Persephone (English spelling)

Japanese: ペルセフォネ（英語表記）Persephonē

A goddess in Greek mythology. Her Latin name is Proserpine. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and according to Orphic mythology, she had an incestuous affair with Zeus and gave birth to Zagreus. She lived on earth with her mother, but Zeus planned to make her the wife of Hades, the king of the underworld, and persuaded Hades to kidnap Persephone while she was picking flowers. Enraged by this, Demeter left the world of the gods and wandered the human world, eventually staying at the palace of King Keleos of Eleusis. She retired to the temple that the king had built for her, and brought famine to the world. Zeus, perplexed, ordered Hades to return Persephone to her mother. However, Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate to eat before she left the underworld, and since she had eaten food from the land of the dead, she could not sever her ties with the underworld. Eventually, Zeus mediated between them, and it was decided that from then on she would spend part of the year as Hades' wife in the underworld and the rest of the year with her mother in the upper world. Accepting this compromise, Demeter founded a famous mysteries in Eleusis, with herself and Persephone as the main deities, before returning to Olympus, and decided that those who joined the mysteries would be able to find happiness in the afterlife.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ギリシア神話の女神。ラテン語名をプロセルピナという。ゼウスとデメーテルの娘で，オルフェウス教の神話によれば，ゼウスと父子姦し，ザグレウスを生んだとされる。母とともに地上で暮していたが，ゼウスは彼女を冥界の王ハデスの妃にしようと計画し，ハデスをそそのかして，花を摘んでいた彼女を地下界にさらっていかせた。このことを怒ったデメーテルは，神界を去り，人間界を放浪した末にエレウシスのケレオス王の館に逗留し，この王に命じて建てさせた神殿の中に隠遁して世界を飢饉に陥れたので，困惑したゼウスは，ハデスに命じペルセフォネを母のもとに返させた。しかしハデスはペルセフォネに冥界を離れる前にざくろの粒を食べさせたので，死者の国の食物を食べた彼女は，地下界と縁を切ることができなくなり，結局ゼウスの調停により，彼女は以後1年の1部を地下界でハデスの妃として過し，残りの期間は上界で母と一緒に暮すことになった。この妥協を受入れたデメーテルは，オリュンポスに帰る前に，エレウシスに自分とペルセフォネを主神とする有名な密儀を創設し，これに入信する者は死後の世界で幸福が得られることにしたという。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Beelzebul

>>: Berceo, Gonzalo de