4. Persephone Part I - If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery

Alex Andreou's Podyssey

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!

…

Persephone has been assigned the story of a victim, but bears none of the hallmarks. Why has this magnificent Queen been reduced to a Page 3 girl?

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC

Podyssey Theme - “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris” Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE.

“Kori” (Acoustic) Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE

“Kori” (Album Version) ON - YOUTUBE

Camille Saint-Saëns “Danse Macabre”, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra - ARCHIVE

Claudio Monteverdi “Addio Roma” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea - ARCHIVE

Antonio Vivaldi “Autumn” from The four Seasons - ARCHIVE

Heitor Villa Lobos “Bachianas Brasileiras No.5”, Bidu Sayao - ARCHIVE

Giacomo Puccini “Flower Duet” from Madama Butterfly, Renata Tebaldi/Nell Ranking - ARCHIVE

Francesco Sacrati “E dove t’aggirli” from Proserpina, Victoria de los Angeles - YOUTUBE

“Sobbin’ Women” from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Howard Keel - ARCHIVE

Francesco Cilea “Esser madre e un inferno” from L’Arlesiana, Ebe Stignani - ARCHIVE

“Am I blue” Ethel Waters - YOUTUBE

Amilcare Ponchielli “Oh Madre Mia” Act I finale from La Gioconda, Maria Callas/Maria Amadini - ARCHIVE

WA Mozart “Lacrimosa” from Requiem, Eugen Jochum - ARCHIVE

Kurt Weill “September Song”, Sarah Vaughan - ARCHIVE

FILM

“The Goddess of Spring” (1934)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvnAypUSJs

Children of Men (2006)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/

Lady Bird (2017)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/

Terms of Endearment (1983)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086425/

Steel Magnolias (1989)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098384/

ARTWORK

Two examples of a Melian amphoras, with Kore figure, c. 6thC BCE here and here.

“Hades Abducting Persephone” fresco Vergina 4C BCE

“Statue of Isis-Persephone holding a sistrum” marble statue Gortyn 180-190 CE

“Head of Persephone” earthenware Centuripae, c.420 BCE

“Bronze statuette of a female votary with pomegranate” 4th–3rd century BCE

“Persephone and Hades” red-figure kylix Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE

“The abduction of Persephone by Hades” terracotta hydria c. 340–330 BCE

“Persephone on the Throne” terracotta tablet Locri, 470 BCE

“Enthroned Deity” (probably Persephone) Taranto, c. 480-470 BCE

Bernini Gian Lorenzo “Rape of Proserpine”

Peter Paul Rubens “The Rape of Proserpine”

Luca Giordano “The Abduction of Proserpina”

Maxfield Parrish “Proserpina and the Sea Nymphs”

Hiram Powers “Proserpine”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti eighth and final version of “Proserpine”

READING

Taffy Brodesser-Akner “Let’s Go to Jerusalem for Soup Again”

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Marian Villancico

Edna St Vincent Millay “Prayer to Persephone”

Rita Dove “Canary”

Rita Dove “The Bistro Styx”

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