Hades, King of the Underworld, had a wife that was considered to rival Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, in terms of beauty. This woman charmed Hades enough to make the God defy his siblings and kidnap her for himself. Who was the wife of Hades and what did Hades do to get her?
Persephone, the Goddess of Harvest and later the Queen of the Underworld, was the wife of Hades, King of the Underworld. She was kidnapped by Hades to the dismay of his sibling, Demeter, but it was under the approval of Zeus as he had conspired with him.
There wasn’t much in the mortal plane that caught the King of the Underworld’s eyes but Persephone’s beauty mesmerized the God enough for him to take her. What is the story behind the marriage of Hades and Persephone that caught the ire of the other Gods?
Who Was Persephone?
The Goddess of Harvest, Spring, and Vegetation, Persephone was the child of Zeus and his sibling, Demeter, which makes her the niece of Hades, who would eventually be her husband. She was a vegetation Goddess and her story is usually associated with seasonal change.
She was depicted to be very close to her mother, who was devastated when she found out about her disappearance. Persephone would later be known as the Queen of the Underworld after Hades had abducted her to make her his bride.
When portrayed with her mother, she usually holds a scepter and sheaf as a representation of her connection to the harvest. Other times, she is portrayed with a pomegranate which symbolizes her marriage to her husband, Hades, and his domain, the Underworld.
The Horn of Plenty, also known as the Cornucopia, is also linked with Persephone’s existence to represent her role as the Goddess of Fertility. Her abduction story is usually told to explain the changing of seasons. Here spawns one of the most well-known stories within Greek mythology…
Why Did Hades Kidnap Persephone?
Persephone was considered to be a very beautiful Goddess, enough to catch the eye of a few Gods and mortals. One of those Gods was the King of the Underworld, Hades, who wanted to marry her and bring her to the Underworld as his queen.
The problem here is that Persephone was the only laughter of Demeter, and she loved her very deeply. She would never approve of the marriage between Persephone and her brother, Hades, as Persephone would need to spend eternity in the Underworld.
Knowing this, Hades secretly conspired with Zeus and gain the God’s approval for abducting his daughter. Demeter wasn’t too happy when she found out about their scheme but she couldn’t defy the King of the Gods then.
One day, while Persephone was gathering flowers with her maidens in the Nysian Meadows, she got separated from the group and was attracted to the blooming of a narcissus. Hades actually planned this and emerged from the earth’s crust in his four-horse golden chariot.
He abducted Persephone and brought her back to the Underworld as his bride and the Queen of the Underworld. Demeter was extremely depressed when she found out about her daughter’s abduction but she didn’t know what had happened.
She soon found out about Hades’ involvement in Persephone’s disappearance through Apollo, the God of the Sun, who saw everything. She also knew about her husband, Zeus, and his involvement in the plan which sent her into further distraught.
The Goddess started to neglect her duties as the Goddess of Agriculture and wandered aimlessly. The earth became barren and its inhabitants were dying due to the lack of food and resources. Hades may be enjoying the companionship of his new wife but the world was dying due to his actions. Something had to be done…
Did Hades Force Persephone to Marry Him?
Many people think that it’s impossible to force someone to marry another that they don’t love. For Persephone, she didn’t have much of a choice as the one that wanted to wed her was the King of the Underworld, Hades.
Hades wanted to make Persephone his wife even though his sister, Demeter, was wholly against the notion. Even the threat of the world going into famine didn’t deter the God from wanting to make Persephone his wife.
Though Hades didn’t wed her by force, Persephone didn’t have much of a choice anyway. She was kept deep in the Underworld, a place that was far far away from her home, Mount Olympus, which was on the surface of the earth.
She was a God but she didn’t have the capabilities of traversing back into the world of the living. She had to stay in the Underworld until Zeus had sent for Hermes, the messenger of the Gods who could transverse the Underworld, to retrieve her.
The only one who could stop Hades from marrying her would be her father, Zeus, who was King of the Gods. Hades had all the power in his domain in the Underworld but Zeus will always have the final say.
Unfortunately for her, it was Zeus himself who accepted Hades’ proposal to marry her. He even schemed with him to kidnap the Goddess from her stroll in the Nysian Meadows.
Zeus couldn’t go back on his word as it would have affected his reputation as a God. Hades was a very important figure to the world and it was necessary to keep him satisfied.
Luckily for the rest, he wasn’t an evil God as commonly depicted by modern society and was easily convinced to find a compromise for his relationship with Persephone.
Did Hades Ever Return Persephone?
Seeing that there was no other way, Zeus sent his son, Hermes, to the Underworld to get Persephone back to her mother, Demeter. Hermes wasted no time and immediately completed the mission given to him, returning the daughter to her mother.
Unfortunately for Persephone, a trick was done on her by Hades before she left the Underworld. While she was in the Underworld, Persephone was given a pomegranate seed by Hades to taste before leaving.
According to the ancient law of the Gods, she is now obliged to stay in the Underworld as she has consumed a part of it. Zeus couldn’t just let the world go into famine again so he came up with a compromise for his brother, Hades.
His proposal was that Persephone would spend two-thirds of the year with her mother in the world of the living and the remaining months of the year in the Underworld with Hades. All parties agreed to this proposal which spawned the seasons of the year.
Like the seed of the pomegranate that she tasted, she would spend a few months below the earth before coming out. This represented the grief that Demeter felt which also represented the winter season of the year.
When her time in the Underworld is over, she would return to her mother, bringing happiness to Demeter and the light and warmth which rejoices the earth during the spring and summer seasons.
Why Did Hades Fall In Love with Persephone?
Though a romantic story of love at first sight sounds typical for an ancient story such as this, the love for Persephone by Hades wasn’t as simple as that. He actually fell in love with Persephone due to the pride of the Goddess of Love herself, Aphrodite.
Hades wasn’t interested in things such as love as he didn’t spend much time with the other Gods and mortals. It took the power of Eros, the child of Aphrodite, to make the King of the Underworld fall in love. Aphrodite claimed that the power of her son, Eros, could make anyone fall in love with anyone and she wanted to prove this.
To do this, she challenged her son to make Hades fall in love which would prove how powerful he was in flourishing romance. Hades was shot by Eros and he coincidentally was laying his eyes on Persephone during the time. The King of the Underworld immediately fell in love with the Goddess of Fertility and the rest of the story was history.
Is Hades Faithful to His Wife?
Unlike his brother, Zeus, Hades was very loyal to his wife, Persephone, and never cheated on her in any way. According to Greek mythology, Hades had two other loves but they were both before the kidnapping of Persephone.
One of them was the Naiad Nymph, Minthe, who was the daughter of Cocytus, the God of the River that flowed within the Underworld which was governed by Hades. She was very beautiful and was the lover of Hades before Persephone came into the picture.
She even tried to get Hades back after his marriage to Persephone which invoked the wrath of the Goddess. Persephone was angry that Minthe boasted about Hades returning to her and destroyed her, creating the herb mint that we know of today.
The other lover of Hades was the Nymph, Leuce, who was also abducted into the Underworld in a similar manner to that of the kidnapping of Persephone. She lived out her entire lifespan in the Underworld and died there.
She was already dead by the time Persephone was crowned Queen of the Underworld, therefore, Hades only loved Persephone alone. It seems strange to hear about Hades’ loyalty considering that his brother, Zeus, was a known adulterer and bedded many mortals and immortals alike.
Hades was a man of morals and kept his faith in his wife, Persephone, even though he only saw her for a third of every year.
Conclusion
The wife of Hades, Persephone, was the Goddess of Fertility and Harvest born to the King of the Gods, Zeus, and the Goddess who shared her title, Demeter. Persephone’s mother loved her very much but that wasn’t going to stop Hades from claiming her as his wife.
The King of the Underworld devised a plan with the King of the Gods to abduct Persephone but this saddened Demeter greatly, causing her to neglect her duties as the Goddess of Harvest. A famine swiped the world and Zeus had to do something about it.
Zeus sent his son, Hermes, to reclaim Persephone to her mother but not before coming to a compromise with his brother Hades. Persephone was to return to the Underworld a third of every year which now represents the winter season where Demeter grieves the loss of her daughter.
Hades fell in love due to the power of Eros, the son of Aphrodite, but his love was truer than ever. He was always faithful to his wife and never had another lover after her, unlike his brother who was known as a serial adulterer to all.
This goes to show that the King of the Underworld isn’t as bad a person as many depictions would show. He was genuine to his wife and even respected her request to stay with her mother for most of the year.
