Persephone in popular culture

Persephone appears many times in popular culture, both as a goddess character and through symbolic use of her name.

In film and television

• Walt Disney's 1934 Silly Symphony short The Goddess of Spring adapts the story of her abduction to Hades and how she returns to the earth for half a year. She is not called by her name.
• In the 2009 film Wonder Woman, Persephone (voiced by Vicki Lewis) is the name of an Amazon from the island of Themyscira. After being charmed by Ares for a century while guarding him in his cell, she betrays her people by freeing him after killing another amazon. She briefly fights Princess Diana of the Amazons. Persephone is killed by Hippolyta for her treachery but tells Hippolyta that the Amazons were denied a life of families and children and that they are women too not just warriors.
• In the 2013 film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Persephone (voiced by Candi Milo) is the name of an Amazon soldier in Wonder Woman's army. She is killed by Professor Zoom, when she attempts to kill Lois Lane.
• Persephone also appears as a character in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, played by Monica Bellucci. She is the wife of the Merovingian, a powerful program that handles other programs exiled from the Matrix. In the Matrix Revolutions, they are seen together as being seated in a rave club named Club Hel, possibly a strong reference to Hel, the underworld of Norse Mythology, and Hell, the underworld in Christian Theology.
• In the movie Spike, the title character greets the girl whom he loves by calling her his Persephone. Later, she attempts to convince (or trick) him to let her go by saying, "I'm your Persephone. Persephone stayed with Hades only part of every year. I need to return to my world. I promise I will return to you."
• In the cult TV Show Firefly, Persephone is the name of one of the border planets where there is both high society and slums. The planet is the first one to be viewed in the series.
• In the BBC Television series Spooks the title of Series 3 Episode 6 is "Persephone", referring to character Zoe Reynold's code name during an undercover operation. The storyline parallels that of Greek mythology.
• Persephone (played by Andrea Croton) appears in two episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
• In season 2 of The Simpsons an executive working for Herbert Powell proposes to call a new car the company designed the Persephone.
• In the 2010 BBC series Upstairs Downstairs, Lady Agnes' sister is called Persephone (shortened to Persie).
• She is referred to in The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, and appears in the movie of the same name, portrayed by Rosario Dawson.

In literature

• Mary Shelley wrote a "mythological drama" titled "Proserpine," which was published posthumously.
• Algernon Charles Swinburne published "Hymn to Proserpine" and "The Garden of Proserpine" in 1866.
• Second April, a collection of poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay published in 1921, contains two poems which make explicit reference to Persephone: "Ode to Silence" and "Prayer to Persephone."
• Persephone "Persi" Wright is the protagonist of the graphic novel trilogy Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst's Amazons
• Persephone is the key character in Victoria Golos' Persephone Daybooks.
• The Stephen King book Duma Key features the evil supernatural character "Perse" as the antagonist to the main character. As the novel reaches its conclusion, we learn that "Perse" is actually short for Persephone.
• In Douglas Adams' book Mostly Harmless the fictional, newly discovered 10th planet is named Persephone. However it gets given the nickname Rupert after "some astronomer's parrot".
• The comic Epicurus the Sage by William Messner-Loebs and Sam Kieth features a fractured version of the abduction of Persephone, adding in the comic twist that Hades and Persephone had staged the entire kidnapping simply to get away from her overbearing mother.
• In the novels Don't Kill the Messenger, The Messenger Adrift, and Messenger in a Battle, by Joel Pierson, the character of Rebecca Traeger was born with the name Persephone, foreshadowing abilities she displays in the trilogy.
• Persephone appears as a character in the books The Demigod Files, as well as The Last Olympian of the Percy Jackson series, the latter in which she has gained love for Hades over the years. .
• Persephone appears a choice for a Scions Divine Parent from the Second Book: Scion Demigod onwards.
• In John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos, "the Maiden", a title of Persephone's, is a candidate for the throne of Olympus after Zeus's death.
• Roberta Gellis's Dazzling Brightness retells the story of Hades and Persephone.
• In Richelle Mead's Dark Swan series, Persephone is the main character's goddess and goddess of the Underworld.
• In Eva Ibbotson's young adult novel A Company of Swans the heroine Harriet Morton eats pomegranate seeds in the hope that will mean she has to remain in Brazil rather than go back to her family home in Cambridge.
• The myth of Persephone and Hades inspired the series, Abandon by Meg Cabot.
• Losing Beauty by Johanna Garth is a paranormal romance novel based on the myth of Persephone and Hades.
• In Aimee Carter's The Goddess Test series, Persephone has long left Hades, who is in search of a new wife. Persephone becomes an actual character in the second novel.
• "Persephone" by Kaitlin Bevis is a modern day retelling of the myth.
• "Persephone's Orchard" by Molly Ringle retells the myth of Persephone and Hades as a love story set in both modern America and ancient Greece.
• In the book series Secret Society Girl written by Diana Peterfreund, the Secret Society of Rose and Grave worships Persephone as their Goddess.
• "The Dark Wife" by Sarah Diemer is a retelling of the myth of Persephone wherein Hades is a goddess.
• "Receiver of Many" by Rachel Alexander is another retelling of the myth of Persephone that makes her the true ruler of the Underworld.

In video games

• In the video game Ogre Battle 64, the Goddess Danika, was seduced by Demunza, the king of the netherworld by eating a cursed fruit, which turned her into the queen of the netherworld. However, when she is summoned by someone pure of heart, she will revert to her goddess form.
• In the video game Bioshock 2, Persephone is the name given to the prison facility that spans over two levels, Inner Persephone and Outer Persephone.
• Persephone is the final boss and the overall antagonist of the 2008 video game God of War: Chains of Olympus. Her remains in a tree casket are seen and used in the 2010 video game God of War III.
• Persephone is depicted as goddess of life in Sacrifice.

In music

• "Persephone (the gathering of flowers)" is the final track of the Dead Can Dance album Within the Realm of a Dying Sun. The song's musical narrative traces a path of death and rebirth.
• Cocteau Twins released "Persephone" in 1984 on their critically acclaimed album Treasure.
• The progressive death metal band Persefone have released an album called "Core", which is based on the myth of Persephone.
• "Don't Look Back", a track on Indie band She & Him's second album, Volume Two, opens with the lyric "Orpheus melted the heart of Persephone, but I never had yours."
• The Bodice Rippers retell the story of Persephone on their EP II.
• Peruvian singer/songwriter Natasha Luna has a song called "Persephatta", a variant name for Persephone.
• In the Tori Amos song "Pandora's Aquarium", from her album From the Choirgirl Hotel, she sings: "I'm not asking you to believe in me/boy, I think you're confused, I'm not Persephone".
• Song 3 on the 1974 album There's the Rub by Wishbone Ash is titled Persephone.
• The album Strangefolk by artist Kula Shaker featured a track titled and about Persephone.
• The album Turbo Ocho by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers features a track titled Persephone as a love song written by Hades to Persephone.

Other

• When a 10th 'planet' was discovered in July 2005, a poll in New Scientist magazine picked Persephone as the public's favourite name. Its status as a planet was later downgraded to dwarf planet together with Pluto and was given the name Eris.
• Some consider that the Statue of Freedom, atop the United States Capitol, to be a representation of Persephone.
• In the rock opera The Passion of Persephone, composer Rosanna Tufts resets the myth in the Gilded Age, and makes Persephone a Goddess without a measurable supernatural power. Her ordeal in the Underworld at Hades' hands involves bondage, whipping, and sexual initiation (the "passion" of the title), which leads to her awakening as the only Goddess capable of restoring life to the Spectres of the Underworld.
• Persephone is the name of the logging tug in the CBC Television series The Beachcombers
• Persephone appears as one of the main character in the webcomic MYth: My Seasons
• Persephone is the title of the digitally released fourth studio album of the electronic-butt/sound artist BLKLST