In the Greek Mythology, Perséphone (in Greek old Περσεφόνη / Persephónê , at Homère Περσεφόνεια / Persephóneia ) is a goddess, girl of Zeus and Déméter. She is initially known under the simple name of Coré ( Κόρη / Kórê ) “the young girl”, or “the girl”, in opposition to Déméter, “the mother” ( ἡ Μητὴρ / He mêtềr ).

She is comparable with Proserpine (in Latin Proserpina ) in the Roman Mythologie.

Myth

Perséphone is one of principal the divinities chtoniennes of the Greeks. Its history is told in particular in the Homeric Hymne in Déméter .

Perséphone is of a rare beauty, and his/her mother Déméter the pupil with the secrecy in Sicily, its favorite island, where the young girl is in safety. In the wood of Enna, Perséphone is diverted in company of the Océanides. One day, whereas they are occupied gathering flowers, Perséphone deviates from the group, to gather a Narcisse. There she is noticed by powerful the Hadès, her uncle, who wishes to make his queen of it. It removes the young girl who of a cry alerts her mother but this one arrives too late. The scene would have been held close to the Lac of Pergusa, in Sicily. Nobody not having anything considering, Déméter will leave to research his only daughter during nine days and new nights before declaring: “The Earth will be famished as long as I will not have found my daughter. ” The sun will then decide to reveal in Déméter that it is Hadès which removed his/her daughter. The goddess Enfers will seek it to the but Hadès will refuse to return it. The business is carried in front of Zeus.

Zeus is not able to make a decision because he does not want froisser Déméter nor his brother, Hadès. Noting that Coré (Perséphone) ate seven seeds of grenades, the fruit of deaths, Coré must remain with the Hells. However Zeus decides on a compromise. The young girl will pass as Perséphone four months to the Hells to the sides of her husband whom it ends up appreciating and liking. The remainder of the year it will turn over on Earth as Coré to help his/her mother for spring and the summer. Thus wintry time is the period when Perséphone lives at the sides of her husband. His/her mother being sad it drains the Earth.

Perséphone seems to have accepted its role of queen of Dead because, in the legends, it always acts as agreement with her husband. She even shows herself lasts and inflexible. However, certain authors do not recognize it like the girl of Déméter, but like that of the Styx, and according to them Perséphone is since always the goddess of the Hells.

She also passes for the mother of Zagreus, conceived with Zeus metamorphosed in Serpent.

Perséphone intervenes little in the legends (see however Adonis and Pirithoos).

Worship

Perséphone occupies an important place in the worships of many cities, in particular those of Éleusis, Thèbes and Mégare, like in Sicily and Arcadie.

Infernal divinity, it is also in the beginning a goddess of the Blé, like her mother. Among Greeks, the fertility of the ground is closely related to death, and the grains of seed are preserved in the darkness during the summer months, before the sowing of the autumn. This return of the life after the burial is symbolized by the myth of Perséphone, removed, then restored, and gives rise to the rites of the Mystères of Éleusis. For the faithful ones, the return to earth of the goddess is a formal promise of their own resurrection.

The myth of Perséphone is also celebrated with the mysteries of Samothrace, where it is identified with the Axiokersa goddess, as to Pella in relation to dionysiaques mysteries .

Artistic representations

Sculpture

The removal of Perséphone is a frequent subject in art:

  • the most known example is the group of the Bernin: the Abduction of Proserpine (1621-1622), marble, 295 cm with the Gallery Borghèse, Rome.
  • Fresco of the Tomb of Perséphone to Vergina, by Philoxénos d' Érétrie (fourth century BC).

Painting

  • Abduction of Proserpine of Rembrandt (towards 1632).

Music

  • Jean-Baptiste Lully composed a named lyric Tragédie Proserpine in 1680.

  • Igor Stravinski composed a opera named Perséphone .

Sources

  • (I, 3,1; I, 5,1-3).

  • .
  • Claudien, Abduction of Proserpine ( passim ).
  • (v. 912).
  • (X).
  • (CXLVI; CLXVII).
  • ( Déméter , passim ).
  • (V).
  • (IV, 417 and suiv.), (V, 341-408; VI, 114).

See too

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