Ceres (mythology)

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In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad,

Seated Ceres from Emerita Augusta, present-day Mérida, Spain (National Museum of Roman Art, 1st century AD)

Funerary statue of an unknown woman, depicted as Ceres holding wheat. Mid 3rd century AD. (Louvre)

During her long, torch-lit search for her daughter, Proserpina, Ceres drinks water given her by Hecuba, and is mocked by the boy, Askalabos, for spilling some of it. She will transform him into a lowly "star-lizard' or newt (Latin; stellio) as punishment. The episode is in Ovid's, Metamorphoses V, lines 449-450. Oil-paint on copper, by Adam Elsheimer and workshop, copy circa 1605, held by the Museo Nacional del Prado. From an original in the collection of Alfred and Isabel Bader

Ceres holding a bundle of cereal grains, a late 18th century work by Dominik Auliczek of the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

Proserpina

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Proserpina or Proserpine is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of the Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancie

Ceres (mythology)

…and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales (Ceres's games…

Marble Statue of Persephone, 2nd Century AD

The Rape of Proserpina by Hans von Aachen (1587)

Copy of The Rape of Proserpina by Vincenzo de' Rossi, on view near Cliveden House

Votive pillar reading Diti Patri et Proserpin[ae] sacrum, "Holy to Dīs Pater and Proserpina", identifying Dīs Pater as Proserpina's husband