The Story of
Proserpina
What’s in a Name?
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Roman Name: Proserpina
Greek Name: Persephone
From proserpere meaning “to emerge”
 Proserpina is a type of pomegranate
 Moth: Carcinopyga Proserpina
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Father: Jove
Mother: Ceres (the goddess of good harvest)
How it began…
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TYPHOEUS was a monstrous, serpentine giant that
battled Jove for possession of the heavens.
He fell from the sky and on his body was piled the
island of Sicily. He struggled causing earthquakes, and
spewed ashes and flame.
PLUTO, god of the underworld came to make sure
that the ground would not open up and shed light on
the underworld after all the pounding from Typhoeus.
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Venus sees Pluto and tells her son
Cupid to shoot him with an arrow so
that she (love) can be the ruler of all
the universe.
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“You rule the others, even great Jove, you rule
the great sea-gods…Why should Hell alone
hold out against us?”
She tells Cupid to join Proserpina
and Pluto who is Jove’s brother, and
thus, Proserpina’s uncle.
Cupid shoots the arrow and pierces
Pluto’s heart.
A De-flowering occurs…
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Virginal Proserpina was picking flowers with her
friends by the pool, Pergus. Her basket was full
because she was eager to not let her friends beat her.
Pluto saw her and rushed toward her and raped her.
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The flowers fell from the basket and Prosperina was just as
concerned with losing the flowers as she was with being
raped.
Prosperina gets de-flowered?
The Rape of Prosperina by Luca Giordano
Vincenzo de'Rossi's "The Rape of Proserpina"
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Pluto took Prosperina and began his journey
back to the underworld.
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There was a bay between the waters of Arethusa
and Cyane.
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Through the deep lakes
Through the boiling Palician pools
Beyond the city of the Corinthian men
Cyane, the most famous of all Sicilian nymphs, rose from the water and
tried to stop Pluto, but Pluto opened the pool to its deepest depths and
plunged down to Hell.
“No further shall you go! Proserpina should have been asked, not taken.”
Cyane mourned for both Prosperina and the new
crater formed by Pluto. She mourned until she
turned into water.
Ceres Looks for Her Daughter
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Ceres looked everywhere for her daughter.
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She stopped at a cottage where she was given water with barley by an old woman.
A country boy mocked her while she drank. Ceres became angry and threw the
drink on the boy. “And his face was spotted, the, and his arms were legs, and he
grew a tail and shrank, a harmless creature, like a lizard, only smaller. The old
woman…tried to touch him, but he was gone through a chink in the rocks. His
names suits his performance, Stellio, The Spot-marked; Some people call him
NEWT.
Ceres continued to search and came back to Sicily
where she went to the pool of Cyane but Cyane could
not speak. She could only offer evidence—Proserpina’s
girdle.
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Ceres began to realize the fate of Proserpina and blamed
Sicily because that is where she found evidence of her loss.
She cursed the land, making everything dry and barren.
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Arethusa rose from the Elean pool to beg for Ceres’ mercy.
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Ceres refused to go back to Mount Olympus and started walking on the Earth, making a desert at
every step.
“O mother of the girl sought over the whole wide world, O mother of fruit and
harvest, cease the endless labor. Do not be angry at the loyal earth. It has kept the
faith, it is innocent, it opened unwillingly to that ravishment.”
Arethusa told Ceres that she saw Proserpina in the underworld
and that she was the queen.
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Arethusa was a nymph that took no pleasure in her beauty. After hunting one day,
she bathes in a pool. She hears the murmuring of Alpheus who calls: “Where are
you going in such a hurry Arethusa?” She tried to run away and begged Diana to
help her. Diana cast a cloud of mist around her. Alpheus would not leave and
Arethusa, being nervous began to sweat, leaving pools wherever she stood. She
was changed into a pool and Alpheus became a river again to join her. Diana
broke the earth and let Arethusa sink to the depths to find a new home. On her
journey, she sees Proserpina.
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Ceres begs Jove to bring Proserpina back.
 Jove said that Pluto did it out of love but he will bring
Proserpina back on one condition.
 SHE MUST, IN THE WORLD BELOW, HAVE EATEN
NOTHING, TASTED NO FOOD—SO HAVE THE
FATES ENACTED.
BUT, Prosperina ate seven (six) seeds from the pomegranate
and Ascalaphus tattled so that Proserpina could not return.
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Proserpina, in her anger, turned him into a screech owl.
A Story for the Birds?
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Speaking of birds, the girls who were with
Proserpina when Pluto kidnapped her were
turned into beautiful golden birds with human
voices. They chose to be birds so they could
search the sea for their dear friend.
A Deal…
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Jove allows for Proserpina to come back to the
upper-world for part of the year.
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Ceres is happy with the deal.
This is the reason for Springtime: when Proserpina comes
back to her mother, Ceres decorates the Earth with
welcoming flowers, but when in autumn she has to go back
to Hades, nature loses any color.
Others say…
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Pluto obeyed, but before letting her go, he made her eat six
pomegranate seeds (a symbol of fidelity in marriage) so she would
have to live six months of each year with him, and stay the rest with
her mother.
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In another version of the story, some people believe that upon her
abduction, Proserpina ate only four pomegranate seeds, and she did so
of her own accord. When Jove ordered her return, Pluto struck a deal
with Jove, saying that since she had stolen his pomegranate seeds, she
must stay with him four months of the year in return.
The Abduction of Proserpina by Rembrandt.
Ruling the Underworld
Thomas Hart Benton—Missouri Artist