page_title: Kernos
hierarchical_section_title: Kernos
caption_attribution_description: English: Votive plaque depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries. National Archaeological Museum, Athens Deutsch: Votivtafel aus Eleusis mit Darstellung der Mysterien. Archäologisches Nationalmuseum (Athen) Français&#160;: Plaque votive en terre cuite peinte, œuvre attique d'un peintre nommé Ninion, au milieu du IVe s. a. C., découverte au sanctuaire d'Éleusis. Les figures de la scène principale sont placées sur deux rangées. Au sommet, Déméter est assise sur la "ciste secrète", Perséphone debout tient une torche et le porteur de torche Iakchos est situé au-dessous, accueillant la procession des initiés, hommes et femmes, qui arrivent au sanctuaire. Au milieu de la rangée inférieure, l'omphalos orné d'une couronne et deux bakchoi entrecroisés, symboles des mystères rituels. La troisième divinité, en bas à droite, n'est pas identifiée avec certitude. Le fronton dépeint les participants du pannychis, le festin nocturne, où une joueuse de flûte, sur la gauche, les accompagne. Tous les participants sont couronnés et tiennent des branches en fleur et des bâtons, tandis que les femmes ont le kernos, le vaisseau sacré, fixé sur la tête. Musée archéologique national, Athènes. Italiano: Una placca votiva in terracotta rinvenuta nel santuario di Eleusi, risalente al IV secolo a.C. è conservata presso il Museo archeologico nazionale di Atene. Gli iniziati illuminano il rito notturno con le fiaccole e vengono accolti nel santuario da Demetra che è assisa sul cesto contenente gli oggetti sacri, Persefone invece è in piedi impugnando una torcia. Da notare il kernos (κέρνος) che una donna (terza figura da sinistra della fila superiore) trasporta sulla testa.
context_page_description: In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the kernos is a pottery ring or stone tray to which are attached several small vessels for holding offerings. Its unusual design is described in literary sources, which also list the ritual ingredients it might contain. The kernos was used primarily in the cults of Demeter and Kore, and of Cybele and Attis.
  The form begins in the Neolithic in stone, in the earliest stages of the Minoan civilization, around 3,000 BC. They were produced in Minoan and Cycladic pottery, being the most elaborate shape in the latter, and right through ancient Greek pottery. The Duenos Inscription, one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, variously dated from the 7th to the 5th century BC, is inscribed round a kernos of three linked pots, of an Etruscan type.
  The Greek term is sometimes applied to similar compound vessels from other cultures found in the Mediterranean, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and South Asia.
context_section_description: In the typology of ancient Greek pottery, the kernos (Greek: κέρνος or κέρχνος, plural kernoi) is a pottery ring or stone tray to which are attached several small vessels for holding offerings. Its unusual design is described in literary sources, which also list the ritual ingredients it might contain. The kernos was used primarily in the cults of Demeter and Kore, and of Cybele and Attis.
  The form begins in the Neolithic in stone, in the earliest stages of the Minoan civilization, around 3,000 BC. They were produced in Minoan and Cycladic pottery, being the most elaborate shape in the latter, and right through ancient Greek pottery.  The Duenos Inscription, one of the earliest known Old Latin texts, variously dated from the 7th to the 5th century BC, is inscribed round a kernos of three linked pots, of an Etruscan type.
  The Greek term is sometimes applied to similar compound vessels from other cultures found in the Mediterranean, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and South Asia.
caption: In this votive plaque depicting elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a female figure (top center of rectangular portion) wears a kernos on her head
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