Perséfone ou Proserpina (Persephone or Proserpine)

Hades (gr.) ou Plutão (rom.) raptou Perséfone (gr.) ou Proserpina (rom.), filha de Zeus (gr.) ou Júpiter (rom.) e Demetra (gr.) ou Ceres (rom.). A mãe, deusa das colheitas, vingou-se ao destruir as culturas dos cereais. A pedido de Zeus, deu vida às plantas com a condição de lhe devolverem a filha. Acordaram que passaria seis meses nos Infernos (Outono-Inverno) e os restantes com a mãe. O seu culto mostra integrar-se nos de morte e ressurreição: as sementes morrem para permitir o nascimento dos vegetais.


Hades (Greek) or Pluto (Roman) kidnapped Persephone (Gr.) or Proserpina (Rom.), daughter of Zeus (Gr.) or Jupiter (Rom.) and Demeter (Gr.) or Ceres (Rom.). The mother goddess of harvests took revenge by destroying the crops of cereals. At the request of Zeus, she gave life to plants on the condition of having her daughter back. They agreed that Persephone would stay six months in Hell (Autumn-Winter) and the remaining time with the mother. Her cult is part of other ancient cults of death and resurrection: the seeds die to allow the germination process.

Persephone Baltimore painter-'rape of Proserpine'-loutrophorus-(red-figures)-Apulia-(330-320 BC) Madrid-Museo Arqueologico Nacional

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)-'rape of Proserpine'-drawing

Christoph Schwartz (1545-1592)-'rape of Proserpine'-oil on canvas-1573 Cambridge (UK)-The Fitzwilliam Museum

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)-'Pluto and Proserpine'-marble-1622 Roma-Galleria Borghese

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669)-'rape of Proserpine'-oil on canvas Berlin-Gemäldegalerie