k but hades DOES get that honor. âHadesâ means ârich guyâ (because underground, where all the gold and stuff is). Itâs just such an old epithet itâs sorta become his name.
And ârapeâ in the context of ancient greek/roman myths, usually means capture or snatching away, from a Latin verb with that meaning. The connotation was often snatching away women for the purpose of marriage, but it did NOT specifically refer to sexually violating a woman. The âRape of Persephoneâ is the story of how Persephone was snatched away from her mother by Hades. The Rape of the Sabines is the story of how the Sabine women were snatched away from their families by the men of early Rome.
In the original myth of Persephone and Hades (the Homeric hymn, that is, which is the earliest source we have), thereâs a lot of parallels drawn between marriage and death, specifically in that both steal a child away from the unwilling mother. (In ancient Greece, when a girl married, she moved to her husbandâs house, and went from seeing her mother 24/7 to seeing her much less frequently, if at all, depending on how far away the husband lived and how strict he was). The story is actually about Demeter, not Persephone, in that itâs about how Demeter initially resisted her daughterâs death/marriage, to the point of defying Zeus and upsetting the natural world, but eventually accepted that this was the way it was going to be.
Itâs nuanced, and we canât just interpret it with a modern lens. There are pitfalls to calling it a horrific rape story, and also pitfalls to calling it an empowering feminist story. Neither are true, because both are interpreting the story as if it was composed by a modern person, for a modern audience, in a modern culture.
It is a story about how a mother must accept that her child will be taken from her without her consent, since to the Greeks, the only consent that legally mattered in a marriage was that of the brideâs father. (but the bride was usually consenting, too- think about it, if youâre trying to marry your daughter off, and persuading potential suitors that sheâs a good match, itâs a hell of a lot easier to find a guy that sheâs not actively resisting. Her consent might not matter legally, but fathers would strive to find a compatible match because it was easier if everyone involved was happy with the marriage). It is a story about a mother learning that it is right that she go along with this way of things, and that attempting to resist this cultural institution of marriage is akin to trying to resist death itself. It is a story that completely ignores whether or not Persephone wanted to marry Hades, was happy in the Underworld, or any of that. Itâs a story about a mother learning the proper role of a mother in the Greek world. Itâs a story amplifies and exaggerates the realities of a mother whose daughter gets married, in the way that the Iliad amplifies and exaggerates the realities of war and heroic pride. (Itâs not just without Demeterâs consent, itâs a COMPLETE SURPRISE KIDNAPPING, Persephoneâs not just married, sheâs DEAD!! Demeter isnât just sad, sheâs so despondent she LITERALLY KILLS ALL PLANT LIFE). Itâs a story that says, âHey, mothers, your daughters will eventually leave you and get married, and you might be sad and miss her, but this is the way the world works, and this is what needs to happen for society to continue and the next generation to be born. Your pain and resentment is real, here is a powerful goddess feeling the same thing, but even more so. But she eventually accepted that her daughter had to grow up and move on, and so can you.â
Itâs also the story of how a discontented woman can bring the world to screeching halt, and how the fundamentals of society (e.g. agriculture) cannot function without a womanâs willing work, and how those women must be kept happy in order to ensure that society functions. It is a story of how the Father of Gods and King of Men literally half-way undoes death itself just to satisfy a pissed-off mother, because an angry Demeter can bend even the Father of Gods to her will. Itâs the story of a mother who fought death and marriage and half-way won. The story of Zeus submitting to Demeterâs will and going against his own word to Hades. Itâs the story of womenâs sacred role in facilitating the three fundamental transitions in every personâs life- birth, marriage, and death. Itâs a story of how women understand and know death in a way men do not. Itâs a story of how women have a power over death that men do not have, and that men are frightened of. Itâs a story of how women held a central role in the continuation and propagation of society in Greek culture, and about what womenâs participation in Greek society looked like.
itâs fascinating as hell and yes modern interpretations of persephone as the Badass Feminist Queen of the Dead are fun and empowering, but donât project modern lenses onto the Greeks. They didnât see Persephone as a victim, or as a badass all-powerful queen of the underworld, or as a object suitable only for sex. Their concept of Persephone and Demeter and Hades is difficult to define and probably has aspects of all of these interpretations, and weâll never know exactly, but we canât even begin to approach knowing unless we learn as much as possible about how Greeks viewed the world, what they valued as a culture, and what they thought everyoneâs roles ought to be, and then view their stories through that lens.
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