The myth of Hades and Persephone – Iseult Gillespie

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Dig into the Greek myth of Persephone, who is abducted by Hades and is only allowed to leave the underworld every spring.

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One day, Persephone was frolicking in a meadow with the nymph, Cyane. As they admired a flower, they noticed it tremble in the ground. Suddenly, the earth split, and a terrifying figure arose. It was Hades, god of the underworld. He wrenched Persephone from Cyane, dragged her into his inky chariot, and blasted back through the earth. Iseult Gillespie shares the myth of the goddess of spring.

Lesson by Iseult Gillespie, directed by KERO Animation Studio.

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41 thoughts on “The myth of Hades and Persephone – Iseult Gillespie”

  3. ngl the disney version of hades in a ted-ed video was highly unexpected considering how often times ted-ed sticks to the original, mostly well known versions.
    i highly recommend the osp version of hades and persephone

    Reply

  10. So much bs
    Shame on you.
    They are the ..only couple that isn't broken if i can say so…
    It's so bad. I thought i would watch their sweet romanse and yet i got …this.

    Reply

  11. You know this story is flawed with the idea that Persephone thought hades was terrible. In fact she was happy with hades because all he wanted was someone to take care of the underworld and Cerberus while ghe did other things. Such as dealing with the other gods such as thanatos or heroes like Hercules. In actuality, Hades, Persephone, and Demeter all blamed Zeus since he gave the idea of kidnapping persephone to hades. Hades thought that kidnapping people was the norm since his brothers were doing exactly that according to his mycean version and his brother's stories. Hades was an actually pretty compassionate and helpful god so to make him look like a villain and Zeus as just a deal maker is flawed.

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  12. Love the fact I’m not the only Greek mythology fanatic here that noticed the major flaw in this retelling of the story. Hades and Persephone were literally like the only couple to have a good relationship in all of Greek mythology. This just depicts Persephone to be more like a prisoner every time she visits Hades rather than her being his equal as Queen of the Underworld. Unsure how anyone could ever overlook this blatantly obvious detail that made the unique myth of Hades and Persephone stand head and shoulders above the rest and gain so much love and attention from the public eye

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  14. Dude Ted-Ed. As much as love the animation and graphics of this video. You literally disappointed us all with how misunderstood Hades was. Srsly? They're one the few (if not, only) greek couple that doesnt have the standard cheating or killing.

    Reply

  19. I think this tale is just a victim of culture clash. We as a culture now see this tale as a hateful tale against ones will of pegs women as objects of trade and value, but in greek times, this was merely a story to explain the changing of seasons. Plus Persephone was actually in the pantheon before hades, and hades is believed to appear much later than hades. Both in fact show little traces in mythos due to the fear of summoning death to them for speaking their names aloud.

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  20. Inaccurate portrayal of hades. He isn't the villain that other media portray him to be. He's honestly the most moral Greek god who actually cares about his job over messing with mortals. The worst thing he did was torture 2 mortals who came down to the underworld to steal and marry persephone after he was married to her. And yes he kidnapped persephone, but that just how it was back then and Zeus told him to do it to avoid the disapproval of Demeter after giving hades persephones hand

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  23. forgot the interaction between Hermes and Demeter where he said that Persephone would not find a better and more powerful husband than Hades because at some point all subjects will become subjects of Hades. Also, the fact that Persephone isn't the goddess of spring or harvest she is a fertility goddess, the reason plants grow is all because of Demeter, not Persephone she has nothing to do with that process. side note Hades isn't his name it's actually the name for the underworld we don't know his name since all writings of it have been destroyed, we only have some guesses.

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  25. Also, Phersphone's name is associated with death, in the Odessey she is feared in the Underworld, more than Hades. She is not helpless, nor was her powers limited to Spring.

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  27. Hades is probably one of the most morally just gods by today's standard he was faithful and reasonable. In his defence kidnapping your future wife back then wad a common thing.

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  31. This is so wrong Hades admired Persephone from afar and then asked his brother for advice and Zeus told him to kidnap her. Hades refused so instead he went to Persephone, opened the ground, and asked her to take his hand. Persephone didn’t have a father, only a mother, and was created by someone else so her mother was very overwhelming, and didn’t have many friends because of this. She took Hade's hand out of boredom and they got married this was the only thing she was forced to do and got mad at. She went on a hunger strike but Hades was such a good husband she fell for him and ate his pomegranate seeds she asked him to let her see her mother and he allowed it.

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  40. There's an aspect of the myth that seems like it was either left out or maybe was part of another version. Hades did not originally love Persephone or intend to kidnap her. He was shot by cupid's arrow because Aphrodite didn't like the fact that he was outside of love's control/touch. Then he saw Persephone and in his mental state kidnapped her. This leads to some discussions about consent because he was literally under the influence of someone else. However, he does treat Persephone well and certainly doesn't mistreat her. They do indeed fall in love. That's the version of the story that I remember reading at least.

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