Don’t Count Your Pomegranate Seeds Before They Grow: Changes in Blame in Adaptations of the Myth of Hades and Persephone
Before the symbol of the pomegranate fades completely into the background, no longer a faux-quirky image to wear on your person or to be used instead of a red heart as the emoji which you like messages with, I feel it is best to reflect on the myth of Hades and Persephone.The ‘Homeric Hymn to Demeter’, the oldest version of this myth, is the basis for later adaptations. In the hymn, Zeus allows Hades to steal away Persephone as she is picking flowers. Her mother Demeter senses Persephone is gone and travels to find her. Demeter is led to the all-seeing sun charioteer, Helios, who tells her that “no one else among all the immortals is responsible except the cloud-gatherer Zeus himself” and that Hades will be an advantageous son-in-law. Demeter refuses to see any of the gods and disguises h...