the offerings men make to the gods. Concerned with the matter, Zeus sent his messengers to persuade the goddess to join the other gods on Olympus and to restore earth with fertility. The stubborn Demeter rejected and hoped only to reunite with Persephone. Zeus had no choice but to send Hermes to the underworld and brought back Persephone. Before she took leave, Hades offered Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat, thus she could not remain forever with Demeter. Upon seeing her daughter, Demeter suspected that Persephone has eaten the fruit. She consented that Persephone thereafter would spend one third of the year in the underworld as wife of Hades and the rest of the time with her. Zeus granted her wish while Demeter returned fertility to the world.
             The Homeric Hymn to Demeter serves as a way to account for the experience of females and their marriage in ancient Greek culture. Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, is a parthenos that associates with the Greek girls who are to be married away in her teen's years, around fourteen years of age. According to Barry Powell, the marriage is arranged by the family to be the bride of a much older man. Such tradition is accounted for the marriage arrangement between Hades, Persephone's uncle, and her father, Zeus who has the right to give his daughter away to whoever pleases him. Furthermore, the plotted abduction of Persephone by Hades reflects on the wedding night when the groom comes, clasps his bride by the hand and leads her away from her home-a mock abduction in traditional Greek. In addition, Powell explains that the Lord Death carries off Persephone to be his wife in the underworld while she is playing with other girls suggests death to her childhood, a similar account to Greek girls
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