PERSEPHONE

EARLY STORY

• Daughter of Demeter and Zeus
• Lived in Nature away from other gods with mother Demeter
• Picked flowers with Artemis and Athena
• Socialized with Nymph friends
• Not much told about her years as a child

GODDESS OF...

• Queen of the underworld
• Goddess of Spring Growth
• Goddess of Grain Seed
• Sacred Flower is the Asphodel

PERSEPHONE'S STORY

• One day Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow
• All of a sudden Hades broke through the Earth
• He grabbed her and brought her back to the underworld to be his wife
• Unknown to Persephone and Demeter Zeus allowed this abduction
• Demeter was heartbroken from her daughters disappearance

PERSEPHONE'S STORY CONT.

• Demeter refused to let anything grow until Persephone was home
• Zeus heard the cries of the hungry people
• Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone
• But Hades tricked Persephone into eating Pomegranate seeds
• Because of this she had to spend half the year with Hades

PERSEPHONE'S STORY CONT.

• She spent the other half of the year with Demeter
• This is why we have seasons
• When Persephone's gone it's fall/winter because Demeter misses her
• When she's here it's spring/summer because Demeter is happy

QUOTE

• "Demeter's trim-ankled daughter whom Hades rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus the loud-thunderer."
• -Harmonic Hymn 2 to Demeter