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pomegranate, and thus she could not stay away from him for ever .3 So it was arranged that she should spend two-thirds (according to later authors, one-See also:

HALF

half) of every year with her mother and the heavenly gods, and should pass the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the year with Pluto beneath the earth.' There can be little doubt that this is a mythological expression for the growth of vegetation in See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring and its disappearance in autumn. According to See also:

THEOPOMPUS (b. c. 380)

Theopompus there was a Western See also:

PEOPLE

people who actually called the spring Proserpine. As wife of Pluto, she sent spectres, ruled the ghosts, and carried into effect the curses of men. The See also:

lake of See also:

AVERNUS

Avernus, as an entrance to the infernal regions, was sacred to her. From the See also:

head of a dying See also:

PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person Proserpine was supposed to cut a See also:

lock of See also:

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

hair which had been kept sacred and unshorn through See also:

LIFE

life.° She was sometimes identified with See also:

HECATE (Gr. 'EKa-rrl, " she who works from afar "1)

Hecate. On the other hand in her See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of goddess of the spring she was honoured with See also:

flower-festivals in Sicily and at Hipponium in See also:

Italy.

Sicily was a favourite haunt of the two ' Some, however, regard Proserpina as a native Latin form, not borrowed from the Greek, and connected with proserpere, meaning the goddess who aided the germination of the seed. 2 The See also:

story is reminiscent of the old form of See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage by See also:

CAPTURE (from Lat. capere, to take; Fr. prise maritime; Ger. Wegnahme)

capture. s The See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea that persons who have made their way to the See also:

ABODE (from " abide," to dwell, properly " to wait for ," to bide)

abode of the dead can return to the upper world if they have not tasted the See also:

food of the dead appears elsewhere, as in New See also:

ZEALAND (also SEALAND Or SEELAND; Danish Sjaelland)

Zealand (R. See also:

Taylor, New Zealand, pp. 233, 271). ' Hymn to Demeter; See also:

OVID [PUBLIUS OvID1us NASO] (43 B.C.–A.D. 17)

Ovid, See also:

FASTI

Fasti, iv. 419; Metam. v. 385. ° Aen., iv. 698 seq. It appears to have been a Greek See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom to cut a lock of hair from a dead See also:

man's head, and hang it outside of the See also:

house See also:

DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door, in token that there was a See also:

CORPSE (Lat. corpus, the body)

corpse in the house. At least this seems a fair inference from Eurip.

Alc., 95, 76, 101-104. The lock so cut may have been that which was kept sacred to the gods and unshorn (Etym. Mag., s.v. a7rEQKoXUlyLEVOS). For examples of hair dedicated to gods, see Il. See also:

XXIII

xxiii. 141 seq. ; Plut., Thes. 5; Paus. viii. 20, 3. In See also:

TIBET, or THIBET

Tibet a lama (See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest) is called in to cut off some hairs from the head of a dying person, in See also:

order that his soul may See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape through the See also:

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top of his head, which is deemed an essential See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good transmigration (See also:

HORACE [QuINTus HORATIUS FLACCUS] (65-8 B.C.)

Horace de la Penna, in Bogle and See also:

MANNING, HENRY EDWARD (1808-1892)

Manning's Travels in Tibet, ed. C. R. See also:

Markham, 1876).

We can hardly doubt that the intention of the Graeco-See also:

ROMAN

Roman custom was similar. In See also:

MODERN

modern See also:

GREECE

Greece the god of See also:

DEATH

death, Charos, is supposed to draw the soul out of the See also:

BODY

body, and if a man resists the Arachobites believe that Charos slits open his See also:

BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. the Ger. Brust, possibly connected with an O. Sax. brustian, to bud)

breast (B. See also:

Schmidt, Volksleben der Neugriechen, 1871, p. 228). There are other instances of incisions made in the body of a dying person to allow his soul to escape(cf. A. See also:

BASTIAN, ADOLF (1826– )

Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, 186o, ii. 342). The custom probably See also:

DATES

dates from the times when death in See also:

BATTLE

battle was the usual death. In the legend of See also:

NISUS

Nisus and Scylla there is a trace of the custom which was still observed in classical times in the See also:

SACRIFICE (from Lat. sacrificium; sacer, holy, and facere, to make)

sacrifice of animals. The practice of cutting off the hair of the dead prevailed in See also:

India, though it does not appear in the Vedas (Monier-See also:

Williams, Religious Thought and Life in See also:

INDIGO (earlier indico, from Lat. indicum, the Indian sub-stance or dye; the Sans. name was niti, from nila, dark blue, and this through Arab. al-nil, annil, gives " aniline ")

Indigo, p. 281).

We are reminded of the practice of the Pawnees and other See also:

North-See also:

AMERICAN

American See also:

INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN

Indians, who shaved the head with the exception of one lock (the See also:

SCALP (0. Dutch schelpe, a shell)

scalp-lock), which was removed by a victorious enemy (See also:

CATLIN, GEORGE (1796-1872)

Catlin, North American Indians, ii. 24). The See also:

Sandwich Islanders also cut a lock from a slain foe (W. See also:

Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 1834, iv. 159). goddesses, and See also:

ancient tradition affirmed that the whole See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island was sacred to them. The Sicilians claimed to be the first on whom Demeter had bestowed the See also:

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

gift of corn, and hence they honoured the two goddesses with many festivals. They celebrated the festival of Demeter when the corn began to shoot, and the descent of Proserpine when it was ripe. At Cyare, a See also:

FOUNTAIN (Late Lat. fontana, from ions, a spring)

fountain near See also:

Syracuse which Pluto made to spring up when he carried off his See also:

BRIDE (a common Teutonic word, e.g..Goth. bruths, O. Eng. bryd, O. H. Ger. prs2t, Mod. Ger. Bract, Dut. bruid, possibly derived from the root bru-, cook, brew; from the med. latinized form bruta, in the sense of daughter-in-law, is derived the Fr. bru)

bride, the Syracusans held an See also:

ANNUAL

annual festival in the course of which bulls were sacrificed by being drowned in the See also:

WATER

water. At See also:

CYZICUS

Cyzicus also, in See also:

ASIA

Asia See also:

Minor, bulls were sacrificed to Proserpine. Demeter and Proserpine were worshipped together by the Athenians at the greater and less Eleusinian festivals, held in autumn and spring respectively. In the Eleusinian mysteries Proserpine no doubt played an important See also:

PART

part.

One Greek writer, Achemachus, identified Proserpine with the See also:

EGYPTIAN

Egyptian See also:

ISIS (Egyptian Ese)

Isis.' At See also:

Rome Proserpine was associated with See also:

CERES

Ceres (the Roman representative of Demeter) in the festival of the Cerealia (See also:

APRIL

April 12 to 19), she was represented as the wife of Dis See also:

PATER, WALTER HORATIO (1839-1894)

Pater (the Roman Pluto), and was sometimes identified with the native Latin goddess Libera. The pomegranate was Proserpine's See also:

SYMBOL (Gr. o-uµ(3oXov, a sign)

symbol, and the See also:

PIGEON

pigeon and See also:

COCK, EDWARD (1805-1892)

cock were sacred to her. Her votaries abstained from the flesh of domestic fowls, See also:

fish, beans, pomegranates and apples. In See also:

WORKS

works of See also:

art she appears with a cornucopia or with ears of corn and a cock.2 The See also:

REGULAR

regular form of her name in Greek was Persephone, but various other forms occur: Phersephone, Persephassa, Phersephassa, Pherrephatta, &c., to explain which different etymologies were in-vented. Corresponding to Proserpine as goddess of the dead is the old Norse goddess See also:

HEL, or HELA

Hel (See also:

GOTHIC

Gothic See also:

HAIFA

Haifa), whom Saxo Grammaticus calls Proserpine. See L. See also:

Preller, Demeter and Persephone (1837) ; R. Foerster, Der Raub and See also:

die Ruckkehr der Persephone (1874) ; A. See also:

ZIMMERMANN, JOHANN GEORG, RITTER VON

Zimmermann, De Proserpinae raptu et reditu (1882) ; J. A. See also:

OVERBECK, JOHANN FRIEDRICH (1789-1869)

Overbeck,'" Demeter and Kore " in Griechische Kunstmythologie, ii. (1878).

(J. G.

End of Article: PROSERPINE (Proserpina)

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