Sarcophagi Analysis

The practice of creating sarcophagi for the deceased was contrary to how the majority of Romans buried their dead, which was commonly done by cremation until the second century. By the time The Sarcophagus Panel Depicting the Abduction of Persephone was created around 190-200 AD, the practice, taken from both the Greeks and Etruscans, was widely popular. Roman society was of course largely influenced by Greek culture, more so among the Roman elite. Since this particular sarcophagus depicts a Greek mythological tale this sarcophagus was most likely for an upper class Roman citizen. The marble that makes up Roman sarcophagi originate from quarries. At these quarries, captured slaves and criminals were forced into the life of quarrymen. Upwards of a thousand workers at a time would be responsible for the extraction of marble. From these quarries the marble would be delivered to nearby workshops for trained sculptors and craftsmen to sculpt out the specific designs requested by clients.

The most common way to
In this tale, Hades falls in love with Persephone and decides to abduct her, with the help of Zeus, to become his queen of the underworld. Demeter, Persephone’s mother, realizing her daughter was missing, searched high and low for her. While doing so Demeter’s duties as the goddess of grain and growth were abandoned and caused the agriculture of the world to wither. Discovering Zeus’s and Hades’s plot Demeter stormed into the underworld only to discover her daughter had grown into a became her role as queen of the underworld. Demeter, Zeus, and Hades compromised to allow Persephone to alternate annually between the land of the living and land of the dead. This caused the agriculture to wither on her departure and to blossom on her return. The Abduction of Persephone is one the oldest tales to give an explanation to Spring and be a personification of universal concepts of life and