricked her to produce Melinoe. They don't figure often in modern myths, nost likely because Persephone is Zeus' child herself and that level of incest would make most modern people uncomfortable. Hades is the father of Macaria, but her mother is left up to debate, and could be assumed to be Persephone, but it is not clear
What is another name for Persephone?
Greek: Persephatta, Phersephatta, and a number of variations on the same.
Roman: Proserpine, Proserpina.
Persephone wore many bright colors, because she is also the goddess of spring. She wore Peplos instead of Togas. Only gods wore togas. Gddesses wore peplos.
What happens each year when Persephone comes back from the underworld?
Every year when Persephone returns from the Underworld her mother Demeter allows Spring to return to the earth.
What are Persephone's main symbol or weapon?
Persephone is often robed, holding sheafs of grain and a flaming torch. A flower that shows her as Queen of the Underworld is asphodel.
Being a Queen, she had no need of a weapon.
What were Persephone's symbols?
In Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed. She may be carrying a sheaf of grain.
General symbols are springs, wreaths of flowers worn in hair, torches, reeds, waterfalls, rivers, and spring.
How and why was Persephone punished?
Hades seized her and brought her to the underworld, because he lusted after her.
Why did the seeds make Persephone become Hades wife?
It's a common theme in Indo-European mythology- the fruit of the dead binds you to their land. The pomegranate seeds were, in a word, cursed; once she ate them, Persephone had to stay. But I think she and Hades had already married by that point.
The best non-Greek examples of the fruit-of-the-dead taboo occur in Celtic myth- if you wandered into the Otherworld, the worst thing you could do was accept or offer a favour or gift, or eat anything. Doing so was not necessarily fatal, but came with several consequences: 1) you would never return home; 2) you would return but it would be several centuries later, a la Oisin son of Fionn macCumhaill; or 3) you would forget who you were, where you were from, and what you were doing in the Otherworld to begin with, thus leaving you at the capricious mercy of your faery host.
What was Persephone the goddess of?
Persephone was the goddess of springtime, and Demeter, the goddess of the harvest's daughter.
Persephone is the Goddess of the Underworld and the Goddess of Harvest. She is the Goddess of the Underworld because she was forced to marry Hades, God Of The Underworld, and Goddess of Earth because she is the daughter Of Demeter, Goddess of Bountiful Harvest.
