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Persephone
Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the
daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such
a beautiful girl that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for himself.
When she was a little girl, she and the Oceanids were collecting flowers on
the plain of Enna, when suddenly the earth opened and Hades rose up from
the gap and abducted her. None but Zeus had noticed it.
Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth, looking for her daughter until Helios, the all-seeing, revealed what
had happened. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew
herself in loneliness, and all fertility on earth stopped.
Finally, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to make him release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before
she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate to eat, thus she would always be connected to his realm and had to stay there
one-third of the year. The other months she remained with her mother. When
Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow and winter
began. This myth is a symbol of the budding and dying of nature. In the
Eleusinian mysteries, this happening was celebrated in honor of Demeter and
Persephone, who was known in this cult as Kore.
The Romans called her Proserpina.
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