Persephŏné
（
Περσεφόνη), called
Proserpĭna by the Romans; the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. In Homer she is
called Persephonīa (
Περσεφόνεια); the form Persephoné first occurs in Hesiod. But besides
these forms of the name, we also find Persephassa, Phersephassa,
Persephatta, Phersephatta, Pherrephassa, Pherephatta, and Phersephonīa, for which various etymologies have been proposed. The Latin
Proserpina is only a corruption of the Greek, though the Romans derive it from
proserpo. In Attica she was worshipped under the name of
Cora (
Κόρη, Ion.
Κούρη). —that is, “the Daughter,” namely, of
Demeter; and the two were frequently called “the Mother
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Hades and Persephoné. (Etruscan painting, Dennis.)
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and the Daughter” (
ἡ Μητὴρ καὶ ἡ
Κόρη). Being the infernal goddess of death, she is also called a daughter of Zeus
and Styx. In Arcadia she was worshipped under the name of Despoena, and was called a daughter
of Poseidon Hippius and Demeter, said to have been brought up by the Titan Anytus. Homer
describes her as the wife of Hades, and the formidable, venerable, and majestic queen of the
Shades, who rules over the souls of the dead, along with her husband. Hence she is called by
later Roman writers Iuno Inferna, Averna, and Stygia; and the Erinyes are said to have been
her daughters by Pluto. Groves sacred to her are placed by Homer in the western extremity of
the earth, on the borders of the lower world, which is itself called the house of
Persephoné. The story of her being carried off by Hades or Pluto against her will
is not mentioned by Homer, who simply describes her as the wife and queen of Hades. Her
abduction is first mentioned by Hesiod. The account of it, which is the most celebrated part
of her story, and the wanderings of her mother in search of her, and the worship of
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Ruins of Persepolis.
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the two goddesses in Attica at the festival of the Eleusinia, are related under
Demeter and
Eleusinia. In the mystical theories of the Orphics, Persephoné is described
as the all-pervading goddess of nature, who both produces and destroys everything; and she is
therefore mentioned along, or identified with, other mystic divinities, such as Isis, Rhea,
Gê, Hestia, Pandora, Artemis, and Hecaté. This mystic
Persephoné is further said to have become by Zeus the mother of Dionysus, Iacchus,
Zagreus, or Sabazius.
Persephoné frequently appears in works of art. She is represented either with the
grave and severe character of an infernal Heré or as a mystical divinity with a
sceptre and a little box, in the act of being carried off by Pluto. Her symbols are a torch or
torches, a cornucopia, ears of corn, pomegranates, or a cock as heralding the dawn (i. e. a
new life).
