Goddessnames.net

Persephone (Kore)

(in Rome Proserpina) Greek Goddess of spring, youth and underworld.

Persephone as Kore and the birth of Dionysos

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, Goddess of vegetation, and Zeus, King of the Gods. First she was a Goddess of fertility of the earth and spring called Kore (girl). In the form of a snake Zeus seduced Persephone/Kore, and Dionysos, God of wine, was born. Zeus wanted him to rule the world, but Hera, Queen of the Gods and Zeus wife, was jealous and made the Titans kill him. When he was killed, Athena rescued his heart and Dionysos was later reborn from Semele.

Persephone and abduction to Hades

Once when Persephone was playing on a field away from her mother, Hades, Lord of the Underworld abducted her to be his wife and to rule the underworld with him. Only Hekate, Goddess of the moon and Helios, God of the sun, heared her cries for help. Demeter got angry because Hades took her daughter, and stopped everything on earth from growing. In time Zeus asked his brother Hades to return Persephone back from the underworld to her mother. When Hades heard that, he lured Persephone to eat a pomegranate seed, that were symbols of marriage, so that she would remain bound to the underworld and him forever. As a compromise, it was decided that Persephone would stay two-thirds of the year in upper world, and in that time Demeter would restore fertility to the ground. One third of the year she would stay in the underworld with Hades and rule with him. So Persephone is Goddess of fertility, youth and spring as well as death and the underworld.

Persephone in Hades

When Persephone was in Hades (the name of the underworld is also Hades), she was not just a passive figure, but did also join her husband in making decisions regarding the dead. In the Odyssey, Odysseys preys to her when he is approaching the underworld. She also granted Teiresias the privilege of retaining his wits in Hades, while other dead mortals wandered around as empty shades.

Persephone, Aphrodite and Adonis

Aphrodite and Persephone were both so impressed by the beauty of baby Adonis, God of fertility and vegetation, that they both wanted to keep him. Zeus, after consulting Calliope the Muse of epic poetry, did decide that Adonis was to spend one third of the year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone and one third by himself, tough Adonis decided to spend his own third also with Aphrodite. When Adonis growned up, he was killed by a wild boar.

 

Sacred Days

Phases of the moon dedicated to her:

Days 1-3 (new moon) dedicated to her as Persephone

Days 7-9 dedicated to her as Kore.

Festivals dedicated to her

Mabon (autumn equinox) about 23 September. Time of the greater Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece. Day is sacred to Demeter and Persephone.

25 November. Festival celebrating women´s mysteries dedicated to Persephone.

 

Sources:

Michael Jordan, Encyclopedia of gods 2002

Michael Senior, Who´s who in mythology 1985

Elizabeth Hallan, Mytologian Jumalat (Gods and Goddesses, 96) 1997

Nigel Pennick, the Pagan book of days 1992

Arthur Cotterell, Mytologia: Jumalia, Sankareita, Myyttejä 2005

Robin Hard, the Routledge handbook of Greek mythology 2004