Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

246 Perendeof small statues made of anything from clay togold according to the wealth of the owner, andwere provided with regular offerings of scraps offood.PerendeStorm god. Pre-Christian Albanian. In theancient Illyrian culture his presence wasannounced by thunder and lightning. The namesubsequently became adopted to identify God inthe Christian sense.PerkonsGod of thunder. Pre-Christian Latvian. Depictedarmed with iron weapons, he is also a fertility godwho brings beneficial rain. Also Perkunas(Lithuanian).PerkunasSee PERKONS.PerseChthonic underworld goddess. Greek. The consortof the sun god Helios and the mother ofKirke and Pasiphae, she personifies the underworldaspects of the moon. Also Neaira.PERSEPHONEORIGIN Greek. Chthonic goddess of death.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 1200 BC tocirca AD 400.SYNONYMS KORE; Persephassa; Pherrephatta(Attic); PROSERPINA (Roman).CENTER(S) OF CULT Eleusis; temple to Demeterand Persephone in Syracuse.ART REFERENCES sculptures and reliefs.LITERARY SOURCES Hymn to Demeter, Iliad(Homer); Theogony (Hesiod).The daughter of ZEUS and the corn goddessDEMETER, Persephone’s persona is intricatelyentwined with that of her mother; the two maybe seen as aspects of each other, though Persephone’sname suggests an earlier, independentidentity as a major goddess in prehistory. Persephoneis perceived as Kore, the immature daughter,or aspect, of the corn mother, but alsospecifically as mistress of the dead and ill-fatedconsort of the underworld god HADES-Aidoneusor Aides.According to tradition Persephone leaves hermother’s house to pick flowers with a group ofgirls, the OKEANIDES. As she bends to collect aparticularly beautiful bloom, the earth suddenlyopens and the god of the underworld rides out ina chariot drawn by black horses to seize her andabduct her to Hades, where she is to reign as hisqueen. The flower meadow is traditionallybelieved to lie on the island of Sicily close to theLago di Pergus at Enna, though other sites,including one near Syracuse, contest the claim.Subsequently, Demeter wanders the earth infruitless search for her child. Eventually shelocates Persephone and HERMES is allowed tobring her back to the upper world but, becausePersephone has tasted the pomegranate of death,she may return only for two thirds of each year.When Persephone returns to her mother as Kore,the girl, nature flourishes, but when she descendsto Hades as his queen, Demeter is distraught andangry and the living world shrivels and dies.According to one legendary source, Zeus in theform of a snake raped Persephone and siredDIONYSOS, though Dionysos’s mother is moregenerally regarded as SEMELE.Perun (striker)God of thunder. Pre-Christian Slavonic (Balkan).His attribute is a club and his sacred animal is thebull. He is known to have been worshiped at Kiev.