“Evoking Archaic Greek practices of bride capture, the myth of Persephone’s abduction an
“Evoking Archaic Greek practices of bride capture, the myth of Persephone’s abduction and sexual conquest by Hades has many layers of meaning. Familiar in Greek thought is the idea that for a girl, marriage is a kind of death, requiring the extinction of the girl’s former life in favour of her new identity as wife. Premature death, meanwhile, can be visualized as a marriage to Hades.In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the rape of Persephone planned by Zeus and his brother without the consent of her mother Demeter provides the waiting cosmos with its Queen of the underworld. Persephone’s union with Hades, however, is also a kind of sacred marriage, because her descent to the underworld recapitulates the planting of the seed grain and its germination, while her annual ascension to the earth and the embrace of her mother represents the emergence of the crops.”Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook by Jennifer LarsonThe first picture is of a pinax from Locri, depicting Persephone’s abduction, taken from this site. -- source link
Tumblr Blog : a-gnosis.tumblr.com