Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Zeus and Demeter were brother and sister and they were also one of the Twelve Olympians. Demeter was the goddess of the harvest. She loved Persephone and never let Persephone out of her sight. Persephone was the queen of the underworld and goddess of spring growth and innocence. She was the wife of the god Hades. She was loved by all of the gods because she was beautiful and graceful and she was sometimes called Kore, meaning “young maiden.”
Hades, god of the underworld and brother of Zeus, became infatuated with Persephone. He thought Persephone would “brighten up” the underworld. He asked Zeus’s approval for Persephone’s hand in marriage. Zeus approved and instead of charming Persephone, Hades abducted her one day while she was gathering flowers from a field near her home. The ground split open and Hades’ chariot came up and he snatched Persephone and carried her down to the underworld to his kingdom and made her his queen.
Demeter heard Persephone scream when Hades took her. She searched for her daughter intensely. All nature grieved with her, flowers wilted, trees lost their leaves, and fields grew barren which lead to people and animals starving. Demeter asked the sun if he had seen what had happened, but he said no. She found out that Zeus was the one who betrayed Persephone. She demanded that Persephone be returned to her or else the earth would never be green again. Zeus relented and sent Hermes down to the underworld to retrieve Persephone.
Persephone missed her mom terribly, but another part enjoyed being a queen, even if it was of the Underworld. When she was about to return to the earth with Hermes, she had accepted a pomegranate from Hades. She knew that if she had eaten anything in the underworld, she would not be allowed to return to earth, but she ate it anyway. This led to Persephone not being fully restored to Demeter, but Hermes made a compromise with Demeter and Hades who was cold-natured and self-centered. Persephone would live in the underworld for four months during the winter and would be with Demeter all the other remaining months. Whenever Persephone returned to the underworld, the earth would be cold and have barren winters. When Persephone returned to earth, she would bring spring back and the earth would be warm and happy again. This resulted in the seasons.