What does the myth of Persephone explain? ?

Question

What does the myth of Persephone explain?

How the word “poison” was established.

The concept of the labyrinth, and how to escape one.

The changing of the seasons

What life in the underworld was like.

Answer 1

"poison" comes from the Latin "potare" (to drink).

Answer 2

Hades springs out of the earth and captures Persephone, dragging her off to be his queen in the Underworld; her dad Zeus told him it was okay to take her as his bride, and Hades took him a bit literally. Hades was also her own uncle, which didn't make this exactly a myth of good family mental health. Her distraught mother Demeter searches for her and stops all foods from growing until she is returned. Even Zeus has to give in and help work out a deal - Persephone stays one-third of the year with Hades, one-third of the year serving as a handmaiden to Zeus, and one-third with her mother Demeter-

Seems like the "Myth of Persephone" explains ancient balancing of family, spouse, and career.

Answer 3

I've always learned that Persephone's myth dealt with the seasons. When Persephone is with her mother, it is spring/summer with growth and warmth because Demeter(goddess of fertility and nature) is happy. When she is with Hades in the underworld, Demeter is distraught and saddened, hence winter, a season of cold and impotent growth

Answer 4

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/p***e...

Answer 5

changing of the seasons....

persephone was kidnapped from her mother demeter the goddess of the earth or harvest by hades. her mother was so distressed when persephone was missing that she let everything die and humans suffered because of it because they couldnt get food.  persephone soon realized that she didnt want to be in the underworld but she couldnt leave because she was basically hades prisoner. she would have to stay in the underworld for eternity if she had eaten anything, but she only had 3 pomegranate seeds.  zeus was brought in to settle the issue of could persephone go home to her mother and he decided that since she had only eaten part of a pomegranate she would only have to be in the underworld part of the year.

and that is how we got winter. because demeter wouldnt have anything grow while her daugher was in the underworld.