Persephone | Greek Myth Wikia | Fandom We want people all over the world to learn about history. [98] In Eleusis, in a ritual, one child ("pais") was initiated from the hearth. 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. Together with Demeter, Persephone is also depicted on the Great Seal of North Carolina, where she is shown in a pastoral setting with the sea in the background. The Orphics, an ancient Greek religious community that subscribed to distinctive beliefs and practices (called Orphism, Orphic religion, or the Orphic Mysteries), had their own unique mythology of Persephone. The Homeric form of her name is Persephoneia (,[11] Persephoneia). Curse tablets were engraved texts that called upon a god, usually a chthonian god associated with the Underworld (such as Hecate, Hermes, or Gaia), to punish or harm an enemy, who would generally be named in the text. [106][107] It is possible that some religious practices, especially the mysteries, were transferred from a Cretan priesthood to Eleusis, where Demeter brought the poppy from Crete. She was also called Kore, which means "maiden" and grew up to be a lovely girl attracting the attention of many gods. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. When Sisyphus wanted to escape death, he came up with a clever trick. [16], The epithets of Persephone reveal her double function as chthonic and vegetation goddess. Mark is a full-time author, researcher, historian, and editor. By many, she was also known as Kore (the Maiden), the Greek goddess of spring. Thank you! London: Penguin, 1955. Persephone, daughter of Demeter, is the venerable queen of the underworld, Greek goddess of spring, and holder of the Eleusinian Mysteries. [65] This was when she was abducted by Hades according to Boeotian legend; a vase shows water birds accompany the goddesses Demeter and Hecate who are in search of the missing Persephone. 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. Persephones Roman counterpart was called Proserpina or Proserpine. More rarely, she was associated with pomegranates or poppies. Persephone frequently appears in all forms of . Burkert, Walter. A recent spectacular find is the large pebble mosaic, measuring 4.5 by 3 metres from the Hellenistic tomb at Amphipolis, which again depicts the god Hades abducting Persephone in a chariot led by Hermes. Her cults included agrarian magic, dancing, and rituals. But these are folk etymologies that lack credibility. [6] The Orphic version of Persephone, on the other hand, was a daughter of Zeus and Rhea,[7] while an Arcadian version of Persephone called Despoina was the daughter of Demeter and Poseidon.[8]. Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE. Revisiting the Nature of Persephone in the Gold Leaves of Magna Graecia", "Locri Epizephyrii, The Archaeological Site Persephoneion, the Sanctuary of Persephone", Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. The Story of Hades and Persephone: Rape and Romance While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Claudian: The fourth-century CE poem the Rape of Proserpina tells of the abduction of Persephone/Proserpina and her mothers search for her. The god then carried her off in his chariot to live with him in the dark Underworld. This is an origin story to explain the seasons. Daughter of Demeter. The identity of the two divinities addressed as wanassoi, is uncertain". [138] Whereas Melino was conceived as the result of rape when Zeus disguised himself as Hades in order to mate with Persephone, the Eumenides' origin is unclear.[139]. Adonis chose to spend his own portion of the year with Aphrodite. As punishment for informing Hades, he was pinned under a heavy rock in the underworld by either Persephone or Demeter. [22] The first, "Orphic" Dionysus is sometimes referred to with the alternate name Zagreus (Greek: ). [49], The abduction of Persephone is an etiological myth providing an explanation for the changing of the seasons. In Homer's epics, she appears always together with Hades and the underworld, apparently sharing with Hades control over the dead. Zeus approved. 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. Cite This Work [124] During the 5th centuryBC, votive pinakes in terracotta were often dedicated as offerings to the goddess, made in series and painted with bright colors, animated by scenes connected to the myth of Persephone. Gantz (1996) pp. Demeter then hides Persephone in a cave; but Zeus, in the form of a serpent, enters the cave and rapes Persephone. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. [112][k], Some information can be obtained from the study of the cult of Eileithyia at Crete, and the cult of Despoina. One of the most beautiful women in Greek mythology, hers is a story filled with sadness and rage and acts both wonderful and dreadful. This is the site of the annual Eleusinian Mysteries and an early temple to Demeter and Persephone, built around the 7th century BCE. Demeter turned into a mare to escape him, but then Poseidon turned into a stallion to pursue her. Persephone is a true nature child, being the daughter of the goddess of the harvest. [75], Minthe was a Naiad nymph of the river Cocytus who became mistress to Persephone's husband Hades. [38] The Thesmophoria was also celebrated in other parts of Greece, such as the region of Boeotia. Terracotta loutrophoros (ceremonial water jug) attributed to the Darius Painter (ca. As well as the names of some Greek gods in the Mycenean Greek inscriptions, names of goddesses who do not have Mycenean origin appear, such as "the divine Mother" (the mother of the gods) or "the Goddess (or priestess) of the winds". In this guise, she was seen as a protectress in the after-life, although Hesiod repeatedly describes her as 'dread Persephone' in his Theogony. Fossum, "The Myth of the Eternal Rebirth," pp. 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). 1880). Hades and Persephone: The Abduction Goddess of Spring and Queen of the H. G. Evelyn-White. Apollodorus, FGrH 44 frag. 8 CE). Jimnez San Cristbal, Ana Isabel. Just as Persephone shared many of her temples with Demeter, she also shared many of her festivals with her. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985. Persephone was the daughter to Zeus and Demeter, both of whom are Olympian gods . 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. [48], The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda introduces a goddess of a blessed afterlife assured to Orphic mystery initiates. Many of these pinakes are now on display in the National Museum of Magna Grcia in Reggio Calabria. In the end, a compromise was reached: Persephone would spend part of the year in the Underworld as Hades wife and the other part on Olympus with her mother, Demeter. Hades told Hermes he would release Persephoneas long as she had not tasted food while in the Underworld. Persephone was born to Zeus and harvest-goddess, Demeter, and became the queen of the Underworld. Demeter arrived at the palace disguised as an old woman, where she was treated kindly by Queen Metaneira and King Celeus. Please donate to our server cost fundraiser 2023, so that we can produce more history articles, videos and translations. In Greek mythology, Persephone, also called Kore or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, and is the queen of . Persephone. In Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Vol. She becomes the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. Demeter was the Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. 89 Bernab; Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 5.75.4; Hyginus, Fabulae 155; Hesychius, Lexicon, s.v. https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html. In the hymn, Persephone eventually returns from the underworld and is reunited with her mother near Eleusis. Privacy Policy, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.4880, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D15%3Aentry%3Dpersephone-bio-1, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e914950, https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html. In Athens, the Thesmophoria lasted three days and involved several rituals, including one in which the rotten remains of a slaughtered pig were dug up and placed on the altars of the goddesses. Lament for Bion 12324; Virgil, Georgics 4.486ff. She is unsuccessful, and Persephone ends up giving birth to one of the early Dionysuses. Greek Religion. . 473474. [93][h] Demeter found and met her daughter in Eleusis, and this is the mythical disguise of what happened in the mysteries.[95]. Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy. 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. "To what extent one can and must differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion is a question which has not yet found a conclusive answer" . In most Greek sources, such as Homeric Hymn 2, Persephone spent only one-third of the year with Hades and two-thirds with her mother. Here annual festivities celebrated Persephone's marriage and her picking of flowers. Persephone's story actually focuses more on her mother, Demeter, and what happens when Persephone disappears.The young goddess is also the daughter and niece of Zeus, and the wife and niece of Hades when she becomes the queen of the Underworld.. Persephone/Kore. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th ed., edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow, 110910. According to several strands of Orphism, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and his mother, the Titan Rhea (rather than Demeter). Demeters terrible rage was ended only through the intervention of Zeus, who sent the messenger god Hermes to persuade Hades to return Persephone to Demeter. [120][121], At Locri, a city of Magna Graecia situated on the coast of the Ionian Sea in Calabria (a region of southern Italy), perhaps uniquely, Persephone was worshiped as protector of marriage and childbirth, a role usually assumed by Hera (in fact, Hera seems to have played no role in the public worship of the city[122]); in the iconography of votive plaques at Locri, her abduction and marriage to Hades served as an emblem of the marital state, children at Locri were dedicated to Proserpina, and maidens about to be wed brought their peplos to be blessed. The Cretans thought that their own island had been the scene of the abduction, and the Eleusinians mentioned the Nysian plain in Boeotia, and said that Persephone had descended with Hades into the lower world at the entrance of the western Oceanus. Achilles The hero of the Trojan War, leader of the . Persephone also appears many times in popular culture. According to Greek mythology, Persephone was the beautiful young daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain. Her attribute was poppy and pomegranate fruit, so she was also associated with spring, flowers, life, and vegetation before becoming queen of the underworld. She then abandoned her functions as the goddess of agriculture, causing grain to stop growing and nearly starving humanity. Homer, Odyssey 11.217; Hesiod, Theogony 912; Homeric Hymn 2; Apollodorus, Library 1.5.1; Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.9; Ovid, Fasti 4.575, Metamorphoses 5.501; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 5.562; etc. Since Persephone had consumed pomegranate seeds in the underworld, she was forced to spend four months, or in other versions six months for six seeds, with Hades. Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. They were produced in Locri during the first half of the 5th century BC and offered as votive dedications at the Locrian sanctuary of Persephone. In his 1985 book on Greek Religion, Walter Burkert claimed that Persephone is an old chthonic deity of the agricultural communities, who received the souls of the dead into the earth, and acquired powers over the fertility of the soil, over which she reigned. Persephone, both individually and together with other gods, was also honored through festival and ritual at numerous other sites, including Mantinea, Argos, Patrae, Smyrna, and Acharaca. Terrified, Rhea refused to nurse the child and fled. Persephone has continued to captivate the modern imagination as the virginal yet terrifying queen of the Underworld. The scenes are related to the myth and cult of Persephone and other deities. Persephone: Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld - TheCollector The so-called Persephone Krater, an Apulian red-figure volute-krater by the Circle of the Darius Painter (ca. Persephone. In A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. [42] Every year in the Sicilian city of Syracuse, Persephone was honored with the sacrifices of smaller animals and the public drowning of bulls. Persephone, often known simply as Kore (Maiden), was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. In Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed, often carrying a sheaf of grain. All Rights Reserved. [39], Many of the festivals of Persephone and Demeter were related to the myth of Persephones abduction. [43], Another festival, called the Chthonia, was celebrated annually at Hermione, a city in the Argolid. Lincoln argues that the myth is a description of the loss of Persephone's virginity, where her epithet koure signifies "a girl of initiatory age", and where Hades is the male oppressor forcing himself onto a young girl for the first time. Persephone. Published online 20002017. 110b; Lactantius, Divine Institutions 23. Kapach, A. "Persephone." Other festivals celebrated Persephone in connection with the institution of marriage (rather than with Demeter and agriculture). Pausanias: There are references to Persephones mythology and cult in the Description of Greece, a second-century CE travelogue and, like Strabos Geography, an important source for local myths and customs. Samuel Noah Kramer, the renowned scholar of ancient Sumer, has posited that the Greek story of the abduction of Persephone may be derived from an ancient Sumerian story in which Ereshkigal, the ancient Sumerian goddess of the underworld, is abducted by Kur, the primeval dragon of Sumerian mythology, and forced to become ruler of the underworld against her own will. On an Attic red-figured bell krater of c. 440 BC in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Persephone is rising as if up stairs from a cleft in the earth, while Hermes stands aside; Hecate, holding two torches, looks back as she leads her to the enthroned Demeter. [135] Scholar Timothy Gantz noted that Hades was often considered an alternate, cthonic form of Zeus, and suggested that it is likely Zagreus was originally the son of Hades and Persephone, who was later merged with the Orphic Dionysus, the son of Zeus and Persephone, owing to the identification of the two fathers as the same being. One of the most popular versions of the story claimed that Zeus was her father, although others did not name him. But in some Roman sources, she divided the year equally between her two homes (Ovid, Fasti 4.614, Metamorphoses 5.564ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 146). [9][b] Persephon (Greek: ) is her name in the Ionic Greek of epic literature. Homeric Hymn 2.3, 2.77ff; cf. The Homeric Hymn then tells of how Demeter, realizing her daughter was missing, began a desperate search. Hyginus: The Fabulae, a Latin mythological handbook (first or second century CE), includes sections on the myths of Persephone/Proserpina. According to Burkert, the figure looks like a vegetable because she has snake lines on other side of her. In some versions, Ascalaphus informed the other deities that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds. Persephone and Demeter were intimately connected with the Thesmophoria, a widely-spread Greek festival of secret women-only rituals. License. Orphica frag. 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). 39,1, George Mylonas (1966) Mycenae and the Mycenean age" p. 159: Princeton University Press, Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, "Persephone", sfn error: no target: CITEREFEdmonds2004 (, sfn error: no target: CITEREFEdmonds2013 (. [63] In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, the gods of Olympus were bewitched by Persephone's beauty and desired her. 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. This was the beginning of the celebrated sanctuary of Eleusis. But when Persephone got a glimpse of the beautiful Adonisfinding him as attractive as Aphrodite didshe refused to give him back to her. The most notable of these was the Temple of Demeter in Eleusis, a huge, ancient temple likely built during the seventh century BCE. 118119; West (1983) pp. In Greek mythology, Persephone ("Proserpina," in Latin) is the daughter of Zeus, the god of gods, and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. This would indicate that Persephones name means something like female corn thresher.[2]. [80][81], Once, Hermes chased Persephone (or Hecate) with the aim to rape her; but the goddess snored or roared in anger, frightening him off so that he desisted, hence her earning the name "Brimo" ("angry"). Mythology Abduction by Hades. Once the temple was completed, Demeter withdrew from the world and lived inside it; at the same time, she created a great drought to convince the other gods to release Persephone from Hades. 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). Hades complies with the request, but first he tricks Persephone, giving her some pomegranate seeds to eat. The Garden of Proserpine - Wikipedia Persephone - Birth, Family, Meaning, Symbols & Powers Rose, H. J. In Cyzicus, where Persephone was worshipped under the title Soteira, her festival was called either the Soteria,[47] the Pherephattia,[48] or the Koreia. [98] The priests used special vessels and holy symbols, and the people participated with rhymes. This prophecy does not come true, however, as while weaving a dress, Persephone is abducted by Hades to be his bride. Therefore, not only does Persephone and Demeter's annual reunion symbolize the changing seasons and the beginning of a new cycle of growth for the crops, it also symbolizes death and the regeneration of life.[52][53]. [100] The megaron of Eleusis is quite similar to the "megaron" of Despoina at Lycosura. On either side of the vegetable person there is a dancing girl. So I read A webtoon known as lore Olympus (I would suggest you would not read) and decided to research alittle on Hades and Persephone on the hymn to Demeter and Ovid's Metamorphoseus and in The hymn Persephone clearly doesn't love Hades but then There is the myth of Minthe by Strabo and Ovid again where Minthe is turned into a plant by Persephone because she was a concubine of Hades Proserpine is the Latin spelling of Persephone, a goddess married to Hades, god of the underworld. Her Roman counterpart is Proserpina. In the cave of Amnisos at Crete, Eileithyia is related with the annual birth of the divine child and she is connected with Enesidaon (The earth shaker), who is the chthonic aspect of the god Poseidon. Upon discovering that Hades had Persephoneand that Zeus himself had helped him kidnap herDemeter was justifiably furious: But grief yet more terrible and savage came into the heart of Demeter, and thereafter she was so angered with the dark-clouded Son of Cronos that she avoided the gathering of the gods and high Olympus, and went to the towns and rich fields of men, disfiguring her form a long while.[18]. Persephone could have been released from Hades if she had not eaten anything in the Underworld during her captivity, but at the last moment, Hades gave her a pomegranate seed. [c], In mythology and literature she is often called dread(ed) Persephone, and queen of the underworld, within which tradition it was forbidden to speak her name. There were local cults of Demeter and Kore in Greece, Asia Minor, Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Libya. She became the queen of the underworld after her . He pursued the unwilling Rhea, only for her to change into a serpent. Despoina and "Hagne" were probably euphemistic surnames of Persephone, therefore Karl Kerenyi theorizes that the cult of Persephone was the continuation of the worship of a Minoan Great goddess. Nestis means "the Fasting One" in ancient Greek.[31]. Gntner, Gudrum. Though this is the standard tradition, there were other versions in which it was the nymph Arethusa (Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.487ff) or the people of Hermione (Apollodorus, Library 1.5.1) who gave Demeter the information she was looking for. He then tricked Persephone into eating a handful of pomegranate seeds. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Afterwards, Demeter gave birth to the talking horse Arion and the goddess Despoina ("the mistress"), a goddess of the Arcadian mysteries. 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. As a goddess of the underworld, Persephone was given euphemistically friendly names. When Persephone's time is over and she would be reunited with her mother, Demeter's joyousness would cause the vegetation of the earth to bloom and blossom which signifies the Spring and Summer seasons. [96] A similar representation, where the goddess appears to come down from the sky, is depicted on the Minoan ring of Isopata. Bremmer, J.N. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the story is told of how Persephone was gathering flowers in the Vale of Nysa when she was seized by Hades and removed to the underworld. 'the maiden'), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. 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. Demeter was extremely devoted to her daughter and the two were constant companions. As a result of his affair with Demeter, Persephone was born. [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. Persephone In Greek Mythology. Plato, Symposium 179b; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.15. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter mentions the "plain of Nysa". This is exactly what the archetype of the beauty and the beast is based upon. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. The Rites of Eleusis, or the Eleusinian Mysteries, were the secret Greek Mythology: Gods and Heroes - Iliad - Odyssey, Persephone's Pathway: Wisdom, Magick & Growth, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Ovid: The myth of Persephone/Proserpina and her abduction is told differently in two of Ovids poems, the Metamorphoses and the Fasti (both ca. [82], The hero Orpheus once descended into the underworld seeking to take back to the land of the living his late wife Eurydice, who died when a snake bit her. Demeter, worried that Persephone might end up marrying Hephaestus, consults the astrological god Astraeus. She also had a handful of epithets. Were building the worlds most authoritative, online mythology resource, with engaging, accessible content that is both educational and compelling to read. This also explains why Persephone is associated with Spring: her re-emergence from the underworld signifies the onset of Spring. Hades found himself madly in love with her. Persephone is a Mount Olympus character in Greek Mythology. Robert Beekes and others have connected it to two Indo-European roots: *perso- (sheaf of corn) and *-gn-t-ih (hit, strike). [29] At other sites, including Teithras in Attica,[30] Acrae in Sicily,[31] and the island of Thasos,[32] Persephone had a separate sanctuary called a Koreion. She made her dbut in around seven hundred BCE on Homer's: The Iliad and ends around the ninth century. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. This came about because the three brothers divided up the world between them: Zeus took the heavens, Poseidon the sea, and Hades, the underworld. A tondo from a red-figure kylix depicting Persephone and Hades. - persephone greek goddess stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images . The second constituent, phatta, preserved in the form Persephatta (), would in this view reflect Proto-Indo European *-gn-t-ih, from the root *gen- "to strike/beat/kill". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907. [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. [27] Groves sacred to her stood at the western extremity of the earth on the frontiers of the lower world, which itself was called "house of Persephone".[28]. She became the queen of the underworld after her abduction by and marriage to her uncle Hades, the king of the underworld.[6]. Persephone/Kore. In The Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. Ovid, Fasti 4.583ff. Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 5.4.2. [87] On a neck amphora from Athens Dionysus is depicted riding on a chariot with his mother, next to a myrtle-holding Persephone who stands with her own mother Demeter; many vases from Athens depict Dionysus in the company of Persephone and Demeter. These include Persephassa () and Persephatta (). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The goddess rising symbolizes the springtime sprouting of shoots of grain from the earth. Frescoes in the 4th-century BCE royal tomb at Aegae (Vergina) in Pieria, Macedon show Hades abducting the goddess and explain the popular 'Tomb of Persephone' label. [95], In Greek mythology Nysa is a mythical mountain with an unknown location. [54] In this telling, Persephone as grain-maiden symbolizes the grain within the pithoi that is trapped underground within the realm of Hades. Fossum, "The Myth of the Eternal Rebirth," p. 309. a goddess being abducted and taken to the underworld, "Nestis Meaning in Bible - New Testament Greek Lexicon (KJV)", "The Rape of Persephone: A Greek Scenario of Women's Initiation", "Hades' Newest Bride: A Remarkable Epitaph", "Life, Death, and a Lokrian Goddess. Ammonius Grammaticus, On the Differences of Synonymous Expressions 279. Proserpine, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1821-1882, Tate Modern Art Gallery, London. [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. He went to go see his brother, Zeus, who (no surprise to those who know Greek mythology) happened to be Persephone's father, and asked for her hand in marriage. The name pais (the divine child) appears in the Mycenean inscriptions. Divinities in the Orphic Gold Leaves: Eukls, Eubouleus, Brimo, Kybele, Kore and Persephone. Her name has numerous historical variants. 668670. Books 152154; Linforth, Pausanias 1.14,1: Nilsson (1967), Vol I, pp. [71] Of them Aelian wrote that Adonis' life was divided between two goddesses, one who loved him beneath the earth, and one above,[72] while the satirical author Lucian of Samosata has Aphrodite complain to the moon goddess Selene that Eros made Persephone fall in love with her own beloved, and now she has to share Adonis with her. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural communities. Sure enough, Helios was able to tell Demeter how Hades had abducted her daughter.[17]. A Handbook of Greek Mythology. National Archaeological Museum, Reggio di Calabria, Italy. Zeus also turned himself into a serpent and raped Rhea, which resulted in the birth of Persephone. Persephone had temples throughout the Greek world, many of them shared with Demeter.