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Recommended: The story of Perseus
According to the Greek Myth Persephone is the daughter of Zeus (Head God) and Demeter (Mother Earth), she is Goddess of Spring and helps Demeter to take care of plants. It is known that Hades, Lord of the Underworld, was smitten with Persephone and asked Zeus for her hand. Zeus didn't consent it, because he feared Demeter's reaction (she had depression problems). So Hades takes Persephone to the Underworld anyway and makes her Queen of the Underworld. But Demeter was really sad without her daughter and stopped tending the plants and wandered the Earth looking for her. People and animals began to starve. Demeter insisted in Persephone being returned to her. So under pressure from Demeter, Zeus went to talk to Hades and begged that Persephone leave the …show more content…
But because she returned to the Earth, I added a colored blue shawl and a crown of flowers (to represent spring). Persephone was the name used by the Greeks, but she was venerated by the Romans under the name of Proserpina. She appears as a beautiful young maiden, who has reached womanhood. While most sources indicate Persephone was not happy to be married with Hades, others assert that she ate the pomegranate as a way of being free from her mom, and that she was actually content with the final arrangement. Persephone has been represented in different ways. The main symbols of Persephone and their meanings were as follows: The Pomegranate: was also known as the "fruit of the dead" and anyone who ate it was committed to stay in the Underworld. The Torch: relates to the pair of flaming torches Demeter carried in her search for Persephone. The Bat: symbolized death and rebirth. Wreath of Flowers: were associated with birth and life after death. Flowers also symbolized with the return of spring after
Flowers can be seen to represent emotions that are felt when opressions on women are seen. Poisonous flowers represent the determination that these women use to find a better life in this society
In two amazing poems, both poets make allusions to the myth of Persephone. The myth of Persephone tells of her kidnap by Hades, the God of the Underworld. She is then fated to spend one-third of the year in the underworld as Hades’ bride because she consumed pomegranate seeds. This myth appears frequently as a metaphor not only in “The Pomegranate” and “The Bistro Styx,” but in many others as well. In both poems, the myth of Persephone is used to symbolize the mother-daughter relationships.
Hades fell in love with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone. Persephone loved to live about in the fields that her mother made. Hades wanted Persephone as his bride. Zeus, the father of Persephone, did not deny but warned that Demeter would be furious. He captured her and forced her to stay in the underworld. To capture her, he arose from the depth with a chariot of horses. He stole her from the flowery field and took her to a dungeon of darkness. Persephone gained the name “core”. This was symbolizing her loss of girlhood. Demeter went looking for her daughter. She could not find her, and she almost came to the extent of barring the whole earth of the vegetation. Zeus could not let this happen, so he sent for Persephone to be received. Persephone would not eat, but Hades would not let her leave until she ate at least one thing. Hades gave her a forbidden fruit. Any fruit that was to be eaten in the underworld, the eater of that fruit must stay in the underworld. Her eating the fruit meant she had to stay in the underworld forever. A compromise was made between Demeter and Hades. Four months of the year Persephone had to stay with Hades and be the queen of the underworld. During this time the Greeks entered a cold and barren time called winter. The other eight months, Persephone spent her year with Demeter. During this time crops and vegetation would be abundant (Peterson and Dunworth 143). These were the times of spring and summer. When it was time for Persephone to rule the underworld, she was in charge of watching the special prisoners. The prisoners were the defeated titans (Calame, 266).
The myth is a rather interesting one, as it starts off with the King of Argos, Acrisius, travels to the Oracle of Delphi and is told that his daughter will have a son who is destined to kill him. He takes extreme measures to make sure that doesn’t come true and locks his daughter, Danae, inside a tower so that she has no way to conceive. It is almost like an overprotective father in current times, where they never let their daughters go anywhere or be anywhere near boys. However, just like an overprotective father, you can’t always keep your eye on your daughter 24/7, so of course chaos erupts. Zeus, who has been unfaithful to his wife Hera for quite a while now, is unfaithful again when he spots Danae through a portal of her ceiling. He transforms into a shower of gold (again we see the color gold incorporated in a Greek myth) and has sex with her, and thus, Perseus is conceived. Eventually Acrisius finds out about the baby, and locks both Danae and Perseus in a chest and throws it into the sea.
‘Demeter’ is a poem about the story of Demeter. "Demeter was the goddess of harvest and Persephone was the goddess of springtime. Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped Persephone. Hades fell in love with Persephone and asked Zeus to help him kidnap her so she could become his bride. The crops started to wilt and humans couldn't grow crops anymore. However Zeus told Hermes to bring back Persephone and to make sure she didn't eat any food from the Underworld. Hermes fetched Persephone. But before she left, Hades convinced her to eat 6 pomegranate seeds. Hermes made a compromise and said Persephone had to stay in the Underworld as Hades wife for six months. That's why there are seasons. In the fall and winter, Persephone goes down into the Underworld and Demeter mourns. In the summer and spring, she comes back and Demeter rejoices. " (1)
She is considered to be one of the most peaceful Greek gods. Demeter not only was the goddess of the harvest, but she was also originally associated with the four seasons, due to her daughter Persephone. Persephone was stolen by Hades, the ruler of the underworld, because he wanted to make her his wife.
In the Hymn to Demeter, the rape of Persephone starts with her picking flowers and she comes across the hundred headed narcissus which "Gaia made grow as a trick for the blushing maiden" (HHDem. 8-9). This trick is set into motion by Zeus, but since Gaia plays the role of protecting the youngest generation, this is a foreshadowing that Persephone's ordeal will be for a good cause. Hades moves in to take Persephone when the grounds gapes open and she begins to cry aloud. Demeter hears her daughters screams but she is powerless against Hades, hence the separation of distance between them. The grief stricken Demeter goes through an experience which plays out the role of a symbolic death. this is because the relationship between the mother and daughter ends at a wedding.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter’s grief is demonstrated through the concepts of divinity and humanity being symbolically contrasted with a woman’s purpose and social status as a mother or daughter. While “terrible” is a word we would expect to describe grief, “brutal” is interesting due to its violent connotations (Hymn to Demeter, 90). As a “brutal grief that seized the heart” it lends itself to a comparison with the violent seizing of Persephone, echoed here in Demeter’s emotions about her daughters’ capture, and perhaps denoting that the nature of what causes grief may be reflected in how it is felt (Hymn to Demeter, 90). The words “brutal” and “seized” also portrays grief itself as uncontrollable and forceful, even to the non-human Being described as “like four goddesses” while Demeter herself is divine and yet, unrecognisable as such seems to hark back to their youth and beauty as a divine gift, while Demeter, in her grief, appears to lose divine status (Hymn to Demeter,108, 94-95, 108).
In The Odyssey and Hymn to Demeter, both Penelope and Demeter love and miss their family members. When Demeter hears her daughter Persephone’s cry, “a sharp grief took hold of Demeter in
According to “Persephone, Demeter, and Hades” It starts off with “Persephone who is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture (farming). Hades who is her uncle, abducts Persephone while she was picking flowers with her companions in a meadow.” According to “Classical Mythology” it states “Hades had other plans for Persephone: he would steal her innocence and virginity and turn her into the dreaded goddess of the Underworld.” It also states how “Persephone was gathering flowers one day on a plain in Sicily. Hades appeared, thundering across the plain in his four-horse chariot. The god then jumped down upon Persephone, and scooped her up with one arm. After abducting her, he carries her off to the Underworld. Demeter who is Persephone’s mother soon came to retrieve her daughter, but was unable to find a trace of Persephone. She traveled to the corners of the earth, searching for nine full days and nights without ever stopping to eat, drink, bathe, or rest. Demeter was in a fury so in retaliation she destroyed lands, crops, and livestock as she complained to the loss of her daughter. She threatened to make the earth unproductive forever and thus destroy all of humankind if she did not find her
In Persephone’s underworld there is an infamous river by the name of Styx, which dead men must journey across its toxic waters in order to enter the land of the dead. “Water is connected to the ocean which is the source of livelihood, transportation, and death for the seafaring people like the Greek; and water is a mysterious force that brings up vegetation from the earth. Thus it is not coincidental that the ocean borders Hades and other subterranean lands of the dead; the ambiguity of water is a perfect component of the dual nature of the underworld—a source of danger as well as fertility and wealth,” (Taylor 397). Water is very symbolic of rebirth and is often associated with the sacrament of baptism. The ancient cultures viewed the life bringing and death-dealing waters as a form of mysterious rebirth into the underworld (Taylor 397-399). Persephone herself was reborn in the underworld as a queen. After crossing the river Styx, Persephone became one of mythologies most notable queens. She also symbolizes the same aspects of water through her dual nature as life giver in the springtime and death incarnate during her reign in the underworld. Her personification in the Styx explores the journey between life and death that all mortals
In a society in which social position was vital for having a successful family, the Greek and Roman families internally struggled with one another. This constant conflict stems from the father’s desire for control and the society’s high placement of power. In the Greek myth Demeter and Persephone, Zeus’s interest for his selfish gains prompts him to “ ( give ) Persephone to the Lord of Dead to become his queen “ ( Rosenberg Demeter 96). Zeus does not ask Persephone nor Demeter, his beloved wife, presenting that he does not show any opinions on their feelings. Although Zeus in reality just wanted to have a powerful family with the addition of Hades, his love for power overrode his love for his family and created a tension between the other members and him. In another Greek myth, Jason and the Golden Fleece, shows man’s love for supremacy through ...
His own grandfather put him and Danae, his mom, in a box and threw him into the sea when he was a baby! He accidentally killed his grandfather, Acrisius, when a he threw a flying discuss and the wind took it. He was participating in athletic games. The disc knocked directly into his head, but since he was older this just killed him. However, by killing Acrisius, Perseus was fulfilling a prophecy given before he was born. Everyone knows you can not interfere with a prophecy. According to http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/perseus/p/Perseus.htm since Perseus had killed his grandfather, he felt bad about reigning in his place. So, he went to the Tiryns where he found the ruler, Megapenthes was willing to exchange kingdoms. Megapenthes took Argos, and Perseus, Tiryns. Eventually Perseus was killed by Megapenthes(son of Proteus, Perseus’ half-brother). He didn’t have an unusual death like most heroes do, but that’s not what makes a hero. He was placed in the stars as a constellation. Now hopefully you understand why Perseus would be considered one of the best greek heroes.
In the earlier Greek source, the Homeric Hymns to Demeter illustrated Persephone as a youthful innocent goddess picking flowers with her youthful playmates “the girl was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters of Okeanos picking flowers, roses, and crocus, and beautiful violets” (HHDem. 4-6). In parallel, in Ovid’s text, features and characteristics of the youthful goddess were still retained. Proserpine, the equivalent Greek goddess of Persephone, was also found playing and picking flowers “Here Proserpine was playing in a glade of flowers… filling her basket and her lap to gather more than the other girls” (Met., p. 111). In Ovid Metamorphoses, Proserpine’s sphere of influence was still retained with equivalent Greek goddess of Persephone, the goddess of spring, si...
His mother was the daughter of the King of Argos, King Acrisius. Her name was Danae. Acrisius consulted the oracle for information of his future and was told that he would be killed by his daughter’s son. In his fear, he locked his daughter in a bronze enclosure to prevent her from getting pregnant. While she was locked away, Zeus came to her and got her pregnant. After she had Perseus, the King discovered the child and locked both his daughter and Perseus in a wooden box and sent the out to sea. Zeus favored Perseus by speaking to Poseidon and convincing them to calm the seas. Eventually they washed up on Seriphos and were found by a fisherman named Diktys. Diktys and Danae raised Perseus on the island and he led a mostly normal childhood. As he got older he was known for his courage and strength. The King of Seriphos sought ways to get rid of him, but was unable to until he was heard boasting that he could kill Medusa (“Perseus). He was very unfortunate in his early years because was locked in a wooden box and would have died if Zeus had not