STATUE OF DEMETER-CERES

Name: Statue of Demeter-Ceres.

Name of the artist: Unknown.

Material and techniques: It is carved in marble and gray limestone.

Where it was made and found: Is unknown where it was made, it was found in a Roman ville in La Malena, Azuara, in Zaragoza.

When it was made and found: It was made in the IV century a.C., more exactly in the third quarter of IV century a.C., it is unknown when it was found.

Dimensions: The height of the statue is 58 cm.

Description: It´s a headless statue, the head was decorated with a "spicea" crown, wears a tunic and "dorsal himation" hanging on the back. In the right hand it holds a "patera" with cocoon in flower in an offering attitude, and in the left hand it holds a knotted torch, so it is called "dea taedifera". Its feet are showed slightly below the dress. Demeter received a cult that people celebrated in the town of the Malena, a rural villa of controversial interpretation. The statue has spots of oxidation from the inner irons that served as a support for some parts of the statue.
Thematic: Demeter - Ceres was in classic mythology the goddess of agriculture, the cereals and the harvest. Goddess of the life in the field, she was identified with the Earth fertility, since she fertilized the fields and the scallop shell like the "carried of the stations". She represents the fecundity.

Historical context: The emperor Constantine ends the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Rome decreased its importance due to its location for away from important provinces like Gallic, Hispania... The general prosperity fell in this period but problems arose from security in the empire by the invasions that are repeated forwards from 376 by the germanic tribes. These invasions marked the beginning of the fall of the western Roman Empire. In 378 the battle arose from Adrianopolis.

Where it is to be seen now: Now it is exhibited in the museum of Zaragoza.

Photography: It was made for me in the museum of Zaragoza.