Persephone, daughter of Demeter and married to Hades, god of the Underworld. It makes her a goddess of the underworld. Being the daughter of Demeter, Persephone is linked with agriculture. Thinking of it, Persephone is a link between farmers and the underground. It would make her a kind of a chthonic messenger. Hermes is one messenger that goes to the underworld but he lead spirits of the decease and messages. Persephone is a messenger of hope, of rebirth and of a new year of farming crops. Her return on Earth, above it, is the signal of the beginning of growth of plants. It is dues to how she became the goddess of the underworld. She is brought down to the underworld by Hades, the lord of the underworld.
That myth is well known. Hades and Zeus get a deal where Hades can bring Persephone to the underworld. Both don't deems necessary to talk about it to Demeter and Persephone. While Persephone is picking flowers in a field, Hades comes up from the ground to take her. Demeter heard Pesephone. Demeter start to search for her daughter. When Demeter learned what happened, she decide to turn her back to Mount Olympus. The earth become barren. Zeus turn to Hades. They must talk and see what would appease Demeter. Persephone must return to her mother. It is what is decided. The problem, Hades had given pommegranate seeds to Persephone. Persephone had eaten some. Since then, she must travel between the underworld and our world. This also signal the beginning of the Eleusian Mysteries.
How she became the goddess of the underworld is the biggest and most known myth of Persephone. Another myth involve a guy and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. The guy in question is called Adonis. Aphrodite is in love with Adonis. Aphrodite had put Adonis in the care of Persephone. In the end, there is a dispute between Aphrodite and Persephone over Adonis. Zeus is the judge in this case: one part of the year with Aphrodite, one part with Persephone and one part with whoever Adonis wanted to be with. It is a no win situation because it can makes one goddess angry because of the part of the deal where Andonis choose who to be with. In the end, Adonis dies while hunting a boar.
Another myth involve Persephone and Zeus. In one myth, they are the parents of Dionysus. The Greek Divinities are well known to have incest on various levels. The union is done while Zeus is in a snake form. It is not the only birth story of Dionysus. Many gods and goddess may have various story related to their birth and parentage. For sure, there was no DNA test at that time.
Fastforward to our modern world and the general feeling about Persephone: she is a party girl with a goth or punk look, doing rave. It is a nice picture of that goddess even if she is linked to the underworld. When I think of the underworld, I think of a boring place. It is nice to think that she put some life and partying in the underworld. What bug me is this: we don't have her point of view. We don't hear of her talking her mind. The only exception would be in the myth of Adonis where she want to have Adonis all for herself. Otherwise, no opinion coming from her mouth. We don't know what she thought when Hades takes her in the Underworld. She is kind of voiceless. We don't know her side of her story. I find that state a bit a sad. It is as if Persephone is not important enough to express herself. I am sure she have a strong mind, as strong as other goddess like Hera, Artemis, Athena, Demeter. It gives the impression that the other goddess have too much presence and place. It put Persephone on the side line. It is nice to see the strong presence of Athena in the Odyssey, for example. It is right too. It is just not fair for Persephone. In her case, I think that her point of view would had added a layer to her life story.
For now, I have to deal with Persephone being a mysterious figure of mythology. It may be what is attractive to her. Sad that people don't always see that at first sight. It is always good to dig a little bit deeper about gods and goddesses. There is more that meet the eyes. It is particuliarly true of Persephone.
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