Source Verification: The Abduction of Persephone
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Did Zeus allow Hades to take Persephone?
Yes, and the oldest source says so in its opening lines. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter calls Persephone the daughter "whom Aidoneus rapt away, given to him by all-seeing Zeus." Persephone herself later tells her mother that Hades carried her off "by the deep plan of my father." Retellings that present the abduction as a theft Zeus knew nothing about are softening the text rather than following it.
Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter 1-20; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 405-415
Did Persephone eat the pomegranate seed willingly?
The Homeric Hymn gives two accounts within a few dozen lines and they do not agree. The narrator says Hades "secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain" with Demeter. Persephone, telling her mother, says he "secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will." The narrator describes a trick and Persephone describes force.
Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter 370-374; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 405-415
How much of the year does Persephone spend in the underworld?
A third of it, in the oldest surviving account. The Homeric Hymn has Demeter tell her daughter to "dwell a third part of the seasons every year: yet for the two parts you shall be with me and the other deathless gods." The familiar half-and-half division comes from later tradition, and the version in Ovid is the one most modern retellings follow.
Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter 398-403
Why does this myth explain the seasons?
Because the grief of Demeter, not the absence of Persephone in itself, is what stops the earth growing. The Hymn has the goddess of harvest withdraw her gift while the search goes on, so nothing sprouts. The seasonal cycle follows from the settlement: the earth blooms when mother and daughter are reunited each spring and fails again when Persephone returns below.
Source: Homeric Hymn to Demeter 398-403
Where Accounts Differ
- consent variant
- duration variant
- Consent variant: the narrator of the Homeric Hymn says Hades gave Persephone the seed secretly; Persephone tells her mother it was forced on her against her will. The two accounts sit a few dozen lines apart in the same poem.
- Duration variant: the Homeric Hymn assigns Persephone a third of the year below and two thirds above. The half-and-half division familiar from modern retellings follows later tradition, chiefly Ovid.
Sources
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 1-20
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 370-374
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 398-403
- Homeric Hymn to Demeter 405-415
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
- Ovid, Fasti
- Helene P. Foley, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (1994)
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)