Demeter (left), goddess of agriculture, fertility hearth and home, had a beautiful daughter Persephone (middle). Without The mother knowing of this, Zeus promised the girl to his brother Hades. One day Hades (right) kidnapped her when she was picking flowers with her friends and took her to his empire in the underworld. Demeter's grief was so deep that all the fruits of the world withered and people starved. Finally Zeus had to admit his mistake and send Hermes to fetch the girl from the underworld and return her to her mother. But Hades had bound Persephone forever to him by letting her eat the seeds of a pomegranate. An agreement was reached by which Persephone (also known as Korè, goddess of the grain) could stay in the upper world from spring to autumn, but had to return to Hades every winter.