Athena Review Image Archive ™
Locris: Votive relief of Hades and Persephone
Syracuse: Votice relief of Hades & Persephone (Met.Mus.; Photo: Athena Review 2004)
Locris was founded in South Italy in 680 BC by emigres from Greece. It held two great sanctuaries, for Persephone — here worshipped as the protector of fertile marriage — and Aphrodite. Locris became allied with Syracuse, also a cult center of Demeter.
This small terracotta relief shows Hades abducting Persephone to his underworld kingdom. Her mother, Demeter, made the earth stand still for six months each year until Persephone was released, bringing spring and summer.
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