Persephone in popular culture

Updated on Oct 04, 2024

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Persephone appears many times in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through symbolic use of her name.

In film and television

Walt Disney's 1934 Silly Symphony short The Goddess of Spring adapts the story of her abduction to Hades and how she returns to the earth for half a year. She is not called by her name.

In the 2009 film Wonder Woman, Persephone (voiced by Vicki Lewis) is the name of an Amazon from the island of Themyscira. After being charmed by Ares for a century while guarding him in his cell, she betrays her people by freeing him after killing another amazon. She briefly fights Princess Diana of the Amazons. Persephone is killed by Hippolyta for her treachery but tells Hippolyta that the Amazons were denied a life of families and children and that they are women too not just warriors.

In the 2013 film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Persephone (voiced by Candi Milo) is the name of an Amazon soldier in Wonder Woman's army. She is killed by Professor Zoom, when she attempts to kill Lois Lane.

The 2014 comic book series The Wicked + The Divine features Persephone as one of the gods who reincarnate every 90 years by taking over someone else's body. This modern interpretation of Persephone has powers that include summoning vines from the ground.

Persephone also appears as a character in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, played by Monica Bellucci. She is the wife of the Merovingian, a powerful program that handles other programs exiled from the Matrix. In the Matrix Revolutions, they are seen together as being seated in a rave club named Club Hel, possibly a strong reference to Hel, the underworld of Norse Mythology, and Hell, the underworld in Christian Theology.

In the movie Spike, the title character greets the girl whom he loves by calling her his Persephone. Later, she attempts to convince (or trick) him to let her go by saying, "I'm your Persephone. Persephone stayed with Hades only part of every year. I need to return to my world. I promise I will return to you."

In the cult TV Show Firefly, Persephone is the name of one of the border planets where there is both high society and slums. The planet is the first one to be viewed in the series.

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 (played by Andrea Croton) appears in two episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

In season 2 of The Simpsons an executive working for Herbert Powell proposes to call a new car the company designed the Persephone.

In the 2010 BBC series Upstairs Downstairs, Lady Agnes' sister is called Persephone (shortened to Persie).

She is referred to in The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series.

In literature

Kaitlin Bevis begins the Daughters of Zeus series with a modern-day retellings of the Persephone myth.

Mary Shelley wrote a "mythological drama" titled "Proserpine," which was published posthumously.

Algernon Charles Swinburne published "Hymn to Proserpine" and "The Garden of Proserpine" in 1866.

Second April, a collection of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay published in 1921, contains two poems which make explicit reference to Persephone: "Ode to Silence" and "Prayer to Persephone."

Persephone "Persi" Wright is the protagonist of the graphic novel trilogy Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons

The Stephen King book Duma Key features the evil supernatural character "Perse" as the antagonist to the main character. As the novel reaches its conclusion, it transpires that "Perse" is actually short for Persephone.

In Douglas Adams' book Mostly Harmless the fictional, newly discovered 10th planet is named Persephone. However it gets given the nickname Rupert after "some astronomer's parrot".

A Court of Mist and Fury, the sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas, is loosely based on the myth of Hades and Persephone.

The comic Epicurus the Sage by William Messner-Loebs and Sam Kieth features a fractured version of the abduction of Persephone, adding in the comic twist that Hades and Persephone had staged the entire kidnapping simply to get away from her overbearing mother.

Persephone appears as a character in the books The Demigod Files, as well as The Last Olympian of the Percy Jackson series, the latter in which she has gained love for Hades over the years.

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.

Roberta Gellis's Dazzling Brightness retells the story of Hades and Persephone.

In Eva Ibbotson's young adult novel A Company of Swans the heroine Harriet Morton eats pomegranate seeds in the hope that will mean she has to remain in Brazil rather than go back to her family home in Cambridge.

In the book series Secret Society Girl written by Diana Peterfreund, the Secret Society of Rose and Grave worships Persephone as their Goddess.

Erin Kinsella's novel Olympian Confessions: Hades and Persephone focuses on Persephone's escape from her mother; her passion to claim her independence and power; her love for Hades and her ability to grow as an individual and face serious challenges as Zeus and Demeter try to break her.

In video games

In the video game Ogre Battle 64, the Goddess Danika, was seduced by Demunza, the king of the netherworld by eating a cursed fruit, which turned her into the queen of the netherworld. However, when she is summoned by someone pure of heart, she will revert to her goddess form.

In the video game BioShock 2, Persephone is the name given to the prison facility that spans over two levels, Inner Persephone and Outer Persephone.

Persephone is the final boss and the overall antagonist of the 2008 video game God of War: Chains of Olympus. Her remains in a tree casket are seen and used in the 2010 video game God of War III.

Persephone is depicted as goddess of life in Sacrifice

In Elite: Dangerous, Persephone is the name given to the game's fictional depiction of the hypothetical Planet Nine in the Sol system, a world made largely of ice but with no atmosphere.

In music

"Persephone (the gathering of flowers)" is the final track of the Dead Can Dance album Within the Realm of a Dying Sun. The song's musical narrative traces a path of death and rebirth.

Cocteau Twins released "Persephone" in 1984 on their critically acclaimed album Treasure.

The progressive death metal band Persefone have released an album called "Core", which is based on the myth of Persephone.

"Don't Look Back", a track on Indie band She & Him's second album, Volume Two, opens with the lyric "Orpheus melted the heart of Persephone, but I never had yours."

In the Tori Amos song "Pandora's Aquarium", from her album From the Choirgirl Hotel, she sings: "I'm not asking you to believe in me/boy, I think you're confused, I'm not Persephone".

Song 3 on the 1974 album There's the Rub by Wishbone Ash is titled Persephone.

The album Strangefolk by artist Kula Shaker featured a track titled and about Persephone.

The album Turbo Ocho by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers features a track titled Persephone as a love song written by Hades to Persephone.

The folk opera Hadestown based off the myth of Orpheus, Persephone is a main character.

Other

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.

Persephone is the name of the logging tug in the CBC Television series The Beachcombers.

References

Persephone in popular culture Wikipedia

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