sculpture, fragment, skulptur

The cult of Meter was introduced to Athens either at the end of the sixth century or, more probably, in the later fifth century BCE. The temple of Meter, the Metroon, was established in the Athenian Agora and became the location of the city archive. The cult statue in Athens depicted the goddess seated with a lion and holding a tympanum, both symbols of her connections to the wild and to noisy worship. There was an Athenian festival in honour of her, called the Galaxia, named after a kind of porridge made from barley that was eaten during the festivities. It is not known how the Galaxia was celebrated, but there are scenes on Attic vases from the early fifth century BCE that appear to depict a small-scale ecstatic cult of Meter. One of the scenes seemingly depicts Meter, seated in front of worshippers dancing wildly to the sound of music.

These worshippers are possibly a depiction of the Corybantes, members of an ecstatic cult associated with Meter. They are mentioned quite frequently in Athenian literature from the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, suggesting that the cult was well established. Plato describes the performance of a thronesis (enthronement) around a person about to be initiated into the cult, along with dancing and music. The Corybantes are sometimes associated with madness, but more often, however, the verb korybantizo (‘acting the Corybant’), is used simply to mean wild dancing. It is unknown where Corybantic rites took place in Athens, although they appear to have been held in private rather than in public.

This terracotta head probably belongs to a votive figurine depicting the Mother, with traces of a polos and a plain veil. The head was recovered from Temple A of Soli during the Swedish Cyprus Expedition in 1930.