location of cult of hades demeter oand persephone

If it was just a joke then it must have been a rather expensive one, as Mary Beard herself remarked. My first instinct was to take the monument seriously as a real grave monument to a pig. What exactly was this monument Mary Beard asked? Was it real or some kind of spoof, perhaps the grave of a man who’s name for some reason was “pig” or sounded like pig, or a literary exercise given permanent form in stone?

The scene of the animal’s death is vividly depicted in a carved relief at the top of the stone, which shows him being trampled by some donkeys drawing a cart. The stone was inscribed with a verse inscription extoling the pig’s friendly character, describing his travels and ending with his tragic demise in a road-traffic accident, crushed “by the force of a wheel”. This week my imagination was captured by a puzzle she posed her readers – the interpretation of a grave stele from Roman Macedonia which seems to commemorate the death of a beloved pig. The next tombstone was a drastic change from the previous, as it was massive in size and was clearly a show of the subject’s wealth.Like, I suspect, most people interested in the ancient world I’m a keen reader of Mary Beard’s blog “It’s a Don’s Life”. Professor Kennedy showed us her favorite one a bilingual tombstone that featured both Phoenician and Greek for a woman who had lived in the ancient city of Byzantium. The next stop in the museum was the tombstone room, where we saw a variety of different headstones. We also looked at cosmetics containers, utensils, and an ornately carved bronze “compact” mirror. The room also housed early medical instruments, which Professor Kennedy pointed out have not changed much even in modern times. Next, we ventured into a vase room, where we found vases used for everything from storage, transport, and burials. The museum housed evidence of these non-Greeks and non-Athenian citizens, including a large cult statue of the “Mother of the Gods.” We talked about the relationship between Athens and Piraeus, which served as the port where non-Athenians would arrive. The statues in the museum were some of the best preserved, and depicted the goddesses Athena and Artemis in great detail. The next stop was the Piraeus Archaeological Museum, where we started out as a group and headed straight for the bronze statues. After finishing our meal and paying the bill in all coins, we headed back to the bus. Alas, we finally stumbled upon a spot that was serving more than just espresso freddo, and we all filled our stomachs with delicious gyros, souvlaki, and chips. We quickly realized that 12 pm was way too early for the locals to eat lunch, and the only thing in sight was coffee. This is possibly a threat to Christianity, and why the tradition died out once Christianity was imposed on the site.īeautifully preserved bronze statue of Athena.Īfter finishing our visit to the site at Eleusis, our group headed into town to grab lunch. The Eleusis site is important because the ritual that took place there offered those who partook eternal life.

We also learned that the cult ended when Christian beliefs and ideology were brought to the site. This included information on how deities like Demeter, Persephone, and Hades were intertwined with the site. A student in our group then presented some background on the site. Kennedy then gave some brief history on the cult activity that took place at the Eleusis site, and how it was a cult exclusively for Athenians until the 5 th century. With this group, we did a quick reading activity near a replica of the Arch of Hadrian. Once in the site, we met a group of students from the University of Arkansas led by a friend of Dr. Upon arrival, we waited for a short period of time before being let into the site.

Since Greece had an election today, the bus ride was much shorter than anticipated to the site, lasting only about 25-30 minutes rather than an hour. Today, we began by taking a bus to Eleusis and visiting both the Eleusis site and museum.

Location of cult of hades demeter oand persephone