Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead

I. Female divinities associated with magic

Proserpina, as the wife of Pluto and sovereign of the Underworld, symbolized the cycle of seasons and the constant renewal of nature. Due to her infernal connection and association with the deceased, Proserpina is mentioned in epitaphs, and the myth of her abduction and descent into the underworld was used as funerary decoration. The torch, fruits, and vegetables are often her attributes, and in Greece and Etruria, her preferred fruit is the pomegranate, as Pluto gave her six seeds to ensure she remained with him. On the other hand, due to her infernal nature, she is mentioned in some magical rituals, distant from official religion, as evidenced by her invocation in curse tablets («tabellae defixionum») and necromancy rituals. 

A valuable literary testimony of the latter can be found in Lucanʹs Pharsalia in the 1st century AD, where the formidable witch Erictho is described. To predict the future, Erictho is capable of reviving a corpse, summoning its soul back from the underworld, invoking underworld deities, including Persephone. In Roman territories, Proserpina was assimilated with divinities having similar functions, such as the goddess Libera, native to Latium, or Ataecina from some pre‐Roman peoples in Hispania. In the picture, the queen has a hen in her lap and ears of wheat in her hand, connecting her with her mother Ceres. Pluto holds the plant of asphodel, associated with the underworld. The rooster next to the throne has various interpretations, such as the crowing of the rooster at dawn symbolizing the transition from darkness to daylight.

Alejandra Guzmán Almagro