On Thu, 7 Nov 1996, Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:
Well, the legend is that one where the guy goes down into Hell to save
his beloved, but she'd already eaten down there, so he couldn't bring
her back. :p Don't remember their names, because I don't find Greek
history all that exciting - Greek and Rome just copied each other's
legends. ;p
That sounds like the story of Orpheus and his wife. (Was it Eurydice?) I
don't recall anything about her having eaten anything, though.
In the story of Orpheus, Orpheus sang and cajoled his way into Hades and
got Hades to let him bring his dead wife back. Hades allowed him to do
so on the condition that Orpheus not look at his wife until they got back
to the upper world. Tragically, Orpheus looked back when they were only
a few feet from the entrance/exit. His wife had to return to Hades forever.
On the otherhand...
The story of Ceres and her daughter Persephone had it that Hades
kidnapped Persephone and took her down to Hades to be his wife. Ceres
became distraught and, neglecting the crops of mortal men, searched for her
daughter. After a while Zeus decided, that to save the mortals from
starvation, Hades had to return Persephone to her mother. Hades relented
but got Persephone to eat from a pomegranate. Because Persephone had
eaten of the fruit, she had to return to Hades for a portion of each
year. During that time, her mother Ceres would mourn and the plants
would not grow.
Ok, ok... This wasn't meant to be a lecture or anything but those are
the Greek myths.
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