Goddess · Character in Homer’s Odyssey

Persephone

Dread queen of the dead

Never seen, always obeyed; the shades gather and scatter at her word.

The dread queen of the dead, named with a shiver whenever the underworld opens. The shades Odysseus questions gather and disperse at her sending, and when his mother's ghost slips three times through his arms he wonders whether Persephone has sent a phantom to mock his grief.

Bonds

• Persephone queen of Hades — dread mistress of the shades

Appears in

• Book X Aeolus, the Laestrigonians, and Circè
• Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead

Scenes

1. The Underworld Errand — Book X. Odysseus must first consult seer Tiresias
2. Circè’s Instructions — Book X. Circè details trench, libations, rites
3. Departure for Erebus — Book X. Weeping crew boards beast-stocked ship
4. Voyage and the Rite — Book XI. Odysseus reaches Ocean, summons the dead
5. Reunion with Anticleia — Book XI. Anticleia reports on family, eludes embrace
6. Tyro’s Line — Book XI. Odysseus meets Tyro, who bore Neleus
7. Agamemnon’s Fate — Book XI. Aegisthus slays Agamemnon; wife conspires
8. Heracles and the Flight — Book XI. Heracles recalls hound, Odysseus flees

See the map of bonds · All characters