Editing Persephone (section)

==== Interpretation of the myth ====
[[File:Fragment of a marble relief depicting a Kore, 3rd century BC, from Panticapaeum, Taurica (Crimea) (12853680765).jpg|thumb|right|280px|Fragment of a marble relief depicting a [[Kore (sculpture)|Kore]], 3rd century&nbsp;BC, from [[Panticapaeum]], [[Taurica]] ([[Crimea]]), [[Bosporan Kingdom]]]][[File:Throning goddess (Persephone) 480-460 BC (Sk 1761) 1.JPG|thumb|right|240px|Seated goddess, probably Persephone on her throne in the underworld, {{circa|480–460 BC,}}. ([[Pergamon Museum]], Berlin)]]The abduction of Persephone is an [[Etiology|etiological myth]] providing an explanation for the changing of the seasons. 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Burkert|1985|p=160}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gantz|1996|pp=  65, 67}}</ref> When Persephone would [[Katabasis#trip into the underworld|return to the underworld]], Demeter's despair at losing her daughter would cause the vegetation and flora of the world to wither, signifying the Autumn and Winter seasons. 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. This also explains why Persephone is associated with Spring: her re-emergence from the underworld signifies the onset of Spring. 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.<ref name="Nilssonpopular51">{{harvnb|Nilsson|1940|pp =51–54 }}</ref><ref name="Martin Nilsson 1967 pp. 473">{{harvnb|Nilsson |1967|pp=  473–474}}</ref>

In another interpretation of the myth, the abduction of Persephone by Hades, in the form of Ploutus ({{lang|el|πλούτος}}, 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).<ref>As in {{harvnb|Burkert|1985|p=160}}</ref> In this telling, Persephone as grain-maiden symbolizes the grain within the ''pithoi'' that is trapped underground within the realm of Hades. 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Nilsson|1940|loc=[https://sacred-texts.com/cla/gpr/gpr07.htm#page_48 p 48-50]}}</ref><ref name="Nilssonpopular51"/><ref name="Martin Nilsson 1967 pp. 473"/> This interpretation of Persephone's abduction myth symbolizes the cycle of life and death as Persephone both dies as she (the grain) is buried in the ''pithoi'' (as similar ''pithoi'' were used in ancient times for funerary practices) and is [[Dying-and-rising deity|reborn]] with the exhumation and spreading of the grain.

[[Bruce 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Lincoln |1979}} {{pages needed |date=December 2024}}</ref>