Marble votive relief of the Eleusenian deities, the so-called Big Eleusenian Relief, found at Eleusis, Attica,
ca. 440-430 BC.
Votive relief, made of Pentelic marble. It is the largest and most significant votive relief. Dedicated to the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis, Attica, it represents the Eleusenian deities in a scene of mystic ritual. At the left, Demeter, wearing a peplos and holding a scepter in her left hand, offers ears of wheat to Triptolemos, son of the Eleusenian king Keleos, to bestow on mankind. At the right, Persephone, wearing a chiton and a mantle and holding a torch, blesses Triptolemos with her right hand. The magnificent representation and, particularly, the large scale of the work suggest that it was not a votive, but rather a cult relief. It must have been famous in antiquity, which accounts for its being copied in Roman times. One of those copies is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.
Height 2,20 m., width 1,52 m.