page_title: Persephone
section_title: In Rome
hierarchical_section_title: Persephone / Worship / In Rome
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Graburne mit einer Darstellung des Raubs der Proserpina. Weißer Marmor, Antoninische Zeit, 2. Jahrhundert. English: Cinerary altar with tabula representing the rape of Proserpina. White marble, Antonine Era, 2nd century CE. Français&#160;: Autel funéraire à tabula représentant le rapt de Proserpine. Marbre blanc, période antonine, IIe siècle ap. J.-C. Italiano: Altare cinerario con tabula e raffigurazione del ratto di Proserpina. Marmo bianco, età antonina, II sec. d.C.
context_page_description: In Greek mythology, Persephone, also called Kore, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation. Similar myths appear in the cults of male gods like Attis, Adonis, and Osiris, and in Minoan Crete.
  Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which promised the initiated a more enjoyable prospect after death. In some versions, Persephone is the mother of Zeus' son Dionysus. The origins of her cult are uncertain, but it was based on ancient agrarian cults of agricultural communities.
  Persephone was commonly worshipped along with Demeter and with the same mysteries. To her alone were dedicated the mysteries celebrated at Athens in the month of Anthesterion. In Classical Greek art, Persephone is invariably portrayed
  robed, often carrying a sheaf of grain.
context_section_description: The Romans first heard of her from the Aeolian and Dorian cities of Magna Graecia, who used the dialectal variant Proserpinē (Προσερπίνη). 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.
caption: Cinerary altar with tabula representing the abduction of Proserpina. White marble, Antonine Era, 2nd century Rome, Baths of Diocletian
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