Persephone is one of the most fascinating goddesses from Greek mythology because she straddles the world of the living and the dead.
The daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter, she was also a bringer of life. However, she was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld as his bride and the queen of the underworld. To appease her distraught mother, it was agreed that Persephone would spend half her time in the world of the living, bringing life, and half of her time in the realm of the dead, comforting the deceased. Her movement between worlds explained the changing of the seasons.
As a goddess with power over both life and death, she was one of the principal deities worshipped as part of the enigmatic Eleusinian Mysteries and was also very important in the Orphic religious tradition.
Let’s take a closer look at this fascinating goddess.
The Maiden Goddess in Greek Myth
Persephone, known as Proserpina among the Romans, was also known in Greece as Kore, meaning simply maiden, suggesting that she represented the budding fertility of a young woman.
She was certainly the daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter, probably with Zeus, the leader of the Greek gods. In her youth, she wandered the world with her mother, bringing fertility and prosperity wherever she went. They were often referred to as a pair, the Despoinai or Mistresses.
Hades, the brother of Zeus and god of the underworld, reportedly saw and fell in love with Persephone. He was then given permission by Zeus to abduct her as his bride, since Zeus knew her mother would never consent. So, one day, when Persephone was gathering flowers with the Oceanids, Athena, and Artemis, Hades burst through a cleft in the earth and abducted her.
As expected, when Persephone disappeared, Demeter was distraught. She spent her time searching the world for her daughter using Hecate’s torches. Unexpectedly, in her despair, she neglected the fertility of the earth, and soon nothing would grow. The sun god Helios, seeing the situation and seeing all from his heavenly vantage point, told Demeter that Persephone was with Hades. In some versions of the myth, Hecate then retrieves Persephone on behalf of her mother.
Demeter continued to let the world die, and in response to the hunger of the people, Zeus told Hades that he must return Persephone to her mother. Hades agreed, but he also convinced Persephone to eat some pomegranate seeds while at his table in Hades. Unbeknownst to Persephone, eating the food of the dead meant that she was forever tied to the underworld. Hermes discovered this when he was sent to Hades to retrieve her.
In response to the new situation, a deal was struck. It was agreed that Persephone would spend either a third or half of the year in the underworld with Hades and the rest in the world above with her mother.
Goddess of Life and Death
This is how Persephone became a goddess of both life and death. When she is in the world of the living, she ensures the fertility of the land alongside her mother. The Roman author Cicero called her the “seed of the fruits of the field.” In Orphic religion, she is described as the all-pervading goddess of nature who both produces and destroys everything.
In the underworld, she acts as the consort of Hades. She seems to be the more empathetic side of death. When people venture into the underworld to retrieve or see their loved ones, it is usually Persephone who intercedes with her husband to ensure their safety. For example, it was Persephone who convinced Hades to let the hero Orpheus retrieve his wife Eurydice.
Sometimes there was crossover between her roles. For example, when a plague struck Aonia, two maidens sacrificed themselves to restore the fertility and prosperity of the land. Persephone and Hades took pity on them and made them comets.
Eleusinian Mysteries
Persephone was principally cultivated as part of the Eleusinian Mysteries alongside her mother, Demeter. She was also celebrated in other festivals, often linked with her emergence from the underworld and the sowing season.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated at the Panhellenic Sanctuary at Eleusis, where people would travel to be initiated into the cult and participate in the secret rites. There is evidence that it was an ancient cult that dated back at least to the Bronze Age Mycenaean period. Much information about the rituals is obscure because the need to keep the rites secret was impressed upon participants, who therefore left no written records.
Nevertheless, we know that the mysteries were conducted once a year in the early spring in the month of flowers, but that a greater ritual was held once every four years, mirroring the cycle of festivals like the Olympic games held for Zeus once every four years.
We also know that the rituals focused on a cycle of three phases: descent or loss, search, and ascent. The ascent or rebirth of Persephone represented the eternity of life, which flows from generation to generation. The cult also promoted a belief in reward in the afterlife.
Persephone in Orphism
Persephone was also one of the most important goddesses in the Orphic religion of ancient Greece. She is often mentioned in Gold Leaves, which were inscribed with verses and buried with the deceased to ensure the passed over to the next afterlife, much like the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This ideal afterlife was described as the “sacred meadows and groves of Persephone.”
In Orphism, Persephone is also the mother of the first version of Dionysus, impregnated by her father Zeus, who disguised himself as Hades and visited her in her underworld bedchamber. The infant Dionysus, also called Zagreus, was dismembered by the Titans, and from the ashes of his body, a second Dionysus was born, and he wandered the earth spreading his mystery cult before ascending to heaven.
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