Download Περίληψη : Χρονολόγηση Γεωγραφικός εντοπισμός Kore / Persephone

IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία
(4/12/2001)
Για παραπομπή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία , "Kore / Persephone", 2001,
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10541>
Kore / Persephone
Περίληψη :
According to Hesiod, Persephone is Demeter’s daughter by Zeus. Persephone became the spouse of Hades and Queen of the Underworld. Kore
appears to have been Persephone’s cult name. It has been suggested that originally Persephone, the Queen of Hades, did not identify with Kore,
the daughter of Demeter.
Χρονολόγηση
Antiquity
Γεωγραφικός εντοπισμός
Greece, Asia Minor
1. Myth
According to Hesiod, Persephone is Demeter’s daughter by Zeus.1 The most important incident in her tradition seems to have been
her abduction by Hades,2 while picking flowers in the Nysian plain.3 Persephone became the spouse of Hades and Queen of the
Underworld.4 After an entire year from the abduction, her mother, who kept searching for her all over the earth, succeeded in
securing Persephone’s return for two thirds of the year; furthermore, in gratitude for the hospitality she received by the Eleusinians
during the long quest for her daughter she initiated their leaders to her mysteries.5
1. 1. Kore
Kore appears to have been Persephone’s cult name.6 It has been suggested that originally Persephone, Queen of Hades, and Kore,
the daughter of Demeter, were not the same person.7 Persephone plays a leading role in the Orphic religion as mother of ZagreusDionysus by Zeus.8 The god was reported to have mated with Persephone in the form of a snake.9 Persephone’s name is also found
in texts inscribed on the gold leaves that were buried with people who had been initiated into Orphism.10
2. Cult of Persephone in Asia Minor
Persephone/ Kore’s cult was particularly popular in Asia Minor where Demeter was assimilated with the Phrygian Cybele at least
since the second half of the 5th c. BC.11 Hence, at Cyzikus Persephone was worshipped with the epithet Soteira (Saviour) and her
festival was called Pherrephattia or Koreia or Soteria.12 In Sardis the wide-ranging assimilation of Cybele with Kore-Persephone
during the first centuries of Christianity is evident in the local coins that often depict scenes from the myth of Proserpina. 13 It has been
argued, “to the Greek mind the Sardian Cybele seemed more like the Maiden Proserpine than the Mother Demeter”.
Among the amalgamated eastern and Greek attributes of the Sardian goddess her healing power was prominent and
was particularly focused on the idea of restoring life to the dead. It was associated with certain hot springs, situated
about two miles from Sardis in the front hills of Tmolus, which are still used frequently and are famous for their
healing effect. As the hot springs constitute the plain manifestation of the divine subterranean power, the god of the
underworld played a considerable role in the religious myth of the area. He appeared to claim and carry off as his
bride the patron-goddess of the city, in the form of Kore-Persephone, as she was gathering a golden flower, the flower
of Zeus, in the meadows near the springs; the games celebrated in her honour were called Chrysanthia; and it may be
confidently inferred that crowns of the flower bearing the same name were worn by her worshippers. The name of
“Zeus’s flower” is also mentioned on the coins.
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IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία
(4/12/2001)
Για παραπομπή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία , "Kore / Persephone", 2001,
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10541>
Kore / Persephone
3. Iconography
In images, Persephone appears as a young woman and is often accompanied by attributes such as torches, stalks of grain, sceptres,
pomegranates and cocks. Her depiction as bride of Hades extended in later years to the representation of mortal maidens who would
die unmarried. The abduction scene was not very popular before the 5th c. BC, while since then several representations of
Persephone appear.
1. Hes., Th.912-14; cf. Od.11.217 the only instance where Persephone is called daughter of Zeus in the Homeric epics. Otherwise Homer does not
explicitly refer to her relation with Demeter. However, cf. Apollod. 1.3.1 who addresses Persephone as the daughter of Zeus and Styx. Aesch. Choeph.
490 calls her Phersephatta, a name that also appears in vase paintings (e.g. Dresden 350) and Attic prose inscriptions; cf. Pl. Crat. 404c.
2. Hes.,Th.913-4 and Hom.h.Dem.: passim; N. Richardson 1974 and H.P. Holey 1993 have edited the text with commentary. Notice that Hesiod does not
make any reference to the return of Persephone.
3. Zeus had given his full consent to Hades’ plans which infuriated Demeter when she found out. According to the story only Helios
and Hecate witnessed the abduction. However, in Hom.h.Dem. 424-5 Persephone says that her mother was also present in the
abduction. For nine days Demeter was roaming the earth in search of her daughter and on the tenth Hecate and Helios revealed to her
the truth about Hades’ deeds and Zeus’ consent. The angry goddess abandoned the company of the gods and went to Eleusis where
she served in disguise at the palace of king Keleus. Before leaving the place she revealed herself and asked the inhabitants to build her a
temple. When a year was completed since the goddess started wandering over the earth and all nature laid barren Zeus arranged for
Persephone to return to her mother. Hades could do nothing but obey; however, before returning Persephone, he gave her a
pomegranate to eat. This meant that Persephone had to spend a third of the year with her husband in the Underworld before
returning to the world of the living. As a result of her daughter’s return the goddess restores fecundity on earth and teaches her rites
to the Eleusinians. Paus. 1.38.3; 1.39.1; 9.31.9; Panyasis fr.13 PEG; Bacchylides located the abduction in Crete (fr.47SM); cf. Phanodemos
325F27 where Attica is identified as the abduction spot.
4. Persephone seems to share the powers of Hades; see Th. 704 where he claimed that Sisyphus acquired his disguise (furlough) from Persephone.
See T. Ganz, Early Greek Myth. A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources (Balitmore – London, 1993) p. 64-69.
5. The mysteries promised a better life after death and they were in accordance with the Orphic preaching. For the Orphic versions of the tale see
Apollod.Bibl.1.5.1; frs 49 and 51 (Kern); eur.Hel.1310-8; Claudian PR.2.204-31; Diodorus DS5.3.1-4 placed the abduction in Sicily. For later versions see
Ovid.Fast.4.502-60 and Met.5.533-50; Hyg.Fab.147; Apollod.1.5.3 and 2.5.12.
6. See Hom.h.Dem.439; Lasos fr.702PMG; Eur. Her.Main. 609 and early Red-figure vases (e.g. Eleusis 596). Despoina seems to have been another
cultic name of Persephone, mostly traced in Arcadia. For the special cult of Persephone and her association with Aphrodite in Locri, see C. SourvinouInwood, “Persephone and Aphrodite at Locri: A Model for Personality Definitions in Greek Religion”, JHS 98, 1978, p. 101-21.
7. See Zuntz, G., Persephone. Three essays in religion and thought in Magna Graecia (Oxford 1971), p. 75-83. However, it seems that this
contradiction between the two characters was eliminated by the time of Hesiod quoted in n1 because he definitely acknowledges that the maiden
whom Hades abducted to make his queen was in fact the daughter of Demeter.
8. For Dionysus-Zagreus see Alcmaionis fr3PEG; Aesch.fr.228R (possibly son of Hades) and Agypt.fr.5R (Hades himself). Eur.Cret.fr.79Aus (= 472
N2); Callim.fr.43.115 and 643(Pf.); Nonn.5.563-7; 6.206-10; Lycophr.Schol.355. M.L.West 1983: 154
9. Pindar apud Meno 81b = fr 133 SM. Notice that snakes had a role in Demeter’s tradition also: in the Hesiod (fr.226MW) the snake Cychreides comes
from Salamis to Eleusis to become an attendant of Demeter.
10. The temple of Kore Soteira at Sparta was reputed to have been built by Orpheus. See Paus. 3.13.2.
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Σελίδα 2/3
IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Συγγραφή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία
(4/12/2001)
Για παραπομπή :
Αναγνώστου Ευαγγελία , "Kore / Persephone", 2001,
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10541>
Kore / Persephone
11. Eur.Hel.1301-45 and Melanippid.764PMG. Thesmophoria, the second important festival in honour of Demeter was also popular throughout Asia
Minor (Paul 1 Corinth.20:20 and Luke 8:26-33). It is worth mentioning that Persephone had competed with Aphrodite over Adonis, an eastern deity
whose cult is a variant of the Attis-Cybele cultic pattern. See Apollod. Apollod.Bibl.3.14.4; Ovid.Met.10.503-739.
12. See Paus.8.31 for this festival in Arcadia. One of the reasons for Persephone’s widespread cult in Asia Minor was her close association with
Hecate who seems to have been of eastern origin (most probably Karian) and was worshipped as Soteira. Chaldaean oracles that extensively reported
Hecate as Saviour have been studied by Johnston, I.S., Hekate Soteira (Atlanta 1990). As commented above, Hecate was believed to have led
Persephone back to the Upperworld; Hom.h.Dem.438-40 cf.ll.54-73. Hecate along with Demeter and Persephone form the first example of a triple
goddess in the Helladic world. Also see C.M. Edwards, C.M., "The running maiden from Eleusis and the early classical image of Hekate", AJA, 90,
1986, p. 307-318.
13. Proserpina is the Latin name of Persephone. See Ramsay, W.M. The letters to the seven churches of Asia (London 1904), Ch. 25. Cybele was the
patron deity of the city and two columns of her temple are still visible near the banks of the Pactolus.
Βιβλιογραφία :
Burkert W., Greek Religion, Cambridge Mass. 1985, Raffan, J. (transl.)
Edwards C.M., "The running maiden from Eleusis and the early classical image of Hekate", AJA, 90, 1986,
307-318
Gantz T., Early Greek Myth. A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Balitmore – London 1993
Ramsay W.Μ., The letters to the seven churches of Asia, London 1904
Burkert W., Homo Necans, Cambridge 1983
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Foley, H.P. (ed.), Princeton 1993
Johnston S.I., Hekate Soteira, Atlanta 1990
Luppe W., "Hekate als “Amme” der Persephone", ZPE, 58, 1985, 34
Mylonas G., Eleusis and the Eleusinian mysteries, Cambridge 1961
Robertson M., Greek Vases in the J.P. Getty Museum 5, Malibu 1991
Zuntz G., Persephone: Three essays in religion and thought in Magna Graecia, Oxford 1971
West M.L., Orphic Poems, Oxford 1983
Δικτυογραφία :
The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia
http://philologos.org/__eb-lttsc/chap25.htm
Πηγές
Homer, Iliad 9.456-7 and 566-71.
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