Persephone rising

Demeter and Persephone have a long presence in mythology that became a long-standing textual tradition. After their religious and cultic significance waned, authors adapted the story of the mother and daughter goddess in varying ways to highlight different aspects of their relationship with one another as well as with the other gods. Some authors highlighted the separation of mother and daughter, while others focused on the political defiance of Demeter and the way in which she was able to upset Zeus' power systems. In modern interpretations of the myth, it is not the story of the mother that takes precedence; instead, many modern interpretations focus on the second story found in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter--Persephone and her romance with Hades. As a result, Demeter's role in many of these interpretations is diminished. In Lore Olympus, Demeter's love for her daughter is even turned into a toxic foil that Persephone and Hades must overcome to achieve happiness. I argue that the modern eye emphasizes the masculine and feminine dynamic of the spousal dynamic at the expense of the matriarchal dynamic of the mother-daughter relationship to highlight Persephone's agency. This allows authors writing for a young adult audience to make Persephone's search for independent agency more relatable. However, as recently as the 1990's, authors such as Rita Dove used Persephone to engage with missing-children ads and more heavily relied on the pathos evoked by Demeter's feeling of loss. What other changes can be seen over time? How was the myth adapted to fit within different historical moments? Most important is a question that I will apply to all these adaptations and versions from ancient to modern: How does Demeter and Persephone's relationship change based on societal changes and trends in the culture of the society that the story is being retold in? To answer this question, I will be constructing a chart highlighting important changes to the plot of the story. This chart will organize versions based on the time of composition, which will help highlight any connection wide-spread changes in periods of time have to the storyline of the myth. I will then write about these changes and see if there are any connections to events occurring in each time, showing how myth--in particular the mythology of Demeter and Persephone--adapts to social and cultural changes in the civilizations that keep the stories alive.