Demeter and Persephone

The basic story of Persephone's abduction by Hades is fairly simple. Demeter, the goddess of grain and agriculture, had a single daughter, Persephone. Persephone's father was Zeus; Zeus and Demeter mated once and produced a daughter, Persephone.

With Zeus's permission, Hades goes out of the Underworld, comes out of Hades, out of Tartaros, one day, seizes Persephone as she is picking flowers in a field and takes her down to Tartaros with him to be his bride. This is one of the very few times in myth when Hades leaves Tartaros and comes back to the world of the living. He does so to get Persephone.

Demeter does not know what hapened to her daughter. She wanders the world looking for Persephone. During her wanderings, she visits the town of Eleusis, near Athens.

Eventually, Demeter forces Zeus's hand to try to get Persephone back by causig a famine, refusing to let any grain grow. If the famine continues, all humankind ill die out. Therefore, Zeus strikes a bargain between Hades and Demeter so that humanity will not starve to death.

Zeus begins by ordering Hades to return Persephone permanently. However, while Persephone was in Tartaros, she ate a seed of pomegranate and this means she can't leave Tartaros permanently. The idea, apparently, is if you eat a substance while you are in the underworld, you have to stay in the underworld.

The compromise that is reached under Zeus's mediation is that Persephone will spend one-third of the year in Hades, in Tartaros, with her husband Hades, and tho-thirds of the year on Olympus with her mother, Demeter.

Classical Mythology, E. Vandiver

The Abduction of Persephone. Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was also called KORE (“girl” or “maiden”). While she was picking beautiful flowers with the daughters of Ocean, Earth, at the will of Zeus and to please Hades, produced a most wondrous and radiant narcissus. As Persephone reached out to pluck the flower, Earth yawned open, and Hades appeared in his golden chariot and carried her away in tears. Persephone shouted and called out to Zeus, but he did not hear her for it was by his will that HADES, his brother and her uncle, carried her off to be his wife and queen of the Underworld.

Demeter’s Grief and Anger. Demeter heard her daughter’s screams and frantically rushed in pursuit. For nine days she did not eat ambrosia or drink nectar, nor did she bathe; she roamed the earth, disconsolate and holding burning torches in her hands. Hecate had heard Persephone’s screams, but could not tell Demeter who carried her daughter off. On the tenth day, the sun-god Helius, who had seen everything, explained to Demeter what had happened. He added that Demeter should not lament. Her brother Hades would make a fine husband for her daughter, since he was a great god, who when divine power was first divided three ways was made king of the Underworld.

Now that she knew the truth, Demeter’s grief was intensified and a great anger rose up in her heart against Zeus because he had willed the rape of her daughter. She avoided the gods on Olympus and, disguising her beautiful appearance, wandered among mortals.

Demeter Comes to Eleusis. She came to ELEUSIS and, grieving, sat in the shade beside the Maiden Well. She looked like a very old woman who might be a housekeeper or a children's nurse. The four daughters of the king of Eleusis, and METANEIRA, his wife, saw her there when they came to draw water and questioned her. Demeter answered that she would tell them the truth, but instead invented for herself a human identity. Her name is DOSO, and she was carried off from Crete by pirates, from whom she escaped when they disembarked. She does not know where she has come in her travels, but she hopes that the maidens will help her find work as a housekeeper or a nurse. Callidice, the most beautiful of the daughters of Celeus, suggested that the old woman remain at the well until they return home to ask their mother if they might come back to fetch her.

Demeter Arrives at the Home of Celeus and Metaneira. When the young women returned home and told their mother all about Doso, Metaneira directed them to return quickly and hire the woman at any price. For she cherished an only son, long prayed for, who needed care. So they brought the goddess to their house, grieving, with her head veiled and wearing a dark robe. As the goddess stood in the threshold her head reached up to the beams, and she filled the doorway with a divine radiance. Metaneira, overcome by awe, asked her guest to be seated. Demeter refused to sit on the splendid couch offered but instead waited until a servant IAMBE brought her an artfully made chair and threw a fleece over it. Then Demeter sat down, holding her veil over her face, silent and serious, tasting no food or drink and overcome by longing for her daughter. Iambe, however, with jests and jokes caused the holy lady to smile and laugh. She refused the red wine that Metaneira offered but instead ordered Metaneira to mix meal, water, and mint for her. The great lady Demeter accepted the drink for the sake of the holy rite, i.e., to initiate and observe the holy rite or sacrament. This drink very likely represented a kind of communion.

Demeter Nurses Demophoön. Metaneira promised Demeter great rewards if she would nurse her child DEMOPHOÖN, and bring him up. Demeter took the child to her bosom, promising that he would not be harmed by evil charms. She nourished him on ambrosia, and she breathed sweetness upon him, and he grew like a god. At night, she hid him in the fire, without the knowledge of his parents, who were amazed how their child grew and flourished. Demeter would have made Demophoön immortal, if foolish Metaneira had not spied upon her and cried out in terror because this stranger was burying her son within the blazing fire.

Demeter Reveals Her Divinity. Demeter was enraged at the stupidity of Metaneira, who by her interference had ruined Demeter’s plan to make the boy immortal. Nevertheless, Demeter would still allow Demophoön to flourish as a mortal and grant him imperishable honor because he had slept in her arms. Then Demeter proclaimed, “I am Demeter, esteemed and honored as the greatest benefit and joy to mortals and immortals,” and gave her instructions for the future of Eleusis. She cast off her old age and transformed her size and appearance. Fragrant beauty and a divine radiance breathed around her, and her golden hair flowed down on her shoulders. The house was filled with her brilliance as though with a lightning flash. She disappeared, and Metaneira was overcome by astonishment and fear.

Demeter’s Instructions. Before her disappearance, Demeter had ordered that the people of Eleusis build for her a great temple and an altar below the town on the rising hill above the well Kallichoron; she promised to teach them her rites so that by performing them with reverence they might propitiate her heart. King Celeus saw to it that Demeter’s will was accomplished.

Demeter’s Determined Grief. Demeter, still wasted with longing for her daughter, caused for mortals a most devastating year with no harvest. The earth would not send up a single sprout. By continuing in this fashion, she would not only have destroyed the entire human race with cruel famine but would also have deprived the Olympian gods of their glorious prestige from gifts and sacrifices. Zeus finally took notice. He sent Iris to Demeter in her temple at Eleusis with his command that she rejoin the company of the gods. Demeter refused to obey. So Zeus sent down all the immortal gods, who approached Demeter one by one, offering any gifts or honors that she might choose. Demeter stubbornly insisted that she would never set foot on Olympus until she with her own eyes saw her daughter again.

Zeus’ Orders to Hades. Thus Zeus was forced to send Hermes down to explain to Hades all that Demeter had said and done; Hermes also delivered the command that Persephone return with him out of the Underworld so that her mother might see her and desist from her wrath. Hades smiled grimly and immediately obeyed Zeus the king. He ordered Persephone to return with a loving heart to her mother; but he also told her that he was not an unworthy husband for her, since he was the full brother of her father Zeus and that while she was with him she would rule as his queen, a great goddess. Those who did not propitiate her power by performing holy rites and sacrifices would find eternal retribution.

Persephone Eats of the Pomegranate. Joyous Persephone jumped up quickly. But (according to the poet of the Hymn) Hades secretly gave his wife the fruit of the pomegranate to eat to ensure the fulfillment of his words to her as her husband; she should not remain the whole year above with her mother Demeter but would rule with him below for part of the time.
He then yoked his immortal horses to his golden chariot, which Persephone mounted. Hermes took the reins, and in no time at all they came to a halt in front of the temple where Demeter waited.

Demeter’s Ecstatic Reunion with Her Daughter. At the sight of her daughter, Demeter rushed out of the temple with the passion of a maenad, and Persephone leaped down from the chariot and ran to meet her mother, throwing her arms around her neck. Immediately Demeter sensed some treachery and asked if Persephone had eaten any food in the Underworld. If she had not, she would live with her father Zeus and mother Demeter above, but if she had eaten anything, she would live a third part of the year in the Underworld and the other two thirds in the upper world. With the burgeoning spring she would wondrously rise again from the gloomy region below. Demeter ended by asking by what trick Hades has deceived her.

Persephone said that she would tell the truth. According to her version (contradicting the description of Hades’ secret deception just given), when she jumped up at the news of her return, Hades swiftly put into her mouth the fruit of the pomegranate and compelled her to eat it by force, against her will. Then Persephone painfully described how Hades carried her off, despite her screams.

Their mutual grief was soothed by their loving and tender embraces. Hecate arrived and affectionately shared their joy. From that time on she became one of Persephone’s attendants.

Demeter Restores Fertility to the Earth. Zeus sent Rhea to lead Demeter back among the gods with the following message. He promised to grant Demeter the honors among the immortals that she would choose, and he consented that her daughter live a third part of the year below and the other two thirds above, with her mother and the other gods. Rhea swiftly rushed down and delivered Zeus’ pronouncements and encouraged Demeter to comply, first by restoring the earth's fertility for mortals. Demeter obeyed. She miraculously caused fruit to spring up from earth that had previously been barren, and the whole land blossomed with flowers.

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The Homeric Hymn to Demeter gives us insight into several aspects of ancient Athenian life.

First it reflects quite clearly on actual Greek marriage practices. A marriage in Athens was a contract between the groom and the bride’s father. It was a business transaction, almost, undertaken by two males, in which the girl was the object that was exchanged between the two males. The girl did not have to consent to the marriage. There was no legal or social requirement that she even had to be told ahead of time that she was going to be married. We can hope that most human fathers did at least tell their wives, and tell their daughters, that they were arranging a marriage for the daughter in question. Zeus’s giving Persephone to Hades without telling Demeter that this is going to happen is a bit extreme, but it si an extreme of normal practice. The idea is that the marriage is arranged between Zeus and Hades, rather than Hades asking Persephone, “Would you like to marry me?”

Secondly, Persephone marries her own uncle. Now, we have seen a lot of incest already among the gods. Zeus marries his sister, Demeter, and so on. But this, the marriage of a girl to her uncle, to her father’s brother, would not be considered incest in ancient Athens. In fact, when a man had only daughters—when he had no male heirs—it was not only appropriate, it was consider necessary that his eldest daughter marry his closest male relative, which normal meant her father’s brother, her own uncle. Such a girl was called an epikleros, a particular term for her. An epikleros was a daughter who was her father’s heir. Legally speaking, women could not inherit property in ancient Athens. Now, a man wanted his property to remain within his family. Normally, he would hand it down to his sons. A woman cannot hold property in her own right. If she marries outside her family, then the family’s property goes to another family. That is considered unacceptable. So, what do you do in this case? You marry the girl to the father’s nearest male relative, normally her uncle, and therefore the property stays within her direct male family. Persephone is acting as the epikleros when she is married off to her own uncle. She is the only child of the union between Demeter and Zeus, though she is not Zeus’s only child.

Another point worth making in this context is that human marriages in Athens, and Greece were patrilocal. This means that the bride moved in with her husband’s family. Persephone’s being taken to the Underworld is part of a normal practice. In Athenian society, the patrilocal nature of marriage meant that human mothers and daughters would have greatly restricted contact after the daughter was married. Athenian women, at least Athenian women of the middle and upper classes, were not supposed to leave their houses. They stayed inside; they were sequestered. They went out of their homes normally only for family funerals and for a few religious festivals per year. This means that if a daughter moved more than a very short distance away from her family home upon her marriage, she and her mother would quite likely never see one another again. If the daughter moved next door, undoubtedly Athenian women would talk to the next door neighbor from time to time. I don’t think there were locked up in their houses and unable to go out at all, but they were not able to move through the city freely. The fact of marriage for girls and their mothers probably did invoke a great deal of sorrow of the kind that Demeter shows in the Homeric Hymn—of mothers longing to get their daughters back and of daughters not being altogether willing to be married. The age of a bride at marriage would have been about 13 or 14.