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Demeter or Ceres with Persephone or Proserpina and
Triptolemos, Marble Fragment of the Great Eleusinian
mysteries, Augustan period, c. 27 B.C. - 14 A.D. -
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Note: (extract from the museum explanatory note) - On the
left, Demeter (Ceres), the Goddess of agricultural abundance,
clad in a peplos and himation (cloak) and holding a
scepter. On the right is Persephone (Proserpina), her
daughter and the wife of Hades, the God of the underworld.
She is dressed in a chiton and himation. Each Goddess
extends her right hand toward the nude youth. The boy is
thought to be Triptolemos, who was sent by Ceres
(Demeter) to teach men how to cultivate grain. The
Eleusinian mysteries was a secret cult to honor
Ceres.
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