
Proserpina.
Proserpina, also known as Proserpine or Libera, was a Roman goddess of fertility, grain, wine and agriculture, and the queen of the Roman Underworld.
Description[]
She was the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Persephone along with her mother Demeter. She was also combined with the Roman Goddess Libera who is also her sister. Libera was originally daughter of the agricultural goddess Ceres and wife to Liber, god of wine and freedom.
She was the daughter of the Roman goddess Ceres and married either to the gods Liber or Pluto. The connection to the Underworld appeared to have been borrowed from Greek mythology, where Hades had stolen the goddess Persephone as his bride.
Like Persephone, Proserpina is associated with the underworld realm and its ruler; and along with her mother Ceres, with the springtime growth of crops and the cycle of life, death and rebirth or renewal. Proserpina's figure inspired many artistic compositions, eminently in sculpture and in literature. For reasons that may be obvious, a variety of pomegranate is called Proserpina.
History[]
Abduction of Proserpina[]
The best-known myth surrounding Proserpina is of her abduction by the god of the Underworld, her mother Ceres' frantic search for her, and her eventual but temporary restitution to the world above. Venus, in order to bring love to Pluto, sent her son Amor (also known as Cupid) to hit Pluto with one of his arrows.
Proserpina was in Sicily, at the Pergusa Lake near Enna, where she was playing with some nymphs and collecting flowers, when Pluto came out from the volcano Etna with four black horses named Orphnaecus, Aethon, Nycteus and Alastor. He abducted her in order to marry her and live with her in Hades, of which he was the ruler. Pluto was also her uncle, being Jupiter's (and Ceres's) brother and she is therefore Queen of the Underworld.
Her mother Ceres, the goddess of agriculture or the Earth, went looking for her across all of the world, and all in vain. She was unable to find anything but a small belt floating upon a little lake made from the tears of the nymphs. In her desperation, Ceres angrily stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables, bestowing a malediction on Sicily. Ceres refused to return to Mount Olympus and started walking the Earth, creating a desert with each step.
Worried, Jupiter sent Mercury to order Pluto to free Proserpina. Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go he made her eat six pomegranate seeds, because those who have eaten the food of the dead could not return to the world of the living. This meant that she would have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with her mother. When Ceres welcomes her daughter back in the spring the earth blossoms, and when Proserpina must be returned to her husband it withers.
Queen of the Underworld[]
In another version of the story, Proserpina ate only four pomegranate seeds, and she did so of her own accord. When Jupiter ordered her return, Pluto struck a deal with Jupiter, saying that since she had stolen his pomegranate seeds, she must stay with him four months of the year in return. For this reason, in spring when Ceres receives her daughter back, the crops blossom, and in summer they flourish.
In the autumn Ceres changes the leaves to shades of brown and orange (her favorite colors) as a gift to Proserpina before she has to return to the underworld. During the time that Proserpina resides with Pluto, the world goes through winter, a time when the earth is barren.