Tour B: Childhood in Antiquity
What role did children play in ancient societies? How did their world relate to that of adults? And how were children – in their physical development and at different ages – depicted in ancient artworks? The tour sets out in search of ancient realities and representations of childhood.
B6 The Wunderkind
[IKA, Photo: Kristina Klein]
Inv.-Nr. 1132
Weihrelief an Demeter, Kore und Triptolemos (sog. großes Eleusinisches Weihrelief)
Athen, Nationalmuseum 126
um 440/430 v. Chr.
This relief from the cult centre of Eleusis shows the goddesses Demeter (lefts) and Persephone (right) flanking the figure of the child Triptolemos, a mythical hero who was credited with introducing agriculture to Greece.
The story begins with the goddess Demeter, who was wandering the earth in search of her daughter Persephone (she did not know yet that Persephone had been kidnapped by Hades and was living in the Underworld). During this time, Demeter happened upon a welcoming family in Eleusis, and rewarded them by taking the young Triptolemos under her wing. Variations of the myth abound, and in some versions Demeter initially prefers Triptolemos’ brother over him, but in all versions of the story, Triptolemos is eventually tasked with spreading knowledge of agriculture.
The figure of Triptolemos also played an important role in the Eleusinian Mysteries, an enigmatic cult based in Eleusis dedicated to both Demeter and Persephone. The cult celebrated the turning of the year, as well as the principles of death and rebirth, but its rites and rituals were secret. No record remains of what happened behind the closed doors of the sanctuary, mysteries that reserved only for the initiated.
In this relief, we see Triptolemos represented as a child or young man, in contrast to the way he is usually represented in Classical Athenian pottery, where he appears as a bearded mature man. So why did the sculptor of this relief choose to portray Triptolemos as a child? Does this choice tell us something about the nature of the Eleusinian Mysteries?
From the cast and the surviving original sculpture, we know that we are missing several important elements of the scene. For example, Persephone is placing a crown on Triptolemos’ head. Details like this would not have been rendered in relief sculpture, but would instead have been painted. It is easy to forget the ancient sculpture was usually brightly painted in glorious technicolour, and did not have plain white surface that we see nowadays.