Persephone in popular culture

Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter in Greek mythology, appears in films, works of literature, and in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through the symbolic use of her name. She becomes the queen of the underworld through her abduction by Hades, the god of the underworld. The myth of her abduction represents her dual function as the as chthonic (underworld) and vegetation goddess: a personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in Spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest. Proserpina is the Roman equivalent.

In film and television

• Walt Disney's 1934 Silly Symphony short The Goddess of Spring adapts the story of Persephone's (voiced by Jessica Dragonette) abduction by Hades (voiced by Tudor Williams), and how she returns to Earth for half a year. She is not referred to by name.
• A character named Persephone appears in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, portrayed by Monica Bellucci. She is the wife of the Merovingian, a powerful program that handles other programs exiled from the Matrix.
• In the BBC Television series Spooks the title of Series 3 Episode 6 is "Persephone", referring to character Zoe Reynold's code name during an undercover operation. The storyline parallels that of Greek mythology.
• Persephone appears in ', portrayed by Andrea Croton.
• Persephone appears in The Canterbury Tales, portrayed by Elisabetta Genovese. In the film, Pluto gives the elderly, blind cuckold Sir January his sight back to see his wife cheating. In response, Persephone implants good excuses in the wife May's mind so that she can go unpunished.
• In the television series Once Upon a Time, Zelena, the Wicked Witch, takes the place of Persephone.
• Persephone appears in Class of the Titans, voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.
• In The Simpsons episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", Herb Powell is talking about his company's new car model with the marketing team and they propose calling it "The Persephone." They then explain she was a goddess who ate six pomegranate seeds. Powell rejects the name, stating that Americans want cars named after horses and other tough imagery, not "hungry Greek broads."
• Persephone appears in Kaos, portrayed by Rakie Ayola. This version is unrelated to Hades and resides in the underworld by choice.
• Persephone appears in the 2010 of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, portrayed by Rosario Dawson. She is depicted as the hot-tempered wife of Hades, and aids Percy on his quest in the Underworld.

• In John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos, "the Maiden", a title of Persephone's, is a candidate for the throne of Olympus after Zeus's death.
• Persephone is a major supporting character in the Korean webnovel/webtoon Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.
• Persephone is a supporting character in the game series Hades by Supergiant Games.
• Persephone is the main antagonist in ', and is again referenced by Hades in God of War III.

In music

• The musical Mythic is a modern-day pop rendition of the myth
• Allison Russell's first solo album, Outside Child, features a single titled “Persephone.”
• Anaïs Mitchell's musical Hadestown is a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice with a jazz- and folk-influenced score, and Persephone and Hades are major characters.

Planets beyond Neptune

• When a 10th 'planet' was discovered in July 2005, a poll in New Scientist magazine picked Persephone as the public's favourite name. Its status as a planet was later downgraded to dwarf planet together with Pluto and was given the name Eris. Before that, the name was often used in science fiction to refer to hypothetical planets beyond Neptune and Pluto (such as Planet X and even Planet Nine, theorized in 2016).

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