Persephone 珀耳塞福涅.doc

PersephoneAbstractIn Greek Mythology, Persephone also called Kore, is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld. She was also the goddess of spring growth, who was worshipped alongside her mother Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries. This agricultural-based cult promised its initiates passage to a blessed afterlife.Key words: Persephone goddess underworld Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She was the only child of the union of Demeter (goddess of the bountiful harvest) and Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympians. She was born when Demeter was Zeus consort, long before his marriage to the goddess Hera. By all accounts Persephone had an idyllic childhood, raised by her nurturing mother and played with her fathers other daughters, the Greek goddesses Athena and Aphrodite. Always a cheerful and compliant child, the little goddess Persephone was a parents dream. Like her mother, Persephone is a nature goddess, but her province is not the surface of the earth but the interior. Hence she is a goddess of the unconscious, of intuition and mystery. Her symbol is the bat and the pomegranate. Unlike every other offspring of an Olympian pairing of deities, Persephone has no stable position at Olympus. Persephone used to live far away from the other deities. In the Olympian telling, the gods Hermes, Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus, had all wooed Persephone; but Demeter rejected all their gifts and hid her daughter away from the company of the Olympian deities. Thus, Persephone lived a peaceful life before she became the goddess of the underworld, which, according to Olympian mythologists, did not occur until Hades abducted her and brought her into it. She was innocently picking flowers with some nymphs, the Homeric hymn says, in a field in Enna when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth. Later, the nymphs were changed by Demeter into the Sirens for not having interfered. According to Greek mythology Persephones life was soon to change. As signs of womanly beauty began to shine along side her childlike innocence, the adolescent goddess Persephone unwittingly attracted the attention of the Greek god Hades, brother of Zeus and ruler of the underworld. One can hardly blame Hades because the underworld, in Greek mythology, was the realm of the sleeping and the dead. It probably needed some “brightening up”, and the young goddess Persephones radiance would assuredly liven up the place. The beautiful daughter of Demeter and Zeus, Persephone is the focus of the story resulting in the division of the seasons, giving us the sweetness of Spring and the bitterness of Winter. Hades did not woo the beautiful Persephone; he abducted her and took her to his underground kingdom. After much protest, Persephone came to love the cold blooded king of the underworld but her mother, Demeter, was consumed with rage and sorrow. She demonstrated her anger by punishing the earths inhabitants with bitter cold and blustering winds. Droughts ensued, and the earth lay barren. Mankind was facing a major famine. In some other versions Demeter was so busy looking for Persephone that she neglected the earth, or her duties as the Earth which she represented, and in the depth of her despair caused nothing to grow. Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone. Hermes was sent to the house of Hades by Zeus to reason with Hades. He entered the kingdom of Hades and negotiated a compromise between the (usually cold and selfish) Hades and the (usually loving and caring) Demeter. Before Persephone was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds. It was a rule of the Fates that whoever consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. When Demeter found out about the trickery she was angry but she was also resigned that there was nothing she could do. her loving daughter was bound to the Lord of the Dead. With no alternative, it was agreed that Persephone would to spend part of the year with her husband, Hades, and part of the year in the sunlight with her mother, Demeter. When Persephone is with Hades, the earth is wracked by the sorrow of her mother. But, when Persephone returns from the underworld to walk the earth again, Demeter pours forth the blessings of Spring to welcome her beloved daughter home. Thus she is also the Goddess of Spring. This is an origin story to explain the seasons. Persephones reunion with her mother is bittersweet. She has consumed the fruit of the dead, either on her own accord or as a trick of Hades. In any case, she has been transformed and will be forced to stay at least part of each year in his domain. Most stories say she stays there for three months every winter, at which time Demeter mourns and lets the earth go bare. Other stories tell of a six month absence in the Underworld. Either way, life for the young goddess will never be the same. Persephone is now a wife and Queen, who has been initiated into the mysteries of the Underworld. However, as stories are told again and again over the course of time, they pass through many minds and memories, and can change their shapes like a living thing. The details may blur, the focus may shift, and even a name can have more than one meaning. In some older versions of Persephones story, she was a young woman, not a young girl, and instead of accidentally wandering away, she had gone deliberately adventuring, when she fell, or was lured, or was kidnapped into Hell. Here Persephones adventurous spirit leads her into difficulty, instead of her being a passive victim of the wickedness of others. Her relationship with her mother gives her the courage to explore her world, and when events take a bad turn, their relationship gives her the strength to survive. In a still older version, Persephone heard the despairing cries of the dead and chose freely to go into the Underworld to comfort them. Hades does not appear at all, in this version. Here Persephones descent to hell illustrates inclusiveness for every being, whether in the Underworld or in our present one, and shows that mercy is integral to her nature. According to Appolodorus Library, Persephone does not even live in Hades, but in Tartarus. To the Greeks, this is “a dark and horrible region far below the earth”. She no longer dwells in the home of the ancestors and mighty warriors from the past, but in the gloomiest part of Hades, where evildoers are condemned to stay forever. The stories of Appolodorus also portray Persephone as less than proud in her actions. It is the first time we hear of Persephones squabbles with Aphrodite. Their friendship is torn apart over a beautiful baby named Adonis. Aphrodite is so enchanted by his unearthly beauty that she steals him for herself and hides him in a chest that she leaves in Persephones care. Curious, Persephone peeks into the box and also is amazed at his beauty and refuses to give him back. The conflict then goes before Zeus, who decides that Adonis should spend a third of the year with Persephone, a third with Aphrodite, and a third on his own. He becomes a hunter and is killed by a boar. In answer to Aphrodites pleas, Zeus allows him to spend half the year with her and half in the underworld. Mythically, Adonis represents the cycle of death and resurrection in winter and spring. He is identified with the Babylonian god Tammuz.From the story of Persephone, we can learn many things. Such as:Reflect the marriage practice A marriage was a contract between the husband and the brides father. Zeus gives Hades permission to take Persephone. Marriage of an only daughter with no brothers to her