ABSTRACT
Persephone was exceptionally beautiful, and her mother Demeter shut her away in her favourite island of Sicily to keep her safe. There, in the woods near Henna, Persephone used to pass her time with the Oceanids. But one day, when they were picking flowers together, Persephone wandered apart from the rest and saw a large dark-blue narcissus, placed there by Zeus, who had accepted his brother Hades’ request to marry the girl and, in the face of Demeter’s known objections, hoped to trick her into accepting an accomplished fact. Now that Persephone was safely alone, Hades rose in his chariot from the earth, seized her despite her screams and carried her off. The nymph Cyane, who witnessed the abduction, protested in vain, and in her grief melted into water. When Demeter eventually discovered Persephone’s whereabouts, she could only contrive to win her back on the condition that while in her wooer’s house she had eaten nothing. Ascalaphus, however, was able to tell Hades that the girl had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, so Hades claimed his rights as husband. A compromise was arranged, however, and Hermes brought Persephone and Demeter before the throne of Zeus, who decreed that Persephone must pass four (or, some said, six) months a year with Hades as queen of the Underworld, and the rest of the time on earth.
