Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Aphrodite, I promised that I would discuss Hades in this post. However, school has just gotten out, summer is fully in the air, and I have realized that I have given short shrift to the season of spring; after all, it is not yet the season summer. I also rationalized that since Persephone is intimately acquainted with Hades I would discuss Persephone first before moving on to the Lord of the Underworld.
Maybe.
Persephone, or Roman Proserpina, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. One day the young woman Persephone was out picking poppies with her handmaidens, enjoying a beautiful spring day, when all of a sudden a swift chariot drawn by black dragons with flaming eyes and leathern wings erupted from the earth. A terrifying god wearing an iron crown swooped upon her, caught her up before she could flee. She was swiftly taken down to the realm of Hades, uttering terrifying cries as her handmaidens looked on with horror.
Demeter, having soon noticed that her daughter did not return from her daily gambol in the poppy-strewn meadows, frantically searched for her, but could not locate her. To this period in history, Demeter, enjoying always the company of her beloved daughter, always attended to the Earth; recall that Demeter is the Goddess of the Earth, or she who gave it the power to grow and multiply. Demeter, for the first time in the history of humankind upon the Earth, did not attend to her duties. Crops began to fail; people began to go hungry. Humans experienced cold weather for the first time. Since preservation of food was never considered a necessity for humans since it was always summer, everyone was in big trouble. Like a blizzard coming to Hawaii.
Demeter went straight to Zeus, and demanded his aid; but he wasn't particularly helpful. Demeter decided to engage the help of Hecate, the original ruler of the Underworld, a being with the bodies of a mare, lion, and dog, who was between 90 and 105 feet tall. The formidable and horrifying Hecate forced Helios, or the god who drove the chariot of the sun, to tell her what happened to Persephone (a great god to ask since he saw absolutely everything that went on in his daily trips across the sky; he did have the best seat, as it were, in the Big House). Helios told Hecate, who in turn informed Demeter, that it was the diabolical Hades who had kidnapped Persephone.
Straightway Demeter and Zeus sped down to the Underworld to see what their brother Hades had done. Persephone's parents found her weeping in dejection on a great throne set in black marble, right next to the glowering Hades himself; imagine going from sunshine and poppies to gloom and asphodel (the ghostly phosphorescent flowers that grew in the Underworld). Zeus demanded that Hades return Persephone at once; Hades, however, had already gotten a taste of what it was not to be so lonely in the dark, so he was not about to let her go. He also mentioned that Persephone had eaten of some fruit of the Underworld, and so she could not leave. Zeus countered that Persephone had eaten but six seeds of a pomegranate, and so would only have to stay in the Underworld for six months of the year. Hades acquiesced, and all was well. At least for six months of the year!
And so the cycle of the seasons was explained. Persephone would remain in the Underworld for fall and winter; during this time the Earth would die, as Demeter mourned for the disappearance and loss of her daughter. However, as soon as the six months had elapsed, Persephone would once again return, exert her dominance as goddess of Spring, her mother would rejoice, and once again the Earth would flourish for the spring and summer months.
Yes, and now, indubitably, my next post will discuss the god Hades. With a stint on the Underworld and all its ghastliness to follow.
Maybe!
**Interesting Fact** The Eleusinian Mysteries were major festivals in ancient Greece that honored both Demeter and Persephone, and which lasted for over two millennia. Most of the rituals and ceremonies were kept secret, although there was a lot of it that had to do with pigs.
**Mythology Book Corner** One of my all-time favorite youngish children's books on mythology is the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. This book, meant for 3rd-6th grade (at the most), is richly illustrated and tells many of the key tales of Greek mythology, and also has a very nice drawing of Olympian/Titanic genealogy on the frontispiece to the book. Note that the hardcover edition is not much more expensive than the paperback! There is also a version for the Norse myths (Thor, Odin, Loki, etc.). Highly entertaining.
Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.
