Also called Kore, the maiden, Persephone was the goddess of the underworld, springtime, flowers and vegetation.

Homer describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic princess of the underworld. Persephone was married to Hades, the god of the underworld. The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation.

Persephone as a vegetation goddess and her mother Demeter were the central figures of the Eleusinian mysteries, which promised the initiated a more enjoyable prospect after death.