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Trollheart · 11-20-2012, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayvan Cowboy

I was almost named Persephone, which is a goddess of the underworld. my mom found out that she was actually abducted by hades so she went with a shorter, less underworldy name.

My short description of the legend, from my website which looks at all things mythological...

PERSEPHONE
A daughter of Zeus and Demeter, Persephone was carried off to the Underworld by Hades, who, having received the sanction of his brother---and Persephone's father---Zeus, suddenly rose up from a hole in the earth while the girl was gathering narcissus, seized her and dragged her, in his black chariot, down to the kingdom of the dead. Persephone, frightened, implored the gods to help her, but Zeus' word having been given to his brother, he made no move to help, nor would he suffer any of the other gods to render assistance to the stricken girl.

Demeter searched the Earth in vain, looking for a sign of her abducted daughter, until she finally found out where Persephone had been taken. On learning this, she entreated the gods to return her daughter to her, and they agreed, with one proviso:if Persephone had eaten of nothing of the Underworld, they said, she would be released. But if she had tasted a morsel, she must remain. Unfortunately Persephone had already eaten half of a pomegranate that Hades had offered her as proof of his love, and thus she was destined to remain with the shadowy king. However, a compromise was reached, in which Persephone was allowed to spend half of the year with her mother and the gods on Olympus, with the other half being passed in the Underworld, as the consort of Hades.

As queen of the shades she had control over the various dreaded beings whose occupation was to beguile men to their deaths, like the Sirens, or to avenge murder and other heinous crimes, as did the Erinys.