The god Tammuz (probably) with grain growing from his shoulders A West Asian god Tammuz (or Dumuzi) was a West Asian god who personified growing food, like Persephone in Greece or Osiris in Egypt. [...]
The Mesopotamian god Ishtar or Inanna Who was Ishtar? Ishtar (also called Inanna) was an important god of West Asia. Beginning at least by 3000 BC the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the [...]
Hades and Persephone in the Greek underworld What happened when you died? Greek people didn't like to talk about what happened to you after you died. So we don't know [...]
Hades kidnaps Persephone (mosaic from Amphipolis, 300s BC) Persephone was the daughter of the goddess Demeter. One day Persephone was dancing with her friends in a sunny meadow, having a good time, picking [...]
Torchlight parade (this one is actually in India) Most Greek religious rituals were about sacrifice to the gods. But there was another form of religious activity also, which we call the mystery cults. [...]
Hades and the underworld In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the dead, who ruled the place where dead people went after they died (Sometimes people also called the underworld "Hades"). [...]
Eleusinian Mysteries: Demeter, Persephone, and Triptolemos (the boy), an 1899 drawing from a stone carving found at Eleusis . When did the Eleusinian Mysteries start? Beginning at least as early [...]
Persephone project: Hades kidnaps Persephone (Greek painting from the Hellenistic period) Put on a play for your class, or make a short film about Persephone, or write a book or [...]
Greek goddess Demeter: A field of wheat growing What does "Demeter" mean? The Greek goddess Demeter is an earth goddess; her name is De, which means earth (the same word as Gaia) [...]
Tomb of the Diver (ca. 500 BC) Classical Greek painting Artists in Classical Greece continued to favor the stiffer Mycenaean style of painting more than the looser, fancier Minoan style. [...]
