Description
This video depicts a funerary lekythos, a vessel used to offer wine and olive oil to the deceased. Lekythoi are similar to other amphorae, but their main distinguishing characteristic was the alabaster color of the vessels surface. This artifact is an exact replica of a lekythos dating to the Classical Era (480 BCE - 323 BCE), and the original is currently housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The scene is a depiction of Hades abducting his niece, Persephone, in order to make her his bride in the underworld. The cultic practices associated with this story were central to the mystery initiations held at Eleusis in honor of Demeter and Persephone.