Hades and Persephone, one of the most well-known tales from Greek Mythology, is a symbolic
story of the perennial change between life and death, representing the origin of the
seasonal cycle as we know it today. It is a story that establishes the relationship
of one of the most fascinating couples in Greek mythology that ultimately go on to provide
us with many amazing legends. But how did it all begin? Let’s find out together, right
now. Hades, Lord of the Underworld, was renowned
for his tendency to pretty much stay in his kingdom, minding his own business and ruling
as he saw fit. It was on one of his rare excursions to the surface of the earth however, that
he came across the maiden Persephone and fell, as is often the case in Greek mythology, immediately
in love, determining that she would be his wife.
Persephone just so happened to be the only daughter of Zeus and the Goddess of agriculture,
Demeter. She was a beautiful and innocent girl, content to wander through the flowery
meadows where eternal springtime reigned. The complete opposite, you could say, of the
Lord of the Underworld. But this did not deter Hades, and as soon
as he was able to tear his eyes away from Persephone, he travelled immediately to see
his brother Zeus. He asked the permission of Zeus to take Persephone as his wife. His
brother consented, or at least refused to oppose it, but left Hades with a warning that
the girls mother Demeter would not be so agreeable. Deciding to skip the usual process of courtship
in the knowledge that the sunless halls of the underworld would probably not appeal particularly
to the goddess of flowers, Hades instead resolved to abduct Persephone.
As she gathered flowers one day on the plains of Sicily, the ground opened up suddenly beside
her and out of the chasm appeared Hades, thundering across the ground upon his mighty four horse
chariot. Before she had a chance to react, the God swooped her up into his arms and rode
back down to the Underworld, the deep hole sealing behind them, leaving only a scattering
of fallen blossoms as a clue to what had occurred. Before long Demeter arrived to collect her
daughter but could find no trace of Persephone. Distraught and desperate, she searched frantically
but to no avail. Travelling to the corners of the Earth, she spent nine full days and
nights with no moment of rest, seeking her lost child.
On the tenth day she came across the goddess Hecate who told Demeter that Persephone had
been abducted, but she did not know the identify of the culprit. They went together to visit
Helios, the sun God who saw everything that happened on Earth. He revealed to Demeter
that Hades had taken her daughter whilst at the same time trying to convince the distraught
mother that Hades, as brother of Zeus and ruler of one third of the universe, was not
such an unfit husband for Persephone. Demeter was not convinced however, and flew
into a rage upon hearing the news. Furious at the apparent complicity of Zeus, she refused
to return to Mount Olympus and instead roamed the earth in the guise of a mortal, forbidding
the trees to bear fruit and the crops to grow, bringing forth a great famine that threatened
all of mankind. A full year passed as the world around her
deteriorated into a barren wasteland and the peoples suffering grew worse and worse. The
rage of Demeter did not subside however, and Zeus was eventually forced to act lest all
his worshippers perish. He sent a host of different Gods and Goddess to Demeter to beg
her to return to Olympus and cease her desperate crusade, allowing the earth to heal, but she
refused, determined to continue until her daughter was returned to her.
In the end, Zeus had no choice but to give in to her demand and promised to bring Persephone
back to her mother. Hermes was tasked with racing down to Hades
and reclaiming Persephone. Surprisingly Hades appeared unmoved and agreed to release her
without a fight. Often it is the case that when things seem too good to be true, that
is exactly what they are, and before leaving Hades urged Persephone to eat a single pomegranate
seed as a parting gift. Having refused to eat in her entire time in
the underworld, whether from sorrow, fear or stubbornness, Persephone was starving and
was finally unable to resist appeasing her terrible hunger.
In that moment, she unwittingly sealed her own fate and set in motion a cycle that would
persist for the rest of time. For you see, anyone who tastes the food of
Hades must remain in the underworld. With no going back and the situation now at
an impasse, Rhea, the mother of Zeus, Demeter and Hades, proposed a compromise that all
her children reluctantly accepted. Persephone would spend half the year in the
underworld with Hades, and the other half above ground with her mother.
Returning to the surface initially, the fertility of the earth was restored immediately. But
when the time came for Persephone to return to the underworld, the land became cold and
less fertile. As such, the seasonal cycle of the planet was begun.
Persephone would go on to become best known as the dreaded goddess of the underworld,
feared by mortals. A far cry from her image as an innocent maiden at the beginning of
the myth. She personified the perennial change between life and death, her very nature shifting
in tandem with the land that she so loved as a child.
As time progressed, the relationship between Persephone and Hades would grow stronger,
becoming something very real and powerful despite its controversial origins and providing
many more fascinating myths for us to enjoy and explore together.