Alex Andreou's Podyssey 4. Persephone Part I - If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery
The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.
Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new!
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Persephone has been assigned the story of a victim, but bears none of the hallmarks. Why has this magnificent Queen been reduced to a Page 3 girl?
Written and presented by Alex Andreou
Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith
Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell
Music by Marianna Sangita
Artwork by Simona Kanellou
For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global
NOTES
MUSIC
Podyssey Theme - “To Margoudi ki o Alexandris” Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE.
“Kori” (Acoustic) Marianna Sangita - YOUTUBE
“Kori” (Album Version) ON - YOUTUBE
Camille Saint-Saëns “Danse Macabre”, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra - ARCHIVE
Claudio Monteverdi “Addio Roma” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea - ARCHIVE
Antonio Vivaldi “Autumn” from The four Seasons - ARCHIVE
Heitor Villa Lobos “Bachianas Brasileiras No.5”, Bidu Sayao - ARCHIVE
Giacomo Puccini “Flower Duet” from Madama Butterfly, Renata Tebaldi/Nell Ranking - ARCHIVE
Francesco Sacrati “E dove t’aggirli” from Proserpina, Victoria de los Angeles - YOUTUBE
“Sobbin’ Women” from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Howard Keel - ARCHIVE
Francesco Cilea “Esser madre e un inferno” from L’Arlesiana, Ebe Stignani - ARCHIVE
“Am I blue” Ethel Waters - YOUTUBE
Amilcare Ponchielli “Oh Madre Mia” Act I finale from La Gioconda, Maria Callas/Maria Amadini - ARCHIVE
WA Mozart “Lacrimosa” from Requiem, Eugen Jochum - ARCHIVE
Kurt Weill “September Song”, Sarah Vaughan - ARCHIVE
FILM
“The Goddess of Spring” (1934)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvnAypUSJs
Children of Men (2006)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/
Lady Bird (2017)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4925292/
Terms of Endearment (1983)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086425/
Steel Magnolias (1989)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098384/
ARTWORK
Two examples of a Melian amphoras, with Kore figure, c. 6thC BCE here and here.
“Hades Abducting Persephone” fresco Vergina 4C BCE
“Statue of Isis-Persephone holding a sistrum” marble statue Gortyn 180-190 CE
“Head of Persephone” earthenware Centuripae, c.420 BCE
“Bronze statuette of a female votary with pomegranate” 4th–3rd century BCE
“Persephone and Hades” red-figure kylix Vulci, c. 440-430 BCE
“The abduction of Persephone by Hades” terracotta hydria c. 340–330 BCE
“Persephone on the Throne” terracotta tablet Locri, 470 BCE
“Enthroned Deity” (probably Persephone) Taranto, c. 480-470 BCE
Bernini Gian Lorenzo “Rape of Proserpine”
Peter Paul Rubens “The Rape of Proserpine”
Luca Giordano “The Abduction of Proserpina”
Maxfield Parrish “Proserpina and the Sea Nymphs”
Hiram Powers “Proserpine”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti eighth and final version of “Proserpine”
READING
Taffy Brodesser-Akner “Let’s Go to Jerusalem for Soup Again”
Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, Marian Villancico
Edna St Vincent Millay “Prayer to Persephone”
Rita Dove “Canary”
Rita Dove “The Bistro Styx”
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