DSCN7830-1.JPG
(photo out of focus) A marble urn from the early Roman imperial period, based on an Alexandrian model of the late Hellenistic era. It is a cinerary urn depicting the initiation of Hercules into the Eleusinian mysteries. The sides are decorated with three scenes: (1) Demeter with ears of corn in her hand and hair, a torch in her free hand, while her daughter Kore approaches and the god Iacchus touches a snake coiled around her seat; (2) A priestess holding a wicker screen (liknon) over the head of an initiate covered in a lion-skin; (3) Hercules holding a piglet while a priest pours water over the animal. National Museum of Rome, Palazzo Massimo (inv. 11301).
DSCN7830-1.JPG
(photo out of focus) A marble urn from the early Roman imperial period, based on an Alexandrian model of the late Hellenistic era. It is a cinerary urn depicting the initiation of Hercules into the Eleusinian mysteries. The sides are decorated with three scenes: (1) Demeter with ears of corn in her hand and hair, a torch in her free hand, while her daughter Kore approaches and the god Iacchus touches a snake coiled around her seat; (2) A priestess holding a wicker screen (liknon) over the head of an initiate covered in a lion-skin; (3) Hercules holding a piglet while a priest pours water over the animal. National Museum of Rome, Palazzo Massimo (inv. 11301).