Relief with Eleusynian Deities

myminifactory

Demeter, goddess of abundant harvests, and Persephone, goddess of the Underworld and fertility of the earth, stand on either side of a nude youth in this reconstructed marble relief. Demeter, at left, wears a long woolen peplos belted at her waist; she holds a scepter in her left hand. Persephone, at right, wears a long linen chiton with buttoned sleeves and a himation; she holds a long lighted torch against her left side. The original marble relief was discovered at the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone in Eleusis near Athens, a site famous for its secret cult of the Mysteries. Initiates from all over the Greek-speaking world participated in this secret ceremony about which we know very little. As Demeter gave grain to humanity, the rites at Eleusis may have celebrated this gift. The scene is typically explained as Demeter and Persephone giving Triptolemos the ears of wheat so that he can teach men how to cultivate grain. This relief is one of a number of Roman copies of a Greek marble relief made in the fifth century BC. It's exceptional because it reproduces a Greek work of art that still exists, now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. According to the original, the execution of hair and drapery in this copy is sharper and accords with the style current in Augustan art. The renderings of the woolen peplos worn by Demeter and the linen chiton donned by Persephone show clear differences in weight and fabric. The peplos has wide regular flutes, while the chiton is depicted with tightly crimped folds that suggest pleating. Unlike the regularly spaced folds seen in Egyptian or Assyrian representations, the fine irregular texture of the linen suggests that the material has been bound and compressed, a technique still seen in certain regional costumes. In contrast to wool which has a springlike elasticity, the fibers of linen are easily creased and pleated. We don't know who created this masterpiece. We have absolutely no clue to deduce who it could be.