The Story of Persephone & Pandora's Box - Greek Mythology Stories -Myths & Legends of Ancient Greece

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of earth's fertility and harvest, and Zeus, the king of all the Olympians. Demeter cared as deeply for her daughter as she did for the earth. Persephone was very beautiful, and she lived a happy life, playing with the other children, and spending time in the gardens of Olympus. One day, as Persephone was playing in the garden, the earth suddenly opened up. Hades, the god of the underworld, emerged from the darkness. Some time ago, Hades had seen her sitting in the garden, and he was struck by her beauty ever since. He desperately wanted her to be his queen of the underworld. So, one day, he approached Zeus, asking for permission to take Persephone as his queen. With little concern for how Demeter would respond to such a request, Zeus agreed, and Hades was given consent. Hades took hold of poor Persephone, and carried her gently to the underworld. Persephone shouted for help, but to no avail. Demeter was struck with grief, and she scoured the earth in search of her daughter. Her immense sorrow caused the earth to grow dark, cold, and barren. The once lush meadows yellowed. The trees curled and furled. The rain stopped. Demeter finally contacted Zeus. He informed her of Persephone's marriage to Hades in the underworld. Demeter grew into a motherly rage. She demanded Zeus to return Persephone to her care, but Zeus refused. Demeter sought to punish Zeus for betraying her and their daughter. She left Olympus, leaving the earth cold and barren. Zeus had no other choice but to agree to Demeter's demands. He told Hermes, the messenger, to bring Persephone back up to Demeter's care. In the underworld, Persephone had grown to love Hades, who treated her with compassion and loved her as his queen. Hermes reached the underworld. He requested that Persephone come back to earth with him. Hades knew he could not refuse the commands of Zeus, but he also could not part from his beloved Persephone. One morning, Persephone went into the underworld's garden, and was offered a pomegranate by the gardener. Up until that point, Persephone had resisted eating anything offered to her. She knew that if she ate any food from the underworld, she would be bound to it forever. But that morning, Persephone was so hungry, she took the pomegranate and ate six of its seeds. Then, abruptly, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, appeared before her. He told her that Demeter had caused the earth to freeze, that no crops would grow, and mortals were dying. The only thing that would stop her was Persephone's return. Persephone reluctantly allowed Hermes to take her to Olympus. Demeter was so happy to see her daughter. Zeus too was happy to see the flowers on earth blooming again. Suddenly, the throne room darkened, and the gods turned as Hades stepped out of the shadows. He was holding the partially eaten pomegranate in his hand. Persephone has eaten the fruit of the underworld, Hades said coolly. She must return and rule it with me. While Demeter resumed her tantrum, Zeus considered Persephone quietly. How many seeds did you eat, daughter? he asked. Persephone told him, six. Zeus stood up from his throne, and the assembly quieted. I rule that she will spend six months of each year in the underworld with her husband, and six months with her mother. During Persephone's six months on earth, the land was fertile, beautiful, and warm. The meadows were lush and of the deepest green. The rains came often, and drought was unseen. However, when Persephone left the land and entered Hades' domain, the earth was dark with no growth. Demeter grieved for her daughter, and had little time to nurture the land. Thus, according to Greek mythology, the seasons were created. The autumn and winter months were when Persephone sat on the throne of the underworld beside Hades, and the spring and summer months were when Persephone was reunited with her dear mother, Demeter. A long long time ago, far away above the clouds, high up amongst the clouds of Mount Olympus, the gods lived in a content and happy life away from the humans. They enjoyed all the pleasures of life, while humans were suffering on earth. At times, when the gods were bored, they would play with the humans on earth as well. They thought it was good fun by keeping away the fire from people for many, many years. People on earth could cook and warm themselves using the fire, but without it, they were suffering. Prometheus, the son of Zeus, was a kind and compassionate man who took pity on mankind. When he saw the sorry state of humans on earth without the fire, he took pity on them. He requested his father to give fire to the humans, but Zeus refused. So one night, he stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to the people on earth. Zeus was very angry and ordered that Prometheus be chained to the side of a mountain to suffer there for all eternity. But that wasn't enough for Zeus. He decided to punish him further, and this time, he decided to trick his son. The gods created a beautiful woman called Pandora and took her to Prometheus. But Prometheus had his doubts. He was afraid that the gods were trying to trick him, so he decided to ignore her. However, his brother, Epimetheus, fell in love with the beautiful Pandora and decided to marry her. They got married, and they lived happily together for many months. One day, Mercury, the messenger of the gods, arrived with a mysterious box. He asked Pandora and her husband to take care of it while he was away. Before he left, he warned them to never open the box. For days, Pandora could not take her eyes off the box. All the time, she wondered what was inside. Could it be full of shining jewels, glittering robes, or diamonds? Whenever Epimetheus was away and no one was around, Pandora would go near the box and run her fingers over the polished wood and the golden clasp. However, one day, she could bear it no longer, and her curiosity overcame her. She crept up to the box and gently opened the clasp. Slowly lifting the lid, she peeked inside. Gods had filled the box with all kind of evils. Disease, misery, and death swooped and buzzed out of the box, stinging her. Pandora screamed and screamed with pain and fear. Epimetheus heard her cries as he rode into the courtyard. He ran to aid her, taking her into his arms, and comforted her as the evils flew out of their house and spread across the land. It was then that Epimetheus heard a tiny little voice calling from the box. Let me out! Believing that nothing inside the box could be worse than the horrors that already got out, he opened the lid once more. All that remained was a tiny, crumpled butterfly, shivering in the corner. The beautiful butterfly was… Hope, which Mercury had hidden amongst the evils, taking pity on mankind. Slowly, it unfolded its sparkling wings and brushed them against Pandora, healing her wounds. Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this Hope in order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out.