Persephone (Proserpina)

While Persephone was still the "maid" Kore, Hades fell desperately in love with her and asked Zeus for her hand in marriage. Zeus did not wish to offend his elder brother by refusing, but knew that her mother Demeter would never forgive him if he allowed her to be confined in Tartarus. So, he responded, diplomatically, that he could neither reject nor comply with the request. Hades took this as an authorization to take what he wanted by force. One day, while Persephone was gathering flowers on the plain of Nysa, in Boeotia (or near Enna, in Sicily), the earth opened up and Hades emerged from the dark depths of the kingdom of the dead. He seized Kore and carried her away on his golden chariot, drawn by immortal black horses. The girl cried out to her father Zeus, who did not hear her, or pretended not to. But her ineffectual cry did reach Hecate and Helios, who told Demeter of the abduction. As long as she remained beneath the vault of heaven, Kore did not give up the hope of returning to her mother and seeing the other gods again, but when her uncle dragged her into the depths of the earth she resigned herself to reigning over the kingdom of the dead.

Last Edited On: 08/13/99

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