Persephone

Persephone, the dread queen of the underworld, holds a position of absolute authority over the realm of the dead in the Odyssey. She is the daughter of Zeus and the consort of Hades, and it is she who determines which shades may approach the living and which must remain in the shadows. Her role is not merely that of a passive queen; she actively governs the traffic between the dead and the living, and her decrees shape the very possibility of Odysseus's consultation with the prophet Teiresias.

Authority Over the Dead

When Odysseus arrives at the edge of the world, at the grove of Persephone where the rivers Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus flow into Acheron, he digs a trench and pours libations of honey, milk, wine, and water, sprinkling barley meal. He then cuts the throats of a ram and a black ewe, letting the blood flow into the trench. The ghosts of the dead swarm up from Erebus, but Odysseus, following Circe's instructions, draws his sword and prevents them from approaching the blood until Teiresias has spoken. This prohibition is enforced by Persephone's authority: it is she who has "left his understanding even in death" to Teiresias alone, while "the other ghosts flit about aimlessly." The queen's power is absolute; the shades cannot drink the blood without her permission, and Odysseus's sword merely enforces her decree.

Enabling the Prophecy

Persephone's most direct intervention in Odysseus's journey occurs when she sends up the ghost of Teiresias. The seer, having drunk the blood, delivers the crucial prophecy that will guide Odysseus home: he must not harm the cattle of the Sun on the Thrinacian island, or his ship and men will be destroyed; he will return alone and in a stranger's ship to find his house overrun by suitors; and after taking his revenge, he must undertake a further journey inland until he reaches a people who know nothing of the sea, there to make a final sacrifice to Poseidon. Without Persephone's cooperation, this prophecy—the structural key to the second half of the epic—would never have been delivered.

The Parade of Heroines

After Teiresias departs, Persephone sends up the ghosts of the wives and daughters of famous men. Odysseus sees Tyro, Antiope, Alcmena, Epicaste, Chloris, Leda, Iphimedeia, Phaedra, Procris, Ariadne, Maera, Clymene, and Eriphyle. Each one, as Odysseus questions her, tells her story. This catalogue of heroines, a unique episode in ancient epic, serves multiple purposes: it establishes Odysseus's credentials as a narrator of great learning, it provides a compressed mythological history of the Greek world, and it subtly reinforces the poem's thematic concern with female fidelity and transgression. The parade is entirely under Persephone's control; she "sent up" the ghosts, and she "dismissed" them when the time came.

The Dismissal and the Gorgon

When Odysseus has finished his questioning, Persephone dismisses the female ghosts "in all directions." Immediately afterward, the ghost of Agamemnon appears, followed by Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus, and Ajax. After these encounters, Odysseus becomes frightened: "so many thousands of ghosts came round me and uttered such appalling cries, that I was panic stricken lest Proserpine should send up from the house of Hades the head of that awful monster Gorgon." This fear of the Gorgon—a direct threat from Persephone—drives Odysseus to flee back to his ship. The queen's power is thus not only one of permission but also of terror; she can unleash horrors that even the wiliest hero cannot withstand.

Narrative Significance

Persephone functions as the gatekeeper of the underworld's secrets. She is the one who decides which ghosts may speak and which must remain silent, and her authority is absolute. Without her cooperation, Odysseus would have obtained neither the prophecy of Teiresias nor the knowledge of the heroines' fates. Her role underscores the poem's central theme: that even the most resourceful mortal is dependent on the will of the gods, and that the boundary between the living and the dead is patrolled by a power that cannot be tricked or overcome.