Persephone's Fall - Paperback

by Tiago Lameiras (Author)

Legend has it the Greek goddess of springtime and rebirth, Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was one day napped by Hades, Ruler of the Underworld, after sighting her for the first time and immediately falling in love with her, as she painted flowers by a body of water, accompanied by the Oceanids, and Artemis and Athena, her sisters. There is little agreement as to where 'The Rape of Proserpina' (as she became known in Ancient Rome, inspiring multiple works of art across Europe for centuries) actually took place, though one of the possibilities lies at Pergusa Lake, located in the Sicilian island of present-day Italy. That is where this story is retold, in the remnants of Magna Graecia. Generating an insurmountable fault in the lake's ground, Hades drove his golden chariot to the surface and took Persephone by the wrist and waist, immediately submerging toward Tartarus, domain of the dead, leaving the landscape behind them intact, as if nothing had happened. Demeter took it to her hands to find her daughter, searching for an entire nine days. When the desperate mother became aware of what had happened to Persephone, she demanded Zeus's intervention, who ordered Hades to return the lost divinity to her mother. However, and according to the Fates, those who ingest pomegranate seeds in the Underworld are bound to lay there, one month per seed. Thus began the four seasons, granted Fall and Winter were the time when Persephone had to join Hades against her will, but only in the very beginning. What happens next is the rebirth of truth.

Author Biography

Tiago Lameiras was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1990. He has a Bachelor's Degree with Honors on Theater - Acting, from the Higher School of Theater and Film of Lisbon. He is currently completing his PhD on Communications, Culture, and Arts - Cultural Studies Specialization, at the School of Arts and Humanities of the University of the Algarve, Portugal. His list of publications includes: 'Portvcale - A Epopeia Portuguesa da Contemporaneidade' (October 2010), 'Viagem ao Centro de Ti - Romance Trovado' (January 2012), 'A Mão de Diónisos' (November 2013), 'Actor Being: A Role in Mankind' (March 2016), 'Utopian Ambition: Constitution of the 2100 Atlantian Republic' (September 2016), 'Sonata' (May 2017), and 'Epistulæ' (November 2017), as well as poetical collaborations in Chiado Editora's Poetry Anthologies 'Entre o Sono e o Sonho' (2012, 2014, and 2015) and Sinapis' 'Enigma(s)' (February 2015).