Price: $ 30.00
Weight: 0.75 lbs (0.34 kgs)
Stock Status: In Stock

Persephone: Greek Queen of the Underworld

Size: 6-1/4" tall

'Holy Maiden of the Springtime meadow' Pale Queen of Hades' realm.' Persephone's legend forms the basis of the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries: Kore is abducted by Hades to be his bride in the Underworld. Demeter goes on strike so that huymans are starving. Demeter bargains with Zeus, setting the terms: Kore may return if She has not eaten. But Hades has persuaded Kore to eat three pomegranate seeds. She is reunited with Her mother in the Spring, but must return to Hades in the Fall.

Many interpretations of this myth exist. Some see it as an ancient justification for patriarchal bride capture. Others see it as a Greek retelling o the Sumerian myth of Inanna's Descent. Some see it as a metaphor for the existence of seasons, or for the grain that must lie in the Winter earth in order to sprout in the Spring. Indeed, one of the revealed mysteries of the Eleusinia is that an ear of wheat lies at the heart of the Mystery. Cicero says of the Mysteries that: 'We have grasped the basis not only for living with joy but also for dying with a sweeter hope.'

Perhaps the real meaning of the myth was that it was Persephone Herself who provided that sweeter hope because of Her sacrifice. Nobody goes willingly to death; we are all ravished by it, and yet it is only by the feminine power of the Goddess that death can become rebirth. Persephone was considered to be the true power of the Underworld and Hades Her consort was but a shadow figure by Her side. Persephone was the goddess to whom one prayed for the release of a critically ill loved one. She was the one who would greet you at the end of your life's journey, yet she was respected rather than feared.

Her Necromanteum ('oracle of the dead'), was where pilgrims went to seek answers from beyond the veil of life. Discovered in 1958 by Prof. Sotiris Dakaris, this oracle dates from the 14th century BCE. It was considered to be the actual entrance to the Underworld. The original of this figure was cast from molds unearthed at the Necromanteum itself.

--Morning Glory Zell