Narrative
The world is ever changing, it is evolving, expanding and dying. This change started when the Ruler of Death took the goddess of Spring from right underneath Mother Earth. No one knows when this infatuation started. Few knew Hades but one fact was for sure he was infatuated with the Spring Goddess. Hades lust for Persephone did not go unnoticed to those around him, the three headed beast that guards his realm noticed as well as the ferryman noticed the change, even Hades noticed his own change. Hades infatuation became desperate he knew he could not have Persephone, at least not without permission so he went to the overlord of the Gods, his brother of their entire kingdom and most importantly the Father of Persephone, Zeus. The mischievous Zeus allowed Hades to have Persephone and thus a tale of unfortunate or fortunate events begin. Persephone is a moment of complete serenity simply wandering in the Island of Sicily was whisked away by a golden chariot that were led by four black horses, Persephone was gone.
Demeter was a goddess and a mother, the love for her Kore was immense and ever expanding and the minute she noticed that her child was gone Demeter was distraught. Her feelings of her missing daughter became so immense it affected the world itself and declared that the world would not know life until her daughter is returned to her, thus the world entered an age of death and famine. It became cold and bleak and the smell of death was rampant in the air and continued to rage as Demeter grieved her the loss of her lovely Kore for as long as Kore was gone and the Poppy that she holds dear is the only item in the world that gives her enough comfort, death will continue to thrive. Zeus noticed this and finally saw the ramification of his actions and sent Slayer of Argos to Hades to persuade him to return the Goddess of Spring and with great contempt the King of the Underworld gave back his Queen to her mother only with one stipulation, the lovely Queen ate some pomegranate with the King before she leave which she obliges. When Kore returned to Demeter the world began to live again but when Demeter learned Kore ate pomegranate from the Underworld she knew the her Kore would become the Queen again and thus the cycle of life began.
Every time Kore left to become the Queen the Goddess of Agriculture weeped while holding a poppy. The world started to become cold and what was once living is dining once again until Queen returned as Kore but, as the years go by the Queen stay in the underworld became longer and leaving the world in more dread and death and leaving Demeter even more heartbroken. No one knows if or when Persephone will stop returning to the her mother or to Hades, all anyone really knows is when the time comes the world will change and no one is truly ready for it.
Analysis
The narrative was on the Kidnapping of Persephone and how it this event has caused the world to change, and how the subsequent events of this story can explain global warming in a theological sense. The story follows the Homer Hymn Book 2 To Demeter which follows the myth of Demeter when her Daughter was taken from her. The first paragraph is in the perspective of Hades. The research on reasoning as to why Hades decided to take varied as some state the reasoning was “ Hades, god of the Underworld, fell in love with beautiful Persephone” (Cartwright “Persephone” ) while others simply stated that “Hades desired a bride and petition his brother Zeus to grant him one of his daughters” (“RAPE OF PERSEPHONE”) with that knowledge the reasoning for Hades infatuation of Persephone was ambiguous as the narrative goes “No one knows when this infatuation started” this is to attribute the ambiguity of Hades reasoning but still show that his desire was strong. Other remnants in this paragraph is to establish Hades home in the underworld, the “three headed beast” which is Cerberus the “watchdog of the underworld” (Britannica “Cerberus” ) and the “ferryman” are Charon who help gather the dead as described in the Theoi Project writing on the Charon.
In the Homeric Hymn the process to abduct Persephone was seen as a difficult task alone therefore Hades directly asked Zeus for the right to have Persephone the Hymn stated “ Trim-ankled daughter whose Aidoneus rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus the loud thunderer.” (Homeric Hymn 2). The reason that Zeus could give Persephone away to Hades is due to the fact Zeus fathered Persephone with Demeter (“Demeter”, 1997). The many names that is given to Zeus is to show his power over the gods, having the multiple titles shows the authority that Zeus has over even his brother Hades and Demeter. This power and authority can blind people even gods to the consequences to their actions so in the following paragraph it establishes Zeus regret giving his daughter away without the knowledge of her mother and then his subsequent recall of Hades request to have Persephone.
Persephone being Demeter daughter has a huge effect on Persephone identity. In the World History Encyclopedia on Persephone specifically she is often referred to as ‘Kore’ which “[signifies] both ‘daughter’ and ‘maiden’ in Greek Mythology” (Cartwright “Persephone”) therefore when discussing Persephone with Demeter the name used for her is ‘Kore’ but it also shows the multiple sides of Persephone. The narrative calls the Goddess of Spring three names, Persephone, Kore and Queen. The name Persephone is used just to explain that she is the Goddess of Spring, Kore is used to show she is the daughter of Demeter while Queen is to directly show that she is married to Hades and is now the Queen of the underworld. Demeter during the majority of the story is distraught over her daughter being missing which reflects the Homeric Hymn “ But grief more dread and bitter fell upon her, and thereafter she was wroth with Cronion, who has dark clouds for his dwelling. She kept apart from the gathering of the gods and from tall Olympos” (Homeric Hymn 2.90-168) and the “taking of life” is from the grief she experience with Persephone gone as was states “For she thought no more forever to enter fragrant Olympos, and no more to allow the earth to bear her fruit, until her eyes should behold her fair-faced daughter.” (Homeric Hymn 2.320-333). After she took life away from the earth everything was cold this os suppose to represent winter, or a time of death, in winter animals go to hibernate and plants start to die due to the frigid temperatures and the awful conditions the world is in. This time of the year is also difficult for humans as food becomes harder to access and essentially aspects of life such as heat become harder to access as well. In the real world the Homeless are more likely to suffer during the winter as many articles when talking about homelessness use winter as a benchmark for possible tragedy in the community. Demeter taking away life and fertility from the earth essentially leads to the people starving and going cold which consequently leads to deaths of thousands of lives. The poppy that Demeter held can mean symbolize a multitude of meaning. In greek mythology the poppy is said to have grown “amongst the grain-fields” and due to that it is regarded as “sacred” (“DEMETER ESTATE”) to those who follow Demeter, it is believed that the priestesses even wore the poppy to signify their devotion towards Demeter.
The final part of this narrative is following the return of Persephone, with Hades tricking her into eating Pomegranate seeds with the sole plan of making sure no matter what happens Persephone is forced to return to Hades once again. The return also shows the return of fertility “ speedily she sent up the grain from the rich soil, and the wide earth was heavy with leaves and flowers.” (Homeric Hymn 2.470-495) Persephone home she returns life to earth but this can explain the season change from Spring to Winter. During Persephone stay with Demeter she is the the Goddess of Spring, and therefore she is giving life to earth and is keeping her mother happy who took away life when Persephone was gone, but when Persephone goes back to the Underworld for her mandatory stay she is the Queen of death itself and season of death, winter, is on earth and fertility is taken away from earth during the time Persephone is not with her mother. Therefore the last paragraph explain the crisis of climate change due to Persephone staying in the underworld longer than she should.
Climate change is the death of the world, the constant fluctuation in earth temperature to make it harder to live in which causes higher death rates. Persephone staying in the Underworld represent life dying out but also the longer winter, the longer lack of fertility and the shortened duration of time with Demeter shows the shorter period of sick growth, and sustainable living period, a shorter period of life. The end of the narrative is the question of which side Persephone chooses to stay can affect the very essence of life at the moment, this is to reflect the people of earth and their actions towards climate change. A lack of action towards climate change and global warming would be Persephone going Hades while direct action to stop climate change can show Persephone choosing Demeter. Essentially Persephone choice on who she stays represent the worlds action on Climate epidemic going on right now.
References
Cartwright, Mark. “Persephone.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 6
Mar. 2021, www.ancient.eu/persephone/.
“Cerberus.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
www.britannica.com/topic/Cerberus.
“DEMETER ESTATE.” DEMETER ESTATE & ATTRIBUTES - Greek Mythology,
www.theoi.com/Olympios/DemeterTreasures.html.
“Demeter.” Demeter | Facts, Information, and Mythology, 3 May 1997,
pantheon.org/articles/d/demeter.html.
“Hades.” Hades | Facts, Information, and Mythology, 3 Mar. 1997,
pantheon.org/articles/h/hades.html.
Homeric Hymn Book 2.To Demeter.1-89.302-389.470-495
“KHARON.” CHARON (Kharon) - Ferryman of the Dead, Underworld Daemon of Greek
Mythology, www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Kharon.html.
“RAPE OF PERSEPHONE.” RAPE OF PERSEPHONE - Greek Mythology,
www.theoi.com/Khthonios/HaidesPersephone1.html.
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