RETURN OF PERSEPHONE. After frantically searching over all the world, Demeter was informed by the nymph Arethusa (or Cyane, another nymph) or by Apollo (Helios) that Persephone had been abducted by Hades and taken to the Underworld. Demeter implored Zeus to intercede on her daughter’s behalf. With the earth now gripped in the famine caused by Demeter during her search, Zeus yielded to her lamentations and allowed for Persephone’s return. Hermes (Mercury) was dispatched to the Underworld with instructions to bring her back to earth, on condition that she had eaten nothing in Hades’ realm. Ascalaphus, son of the Underworld river Acheron, betrayed her by reporting that she had eaten a few pomegranate seeds. Persephone was thus obliged to spend half of each year with Hades. Furious at Ascalaphus for his revelation, Demeter (or Persephone herself) turned him into an owl. The story of Persephone’s descent into the Underworld every autumn and her return to earth in the springtime has become a familiar allegory of seasonal death and rebirth.

Listings are arranged under the following headings:
General List (Persephone),
Demeter's Search for Persephone,
Return of Persephone)