Persephone and the dolos of Zeus: the deceit of the goddess in the homeric hymn to Demeter

Abstract

Persephone's consecration as a chthonic goddess begins with a dazzling narcissus and is consecrated with a honey-sweet pomegranate. These symbolic elements, however, do not operate as simple poetic ornaments; but as a form of deceit (dolos), with several levels and associations, which, like a lure, attracts the prey so that it fulfills a certain purpose imposed by another. In this way, it is proposed to reflect on the main deceives suffered by the goddess Persephone, specifically those narrated in the representation of the myth of the abduction of the goddess described in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, so that one can ponder on the representation of the feminine through its fragile and vulnerable characterization to the art of deception by operative male entities. Thus, it appears that the daughter of Demeter is a victim, in more than one situation, of this dirigible force of deceit, and that, through deceit and ruse, Zeus of imperishable designs subverts situations in his favor, reiterating his hegemony about the gods and, in particular, about the feminine.