The Reasons For The Seasons

Zimbabwe Davis

Huma215

Topics in Cultural Studies

Diana Robbins

05/01/2012

Abstract

Proserpina was the Roman goddess of Springtime and the goddess of the Underworld. She was born to Ceres and Jupiter. Her plight is directly related to changing of the season. This is due to that abduction of the fair goddess by Pluto the good of the Underworld.

Proserpina, the roman goddess associate with the seasons, is probably one of the more interesting stories in Roman mythology. Really you cannot say that any of them are not interesting, but I would have to say that I have taken quite a liking to her particular plight and how it relates the seasons of the earth. Born to the goddess Ceres and the god Jupiter, Proserpina found herself in a world for trouble at the hands of Pluto. The plot does indeed thicken as you find out there were other factors at play in the suffering of Proserpina. What god or goddess gave the order that sealed here fate? What forces were in play in this supernatural game of love and intrigue?
Proserpina, or as she was sometimes known Proserpine or to the Greeks Persephone, was born to Ceres, the goddess of agriculture and Jupiter, the god of shy and thunder, two high standing deities. Ceres, also known as the Greek goddess Demeter, was the goddess of agriculture as I said, but also associated with grain crops, motherly love and fertility. Ceres was the only agriculture deity to be listed in the Di Consentes list of twelve deities thought to be greater than the rest. Jupiter, also known to the Greeks as Zeus, was king of the gods. He was listed among the twelve deities in the Di Consentes for obvious reasons. So as you can see Proserpina was born to quite the power team of parents.
Proserpina name is thought to be derived from the Latin word proserpere meaning to emerge or there Roman meaning to shoot forth. It’s thought that this is in respect to the growing of grain. In the Aeolian and Dorian cities of Magna Graecia is where the Romans first head of the goddess, though in there dialect it was pronounced Proserpine (Προσερπίνη). In Locri a town in the province of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, Proserpina was thought to be the protector of marriage. It was her kidnapping and joining to Pluto was the emblem for that of the marital state. This makes me really curious about this city if abduction and rape is the staple for marriage.
To bring an understanding the plight of Proserpina you have to mention a few other renowned deities. Enter Venus, the goddess love, Amor, the god of affection, Pluto, the god of the underworld and Mercury, the god of trade. Each of these deities played a part in the plight that befell Proserpina.
Venus, in attempt to bring love to Pluto, she ordered her son Amor to shoot Pluto with his bow. Pluto now infected with love began to search. Proserpina was playing in Sicily collecting flower. She was at Pergusa Lake frolicking with nymphs; some versions of the story say her companions in the meadows were the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus. Pluto emerged from the volcano Etna propelled by four black horses, Orphnaeus, Aethon, Nycteus and Alstor. He saw her and fell in love instantly. He immediately took her to the underworld to make her his wife. In another variant of the story Pluto made a beautiful flower grow and when Proserpina went to reach for it the ground widened and belched forth Pluto again drain by his immortal steeds.
Ceres distraught over the disappearance of her daughter began to search. She search for 9 days and on the 10th day Trivia had pity in the agricultural goddess and told her that she heard Proserpina cry out but was unaware what happened to her. Ceres so angered by the events that took human from and began to walk. Finally Ceres was compelled to return to Olympus, but here sadness and anger was causing a worldwide famine. Mankind was facing its end, possible extinction from starvation. However the mortals were not the only ones starving. Proserpina trapped in the underworld had not eaten either. By this time Jupiter had sent Mercury to carry his command to free his daughter. Pluto conspired to insure she could not leave for long feed Proserpina some pomegranate seeds.
Mother and daughter were finally reunited. Ceres sensing that something was wrong questioned her daughter. Finally Proserpina admitted to being trick in to eating the food of the underworld. Demeter again was distraught because she know to eat the food of the underworld means that person must return to the underworld. Jupiter powerless to do anything decreed that Proserpina spend 1/3 of the year in the underworld with her new husband and the other 2/3 she was allowed to return to earth or Olympus. She would now be known as the goddess of the underworld. With this compromise Ceres restore to order the growing of crops and put an end to the famine and starvation. From the union of Proserpina and Pluto came Plutus the god of wealth.
During Proserpina’s return to the underworld Ceres is again saddened and distraught. Her return is signified by the fall. It is said that in the fall Ceres turns the leaves brown and orange as a gift to her daughter before she returns to the underworld. During the time she is in the underworld winter comes to the earth. During this time the earth is barren and there is no vegetation due to the sadness of Ceres.
There were several points in the mythology of Proserpina that captivated my attention. Some of those very descriptive points were: * Pluto's emergence from a volcano * Proserpina's eating of the food of the underworld and its significance to the amount of time she must spend in the underworld * The use of Amor to insights the whole situation * Ceres's distraught steps creating deserts * Ceres the changing of the leaves as a gift to her daughter.
I could really feel Ceres's desperation as she searched for her daughter. The choice of story elements having the goddess of agriculture turn on her very function of creating life to actually laying waste the that very life she had created. Every moment without her daughter so devastatingly sad the she could not bring herself to bring forth vegetation. Every step in search of her daughter so painfully excruciating they left barren land flowing with plant life. Depending on the variant of the tale Proserpina eating of the food of the underworld will differ. I prefer the version in which Pluto, when delivered a messages by Mercury, a demand from Jupiter, he plotted to trap her there. Pluto emerges from the volcano is an epic entrance. If you are about to kidnap someone what better way to step on to the scene then to pop out a volcano. Though I would like to know why Venus made the command, but I love the fact that Pluto didn’t just flip out. I was very entertained by the inclusion on Amor. With this element you can see that sometimes love does go wrong. There were several variants of the eating of the food in the underworld but what is constant is that she has to stay in the underworld a certain amount of time based of what she ate. With these and other story elements I could see this myth being adapted to make an amazing movie or even an amazing video game
It is amazing what the human mind can come up with. I can see thousands of years ago some ancient roman toddlers with a case of the why’s and his parent telling them these amazing stories to shut them up. And from those tales way back when that’s where we get our mythology today. I laugh to think that it could just that simple.

Reference
Mother goddesses. (2003, June 22). Retrieved from http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/mother.html
Proserpina goddess of the underwold. (2012, February 18). Retrieved from Mother goddesses. http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/mother.html
Roman gods. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient_rome/gods.htm
Proserpin, roman goddess of springtime and goddess of the underwold. (2009, July 29). Retrieved from http://www.goddessaday.com/roman/proserpina
Precourt, B. (2005). The abduction of persephone . Retrieved from https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/prec/www/course/mythology/0700/dionysus.htm