Lot 511
Greco-Roman Limestone Relief | Persephone & Hades | Aramaic Script
Greco-Roman Limestone Relief | Persephone & Hades | Aramaic Script
Starting Bid: $6,000
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Magna Graecia, ca. 340 BCE - 200 CE. Large carved limestone frieze fragment depicting Persephone abducted by Hades, depicted as a bare chested warrior standing in a chariot holding the captive Persephone across his legs. A vase is knocked over by the wheel of the chariot. A man and two woman a standing in the road. Along the edge of the roadway is an incised partial inscription. According to the Rachel Witte, Daily Art Magazine: “The Myth of Persephone: Persephone is a goddess queen of the underworld and wife of the god Hades. She is the daughter of Demeter and sometimes is referred to as Kore (the maiden) in her role as the goddess of Spring’s bounty. An interesting fact is that Persephone was adored not only by Hades but many other male deities of Ancient Greece, which is why her mother Demeter was so protective of the young girl, trying to hide her from those who could do her wrong. Unfortunately, Demeter didn’t succeed in hiding her daughter and so, one day, when Persephone was picking flowers in the Vale of Nysa, she was kidnaped by Hades. The god of the Underworld had been in love with a young woman and decided to take Persephone to his kingdom to be his bride. Demeter, despaired at the girl’s disappearance, searched for her throughout the world accompanied by the goddess Hekate (Hecate) bearing torches. When she learned that Zeus had conspired in her daughter’s abduction she was furious and refused to let the earth fruit until Persephone was returned. Zeus consented, but because the girl had tasted the food of Hades – a handful of pomegranate seeds – she was forced to forever spend a part of the year with her husband in the underworld. Her annual return to the earth in spring was marked by the flowering of the meadows and the sudden growth of the new grain. Her return to the underworld in winter, conversely, saw the dying down of plants and the halting of growth, as Demeter mourns her daughter’s absence.” Cf.: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD., accession # 23.219
A partially legible inscription in Palmyrene Aramaic script runs along the lower register. Palmyrene Aramaic was the official language and script of ancient Palmyra (Tadmor) in modern Syria, used primarily for funerary and dedicatory inscriptions between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE.. Size: 20”W x 18.5”H (50.8 x 47cm).
Provenance: Ex. Ed Merrin Gallery, acquired 1980-’90’s.
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Item #
71662
- Condition: All figures are missing their heads and two of which are missing their upper torsos. Overall excellent ancient surface patina.
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