Persephone
<p >In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology" title="Greek mythology" >Greek mythology</a>, <b>Persephone</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/pərˈsɛfəniː/</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pronunciation_respelling_key" title="Wikipedia:Pronunciation respelling key" ><i>per-<b>seh</b>-fə-nee</i></a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a>: Περσεφόνη), also called<b>Kore</b> or <b>Cora</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/ˈkɔəriː/</a>; "the maiden"),<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#cite_note-1" >[n 1]</a></sup> is the daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus" >Zeus</a> and the harvest goddess<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter" title="Demeter" >Demeter</a>, and is the queen of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_underworld" title="Greek underworld" >underworld</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer" title="Homer" >Homer</a> describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic princess of the underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. Persephone was abducted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades" title="Hades" >Hades</a>, the god-king of the underworld.<sup id="cite_ref-Nilsson462_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#cite_note-Nilsson462-2" >[1]</a></sup> The myth of her abduction represents her function as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification" title="Personification" class="mw-redirect" >personification</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation" title="Vegetation" >vegetation</a>, which shoots forth in<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_(season)" title="Spring (season)" >spring</a> and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation. Similar myths appear in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient" title="Orient" >Orient</a>, in the cults of male gods like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attis" title="Attis" >Attis</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonis" title="Adonis" >Adonis</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris" title="Osiris" >Osiris</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#cite_note-3" >[2]</a></sup> and in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_civilization" title="Minoan civilization" >Minoan</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crete" title="Crete" >Crete</a>.
Persephone as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation_deity" title="Vegetation deity" >vegetation goddess</a> and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_mysteries" title="Eleusinian mysteries" class="mw-redirect" >Eleusinian mysteries</a> that predated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympian_pantheon" title="Olympian pantheon" class="mw-redirect" >Olympian pantheon</a> and promised the initiated a more enjoyable prospect after death. Persephone is further said to have become by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus" >Zeus</a> the mother of<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus" title="Dionysus" >Dionysus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iacchus" title="Iacchus" >Iacchus</a>, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagreus" title="Zagreus" >Zagreus</a>, usually in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphic" title="Orphic" class="mw-redirect" >orphic</a> tradition. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on very old agrarian cults of agricultural communities.
Persephone was commonly worshipped along with Demeter and with the same mysteries. To her alone were dedicated the mysteries celebrated at Athens in the month of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthesterion" title="Anthesterion" class="mw-redirect" >Anthesterion</a>. In<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_in_ancient_Greece" title="Art in ancient Greece" class="mw-redirect" >Classical Greek art</a>, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed, often carrying a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sheaf" class="extiw" title="wikt:sheaf" >sheaf</a> of grain. She may appear as a mystical divinity with a sceptre and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the act of being carried off by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades_(mythology)" title="Hades (mythology)" class="mw-redirect" >Hades</a>.
In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology" title="Roman mythology" >Roman mythology</a>, she is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proserpina" title="Proserpina" >Proserpina</a>, and her mother, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(Roman_mythology)" title="Ceres (Roman mythology)" class="mw-redirect" >Ceres</a>.
 
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