Persephone in popular culture

Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter in Greek mythology, appears in films, works of literature, and in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through the symbolic use of her name. She becomes the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld.[1] The myth of her abduction represents her dual function as the as chthonic (underworld) and vegetation goddess: a personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in Spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest. Proserpina is the Roman equivalent.

In film and television
  • Walt Disney's 1934 Silly Symphony short The Goddess of Spring adapts the story of her abduction by Hades and how she returns to the earth for half a year. She is not called by her name.
  • In the 2009 film Wonder Woman, Persephone (voiced by Vicki Lewis) is the name of an Amazon from the island of Themyscira. After being charmed by Ares for a century while guarding him in his cell, she betrays her people by freeing him after killing another amazon. She briefly fights Princess Diana of the Amazons. Persephone is killed by Hippolyta for her treachery but tells Hippolyta that the Amazons were denied a life of families and children and that they are women too not just warriors.
  • In the 2013 film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Persephone (voiced by Candi Milo) is the name of an Amazon soldier in Wonder Woman's army. She is killed by Professor Zoom, when she attempts to kill Lois Lane.
  • The 2014 comic book series The Wicked + The Divine features Persephone as one of the gods who reincarnate every 90 years by taking over someone else's body. This modern interpretation of Persephone has powers that include summoning vines from the ground.
  • A character named Persephone appears in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, played by Monica Bellucci. She is the wife of the Merovingian, a powerful program that handles other programs exiled from the Matrix. In the Matrix Revolutions, they are seen together as being seated in a rave club named Club Hel, possibly a strong reference to Hel, the underworld of Norse Mythology, and Hell, the underworld in Christian Theology.
  • In the cult TV Show Firefly, Persephone is the name of one of the border planets where there is both high society and slums. The planet is the first one to be viewed in the series.
  • In the BBC Television series Spooks the title of Series 3 Episode 6 is "Persephone", referring to character Zoe Reynold's code name during an undercover operation. The storyline parallels that of Greek mythology.
  • Persephone (played by Andrea Croton) appears in two episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
  • In season 2 of The Simpsons an executive working for Herbert Powell proposes to call a new car the company designed the Persephone.
  • In the 2010 BBC series Upstairs Downstairs, Lady Agnes' sister is called Persephone (shortened to Persie).
  • She is referred to in The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series.
  • Persephone is the name of the logging tug in the CBC Television series The Beachcombers.
  • Persephone is portrayed by Elisabetta Genovese in Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales. In the film, Pluto gives the elderly, blind cuckold Sir January his sight back to see his wife cheating. In response, Persephone implants good excuses in the wife May's mind so that she can go unpunished. See also The Merchant's Tale

In literature

In video games
  • In the video game Ogre Battle 64, the Goddess Danika, was seduced by Demunza, the king of the netherworld by eating a cursed fruit, which turned her into the queen of the netherworld. However, when she is summoned by someone pure of heart, she will revert to her goddess form.
  • In the video game BioShock 2, Persephone is the name given to the prison facility that spans over two levels, Inner Persephone and Outer Persephone.
  • Persephone is the final boss and the main antagonist of the 2008 video game God of War: Chains of Olympus. Her remains in a tree casket are seen and used in the 2010 video game God of War III and Hades mentions her death at Kratos' hands as part of the reason he has a vendetta against him.
  • Persephone is depicted as goddess of life in Sacrifice
  • In Elite: Dangerous, Persephone is the name given to the game's fictional depiction of the hypothetical Planet Nine in the Sol system, a world made largely of ice but with no atmosphere.
  • In Skylanders, Persephone gives Skylanders upgrades in exchange for gold and is the most powerful fairy.
  • In Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Persephone is depicted in the first episode of The Fate of Atlantis DLC, titled Fields of Elysium. She is depicted as ruling over Elysium. Like her depiction in Greek mythology, she is mentioned as being married to Hades and is therefore the Queen of the Underworld as well as ruling Elysium. She is also mentioned as being the goddess of spring and nature. She is essentially the antagonist of the episode.
  • In Hades, Persephone is depicted living in Greece, having left the Underworld. She is the mother of the game's protagonist Zagreus, and is the motivation to his repeated escapes from the Underworld.

In music
  • "Persephone" is the instrumental opening track of Opeth's 2016 album Sorceress. The album's theme (including several of its tracks) arguably contains elements loosely related to the Persephone myth. The closing track is also entitled "Persephone (slight return)".


Planets beyond Neptune
Main articles: Fictional planets of the Solar System § Trans-Neptunian planets, and Planets beyond Neptune
  • When a 10th 'planet' was discovered in July 2005, a poll in New Scientist magazine picked Persephone as the public's favourite name.[8] Its status as a planet was later downgraded to dwarf planet together with Pluto and was given the name Eris. Before that, the name was often used in science fiction to refer to hypothetical planets beyond Neptune and Pluto (such as Planet X and even Planet Nine, theorized in 2016).

References
  1. Martin Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion Vol I pp 462–463, 479–480
  2. Proserpine & Midas on Project Gutenberg
  3. Hymn to Proserpine in Representative Poetry Online
  4. The Garden of Proserpine on Wikisource
  5. Second April on Digital Library Project
  6. "Fugitives of Chaos by John C. Wright Dramatis Personae"
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikdySPABYAc>
  8. New Scientist: Your top 10 names for the tenth planet, 2005
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