Zeus is both Hades’ brother and the father of Persephone. To make things worse, the story centres on a permissive patriarchal culture where women are possessions to be traded. Here we find the very opposite of romance. Heard her voice.” ~ Homeric Hymn to Demeter, lines 19-23 She cried with a piercing voice,Ĭalling upon her father, the son of Kronos, the highest and the best.īut not one of the immortal ones, or of human mortals, “Seized” here sounds euphemistic, but Greek myths generally aren’t party to euphemism, and the frightening detail is made explicit a few lines later: “He seized her against her will, put her on his golden chariot,Īnd drove away as she wept. Seized.” ~ lines 1-3, translation by Gregory Nagy The one with the delicate ankles, whom Hades “I begin to sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair.Īnd her daughter too. This source is thought to date to around the seventh century BCE and provides us an early account of the story between Hades and Persephone. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter is a great text for comparison. The saturated but limited colour palette focuses on Hades in ‘masculine’ electric blue and Persephone in ‘ultra feminine’ neon pink.Īnd while the story doesn’t necessarily shy away from the seedier morality at the heart of the Greek pantheon (Smythe's Persephone is sexually assaulted by Apollo), Lore Olympus does allow readers to believe in a heroic version of Hades that doesn’t have much in common with the ancient stories. Part of the appeal lies in Smythe’s visual world. There’s a combination of contemporary cultural quirks like mobile phones and the prospect of attending tertiary education to be navigated along with hints of the divine (Persephone’s hair grows so quickly it requires constant maintenance). Positioned as a romance that develops between the God of the Underworld and the Goddess of Spring, the story offers readers an accessible entry point into Greek mythology. With a rating of 9.75 and over 4.5 million subscribers, Smythe’s take on Greek mythology is at the forefront of popular classical reception.

Rachel Smythe’s webtoon launched in March 2018 and continues today with weekly updates posted.

Lore Olympus has catapulted the story of Hades and Persephone into the internet consciousness. What Lore Olympus changes about Greek myth can reveal things about the stories we tell and the way we tell them.Ĭontent warning: this article discusses sexual assault in the context of ancient Greek myth. Lore Olympus: the power of retelling myth

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