Zagreus and Dionysus
Zagreus and Dionysus are the same deity, under two different names. Zagreus was his original name given to him by his original mother, Persephone. The reason why he has two different names is because he was born, died, and was born again to be resurrected.
How Persephone came to be the mother of Zagreus
Persephone gave birth to Zagreus after Zeus found her while she was still a virgin and ravished her because he, like all other gods in heaven, was infatuated with her beauty and with the secrecy that Demeter kept her in.
Zeus came to Persephone in the form of a snake, and because of this Zagreus was greatly associated with serpents. Zagreus would come to be revered by followers of Orphism who saw him as the first Dionysus and saw Dionysus as the second Dionysus.
Who is Persephone?
Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, which makes it rather weird that Zeus was so infatuated with the idea of having sex with her. But this would be far from the most outlandish sexual thing to ever occur in mythology, incest was actually quite the commonality.
Demeter kept Persephone very secret and hid her away constantly from other deities, and because of this many gods became obsessed with her and sought to be her suitor. Persephone’s great beauty as a goddess did also help ignite these flames for her. However, every suitor was refused.
Zeus came to her while she was still a virgin and got her to give birth to Zagreus for him. Zagreus ended up in the underworld at some point with Persephone after she became the consort to Hades, and apparently Hades did not really seem to mind that she already had a child. The child was not in the underworld for very long before Zeus went down and retrieved him, and he would not return until much later when he was Dionysus to rescue his second mother, Semele.
How did Persephone end up with Hades?
Zeus permitted Hades to abduct Hades, due to Hades’s love for Persephone and for the fact that Demeter would most likely not allow Hades to do it herself. So, Hades abducted her while she was gathering flowers with Artemis, Pallas, and the Oceanids.
Demeter searched all over the Earth after discovering her daughter had disappeared. Hekate also used her torches to help continue with the searching for Demeter, but it was to no avail.
Unable to find her daughter, Demeter forbade the earth from producing which neglected her duties and caused nothing to grow on the earth. This was very bad for all of the things living on it.
Helios, who is able to see all things, told Demeter the truth and helped her discover where Persephone had been taken. At the protest of Demeter and the hungry peoples who anguished to their gods, Zeus was gave in and forced Hades to return Persephone.
However, Hades had played trickery and gotten Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds from the underworld. So, when Hermes came to retrieve Persephone he discovered this and realized that she had to stay in the underworld for at least a third of the year.
The third of the year that Persephone spends in the underworld became the winter months, while the other months of the year she would spend with the gods above which created the other seasons. In later versions of the story written by Hyginus and Ovid, Persephone’s time in the underworld was half of the year instead of just a third of the year.
Persephone beyond
Persephone’s role in the stories of Dionysus is rather limited, despite her being his original mother when he was Zagreus. Dionysus does not seem to really remember her or ever interact with her, though he does fight and beat Hades to win back the soul of Semele.
Persephone is a very well known and interesting goddess of mythology beyond the story involving Zagreus. Her story with Hades is known by many and repeated in a variety of works. As well she is involved in even more stories, such as the story of Adonis.