Persephone

In the ancient sources

Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey

epainē

“dread” Iliad 9.457

agauē

“august, noble” Odyssey 11.213

hagnē

“holy” Odyssey 11.386

• Iliad 9.565–572 Meleager's mother beats the earth and calls on Hades and dread Persephone to bring death to her son.
• Odyssey 10.490–495 Circe tells Odysseus that Persephone allowed the prophet Tiresias alone to keep his mind among the dead.
• Odyssey 11.213–226 In the underworld, Persephone sends out the ghosts of famous women to speak with Odysseus.
• Odyssey 11.633–635 Odysseus flees, afraid that Persephone will send up the Gorgon's head against him.

In Homer, Persephone is already queen of the dead and wife of Hades, and is called a daughter of Zeus. There is no abduction, pomegranate or return to her mother.

Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns

kalykōpis

“with a face like a flower bud” Homeric Hymn to Demeter 8

• Theogony 912–914 Zeus fathers Persephone by Demeter; Hades carries her off from her mother, and Zeus gives her to him.
• Homeric Hymn to Demeter 5–20 Picking flowers, she reaches for a narcissus planted as a lure; the earth opens and Hades seizes her.
• Homeric Hymn to Demeter 371–374 Before letting her go, Hades secretly gives her a honey-sweet pomegranate seed to eat.
• Homeric Hymn to Demeter 445–447 Zeus decrees she will spend a third of the year below and two thirds with her mother and the gods.

Hesiod mentions the abduction in a single line and says Zeus approved it; in the Hymn, that consent is what fuels Demeter's anger.

Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.