![]() ![]() The so-called “Persephone Krater,” an Apulian red-figure volute-krater by the Circle of the Darius Painter (ca. The Orphic version of Persephone, on the other hand, was a daughter of Zeus and Rhea, while an Arcadian version of Persephone called Despoina was the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon. But there were a handful of rival traditions surrounding Persephone’s 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. In the standard tradition, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and his sister Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Several scenes from Persephone’s mythology-especially her abduction by Hades-were popular among ancient artists. National Archaeological Museum, Reggio di Calabria, Italy. Pinax (sculpted votive tablet) from the temple of Persephone in Epizephyrian Locris showing Persephone, holding a cock and grain, sitting beside her husband Hades. Other attributes, such as the rooster, were more localized and tied to the iconography of specific cults. More rarely, she was associated with pomegranates or poppies. Persephone was characterized by several attributes and symbols, most notably torches, stalks of grain or ears of corn, and scepters. In her iconography, Persephone was represented as a young woman, modestly clad in a robe and wearing either a diadem or a cylindrical crown called a polos on her head. According to Homer, she also possessed sacred groves on the western edge of the world, near the entrance to the Underworld. True to her double nature, Persephone was imagined as having two homes: one on Olympus with her mother, Demeter, and the other in the Underworld with her husband, Hades. In her ritual and mythology, Persephone/Kore was also regarded as a goddess of all aspects of womanhood and female initiation, including girlhood, marriage, and childbearing. On the other hand, she was Kore, the maiden daughter of the agricultural goddess Demeter, an alternate guise that brought her into the sphere of agriculture and fertility. On the one hand, she was Persephone, wife of Hades and goddess of the Underworld, and thus a chthonic figure closely associated with the inevitability of death. These included epainē (“awful”), which stressed Persephone’s role as queen of the Underworld, as well as agauē (“venerable”), hagnē (“holy”), and arrētos (“she who must not be named”). Persephone was known by numerous cult titles, including Sōteira (“Savior”) and Brimō (“Angry”). Persephone’s Roman counterpart was called Proserpina or Proserpine. There were several alternate forms of the name “Persephone” itself, including Persophatta or Persephatta (which may have been the original form of the name), Persephoneiē (the Homeric form), Pherrephatta, and Phersephonē. Another alternate name, Despoina (“Mistress”), focused on Persephone’s role as the wife of Hades and queen of the Underworld. The name Kore ( Korē, “Maiden”) was commonly used as an alternative to “Persephone” and highlighted the goddess’s role as the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture. This would indicate that Persephone’s name means something like “female corn thresher.” Pronunciation Robert Beekes and others have connected it to two Indo-European roots: * perso- (“sheaf of corn”) and * -gʷn-t-ih₂ (“hit, strike”). Nowadays, Persephone’s name is often thought to have Indo-European origins. But these are folk etymologies that lack credibility. Other ancient etymologies connected Persephone’s name with aphenos (“wealth”), phonos (“death”), and phōs (“light”). Plato, for example, interpreted the name as “she who touches things that are in motion” ( epaphē tou pheromenou), a reference to Persephone’s wisdom (to touch things that are in motion implies an understanding of the cosmos, which is constantly in motion). Persephone was often worshipped alongside her mother, Demeter-for example, in the Eleusinian Mysteries.Īncient authors sometimes sought creative etymologies for the name “Persephone” (Greek Περσεφόνη, translit. She was also associated with spring, girlhood, and marriage. Thus, although Persephone was allowed to spend part of the year on Olympus with her mother, she was forced to spend the other part of the year in the Underworld as Hades’ bride.Īs the wife of Hades, Persephone was the queen of the Underworld. But Hades had tricked Persephone into eating something-a handful of pomegranate seeds-while she was in the Underworld. When Demeter at last located Persephone in the Underworld, she demanded that her daughter be returned. ![]() Demeter, distraught, wandered the entire world in search of her daughter. Her mythology tells of how she was abducted by her uncle Hades one day while picking flowers. Persephone, often known simply as Kore (“Maiden”), was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Other Worship: Orphism and Curse Tablets. ![]()
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