Hades and Persephone

The Codrus Painter, Hades and Persephone, 430 B.C., British Museum, London.

Shuyu Chen

                In the Codrus Painter’s Hades and Persephone, Persephone held a small thing in her hand and seemed to eat it under the gaze of Hades, which is likely to be a pomegranate seed. It is precisely because of being forced to eat the food of the Underworld that Persephone can no longer completely leave away from there (LaFond). This is a vivid vase painting depicting an important moment between Hades and Persephone, and is also a symbol of their "love story". But rather than "love", I think it may be more accurate to describe it as unilateral possession.

                There are many romantic love stories in Greek mythology, but the beginning of Hades and Persephone has nothing to do with romance and is more like a nightmare for Persephone. When Persephone was gathering flowers with her friends, she was kidnapped to the underworld by Hades and forced to be his bride. Persephone was heartbroken and resisted with a hunger strike. When Demeter found out that her daughter was missing, she began to do everything she could to find Persephone, even threatening all the gods with a devastating famine on Earth. Finally, Zeus sent Hermes to rescue Persephone from the underworld. But before leaving, Hades forced Persephone to eat a pomegranate seed, which made Persephone unable to completely leave the underworld and return to his mother. In the end, Demeter and Hades reached an agreement that Persephone would spend one third of the year in the Underworld with Hades, and the rest of time could be returned to earth with Demeter (LaFond).

                Although this is a myth not real, it still reflects the Greek people's views on marriage. It can be seen that there is a serious inequality in the status of men and women. To a large extent, men can choose their satisfied women as partners at will, while completely ignoring the wishes of women. Just like in the marriage between Hades and Persephone, Zeus acquiesced, as a father, he didn't respect his daughter's opinions or consider her feelings at all. On the contrary, he just wanted to sacrifice his daughter for peace. In children’s marriage, the father had the absolute right to speak, and the mother's opinion was unimportant and could even be ignored. But Demeter’s love for Persephone made her fearless and did her best to fight for her daughter’s happiness. Facts have proved that the mother's resistance is also effective, and finally bought her daughter two thirds of the time together in a year. Although the freedom of Persephone has not been fully restored, it is the best result, proving that there still has to be a certain compromise in the face of patriarchy.

                This Greek mythology fully reflects the patriarchal society and patriarchal supremacy in ancient Greece. Women have no right to speak out and choose what they want, and they are not treated respectful and valuable, which is totally a very feudal thought. In this painting, Hades is lying on the bed, while Persephone is just sitting by the side of the bed, which shows very different status between them, and we can also see the patriarchal society from it.

Works Cited

La Fond, Marie. “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Demeter.” Greek and Roman myth.

University of Washington, February, 2022 Accessed February 14, 2022, https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1514816/pages/lesson-5-video-lectures?module_item_id=14661595. Accessed 3 January, 2022.

“K14.3 Persephone & Hades.” Persephone & Hades - Ancient Greek Vase Painting,

https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K14.3.html.