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Persephone Facts & Worksheets

Persephone was the queen of the Underworld and was the goddess of vegetation and fertility.

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Persephone was the queen of the Underworld and was the goddess of vegetation and fertility.

See the fact file below for more information on the Persephone or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Persephone worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

INTRODUCTION

  • Persephone (also known as Kore or Kara) was the the daughter of Demeter (goddess of harvest and fertility) and Zeus (god of sky and thunder, and the god of all gods).
  • Persephone was the wife of Hades, the god of the Underworld.
  • Persephone was a dual deity, as she is both the goddess of vegetation and also the goddess of fertility.
  • Persephone is often depicted as a young goddess holding sheaves of grain and a flaming torch.

STORY

  • Persephone was also called Kore, which means “maiden” and is loved and adored by many other gods. However, Demeter (her mother) kept all men away from Persephone.
  • One of the persistent suitors of Persephone was Hades, the god of the Underworld.
  • Hades was living in the dark among the shadows of the dead.
  • Hades asked for Persephone’s hand from Demeter, but Demeter got furious.
  • However, one day, while Persephone was playing and picking flowers in a valley, the land beneath her feet suddenly cleaved open and through the opening came out Hades with his chariot and black horses.
  • Hades grabbed the lovely maiden Persephone and descended back into the Underworld.
  • The other girls who were with Persephone did not see anything.
  • However, the whole incident was witnessed by Zeus (Persephone’s father and Hades’ brother) and by Helios (the god of the sun), but both of them decided to remain silent.
  • Demeter wandered the Earth to look for her daughter, and her friend, Hecate (goddess of wilderness and childbirth) gave her advice to seek help from Helios, the all-seeing sun god.
  • Due to Demeter’s pleas, Helios told Demeter that Persephone was abducted by Hades.
  • Demeter was furious with what Hades did and that her husband (Zeus) would keep it from her. As revenge, she decided to take a long and indefinite leave from her duties as the goddess of harvest and fertility.
  • Due to that, the Earth began to dry up, harvests failed, plants lost their fruitfulness, animals died due to lack of food, and famine spread across the whole Earth.
  • The cries and pleas of the people who were suffering reached Zeus, so he decided to find a solution.
  • Zeus told Demeter that he would bring Persephone back from the Underworld if it could be proven that Persephone did not want to stay with Hades in the Underworld. Otherwise, Persephone belonged to Hades and the Underworld.
  • However, Hades heard of this agreement and tricked Persephone into eating a few seeds of the pomegranate fruit. The pomegranate fruit is the food of the Underworld, and every time someone eats a few seeds, that person will begin to miss the life of the Underworld.
  • During the gathering, when Zeus asked Persephone where she wanted to stay, Persephone answered that she wanted to stay with Hades.
  • Demeter got furious with this and said that she would never make the Earth fertile again and that everyone would die.
  • To put an end to this, Zeus decided that Persephone would spend half of her months with Hades and the other half with her mother, Demeter.

EXPLANATION

  • It is said that during the months that Persephone is with Hades in the Underworld, Demeter is sad and relinquishes her duties as the goddess of harvest and fertility. This is said to be the reason behind the months of autumn and winter, when the land is not fertile and there are no crops.
  • During the months that Persephone is with Demeter, Demeter would shine with happiness, and the land would be fertile and produce crops again. This is said to be the reason behind the months of spring and summer.
  • Thus, the story of Persephone and Demeter was created to explain the changes of the seasons and the eternal cycle of nature’s death and rebirth.

APHRODITE

  • Aphrodite, the goddess of love, fell for a beautiful man, Adonis. When Adonis died, Aphrodite gave Adonis to Persephone for safekeeping. However, Persephone fell for Adonis, also.
  • The feud between Aphrodite and Persephone reached Zeus, and to put an end to it, Zeus decided to divide the time of Adonis between the two goddesses.
  • However, Adonis loved Aphrodite more. Persephone became furious, so she sent a wild boar to kill Adonis, who died in the arms of Aphrodite.

Persephone Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Persephone across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Persephone worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Persephone who was the queen of the Underworld and was the goddess of vegetation and fertility.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

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Link will appear as Persephone Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 19, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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