Persephone: Difference between revisions

Another version of the myth said that when Persephone was first brought to the underworld, she was not happy with Hades abducting and marrying her, but eventually came to love him when he treated her as his equal.<ref>{{Cite video |last=Zarka |first=Emily |date=April 26, 2022 |title=Persephone: Bringer of Life or Destruction? |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/persephone-bringer-of-life-or-destruction-vy3iox/|access-date=December 27, 2023}}</ref> 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>N.J. Richardson, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng ''The Homeric Hymn to Demeter'']{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [[Clarendon Press]] 1974 lines 370-372, 411–412 pp.125, 129, 275,286-287.</ref> Gantz describes this as a "trick".<ref>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>Gantz (1996) p. 65.</ref> With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year.<ref>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]].

Persephone also appears many times in popular culture. Modern retellings of the myth sometimes depict Persephone as at first unhappy with Hades abducting and marrying her, but eventually loving him when he treated her as his equal.<ref>{{Cite video |last=Zarka |first=Emily |date=April 26, 2022 |title=Persephone: Bringer of Life or Destruction? |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/persephone-bringer-of-life-or-destruction-vy3iox/|access-date=December 27, 2023}}</ref> Featured in a variety of novels such as ''Persephone '' <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15724908-persephone|title=Persephone (Daughters of Zeus, #1)|access-date=4 July 2012|archive-date=15 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715011639/http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15724908-persephone|url-status=live}}</ref> by Kaitlin Bevis, '' A Touch of Darkness '' by Scarlett St. Clair, ''Persephone's Orchard''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17790646-persephone-s-orchard |title=Persephone's Orchard |access-date=25 November 2016 |archive-date=20 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820073206/http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17790646-persephone-s-orchard |url-status=live }}</ref> by Molly Ringle, ''The Goddess Test'' by Aimee Carter, ''The Goddess Letters'' by Carol Orlock, ''Abandon'' by Meg Cabot, ''Neon Gods'' by Katee Robert and ''[[Lore Olympus]]'' by Rachel Smythe, her story has also been treated by Suzanne Banay Santo in ''Persephone Under the Earth'' in the light of women's spirituality; portraying Persephone not as a victim but as a woman in quest of sexual depth and power, transcending the role of daughter, though ultimately returning to it as an awakened Queen.<ref>{{cite book|title=Persephone Under the Earth|publisher=Red Butterfly Publications|author=Santo, Suzanne Banay|year=2012|isbn=978-0-9880914-0-5}}</ref>