Persephone's Beauty Cream

This talk was given on September 7, 2024 at the Memento Mori Festival.

In the Classical world, a profound relationship between death and love was recognized and mythologized through stories featuring Persephone and Aphrodite. These mighty goddesses of death and love face off as rivals in the myth of Adonis, then collude and collaborate in the initiation saga of "Eros and Psyche." Here, Persephone gifts Aphrodite with a mysterious substance that enhances her already potent allure—a strange aphrodisiac that embodies Persephone’s unique brand of beauty. This talk delves into the nature of Persephone's beauty, exploring it as a metaphor for the beauty conferred by death.