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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 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]
persephone in ancient greek mytholo-gy, she, as the daughter of zeus and demeter, was worshipped as the goddess of vegetation, returning each spring from the realm of hades to herald the season of growth, and in winter disappearing to pass her time, like the seed, under the earth. the statue was executed in paris about 1840 by armand toussaint ...
The statue was noted in 1676 by the traveller George Wheler, and several ambassadors who had submitted applications to the Ottomans for its removal with any success. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Around 1765–1766, the antiquary Richard Chandler , along with the architect Nicholas Revett and the painter William Pars , visited Eleusis and mentioned the statue as ...
In a Roman well situated in the sacred area, three heads of statues have been found, identified as a large head belonging to the cult statue of the goddess Demeter, and two smaller heads belonging to portrait sculptures of that of her two priestesses. The heads appear to have been decapitated from the statues, vandalised and thrown down the well.
Thus, Demeter, in her sadness, neglects to nourish the earth for the months that Persephone is gone, only doing so when she returns, until the process repeats again. These episodic periods became the winter and spring seasons, with the "death" and "rebirth" of Persephone being allegorical for the cycle of life and the experience of all beings. [9]
The Lithobolia was an apotropaic festival of ancient Greece associated with the cults of the harvest goddesses Damia and Auxesia-- sometimes used interchangeably with Demeter and Persephone-- celebrated throughout the Saronic Gulf, but especially in Troezen, Aegina, and Epidauros. [1] [2]
It is disputed when the site of the Telesterion is believed to have been originally built. There is evidence to suggest that the temple was created in the 7th century BCE, but historians know that it was created at least by the time of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (650–550 BCE). [2]