# Proserpine — Metamorphoses character guide

> Proserpine in Metamorphoses by Ovid.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** young Proserpine

**First appearance:** 0050-rape-of-proserpine

## Snapshot

Daughter of Ceres whose gathering of flowers in a fatal meadow makes her queen of the dead and the year's own turning.

## Who they are

Proserpine enters the poem as a young girl at play, her innocence the precise target of Pluto's desire and the cause of her mother's world-altering grief. Her story binds the cycle of seasons to a mother's loss, making her at once a victim, a queen, and the reason crops rise and fall. In Ovid's hands, her abduction becomes the poem's deepest meditation on how love, violence, and renewal are woven together.

## In the story

### [Book V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-v)

Returns to the underworld after eating pomegranate seeds; later divides her time between Pluto and Ceres.

### [Song of the Muses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/song-of-the-muses)

Proserpine is the object of Pluto's intended desire, mentioned as Ceres' daughter.

### [Rape of Proserpine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/rape-of-proserpine)

Young goddess gathering flowers when abducted by Pluto.

### [Cyane Dissolves to a Fountain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/cyane-dissolves-to-a-fountain)

The stolen goddess whose abduction Cyane mourns.

### [Boy Transformed to an Eft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/boy-transformed-to-an-eft)

Mentioned as the lost daughter of Ceres, taken to the underworld by Pluto.

### [Transformation of Ascalaphus Into an Owl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/transformation-of-ascalaphus-into-an-owl)

Ceres's daughter who broke her fast by eating pomegranate seeds in the underworld.

### [Daughters of Achelous Transformed Into Sirens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/daughters-of-achelous-transformed-into-sirens)

Abducted by Pluto; her time is divided between the underworld and earth, changing her temperament.

### [Book X: Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/book-x)

Queen of the underworld, also moved by Orpheus's plea.

### [Story of Orpheus and Eurydice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-orpheus-and-eurydice)

Queen of the underworld, who along with Pluto is swayed by Orpheus's plea.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters/proserpine
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/metamorphoses_se/characters