the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Persephone
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or was the name of the. Grecian goddess who ruled over the infernal regions. By the Romans she was called Proserpina. She was the daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and Demeter (Ceres). In Attica she was therefore called Κόρη, i.e. the Daughter. By Homer she was styled the wife of Hades (Pluto), and the queen of the lower world, and of the realms inhabited by the souls of the dead. Hence she is called Juno Inferna, Averna, and Stygia. She is said to have been the mother of the Eumenides, Erinyes, or Furies. Hesiod mentions a story of her having been carried off by Pluto, and of the search of Demeter instituted for her (laughter all over the earth by torch-light, until at length she found her in the realms below. An arrangement was now made that Persephone should spend a third of the year with Pluto, and two thirds with the gods above. She was generally worshipped along with Demeter, and temples in her honor are found at Corinth, Megara, Sparta, and at Locri, in the South of Italy. In art she is represented as grave and severe, as would become the queen of the lower world.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Persephone'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/persephone.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
