Demeter and Persephone Sam, Andy, Ethan, William, Hamza

Summary One day, Persephone, playing in a meadow was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld. In the underworld, she was offered many types of food but denied them all, because once she ate food from the underworld she would be trapped there. One day, a little boy was eating a pomegranate and offered six seeds to her, Persephone, starving ate the six seeds. During her time away, her mother, Demeter in anger caused every crop to wither and turned the earth barren. Zeus intervening to stop this, could not bring Persephone back as she had eaten the six pomegranate seeds. Thus, it was decided that Persephone spend six months in the underworld and six months on earth with her mother. The period in the underworld corresponded to the winter and fall season, during which Demeter would make the ground barren due to her grief, while her daughters return marked the start of the spring. Hence Persephone being the goddess of Spring and the Underworld

Symbols Pomegranate - known as the fruit of the dead and anyone who ate the food of the dead must stay in the underworld. Flowers - Flowers were associated with life and death, also symbolised the return of spring after winter. The Torch- relates to the torches Demeter used in her search for Persephone

Characters in Demeter and Persephone Demeter – Vengeful, Protective, Stubborn -You could also argue that both Demeter and Hades are selfish as Hades kidnapped Persephone and Demeter was threatening the lives of everyone on Earth to get Persephone back to her. Persephone – Innocent, Sad, Naive Hades –Lonely, Sneaky, Cunning

Themes and Motifs Theme: -Family Love Motifs: Loneliness Sadness Selfishness

Values and Beliefs Being fair. Ex: Zeus letting Persephone stay in Olympus even though she ate food from the underworld. Compromise. Ex: Although Zeus let Persephone stay in Olympus she has to spend 4 months in the underworld, because of the 4 pomegranate seeds.

Myths similarities to other myths The Persephone's story is meant to explain the turning of the seasons and it also has strong relation to the nature. When the goddess of spring, Persephone, makes her yearly descent into the world of the dead, her mother, Demeter, spreads winter over the earth. In the ancient Greek, people cannot explain some natural phenomenon so they use mythology to explain it. This kind of myths are called nature-myth.For example, Pandora‘s box, the story explains the reasons why the world has diseases, evils and bad things. The story also tells the resentment between the gods. That is very common in Greek mythology for example the story of Zeus fought with his father and became the king of Mount Olympus.

Myth to modern society -This story explains the four seasons -It tells us what happens if you’re way too selfish -You shouldn't force people to do things that they don't like -When you create problems for others, there will be consequences.

Discussion Do you think Demeter overreacted to Hades taking his daughter away? Why or why not?