Editing Persephone (section)

===Abduction myth===<!--Part of this section is linked from The High Priestess -->
[[File:Sarcophagus with the Abduction of Persephone by Hades (detail).JPG| thumb|left|360px|[[Sarcophagus]] with the abduction of Persephone. Walters Art Museum. [[Baltimore]], Maryland]]

Persephone's abduction by Hades{{efn|In art the abduction of Persephone is often referred to as the "[[Rape of Persephone]]".}} is mentioned briefly in [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'',<ref name="HesTh914">Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.%20Th.%20914&lang=original&highlight=Persephone 914] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307215310/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.%20Th.%20914&lang=original&highlight=Persephone |date=7 March 2021 }}.</ref> and is told in considerable detail in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]''. Zeus, it is said, permitted Hades, who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to abduct her as her mother Demeter was not likely to allow her daughter to go down to Hades. Persephone was gathering flowers, along with the [[Oceanid]]s, and the goddesses [[Pallas Athena]] and [[Artemis]], as the ''Homeric Hymn'' says, in a field when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth.<ref>{{harvnb|Evelyn-White|1914|loc= [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+2+4 4–20], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+2+414 414–434]}}.</ref> In another version of the myth, Persephone had her own personal companions whom Demeter [[Shapeshifting|turned]] into the half bird [[Siren (mythology)|sirens]] as punishment for failing to prevent her daughter's abduction.<ref>{{Cite web|title = ''Siren''|url = https://www.worldhistory.org/Siren/|author=Cartwright, Mark|date=16 April 2015|publisher =World History Encyclopedia|access-date = 27 December 2023}}</ref>[[File:Rape of Prosepina September 2015-3a.jpg|thumb|right|260px|''[[The Rape of Proserpina]]'' by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] (1621–22) at the [[Galleria Borghese]] in Rome.]]

When Persephone was abducted by Hades, the shepherd Eumolpus and the swineherd [[Eubuleus]] saw a girl in a black chariot driven by an invisible driver being carried off into the earth which had violently opened up. Eubuleus was feeding his pigs at the opening to the underworld, and his swine were swallowed by the earth along with her. This aspect of the myth is an [[etiology]] for the relation of pigs with the ancient rites in [[Thesmophoria]],<ref name="ReferenceA">Reference to the Thesmophoria in [[Lucian]]'s ''Dialogues of the Courtesans'' 2.1.</ref> and in Eleusis.

Various local traditions place Persephone's abduction in different locations. The [[Sicily#Antiquity|Sicilians]], among whom her worship was probably introduced by the Corinthian and Megarian colonists, believed that Hades found her in the meadows near [[Enna]], and that a well arose on the spot where he descended with her into the lower world. The [[Crete#Archaic and Classical period|Cretans]] thought that their own island had been the scene of the abduction, and the [[Eleusis#Eleusinian Mysteries|Eleusinians]] mentioned the Nysian plain in Boeotia, and said that Persephone had descended with Hades into the lower world at the entrance of the western Oceanus. Later accounts place the abduction in [[Attica]], near [[Athens]], or near Eleusis.<ref name="Theoi Project - Persephone" /> The [[Homeric]] hymn mentions the ''Nysion'' (or Mysion) which was probably a mythical place. The location of this mythical place may simply be a convention to show that a magically distant chthonic land of myth was intended in the remote past.<ref name="Nilsson463" />

After Persephone had disappeared, Demeter searched for her all over the earth with [[Hecate]]'s torches. In most versions, she forbids the earth to produce, or she neglects the earth and, in the depth of her despair, she causes nothing to grow. [[Helios]], the Sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened and at length she discovered where her daughter had been taken. Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone.<ref name="Theoi Project - Persephone">{{cite web |url=http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html |title=Theoi Project – Persephone |publisher=Theoi.com |access-date=6 July 2012 |archive-date=27 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027020623/https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Amphora Hades Louvre G209 n2.jpg|thumb|left|320px|Hades (right) and Persephone (left). Detail from an Attic red-figure amphora, ca. 470 BC. From Italy. [[Louvre]]]]

When Hades was informed of Zeus' command to return Persephone, he complied with the request, but he first tricked her into eating [[pomegranate]] seeds.{{efn|The ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]'', has Persephone tell Demeter: "he secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed ({{math|ῥοιῆς κόκκον}}), and forced me to taste against my will."<ref>{{harvnb|Evelyn-White|1914|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2%3Acard%3D398 411–412]}}</ref> Gantz describes this as a "trick".<ref>{{harvnb|Gantz|1996|p=  65}}</ref>}} [[Hermes]] was sent to retrieve Persephone but, because she had tasted the food of the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year (the winter months) there, and the remaining part of the year with the gods above.<ref>{{harvnb|Gantz|1996|p=65}}</ref> With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year.<ref>{{harvnb|Gantz|1996|p= 67}}</ref> It was explained to Demeter, her mother, that she would be released, so long as she did not taste the food of the underworld, as that was an Ancient Greek example of a [[Taboo#In religion and mythology|taboo]]. In some versions, [[Ascalaphus (son of Acheron)|Ascalaphus]] informed the other deities that Persephone had eaten the pomegranate seeds. As punishment for informing Hades, he was pinned under a heavy rock in the underworld by either Persephone or Demeter until [[Heracles]] freed him, causing Demeter to turn him into an [[Horned owl|eagle owl]].<ref>{{harvnb|Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca''|loc= [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D3 1.5.3]}}; {{harvnb|Ovid, ''Metamorphoses''|loc= 5.533-371}}</ref>
[[File:Demeter_rejoiced,_for_her_daughter_was_by_her_side.jpg|thumb|''Demeter rejoiced, for her beloved daughter was by her side''.]]
In an earlier version, Hecate rescued Persephone. On an Attic [[Red-figure pottery|red-figured]] [[Krater|bell krater]] of {{Nowrap|c. 440 BC}} in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], Persephone is rising as if up stairs from a cleft in the earth, while Hermes stands aside; Hecate, holding two torches, looks back as she leads her to the enthroned Demeter.<ref>{{harvnb|Richter|1931 |pages=245–248}}: "The figures are unmistakable, as they are inscribed "Persophata, Hermes, Hekate, Demeter" "</ref>

In the hymn, Persephone eventually returns from the underworld and is reunited with her mother near Eleusis. The Eleusinians built a temple near the spring of Callichorus, and Demeter establishes her mysteries there.<ref>{{harvnb|Evelyn-White|1914|loc= [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D2%3Acard%3D449 478&ndash;79]}}: "Awful mysteries which no one may in any way transgress, or pry into, or utter, for deep awe of the gods checks the voice. Happy is he among men upon earth who has seen these mysteries; but he who is uninitiate and who has no part in them, never has lot of like good things once he is dead, down in the darkness and gloom".</ref>

Regardless of how she had eaten pomegranate seeds and how many, the ancient Greeks told the myth of Persephone [[origin myth|to explain the origin]] of the [[Season|four seasons]]. The ancient Greeks believed that [[Spring (season)|spring]] and [[summer]] occurred during the months Persephone stayed with Demeter, who would make flowers bloom and crops grow bountiful. During the other months when Persephone must live in the underworld with Hades, Demeter expressed her sadness by letting the earth go barren and covering it with snow, resulting in [[autumn]] and [[winter]].<ref>{{Cite web|title = ''Persephone and the Seasons''|url = https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/persephone-and-the-seasons|author=Craig, Sarah|date=September 1, 2017|publisher =Hellenic Museum|access-date = December 28, 2023}}</ref>

==== Variations ====
[[File:Head of Persephone. Earthenware. From Sicily, Centuripae, c. 420 BCE. The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, UK.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Head of Persephone. Earthenware. From Sicily, Centuripae, {{circa|420&nbsp;BC.}} The [[Burrell Collection]], Glasgow, UK]]

According to the Greek tradition a hunt-goddess preceded the harvest goddess.<ref>{{harvnb|Pausanias|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D30%3Asection%3D2 2.30.2]}}</ref> In [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], Demeter and Persephone were often called ''Despoinai'' ({{lang|grc|Δέσποιναι}}, "the mistresses"). They are the two Great Goddesses of the Arcadian cults, and evidently they come from a more primitive religion.<ref name="Nilsson463" /> The Greek god [[Poseidon]] probably substituted for the companion (''Paredros'', {{lang|grc|Πάρεδρος}}) of the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[Mother goddess|Great goddess]]<ref>{{harvnb|Nilsson |1967|p= 444}}</ref> in the Arcadian mysteries. In the Arcadian mythos, while Demeter was looking for the kidnapped Persephone, she caught the eye of her younger brother Poseidon. Demeter turned into a mare to escape him, but then Poseidon turned into a stallion to pursue her. He caught her and raped her. Afterwards, Demeter gave birth to the talking horse [[Arion (mythology)|Arion]] and the goddess [[Despoina]] ("the mistress"), a goddess of the Arcadian mysteries.<ref>{{harvnb|Pausanias|loc=[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+8.25.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.25.5] –[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D25%3Asection%3D7 8.25.7]}}</ref>

In the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] "Rhapsodic Theogony" (first century BC/AD),<ref>{{harvnb|Meisner  |2018|pp=1, 5}}</ref> Persephone is described as the daughter of [[Zeus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]. Zeus was filled with desire for his mother, Rhea, intending to marry her. He pursued the unwilling Rhea, only for her to change into a serpent.[[File:Dionysos and Cora-Hermitage.jpg|thumb|220px|Persephone and Dionysos. Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th–3rd century B.C. marble, [[Hermitage Museum|Hermitage]]]]

Zeus also turned himself into a serpent and raped Rhea, which resulted in the birth of Persephone.<ref name=":meis">{{harvnb|Meisner  |2018|p=134}}</ref> Afterwards, Rhea became [[Demeter]].<ref>[[Proclus]], ''Commentary on Plato's Cratylus'' 403 e (90, 28 Pasqu.) {{harvnb|Kern |1922| page=145}}; {{harvnb|West|1983|p=217}}; {{harvnb|Kerenyi|1976|p=112}}. Demeter was usually said to be the daughter of [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]].</ref> Persephone was born so deformed that Rhea ran away from her frightened, and did not breastfeed Persephone.<ref name=":meis"/> Zeus then mates with Persephone, who gives birth to [[Dionysus]]. She later stays in her mother's house, guarded by the [[Korybantes|Curetes]]. Rhea-Demeter prophecies that Persephone will marry [[Apollo]].

This prophecy does not come true, however, as while weaving a dress, Persephone is abducted by [[Hades]] to be his bride. She becomes the mother of the [[Erinyes]] by Hades.<ref>{{harvnb|West|1983|pp=73–74}}</ref> In [[Nonnus]]'s ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', the gods of Olympus were bewitched by Persephone's beauty and desired her. 

[[Hermes]], [[Apollo]], [[Ares]], and [[Hephaestus]] each presented Persephone with a gift to woo her. Demeter, worried that Persephone might end up marrying Hephaestus, consults the [[Astrology|astrological]] god [[Astraeus]]. Astraeus warns her that Persephone will be ravished and impregnated by a serpent. Demeter then hides Persephone in a cave; but Zeus, in the form of a serpent, enters the cave and rapes Persephone. Persephone becomes pregnant and gives birth to [[Zagreus]].<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/208/mode/2up?view=theater 5.563]&ndash;[https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/225/mode/2up?view=theater 6.165]</ref>

It was said that while Persephone was playing with the nymph Hercyna, Hercyna held a goose against her that she let loose. The goose flew to a hollow cave and hid under a stone; when Persephone took up the stone in order to retrieve the bird, water flowed from that spot, and hence the river received the name Hercyna.<ref>{{harvnb|Pausanias|loc= [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D39%3Asection%3D2 9.39.2]}}</ref> This was when she was abducted by Hades according to Boeotian legend; a vase shows water birds accompany the goddesses Demeter and Hecate who are in search of the missing Persephone.<ref>{{cite book |title = The Mysteries | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=qMP1-m1cTMMC&pg=PA54 54] |last1 = Campbell | first1 = Joseph | publisher= [[Princeton University Press]]| date= 1955| isbn =0-691-01823-5}}</ref>

==== 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>