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Statue of Persephone, discovered in Taranto, dating to 480-460 B.C., now in the Pergamonmuseum, Berlin, Germany.
Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was also called Kore (“Maiden”) and was the Lady of the World of the Dead. According to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the maiden was abducted by the god of the Underworld, Hades, who made her his wife. Her mother, in despair for her daughter’s disappearance, caused the withering of the crops, endangering humankind’s survival. Zeus was obliged to intervene, sending the god Hermes to bring back Persephone to her mother. Hades acquiesced, but gave to Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat, thus binding the maiden to periodically return to him. Persephone had thus to spend two thirds of the year with her mother, and the remaining third with her husband in the World of the Dead. The hymn to Demeter situates Persephone’s return from the Underworld in correspondence with the blossoming of the flowers in the springtime (v. 401-403). From this it could be surmised that the seclusion period of the goddess corresponded to winter. There are other data, however, such as the following: a) the fact that the girl’s abduction takes place while she is gathering spring flowers; b) that the reunion of Demeter and Persephone was solemnized in autumn, at the time of sowing; c) that in the Eleusinian feasts was celebrated the epiphany, that is the return, of Persephone in the month of Boedromion (September-October). All these elements could suggest that the period of departure of the girl was during the summer months. It is probable that the Hymn had combined together two originally different conceptions: 1) the notion of a general seasonal cycle of vegetation, which seems languishing and “dyeing” during the winter, and to be reborn in the springtime, which associates the new flourishing with Persephone’s figure and with the World of the Dead, regarded as the source of vital energy and of the periodical regeneration of life; 2) another notion, more specifically associated with the cycle of the cultivation of cereals, personified by Demeter, which seems to “die” at the harvest time, leaving the fields bare and withered during the summer months. Supporting this interpretation, is the fact that in the Homeric poems Persephone is never declared as Demeter’s daughter, and that in several Greek cities the goddess of the Underworld was worshiped with cults thoroughly independent from those dedicated to Demeter (Cassola 1994, p. 24).
The episode of the pomegranate, with the seed of which Hades links Persephone to himself, is justified by the fact that this fruit was associated with a symbolism of fertility, probably because of the presence of several seeds inside it and of the red colour of the pulp as well. If the pomegranate contains various meanings – the reference to the fertility of both humans and fields, the motherhood function and the World of the Dead from which the “food of the Underworld” comes – it is interesting to emphasize how this symbol expresses the strict contiguity between death and the vital energy, where death seems to be interpreted as a transformation process aimed at the creation of new life. Furthermore, the pomegranate was not an attribute of Persephone only, but also of Demeter herself. At Selinunte, in Sicily, was located a temple dedicated to Demeter Malophoros (“Apple Bearer”), where the excavations have brought to light a great number of votive clay statuettes representing the goddess holding a pomegranate in her hand (Price 1999: p. 51-52). In the Christian era, the pomegranate became an attribute of the Virgin Mary, as is evidenced in the pictorial representations of Tuscan and Umbrian art in the XIV and XV centuries. One evidence of it is the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Granato (“Virgin of the Pomegranate”) at Carpaccio Vecchia (province of Salerno) (Cosi, 2005).

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone]




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Statue of Persephone, discovered in Taranto, dating to 480-460 B.C., now in the Pergamonmuseum, Berlin, Germany. Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus, was also called Kore (“Maiden”) and was the Lady of the World of the Dead. According to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the maiden was abducted by the god of the Underworld, Hades, who made her his wife. Her mother, in despair for her daughter’s disappearance, caused the withering of the crops, endangering humankind’s survival. Zeus was obliged to intervene, sending the god Hermes to bring back Persephone to her mother. Hades acquiesced, but gave to Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat, thus binding the maiden to periodically return to him. Persephone had thus to spend two thirds of the year with her mother, and the remaining third with her husband in the World of the Dead. The hymn to Demeter situates Persephone’s return from the Underworld in correspondence with the blossoming of the flowers in the springtime (v. 401-403). From this it could be surmised that the seclusion period of the goddess corresponded to winter. There are other data, however, such as the following: a) the fact that the girl’s abduction takes place while she is gathering spring flowers; b) that the reunion of Demeter and Persephone was solemnized in autumn, at the time of sowing; c) that in the Eleusinian feasts was celebrated the epiphany, that is the return, of Persephone in the month of Boedromion (September-October). All these elements could suggest that the period of departure of the girl was during the summer months. It is probable that the Hymn had combined together two originally different conceptions: 1) the notion of a general seasonal cycle of vegetation, which seems languishing and “dyeing” during the winter, and to be reborn in the springtime, which associates the new flourishing with Persephone’s figure and with the World of the Dead, regarded as the source of vital energy and of the periodical regeneration of life; 2) another notion, more specifically associated with the cycle of the cultivation of cereals, personified by Demeter, which seems to “die” at the harvest time, leaving the fields bare and withered during the summer months. Supporting this interpretation, is the fact that in the Homeric poems Persephone is never declared as Demeter’s daughter, and that in several Greek cities the goddess of the Underworld was worshiped with cults thoroughly independent from those dedicated to Demeter (Cassola 1994, p. 24). The episode of the pomegranate, with the seed of which Hades links Persephone to himself, is justified by the fact that this fruit was associated with a symbolism of fertility, probably because of the presence of several seeds inside it and of the red colour of the pulp as well. If the pomegranate contains various meanings – the reference to the fertility of both humans and fields, the motherhood function and the World of the Dead from which the “food of the Underworld” comes – it is interesting to emphasize how this symbol expresses the strict contiguity between death and the vital energy, where death seems to be interpreted as a transformation process aimed at the creation of new life. Furthermore, the pomegranate was not an attribute of Persephone only, but also of Demeter herself. At Selinunte, in Sicily, was located a temple dedicated to Demeter Malophoros (“Apple Bearer”), where the excavations have brought to light a great number of votive clay statuettes representing the goddess holding a pomegranate in her hand (Price 1999: p. 51-52). In the Christian era, the pomegranate became an attribute of the Virgin Mary, as is evidenced in the pictorial representations of Tuscan and Umbrian art in the XIV and XV centuries. One evidence of it is the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Granato (“Virgin of the Pomegranate”) at Carpaccio Vecchia (province of Salerno) (Cosi, 2005). [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone]