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Demeter, the goddess of harvest and plants, had a daughter called Core or Persephone.
One day Persephone was out collecting flowers when Hades, god of the underworld and the dead, saw her and fell in love. He went to Zeus, king of the gods, and demanded that he be given Persephone as his wife but Zeus didn't want to give her to him because Persephone was not only his niece but his daughter as well so he told Hades that he would think about it. Hades went back to the underworld but the next day he saw Persephone again and decided that he couldn't wait any more and took her to the underworld to live with him. Demeter was very unhappy to lose her daughter so all the plants on Earth began to die, and she went to Zeus to demand her daughter back from Hades. All the people on Earth were starting to die from the lack of food so the gods called an emergency council. Zeus told Hades that he had to give Persephone up but one of Hades's gardeners told Hades that he had seen Persephone eat 7 pomegranate seeds and the law was that if you ate the food of the dead you had to say in in the land of the dead for ever. But the gods realized that the world would die if Persephone didn't return so Zeus decided that Persephone had to stay in the underworld one month for every seed she had eaten.
We get summer when Persephone is home, Autumn when Demeter is sad because her daughter has to go soon, Winter when she is in the underworld and Spring when Demeter is looking forward to her return.
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JudyTypically, the seasons weren't regarded as having their own personifications in Greek mythology. The seasons result from the departure of Persephone from the upper world unto the Hades. Her mother, Ceres, is the goddess of vegetation, so when Persephone departs, Ceres is despondent and neglects her duties, causing the plants to die. When she returns, Ceres is elated and returns to her tasks, and life returns to the plants.
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Why did the Greeks create the myth of Demeter and Persephone?
To explain the seasons.
Why did Greeks white myths?
The Greeks wrote myths to explain how the world worked. Examples include why the seasons changed or how earthquakes were created.
Why did the Greeks develop myths?
The Greeks used myths to explain events that they did not understand.
When did persephone live?
Persephone is a mythological figure. There is no evidence that she lived at all. The seasons are created by the elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun, but the ancient Greeks did not know that, so the legend of Persephone was created to explain the changing of the seasons. but according to greek mythology, she lived during the four winter months with her husban hades in the underworld and the remaining months with her mother
What is the purpose of greek gods?
The Greek gods gave the ancient Greeks a way to explain things they didn't understand. For example, the ancient Greeks used the myth of Persephone and Hades to explain the seasons. When Persephone was with Hades in the Underworld, she was miserable. So her mother, Demeter (goddess of agriculture) , kept everything from growing, causing winter. When Persephone was with her mother, she was happy, and Demeter brought summer to the world.
