Many greek myths were told to explain something that might not have made sense to them at the time. For example, the seasons, at the time they didn’t understand that the Earth rotated around the Sun. They came up with a story to explain why sometimes it was cold and other times it was hot.

Kore was the daughter of Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture) and Zeus (God of the Sky). One day she was out in a field picking flowers with her friends. Her mother found her and scolded her for wandering so far. Kore got extremely mad and stormed off. Demeter left her child alone with her friends for awhile.

cIn the depths of the Underworld Hades was watch the whole scene unfold. He had been watching for awhile, because he had seen Kore and thought that she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. So that day as Kore was picking flowers Hades came in his black chariot, across the field and grabbed Kore to bring her back to the underworld.

When they got to back to the underworld, Hades told Kore that she would be his Queen. She was dressed by Hades servants. When looking in the mirror, Kore decided that her name did not fit her appearance so she decided to change her name to Persephone.

In the meantime, Demeter realizes that her daughter had not returned she went to the flower field to try and find her, Demeter eventually returned to Mt. Olympus. Zeus told her to stay calm and that she would probably be back soon. Demeter waited a few days then continued her search. Demeter searched everywhere but soon fell into a pit of despair. Because she didn’t pay any attention to the crops and farms everything started to wither and die.

Finally Zeus decided to intervene, to many humans were dying and they couldn’t survive without food for much longer. Zeus sought the truth and found that Hades had kidnapped Kore. Demeter wanted to rush down to the Underworld and fight Hades for her daughter back, but Zeus stopped her. They decided to go down to talk to Hades and see what was going on. When they got there Hades told them about the day he snatched her away to be his queen. Demeter asked for her daughter back, but Hades said no, if you eat any food from the Underworld then you are to spend the rest of your days there. Persephone had eaten 6 pomegranate seeds. Finally they worked out an agreement. Because she only ate 6 pomegranate seeds she would be allowed in the upper world for 6 months and the others she spent down with Hades.

The 6 months that she had with her mother, Demeter was very happy so everything bloomed and the humans had food to eat, but as the 6 months came to an end Demeter started to get sad. It started to get colder and plants started to die, this represents fall. While Persephone is with Hades, Demeter is really sad so everything dies, this is winter. So when those 6 months come a close Demeter starts to get happy again and everything comes back to life, that is spring. Then it starts all over again with summer. Persephone’s main symbols became a pomegranate and a wreath of flowers she also had many others.