The Return of Persephone
Frederic Leighton, 1891
Leighton depicts Hermes helping Persephone to return to her mother Demeter after Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone.
Orphic Hymn to Persephone
Persephone, Daughter of Zeus, blessed
Only begotten, gracious Goddess, receive this good offering,
Much honoured, you, overpowered by Pluto, you are beloved and lifegiving,
You hold the doors of Hades under the depths of the earth;
Transactor of Justice, your beloved hair the sacred olive branch of the enemy
Mother of the Eumenides, Queen of the Underworld,
You, maiden from Zeus through secret begetting.
Mother of loud-shouting, many-shaped Bacchus.
Playmate of the moving seasons, lightbringing, of beautiful form,
Holy, ruler of all, maiden, showering fruits,
Radiant, horned, you alone are longed for by mortals.
You are Spring, delighting in fragrant meadows
Your sacred body appears to us in growing fruits and branches.
Raped into your marriage bed in the late autumn
You alone are life and death to distressed mortals.
Persephone. You are forever the nourisher and the death bringer.
Listen, blessed Goddess and send up fruits from the earth
In peace, flourishing in health from your soothing hand;
And, in life abundance, leading to richness of old age
Then to your realm O Sovereign, and to powerful Pluto.
Love the new blog look!
ReplyDeleteDo you think Persephone was really kidnapped or do you think that is a very loose interpretation?
Thanks! I hope people will like it. It was time for a facelift.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I can answer your question without a little pondering. What do you mean by a loose interpretation?
I mean, do you think it is a metaphor or is it literal truth? Do you think the Gods would have forced Persephone to marry a man who kidnapped her and raped her? And if so, what does that say about our Gods and victims' rights? Or is it a metaphor (or explanation by Demeter) for Hades and Persephone eloping or something deeper?
ReplyDeleteWell...this is deep, but here goes...
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it's exactly the literal truth, in that these are mythos that have been handed down for centuries, and therefore have a great deal to do with archetypal energies and being part of a larger cosmology - greater methods by which we humans attempt to understand the Cosmos as created by Divinity.
However, as it pertains to the specific Pantheon of the Greeks, yes...I do think that Hades used his power and jurisdiction to abduct and keep Persephone away from the eyes of the rest of the Gods (except Hekate...and there's a mystery in that alone) and that the unspoken Laws of the Gods entitled him to that conquest - for right or for wrong. Theoretically, Hades would have been as powerful as Poseidon and Zeus (remember, the three brothers drew lots for their realms. Had Hades won the Heavens, he would likely be thought of as King of the Gods rather than Zeus.
It's also important to keep in mind that at this point in Hellenistic society, the influence of men and patriarchal society had superseded the matriarchal society; which is why Hades could get away with what He had done. For example, research actually shows that Hera was more revered than Zeus initially - the Great Mother Goddess...Queen of Heaven...etc. - and therefore had to 'become' His wife when the Sky God's cult came into power. This is a common theme with religion - the new gods absorb (or eradicate) the old. This is why many of the the Celtic Gods and Goddesses were incorporated into the early Christian church, for example.
I only mention that to illustrate the somewhat overt misogyny that is included in many of the Greek mythos. They illustrate the beginning (only the beginning...and it would get much worse) of the lessening of woman's place in the context of Divinity.
Now...did that make sense at all? :)