Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone (Ancient Greek: Περσεφόνη (Persephónē), also called Kore, (Ancient Greek: Κόρη), meaning "The Maiden"), is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter. She is the Greek Goddess of Spring Growth, and is the queen of the underworld.

The Greek horae of Growth Auxesia is also sometimes thought to be one of her titles.

Myths & Legends
Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon and promised the initiated a more enjoyable prospect after death.

The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on very old agrarian cults of agricultural communities.

Persephone was commonly worshipped along with Demeter and with the same mysteries. To her alone were dedicated the mysteries celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion. In Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed robed, often carrying a sheaf of grain. She may appear as a mystical divinity with a scepter and a little box, but she was mostly represented in the process of being carried off by Hades.

Abduction into the Underworld
Persephone was married to Hades, the god-king of the underworld. Homer describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic princess of the underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead.

The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation.

In the oral tellings of the story, rather than the Orphic written sources, the Chthonic gods Zagreus and Melinoe are said to have been conceived by Hades and Persephone when they mated in the form of snakes.