Votive relief. 440-430 BCE.
Exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. Pentelic marble.
Found in Eleusis. This is the largest and most important known votive relief.
Dedicated to the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis, it represents the Eleusinian deities in a scene of mysteriac ritual. At left, Demeter, clad in a peplos and holding a scepter in her left hand, offers ears of wheat to Triptolemos, son of the Eleusinian King Keleos, to bestow on mankind.
At right, Persephone, clad in chiton and mantle and holding a torch, blesses Triptolemos with her right hand. The magnificence of the image and, particularly, the large scale of the relief suggest that it was not a simple votive dedication but rather associated with cult. The relief was apparently famous in antiquity and was copied in the Roman period.
One of its copies is now in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Art Athens Attica Classical Demeter Eleusis Marble National Archaeological Museum Original Photo Persephone Relief Sculpture Stele