How Is Persephone Related To Greek Gods And Goddesses?

When one mentions myths, you think of Greek mythological figures like the mighty Zeus or the heinous, king Hades; the big shots of mythology with a strong familiarity in culture to this day for their signature power and rule. Yet there are the gods and goddesses that couldn’t compare and fell under the rulers’ shadows. Persephone is one of these goddesses, but she was never weak and far from it, for she was much like Hades herself: cunning, ageless, and powerful. Persephone was the goddess of spring growth, prosperous vegetation and grain, but do not let that fool you; Persephone was well known as the Queen of the Underworld. Persephone led a bittersweet life but was a powerful goddess nonetheless.

One day, Persephone was picking the most alluring flowers in a field when suddenly Hades comes and carries her off into the underworld, claiming it was love at first sight seeing her in the field. Upon hearing this, Persephone’s mother, Demeter is unaware of her daughter’s whereabouts and searches the world to find her. Once she heard that Hades was holding her captive with Zeus’ permission, Demeter was furious. She created a drought in hopes of changing the god’s minds. Zeus eventually sent Hermes to persuade Hades to free Persephone. Hades agreed, but right before letting her go

Hades forced a pomegranate seed into the goddesses’s mouth. It is said that if you eat the food of the underworld, you were to stay in the underworld permanently. As compromise to all of this, it was agreed that Persephone would have to stay in the underworld as Hades’ queen for one-third of the year, and in other tellings one-half of the year for the rest of her life. A popular interpretation depicts that when Persephone leaves for the underworld in the winter “there is a halting of growth” and when she returns in the summer “there is sudden growth of grain and meadows.” (Theoi.com).
Persephone, most commonly known as “Kore” by the Greek, was depicted in many ways. Persephone had several names given by the Greek such as Maiden, Persephone of the Earth, Bringer of Fruit, Exacter of Justice, Holy One and many others. She and her mother Demeter were worshipped in the Eleusinian Mysteries, a secret initiation and rituals that honored Demeter and Persephone, their story and “promised its initiates passage to a blessed afterlife” (Theoi.com). In Greek art, Persephone alongside Demeter “often both wear crowns and hold a torch, sceptre or stalks of grain” or “Persephone is often shown seated on her throne in Hades.” (Cartwright).
As goddess of vegetation and the underworld, it is appropriate that Persephone was represented by the asphodel.

The asphodel was “a drab, ghostly-grey plant, edible but extremely bland” and is said to be found only in the underworld (Theoi.com). Persephone is not as helpless as one might make her out to be. While planning her abduction, Hades was aware that he “may need to use both deciption and violence… because she, like himself, is a divinity - powerful, immortal and ageless.” (Lefkowitz 75). Persephone was as powerful a figure as Hades, ruling the underworld alongside him and having a whole religion centered around her and her mother when she’d return in the

spring.
Persephone’s circumstances never held her down, but only gave her more power. She was never weak and had as much power as Hades did. Persephone’s leaving and arrival to the underworld drastically affected the seasons of the Earth and she held a deep importance to the Greek people. Persephone was a unique goddess with a contradicting power; she was and still is an important figure in Greek mythology.