Persephone

1. Persephone

2. Persephone • Daughter of Demeter • Demeter: Goddess of the harvest • Ceres and Persephone were close and loved each other • One day, while gathering flowers Hades came up from the underworld and stole her. • The only witness was a swine herd

3. Persephone and Hades • Persephone did not want to marry Hades. • She did not enjoy the underworld. • Demeter searched the earth for her daughter and neglected her godly duties. • Crops, plants and trees all die. • People and animals start to starve. • The gods begged her to bless the Earth so plants could grow • As long as he daughter was missing she refused.

4. Demeter • Triptolemus, the swine herder, tells her that he saw Persephone disappear into the ground. • She tells Zeus that the world will lay barren if he does not command Hades to return her daughter. • Hermes sent to Hades

5. A duel life • Persephone had eaten several seeds from a pomegranate while in the underworld. • She had to spend a month in the underworld for each seed. • When Persephone was in the underworld no plants grew. • When mother and daughter were together crops would grow.

6. Demeter • She showed man how to plant seeds and harvest the food. • This allowed man to live during the winter.

8. Citation • Kleiner, Fred S. A History of Roman Art. Victoria: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007. Print. • D’Aulaire, Ingri and D’Aulaire Edgar. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Delacorte Press, 1962. Print