That Persephone is a personification of the Virgo’s constellation is already clear from her other epithet – Kore, meaning “virgin”. Perhaps, the original name of Demeter was dom-mater, meaning again “Mother Earth”, but with an added connotation of home? Persephone, the real Virgo The English word “dame”, lady, comes from vulgar Latin. So, the same word “da-ma-te”, can mean both Demeter and households? In this context, isn’t it interesting that the Latin word “domina” originally meant “the lady of the house”? The Latin word for “house” is “Domus”. The word exists in Linear B too, but here we see the translation “households”. It appears already in Linear A as “damate”. This “aging” relates to the decaying of plants and leaves, while her old white hair is a poetic way of describing a snowy winter. We see how she quickly ages out of grief for her lost daughter. This is very logical, as in the ancient texts she is also referred to as “the ruler of the seasons”. Therefore, the name Demeter means De (Earth) mater (mother). According to Wikipedia, the Doric form “De” corresponds to Attic “Ge, Gea” – earth. However, etymological analysis of her name reveals that it translates as “Mother Earth”. And Demeter is the goddess of vegetation. The image of the Virgo constellation is that of a woman holding corn of wheat in her hand. It is not hard to imagine why this happened. It seems that the confusion started already with Marcus Manilius in his 1st-century Roman work “Astronomicon”. Virtually all literature on goddess Demeter will at some point equate her with Virgo. Demeter – Mother Earth, not the constellation Virgo The reason for this is confusion in terms of what its main protagonists are representing. However, it seems that very few people understand what exactly is this myth telling us. The exact same meaning lies behind the abduction of Sita in Ramayana, or the abduction of Helen in the Iliad. In fact, this story is built on a very ancient Indo-European mold. The abduction of Persephone explainedįirst of all, everyone will agree that this story relates to the change of seasons. In spring, when she comes back, the plants of the Earth start blossoming again. Therefore, Persephone returns home, but she is condemned to spend the three winter months in the underworld. Apparently, those who taste the food of the underworld are forever bound to return there. He does so, but not before he makes her taste some of the pomegranate seeds. Seeing that the human race will perish, Zeus, the Sky God, convinces Hades to give Persephone back. Her mother, goddess Demeter, was so devastated that she turned into an old woman. Persephone, a young maiden, was picking flowers when Hades, lord of the underworld kidnapped her. The story of Demeter and Persephone is one of the most famous episodes of Greek mythology.
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