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_persephone (57202)

Περσεφόνεια

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Persephone

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[greek swim]

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Περσεφόνη, or Φερέπαφα
Isabelle Anne Bennet

Myth Basics
Deity Name: Persephone
Other Names: Kore, Pherepapha (Plato), Persephoneia (Homeric hymns), and also Persephoneie and Persephassa
Role: Goddess of Spring and Spring Growth, Queen of the Underworld
Role in Greater Detail: Queen of the Underworld, granting passage to Elysium and reincarnation, presiding over the oracles of the dead and the art of necromancy, Queen and dispatcher of the Furies, Goddess of Spring Growth and Grain Seed
Powers: Reigning in the Underworld, dispatching the Furies, impairing the mind of mortals and bringing them forgetfulness, unleashing of plagues, necromancy, powers over plantlife including the ability to make things grow and fruit and bloom,
Objects and Familiars:
Parents: Zeus and Demeter
Siblings: No full siblings. By Zeus, a number of half-siblings including Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hebe, Athena, Hermes, Dionysus, and many others.
Spouse: Hades
Children: None living

Mortal
Name: Isabelle Anne Bennet, dislikes her first name, and prefers to go by Anne
Date of Birth: February 19th, 1985
Nationality: British
Social Class: Middle class mother, Upper class father
Parents: George Alfred Bennet (father) and Elizabeth Coleridge (formerly Bennet, mother). Also Irene Lawrence Bennet (stepmother)
Siblings: None. Sebastian Lawrence (stepbrother)
Past Relationships: None that have lasted long enough to count, and even those short-lived ones have been few and far between.
Significant Other/Spouse: None at the moment
Children: None
Overall Health: Actually quite fine. Acute hearing, somewhat near-sighted (or perhaps far-sighted), when it comes to looking for people, but it's not a question of vision, only focus. There is nothing wrong with her, despite the fact that she has been led to believe such, given visits to various doctors since she was very vocal about the dreams she would have when she was younger. She thinks (sometimes, at least) that there is something wrong with her, because of this.
Education: Majored in the Classics at Oxford, now a Graduate Student and lecturer at the University of Athens
Career: Now a philology and classics lecturer at the University of Athens, while she finishes her Ph.D.

Aesthetics
Height: 5'8"
Weight/Build: 126 lbs, small frame
Hair: Dark brown naturally, sometimes highlighted lighter
Eyes: Dark (hence the epithet "dark-eyed Persephone")
Skin/Other: Fluctuates from "white-armed" each year during her stay with Hades, to much more tanned in the months of Spring and Summer.
Description: Persephone does not consider herself a great beauty, but even those who loathe her must admit she has a dramatic allure. Her naturally darker-than-average complexion in the summer months spent outdoors and nearly black hair give her an exotic aura in a culture that has often seen milk-white paleness as essential to beauty. But in the winter months, she exhibits that paleness in dramatic fashion. Her eyes are especially striking, "dark" and "beautiful," many have said, such that one of her epithets has become "dark-eyed Persephone."
And Persephone has come, over the years, to know how to use her features, particularly her eyes, well with effect. Indeed, her charm lays not so much in her physical appearance as in her vivacious personality, her gracefulness, her quick wit and other accomplishments. Her stature is just-taller-than-average, and leanish, a thing she wishes were a bit curvier, but this stature gives her something of an appealing fragility, which can be deceptive.

Psychological
Personality: Persephone gives off an aura of innocence, but she is in fact one of the more shrewd goddesses. In her days of youth, she could be seen running carefree through fields of flowers and fronds, a social creature, pensive but truly innocent, a thinker but still always with a smile on her face. Her cleverness should come as no surprise given that she used to spend much time with Athena and Artemis, and her smiles likewise as no surprise given the playful nature of the nymphs with whom they stayed by the rivers.
But this is not the complete picture, despite the fact that most people fail to see that. While some point the finger at Hades and claim that he tricked her into eating the seeds of the pomegranate, Persephone knew very well what she was doing in accepting and eating of the fruit. She is not truly as innocent as many think.
Persephone is constantly absorbing ideas and images about the situations with which she is presented. Using her intuition to process this information, she is usually extremely quick and accurate in her ability to size up a situation, and at times has a tendency to open up her mouth and blurt things out that are, to be quite frank, perhaps a bit blunt. This can be particularly bad because she does not naturally consider the more personal or human element in decision making, and realistically needs to take care to notice the subjective, personal side of situations. Although her logical abilities lend strength and purpose to the her, these things have also served to isolate her from her feelings and from other people.
When listening, she tends to have a distant, faraway look in her eyes and it often seems as though she is paying little attention to what is going on, but this impression is far from the case. The impression, however, is added to by little facts, such as her habit of playing with objects, like her hair or fabric of her clothing, during conversation. Persephone, however, is an apt and fluent conversationalist, mentally quick, and enjoys verbal sparring with others. She loves to debate issues, and may even switch sides sometimes just for the love of the debate. However, when she expresses her true underlying principles, she has a tendency to feel awkward and speak abruptly and intensely. She has a tendency to gesticulate when passionately telling a story or verbally sparring.
Although Persephone is more interested in absorbing information than in making decisions, she is quite rational and logical in reaching conclusions. Typically, she quickly and accurately understands a situation, and objectively and logically acts upon the situation. Her Thinking side makes her actions and decisions based on an objective list of rules or laws -- usually. Unfortunately, the one exception to that is her dealings with her husband.
She sees him as a volatile person, not merely mercurial - but fluctuating, unreliable, and disproportional in his responses to things, and it frustrates her more than she will ever lead on. Where usually Persephone will make decisions based on thinking and logic, with her husband, these decisions are many times colored by her feelings and emotions, which complicates things a-thousand-times-fold. Loves him, yes she does, more than she will ever likely admit, and she keeps this closely guarded within herself. The affair with Minthe hurt her likewise more than she will ever admit, her instant, fierce reaction in turning the nymph into a plant one of the most revealing moments about her feelings. Her reaction would extend to having her own sort of tit-for-tat affair with Zeus, thinking it a fair and logical thing that she should get to do such a thing if her husband had, though she will never admit this, and likewise never admit how badly she felt about it afterward. Persephone has always looked for some sort of sign that he loves her, that her feelings for him are at least in some form reciprocated, though his oscillating reactions around her have always baffled her and left her bewildered. This would change with the events leading up to their imprisonment following the fall of those against Cronus, however.
Extrovert/Introvert: Extrovert
Sensing/Intuition: Intuition
Thinking/Feeling: Thinking
Judging/Perceiving: Perceiving
Hobbies and Interests: Planting and cultivating flowers, herbs, and other plants, gardening, verbal sparring, conversing
Strengths: creative, clever, curious, theoretical
Weaknesses: love of debate may cause her to provoke arguments, at times has a tendency to come off as unfeeling or cold, occasionally falling into the habit of practicing "one-upmanship" (which can be taxing on relationships)

Deity Relations
Friends: Athena, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysus
Enemies: ~~Minthe~~
Romantic Status: Married
Significant Other: Hades
Sexual Preference: Heterosexual
Present Interests: Hades
Past Relationships: The only relationship Persephone has to speak of is the one most know about, of course: with Hades. The only other person with whom she has been involved is Zeus. They had a one night engagement sort of affair after the Minthe episode, only Persephone was unaware that it was him at the time, since he'd taken the form of Hades before creeping into her bed. At least, that is what she says, her tone noncommittal. The reality of the matter is that she was more than suspicious (quite sure it was not Hades; she could recognize her own husband in bed), but her husband's affair with the nymph-turned-plant was something that hurt her deeply, and she took the opportunity for a tit-for-tat sort of response. From that union came Zagreus, who would be heir to Zeus' throne. The child was attacked, however, by Titans with the help of jealous Hera, but from his heart to Semele would be born Dionysus.
Likes: Tall stature, quick wit and cleverness (she craves stimulation, and not just the physical/sexual sort), a challenge, and other such things. She's not too picky on physical particulars other than height and the fact that she seems to be attracted to guys of the leaner or more muscular persuasion. Also very good if the guy is into chess or something else she can be competitive with. Good sense of humour and an ability to make her laugh are, of course, always an added plus.
Dislikes: People who want to micro-manage her, whining, sulking, temper tantrums, excesses of emotional outburst

Biographical
Myth: The daughter produced by the union of Zeus and Demeter, when the King of the Gods came to the bed of the bountiful goddess, white-armed Persephone, is most noted for having been "stolen by Hades from her mother's side."

From early on, unlike every other offspring of an Olympian pairing, Persephone lacked a stable position at Olympus. She used to be far removed from Olympus, in fact, away from the other gods, a goddess within Nature before the days of planting seeds and nurturing plants. Demeter's rejection of the gifts and wooings that Hermes, Ares, Apollo, and Hephaestus offered Persephone preceeded this removal, so concerned for her daughter was the agriculture goddess that she hid her away from the company of the gods.

Thus, Persephone lived a peaceful life before she became the goddess of the underworld, which, as the popular legend goes, did not occur until Hades abducted her and brought her into the underworld, having been promised the young goddess by Zeus himself. Known as Kore then, she was innocently picking flowers with some nymphs, and Athena and Artemis, and Leucippe and Tyche, in a field in Enna, among roses and crocuses and irises also and hyacinths, gathering lilies and white violets, when she was captivated by a Narcissus, a thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see. It had been made to be a snare for the bloom-like girl - a marvelous, radiant flower, and young Kore was amazed and reached out with both hands to take the lovely bloom. But the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the fields, away from the company she'd wondered off from in search of flowers, and the lord, Hades, with his immortal horses, sprang out through a cleft in the earth upon her.

Life came to a standstill as the devastated Demeter searched everywhere for her lost daughter. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually told her what had happened, and when the goddess was unable to get her daughter back, she refused to allow the earth to flourish in harvest, letting it grow barren. Finally, Zeus, pressured by the cries of the hungry people and by the other gods who also heard their anguish, could not put up with the dying earth and forced Hades to return Demeter's daughter. But before she was released to Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, Hades offered her six pomegranate seeds, which she accepted, breaking the fast she'd taken since her abduction.

These seeds forced her to return to the underworld for one month each year for every seed that she ate. When Demeter and her daughter were together, the Earth flourished with vegetation and color, but for six months each year, when Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth once again became a barren realm of darkness.

But her time in the Underworld was not all darkness. When Heracles came to the underworld on his quest to fetch Cerberus, for example, she received him like a brother, and allowed him to carry off the dog, as well as free Theseus from his bonds. She served as hostess for Psyche in the Underworld when the girl was being put through the trials of Aphrodite, offering her soft cushion and rich food as she explained what she needed for Aphrodite. The goddess at once filled and closed the box Eros' lover had brought, and advised her not to open it and take it straight to Aphrodite.

As Queen of Hades, Persephone showed mercy toward mortals once, bending the rules because the music of Orpheus was so hauntingly sad. That is what she will claim, in any event; the truth is that she could genuinely empathize with Orpheus and his lost wife, though she has never admitted this. She allowed Orpheus to bring his wife Eurydice back to the land of the living as long as she walked behind him and he never tried to look at her face until they reached the surface. Orpheus agreed but failed, looking back at the very end, once he himself had exited the Underworld, to make sure his wife was following, and lost Eurydice forever, as she'd not yet crossed out of the land of the dead.

Persephone was normally a more benevolent goddess, and her wrath has been seldom shown, but when she has done so, it has been notable. When Hades pursued another, a nymph by the name of Minthe, for example, the goddess turned her into a mint plant decisively, showing that despite her kindness, she was not one to be trifled with.

The Queen of the Underworld was the object of Pirithous's affections. Pirithous and Theseus, his friend, pledged to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen and together they kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra, and traveled to the underworld, domain of Persephone and her husband, Hades. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast; as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. From Edith Hamilton's Mythology, it is stated as being a "Chair of Forgetfulness" that they sat upon. It should also be noted that Heracles was able to save Theseus from this fate when he was in the Underworld, but Hades forced Pirithous to remain seated forever. Seeing Hades like this would touch the goddess's heart, reaffirming to her in her own head that even after the episode with Minthe, her husband cared for her.

And Pirithous would not be the only to pursue Persephone. Zeus, as others before Persephone's marriage and some after, found the goddess enchanting; he at one time stole into Persephone's bed, the only to do so, and only because he had taken the form of Hades. Persephone would use this opportunity in a way to make her feel better about the Minthe affair, about which she feel betrayed and haunted, saying simply that she could not tell it was not her husband, much as this was far from the truth. From this union would come Zagreus. Never having had any other children, Persephone would, despite the situation, very much care for the child. Zeus would make the god heir to his throne, but the child would be attacked by Titans with the help of jealous Hera. From Zagreus' heart, which Zeus fed to Semele, would be born Dionysus, who Persephone would later care for.

When Creon refused to allow the burial of the Seven Against Thebes, Persephone, along with Hades, inflicted Thebes with a deadly plague. For her old friend Artemis, Persephone would snatch away Ethemea the nymph, when she ceased worshiping the hunting goddess and was subsequently struck by her arrows.

In short, every year had its little quirks. Life in the Underworld was never dull or boring.

War: Persephone attempted to stay as far away from the conflict as possible, returning to the fields of her days of youth long since past and taking refuge with the nymphs, mirroring her husband's attempts at neutrality. With the fall of Olympus after Hades' eventual concession to fight alongside the others loyal to Zeus, however, she was imprisoned along with the rest, until Rhea released them.

Mortal: Persephone was reborn as Isabelle Anne Bennet. The only daughter of George Alfred Bennet and botanist Elizabeth Coleridge Bennet, her first years would be pleasant to say the least. She would have dreams, with fields of green or dark coldness, but always the same surreal feeling about them. It was like she had lived something more. Something was missing. She always knew it since she was little; her parents paid it no mind though and thought it just the chattering of a little girl.

But with her 10th birthday came bleak news: her parents were divorcing. For the next 8 years, Anne, as she always insists on being called, thinking Isabelle a much too presumptuous name, would be shipped back and forth between her mother's classy Bristol flat and her father's seaside Suffolk manor. Her father would get custody eventually and quickly move on with a Ms. Irene Lawrence, her son, Sebastian, coming to live with them, as well. Suffice to say that Anne preferred to spend as much time left to her own devices as possible. This was a thing her stepmother thought strange, along with the dreams Anne had always had, and so the woman would convince George that perhaps Isabelle needed to see someone, to express herself a bit more. At her father's insistence, she would spend her next years in and out of psychiatrists' offices and taking Risperdal, a thing she still does on and off to this day.

Anne would come to study the classics at Oxford following the completion of her private education, and she is now about to finish her Ph.D. in Philology and working as a lecturer at the University of Athens. Yes, education and research have brought her to Athens, a package deal she couldn't in her right mind have put aside, and there's something about the city that strikes her as familiar. She still cannot quite place her finger on it, though, and the journal she received recently has not helped things, either. She lives in the Plaka, an area close to the Acropolis, with her Bull Terrier, Orpheus, in a small two-story townhome with a little garden in back that always flourishes, no matter what. Her neighbors have suggested that she should enter gardening contests, which Anne at first found amusement in, but later began to take seriously, and has now found it to be a nice additional source of income.

On her journal: Φερέπαφα, a more obscure name, perhaps fittingly since it would make it more difficult for her to find, as a classics scholar. The name is derived from Plato's Cratylus. "People dread the name of Pherephatta as they dread the name of Apollo- and with as little reason; the fear, if I am not mistaken, only arises from their ignorance of the nature of names. But they go changing the name into Phersephone, and they are terrified at this; whereas the new name means only that the Goddess is wise (sophe); for seeing that all things in the world are in motion (pheromenon), that principle which embraces and touches and is able to follow them, is wisdom. And therefore the Goddess may be truly called Pherepaphe (Pherepapha), or some name like it, because she touches that which is (tou pheromenon ephaptomene), herein showing her wisdom. And Hades, who is wise, consorts with her, because she is wise. They alter her name into Pherephatta now-a-days, because the present generation care for euphony more than truth."

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