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Persephone
Persephone (aka Kore) was the Greek goddess of agriculture and vegetation, especially grain, and the wife of Hades, the ruler of the Underworld. Persephone was an important element of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Thesmophoria festival...
Definition
Demeter
Demeter was one of the oldest gods in the ancient Greek pantheon. Demeter was a goddess of agriculture and guaranteed the fertility of the earth. She protected both farming and vegetation. The close connection with the earth was inherited...
Definition
Zagreus
In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated with the wine god Dionysus, the underworld, and hunting. A son of Zeus and Persephone, he is known in the Orphic tradition as the first incarnation of Dionysus, whilst other...
Definition
Hades
Hades was both the name of the ancient Greek god of the underworld (Roman name: Pluto) and the name of the shadowy place below the earth which was considered the final destination for the souls of the dead. Perhaps the most feared of the...
Definition
Eleusis
Eleusis was a deme of Athens and most famous for its annual festival of the Mysteries in honour of Demeter and Persephone. The site was also an important fortress protecting Attica and held several other important festivals, notably the Thesmophoria...
Video
Persephone-Kore the Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld
Persephone-Kore was an agricultural deity as the goddess of spring, vegetation, and of grain, but she was also the Queen of the underworld and wife of Hades and, to the Romans, she was known as Proserpina. She was the daughter of Zeus, king...
Article
The Eleusinian Mysteries: The Rites of Demeter
The Rites of Eleusis, or the Eleusinian Mysteries, were the secret rituals of the mystery school of Eleusis and were observed regularly from c. 1600 BCE - 392 CE. Exactly what this mystic ritual was no one knows; but why the ancient Greeks...
Article
A Visual Who's Who of Greek Mythology
Achilles The hero of the Trojan War, leader of the Myrmidons, slayer of Hector and Greece's greatest warrior, who sadly came unstuck when Paris sent a flying arrow guided by Apollo, which caught him in his only weak spot, his heel...
Video
Persephone, Queen of the Underworld
Learn all about the myth and legend of Persephone! Kelly Macquire tells the story of the goddess of grain and the queen of the underworld in Greek Mythology, Persephone. Persephone, also known as Kore or Proserpina is the Greek goddess...
Image
Persephone Sarcophagus (Detail)
The Persephone Sarcophagus is on display in the Aachen, Germany Cathedral Treasury, and may have once held the bones of Charlemagne (d. 814 CE). The sarcophagus depicts "The Rape of Persephone," and was constructed in Rome sometime in the...