Item Size:  14.5" x 11"     Type:  Wall Plaque

Material:  Casting Stone, with Antique Stone Finish & Color Detail

Original:  Neo-Classical, from France, 18th century

Current Location of Original:   Municipal Library, Versailles

This relief represents Demeter, maternal goddess of the Earth, and especially of cultivated land, in ancient Greek mythology. One of her attributes was wheat, shown here on her head. The name Demeter means Earth goddess (‘de’ meaning ‘Earth,’ and ‘meter’ meaning ‘goddess’). The adventures of Demeter and her daughter Persephone constitute the central myth of The Eleusinian Mysteries, the most important mysteries of classical Greece. Her symbols were the ears of wheat and a torch. The ears of wheat were considered the sacred fruit of this goddess of farming and cereals; and the torch alludes to the rituals of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which took place at night by torch light. Demeter was credited with teaching humans how to cultivate crops, a task that she assigned to Triptolemus.