Pomegranate

One of the more well-known myths from Greek mythology is the myth of Persephone and Hades. In the myth, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, is taken down to the underworld by the god Hades and is trapped, depending on the version, with the help of some pomegranate seeds.[2] While this story is interesting for entertainment purposes, it is also interesting to analyze when viewed as a possible origin for the use of pomegranates as a form of contraception during antiquity.

Description: Persephone and Hades depicted on a kylix from Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE. Located in the British Museum, London.

Source: Original image from Marie-Lan Nguyen. Image accessed from World History Encyclopedia.[4]

In the myth of Persephone and Hades, when Persephone is trapped down in the underworld, the world of the living experiences the seasons of fall and winter, when plants stop growing until spring. Some academics believe that this connection shows how taking a pomegranate seed made Persephone infertile and, by extension, the earth.[1]

Description: An open Pomegranate fruit.

Source: Grocery Co+Op website [5]

An interesting part of this story is the scientific connections that we know now. Modern studies of pomegranates have found that the pomegranate does have anti-fertility qualities. However, it is not the seeds that possess these qualities but the pomegranate skin.[3] While in the myth Persephone takes the seeds of the pomegranate, it is the skin that was prescribed by Soranus as a contraceptive.[1]

Sources:

[1] Riddle, John M. “Chapter 3 - Soranus on Antifertility Agents.” Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient

World to the Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1994, pp. 25-30,

hdl.handle.net/2027/heb01463.0001.001. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

[2] Riddle, John M., et al. “Ever Since Eve... Birth Control in the Ancient World.” Archaeology, vol. 47, no. 2, 1994,

pp. 29–35. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41770706. Accessed 1 May 2025.

[3] Nelson, Sarah E. “Persephone’s Seeds: Abortifacients and Contraceptives in Ancient Greek Medicine and Their

Recent Scientific Appraisal.” Pharmacy in History, vol. 51, no. 2, 2009, pp. 57–69. JSTOR,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/41112420. Accessed 1 May 2025.

Image Sources:

[4] Nguyen, Marie-Lan. “Persephone & Hades.” World History Encyclopedia, 23 Mar. 2016,

www.worldhistory.org/image/4739/persephone--hades/.

[5] “Pomegranates.” Co+Op, 27 June 2011,

www.grocery.coop/fresh-from-the-source/pomegranates.