Editing Proserpina (section)

===Myths===
{{see also|Persephone#Abduction myth}}

[[File:Hans von Aachen - Raub von Proserpina.jpg|thumb|288px|''The Rape of Proserpina'' by [[Hans von Aachen]] (1587)]] 
[[Image:Cliveden-proserpina.jpg|thumb|Copy of ''The Rape of Proserpina'' by [[Vincenzo de' Rossi]], on view near [[Cliveden House]]]]
The best-known myth surrounding Proserpina is of her abduction by the god of the Underworld, her mother Ceres' frantic search for her, and her eventual but temporary restitution to the world above. In Latin literature, several versions are known, all similar in most respects to the myths of Greek Persephone's abduction by the King of the underworld, named variously in Latin sources as [[Dis Pater|Dis]] or [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], and in Greek sources as Hades or Pluto. "Hades" can mean both the hidden Underworld and its king ('the hidden one'), who in early Greek versions of the myth is a dark, unsympathetic figure; Persephone is "Kore" ('the maiden'), taken against her will;<ref>As in Hesiod's ''Theogony'' and the "[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]; see {{cite book |first=Diane |last=Rayor |title=The Homeric Hymns |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |pages=107–109}}</ref> in the Greek [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], her captor is known as Hades; they form a divine couple who rule the underworld together, and receive Eleusinian initiates into some form of better afterlife. Renamed Pluto, the king of the underworld is distanced from his violent abduction of his consort.<ref>As in the Greek [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)]] and, in Latin, {{cite book |author=[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] |title=Fabulae |at=146}}</ref> In 27 BC [[Vergil]] presented his own version of the myth in his ''[[Georgics]]''. In the early 1st century AD, [[Ovid]] gives two poetic versions: one in Book&nbsp;5 of his ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' and another in Book&nbsp;4 of his ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]''.<ref>For treatment of Ovid's two versions, and comparison with his probable Greek sources, ''see'' {{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Hinds |title=The Metamorphosis of Persephone: Ovid and the self-conscious Muse |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987}}</ref> An early 5th-century&nbsp;AD Latin version of the same myth is [[Claudian]]'s ''De raptu Proserpinae''; in most cases, these Latin works identify Proserpina's underworld abductor and later consort as [[Dis Pater|Dis]].
[[File:CIL XIII 8177.jpg|thumb|[[Votive pillar]] reading ''Diti Patri et Proserpin[ae] sacrum'', "Holy to [[Dīs Pater]] and Proserpina", identifying Dīs Pater as Proserpina's husband]]
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Proserpine - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] ''[[Proserpine (Rossetti painting)|Proserpine]]'' (1873–1877) by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] ([[Tate Gallery]], [[London]])]]
In Claudian's version, the unprepossessing Dis yearns for the joys of married love and fatherhood, and threatens to make war on the other gods if he remains alone in [[Erebus]]. The Fates ([[Parcae]]), who determine the destinies of all, arrange a future marriage for Dis, to prevent the outbreak of war. Jupiter orders [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] to bring love to Dis, in fulfillment of the prophecy. Ceres has already sought to conceal the innocent Proserpina by sending her to safety in [[Sicily]], Ceres' earthly home and sanctuary; but Dis comes out from the volcano at [[Mount Etna]] in his chariot, seizes Proserpina at the [[Pergusa Lake]] near [[Enna]], and takes her down into the underworld. The poem ends at this point.<ref>{{cite book <!-- LacusCurtius (?) --> |author=[[Claudian]] |title=The Rape of Proserpine |chapter=Book&nbsp;I |publisher=Penelope.uchicago.edu |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/1*.html |access-date=2011-09-06}}</ref>

Proserpina's mother, Ceres, seeks her daughter across the world, but in vain. The sun sinks and darkness falls as Ceres walks the earth, stopping the growth of crops and creating a [[desert]] with each step. Jupiter sends [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] to order Dis to free Proserpina; but Proserpina has melted Dis' hard heart, and eats "several" of the [[pomegranate]] seeds he offers her;<ref>"Several" in Spaeth, ''The Roman goddess Ceres'', pp. 130-131; Three in Ovid, ''Fasti'' 526, trans Frazer; seven in Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'', 535-539, trans Humphries</ref> those who have eaten the food of the dead cannot return to the world of the living. Pluto insists that she had willingly eaten his pomegranate seeds and in return she must stay with him for half the year. [[Virgil]] asserts that Proserpina agrees to this, and is reluctant to ascend from the underworld and re-unite with her mother. When Ceres greets her daughter's return to the world of the living, the crops grow, flowers blossom, and in summer all growing crops  flourish, to be harvested in Autumn. During the time that Proserpina resides with Pluto, the world goes through winter, when the earth gives no crops.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 1.38]</ref> The earth can only be fertile when she is above.<ref>Miles, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=BG3tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 68]</ref>