Persephone facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Persephone |
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| Goddess of the underworld, springtime, flowers and vegetation | |
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| Abode | The Underworld, Sicily, Mount Olympus |
| Symbol | Pomegranate, Seeds of Grain, Torch, Flowers and Deer |
| Personal information | |
| Spouse | Hades |
| Children | Melinoe, Zagreus |
| Parents | Zeus and Demeter |
| Siblings | Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Arion, Artemis, Athena, Chrysothemis, Despoina, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Eubuleus, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Philomelus, Plutus, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the Moirai |
| Roman equivalent | Proserpina (Proserpine) |
Persephone was a Greek goddess of grain and spring. Also sometimes referred to as Kore. A daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She was kidnapped by Hades and he makes her eat a pomegranate, a fruit of the underworld. According to some myths, if one were to eat the fruit of the Underworld, they would be forced to stay there. This myth explains why the seasons change. Supposedly, Demeter was so sad over the disappearance of her daughter that she ignored her duties to the world, during this time all plants died. When Demeter went to the Underworld to rescue her Persephone, Hades forced Persephone to eat the pomegranate. After she ate this fruit it was supposed to keep her in the underworld with Hades so she would be forced to marry him. In some versions she only ate 6 seeds from the pomegranate, so Hades only made her stay 6 months of the year. It is during the 6 months that Persephone is with Hades that Demeter weeps, causing all plant life to die (symbolizing Fall and Winter), and during the six months that she is with Demeter life is sustained (Spring and Summer). She does not have a throne on Olympus but her mother let her sit on her lap when Persephone was a child. The only reason Hades kidnapped her is because he saw her running in a field, and he thought she was beautiful.
Images for kids
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Persephone or "the deceased woman" holding a pomegranate. Etruscan terracotta cinerary statue. National archaeological museum in Palermo, Italy
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The "Harvesters vase" from Agia Triada (1600–1500 BC). Heraklion Archaeological Museum
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The so-called "Ring of Minos" from Knossos. (1500–1400 BC). A male and two female figures, in the "cult of the tree". Heraklion Archaeological Museum
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Perspective reconstruction of the temple of Despoina at Lycosura: The acrolithic statues of Demeter (L) and Despoina (R) are visible at the scale in the cella
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Triptolemus, Demeter, and Persephone by the Triptolemos Painter, c. 470 BC
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Sarcophagus with the abduction of Persephone. Walters Art Museum. Baltimore, Maryland
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The return of Persephone, by Frederic Leighton (1891)
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Pinax of Persephone and Hades from Locri. Reggio Calabria, National Museum of Magna Graecia.
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From L-R, Artemis, Demeter, Veil of Despoina, Anytus, Tritoness from the throne of Despoina at Lycosura. National Archaeological Museum of Athens
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Seated goddess, probably Persephone on her throne in the underworld, Severe style ca 480–60, found at Tarentum, Magna Graecia (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)
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Kore, daughter of Demeter, celebrated with her mother by the Thesmophoriazusae (women of the festival). Acropolis Museum, Athens
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Fragment of a marble relief depicting a Kore, 3rd century BC, from Panticapaeum, Taurica (Crimea), Bosporan Kingdom
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Demeter drives her horse-drawn chariot containing her daughter Persephone at Selinunte, Sicily 6th century BC
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Procession of women with animal-masks, or of hybrid creatures. Detail from the marble veil of Despoina at Lycosura
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