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A votive plaque known as the Ninnion Tablet depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, discovered in the sanctuary at Eleusis (mid-4th century BC). The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια, romanized: Eleusínia Mystḗria) were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece.
The Thesmophoria (Ancient Greek: Θεσμοφόρια) was an ancient Greek religious festival, held in honor of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone.It was held annually, mostly around the time that seeds were sown in late autumn – though in some places it was associated with the harvest instead – and celebrated human and agricultural fertility.
The relief is made of Pentelic marble, and it is 2,20 m. tall, 1,52 m. wide, and 15 cm thick. [4] It depicts the three most important figures of the Eleusianian Mysteries; the goddess of agriculture and abundance Demeter, her daughter Persephone queen of the Underworld and the Eleusinian hero Triptolemus, the son of Queen Metanira, [3] [4] in what appears to be a rite. [1]
Demeter in an ancient Greek fresco from Panticapaeum, 1st century Crimea. While travelling far and wide looking for her daughter, Demeter arrived exhausted in Attica. A woman named Misme took her in and offered her a cup of water with pennyroyal and barley groats, for it was a hot day. Demeter, in her thirst, swallowed the drink clumsily.
In Greek mythology, the underworld or Hades (Ancient Greek: ᾍδης, romanized: Háidēs) is a distinct realm (one of the three realms that make up the cosmos) where an individual goes after death. The earliest idea of afterlife in Greek myth is that, at the moment of death, an individual's essence ( psyche ) is separated from the corpse and ...
Persephone is the wife of Hades and the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. Hades only allows her to visit Demeter in the spring and summer and remain in the Underworld in the fall and winter. She is said to be able to "soften" Hades and make him more merciful. Unlike most minor gods, she sides with Olympus during the war against the Titans.
Triptolemus' first introduction to Demeter is during Demeter's search for her daughter following the abduction of Persephone.While Demeter, in the guise of an old woman [8] named Doso, [9] was searching for her daughter Persephone (Kore), who had been abducted by Hades (Pluto), [10] she received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the King of Eleusis.
Unlike many of the cults in the Ancient Greek world, the cult of Demeter kept its rites a secret except for a chosen few, thus warranting the name the Eleusinian Mysteries. [3] While at first the cult of Demeter remained small, it eventually grew quite large after Eleusis was incorporated into Athens during the Archaic period.