PERSEPHONE was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. In cult and in mythology Demeter and Persephone were closely associated, being known together as the two goddesses, the venerable or august goddesses, sometimes as the great god desses. The latter is often called Kore ("the Maiden") ; whether this results from the identification of two different goddesses, or not, is uncertain. She is the consort of Hades (see PLUTO), who carried her off as she was gathering flowers.
Demeter sought her in vain ; in her sorrow, she caused a famine, and men would have died of hunger if Zeus had not persuaded Hades to let Persephone go. But she had eaten, in the underworld, the seed of a pomegranate, and thus she could not stay away from him for ever. So it was arranged that she should spend two-thirds (according to later authors, one-half) of every year with her mother and the heavenly gods, and should pass the rest of the year with Hades beneath the earth. There can be little doubt that this is a mythological expression for the growth of vegeltion in spring and its disappearance in autumn. As wife of Hades Persephone sent spectres, ruled the ghosts, and carried into effect the curses of men. From the head of a dying person she, or Thanatos (Death), was supposed to cut a lock of hair which had been kept sacred and unshorn through life (Virgil, Aen., iv. 698 et seq., Eurip. Alc., 74-76).
On the other hand, in her character of goddess of spring Persephone was honoured with flower-festivals in Sicily and at Hipponium in Italy. Sicily was a favourite haunt of the two goddesses, and ancient tradition affirmed that the whole island was sacred to them. The Sicilians claimed to be the first on whom Demeter had bestowed the gift of grain, and hence they honoured the two goddesses with many festivals. They cele brated the festival of Demeter when the grain began to shoot, and the descent of Persephone when it was ripe. Demeter and Persephone were worshipped together by the Athenians at the greater and less Eleusinian festivals, held in autumn and spring respectively (see MYSTERY). At Rome Persephone's name was corrupted into Proserpina (q.v.) ; she was sometimes identified with the native Latin goddess Libera. The pomegranate was Persephone's symbol, and the pigeon and cock were sacred to her. In works of art she appears with a cornucopia or with ears of wheat and a cock. As the wife of Hades she was represented with the insignia of royalty and a torch. The regular form of her name was Persephone, but various other forms occur : Pher sephone, Persephassa, Phersephassa, Pherrephatta, etc.