Persephone - Gods of Olympus

In ancient Greece there was a deity for almost everything, from arts to drunkenness, all sort of stuff.

So there surely was some kind of deity for something like a season! In fact, there is one; she's the goddess of Springtime and vegetation: Persephone. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of harvest.

There are not many informations about Persephone, but I found some informations from which to create a nice character anyway.

I tried to draw Persephone many times though, and I couldn't find a proper design so I decided to do something a little different and the idea eventually came out.

There was a myth which told how Persephone became the Queen of the Underworld: the goddess had many admirers because of her beauty (Hermes and Apollo were two of those), but her mother Demeter always rejected every gift or proposal from other men to her daughter. The king of underworld, Hades, happened to be in love with Persephone too, so one day he came out of the ground and kidnap her, and he asked her to be his queen. Demeter was furious of this, so much so that she left everyone's crops to die, threatening that if Hades didn't retrieve Persephone everybody would've died of hunger. Zeus decided to step in and bargained with his brother, and managed to set free Persephone at one condition: after a certain period of time she had to return to the underworld and stay with Hades.

It is said that the period of autumn and winter corresponds to Persephone's absence on Earth, because she rules in the underworld beside her husband.

She surely has a lot of different elements implemented in her desing, which I had a lot of fun drawing! 

About her animal sidekicks: during springtime Persephone hangs out with many mythical creatures, all mild and benign animals like the winged horse she has by her side; while during the period she's in the underworld she only has Harpies as company: brainless, goofy looking and irritating animals. Hades used to cover the Harpies with jewels to make them look more appealing, but Persephone never liked them.

The elements that differentiate these two Persephones from one another are not only their hairstyle, but also the color of the outfits, their scepters and their makeup. In the Underworld outfit, Persephone is covered in jewels, as if they were given to her by Hades to compensate the lack of happiness with wealth; whereas in the brighter outfit she wears a simple tunic and not many ornaments, as to state that happiness is accomplished with simple things.

Poor Hades has no one to turn to, not even his wife! If you liked Persephone show her some love, she is in a complicated relationship!

Feedback is very appreciated as always, see you in the next mythological piece!

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