Hades and Persephone

Author: Traditional; Ovid

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Greek; Roman

Genre: Myth

Overview

Subjects of major Greek myths, Demeter and Persephone were the goddesses of agriculture and the underworld, respectively, with a cultic center located at Eleusis. The worship of the goddess Demeter continued until the fourth century CE, when Christian leaders forbade the festivals as a pagan ritual.

Much of what is known of the Hades and Persephone myth comes from Hesiod’s Theogony (ca. 700 BCE; English translation, 1728); the anonymous seventh-century BCE “Heroic Hymn to Demeter”; and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 CE; English translation, 1567). The Romans, who merely changed the names of many of the gods and goddesses, later adapted the myth. Ovid’s version of the tale of the relationship between Persephone and Hades (Proserpina and Pluto, in Roman nomenclature) changes some details in the Greek versions. For example, Ovid also places blame on not only Pluto but also Cupid, whose mother incited him to inflame Pluto.

Major characters in the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter” include Zeus, the head of the Olympians and son of Cronus, who was both brother to Demeter and father to Persephone. Hades, brother to Zeus and Demeter, was the ruler of the underworld. In the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter,” >Hades is referred to as Aidoneus, as “the Host of Many,” and as “He who has many names.” Zeus sets the events of the story in motion by acceding to his brother’s wish to marry Persephone. >Demeter is the goddess of harvest, described in the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter” as having beautiful hair and carrying a golden double-headed ax. Her daughter (later named Persephone but referred to only as “maiden” in the early part of the myth) is on the verge of womanhood.

Although Zeus, Hades, Demeter, and Persephone are the principal characters, several minor characters, both gods and mortals, also appear. Additional gods include Hecate and Helios, who each hear Persephone’s cries as she is abducted. Iris, Rhea, and Hermes serve as messengers from Zeus to Demeter and to Hades. Mortals include Celeus, in whose home Demeter, disguised as an old woman, serves as nurse to the infant Demophon, whom she attempts to make immortal. Celeus’s four daughters—Callidice, Cleisidice, Demo, and Callithoe—first see the disguised Demeter at the Maiden’s Well and invite her to Celeus’s home.

Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, / go, and keep your heart and disposition kindly: / be not so exceedingly cast down than others; / I shall be no unfitting husband for you among immortals, / Since I am brother to father Zeus. And while you are there, you shall rule all that lives and moves / and shall have the highest honour among the deathless gods.

“Heroic Hymn to Demeter”

The “Homeric Hymn to Demeter” has often been regarded as an explanation of the Eleusinian mysteries and the Thesmophoria, religious fertility festivals. Little is known of the events of these ceremonies; only initiates were permitted to take part, and they were sworn to secrecy. What fragments do exist come from allusions in Greek drama or from Christian enemies of the traditional religion, such as Clement of Alexandria.

Feminist literary theory attempts to read “from the margins” to gain the perspective of those who have no voice. Ancient Greece was a patriarchal culture, and the myth reflects that fact. Demeter and her daughter are acted upon for much of the narrative; Demeter’s power lies in withholding the blessing of fruitfulness and in refusing the honors Zeus offers if she acquiesces to her daughter’s abduction. The story can be read as more than simply a myth explaining the seasons and celebrating harvest. It is also a coming-of-age tale of a young woman who begins to make her own decisions as she moves from her mother’s watchful care to a mature relationship.

Summary

Fragments of the myth of Persephone and Hades existed in ancient cultures long before it was written down in various Greek and Roman sources. Allusions to Persephone as the “dreaded” queen of Hades appear in Homer’s Iliad (ca. 750 BCE; English translation, 1616)and Odyssey (ca. 725 BCE; English translation, 1614), although how she attained that position is unknown. The Theogony provides the first literary reference to Persephone’s abduction. In three lines, it mentions Persephone’s birth, Zeus giving permission for the abduction, and Hades taking Persephone “forcibly” from her mother.

The earliest text to completely create the myth is the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter,” probably written in the seventh century BCE. The appellation Homeric indicates that the text is a literary one, written in the style of Homer, rather than a devotional one. The devotional tradition was expressed in the texts related to Orpheus, who descends to Hades in pursuit of Eurydice, his dead wife, and there meets Persephone. The Orpheus cult produced works known by Athenian dramatists such as Euripides and Sophocles, as well as by Plato. Only fragments of these texts have survived, however.

As its name suggests, the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter” places great emphasis on Persephone’s mother, the agriculture goddess Demeter, who is one of the twelve Olympian gods. She is sister to both Zeus and Hades; in addition, Zeus is the father of Persephone. The story line alternates between Demeter and Persephone.

There is a clear structure to the work. After a brief introduction in the first three lines, the poem focuses on the abduction of Persephone by >Hades. The emphasis then shifts to Demeter’s response and quest for her daughter. Hecate comes to her on the tenth day and tells her that her daughter has been abducted. Together they go to Helios to learn more. The sun god reveals that Zeus has given Persephone to Hades to be his wife. He also tries to persuade Demeter that the match is not a bad idea, given Hades’s familial connection and his honor as lord of the underworld.

Demeter >is not persuaded. Her anger leads her to leave Olympus and to disguise herself as an aged woman. At the Maiden Well of Eleusis, she meets the four daughters of Celeus, who have come to draw water but do not recognize Demeter as a goddess. In response to their questions as to her identity, Demeter spins a tale that mimics her daughter’s. She tells the young women that pirates abducted her “by force of strength against my liking” (124).

When Demeter asks the young women to help her find work, they suggest she become the nurse to their infant brother, Demophon. When Demeter enters the house, her radiance startles Metaneira, the mother. Demeter refuses to sit until Iambe, a household servant, both provides a stool covered with fleece and makes Demeter laugh with her antics.

Go now, Persephone, to your dark-robed mother, / go, and keep your heart and disposition kindly: / be not so exceedingly cast down than others; / I shall be no unfitting husband for you among immortals, / Since I am brother to father Zeus. And while you are there, you shall rule all that lives and moves / and shall have the highest honour among the deathless gods.

“Heroic Hymn to Demeter”

Demeter promises to protect Demophon from witchcraft and the Undercutter, a possible reference to Hades. At night, Demeter places the child in the fire, intending to give him immortality. One evening, Metaneira sees Demeter’s act and cries out to prevent it. Demeter grows angry at the folly of the woman; thus Demophon remains mortal. Still, because of Demeter’s care, the child grows as if he were an immortal one. Then, revealing her true status as a goddess, Demeter commands that a temple be built for her where they live; it became a center of cultic worship. Even after the temple is built and sacrifices are made, Demeter finds no comfort for the loss of Persephone.

Meanwhile >Zeus, having seen the devastation Demeter has caused by refusing to allow vegetation to flourish, sends the goddess Iris to plead with her. After Iris fails in her mission, Zeus sends Hermes to Hades to demand the release of >Persephone. The next section details Hades’s cunning; he speaks sweetly to Persephone and offers her a pomegranate, knowing that if she eats of the fruit, she will have to return to earth. Next, Persephone returns to earth and reunites with Demeter. Lines 438–69 describe Hecate’s devotion to Persephone and Zeus’s settling the dispute by decreeing that Persephone would spend one-third of each year with Hades and the rest with Demeter. (Other versions of the myth detail different periods of time that Persephone is to spend in the underworld and with her mother.) The final section relates Demeter’s teaching her rites and mysteries to family members of Celeus and the poet’s pleas for favor from both Demeter and Persephone.

A notable feature of the “Homeric Hymn to Demeter” is its emphasis on female relationships and emotions. Demeter’s interactions with Zeus, Persephone, and mortals provide a focus for the text. Several voices within the text state that Persephone was taken against her will; the narrator states that Hades “caught her up reluctant on his golden car, / and bare her away lamenting” (19–20). Helios finally tells Demeter that he saw as “Hades seized her and took her loudly crying in his chariot down to his realm of mist and gloom” (81). When reunited with her mother, Persephone relates that

the earth parted beneath,

and there the strong lord, the Host of Many, sprang forth—

and he bore me away, all unwilling, beneath the earth:

and then in his golden chariot I cried with a shrill cry. (429–32)

Demeter’s grief is also repeatedly alluded to, and the mutual joy of mother and daughter informs the ending of the narrative:

In this way all day long kept with hearts at one,

many times they greatly warmed each the other’s heart and spirit

with a loving embrace: their hearts finding relief from grief

while each took and gave back joyousness. (434–37)

Bibliography

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Avery, Charles. Bernini: Genius of the Baroque. Boston: Bulfinch, 1997.

Downing, Christine, ed. The Long Journey Home: Revisioning the Myth of Demeter and Persephone for Our Time. Boston: Shambhala, 1994.

Hesiod. Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. Trans.Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1914. Print.

Katz, Robert Scott. Persephoneand Mythic Elements in Stravinsky’s Theater Works. Diss. U of Texas, 1998. Austin: U of Texas P, 1998.

Lefkowitz, Mary R. Women in Greek Myth. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2007.

Showalter, Elaine. The New Feminist Criticism. New York: Pantheon, 1985.

Steinberg, Michael. Liner notes. Perséphone. Music by Igor Stravinsky. San Francisco Symphony. Cond. Michael Tilson Thomas. 1997.

Suter, Ann. The Narcissus and the Pomegranate. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 2002.