Meet Persephone

Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of and , goddess of the harvest. Her name means bringer of destruction and her symbol is the pomegranate. Persephone had a few different powers. She could easily bring the dead back to life. She also had the ability to make flowers around her instantly burst into bloom. She could even turn invisible and kill animals with her mind. She could even turn people into animals and animals into people or any object into flowers. Persephone was such a beautiful young woman that everyone loved her, even wanted her for himself and that is what leads to her down fall.

One day, Persephone was collecting flowers on Enna, the earth suddenly opened and Hades rose up from the gap and abducted her and makes her his bride. None but Zeus, and the all-seeing sun, , had seen it happen. Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth, looking for her daughter until Helios revealed what had happened. Demeter was so angry that she stopped making the earth fertile and brought winter to the people for the first time. Knowing this could not continue much longer, Zeus sent down to Hades to make him release Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before she went back he gave Persephone a pomegranate (or the seeds of a pomegranate, according to some sources). When she later ate of it, it bound her to underworld forever and she had to stay there one-third of the year. The other months she stayed with her mother. When Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow, and that is how the Greeks explained winter.

The underworld is hidden in the earth. It is the kingdom of the dead and ruled over by . Hades is a greedy god and Persephone is his unwilling wife. He is always greatly concerned with increasing his subjects. Those who are calling increase the number of dead are seen favorably in his eyes. He is exceedingly disinclined to allow any of his subjects to leave. Geographically, the underworld is surrounded by a series of rivers: The Acheron (river of woe), The Cocytus (river of lamentation), The Phlegethon (river of fire), The Styx (river of unbreakable oath by which the gods swear), and The Lethe (river of forgetfulness). Once across the rivers an adamantine gate, guarded by , forms the entrance to the kingdom. Deep within the kingdom is Hades vast palace, complete with many guests and of course prisoners.

Persephone is also briefly seen in many other stories like Orpheus and Euridice where she starts to cry because of Orpheus' song, and begs Hades to release Euridice. She appears often in Hercules. She welcomes him when he appears in the underworld on his twelfth labor, and asks Hades to let Hercules have Cerebrus. She also deals with him again in regards to Alcetis, who, in some stories she sets free after death. (Beautiful women should not die for selfish husbands! Go home!) In other stories, Hades frees Alcetis (who died for her husband) with a pointed remark that "She was a good, loving wife" (a slight jab at Persephone).

The personality of any Goddess depends on the teller. In some cases she always rather dislikes her husband, Hades, and is a very sad, queen who'd rather be doing anything other than sitting in the underworld being married to a monster like him. In some cases she gets to rather like her husband, and not really mind being in the Underworld. Originally Persephone was probably only a Goddess of the Underworld and her alter ego was only a Goddess of youth and spring. However they were probably molded together to produce a wonderful myth. Persephone is apparently very beautiful. Venus commands Psyche to gather beauty from Persephone. Perithous attempted to kidnap her, and failed. Persephone is linked both as Hera's opposite and as Venus's opposite. She is often mistaken for Hecate, and the two probably came from similar sources. She is usually displayed in pictures with either black or blonde hair. She had "slim ankles", and her personality is usually as grim as that of her husband. She has no children in most cases, and is as faithful to her husband as he is to her. Adonis, Aphrodite's lover, interests Persephone, but aside from that she shows very little interest in any other man whether he be god or mortal.