Persephone

[[image:http://www.howarddavidjohnson.com/The_return_of_Persephone.jpg width="195" height="267" align="left"]]Persephone, growing up as a goddess
One of the Goddesses in ancient Greece, Persephone is famous for being Queen of the Underworld. She is also the goddess of Spring's bounty, or of harvest and is known by the name Kore (maiden) in some cases. She is often depicted as a young goddess holding sheaf of grains and a flaming torch or sometimes shown in the company of her mother Demeter. There are also times when she is shown beside Hades in the underworld.

It wasn't this way at the very start. Persephone was the daughter of a well-known god, Zeus, and an average goddess, Demeter. As a young child, Persephone was loved by all the other gods and goddesses. She was said to be a very beautiful young woman that everyone wanted her. One day, as she was playing in the flowery fields in the plains of Enna with her nymph friend, she was abducted by the god of the underworld, Hades. Only Zeus and Helios bore witness to this event, but they hid it from Demeter. Torn by the loss of her daughter, Demeter, together with Hekate, searched the whole world in search of her child, but failed in doing so because Persephone was with Hades in the underworld. When Helios finally revealed what had happened, Demeter was devastated, and when she was consumed by rage that she punished the Earth's inhabitants with bitter colds and blustering winds. Trees refused to bear fruits, fields began drying up, and the life on Earth became harder because of Demeter's response to the situation.

This caused Zeus to send Hermes to the underworld to speak to Hades about that situation. Hades was forced to let her go, but before she left the underworld, he gave Persephone seeds from a pomegranate to eat. Demeter was overjoyed when she found out that Persephone was freed by Hades, but was short lived when she learned that she had eaten the fruits of the Underworld. Pe rsephone was forced to stay in the Underworld for at least half a year and this is the cause of the Earth's 4 seasons. Spring signifies the return of Persephone to her mother, and winter depicts that Persephone is going back to the Underworld.

Persephone of the Greek Myths
There are other stories concerning Persephone, and they gave way to a few other adventures.

In some myths, Zeus, disguised as a snake, seduced Persephone. They had a child named Zagreus and Zeus placed him upon the throne of heaven. He was destroyed by the Titans, but his heart was recovered and he was reborn through Semele as the god Dionysos. The goddess Melinoe was also said to be born through their union.

[[image:http://encefalus.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/hercules.jpg width="137" height="195" align="left"]]
When Heracles came to the underworld on his quest to fetch Cerberus, the Hound of Hades, Persephone received him like a brother, and allowed him to carry off the dog, as well as free Theseus from his bonds.

Aphrodite had a son named Adonis. He was very handsome so she had to keep him from the other gods and goddesses. She gave him to Persephone for safekeeping, but when Persephone got a glimpse of Adonis, she refused to return him. When they brought up this complaint to Zeus, he divided the year into three parts and said that Adonis would spend one third of the year by himself, one third with Persephone, and the rest with Aphrodite.

Hades had a lust for the girl Minthe, and because of this, he left the underworld to pursue her. Impressed by the powerful god, she would've gave in to him, had Persephone not showed up to prevent Hades from doing what he planned. In Hades' palace, Persephone tortured Minthe a lot of times to show her that Hades was hers, and this forced Hades to turn Minthe into a plant that is later called mint.

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Other information about Persephone
-Persephone is the cause of the division of the seasons according to Greek Myths -She had 3 offsprings, Zagreus, Melinoe and Erinyes -She is also known as Kore, which means maiden -She is the goddess of springtime and is the Queen of the Underworld -Her symbol is a pomegranate, the fruit which bounded her to the Underworld