Persephone’s myth is unique, as it was the central narrative of one of the most prominent ancient mystery religions, and remains one of the few (certainly the most prominent) ancient Greek myths to focus on the relationship of a mother and her daughter. This unique focus must have offered her worshippers something important that they perhaps could not find elsewhere, especially as a complex and elaborate cult grew around it, transforming the divine allegory of the changing seasons or the storage of the grain beneath the earth, into a narrative offering hope for a better place in the afterlife. To understand the appeal of this myth, two aspects of her worship and mythic significance require study: the expectations of her worshippers for their own lives, to which the goddess may have been seen as a forerunner; and the mythic frameworks operating which would characterise the goddess for her worshippers. The myth, as described in The Hymn to Demeter, is initially interpreted for its literary meaning, and then set within its cultural milieu to uncover what meaning it may have had for Persephone’s worshippers, particularly in terms of marriage and death, which form the initial motivating action of the myth. From this socio-anthropological study we turn to the mythic patterns and motifs the story offers, particularly the figure of the goddess of the Underworld (primarily in the influential Mesopotamian literature), and the Dying-Rising God figure (similarly derived from the Near East). These figures, when compared to the Greek goddess, may both reveal her unique appeal, and highlight the common attractions that lie in the figures generally. By this two-part investigation, on the particular culture’s expectations and the general mythic framework she exists in, Persephone’s meaning in her native land may be uncovered and understood.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / On title page: Master of Philosophy (Ancient Cultures). Bibliography.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This thesis deals with the connection between mythology and psychagogy, and a structured way of reading and using myth for personal development is suggested. The myth of Demeter and Persephone is used for this purpose, and the text of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter is analysed as the basic (but not exclusive) text. In the modern world the psychagogic component relies on the work of Jung, which is seen as the most appropriate template available. His concept of the archetype is particularly useful, and the archetype of the mother goddess is analysed as a representation of the personal and spiritual development of modern women.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The question that this thesis aims to examine is how the motifs of the myth of Demeter and Persephone have been perpetuated in three modern works of fiction, which are Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce, Chocolat by Joanne Harris and House of Women by Lynn Freed. It is the aim of this work to substantiate that the issues that the ancient myth of Demeter and Persephone highlights, are still of value in this modern world and that the same human issues that women had to come to terms with then, continue to be relevant today. Briefly, the myth of Demeter and Persephone is about Demeter, the Olympian goddess of agricultural fertility, whose daughter Persephone is abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld. The myth tells of Demeter’s grief at the loss of Persephone, and her desperate search for her daughter. Due to her grief, she stops all plants from growing which could be fatal to the mortals, and would have repercussions for the immortals that they serve. Demeter and Persephone are eventually reunited and the earth flourishes with growth once more. However for one-third of the year Persephone must descend to the Underworld to be at the side of Hades, at which time it is winter and plants do not grow. Then for two-thirds of the year she ascends to be with her mother, Demeter, and plants blossom and ripen, and it is the time of spring and summer. The impact of myth is not dead.