Deadly Love
The creation of the seasons from the consequences of a pomegranate
Content warning: incest, kidnapping, forced/arranged marriage
Before Zeus married his sister, Hera, he had a rendezvous with another of his sisters, Demeter.
Demeter was the goddess of the harvest and agriculture, in addition to fertility. She kept the Earth in a perpetual spring, ensuring the mortals that had sprung from Pyrrha and Deucalion’s thrown stones always had a prosperous harvest by providing them with the perfect weather.
She and Zeus turned into snakes and coupled, resulting in Demeter bearing a child, Kore. Demeter loved her daughter like nothing else; Kore was the most important thing in her mother’s life and Demeter showed it. Kore, the goddess of spring, had a contingent of nymphs who accompanied her everywhere while her mother was away performing her duties but otherwise the mother and daughter were inseparable.
On yet another perfect day, Kore was frolicking in Gaia’s fields with her nymphs. Blooming flowers underfoot with every step, she noticed a rare flower in one of the meadows she came to. Excited, she ventured forward towards it and reached out, her fingers barely brushing the petals before the ground cracked and crumbled beneath her as a chasm ripped open the earth in front of her.
From the depths of the world came a chariot, black as the night, pulled by skeletal, winged horses. Inside rode Hades, king of the underworld, and he swept up the young goddess Kore and disappeared back into the tear in the earth without another glance. She demanded to know what was happening, how dare he take her away from her realm and her nymphs, but Hades merely gave her an infuriatingly knowing smile.
Hearing her daughter’s screams and the nymphs’ shrieks of terror and shock, Demeter abandoned her duties at once and rushed to the scene. Finding herself too late, she became frantic, desperate for her child and for answers the nymphs couldn’t give. She donned mourning garb and began a systematic search for Kore, scouring every part of the mortal world for her.
For nine days and nights Demeter hunted for her daughter to no avail. Even the birds feared to tell her what had happened; no creature was brave enough to break it to Demeter that her beloved Kore had been taken to the underworld. She wore her grief like battle paint, distraught and relentless, until she finally came across another goddess who offered to help her rather than shrink back into the shadows.
Hecate was the child of Asteria, the goddess of stars who became the island of Delos, and Perses, son of the constellation Titan god Krios and a sea goddess named Eurybia. Hecate was the goddess of witchcraft, ghosts, magic and the night; she came and went from the underworld as she pleased, going as far as becoming the darkness itself when she saw fit. She also had several nymphs of her own named the lampades who were torchbearers for her while she roamed the depths of Hades.
When Demeter finally came across Hecate, Hecate swore to help her find Kore; she, too, had heard Kore’s cries for help and lent Demeter the lampades as well as her own assistance. Together they kept searching and discussed the whole sordid affair; Hecate suggested that Kore must have been kidnapped and that they ought to go to Zeus, that the king of the gods must be able to help retrieve her. Demeter collected herself and nodded at the knowledge in Hecate’s words, starting off at once for Mount Olympus.
To Demeter, visiting the opulence of Zeus’ Olympian palace felt like a slap in the face. Around her were gods and nymphs alike in a near-constant state of drunken giddiness, their imbibed sickness barely comparing to her overwhelmed nausea at the merriment greeting her while her child was missing. Hecate guided her gently through the palace until they arrived at Zeus’ throne, from which he looked down on her grief-stricken state with a mix of confusion and befuddled wariness.
Demeter tried to explain her visit through her heavy sobs, but Hecate carried most of the conversation for her friend, helping her to tell Kore’s father that she was missing, presumed kidnapped. Zeus’ brow cleared on hearing her concerns, his face breaking out into a wide smile.
Zeus congratulated Demeter; she was, after all, the mother of the queen of the underworld now. His callous dismissal of Demeter’s pain almost distracted her enough that she didn’t take in his jovially-spoken words. As his meaning sank in, however, she froze as rage began to creep through her veins. Hecate hastily stepped back as Demeter pulled herself up to her full height for the first time in weeks. In her ire, she seemed to grow to almost dwarf the king, sat so high and mighty in his pedestalled throne.
She demanded to know what Zeus had done, what damage he had wrought to her idyllic family. Trying to ignore the depth of his sister’s anger as it roiled in front of him, Zeus plastered on what he thought was a calming smile. He told her that everything was fine; Zeus himself had promised Kore to Hades as his queen, that the abduction was all above board and she was safe.
Demeter exploded at him, insisting that he return their daughter to her, both unmarried and unharmed. Zeus tried to tell her that he couldn’t, that their brother had already taken Kore as his own and that he had had Zeus’ permission. Demeter, so enraged that she could barely speak, threatened to ruin his golden, glorious rule with every fibre of her power until she got their daughter back.
She swept from the room like a queen from her own court, leaving Zeus rolling his eyes at his sister’s dramatics. Hecate hurried after her, shooting her own dirty look at the unconcerned king.
Demeter’s revenge started suddenly, sending the unexpectant earth plummeting from its eternal spring into its first bone-chilling winter. Immediately, the crops began to die and trees were blanketed in snow overnight. The mortals, previously thriving in Demeter’s idyll, were plunged into a cold famine, entirely unprepared and vulnerable to the lack of both food and heat.
Soon, they began to die and Zeus began to notice the fervent prayers for relief going silent as his frantic worshippers slipped away into the icy cold. Demeter also received begging pleas for help but they fell on deaf ears; she was wrapped in her sorrow and refused to abate the winter until Kore was restored to her side.
Eventually, Zeus could take the decimation no longer. He departed from Olympus and went to find Demeter to try and convince her to end this fatal winter. Her rage at his audacity to show his face at her door without her daughter sent him running; he at last got the hint that he would have to speak to Hades and fix the mess he’d created.
At first Hades was delighted to see his brother, assuming he had journeyed to the underworld to offer his congratulations on Hades and Kore’s marriage. Seeing Zeus’ face, however, his own smile fell and he welcomed the king with concern. Hearing Zeus’ problems with Demeter, he protested that he shouldn’t have to give up his new wife just because Zeus hadn’t done his due diligence. Hades tried to beg Zeus, saying that he’d begun to persuade her that the underworld wasn’t so bad, that she was beginning to warm up to her new role as queen.
Zeus apologised to Hades for his rashness but complained that Demeter was being unreasonable, that she was forcing his hand, that he had no choice. Hades hesitated then; he wasn’t unaccommodating but nonetheless had fallen in love with his new wife and was loathe to let her go back completely. Making up his mind, he told Zeus that he would transport her home himself, that of course Demeter could have her child back.
Zeus departed the underworld relieved and sent word to Demeter that Kore would soon be home, not daring to face her again even with good news. Before they embarked the carriage back to the fields of spring, Hades offered Kore some pomegranate seeds and she ate six of them. In eating food from the underworld, she would be required to return as queen for six months of the year, one for each seed she had eaten.
Stepping into her duel roles, Kore shod her childhood name and became Persephone, quite literally the ‘bringer of death’, and reigned alongside her doting husband for half the year. While she was gone, Demeter mourned the loss of her daughter and abandoned her duties as the goddess of the harvest. For six months of the year, Persephone would return to Hades and autumn would fall, ushering in winter and with it the depth of Demeter’s despair. When Persephone left her husband and came back to Demeter’s side, she would bring spring back to the world and encourage her mother back to her harvests.
Hecate also helped to console Demeter in her support; she offered herself as Persephone’s right hand and companion while she dwelt in the underworld, providing her free use of her lampades while she stayed there. Persephone crops up in several stories after her abduction and they all feature the love she had for her realms and her husband. Hades had been right; she had grown to love him and the shades he presided over just as much as she loved the mortal realm and her mother.
