Gaius Julius Hyginus
The Romans first heard of her from the Aeolian and Dorian cities of Magna Graecia, who used the dialectal variant "Proserpinē" (). Hence, in Roman mythology she was called Proserpina, a name erroneously derived by the Romans from "proserpere", "to shoot forth" and as such became an emblematic figure of the Renaissance. In 205 BC, Rome officially identified Proserpina with the local Italic goddess Libera, who, along with Liber, were strongly associated with the Roman grain goddess Ceres (considered equivalent to the Greek Demeter). The Roman author Gaius Julius Hyginus also considered Proserpina equivalent to the Cretan goddess Ariadne, who was the bride of Liber's Greek equivalent, Dionysus.