Ancient Explanations for Seasonal and Environmental Changes: The Myth of Demeter and Persephone - Alese Cowardin

 The seasons have always been a fascinating subject for humans and we have been trying to explain them for millennia. In the ancient times of the great Roman and Grecian empires, people explained seasonal changes through their myths– the greatest being the tale of Demeter and Persephone. In this tale, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, loses her daughter, Persephone, to Hades, the god of the underworld. As she mourns the loss of her daughter and frantically searches to find her, society experiences a barren harvest and cold winter. When she is finally reunited with her daughter, harvest springs anew. The cycle repeats every year in Greek myth, as Persephone was now chained to spend six months of the year in the underworld, separated from her mother. The Greeks used this myth of the goddess to explain the seasonal change that happened every year, the same way that they would explain bad harvests or weather events by arguing that the gods were upset with them. This is not the only mythical or religious explanation, but it is one of the most well known and it is interesting to see the ancient ruins of temples to Demeter that reference the myth and pray for the safe reunion of Demeter with her daughter to provide a bountiful harvest and beautiful nature.

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