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Ninnion Tablet

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Clay tablet depicting Greek mysteries
Ninnion Tablet
MaterialClay
Height44.5 cm
Width33 cm
Createdc. 370 BC
Discovered1895
Elefsina, Attica, Greece
Present locationAthens, Attica, Greece

The Ninnion Tablet, dated to approximately 370 BC, is a red clay tablet depicting the ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries (religious rites connected to Greek mythology). It was rediscovered in Eleusis, Attica in 1895, and is kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Content

The tablet depicts Iacchus leading a procession of initiates into the Mysteries. Receiving this group are the deities Demeter and Persephone. Above the artifact's main scene are multiple representations of The Moon. The Ninnion Tablet is the only known original representation of the Mysteries' initiation rites.

References

Major exhibits at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Neolithic
Cycladic
Minoan
Mycenaean
Archaic
Classical
Hellenistic
Roman
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