Often, myths were used in Ancient Greece to help explain the things that people couldn't understand. A great example of this is the story of Persephone. This is a myth that is used to explain the differing seasons throughout the year.
The world of the ancient Greeks was ruled by three great brothers: Zeus, the Thunder God, who held dominion over the sky; gray-haired Poseidon, who possessed the wide oceans; and Hades, who took the whole rocky earth for his kingdom and ruled over the Land of the Dead. While Zeus was supreme in the pantheon of gods, his brother Hades was pleased with his own choice: all the riches that could be mined belonged to him, and every mortal came under his power sooner or later. But it was true that the dark caves of the underworld were a depressing place, and not many of his fellow gods enjoyed his company.
The gloomy Hades watched the progress of his brothers with envy. Zeus had for his queen the Goddess of Wives herself, and he enjoyed the loving attention of many women. Poseidon, married to the gentle Amphitrite, had so many children that they filled the vast limits of the sea. Hades himself had no wife, but he had fallen in love with a girl who was unlike him in every way: Persephone, the daughter of the goddess Demeter, who made the grain ripen and the trees give fruit. Like one of her mother's plants, Persephone loved the sun and fresh air. She was always outside, picking flowers or dancing for the sheer joy of being alive.
Did Hades try to speak to Persephone? Probably not. He could have pointed out that it was from his earth that her flowers grew, but his dignity wouldn't allow him to chase after her. She was young, and he was much older: dour, dark, and strange. Most of the gods were a little afraid of him, and in all likelihood, Persephone would have avoided him at gatherings. Still, Hades was a royal god, one of the three rulers of the world. He deserved a queen, and he was determined to have exactly the one he wanted.
Persephone and her maidens were dancing one day in a bright, wind-swept meadow when the ground cracked open at their feet. Through the wide fissure sped four black horses pulling a chariot, the Lord of the Dead at the reins. He seized the frightened Persephone and carried her down into his own land as her companions scattered in terror. The crack in the earth closed up behind them, shutting out the light.
Hades conducted Persephone through his great, dim palace, where disembodied souls flickered like so many candle flames. He led her from one murky cave to another, proudly showing off all of his wealth and the remarkable features of his underground realm. Finally, he crowned her and placed her on an ebony throne as the shades of the dead rustled and whispered together. No one knows what the young girl thought as she sat there beside her grim husband, but the shock and grief must have been terrible.
Certainly her mother Demeter grieved for her. The goddess of growing things walked the earth as an old woman, and all the plants in the world began to die. Humans and beasts starved and prayed for help to the gods, and Zeus himself was forced to intervene. The ruler of the gods issued a decree: Hades must return the stolen girl so that her mother would once again produce the life-sustaining crops.
Angry and dismayed, Hades turned to his only friend, Hermes, the cleverest of the gods. It was Hermes who brought the souls of the dead to their destination, and it was Hermes who was to take Persephone back home. While her husband saw to the packing of farewell gifts worthy of his queen, Hermes walked with Persephone in her underground garden. As he distracted her with talk of the outside world, the trickster god picked a pomegranate and gave it to her. Persephone had never before been able to bring herself to eat the food of the dead, those offerings left by sad relatives on altars and at tombs. Now, hungry and excited, she ate six pomegranate seeds—and belonged forever to the Land of the Dead.
Once again, Zeus had to resolve the crisis, or all life on earth would have perished. He ruled that Demeter and Hades must share the unhappy girl. For six months of each year, Persephone lives with her mother while the crops grow and flowers bloom. And for six months, she lives with her husband Hades, bringing a touch of springtime to that sad dark realm below.
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