When Demeter heard, with a sharp pang in her heart, the cry of her daughter Persephone as she was torn from the world of the living by the burning love of Hades, she flew like a bird over lands and sea in search of her, wandering for nine days and nights with two flaming torches in her hands. She refused to touch either nectar or ambrosia, which are the food of the gods.
Enraged with the whole of Olympus, Demeter's anger turned to fury when, on the tenth day of her search, Poseidon dared to rape her. She then decided never to mount into Heaven again and to abdicate her divine function. This resulted in a world-wide drought and the lack of new harvests. Zeus was forced to send Hermes to the world of the dead and bring Persephone back to her mother. However, as she had eaten food while in the kingdom of Hades (a pomegranate seed that her husband had given her on purpose), Persephone was obliged to spend a third of the year in the Underworld, remaining on earth with her mother for the other two thirds.