Demeter at Eleusis

This piece was inspired by the works of Ivan Bilibin, and this passage from Homer's Hymn to Demeter:

"One day, she came to the house of bright-minded Keleos, who was at that time ruler of Eleusis, fragrant with incense. She sat down near the road, sad in her philon heart, at the well called Parthenion [the Virgin’s Place], where the people of the polis used to draw water. She sat in the shade, under the thick growth of an olive tree, looking like an old woman who had lived through many years and who is deprived of giving childbirth and of the gifts of Aphrodite, lover of garlands in the hair. [Homer's Hymn to Demeter (trans. G Nagy), 97-103]"

In September, followers of the Eleusinian mystery cult would walk the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis calling for Persephone and re-enacting Demeter's search for her lost daughter. We don't know much of what went on, since these rituals were kept so secret we have little record. We do know though that at the end of this pilgrimage, initiates would sit by this same well and drink a barley and mint beverage called Kykeon before descending into an underground theatre for a secret ritual.

The Abduction of Persephone

This illustration shows the abduction of Demeter’s daughter. As these pieces were based on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, I wanted to emphasise Persephone's anguish and only show Hades as some faceless captor. It was inspired by this passage in the Hymn to Demeter:

”We were playing and gathering lovely flowers in our hands, an assortment of delicate crocus, iris, and hyacinth, rosebuds and lilies, a wonder to behold, and the narcissus, which is grown, like the crocus, by the wide earth. I was joyfully gathering the flowers, and then the earth beneath me gave way, and there it was that he sprang out, the powerful lord who receives many guests. He took me away under the earth in his golden chariot. It was very much against my will. I cried with a piercing voice. [Hymn to Demeter, 425-432]”