Love and Sexuality of Heroes in Mythology I wasn’t sure I was going to write a bog post on this subject, and my thoughts were, that if I did, it would be focus on the sexual weakness of men, in the male perspective. However, within the lecture we had on this subject we were given time to reflect on the pattern of what made an initiation quest and the role of the hero within that. Throughout this blog writing process I have found a surprising focus on Persephone and in my exploration of her, I have found her to be an immensely versatile and three-dimensional character within mythology. In that vein, my reflection on the initiation quest developing in to my revaluation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in which I saw some amazing similarities to that of male heroes such as Jason and Aeneas. With this particular topic, I am not talking specifically of Love and sexuality in the more obvious ways that I have done in my previous Blog posts. However, I will be talking about Sexuality in the sense of how the initiation on to adult hood is alluded through sexual development. The Mythos of Persephone and Hades is not clear or specific about whether or not they engaged in a sexual relationship, however the motive of Hades wanting to claim Persephone as a wife does Allude to their being a sexual relationship between the two as man and wife. And it is with this idea in mind that we will then be interpreting the ‘Initiation’ of Persephone and whether or not this Initiation makes her a hero. The lecture we had for this topic we were visited by a PhD student who came to talk to us about her paper on ‘Heroism &the quest’ within this she made reference to Van Gennep’s ‘formula’ on Initiation Quests; this formula consisting of A separation, an experience of transition, and a return into society. In relation to this, throughout the process of writing and researching for these blog posts, I have developed a huge intrigue in the role and character of the Goddess Persephone. When I was in this lecture, I made an immediate link between the formula that Grace Page was explaining for the initiation quests and to that of Persephone abduction. Persephone, in my opinion, meets all of these criteria. The separation being when Hades steals her from the meadow: ‘The son of Kronos. The one known by many names. He seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot, and drove away as she wept’. The transition being when she eats the fruit which Hades ‘stealthily, put into my hand the berry of the pomegranate, that honey-sweet food, and he compelled me by biâ to eat of it.’; trapping her in the underworld for a third of the year. And her return to her mother ‘when the resplendent goddess finished all her instructions, they [Demeter and Persephone] went to Olympus, to join the company of the other gods’ is her return back into society. There is obvious evidence, that I have outlined above, within the Hymn to Demeter and therefore they mythos of Persephone to conclude that this is a tale of Initiation. However, interestingly there is an abundance of evidence outside the hymn itself that corroborates this theory. In Bruce Lincoln’s article ‘The Rape of Persephone: A Greek Scenario of Women’s Initiation’ looks in to the very name of Persephone that in itself alludes to Persephone being of initiation age. He states that ‘koure in the Homeric dialect, korë in Attic, means "young girl of initiatory age." It is this very term that is most often used as a byname of Persephone’. As well as this, through out mythology, it is a well-known fact that Persephone is a young god, a child if you will be approaching her adulthood and therefore approaching the time in which she will go from girl to woman. As Lincoln explains, Persephone’s byname ‘korë’ is linked to the term ‘Parthenos’ which refers to a ‘virginal maiden’. When considering all of this evidence that can be draw from her name alone, we are able to infer that that Hymn to Demeter is a tale of Persephone, a young virginal maidens’ initiation into woman hood. If we entertain the idea that the mythos of Persephone is a tale or ‘quest’ if you will, leading her to her initiation in to adult hood then can she be classed as a hero along with figures such as Jason and Aeneas. In the Argonautica the separation of Jason starts with him being sent away as a baby, this is incredibly similar to the narrative of Persephone as she was also taken away as a child until she has transitioned in to adulthood to claim his throne, the transition he makes is in his tasks that he undertakes in pursuit of the Golden Fleece and his quest of Initiation is completed upon his marriage to Medea when he is finally reintroduced in to normal society, back where he belongs as king. The marriage to Medea is another factor that coincides with the ‘Quest’ of Persephone, in her union with Hades. Aeneas’s separation was down to his encounter with the ghost of Hector in his dream which led him to flee Troy. However, similarly to that of Persephone, Aeneas’ Transition occurred in the underworld when he saw the future of Rome. As well as that, his return to society also resulted in his marriage to Lavinia, a factor that is present in all the myths. When comparing the mythos of Persephone and Hades to that of Jason and Aeneas there are clearly some similarities such as separation from family at a young age and the reintroduction to society through marriage. Considering how Persephone’s story matches up in these ways as well as following Van Gennep’s ‘formula’ on Initiation Quests, goes to show that Persephone is just as much a hero of Antiquity than any other.