Editing Greco-Roman mysteries (section)

=== Myth ===
The basis for the Eleusinian Mysteries can be found in a myth concerning the kidnapping of [[Persephone]], daughter of [[Demeter]], the goddess of agriculture, by [[Hades]], the god of the underworld, as told in the [[Homeric Hymns]]. Anguished by this event and wishing to persuade [[Zeus]], the king of the gods, to allow the return of her daughter, Demeter caused famine and drought across the land, killing many and depriving the gods of proper sacrifice and worship. Eventually, Zeus permitted Persephone to rejoin her mother, prompting Demeter to end the pestilences which deprived the world of its prosperity. However, because the Fates decreed that whoever ate or drank in the underworld was doomed to spend eternity there, Persephone was still forced to remain in the realm for either four or six months of the year (depending on the telling),<ref name=":1">Keller 1988, pp. 38-40.</ref> as she was tricked by Hades into eating pomegranate seeds of a corresponding amount. Thus, Demeter, in her sadness, neglects to nourish the earth for the months that Persephone is gone, only doing so when she returns, until the process repeats again. These episodic periods became the winter and spring seasons, with the "death" and "rebirth" of Persephone being allegorical for the cycle of life and the experience of all beings.<ref name=":1" />