About Persephone

For the official version of the story of Persephone, you can read Homer 's, Iliad written around 800 BC. But you need to be mindful that Homer was an epic writer, and not a tragedist as other Greek writers were!

However, I believe Homer took himself and his mission very seriously, thereby missing the finer points of the feminine perspective. Therefore to redress this imbalance here is my abridged interpretation of the tale..

Persephone was the only child of Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture) and Zeus (King of the Gods). Now Zeus was used to being the centre of everyone's attention and was more than a little miffed to find Demeter absolutely preoccupied with her beautiful, young daughter. Persephone was your normal, indulged only child, overly protected by a strong, competent mother.

Enter the scene, Hades, God of the Underworld. Hades had been secretly carrying a torch for Persephone for some time. He was the silent, self-conscious type, who didn't think anyone as lovely and vibrant as Persephone could ever love him.

Now Persephone wasn't a spoilt brat, on the contrary, she was warm, loving and entirely gullible. And with such a protective mother, had never had to make a decision beyond what dress to wear, all of her young life.

Zeus also loved his young daughter, Persephone, but had very different ideas to Demeter on how she should be spending her time. Much of her time was spent playing in the fields around Mount Olympus, chasing butterflies, picking flowers and dancing in the sunlight with her friends, always under the watchful eyes of her mother. Demeter wanted her to enjoy her innocence as long as possible.

Zeus in a moment of annoyance decided to put an end to the frivolous nature of her existence and settle her into a good marriage! Knowing of Hades' crush, he convinced the normally quiet and inoffensive God into going along with his plan. First he created the perfect flower with which to tempt Persephone and then Hades abducted her, taking her off to the Underworld.

Persephone had initially been terrified when abducted, but being a sensible young woman soon realised Hades meant her no harm and grew to love the quiet Hades and agreed to marry him, becoming Queen of the Underworld. She threw herself, whole-heartedly into her new role, relishing both the responsibility and the power. She quickly took up the role of assisting those who were having difficulty with the transition to life in the underworld.

Demeter was absolutely grief stricken when she discovered her daughter's disappearance. She cast aside her responsibilities and roamed the world searching every corner for her beloved daughter. Without Demeter to regulate the weather, controlling the wind, rain and sunshine, the crops began to die, drought and floods caused havoc. Famine spread around the world and first animals and then mortals began to die. The gods became alarmed, they were dependent on the worship of mortals, if they died, who would pay them homage? So they petitioned Zeus to do something to placate Demeter before she destroyed the world.

Zeus finally relents and asked Hades to return Persephone to her mother. When Zeus proposed returning Persephone, neither she nor Hades were very pleased, but Zeus was insistent and the other gods were giving him such a hard time and the whole thing hadn't turned out at all as he'd intended. And after all Persephone did miss her mother, what a dilemma! So Hades reluctantly agreed, but proposed a condition of his own, agreeing to release Persephone if she hadn't eaten anything while in the Underworld.

Initially, Persephone was too grief stricken to eat; but then slipping into her new roles (wife, Queen and counsellor), being a nervous young thing was too busy to eat! However she had finally been persuaded to eat 6 pomegranate seeds!

Fortunately the six pomegranate seeds presented all parties with an acceptable compromise and solution. So for six months of the year, Persephone returns to be with her mother and friends, and to celebrate the return of her daughter Demeter puts on a celebration, and we have Spring and Summer. Towards the end of Summer, you can see that Demeter is ready to rest. For the other six months of the year, Persephone returns to the Underworld and Hades. Demeter sets the world in order and prepares for a long rest before the return of her daughter, during which we have Autumn and Winter.

All in all, everyone is satisfied!

While writing this, I was reminded of another fable, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare. I think, the story of Persephone was supposed to have been a comedy, and has been mistranslated into a tragedy. You may think I'm wrong, but on this we will have to disagree!