Persephone in popular culture

Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter in Greek mythology, appears in films, works of literature, and in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through the symbolic use of her name. She becomes the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. ^[1] The myth of her abduction represents her dual function as the as chthonic (underworld) and vegetation goddess: a personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in Spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest. Proserpina is the Roman equivalent.

In film and television

• Walt Disney's 1934 Silly Symphony short The Goddess of Spring adapts the story of Persephone's (voiced by Jessica Dragonette) abduction by Hades (voiced by Tudor Williams), and how she returns to the earth for half a year. She is not called by her name.
• A character named Persephone appears in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions , played by Monica Bellucci. She is the wife of the Merovingian, a powerful program that handles other programs exiled from the Matrix. In the Matrix Revolutions, they are seen together as being seated in a rave club named Club Hel, possibly a strong reference to Hel, the underworld of Norse Mythology, and Hell, the underworld in Christian Theology.
• In the BBC Television series Spooks the title of Series 3 Episode 6 is "Persephone", referring to character Zoe Reynold's code name during an undercover operation. The storyline parallels that of Greek mythology.
• Persephone (played by Andrea Croton) appears in two episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys .
• Persephone is portrayed by Elisabetta Genovese in Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales. In the film, Pluto gives the elderly, blind cuckold Sir January his sight back to see his wife cheating. In response, Persephone implants good excuses in the wife May's mind so that she can go unpunished. See also The Merchant's Tale.
• In the television series Once Upon a Time , Zelena, the Wicked Witch, takes the place of Persephone.
• Persephone appears frequently in the animated television series Class of the Titans.
• On The Simpsons episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", Herb Powell is talking about his company's new car model with the marketing team and they propose calling it "The Persephone." They then explain she was a goddess who ate six pomegranate seeds. Herb angrily rejects it because Americans want cars named after horses and other tough imagery, not "hungry Greek broads."
• Persephone (played by Rakie Ayola) is a character in the 2024 Netflix series Kaos, though in this interpretation she is not Hades' niece and resides in the underworld by choice.

In literature

• Mary Shelley wrote a "mythological drama" titled "Proserpine," which was published posthumously. ^[2]
• Algernon Charles Swinburne published "Hymn to Proserpine" and "The Garden of Proserpine" in 1866. ^{[3] [4]}
• Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a poem called "Demeter and Persephone" published in 1889. ^[5]
• Second April, a collection of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay published in 1921, contains two poems which make explicit reference to Persephone: "Ode to Silence" and "Prayer to Persephone." ^[6]

In popular culture

• In John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos , "the Maiden", a title of Persephone's, is a candidate for the throne of Olympus after Zeus's death. ^[7]

In music

• The musical Mythic is a modern-day pop rendition of the myth ^{[8] [9]}
• Allison Russell's first solo album, Outside Child , features a single titled “Persephone.” ^[10]

Planets beyond Neptune

Main articles: Fictional planets of the Solar System § Trans-Neptunian planets, and Planets beyond Neptune

• When a 10th 'planet' was discovered in July 2005, a poll in New Scientist magazine picked Persephone as the public's favourite name. ^[11] Its status as a planet was later downgraded to dwarf planet together with Pluto and was given the name Eris. Before that, the name was often used in science fiction to refer to hypothetical planets beyond Neptune and Pluto (such as Planet X and even Planet Nine, theorized in 2016).

References

1. Martin Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion Vol I pp 462–463, 479–480
2. Proserpine & Midas on Project Gutenberg
3. Hymn to Proserpine in Representative Poetry Online
4. The Garden of Proserpine on Wikisource
5. "Alfred Lord Tennyson - Demeter and Persephone (1889)".
6. Second April on Digital Library Project
7. "Fugitives of Chaos by John C. Wright Dramatis Personae"
8. "MYTHIC, an Immortal New Musical, Will Get Its World Premiere at Charing Cross Theatre" . Retrieved 24 March 2022.
9. "Theatre review: Divine madness reigns in Segal musical Mythic". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
10. Willman, Chris (June 3, 2021). "Allison Russell's Beautiful, Harrowing 'Outside Child' Is a Musical Memoir Nonpareil: Album Review". Variety. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
11. New Scientist: Your top 10 names for the tenth planet, 2005