She wandered from place to place looking for information, neglecting her duties to make grain grow as she did.Īfter several days of searching, Demeter was bedraggled and half-starved but still did not know where Persephone had gone or who had taken her. Hearing this, Demeter was certain that something terrible had happened to her.ĭemeter began searching the world over for her missing daughter. With no other witnesses, she had no idea where Persephone had gone.Īccording to some sources, Persephone had only had time to let out a single scream before she was taken into the Underworld. Others said that they were so frightened that they could not speak.Įither way, Demeter could receive no information from them when she realized that her daughter was missing. Some versions of the story claimed that the nymphs who were with her that day fled in terror. One day when the younger goddess was collecting flowers with some nymphs, Hades burst out of the Underworld in his chariot and grabbed her, pulling her to the land of the dead and closing the entrance before anyone could react. They waited for one of the rare moments when Persephone and her mother were not together. The two gods decided, therefore, not to tell Demeter what they had planned for her daughter. She would not want to be separated from her beloved daughter, who would be taken to the Underworld as the bride of Hades. He knew, however, that Demeter would object. His brother was the lord of his own realm and a powerful god, so he felt that it was a good match that would benefit both.
As the king of the gods, and possibly her father, he had the right to arrange her marriage to the man he chose. Zeus, however, decided that Persephone’s time as a young maiden who spent all her time with her mother would come to an end. Persephone was known for her beauty and grace. One of the most popular versions of the story claimed that Zeus was her father, although others did not name him.ĭemeter was extremely devoted to her daughter and the two were constant companions. The Story of Hades and PersephoneĪccording to Greek mythology, Persephone was the beautiful young daughter of Demeter, the goddess of grain.
The Hades and Persephone story illustrated not only marriage, but also the complex relationship between life and death in the ancient world. While the Greeks had a much different idea of marriage than modern readers, many saw the union of Hades and Persephone as one of the most important among the gods. Modern readers examine the kidnapping of the young goddess into a forced marriage. In both the ancient world and the modern one, the marriage story of Hades and Persephone has been one of the most often-discussed in Greek mythology.Īncient people saw the marriage of the god of the dead and the goddess of spring as the heart of the cycles of the seasons and of life and death.
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