Persephone , a goddess, Demeter's daugter by Zeus, was the wife of Hades. She was evidently abducted by Hades--he carried her off to the underworld when she was picking flowers in a meadow. Demeter's unsuccessful search for her daughter brought on crop failures and the people would have starved if Zeus had not intervened; Zeus sent Hermes to persuade Hades to release Persephone which he did. But he tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds--the consequence was that she could not leave the underworld forever. Consequently, Persephone had to spend part of the year in the underworld with Hades and part of the year with her mother in the upper world.

In the underworld she is a woman to dread, a woman of authority. However she would listen to reasonable requests, especially for proper burial rites.